I feel quite grateful for the few early days I gave myself in Bolu-- I already sense that although language will be a barrier (for now), I have 'the lay of the land' and have connected to people whom already I know I can trust.
Here I want to give a little time to one thing that is unique to Bolu: water. Bolu province is in the mountains; it is home to many little lakes and mineral springs. Bolu's mayor, Alaaddin Yilmaz, has worked hard to clean up the city's utilities so that the water at public fountains and home taps is generally potable. Consequently, Bolu is one place in Turkey where you actually can drink the water.
I know a guy who tells me he spends 10TL/day on water in Istanbul.
But there's something else at play. On my second day in Bolu, Abdullah pointed at a large tiled structure taller than myself and said, "We call this Kokez water."
The people who had been surrounding the structure moved away, and I could see the water rushing out of its taps. "It's okay to drink?" I wondered aloud.
"Yes, yes, it's quite clean. We have a legend that anyone who drinks the Kokez water from these fountains in Bolu will be destined to stay in Bolu forever." He said this quite casually, and when I laughed, Abdullah and Yasin did, too. But it sits in my mind a little bit.
I won't be drinking any Kokez water. I have my beloved to get home to in nine months.
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