BasBasBas.com

Author: Bas

  • Changes

    The last few days my blog has gone through a few changes, mostly because I haven’t been able to come up with good content, so I figured I’d invest my energy differently. Why am I not able to come up with good content? I’ve had a stomach or intestinal flu for about 3 or 4 weeks now and since I’m going to Bulgaria this weekend, I wanted to be better so I decided to actually go to the doctor. The campus doctor’s consult was free of charge, and after describing my stool in detail to the medical student of my age (very weird, not to mention awkward) who then translated it for the doctor, I was prescribed some medicine. I don’t know what’s in this medicine, but woah, my mind’s completely unfocused! I’m curious as to what the medicine actually is (besides very, very cheap compared to Holland!), but in this state I keep forgetting to Google/Wikipedia it once I get to a computer. Nice.

    Anyway, for this reason I’ve been unable to come up with intelligible stories, hence the lack of updates. I’m doing well though, I feel I’m getting better and my classes have started and they’re interesting! Oh, and tomorrow I can finally apply for my residence permit!

    Okay… so what have I changed/updated on my website? And why?

    • I got FeedSmith and transferred my RSS feeds to FeedBurner after reading an article at Rockfuse about messing up your RSS feeds 😉 .  I did this so that I could track my feed subscribers better. I was quite surprised when I found out I had about 36 subscribers, instead of the 15 I expected. I proudly put up my feedreader count at the right and an option for people to subscribe by email. Thanks to you all for subscribing!
    • I put my Entrecard widget to the left sidebar because it loads before the rest of the page. It’s really important to have your widget in the part of the page that loads the fastest, because many droppers just want to drop as fast as possible and it earns you credits to advertise!
    • This freed up space for an “above the fold” banner at the top right side of my page! It’s still rather cheap, so go place your ad now!
    • I put in a cool weather widget so you can see the weather I’m having here!
    • I removed my MyBlogLog widget after reading an alarming post about the type of information they’re releasing (accessible to everyone!) about your blog. Not cool!
    • I added a contact form, which can be reached by navigating to the bottom of the page and finding the contact link.
    • I put the link for announcing my Entrecard topdroppers reward closer to the ‘drop’ button. In case people miss when they click, they’ll see the reward system (and hopefully keep dropping here). Also, they’re more likely to notice the rewarding if they’re just here for a fast drop.
    • I also put the PayPal donation button under the Email subscriber form, because I think people with their attention focused on that part of the page are also more likely to donate. Not that I really expect anyone to donate, but who knows. 😉 A button can’t hurt.
    • That’s about it. I also uploaded a new header image that you’ll see when you visit category pages.
    More Istanbul (and Bulgaria!) adventures very soon! Right here.

  • Expat Experience Blog Carnival!

    A blog carnival is like an online magazine with a collection of the best (usually recent) blog posts on a particular topic. For examples you can just Google “blog carnival” and any given keyword of what you’re interested in, such as “travel” and you’ll find quite a few of these. It’s a great way to get your blog out there and it’s also nice to discover other bloggers in your niche, and network with them. Besides that, it builds traffic and pagerank, because of linkbacks (if that’s what you’re interested in).

    I haven’t been able to find any expat blog carnivals, so I decided to set one up myself. Therefore, I’m calling for all expat bloggers to submit their materials for the first edition of the Expat Experience blog carnival!

    How to participate? Simple. Just go to the Expat Experience submission page, select one of your most fascinating, well-read, recent posts and submit it for the next issue! Piece of cake.

    When the next issue is posted, I’ll link every article back to the original blog posts (and main blog page), but I also expect people to show off their submission in the blog carnival and link back to the carnival. If you think the quality of the carnival is sub par, then don’t link it. It’s all up to you, but it would be nice to create a buzzing community. 🙂

    Want to earn 300ECs (or a 2 week 125×125 banner on my site) and public recognition in the next issue of the blog carnival? Design us a cool banner that communicates the global expat experience with a width of 475 pixels! Whoever’s design is picked gets the prize!

    So what are you waiting for! Submit your articles and leave your link below to show your participation!

    Visit Expat Experience on BlogCarnival.com.

  • 24 Hours of Ups & Downs

    Well, just a quick update about the last 24 hours. It’s a perfect display of bad and good things coming hand in hand, as they should. 🙂

    Most importantly is probably having more or less sealed the deal with our landlord. He will put in some extra furniture, provide more cutlery, some bowls and some other stuff. Besides that, he will get the window I broke repaired… I don’t have to pay for it. What a load off my shoulders. 🙂

    After that I went to eat somewhere with my flatmate Daniele, from Italy. We headed over to a particular place where I knew they offered vegetarian dürüm. They recognized me and the theory I called ‘The Vegetarian Sandwich‘ seems to be true. I noticed before that upon returning to the same place a few times, they give you more and more for the same price. Here was no different. We ordered food for about 18.50 lira (about 10 euros). When we went to pay they charged us just 15. A nice surprise, so we paid and I figured we got our drinks for free. As we were standing outside, somewhere down the road, one of the guys from the kebab place ran towards us. I figured they had realized their mistake. They had… He gave me back another 1.50, so in total we only paid 13.50 and thus got 5 lira off… That’s more than a quarter of the price. Awesome. I don’t care so much about the money… It’s just great that they show your appreciation for coming back. You’re not just customer #2739.

