Just noticed I have never written anything about my beloved Turkey. More than a year already has passed since I left the country for good and I spent no word about one of the most beautiful places on earth. The country who taught me a non-indo-european language in less than two years, the place that showed me some humanity and sense of community which I thought were gone from this planet, the city that showed me that it was possible to feel free, enthusiastic and safe at the same time.
Describing life in Istanbul is hard: one do not really know where to start from and how to sum it up in few words, and only the one who has spent some time in the city will really understand how it feels.
Living in Istanbul was simply one of the greatest experience ever. It is like living not just in a city, but in a whole country. Not just in a country, but in the middle of the world: there is everything, from Muslims, to Orthodox and Jewish. There are bridges crossing continents, busses, metro lines (one even under-water), tramway, seagulls, dolphins and everything you need to feel pure amusement and love for life.
Let me start from the first thing I remember: the moment when I decided to move to Istanbul. I remember that I could not have any idea at all of what it meant. I had no expectations, no images in my mind of how it could possibly be. I just thought it was fair enough to give it a try. The first thing I had see of the city few months back in April 2010 was pretty pleasant. It was a sunny day and Kerem brought me to the Moda Aile Çay Bahçesi, which remained one of my favourite places in the city. Lots of small tea tables facing the Marmara Sea, lots of young people, families and elderly people sitting together in the same garden, looking at the immensity of the sea. Maybe it was when I saw this place that I thought that Istanbul was my place, and it was, for several years, and it will be, in my imaginary.