OK - So I fell off the wagon !

I know. I know. I was supposed to go a full five days. I managed one. Perhaps when you read today's events you will understand why :-).

The morning was grand. Cleaned the place up a bit as the dust settles so quickly here (it's a constant battle). Did some paperwork for finances. Spoke to Rosie and Al (Paul's sister). Went to get more money out of the bank (why not - I am an expert in that department now). Made an awesome salad after a trip to the supermarket next door (it's no bigger than a dance-floor but they have everything we need - and I even found wine in there today. 2 Lira more expensive than the shop in town - but that's a small price to pay. And I do make a great salad with salty cheese and olives now). And then I went for a Turkish lesson.

So pleased as I write this as it proves I did achieve something today after all. Paul has spent most of the morning studying - as he should ! But it started to go downhill for me at the Turkish lesson. The others in my group are all (a) 20 years younger than me, with faster processing skills and (b) have been living in Turkyie for more than a year and are therefore used to the language. But I still get deflated when I'm not top of the class ! There was so much to take in, and so much homework to do. I must, I must improve my Turkish ! I am now committing to at least 30 minutes each day doing homework and repeating copious phrases and words.

So, head buzzing, I met Paul at the bus stop to take the Dolmus (minibus) into Bakirkoy to get some documents notarised for the shipping company.  (Paul did point out, very nicely, that he is learning a lot too. But learning Turkish can't be harder, or any less responsible, than flying a plane can it ???). Now, if you have been following this blog you will know that red-tape is an absolute nightmare over here. And this afternoon didn't disappoint.

So what was supposed to happen was :
- We turn up at the notary's office
- We meet a translator that Vahap had enlisted (at our cost of course)
- The notary verifies our rental contract and creates a Power of Attorney document (at our cost of course)
- We leave after 30 mins with the documents we need

So, what really happened was :
- We turn up at the notary's office (on time, no issues)
- We call Vahap to say that there is no translator there
- Someone calls Paul's name - he doesn't speak a word of English. (the Not-Translator).
- The not-translator takes our documents, has some issues processing them and hands the phone over to Paul - we are now introduced to the actual translator (the Phone-Translator).
- Said documents cannot be processed as no-one told us that we need to present the tax-id (which is completely different to the id on Paul's card, which everyone calls the tax-id)

Still following ? It gets worse !

- Paul has several calls with Vahap at this point who then scurries away (he's in Ankora) to find (later on) a copy of Paul's tax-id signed by Paul 3 weeks ago - this man has access to all sorts of documents - scary !!!
- The not-translator walks us a few blocks up to the town into a government office, where we go straight past all the queues (we have to be paying for something ! ) to see an official lady who flatly refuses to verify our contract as we don't have any proof that we actually live there at the moment - apart from a contract, but that doesn't count apparently !
- The not-translator then takes us up to another part of town and into (as it turns out) his wife's office. Now she is a translator - but her English is crap !! She is a Document-Translator.
- The phone-translator than calls Paul (her English is excellent) and requests more info, but doesn't tell us what is going on.

Stay with me - it gets worse !

- Caglan then calls me out of the blue to see how my day is going. I almost cry, start the story and then the battery dies. So he calls Paul and asks to speak to me. (One pissed off Paul as Caglan won't deal with him when I'm around. He's a lovely lad :-) )
- Caglan then speaks to the not-translator so that he can tell us what is happening ! But not before he uses his favourite phrase about 20 times - "That man is stupid ! Why did you ask him to help ? "
- Vahap then calls Caglan to "help".
- So now we have been to 3 offices, spoken to 3 translators, and Caglan and Vahap, and still don't have a clue what's happening.
- Oh and the document-translator has kindly translated Paul's passport into Turkish (yes, yes I know - a passport is a passport right ?? Apparently not over here ! ). And we don't even need it at this point. But it might come in useful at some point I suppose.

We're nearly there ....

- We go back to the notary's office, and start processing the paperwork. The tax-id has been found, we don't need an electricity bill, and the phone-translator turns up in person and is a great help.
- We hand over another large sum of money (to the notary and the not-translator)
- We leave after 2 hours, 2 kms, 3 offices, and 5 helpers, with the documents we need

So we now have everything we need to get through to the next level of this adventurous game. Roll on the visits to the Shipping company to deal with Customs officers ! Bring it on !

And that, my friends, is why I felt in need of a good G&T !!!