A Home on the Way?

  Bursa, Turkey
Monday, June 9, 2008

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but plans are prodeeding towards my renting a house in Bursa. Last week, on Saturday, I met with a representative of the owner, and toured the house. Assisting me, in the form of translator (and the guy who actually found the house in passing by), was the cousin by marriage of my girlfriend in Ankara, G.

The house is really more than I need, or want. But, it has everything (except for being a restored Ottoman) that I have sought: a room to sleep and do reading and writing; a room for a potential painting studio; a nice bathroom (including a bathtub!, almost unheard of in Turkish homes, and an al la franca toilet (in fact, two, as it is a sort of duplex); kitchen; a salon, or livingroom; and a small garden (that is, a patch of grass with a tree growing in it. And there are two other rooms, perhaps potentially to have a rent-sharing roommate at some future date. But, those rooms are in the back, and, as the downstairs livingroom, somewhat dark and unuseful and unapealing to me at this time. The kitchen has a refrigerator and hotplate. The heating is gas (steam, perhaps). There is a clothes washer. Yet to see if it works.

The rent is higher than I wanted, but can manage. And, again, the potential for a second lodger is there.

It is in a very nice location, by my lights, though not in the areas I myself had been looking in. This house is but a stone's throw from the Yesil Camii and Turbe (The Green Mosque and Tomb) for which Bursa is noted; one of its main tourist (Turkish and foreign) attractions. Yet the house is beyond the well populated side. It is off to one back corner, so to speak.

Almost within "spitting distance" is this cafe/tea house where I am currently writing this, and which has the fastest wi-fi (in Turkey, wireless) connection I have experienced in Turkey. And, as I get used to the rhythm of things, I probably can pick my times so as to avoid the smoke and noise, which seems to have erupted about now--1:30, 2-ish in the afternoon. I've hung around today to make use of the one socket to plug-in and recharge my battery.

When I first met with the owner's representative (I believe his nephew) I really got pissed. Well, I came to Turkey to experiment with living in a different society. To live in it as a resident, not as a tourist. My first recollection is that: 1) I will not escape being seen as a tourist for a long time. One reason is my appearance. I just am a yabanci, foreigner by looks. That's all there is to it. (Perhaps more about this later).

2) I really got angry at the attitude of the "property manager"-- the nephew. I asked that the rental price be reduced due to the "improvements" I foresaw contributing to the longer-term value of the property. The Turks have a (to westerners) rather curt and seemingly offensive negative response to questions. There is a sort of tsk sound of sucking as the tongue breaks off from the roof of the mouth, accompanied by a slight upward jerk of the head.
Look, I said, I'm trying for win-win situation, here. In essence, you give me a short-term break, and get added long-term value. Tsk/jerk. Skipping the agonizing details, so it went, repeatedly.
In Turkey, I was told (and it has been repeated), it is just up to the renter to do such improvements as they may want, or not. Furthermore, at the end of the year, the owner will probably raise the rent, improvements or no.
What incentive is there to that, I asked? I guess incentive is a word that doesn't exist in the Turkish language. Anyway, it all had my blood boiling. I felt as though I was in what I've read is called a zero-sum game. He wins, I loose; that's all there is to it.
I asked to speak to the owner himself, who I was given to understand to be a university professor. Perhaps he would be "more rational." I was thinking his nephew a pre-Ataturk country peasant. Tsk/jerk. Hey, but I was keeping my cool, outwardly.

And so it went. But I cooled down. I didn't forsee loosing all the desireables on account of my preconceived attitudes in a first brush with some form of Turkish mentality. After all, that is what I came here to find out about. And I have read about such problems by others. And, actually, this wasn't my first experience. So I decided to plunge ahead, and see what develops.

I asked that my acceptance be conveyed to the little twit. Well, the first response was that the owner himself wanted to meet with me. So, that is a hopeful (I hope) turn to anticipate.

(To be continued)