We are the village, or more specifically, the apartment complex’s idiots. As we are the only foreigners living here, and we don’t speak the language, we just never know what is going on. Turkey is definitely a class-conscious country, and we live in a higher end apartment block, which services lawyers, doctors, university professors and the like. To begin with, we are on the low-end of the food chain here, so we like to keep a low profile.
Our apartment complex was pretty new when we moved in, and at this point it probably has about a 45-50% occupancy rate. We have guards or maintenance men, or whatever it is called that goes around and takes care of, well, everything. It is gated, so there is a guard shack. We have the cleaning personnel, and we have overall maintenance. These people who hold these menial jobs are here to provide a service for us. They get a kick out of us, because the typical Americans that we are, who laugh in the face of class distinctions, like to wave and greet them and treat them like real people. Thankfully, I think our friendliness has served us well, because as bumbling as we are as tenants, they take really good care of us.
There have been a number of incidents to highlight our stupidity, but there is one that really illustrates the point.
Not long after we moved in some technicians from the water utility came to put a “box” on our line. We were aware of this, but really didn’t have a clue what it really meant. A few days or so later, we lost water. We informed the maintenance guy and he reassured us and said it was because the water people were still working on the lines. No problem…except our water didn’t come on for two days. Ok, I don’t know about you, but two days without water really starts to stress me out. I don’t want to have to go to the gym to take all of my showers.
We tell the maintenance man again, and he comes up to our apartment and this flashy credit card looking object, swipes it in our new water box and voila, water! He doesn’t talk, mainly because he knows we wouldn’t have understood a word he said anyway.
Three weeks later, we get a call from our landlord. He asks, “Do you have water?” Well, of course we did, why wouldn’t we? The guy fixed it.
The landlord goes on and tells us that if we still have water, it is a miracle. The maintenance man had put three units on our meter, which should have only lasted up to about two weeks. We would be running out of water very, very soon. We needed to take our flashy card, which no one had given us, and put more units on it at the bank.
So, we search down maintenance, find our card, load up on Turkish lira and head off to the bank. This accomplished, we are confident, that we could swipe our card, and we would be in water utopia.
Not so. We couldn’t, no matter what either of us did, get that damn card to go in the meter. With our spirits crushed and our heads hung low, we reluctantly trudge to the maintenance office to confess our sins. The receptionist was the only one there, and is not as accustomed to our “quirks” as the guys are, so she snaps, “You have to try harder!” I felt like I was one of my students being admonished for not giving it my best. She charges up the elevator, slams the card in the slot, and yes, we have water. A happy ending….for now.