Istanbul: Inside the Dream

Istanbul: Inside the Dream

There are two sides to every city in the world, Istanbul is no different and here we are not talking about two continents .That familiar quoted phrase that streams across the popular #Istanbul Twitter timeline on the web every day we are talking about the good and the frustrations. The dream one day many have of returning to this wonderful historic thriving domain to make a new life comes to mind for many after a holiday or business trip. Though for the un-prepared or to those that are blinded in the beauty can be oblivious to the changes ahead of them and you can soon see your dreams become buried in confusion and frustrations.

Myself I had lived in England for 40 years and I can only think of one period where the possibility and thoughts of moving to another country had come to mind, though I never took that dream like thought forward. So making a move to Istanbul from England was a dream that I made happened after visiting Istanbul frequently throughout 2008 and 2009. However whilst the upheaval of moving abroad seemed to go smoothly the actual challenge of the dream is living.

Being blinded by the beauty of the city and the location I live at near the Bosphorus Strait somehow made me fail to think forward of the forthcoming changes and differences that I was going to start having to deal with and experience week in week out. Simple things that I took for granted or how I had become accustom to resolving problems were no longer straightforward. It was not dealing with getting a residents permit or getting the documents to get married here that would turn me into a raging bull or a confused state of mind, the problems and instances that were far smaller in their importance in comparison. These were small things that I could actually live without if I really needed too but I was used to being able to resolve and work out problems.

A Lesson Learnt

Turkey has a policy on mobile phones that is very efficient in reducing the crime of re-selling stolen mobile phones; however it can also be a problem to you as a foreigner living here legally. In my scenario I registered my iPhone whilst I was residing here on my tourist visa, not on my residents permit which I got just before the tourist visa expired. Here in Turkey if you decide to use a SIM card from one of the networks here, this is quite logical due to the costs of roaming charges abroad from your carrier network from your home country. Also it means you don’t have to purchase a new phone which the cost here can be vastly more expensive than for example the UK. So logic tells you to buy a SIM card here, after 8 or 9 weeks you will then get frequent SMS messages requesting you to register your mobile phone IMEI with the SIM card you purchased here. As a foreign national you must provide passport or residents permit on registration which is done through larger mobile phone stores, mine was Turkcell, not forward thinking or being aware there is a difference when registering with Passport and Residents Permit. To be brief registering on a passport with a visa has a long term problem, as in my case after 7 months here the iPhone became an expensive paper weight and unless I was at home I couldn’t use the benefits cost effectively whilst commuting or just being out and about like I could back in UK.

So what I thought why not sell it? So I did! Nothing illegal about that no different from selling your used car or so I thought and was about find out. When I registered the iPhone on my passport visa stamp this registered the phone has a foreign visitor import, meaning that no other SIM card could be used in the phone on the Turkish mobile networks at all. The IMEI number of the phone is locked on Turkish networks to that SIM card and mobile number and my name, sure that is making it theft proof for future use if it was stolen. Moreover that it also prevents you selling it or even passing it on to a relative or friend here in Turkey and also let’s say I found a better price on another network well it wouldn’t work; I would have to buy a new phone. Turkish authorities that control the networks note not the carriers the authorities will not reverse or unlock the IMEI in any circumstances.

So if you are reading this and are contemplating a move here or expecting to stay for a period of time think wisely and do not register your  mobile phone on a Passport Visa Stamp get it done with a residents permit it keeps your future options open ,registering on a visa stamp completely restricts you in the future. Please note it does not affect you on networks outside of Turkey only whilst you are using a Turkish Carrier. There is more detail to this but hopefully it will make you research something you may take for granted as being just something so simple as it may be in your own country or not .

Istanbul Car Drivers

Explain to me the logic in this? I’m crossing the short road between the footpath ,no traffic has I look left and right so I cross five seconds later a car approaches behind me at a fast speed  ,he doesn’t brake he carries on at the speed has it turned into the road I was crossing . Once again logic said to me he will slow and let me cross has I am half way across ,I am not talking about a 3 lane road I’m talking about 10 metre wide road between two footpaths. How wrong was I he carried on and I jumped out the way. Here there is no etiquette, there is no pedestrian right of way, and drivers don’t give a dam about pedestrian’s .Some time ago in the Istinye district I watched a car reverse into a woman carrying her shopping, he had to reverse because he was too far into the road he was waiting to turn into, yet without looking behind him he just slammed it in reverse and wallop the woman gets knocked over.30 seconds later he drives off leaving the car driver behind to help the woman. The moral of this is simply Istanbul drivers are the most impatient I have experienced in general and patience is not a word here in Istanbul to drivers but pedestrians must be vigilant and aware even when you are just walking. Now my wife understands why I never let her walk on the outside of the path I always make way for her to walk on the inside because I don’t trust anyone anymore on the roads.