    Then we went to a house party… When returning home it was quite cold outside. Still being a little sick, my body didn’t enjoy it (understatement) and my stomach started rebelling quite seriously. We got a taxi, because I needed to be warm and home as fast as possible. Now I’m quite sure that I actually have some flu or viral infection related to either my stomach, or more likely, intestines. Even though physically I feel worse, mentally I feel slightly more comfortable since this is something I had before in Spain (5 or 6 years ago). I was lying on the beach as it was getting cold and windy and contracted this flu. It kept me inside my holiday apartment the whole week, never more than 20 metres away from the toilet. This is a bit different, but last night was a good wake up call that I should take it really easy this weekend. It also stopped me from being so stubborn and listen to my girlfriend’s advice of what to eat and what not to eat. 😉

    I think I’ll go to the infirmary this Monday, which is on-campus… If that’s the appropriate place to go. I just need antibiotics I suppose. But this weekend is for resting and taking it easy. No parties. I need to travel next week.

    So a typical Istanbul day for me… filled with ups and downs 😉 I’m so looking forward to get rid of this sickness though… It has been holding me back since I got here (yes, I’ve had it for about 3 weeks now – sometimes almost absent, but now very present). I don’t have a picture to go with this post, but imagine how you’d feel after drinking the juice in the picture below and you’ll know (more or less) how I’m feeling right now 😉

  • What’s this guy saying?

    So a few times per day this guy, and similar guys, come through my street selling 2nd hand stuff from their carts. To let people know they’re there, they yell something like “Yehhhhhhh”. It sounds really weird. Like a very, very sick mule.

    Besides these, we have accordionists walking the street, stopping on every corner to give their concert and wait for people to throw money out of the windows. Men that sell bread (they carry a huge stack on their head), gypsy women that sell flowers, people that collect water tanks to get them refilled for you… and I’m sure I’ll be seeing more of these professions soon… (and recording and uploading them of course ;-)).

  • 10 Things That Frustrate Me In Istanbul

    As much as I’m enjoying Istanbul, there are also things that frustrate me or have frustrated me in the first weeks after my arrival. I felt a comprehensive list was in order. 😉

    10) People thinking I’m a tourist.

    I generally dislike being seen as a tourist. I’m not a tourist. I prefer to discover places by living there instead of just going there and not truly experiencing it. I did this for Sofia, Bulgaria and I’m doing this for Istanbul. I have a negative opinion of most tourists and don’t want to be perceived or treated as such. However, it’s hard to hide the fact I don’t belong here, because of my Irish skin and blue eyes, but I don’t mind being seen as a foreigner. Hopefully I’ll be seen as a foreigner who lives here as time passes. Which brings me to the next point…

    9) Getting ripped off.

    Like in Bulgaria, if someone thinks they can take advantage of you, they will. This is true just for a minority of people (and a great majority of people at the bazaars 😉 ), but whenever it happens it’s very annoying. The first weeks I was very cautious of it, but it seemed to happen more… Or maybe I’ve just realized something about Istanbul that I didn’t realize before.

    8 ) Istanbul is not as cheap as I thought it would be.

    When I paid 4 lira (about 2 euros) for a coffee on a terrace somewhere, I was sure I was getting ripped off. Looking back, maybe I wasn’t. It’s a very mixed city and in one street you can find a tea or coffee in a bar for just 1 lira, but in the next you can pay 6 or more. Apartments are cheaper than in Holland, but not by much. Although I’m comparing furnished apartments in Istanbul to unfurnished apartments in Holland. This difference makes it a lot harder to settle in Istanbul than it was to settle in Sofia. Sofia, for a Dutchman, is cheap… for now.

    (more…)

  • Entrecard Topdroppers get EC’s!!

    For those of you that are not familiar with Entrecard, click here.

    For all the visitors from Entrecard, I have a special deal for you which I’m sure you’ll enjoy. Add my blog to your daily dropping rounds and get credits! At the end of the month, I will spend 1000 credits on the top 3 droppers.

    Number one gets 500 credits.
    Number two gets 300 credits.
    Number three gets 200 credits.

    So get to dropping on my Entrecard widget and please try to participate on my blog. I have SezWho installed, so it’s yet another way to earn credits… Oh and if you drop, I follow! 🙂

    Happy dropping!

