Casa Smith

This post is devoted to our own bit of Turkey, Casa Smith.  We are 104 Blok/ Apt. 11.  It is located in the Middle Campus (there is a main campus and an eastern campus and we sit between them).  Actually we can walk to the main campus in about 10 minutes.  The eastern campus is a bit further and we have not yet ventured there.

There are four identical buildings rising six stories with four apartments on each floor.  We are on the third story and our place in the back which is nice because we look over a fir forest.  Our other exposure is over a children's playground.  The building beyond the playground is yet another building of faculty apartments (faculty apartments are called lojmans in Turkish) but these apartments are smaller than ours and not as nice.  In fact, we are told for the number of rooms, our's are the largest at Bilkent, just over 1000 square feet.

We have two bedrooms (a smaller master and a bigger spare), a very large living area, a decent kitchen and a bathroom with washing machine.  We have a larger balcony off the kitchen and a smaller one off the spare bedroom.  The floors are either tile or wood laminate.  The walls and curtains are all white as are the appliances.  We have a new gas stove/oven and a new (or newer) refrigerator.  The kitchen counters are marble, like nearly all Turkish homes.  The bathroom floor is heated and the rooms are heated by radiators (again, common).

There is no A/C in the building and no elevator.  A large common laundry room has free washing machines and driers (the latter are very rare in Turkey).  Parking is right outside the building.  There are steps that lead down the steep hill to the valley and up again on the other side to the main campus. I can walk to my office in the Rectorluk building in 10 to 15 (rather strenuous) minutes.  By road is much longer because it has to circle around the ravine.

The heating in Turkey is ferocious.  That is, it is super hot inside.  The Turks apparently love their winter heating and like it around 80 degrees or warmer.  So, we have to open windows to counter act this abundance of heat (even though we have turned all of our radiators to their lowest positions).  I expected to be shivering all winter (this is a cold place) but instead I can easily wear shorts and shirt sleeves inside and drink cold beer.  The air is also incredibly dry.  Ankara is a dry place also and there is no humidification of the air.  I don't need to use my blow drier as my hair dries within minutes naturally.

Large living room looking out on pine forest.  Rug courtesy of the Dengiz household.  Randy and Alice have matching desks on either side of the room.

The big bedroom which is the spare with two twin beds and a balcony.

The kitchen with balcony and eat in table.  No dishwasher (well, actually there is and his name is Randy) but good oven/stove and fridge.  A small, oval sink is set in the marble counter.

Bathtub/shower with great water pressure and plenty of hot water, sink with mirror.

Toilet and washer.  Heated floors in the bathroom.

Master bedroom that looks over playground (never seen a child there yet).

Other view towards the built in closet (Alice's domain - Randy uses the wardrobe in the spare bedroom).

Lojman blok 104.  Our apartment is on the third floor in the back left.  We park just in front of the building.

View from the walk to main campus of our building. 

Casa Smith - in middle - balcony off kitchen, living room window and spare room window

Pine forest behind the apartment - huge feral but friendly dogs live here

Other side of Casa Smith - small balcony off spare room and master bedroom window (the one with curtains open)

We count ourselves lucky with Casa Smith.  It is better equipped and more spacious than we dared hope for and the views of pine trees and glimpses of the city lights in the distance are added bonuses.  We are waiting for the spring weather when we can eat and drink each morning and evening on our balcony.  Bugs are not an issue here (no screens needed).  In fact the only animals we have seen from our windows are the beautiful birds called Saksagan (European Magpie or Pica Pica) and the large, presumably outdoor and homeless, dogs that roam.