It's really cold in here

I'm really, really cold. It's 65 degrees in my new house (18 degrees Celsius) and I'm writing this while sitting on a yoga mat on top of a plastic trash bag, leaning against a pillow because we don't have any couches to sit on in our living room (and the living room is the only place with internet).

On Thursday afternoon, one of our department heads insisted the house was ready to go. Fielding and I moved in that evening, finally, after two months of living in the "guest house" which was basically a hotel...a nice, warm hotel (I miss you, sweet guest house!).

Since our colleagues knew we were getting really, really frustrated with our housing situation, they were all very excited for us. You're house is ready to go! It's okay for you to move in now! They all said with huge grins on their faces. I was in the middle of prepping for mid-term exams and totally exhausted from a long day of teaching, but I rallied a student and his friend and a car, and they helped me move my things.

At first, it was exciting to have our own home, even it was barren (there is little furniture here). My student noticed it was a bit chilly, but I figured that the temperature was right and the heaters were off. Then it started to feel cold, really cold. The temperature sunk down to about 60 degrees F, or 17 degrees C. It kept plummeting. Fielding and I shivered under our wool blankets, wearing wool sweaters and two pairs of pants...and we were still cold.

Then the shower didn't work. The toilet broke. We couldn't turn the stove on to heat water for tea to warm ourselves. We are still missing lots of furniture. I walked to work on Friday without having showered and with no idea how I looked because I didn't have a mirror. I had to use our Turkish squat toilet in the morning. The squat toilet hadn't been used in years and I could see a spider in it...

The next day, they "fixed" everything. It was all working, and we bought groceries to stock the house with. So exciting! (See our happy pic above!) But now, I'm writing this blog and freezing again. The heater's off again and the methods they taught us to fix it aren't working. The toilet's broken again, so we're using a bucket of water to flush it. I think the shower works though...

It's like the Turkish version of The Money Pit without the love story...

It's one of those moments where I have to count my blessings again, remember what I'm grateful for to keep myself from going nuts. But I think I'll make some tea, get under the covers, and grade papers first...