i have a flat. i have not seen it yet, but saw my flatmates and we will all move in together. the flat is big and stylish (art nouveau) and in neukölln and the flatmates are not this kind of bureaucracy-like as all others. I’m thinking about blaming the national character. all these people who made such a problem about somebody is moving in, wanting to do the procedure perfect and even are perfect in saying no after a one weeks period of deciding. this time it was much more spontanous, about 4 hours after the meeting I got the message … by the way, I am the token german in this flat.

finally I arrived in Berlin and after some hassle to find a base, I started to look for a shared flat. Oh it’s complicated. all I do is search for announcements, call and try to get a date to visit. all that can only be done in th evening. so yesterday I run through three flats to have a meeting with people fed up of seeing masses of people, who move in.
It’s a very strange conversation evry time, what am i doing, how do they share things. I am bored. in the end i leave a contact and say see you. People seem to collect about ten contacts befoere making a decission. Why? If there is somebody interested and not totally wrong for the other people, you just could say, ok, lets try. but like this evryone seem to head for the perfect solution, like they would decide for marriage.
up to now, there are three flats i could imagine to live in, now i am waiting and i will collect another 7, just to be sure, that in the end i will find something, its a gamble game in a way, but I did not say definitly no to anyone, either, just in case i am not the one and only for someone. Why the hell it is complicated like this …

gosh - what a journey, after about 2 weeks seaside, we stepped into the east of turkey, and as I exspected, it really gave me some new point of views. 3 years in istanbul didn`t really show me “turkey”, live in diyarbakır is different even to “kurdish” quarters of the big city.
we had several days we just where discussing, social situation, civil war, the matter of speaking a language, which isn`t accepted, terrorism and ways out of it, ot the option of going to northern irak and start a new kurdistan.
For sure, to sepparate information and propaganda was not easy, but one thing can be sure: nobody, who is stepping east of mersin, can ignore the conflict, and all the idea of a monocultural turkey is illusion.
And I got some idea, why AKP is as strong as it is: While all the “old elite”, the army, CHP …, is considering at least 1/3 of turkey just as an area of “terrorists”, AKP gouvernment is building highways, and being muslim is more important than being turk. That might be an offer to many people, even if it isn`t a democratic in a kind of liberal sense.
beside all these impressions, I had to handle quite a lot of bureaucracy, getting a document to an office, where 3 different offices where involved and all that with internet cafes and public phones. it worked out, but was one of the most difficult adventures, and yes, gouvernment offices do answer to e-mail, sometimes.
now I am in istanbul and it is a little bit strange to be visitor, where I lived for so long time. the next adventure, I have to let a tooth pulled out. oh poor me …