Veda Etmek O Kadar Zor Mu?

Istanbul is a bloated, megalithic, and dirty city, marked by horrendous traffic, continual roadwork, honking horns and inconsiderate drivers. You can't find a good kepab; kalamari is better in other countries; and the summer humidity is suffocating....

I could go on with the disadvantages of Istanbul. But despite it all, the attraction, lure and desire to sit with a tulip glass of çay next to the Bosphorus, probably the world's most important waterway -- if not its most beautiful, is so irresistable that those that depart from its sweaty embrace find it difficult to stay away for long.

I have left about five times, and I am about to do so again for a sixth. My contract has ended, and the desire to buy a bus ticket for a very strange and far-off Anatolian destination is too powerful to avoid.

I will travel for a few weeks before returning to Canada for a master's program; All the while, however, there is the knowledge that one can't spend too much time away from here without a powerful sense of longing...

İstanbulsuz bir hayat hiç yaşamak istemem...