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In 2002 our housing company 'Talma' celebrated its 50th anniversary. In December of that year a big party was organised for the people who have working relations with us. This party consisted of several things, such as music, speeches, sketches and an interactive quiz part with the whole audience. And at the end there was diner for everybody. It was a great succes and people talked about it for a long time afterwards.
There was more celebration for all the employes: two trips were organised, one in the spring of 2003 to The Hague and the big trip went to Istanbul from October 8 till 11. Istanbul was chosen for several reasons. First of all we have a lot of turkish tennants. It's good to learn to know more about their backgrounds and religion. Second thing is that Istanbul is a great city with a big history. It is interesting to see how houses are build, how the homing of so many people is arranged. We would have a guide who is turkish, but born in Holland to explain us things about the turkish way of life. Here's the report from that trip.
October 8
In the afternoon almost all the employes from Talma (not everybody because some of us had other obligations) left the building and we went by train to our national airport Schiphol. We were a group of ten. As you can see on the picture, which was taken on the train station of Groningen, most of chose to take the bag we got from Talma for Christmas last year. Only one had a different idea about this and came with a rucksack. Guess who...
In the plane we killed time by playing all kinds of games. One collegue, Bert, was unusally quiet. It was only long after we left the plane that he told us that the couple in front were reading a very interesting magazine with even more interesting pictures....
At Istanbul airport we met our guide, Sevim Keskinci, who was going to show us Istabul and would explain us many things about the islam. Late at night we arrived at our hotel and after a drink in the lounge we went to sleep.
October 9
After a good breakfast, with so many choices of food that it was impossible to try everything, we went in our bus (we had a bus+driver available the whole time we were there) to a construction site in Istanbul. But for an impression of the hotel, take a look at the place where we enjoyed our breakfast:
We learned a lot about the way houses are built in Istanbul as well as the the way how people buy houses. There appeared to be a huge difference with the situation in The Netherlands. Instead of the 20-30 years mortgage time, in Istanbul people have to pay for their houses in 5-6 years. The main reason for this is the big inflation of money every year. So, turkish people have to save money very good in order to pay off their house in this short time.
For this reason a lot of houses are out of reach for the 'common man'. But every year about 350.000-400.000 people come to Istanbul from other places in Turkey to make a future there. This people are the 'starters' on the Istanbul house market. Tomorrow we will see in what circumstances they live.
In the afternoon we turned into tourists: we saw the underground water reservoirs, the Hippodrome, the Hagia Sophia and the Grand Bazaar. Some of us couldn't resist the temptation in this myriad of little streets full of shops and bought things. More responsible collegues just walked around and sat down to drink a beer.
Below you can see the Hagia Sophia from the outside and the inside.
After the sightseeing we returned to the hotel to prepare for diner later that evening. Diner was in a very special place: an underground watercellar which was turned into a restaurant. The only thing we could see was our own (round) table lit by candles. Even the piano and violin player at the end of the restaurant were out of our sight. This created a very intimate atmosphere and together with the great food and delicious wine it made for a good experience.
After diner we went back to the hotel in front of which were the usual sellers of all kind of things that nobody really needed. But again... some of us were unable to resist the temptation and bought a coat for 10 euro. Until late that night we stayed up to drink something at an old square with new friends.
October 10
This day started, after the usual big breakfast, with a meeting with 3 city planners from Istanbul. They were in fact high civil servants who explained us different aspects of the housing problems in Istanbul. It was all very interesting and it became very clear that the issues they had to deal with, were very different from the problems we have in Holland.
65% of the houses in Istanbul are built illegally, without permission. Once these house are built the government is left no choice and streets and public supplies are being built as well.
In the afternoon we went to areas where people live when they are just coming to Istanbul. It was rather depressing to watch people live in houses that barely deserved that name. But at the same time it was striking to see that these people have build a big and very nice mosque from the little money they have and despite their own poor situation.
Here's an example of one of this areas:
Visiting places like this makes you think twice about your own situation and the fact you take everything you have for granted. People who live there can only dream to have your problems.
After this visit we explored more of the beautiful city of Istanbul. First we had lunch in the Topkapi Palace followed by a tour in this residence of sultans. Then we went to th Blue Mosque which was beautiful inside. At the end of the afternoon there was the possibiliy to go to a haman, a turkish bath. Most of us went there to clean themselves good.
Then we had diner and afterwards we went to a nice place where where a lot of people had gathered to play games like domino and backgammon and to smoke the waterpipe. Of course we had to try this also. Below you can see several pictures of this afternoon.
October 11
In the morning we checked out of our hotel. We visited another mosque, the Suleyman Mosque, before we had a great boat trip on the Bosporus and the sea of Marmara. Here we saw the rich side side of Istanbul. Along the shore are houses worth up till 20.000.000 euro.
After a very filling lunch we went to the airport to fly back to Holland. We said goodbye to our guide, who did a great job.
In the evening we returned home an could look back on an impressive journey. It was also good for the teambuilding, as was intended beforehand.
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