Mobilya Dekorsyon

The street view

The side view

Cam picked me up at the house Saturday afternoon with the intention of checking a lease and then going into Gelibolu for groceries. We drove through the town of Bolayir as we have done many times, but we stopped long enough to snap a few photos of a local shop. Mobilya means furniture and Dekorasyon is of course decoration in English. We were actually inside this place in the spring.  It's as rundown inside as it is out, but it is a fully operational woodworking shop - open for business as the big sign indicates.

We are often surprised by local working conditions and workmanship. Supposedly experienced, trained workers must be closely supervised to complete jobs they are hired to do. Cam oversaw installation of some air conditioning units this fall. The electricians hired to do the work didn't understand the basics of installing these common place units. We hired a local woodworking shop to built us a bookcase.  We were pleased with the construction of the first one so went back and arranged to buy four more - these were very poorly constructed by comparison. We had plumbing work done in the house last spring.  When the plumbers/masons left they promised to return and complete the repairs.  We haven't seen them since and the owner of our house hasn't been around to ensure that the repairs he paid for were even completed!

Cam built a work bench, from found materials, at one of the locations this year. He had some projects to do and wouldn't work on the ground the way the employees of the Turkish subcontractor were doing. The workers loved the bench and immediately put it to use doing mechanical repairs and welding projects. It was a real improvement from working on the ground, but no one took the initiative to do it themselves.

Turkey is an amazing place in so many ways. However, we are continually reminded that we simply don't think the same way Turks do.