Allow me, finally, to show you where we really live every day. You see, I've just gotten off the ferry, where I've been forced to look at things like the Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque all the way across the Bosphorus. Then I walk up a big hill, and, to top it all off, I have to walk around this big annoying ugly thing on my way home. It's called Galata Tower.
At night, this archaic piece of "history" or something finally serves a purpose. It's lit all pretty and serves as a beacon for me to watch as it gets closer across the water as I come home from a long day of work. It's alright, I guess...
Next, lets walk down our street, away from the tower.
And here's a pretty building on our street - it's cool and old and very run-down. I don't think anybody lives in it...I hope not, anyway.
And here is our block. I realize I didn't get a picture of our building from the front, but I would've felt a little awkward if the guy who works in the shop on the first floor of our building saw me snapping photos like the tourist that I keep trying not to be. That pile of stuff on the right is the front of the store, where we buy our daily bread, milk, eggs, some veggies, and lots of Coke and chocolate.
These are the stairs of death that lead up to our 5th-floor apartment. For about a week the light at the top was out, and so the last two flights of stairs we had to walk in pitch darkness. That was, well, life-threatening. The very top of the railing is broken off, and so slipping at the top would mean a nice iron skewer through your chest...but these are just the dangers you face in a big city, or something.
And here's our actually comfortingly solid door with double locks and lazer-cut keys. Pretty damn secure, really. I think that's probably good. There's about 16 Sri Lankens living in the apartment on the 3rd floor, and though I think they're all benevolent, having that many people coming in and out of the building and leaving the front door open generally makes me a touch nervous. We're really very safe, though.
And this is our kitchen. It is very small, but totally sufficient (it's like Jason and Judy's old kitchen, but with less light). It is very dark right now, too, because the light broke with an alarming mid-night shatter a couple of weeks ago, and we're not sure what to do about it. But, it's alright - our window keeps it pretty bright, and there's a lamp we can move to light it better, as well.
More kitchen. Behind that door is our washing machine for clothes that works with only minimal coaxing and hasn't ruined anything yet, so thank goodness for that. Do notice the distinct lack of oven in this kitchen, though...with Thanksgiving looming, we may be investing in a small portable electric cook oven, because pumpkin pie just ain't gonna work.
This is the office that Sasha set up in half of her bedroom so we would have somewhere to work and lesson plan and grade papers and such. However, this room has been recently occupied by one of Ayca's friends, so I've taken to doing all of my work in my room or at school. It's okay - it's a nice space, but I, unfortunately, can't really work unless the space is mine, you know? It's a great place to keep all the books and stuff, though.
This is our bedroom. We also have a nice bean-bag chair, now - they have bean-bags with backs here. They kinda look like pairs. But that's our lovely IKEA bed and bedside table Mark and I assembled ourselves. This space is actually right next to the kitchen, and blocked off visually by some curtains we struggled to hang from the ceiling. It's nice and private, and we get to keep all the window light. However, this barrier does not prevent unwanted kitten invasions, which can sometimes be annoying, but oh well.
Speaking of window, this is the view of the Bosphorus from our bedroom. Pretty crappy, huh? This is the dreaded portal of the 5am mosquito that wakes Mark and/or me EVERY morning, however, and I'm sure will be nice and drafty in the winter since it's a wooden and loose-ish window frame. We'll be using some of the heat-trapping tactics learned at the Jefferson house on this one, I think.
And the stairs that are very bizarrely inserted into the house that go up to our second floor.
Here's our living room/TV room, where Mark and I have been watching a lot of Sex and the City lately. That door is also the prime entrance for the nice giant cat who comes in and says hello sometimes and pees on things and fights with our cats. Great. I miss is window screens.
For the mothers and the motherly types who need to know that we are using a sufficiently clean and functional bathroom, here you go. The shower is pretty excellent - hot water and good pressure and all, as long as nobody else in the building turns the water on. It's great in the late morning, though, because the sun comes in that little window.
This is our sitting/eating/coffee/smoking room, or the cats' bedroom. Those green chairs are their territory much of the day. I stupidly didn't take a picture of the view out that window on the left, but rest assured it's a bit better than from our bedroom. Every few days I get to marvel at the GIANT cruise ships that come into port at Karakoy, and you can see all the way to the "other bridge", the northerly bridge, from this window. Pretty sweet. Oh, and the stairs go up to the terrace, with it's also-crappy view. 
I still don't have any pictures from the daytime, but here are some night views from our roof that we pretend was intended as a sitting area, despite the fact that the tar from the roof sticks to the legs of the plastic chairs all the time, and leaks in those places I think. Oh well, they're redoing the whole roof, anyway, and what's a roof for if not to stand on, anyway?
So that's our apartment. Our home, for now. Photos of the roomies and the cats to follow someday, I promise. We do interact with other people sometimes, I promise - we just don't have any photographic proof yet. T.T.F.N.
