TURKEY is GOOD!

 

I have to tell about my experience this week which restored my faith in mankind.

I was sharing a taxi home from school with Talie, Enka’s IB coordinator.  She looked at me and said “Would you fancy a drink before going home?”  Of course! I said.  Talie, from England, is getting very good with Turkish and told the taxi driver to stop at an intersection instead of taking us home.  He seemed perturbed.  It was a busy intersection.

Since it was my turn to pay the fare, I quickly took out my wallet and handed over payment. Then jumped from the car.  Talie and I went to a nearby bar we had been to before, but it was closed…maybe another Covid casualty.  We ventured into the Hilton to check out their bar and settled in.  I ordered an Old-Fashioned and Talie an Aperol Spritzer.  At that moment, I began doing my routine check.  Phone, check.  Wallet?  Wallet? 

“Talie I’m not going to panic, but I can’t find my wallet.” Talie, ever cool-headed, asked if she could check my backpack. Nothing.  “I’m going for a walk to retrace our steps.”  I dashed off. 

There are so many people on the streets of Istanbul now.  I wove in and out  of the crowded sidewalk , my eyes glued to the pavement hoping for a miracle.  When I came to the place where the taxi let us out and found nothing, I knew.  Either the wallet fell on the pavement when I got out and someone picked it up or it was in the back of the taxi. 

We had waved this taxi down on the street outside of school.  If I use my BiTaksi app, like I do in the mornings, I would have the name of the driver.  I had nothing.  Talie helped me think things through.  I put a hold on my YapiKredi debit card.  I thought I had my American Visa card in the wallet, so I called Jim to put a hold on it.  Otherwise, there was my Turkish ID card, my Mashattan apartment key card, I’d figure those out later.  What could I do?  I drank my Old-Fashioned, talked with Talie, then walked home. 

I wanted to kick myself.  I try to be so careful!  I have a routine I follow whenever I transition from one place to another.  Leaving a restaurant – Phone, check.  Wallet, check.  Stand up from a bench to board the metro – wallet, phone check! Get out of the taxi at the school door – phone, wallet check, check!   One blessing.  I had not put my Visa in the wallet.  It was in my apartment. 

I fretted about the Yapi Kredi card.  I had 24 hours for the hold.  But, I was impatient and thought the return of my wallet was a hopeless dream.  About 8:00 I called the Yapi Kredi help line (I can press 9 to get an English speaker!) and cancelled my card.  I went to bed.

The desk at the door of my apartment has security 24 / 7.  Whenever there is a deliver, the security person on duty will ring my intercom and ask if this person is allowed up to my apartment.  When the intercom rang at 9:30, I jumped from my bed and ran to press the button to answer.  Could it be?  The person at the desk could not speak English.  But somehow I knew.  A miracle was happening.  I said “I am coming!”  I threw on some clothes and got to the front desk as fast as I could descend 22 floors!  

YES!  My dear reader.  It was the taxi driver from this afternoon.  And yes!  He held out my wallet.  He even opened it to show me nothing was taken.  My surprise. My utter delight.  Is hard to describe.  I pulled out some Turkish lire and handed to him with my Tesekkurler (Thank you!)  I was SO grateful.

As I rode the elevator back up, I kept thinking:  Turkey is GOOD!