Flowers

I spent a couple days cleaning my balcony a couple of weeks ago. The balcony looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a very long time. It was covered in bird poop. But I finally got it clean enough to walk out barefoot or in socks, and boy was I impressed with my cleaning skillz. After I hit a level one might call "Acceptable", I decided to go for "Awesome". And yes, my flowers are Awesome. 

I bought 100tl worth of planters, flowers, and soil. But then it rained, and I had to wait three days before I could get my flowers into the hanging planters. And then I ruined all my hard work on the balcony. 

But the end result is really nice. I see the flowers as soon as I walk in my front door every day, and the couch faces the window by the balcony. These flowers really make my house feel more homey. 

Ignore the paint that's chipping from the rail. I can't do much about that yet. I have this conflict between wanting to make my house look nice and not wanting to invest too much money into an apartment that I don't own. We'll see what side the rail lands on.

Not Exactly A Best Buy

Since I moved, I have learned so much about running my own house, particularly common sense stuff that seems ridiculous not to know. When I needed a fridge for my house, I thought, "hey i'll try to find something secondhand from craigslist!" This was a terrible idea for me personally. I didn't closely examine this old fridge until I got home and noticed that it was actually moldy.

Ewsogross. I also bought a small stove from this girl. When I got it home, I realized that I didn't know how to attach it to my gas line. Also it required me to light it. Like, hold a match over the gas. No. Thank. You.

So I did what I should have done all along. I bought new stuff. I also had parts of my kitchen rearranged to hold the new stuff, but more on that later. 

Sometimes I feel stupid because I should have thought through both of these purchases a little more, but hey, it's all part of the learning-to-be-a-real-adult process, and none of these are "unfixable" mistakes. Everyone wins. Especially the girl I bought this junk from. 

Pom Pom

I like to think of myself as a crafty person. I really don't consider myself a creative person, but I like the rote production of crafts. Plus, they look pretty. 

Tissue paper pom poms are nothing new but I've gotten pretty good at them. The paper that I use isn't exactly tissue paper, it's close to crepe paper but I think the stiffer material keeps the petals from falling as quickly. I made some for my house!

Look how pretty! There's this awkward space on my bedroom ceiling (I moved, by the way). It's like once the room ended at this arch (that's not very obvious in the photo below) but then someone extended the room. I hung up a nice row of pom poms here. 

The red pompoms are actually more orange so it's not really an America-fest up there. Strangely, they all began falling down last week. One a night. And it scared me a lot because I sleep under them, and they would just lightly "puff" when they hit the bed and wake me up. My ceiling is made of something stronger than staples, so I guess my gentle scotch tape wasn't really made for the long haul. I need to find another method of securing things...

Hacıosman Metro

In the Hacıosman Metro station, there are several large art pieces made from tile. This one is my favorite. 

I took this detail shot on the left side of the trunk, towards the bottom, and at eye level. This tree is huge and intricate, and every time I find myself in this Metro stop, I go out of my way to walk past it. 

Istanbul and tile have a long history. I'm pretty sure these tiles are from Iznik, the same place that the Ottomans had their tiles for palaces and mosques made. 

Pretty things in ordinary places: another reason I love Istanbul. 

Wind

All day I long I pray for wind. The wind is the only thing that helps cool my 90 degree house. At night, the wind does come, and on one hand, I'm super thankful. When I'm chilling waiting for those sweet sweet zzz's to come, I'm relatively cool. But it has a downside. 

Mainly, when the wind blows, the curtain attacks me. Like flaps around and takes over my entire bed. Sometimes it's nice but other times it blocks my face and my computer. I can't see, and I feel trapped by purple fabric. Not a great feeling. 

So the short answer is yes, I'll probably always be able to find something to complain about. 

No Stop Sign

People say the Turks are crazy drivers, and while it's true they don't follow the rules all the time, I think they drive with a lot more common sense than American drivers. They pass when it's convenient, make a third lane when possible, and run red lights if needed. Americans, I think, need rules because they really aren't paying attention. For example, look at this intersection.

Each direction has two lanes for a total of eight lanes intersecting. There is no stop sign. People just cross the intersection when there's a gap in traffic. And it works out for the most part - I've never seen an accident or any evidence of one. I think that if you put a four-way intersection with no stop sign in America, everyone would just plow straight through. They wouldn't register that cars might be coming from a different direction, and they certainly wouldn't stop or slow down for a car passing across. 

This would never work in America. Really, I think we need rules so we can carelessly drive, and when we crash into someone, we know exactly who's to blame. 

Thin Mints

Sometimes I forget that I'm in Turkey - America and Turkey have a lot in common, the least of which is HIMYM. So I just go along my merry way. Sure, things are different but I sometimes forget how different Turkey is from America until I'm confronted with an unbelievable situation. For example, check out this plate of cookies at a party my friend Jenny threw for her boyfriend Berker:

Notice anything? Yeah, those are Girl Scout cookies. The sat on the table for a loooooong time (until I noticed them, of course). The Turks didn't know what they had there. They thought they were just cookies but I was like 'Um, are those Thin Mints?' When Jenny certified that they were, in fact, Thin Mints, I went nuts. Nuts, I tell you. 

Girl Scout cookies that sat undisturbed for a good 2/3 of the party? What? Where am I? Who are these people?