Amusing I can fix it

So there I was, in the bathroom our tap on the Beday or is it Bidet? One of those things that splashes and comes up and soaks your backside had ceased to work.So I thought I can fix that no problem ,got the replacement tap fitting from the local plumbing store for a mere 7 lira . So I start to unscrew the broken one from the pipe ,wife is playing Facebook in the lounge , I am slowly unscrewing it thinking no problem it will only take five minutes and then she will be happy for the luxury of having her backside flushed each time ,personally it is a pain in the backside. Then has I am about to turn the last screw bang ,gallons of water start flushing out like an outlet of water being flushed out of the Bosphorus well slight exaggeration but helps to get the picture . Within five minutes I have a bathroom full of water and I am screaming “where is the stop tap Figen” has it filling faster than our bath does from the tap. Needless to say she knew what I meant because there would have been no way I would have known where it was and three hours later we had working Bidet once again. The lesson here is don’t forget the minute things that matter meaning get to know how things work.

It is not all doom and gloom

There are many other small irritating moments which I have found myself going blue in the face with ,though they are really down to my over expectation of simply not understanding why things don’t happen the way I expect. This falls down to coming from a society where so much is actually done for you without you realizing it; you could call it living in a pampered society. So moving on to the positives and the better things in life I really appreciate about Istanbul that keeps the dream alive and on-going. Those things are not the awesome historic view found in the Sultanahmet area or the Bosphorus view I see every day though they do help, these are things that I admire and wonder why I couldn’t find similar in the UK.

Local Faces everyday

Friendliness amongst Turkish people is the saviour; the politeness in hospitality surpasses the attitude out on the highways, becoming a regular face in the neighbourhood has its benefits. The staring of people’s eyes use to bother me; I came from a society where it is classed as “it is rude to stare” which could lead to a confrontation. But simply acknowledging those staring eyes with a polite merhaba or a simple nod breaks the uneasy feeling. So instead of becoming a drama queen and creating a scenario I learnt to understand the curiosity.

Alongside the friendliness comes the man on street working and selling for a living come the rain or sunshine every day, something I really do admire doing whatever it takes to make a living, putting food on the table. You can view it with criticism of the government or you can actually see it in the light of the countless times I have become use to just being able to buy Simit or Cay or something romantic in the way of flowers whilst walking about along the Bosphorus. The simple things I now enjoy about life here remind me whilst I am somewhat more or less fortunate than others around me. I have the great admiration for the man and woman on the street that does whatever it takes within the laws of this country to succeed, I look back over the history of the last century and this pattern still remains today. The working man and woman refusing to cry and be defeated by the modern demands and foreign start-ups and a sure sign of Ataturk’s vision remains in the minds of many here.

Four Hours Unexpected

The thought of getting a camera DSLR Canon fixed, thoughts of sending abroad and dealing with import problems when getting it back to here in Istanbul, also having to wait three to four weeks for it to be done or throwing it in the bin and cutting my losses. Here in Istanbul I was to be pleasantly surprised and against all expectations the service offered here was incredibly a four hour turnaround in the district of Eminonu. Yes four hours drop it off in the morning go and drink some Cay and eat somewhere. I never came across any service outlets in UK that would offer any fast turnaround; it is these simple unexpected surprising moments that makes the dream on going.

So what am I drumming on about?

This somewhat mixed monologue is really trying to say it is great to have dreams and it is even greater when they come true but the challenge lies ahead living in the dream .If you succeed you will become a stronger and a wiser person , it is not about being pessimistic or analysing the differences all the time . It is about learning and understanding amicably why such circumstances occur. Turkish people are incredibly patriotic; they face obstacles that many of us foreign residents never come up against in our upbringing and working life however living in the dream they become your obstacles too and the challenge of reasoning begins. Patience is a virtue you will need it.

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