My Goldilocks Apartment

I have lived in three apartments across my time in Türkiye. For the first four years I lived in a one-bedroom apartment located in the school’s Lojman (“worker’s residence”) which is located close to our campus and houses some of the foreign educators. That apartment was good–it had a large great room with a balcony facing into the afternoon/evening sun. Ziggy and I were happy there for those four years. The bedroom was tiny and useful only for sleeping. If you’d like to take a tour you can access this video tour which I made back in 2020.

Then in the summer of 2022 I had the luxury of moving out of the Lojman and into an apartment leased by the school and located directly ON the seaside. While I had initially hoped to spend many years there, you probably know from my September blog post titled “Moving-Take Two!” that things didn’t go that way. However, if you’d like to take a video tour of that apartment, feel free to do so for comparison purposes.

Now I am back in the Lojman. In fact, I am the first person in the history of ACI to have moved OUT of the Lojman, and then have to move back IN. 😂

But I am now living in the top floor, or rooftop apartment (in Turkish you say “çatı katı” which translates to penthouse). While I have only been living here for a little over four months, it feels like I’ve been here longer. It feels the MOST like home of the three apartments I’ve resided in here. The first apartment felt a little small and squeezed; the seaside apartment was too spacious for one person and far too noisy.

This apartment is “just right.” Yes, it is my Goldilocks Apartment, and I can see myself living here for the next 10 years or even more. The apartment was vacant last school year and I’m happy to say the school did a nice job of updating and refurbishing some aspects of the apartment in the months before I moved in.

This may be, perhaps, my favorite home to-date. I love being in the space. The energy is good. Allow me to share what else makes it special and comfortable.

There are many characteristics that make is special and cozy. It is a one bedroom like my first apartment, but the bedroom is much larger in size AND it has a split floor plan with the bedroom on one end and the living room on the other. The kitchen and bathroom are located in the middle space. Because it is a rooftop apartment, it has both gabled and high ceilings. The gabled part is not so low as to make it feel cramped or small.

Before I moved in the school had covered over the dark wood paneling that used to be the ceiling of the rooms. The now white ceilings do make the place feel larger and more open. I have future plans for those which i will reveal if/when they come to fruition. I will share some BEFORE and AFTER pictures here so that you can see what a difference it made. While I like the dark wood in theory, it did make the space look smaller and certainly darker. 

And perhaps my favorite aspect of the apartment are my two rooftop terraces–one on each side. My bedroom terrace faces the sunrise; my living room terrace faces sunset. As you probably read in a previous post, I’ve also helped to build a Catio on the front terrace so that Ziggy and Jinx can enjoy sunshine and fresh air. I’ve made a video tour of this apartment as well. I’m sorry it’s not sunny and beautiful in the video. We do sometimes have overcast and dreary days in Izmir. Rarely. But it happens. 

Jane Austen said that “There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.” And I can say I have plenty of real comfort in this apartment. Alone with my cats. Spending time talking about life on the terraces with Fatih. Or hosting gatherings of friends. Each and every option feels good and comfortable. 

All of this to say, I love this apartment. I have lived in over 20 “homes,” so to say this is my favorite is saying something. What about you, where have you lived that you loved the most? And what about that space and place made it special for you?