Current Mood:
Angry & 
Confused
You can still read up on what happened in Police Part II and Police Part I
I had very mixed feelings about the events that happened yesterday. For the most part they were frustrating and I was pissed off. I had to go to the police head quarters in Topkapi, Istanbul, to get my residence permit (which I now have!). I got directions from Murat’s uncle and then took the Mercedes (the one Murat said to take).
Before the journey even started, the car had no gas and I had very little money. Last week when I opened my bank account, I stupidly put all my cash in the bank thinking “how long could it possibly take to get my bank card?” It’s Turkey, so forever obviously. Murat never has any money, so I couldn’t get any from him, and his uncle had none, so I had to get all the cash his father had, which almost none. No money and no gas, these were the first two memorable things of my day.
On the way to Topkapi there was unbelievable traffic for 2pm. It took me longer to get to the city than it does when I leave here at rush hour. That’s number three.
Number four is that this place wasn’t where Ahmet said it was, nor was it close. I drove around asking everybody and their mother for directions, everyone of course giving me different directions (not speaking Turkish didn’t help here). I eventually found it and found a convenient spot on a side street not to far from the station. I met with some random guy and he took me in, I signed some papers, they did some photocopies, and I was done in 5 minutes, maybe less.
When I get back to my car, it’s not there anymore. I freak. I look and see there is a no parking sign. Nobody ever pays attention to those signs. The cops go around the city picking up cars with their little crane trucks (it’s actually quite impressive how they lift them right out of the spaces onto the pack of their truck). So I start checking the streets near the intersection and I see my car, traveling away from me about 100 meters down the road.
I break into full sprint (keep in mind it’s 90 degrees with a very intense sun overhead), dodging people, carts, food stalls, tables, cats, sometimes running in the street. I felt like I was running an obstacle course. After about 200-250 meters of sprinting, I caught them and jumped in front of the police car sweating and panting. Some how I managed to communicate that the car was mine, and I called Murat. I gave them 40 lira (about 30 dollars), and they let my car down. I know what you are thinking; Conrad, why would you illegally park near a police station. In hindsight, yeah that was pretty stupid. I later missed a turn and ended up in Asia (not many can say they missed a turn and ended up in another continent). For the whole rest of the day I was a disgusting sweaty mess which was unfortunate because I had a cocktail get together with the Istanbul Ex-New Yorkers club, which as it turned out, only had two Americans (myself included). It was fun though, and now I have a resident’s permit.
Total fines and bribes: 148 lira = 115 USD
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