Houseing Woes

During our 2 previous trips to Turkey, Matt and I spent several days with a relocation company looking at various housing options throughout Istanbul. My very favorite place was/is Istinye Park Residences - close to Matt's work, shopping, swimming pools, gym, play structure, restaurants, and plenty more. We found a great 4-bedroom flat, and after convincing Matt he didn't want to live in the country :), we chose to live there. We told the landlord we wanted it and thought it was going to be ours. But the day before we flew out here, they told us they gave the apartment to a diplomat since doing so kept them from having to pay taxes on the apartment. Argh! Luckily there was ONE MORE 4-bedroom flat, so we jumped on it. Matt met with the landlord, said we'd buy it for what they were asking but would pay more if they added a few extras - washer/dryer, closets, and light fixtures. They came back to us with a WAY increased rent, which we couldn't afford. So we told them to forget the extras and we'll just buy it "as is" for they price they initially asked. They said they'd get back to us last Friday, but still no word. We are SO FRUSTRATED. We packed our belongings with THAT apartment in mind and I will be heart-broken if we don't get it. They have smaller, 3-bedroom flats, but they pale in comparison to the 4-bedroom. So do we take a 3-bedroom to be in Istinye Park? Or get a bigger place elsewhere? I'm still hanging onto the thread of hope that the landlord will say we can have the apartment we want. Send good vibes the landlords way!

Unfortunately, our weekend was a bit blah because of this housing issue. We waited around all day Saturday to find out if we needed to go look at different housing or if we got the apartment. In the afternoon, we decided to go back to Mohini to forget our worries, eat ice cream, and let the kids play. It was bright and sunny as we walked there, but 2 hours later, it was POURING rain. We were only a mile away from our place, but we decided it would be best to get a taxi. The taxi driver was annoyed when we told them to take us to "Akmerkez" since it was so close and when he dropped us off, he asked for 10 TL (~$8) for a 3 TL cab ride. We said that was too much, and in the voice of the Soup Nazi, he repeated "Ten Lira!" We gave him 7 TL and told him 10 was too much and closed the door. We wish we had only given him 5, but were still a bit chicken. Not a good ending to our already yucky weekend.

Here's hoping this week brings us finalization in our housing and a much happier weekend!