Esther BRUNNER

The simple question “Nasılsınız” (How are you?) by the caretaker completely takes me by surprise and unable to understand nor respond I hastily nod and walk off. One week after arriving in Turkish I’m left to myself as my boyfriend is off to work.

Determined to not let my lack of Turkish keep me from exploring the neighbourhood I leave the house in search for Büyükçekmece, a nearby suburb by the Marmaris sea. Having been stunned by already by the grim looking housekeeper, I’m off to find a bus. Not an easy task when you can’t even remember the name of the suburb you are heading to. Bravely I stop a man on the street, point in what I think is the right direction and repeat “Büy…, Büy.. Buyu…”. After curiously staring at me for what feels like an eternity and watching how I pantomime swimming, the man seems to finally understand what I’m looking for and casually drops the name of the suburb. Unable to even repeat it I get him to write it down for me in my diary. First step achieved, – always good to know where you want to go – I start asking for a bus. Assuming that bus somehow must be international – after all it’s the same in German – I try different potential ways of pronouncing the word bus. With no luck. Probably convinced he’s come across a lunatic the man simply walks off. Vaguely knowing the direction I start walking, trying my luck along the way. After having been invited to a hotel room by a construction worker with a mouth full of golden teeth from Azerbaijan – as it turn out the word hotel is international – my sense of adventure slowly disappears and I am close to turning around and walking back the 200 metres I have covered so far. Fortunately my pride kicks in and I keep walking. By now almost afraid to speak to anyone I just keep walking until I reach E5, a major road going through all of Istanbul. Just in time I remember the free service buses the shopping centres in Istanbul offer. Finding a shopping centre around my neighbourhood is something that is easy and surely enough I find myself in front of a line of minibuses. With my diary open and pointing at the word Büyükçekmece I tensely walk up to a group of bus drivers. One of them grabs it and all of them at once start talking to me in their animated Turkish style. Unsure of what to do I just stare at them until even the slowest amongst them realizes that I don’t understand one word of what they have just said. Not long and I finally sit in one of the minibuses, which takes off not too long after. After circling around the neighbourhood for about 20 minutes I catch a glimpse of the sea. Relaxed I sit back and enjoy the rest of the trip – not without being asked of course if I’m married (a very common question in Turkey, even to strangers) or if I want to marry the bus driver (not quite sure which one it was). Getting out of the bus and facing the sea I feel a true sense of achievement. And that even though a 10 minute car trip turned into a 2 hour journey.

Esther Brunner is from Austria and came to Istanbul after living in Australia for five years.