I always refer to Türkiye as a woman. Türkiye is strong. She can be a little temperamental at times and has even been known to chuck a wobbly every now and then but usually things return to normal. I mean it’s normal for relationships to have their ups and downs and yes I am aware that in psychology circles I would be called an Enabler. Oh and upfront this is not a political post. I will not make any comments in relation to that ridiculous Referendum and its outcome. Oops. Sorry.
Back to my story.
Yes Türkiye can be a little tempermental but usually I forgive and forget – but not this time. What started as a day became a week and seriously seems to be moving into a month and everything here in the Village, in Mersin and even in Türkiye, is pissing me the hell off. I held out as long as I could but enough is enough and finally, she broke me. Türkiye broke me.
And even as I write this I know I am being a pouting princess and I know how lucky I am living in this beautiful country, but honestly shit should get easier, you know!
Alright let’s rewind and I will vent and then maybe, just maybe, I can move on from her most recent transgression.
It all started last Wednesday. It was a normal Wednesday. The Turk and I had kahvaltı on the terrace while below us Dede was screaming at the passerby (yes this is normal for us). I mentioned to The Turk that we had no internet and no telephone – again. “Sorun değil aşkım” was his reply and he rang TTnet to arrange for a service. I pointed out that I think we needed an electrician but, of course, The Turk knew better (and God forbid he is never wrong). At this point I just want to say that I am also dealing with a temperamental 14 year old who literally HATES THE WORLD so when she realised on Wednesday morning that there was no internet – again – seriously folks don’t worry about North Korea dropping a fecking nuclear bomb on anyone worry about Daughter blowing a fecking gasket!!!
By Friday the internet was still not fixed AND to add to my current woes we also had no electricity. I thought this would be a good time for me to get out of the Village and do the grocery shopping. I hit Migros and I brought up big! Came to the register to pay, handed over my credit card and – declined! WTF??? Of course I didn’t have the cash to pay for my groceries so I had to leave them at the shop and return home empty handed. And that was it. It was that simple. I broke.
By the time I got home I was in tears. I threw myself on the couch and cried for a good few hours before finally putting myself to bed. At 4pm. It was suggested to me that I needed chocolate and red wine – stat – but as my credit card was declined I didn’t even have these simple medicinal necessities to tide me over and so I lay in bed crying my eyes out and wishing I was back in Sydney where this shit just wouldn’t happen.
Sure I know these are all First World Problems, and yes, I know I am being a bit of a şımarık, but seriously no electricity, no internet, no telephone and now no cash! What the feck did I ever do to you Türkiye? Have I ever done anything but love you? Support you? Talk you up to my friends? Yeah that’s right! And you turn on me! Well I’m pissed off and I won’t stand for it anymore! In fact I’m breaking up with you!
Anyhow, TTnet finally arrived on Saturday morning and confirmed that we did, in fact, need an electrician so The Turk called a guy who knew a guy who promised to be at ours by 2pm. At 6.17pm four teenage boys arrived at our house. They were the electricians! Ugh! One of the boys refused to come into the house because of My Hurley Dog so screamed instructions through the door (Çek! Çek!) to the other three as they re-wired our telephone and internet. By 10pm they had finished. We had internet. We had telephone. Yah!!! By 11.15pm? Gone! Again!
It comes and goes now. That’s okay. I guess. And we only lost the electricity once yesterday (although it was for 6 hours).
What I find so incomprehensible is that everyone seems to accept substandard workmanship and bad behaviour. They have all these social niceties but when it comes to service they just accept that the work will be dodgy or the quality of their goods and services will be less than stellar. It is the norm here in Türkiye but it shouldn’t be. People should expect excellent service if they are paying for it. The Turk just shrugs as says “Bu Türkiye!” Nope more like Bu-llshit!!
And speaking of bullshit let me just tell you one more little story before I get dragged off to the looney bin.
After my second meltdown on Sunday to my BIL (as my television had no signal and our intermittent internet was gone – fecking again) a television service was arranged. The dude arrived yesterday on time (a first) and proceeded to reconfigure our satellite dish for a better service. I only really watch one or two shows on television, I don’t really care if there is service or not because I watch television via the internet (if we have internet that is) BUT there is one English news channel – TRT World – and even though it is a completely bias channel run by the Government (please don’t shut me down “Powers That Be”) it was, at least, in English. Until our little friend serviced my dish that is, now we have lost the channel. FML!
Anyway before he left he asked to use the bathroom. He disappeared behind the door for a good thirty minutes. What on earth did he do in there? Well I certainly found out within moments of him leaving when an entity crossed my path. A shit entity. A smell so foul that it was as though he had smeared shit from one end of the guest bathroom to the other! I literally had to open all the windows and sit on the terrace for an hour before the house had been cleared of the putrid smell! I still haven’t gone in there either. I’m a little scared of what I might find that he left behind for me. I’ll send The Turk in to take the bullet.
Sorry for lumbering all this on you all. I don’t know when I’ll be back. But I will. Eventually.
Ugh!
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Now we are back in my Türkiye and back in the Village I find that things haven’t changed. At all.
Australia had a general election during my time Down Under and so I did my civic duty and cast my vote. I actually received a fine for not voting in the last election although on checking with the Consulate here in Türkiye I found out there was in fact nowhere to cast your vote unless you did it by post. Have you ever tried to send mail from Türkiye? Has it ever arrived or did it take 6 months? I betcha that if I had done the postal vote in the last election my solitary postal vote would have been crucial in stopping that tosser Abbott getting elected! And did you know that this is like the 50th freaking election since 2010 – not really – but it sure seems like it. I mean Australia change leaders like others change their undies! #FirstWorldProblems
So now that I’m back I will probably be back to whinging about all and sundry and hating this and that again but right now I will just say that I’m glad to be home.
janeyinmersin 