Ne işin fln part 2

  

Just to recap: Ankara - dry, ugly, bureuacratic.

And so, friends,  why?

Firstly, its a little known fact that every Monday in Ankara the local councils give EVERYONE IN THE CİTY 500 LİRA. On the first Tuesday of the month, its free beer at all restaurants and bars. Transport is free, and all the taps in houses have 3 settings: water, beer and ice tea. If you want to go on holiday from Ankara, you are provided with a free bus ticket to your chosen location and will be directed to a house where you can stay, no payment, at your leisure. There is a city wide law that no one is allowed to be an asshole. Seriously - you can get fined 1000 lira on the spot for being an asshole.

OK, some or all of that may have been a total lie. I stay here cause I like it. I like the weird and funny people I meet. The food is good. Its small. Living in such a shit city, no one takes themselves too seriously. And in spring, when the trees and flowers are in bloom, its not so ugly after all.

Ne işin var burda?

Every week I get asked at least a hundred times a week, possibly a thousand depending on how inquisitive my customers are or how often I speak to my parents, 'What the fuck are you doing in Ankara?'

In order to fully explain the answer to this question, I have decided to provide you with possible motivaions behind the question.

1. Ankara is located in a semi arid desert. It's as dry as ones mouth after drinking ten beers. There are no notable natural water feaures to speak of. Well, there are some lakes but in Australia we would call them puddles at best. Australia is the driest continent on Earth. Think about it.

2. It's ugly as hell. I mean really ugly. Possibly, in the 70's, that Dad off the Brady Bunch was given the brief to deign Ankara and was rejected cause his designs were too beautiful. For all those who have visited Canberra, imagine that city, then remove the man made lake, then feed it ugly pills, then burn it, then get it rebuilt by a blind Soviet architect, then possibly you may have some clue of how gross it is.

3. Its full of people that are there cause they have to be, and boy are they pissed about it. Students, bureaucrats, politicians, those forced to move here for work, all asking the question 'Why in God's name, when I could live in İstanbul, or on the Med, or in the hills of the Black Sea, or in a pleasant village where I get woken up by chickens and shit, am I here in Ankara?'

Answer to come Thursday.