Sim in Istanbul: Connectivity

 

 Superhero Landlady, Nazlı, and kitten.  

So normally when we're  talking about connectivity - or a lack thereof - it's the Internet, right?  

And I am the very first to admit that I am so totally neurotic about having wifi access that I never leave any foreign airport without a SIM card.  And in this country, it was two. 

But this time the lack of connectivity was even more serious.  

First, because I am talking about electricity, gas and water. After many promises and a week of waiting: Nothing.  So I'm still paying two lots of rent. 

Second, I thought  I had upset my real estate agent who hadn't responded to my messages for two days.  Google Translate apologies were clearly not working, and I was miserable not knowing what I'd done to upset her. 

And third - most seriously - I had not one clue how I was going to get these three utilities connected, where, with what authority, documents or records and no Turkish.  I couldn't even find the relevant companies on Google Maps in this city of  15 million people.

Panic. 

But I've been desperate before and learnt how to ask for help.  And  - thankfully - I had set up a WhatsApp group for my fellow university newbies a few days before.  Help was at hand!

Water meter? Electricity?  I've got so many photos of meters and barcodes I've completely lost track.

So with lots of photos, a copy of my contract, and conflicting advice, I went down to the small electricity office with which I had registered online.  Nup.  Can't register here.   Got into a taxi.  Got out of a taxi because I thought he didn't  have his meter on. Realised after 2 attempts to catch a bus and being told that the one I had just missed was the one I should have got onto, that Istanbul taxi meters are not the machines on the windscreen that look like meters (at least to me!), but the thing that looks like a rear vision mirror. Of course!

Yes.  A very basic lack of knowledge has really been a major stressor.  To wit,

1. Google Maps' locations don't work here.  They are in the general area, but the key thing to note is the building number - usually half a block away from where the pin tells you it is. 
2. Shop signage is much smaller than in Australia so simply searching where the pin is won't help - and neither does asking people, all of whom try to help but with a tendency to send you in opposite directions.
3. Bus stops and mini-buses aren't numbered but there seems to be some colour-coding going on. What Google Maps refers to as Route 11 has no number but is often a shade of blue. 
4. That taxi drivers don't have glasses to read the address on my phone so I need to learn how to pronounce street addresses. Fast.
5. That mini buses give a list of locations but not all are included.
6. That you need Google Maps to FIND any bus stop (although mini buses will stop for you if you look desperate enough and flag them down) because the signage is painted in a dull yellow that doesn't stand up to rain and is positioned next to the storefront, rather than along the kerb.

An Istanbul bus stop.

Sigh.

But eventually I find the electricity company and a cheerful man informs me that he will help me but none of the documents and photos I have with me are the correct ones.  Of course!

He gets on the phone to my landlady,  and 3 phone calls later, when she has sent me a photo of the correct meter and an EARTHQUAKE certificate (WT???), I send them to him via WhatsApp and I am connected.  Same day.  Woo hooooooo!

Cheerful Man then walks me outside, flags down a mini-bus, tells the driver and all the passengers that they are to stop at the Water Company and point me in the right direction before waving goodbye.

Cheerful Electricity Company Man.  Can you imagine your electricity company accepting official documents on their personal phone number?

At the Water Company, they check all your the documents before they'll let you queue.  I also needed proof that I was vaccinated.  They gave me a queue ticket - and then decided that they'd stop using the queue system (WT???) but I made it to the counter, where this time the process entailed emailing the documents to the person behind the counter, a rope and a screen.  

More cheerful employees.  At the Water Company.  Same day connection. 

And from there to the gas company which is the easiest of the lot (process this time was taking photographs of other photographs on my phone) and a 3 day connection.

Water connected, I do a wash.  And no, washing my "karma" is not an option. I wish!

Which doesn't matter except my stove is still sitting in my hallway and has not been installed and connected to the gas.  The installation guys came and went, promising to come back but...

So now to another thing I have learnt the hard way.

People here are very helpful  but when they decide they can't be bothered helping you anymore, they walk away and you simply don't hear from them. 

This explains the behaviour of the university HR department, the installation guys, university IT and my real estate agent.  

It also PISSES ME OFF.

And since I can't actually move into my apartment without a working stove, an Internet connection, and the things that Ikea failed to deliver to  me, Sim Persistence Evans has had to beg favours of numerous people I have just met and pray that I don't push them over The Ignore Line.

Scary. 

Fortunately, my landlady is also pissed off (although not with me - yet) and wrote to my real estate agent telling her so.  Real Estate Agent forwarded me the messages she'd received from Landlady, asking me what do they mean?  Which is funny because both of them are Turkish and communicating in that language as neither has any English.  

I didn't reply.  I can also draw The Ignore Line when needed, I decide.

My Ikea order.  The highlighted items have not arrived and I have an mattress I don't need and didn't pay for.  Thankfully, Landlady is on it!

I decide to take a day off after these many exploits.  Internet and stove are booked for installation.  Landlady has requested more documents for Ikea.  It's Sunday and there is nothing I have to do.

Even better I realise not only that I am reaching organised a mere 2.5 weeks after arriving, but it is not worse than many situations I have been in before. In fact it's been faster and easier.  

This has given me hope. 

And a sense of gratitude, when so many of my friends are imprisoned in some kind of lockdown, while I ...  can get on with my life. 

Hope you find your freedom soon.

Love,

Sim, The Soon to be Connected.