Greetings from Istanbul. I arrived yesterday, although my clothes have
not gotten here just yet. Colin caused me to be late for my connecting flight
to Paris; with only 34 minutes in Atlanta, I was thrilled I made it and figured
the luggage would probably have to catch up with me later.
Of course, I hoped that would have been today, but ah well. Nothing I
can do about it, so now I am washing my jeans and shirt so that I can wear them
for the fourth day in a row. The socks are close to walking by themselves, so,
even if I did have to do them in Palmolive I figure everything will be better
off tomorrow.
Fortunately, I’d mailed myself a few packages to arrive before me and
ended up topping them off with whatever fit in. Blessedly, some of that stuff wound
up being just what I needed: toothpaste, deodorant, astringent, etc. If only I’d
crammed in a spare pair of underwear, I wouldn’t have to be doing laundry right
now, using dish soap as detergent.
So, by my count, I’ve just entered my fifth Ramadan in another country
where bacon, ham and all other things pork are hard to come by. Honestly,
though, I can’t really tell, or haven’t been able to yet. The sun doesn’t set
until 8:something but there was lots of shopping going on at the grocery store. And seemingly no one was cranky.
If my luggage doesn’t show by tomorrow COB, I might reach that point,
though. So far, the transition hasn’t been all that smooth. Despite the good omen of the Delta agent in Tallahassee being from
Istanbul, I’ve had some hiccups upon arrival, the least of which is the
luggage.
I’d really like a hot shower. So far, I’ve been unable to figure
out the hot water. Last night, I ran it and ran it, waiting for it to get warm
before finally giving up, sucking up and taking a cold one. When my sponsor
came over, she discovered the hot water heater wasn’t plugged in. I’d seen the
unit she was talking about but thought it was an air filtration thing, not the
hot water heater. That I thought was behind this little panel thing in the main
bedroom. There’s a little medicine cabinet-looking thing that opens up to what
looks like a big, round tank. Seemed reasonable that it would be the hot water
heater. Now I’ve no idea what it is.
Anyway, tonight I tried to use hot water to wash dishes but no dice. I
went to the heater and discovered on one of the pipes, the shutoff valve
appeared closed. (The other story to this is that I was looking at how to turn
the gas on; stay tuned for that.) So I opened it and heard rushing water.
Score!
Except no. About three minutes later, I went back into the kitchen where the thing was and saw water spreading all over the floor. I opened the door and
discovered the thing leaking. After mopping it up, I found yet another shutoff
valve closed and opened it, but it overflowed again.
So tonight is a cold shower again and tomorrow I hope to get it figured
out, along with how to turn on the gas stove. Last night, I was wholly
unsuccessful in my attempts to get it lit and figured I needed a Brika – a Bic
lighter. However, after getting one, it’s no better. I hear the clicks, but
after that, nothing happens – not even the hissing of gas. And the oven, which
is in the wall and not connected to the stove, did work, so it’s not a matter
of there not being gas. Earlier, I’d tried finding some kind of gas valve,
which is why I thought maybe the hot water thing was gas.
There are people at work who can help me, but I discovered this
afternoon that my landline does not work, and my cell phone is not ready yet, either.
So right now, the cooking choice are oven (fine for the casserole my sponsor
thoughtfully made for me), the microwave (tough call for grits, but doable),
the toaster (Pop Tarts!) and coffee maker, which I didn’t think of last night
for tea but had the light bulb to on tonight.
Hopefully, it gets sorted out for tomorrow so I can go back to
scrambled eggs and hash browns (no bacon) for breakfast.
My biggest wrinkle so far, though, is that I have the wrong visa. I
followed the instructions and it explicitly says "The e-visa system may be
used by travelers entering Turkey for tourism, commerce, as well as official
travel for USG official business."
And a little after it says "Information regarding Turkish e-visas
and the application process ..." with a link. So I did that.
And ya know what, it was wrong. I'm "official ASSIGNED," not
"official." And apparently now, they've updated that because when I
said I'd done what I thought I was supposed to do, she printed out sample
travel orders and they have a new line that makes the distinction. (Although I
have no idea why someone not ASSIGNED to Turkey would get those orders, so why
that info would even be in there is stupid. It should say something like,
"you must get your visa at an embassy or consulate, but you can go to [web
site address] for information."
I'm bringing my thing tomorrow to show them so they don't think I am a
moron. I really did follow the directions.
Anyway, now I have to fix it, but that's a huge problem. I have to go
somewhere and apply. I can't just mail it to the U.S. because I'm on a visa now
and they won't issue one. I can possibly apply for one over the Fourth, when I
am in Baku, but no guarantees. Another possibility I just thought of is darting
over the border and exiting, then re-entering on my tourist and still mailing
it to DC. That might be iffy because I'd then be working on a tourist visa, but
I'll ask.
I'd like to start it ASAP because I cannot get any shipment, including
UAB, until I have that stamp.
But right now, I'd be pretty thrilled with just the checked bag.
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