Never get influenced by the pessimistic ones!

I go out early today to try finding an apartment for rent or a nice hostel for a week. I have sort of decided that since Judith comes only for a week, it would be nice to stay somewhere with a minimum of privacy and a good location, close to what we will do. But what will we do?? I guess we will be looking at the touristic sights, Mosques, Bazaar etc... So i head for Sultanahmet, a place south of the golden horn, concentrating all those sights.

I decide to walk there since i have seen almost nothing of Istanbul so far except bars and clubs
First i get through a couple cheap hostels, with ridiculous double rooms where the bed covered with a kitch, used,old fashioned and probably full of flees rug takes all the space available. The shared showers are lousy. The perfect place for a backpacker :) Of course the price is low, less than 20 euro a night for two. The owners are telling me they will make a special price for me only, if i pay cash and in advance... Welcome to the east, unlike in the Balkans, here you trade, negotiate and get ripped of :) hehe. An other noticeable characteristic of those sells man (putting themselves as nice devoted hostel runners) is that they will tell you everything is full, this is the cheapest price you will get, the other part of town is packed etc... And no it is not low season yet, its full season. C’mon, there is space in almost every place i knocked at and the winter is clearly kicking in temperatures falling and the tourist place are crowded with eastern people rather than wester Europeans. Yes but it is the time of couples and groups, double beds are all booked!
Anyway, this place s a little to cheap and i will look for something else after finding three times the same price and many available rooms on the same street. Further, hostels are getting classier, more expensive of course. Price doubles but rooms include private shower and toilet, the interior is clearly better. I try to negotiate and manage to get a nice room for 35 euro. But then i find the Anzec wooden house. The owner is present and a lot more friendly. He shows me a double room with 3 beds and tells me he will give it to me for 29. And i should come up for a tea. A common aspect of Turkish hospitality i finally get a taste of after a couple days around. We drink tea on the terrace, on the roof with view on the Bosforous. He tells me there is a huge barbecue tonight, i should come over with my friends if i like! He looks like a bit of a drinker, glassy eyes and tiered face so when he tells me it will be a big party as well and that there will be Rake and beer i believe him!
So i sort of made my decision but still think a private house would be better. Of course, a place with a locked door, a kitchen, no owner around, its own bathroom and a feeling of home would be better. So i call back Aycin, the couchsurfer who posted on the flatmate group announcing a space in her apartment. Of course i can visit! it is always opened! After walking a lot more and being turned away from visiting the university (hidden behind huge walls, the green gardens with trees and statues were attractive but unaccessible) i find the house. It is on the music street, full of shops selling ll sorts of instruments. Again i see a great shot but have no camera. Two old men are sitting in their shop with a big broad smile, listening to music, shaking themselves and some sparkling ribbons.
As i find the house, i first have to walk through a shop selling all sorts of old goods and as i talk to the owner i am taken upstairs to visit. The living room is full of people and bikes, talks and lots of laughter announce a great atmosphere! But the room is tiny. As i say there will be two of us and i need a double bed i am taken downstairs. One of the couple living there is moving out. The double room is free and it is really nice but i wont get it if i stay a week only. Too expensive for a month, it is a bit of a disappointment. It would have been a lot cheaper and a lot more like a home Even though i figure it would be realy cold soon and that the place is full of flees. I still sit down for a while to chat with the remaining couple. They are from Melbourne, sipping beer and telling me they will stay in this place three more weeks at least before they get something really nice to spend the winter in. The men looks like a bit of an artist cliché, wild hair, broad smile and sparkling eyes. His friend also has sparkling eyes and is completely passionate about everything happening or said. Remembers me a lot about Micheal in Sarajevo. And we talk a bit about Sarajevo, they want to go in the Balkans next. They are very warm and nice people and will change a bit the balance of what has been said about Istanbul. They have been here only a week or two but love it already. The Turkish friendliness, the huge city and everything going with it.
After an hour or two of talk with them, i have a couple more addresses to check out and i am already changing my mind about staying is Istanbul for longer. They have a very different opinion about working in Istanbul, positively sure they will find something, actually the girl found something already. And the men could be lecturing philosophy at university next semester...
From the three places i was told about and visited, one had a room, the manager is young and friendly, the place is called Chill Out :) the living room is filled with friendly, smart looking people. Not smart in a serious way but rather in a simple and social way. I am invited to come for tea if we don't decide to stay. As i walk out this hostel where i was again told i could get an apartment for a month for 600 lira (about 300 euro), i regret i didn't look for my own flat. I probably would have found something easily for 400 or 500 lira in a nice spot. Something like a studio. Even if i stayed less then a month, it would have been worth it compared to the 400 lira we will pay for the Hostel. Because no chance i find an apartment in less than 24 hours.
So in the end i find myself walking the street and regretting that i listened to those bad opininon about Istanbul and that in stead of looking through couchsurfing, i didn't look up a privat apartment straight away. Will have to do this later now. I realize that what people have told me and the easiness of finding a shared flat with english speaking turks has brought me away from my original goal. I wanted to find a private place to rest, a place for myself, a place called home, not share a couch for a month rather than a couple days, i wanted to be able to host and invite friends over: Judith for starters of course, then Laura, Goce from Skopje, maybe other friends taking a cheap easyjet flight over here and maybe Tonin and his company for new years eve...
Plus it is getting cold so i don't really want to be moving and sleeping outside anymore and rather stay here as i planed, get a small job and wait for the Turkish and Lebanese mountains to be full of snow!
Anyway to late for this now, i will look for a flat next week if i don't change my mind again! As i am getting really tired and walk to the metro station, i meet Ada and Javier on the street! Even in Istanbul this is possible! We go for a traditional dinner, a very good thing since today i had only nuts and water... Delicious lentil soup, tasty meat rolled in Eggplant and toped with half a tomato. The spicy meal heats up my mouth and the yogurt comes in handy to chill out all these flavors. Since we all feel like sweets, we continue and taste a speciality for desert. Pudding! yes yes this aint strictly English and i must say they have at least as much varity when it comes to it. But the consistency remains strange and not so much my taste.