Last Day in Iskenderun

 The last few weeks have been a time of great news and great uncertainty. While I got a new job offer from Italy, it seems that getting the job was the easiest part because the next phase came with a list of challenges. Acquiring the visa would've otherwise been easier had I been in Canada. I wanted to apply for this visa given to Canadian citizens as part of an agreement between Italy and Canada. The Italian consulates in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal offer a lot of specific information about this visa on their sites. And according to Toronto, I should've been able to apply for this visa anywhere around the world. This is a view that wasn't shared by the Italian consulate in Izmir.

The consulate in Izmir has been the greatest source of stress for me regarding the visa process. Exactly 12 days ago, I'd sent them an email in English, thinking that there may be international staff at the consulate. The following day, I called them and I realized the staff was mainly Turkish. They asked me to send them another email, explaining my situation to them and that they'd get back to the email because the operator didn't have a lot of information for me. In fact, he went so far as to tell me that the specific visa I was asking for didn't exist. I emailed them again, including a copy of my signed contract in the message. I called back at some point after hearing from the consulate in Toronto who had told me I should be able to apply for this from any Italian consulate around the world. That's when the operator let me talk to another member of staff for the first time. This lady I spoke to tried to inform me that the visa I was asking about didn't exist. 

I told her all about this visa and she excused herself to talk to someone in the background in Italian. She, then, told me that they'd get back to my email within 7-10 days. About a week went by and not having heard back from them, I called them again. I was told that I should've attached my contract in my initial email if I wanted a response from them. Having forgotten myself that I had actually attached the copy of the contract, I told them it was ridiculous that they only mention this now and that it should've been mentioned right from the start. He told me that it wasn't his responsibility to tell me anything. After we hung up, I found that I had indeed included a copy of the contract. They called me back a few minutes later to ask where I resided, a question they had asked me a week before as well. I suspect that they were hoping I said I lived anywhere else but Izmir and that they would no longer have to deal with me as there are two other consulates in the country. I told them I lived in Izmir and that I had included a copy of the contract in the email sent 11 days ago from today. Not surprisingly, there was no accountability or responsibility taken for the words that came out of his mouth; no apology, nothing.

The best update to all of this came from John at my new school in Italy who told me to just come without the visa. Canadians get 90 days on arrival in Italy anyway. I was so relieved to have bypassed the Italian consulate in Izmir. I thought I'd no longer have to deal with them. However, after looking up Schengen Zone rules, I found the 90/180 rule which states that non-EU citizens can only stay a period of 90 days for every 180 days. After staying for my first 90 days, I wouldn't just be able to come back after a day or two outside the Eurozone to stay for another 90 days. If I stay out for 20 days, I can come back for up to 20 days. If I want to stay another 90 days, I'd have to wait somewhere outside the EU's borders for 90 days.

This complicated things and meant that I should get back to Izmir anyway just to be ready to visit the consulate if necessary. And actually, this story intersects with another story that played out around the same time. My dad had informed me a few weeks ago that he was about to buy a car in Eskişehir, a city close to Ankara. Baba is in Montreal and he wanted me to go to Eskişehir, pick up the car, and drive it back to Izmir. I had purchased a ticket to Eskişehir for yesterday (Friday) and on Thursday night, I got a message from Baba telling me that the plans to buy the car fell through. Apparently, the owner raised the price at the last minute, well after they had already reached an agreement. This bothered Baba and he opted out of buying the car. I cancelled my ticket and I got the news from John in Italy the same night. I was relieved and thought I could spend another week here before going to Izmir where I would eventually pass by to see my grandparents one more time before flying out of Adnan Menderes International Airport.

However, due to the 90/180 rule I decided the following day that it'd be best to be in Izmir just in case I gotta make a consulate visit or two. And so my new bus tickets have already been purchased for tonight. I ride out at quarter past eight. It's 4pm as I write this now. My bags are 90% packed. I'm going to finish writing this and then pack up the motherboard as well. And after a shower, we'll have dinner and then watch the first half of the Beşiktaş - Fenerbahçe match before heading to the terminal. I'll arrive in Izmir around noon tomorrow.

Also worth mentioning is that I was sick for all of November. I got sick at the end of October and found out two weeks into the sickness that it was Covid-19. I tested negative three weeks after being sick but much of the symptoms stuck around. Today, I feel much better than I did a few weeks ago. However, the combination of not having lived in a four-season country for the past seven years meant that some of the symptoms persisted. Last year around this time, I'd gotten Covid as well and it lasted 12 days. The two experiences were worlds apart. For example, I rarely ever coughed last year. And by the end of my sick period, I was already feeling well before testing negative. This year, I tested negative long before feeling well and even now I'm not yet back at 100%. I still have an occasional cough but it's way better than the deathly cough that I had during the peak. It's my first western winter in seven years and it's not great. I remembered how important health is and how you can't do anything when you're sick. Health is definitely a priority now that my healing momentum is stronger than my sickness. Health is wealth.

I've been feeling better bit by bit every passing day. Today, I feel much better than yesterday. Yesterday, I felt better than the day before and so on. I'm certain, I'll get over it completely. I just hope it happens sooner than later because Italy is on the horizon. If all goes to plan, I should be there by the start of January. I've been learning Italian since the day I officially received the job offer. Knowing some Spanish has been helpful and I hope to get to a basic level of conversational Italian eventually. It'd be nice to land a one-year visa because that would allow me to set more optimistic learning goals. For now, I'm just enjoying that beginner's excitement that comes from learning a new language.

Below, I've included a number of photos taken in Iskenderun during August and September. No words can express the appreciation I feel for my family here and so I won't go into that here. The pictures say much more anyway.