Akin’s mother has been visiting us in Istanbul for the last week. Having her here has been absolutely wonderful. She has helped us to get the flat into a civilized order, which has taken a load off of both Akin’s and my shoulders. We did not have time to do much in the flat before leaving for Mersin last week. When we did have time in the evenings we tried desperately to entertain ourselves away from the apartment. This was not because we hate house work- though naturally neither of us is particularly fond of it- but because it was freezing. The weather, which had been quite nice leading up to our move, suddenly took a turn for the worse during moving week. This unfortunate condition was further exemplified by the fact that we had not yet been able to surmount the obstacles before us in terms of bringing modern technology into our new home. Heating quickly became the most difficult of these tasks to complete. Because of the weather, it was our number one priority. Too bad we weren’t theirs.
Nearly everywhere I have lived in the past, the tenant is required to set up bills in their name upon entering a new home. Most places I have been, they do not shut off the utilities if there is a short interim time, but simply have you pay for it with your first bill. This is a sort of curtesy so that you do not find yourself unable to enjoy the excitement of a new flat due to a lack of utilities. As you have guessed from the first two paragraphs, this is not how it works in Istanbul.
Fortunately, Akin was aware of this and instantly began checking off the ‘move in’ tasks the day after we signed a lease. While this may sound obvious in theory, it is certainly not simple in practice. Herein lies a grand difference between Turkey and the United States. In the USA, if someone wanted to set up electricity or gas or any other utility, they would likely pick up the phone, call the company and request that someone come and tun it on. If only.....oh, if only.
In Turkey, you are required to actually physically visit the office for the particular utility, which you would like to set up. Because individual, private companies take care of each and because there is pretty much a monopoly on the market, you don’t really have much of a choice where to go. Further, there is absolutely no reason for these companies to be located near one another as, again, they are not affiliated. These companies also seem to see no reason to open multiple branches or to be centrally located. After all, its all Istanbul, right? And I presume real estate in central locations is quite expensive. This means that the individual is required to trek to these offices one at a time in order to set up an apartment. Public transportation for each of these adventures is likely cost you between $10-$20 and take at least two hours round trip.....probably more.
Now for the offices themselves. Briefly put, expect to wait anywhere from 1-2 hours and expect to have to come back at least once. Something will inevitably be wrong with at least one of the documents required for any given transaction or they won’t be able to locate your home and need you to get some obscure number off of the meter or contact your landlord about X. All of these things could of course be easily solved were one speaking with the kind agent over the telephone before trekking across the globe.
Even after you have sorted everything in the office, you naturally aren’t done yet. As with anywhere in the world, you have to wait in your home, which is of course cold and dark at this point, for the technician. With gas in our unfortunate case, this took three attempts. The first attempt was on the morning following our visit to the office. The technician came promptly at 10:30 for the scheduled 10-12 slot. Unfortunately he turned around almost immediately without turning on our gas and said that we would need a certificate stating that a particular pipe was clean. Apparently this information was buried somewhere in the 20 page booklet that they had given us the day before. I guess we missed that part. Naturally, this inspection was done by a separate company who couldn’t provide the service on the same day as our call. Given that it was a Friday, this was very disappointing news.
That evening, we had some furniture delivered to the house, which was thankfully done just after dusk. Thank God for my geeky camping gear fetish. The headlamp saved us as we still had no electricity to assist in the installation. When the task was completed we huddled together speechless in the corner of our empty living room with our backs agains the icy wall contemplating what to do next. Staying in a cold, dark flat without any amenities didn’t sound very attractive, but our options were limited. Akin’s uncle, with whom we had been staying, had moved earlier in the week and now live quite far away. In addition, he was not home and we had no idea when we would be able to get into his place to sleep. We had other friends, but none of them really had extra beds or couches for two. More importantly, we were just plain sick of couch surfing. We were stuck in a catch 22.
As we were rueing our very existence with one solitary beam streaming from Akin’s forehead before us and cold plaster behind us, something very magical happened. We heard a loud crack and some heavy footsteps in the stairwell. It sounded rather menacing to be honest...especially given our state at the time. Then something even stranger happened. A faint golden glow appeared from behind us. We shot each other confused glances with heads cocked like a pup when you make a strange inhuman noise that it can’t comprehend. My first conclusion was that someone was coming through the stairwell and had turned on the those lights. Seemingly in unison however, we both realized that the true source of the glow was our own bedroom. We had light! It was 7:30 on a Friday night and the electric company had come through. I kid you not when I say that we leapt for joy.
From then on things began to pick up slowly but surely. That evening we procured an electric space heater that I had happened to see abandoned in Akin’s uncle’s previous flat to which we still had a key. Perhaps even more miraculously, on our way back from his uncle’s old apartment, we passed a man, who was selling pillows and blankets out of the back of his van. As it was now after 10 pm and the all of the shops were closed, this was a godsend. We loaded our booty into the back of a taxi and made our way back to the palace. These items got us through the following week, which was the time that it took to finally get our pipe inspected and the gas turned on.
One week later, we are back where the story started. We now have heat, water and electricity. We’ve purchased a refrigerator, stovetop, two beds and a washing machine. We’ve been given 5 carpets, dishes, pots and pans. Thanks to the help of Akin’s mother, the flat has been thoroughly cleaned and organized as much as possible in the given circumstances. Our suitcases have been transformed into quite hilarious, but effective closets and it is amazing all the various functions that an old stool, a small marble slab and a couple of pillows can serve.The only step left is setting up internet so that I can publish this post.
