On setting up shop

We have had a long, sometimes frustrating, sometimes thrilling, sometimes depressing, sometimes hilarous time of finding and settling into our new Istanbul apartment. We spent one night, for example, almost homeless, saved by the love and kindness of a friend's family, who showered us with affections, incredible home-cooking, and freshly made beds. For the first week after finally moving in here we slept on the floor on makeshift beds of bunched up clothing and two rugs generously gifted to us by our old landlord, whose room we rented for three weeks. He has a nack for finding superb goodies amidst other people's trash and, because of his talents we now have, amongst other found accessories, a big, cushy couch in our salon. By the grace of used appliance stores, the kindness of incredibly generous friends and coworkers, and the sweet deals at a place called "Maxi" (my new favorite hangout), we have been able to scrap together a fully functioning kitchen. When we finally bought a mattress (during an epic journey to Ikea - miles away in an oversized shoppingmall/parking lot akin to my ignorant mental-image of Texas) we carried it home, rolled up and vacuum-packed, on our shoulders from the downtown bus stop, to the hilarity of onlookers. That was only topped by the night I found two remarkably clean overstuffed armchairs by a dumpster a few blocks away. We walked them home, one each, slung upside-down over our heads like gigantic white, square hats. With Sarah walking in front of me, a box with little legs, I couldn't stop laughing. It's remarkable how often people going in the opposite direction offer help when they see you carrying extremely awkward-looking things (one man, seeing us by the dumpster deliberating the best way to carry the chairs home stopped and asked, "Can I help you move your trash?"). One teenager on a bicycle followed us for a block, earnestly trying to get us to let him help. We, being the two stubbornest people in all of Kadikoy (especially when together), of course would not concede.

Things are slowly, slowly coming together for us. Eventually, we'll upholster our furniture so it matches and will swap real curtains for the sarongs hanging in the window. We're sleeping in remarkably comfortable beds (with pillows, down comforters, and all), eating yummy and healthy home-cooked foods (I just made tabouli for us tonight, actually...and picked up fresh mint and peaches from the Tuesday market in our neighborhood. Goodbye, 2YTL durum sandwich from a street vendor!), and there's a hammock on loan from a friend swinging in our living room. Our next challenge, though, will be succeeding in turning on the natural gas so we can finally stop taking cold showers. Brrr.