2 posts tagged “apartment”

My lungs have finally agreed to start working again. Although the asthma has not completely retreated, I only had a leave class once today because of a coughing fit. This is a big improvement. The guys at the pharmacy by now feel like old friends. I feel like we should play backgammon.

 This means that I walked to school today instead of taking the trolley, and I can get back to exploring the city indead of just lying under my blanket and daydreaming of shoving pipecleaners into my bronchial tubes.

Half of my new class is from Germany, as well as my new roommate. (The Austrian girl decided to leave and we replaced her with another Teuton right away.) I’m thinking that this is my best opportunity in years to brush up with Deutsch. The new roommie is happy to help, and she seems to fit in with the rest of us rather well.

Likewise, my Turkish roommates have been great about speaking with me. Whether over chess or tea, we talk a lot and I can feel my Turkish getting better because of it. At home we have divided the refridgerator into three colums in which we write vocab words in English, Turkish, and German using a dry-erase marker. I now find myself staring at the refrigerator with the door closed instead of open

Istanbul has long been a place where I dreamed of living. Between the romanitc views of minarets shining across the bosphorus in the sunset and art nouveau buildings lining winding brick streets, Istanbul does indeed provide a setting that lends itself to reverie. Though it is a cliché, Istanbul’s physical and cultural position astride multiple spheres of knowledge is also a draw. People usually point to is being both part of Europe and Asia, but this seems to me to be both simplistic and uninformative. In truth, Istanbul engenders an overlap of four worlds: Turkic (extending through Central Asia into China), Orthodox (reaching north), Mediterranean (flowing all the way to Gibraltar), and Persianate (with connections through Iran to India). Istanbul is the sweet spot at the center of a four-set Venn diagram. And how sweet it is! Baklava, sütlaç, lokum, helva.

On Saturday, I moved into my apartment. I am sharing it with three housemates. Mina and Ali are a cool young Turkish couple and Marli is an Austrian student. The walls of the flat seem to have been painted a few hundred years ago in at style that makes them look like frescos… and they may be. The apartment is generally quiet save for the sound of music. Ali is a musician and there is frequently a haunting melody calling out from the violin, oud, or clarinet in large room that he shares with Mina.

Our apartment is in a building halfway between the Galata Tower and the tünel. This is the heart of Istanbul’s music scene and the winding street leading up to the tünel is lined with music shops and fresh juice stands. Usually I have a glass of fresh squeezed pomegranate juice in the afternoon steps from my door. There is also a rooftop terrace with views of the Golden Horn.
 
Tomorrow morning I start my intensive Turkish classes. I will be at the language school 20 hours per week and I am looking into teaching English there a few hours a week as well to help with money. Today, I will try to find a gym nearby so that I don’t stagnate in books.

I have a project planned: spend one afternoon a week just sitting on a bus or ferry and letting it take me wherever it will. Marli wants in on the plan so I may have a co-conspirator in my exploration of the city…

Overall, I feel as though things are moving forward but I am ever impatient with myself. Oh, and don’t worry. More snarky posts will follow.