  • Beautiful Istanbul Sunset

    As said in the previous posts, I live very close to the sea. The first evening that I was in my apartment, I got a bit bored and went to walk around a bit. I found a gorgeous sun setting in the sea. Check out the video below… It’s really soothing, relaxing, meditative. 🙂

    Sorry for the crooked horizon… see it as artistic expression.

    Subscribe to my RSS feed now! 🙂

  • The Apartment!

    I have my flat and here’s the video! Enjoy!

    Oh, and within the first 24 hours I:

    • Locked myself out while my music was on waaaay too loud. Leading to complaints (in Turkish) from my neighbours when I finally returned to my flat with another set of keys. Of course I couldn’t explain the situation.
    • Shortly after that I broke the cable of my laptop.
    • At about 5 o’ clock I decided to close some windows to keep the noise out. There is one central open area in my building that connects the windows from all the bathrooms and kitchens. Quite noisy in the morning I imagine. Apparently I didn’t close the window properly, so imagine how noisy it was when it opened again and fell down and shattered in my kitchen… I think I woke everyone up. Way to go Bas!

    Let’s hope that’s the last of my bad luck in this apartment. 😉

    You can read about my struggles finding it by clicking here.
    Like to read about and see more of Turkey, Istanbul and my experiences in the region? Subscribe by RSS or click here for email updates.

  • Apartment.. Apartment… Apartment….

    The last few days have been rather stressful so I haven’t been blogging as much as I’d like to. An update…

    I have an apartment!

    And what a hassle it was. This weekend I made an appointment with a real estate agent to check out a few flats in Göztepe and surroundings, which is in the Kadıköy part of the Asian side of Istanbul. We saw a few places, but they were a tad expensive and it wasn’t sure if we could put 4 people in… If we could put 4 in, we’d have no problems at all.

    I saw some really nice places that, had I not been a poor student, would have said yes to right away. Alas, it was not to be… yet ;-). The situation was that my friend M. and I basically wanted to move out of the dorms as soon as possible. As a matter of fact, we HAD to move out of the dorms… M. had to move that same day. Two of the people who would be living with us however, were not present since they were on a trip somewhere in Turkey and would not return before the weekend. The place we chose was 1600 YTL (about 900 euros), which is okay, but before we could move in we had to pay 1600 YTL rent, plus 1600 YTL deposit, plus 1800 YTL service fee for the real estate agent (12% of one year’s rent). We immediately got stressed about this, but M. was more worried about not being able to enter her dorm anymore and/or having to move to another dorm that same night.

    We headed back and once we got to the ferry from the Asian to the European side of Istanbul I started calling friends to see if we could crash somewhere until we were able to secure the flat. Michael, one of the Italian people in my Turkish language course, gave me the number of Donato, another Italian guy who already had a flat and had mentioned he was looking for 2 more people. I wouldn’t be interested for staying there for a long time, since it’s on the European side and my university at the Asian side, but it’s better than being homeless of course.

    When we got off the ferry, M. went to her dorm and I went to mine. In the meantime I called Ola, a Polish girl who I’m going to share the flat with, who was on a trip way outside Istanbul. She was happy to hear about the fact that we had a flat and she was definitely in. I told her to find a fourth flatmate and she said she was on it… With enthusiasm 🙂

    Once I got to the dorms I asked the administration if it was possible for me to stay longer and they gave me until Friday. I then called Donato on his Italian number (only number he has) from my Dutch number (I didn’t have anymore credit on my Turkish phone) to see if I could arrange something for my friend M. He said he’d have a look. I then had to see how in the hell I could secure enough money soon enough, so that I could move into the flat.

    (more…)

  • spacescape – FrigginChicken (Eclectic Mix Download!)

    As I’ve stated before, in my free time I love mixing music and DJ’ing, especially if I can get a little creative and experimental with it. I made a mix the other day in the dormitory I blogged about and I’m very happy about the result.

    Eclecticism at its best in this set containing dub, minimal, breakcore, dubstep, grime, world fusion, breakbeat and psychedelic. Not much to add. Just exploring the waves of electronica. Enjoy!

    Tracklist
    Omar Faruk Tekbilek & Steve Shehan – Ya Bouy (Shulman Remix)
    Headphonics – Corrupt & Immoral
    Nagual Sound Experiment vs Ital Roots – Forward
    Younger Brother – Sleepwalker Part 2
    Shulman – Fromage
    Ed Davenport – Apples
    Dave Seaman – Gobbledygook (Jori Hulkkonen Remix)
    Combichrist – Red Signal
    The Bug – Murder We ft. Ricky Ranking
    Mood Deluxe – The Living Receiver
    Beat Bandits – O.I.T.S.
    Venetian Snares – Öngyilkos Vasárnap
    Ott – Evil Do’ers
    Venetian Snares – Senki Dala

    Click to download as MP3 (VBR), 78 minutes

    Enjoy! And support the artists when you get the chance!

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