Although it is the landlord’s cat, it is usually not kept at home and always strolls outside. I went home when I was hungry, meowing and calling, reminding the landlord that it was time to feed. I live on the first floor and the landlord lives in the basement, so after I move in, cats sometimes come to my house to eat. When I first moved in, there was no rice cooker, and it was difficult to control the amount of water when cooking rice in a pot, so I basically cooked porridge and drank it every night.
The tofu skins bought from the only Chinese shop in Istanbul are crushed and put into hot rice porridge, plus some green peas, corn kernels, shredded mushrooms and dried shrimps brought by friends from Qingdao thousands of miles away. A few drops of soy sauce and salt are super delicious. My French roommates and Turkish roommates also love it. Sometimes we also add some old godmothers, which is also delicious. Whenever I cook porridge, the smell of shrimp in the boiling steam always attracts these two kittens.
If the landlord goes back to Switzerland (Turk, but has passports of Turkey and Switzerland, and occasionally returns to his home in Switzerland), he will also give me the work of taking care of the kittens. He usually buys small meat for a week or two in advance. Put the intestines in my refrigerator and ask me to give them two sticks a day at most. "They are too fat, and the veterinarian said that they have to lose weight for health." Sometimes after eating the small sausage, the cats still meow and refuse to leave, I will serve them some shrimp porridge in their small bowl.
Most of the time, these cats are strolling in our little garden, or go out and go out in groups with the countless cats of Chihage, they will come back if they are tired from playing or if it rains. I sleep on the windowsill in my living room part of the time, and sometimes I like to sleep on the chair next to our dining table. When it snows, we let them stay at home most of the time. Because there is heating in the house, it is too cold when the snow is melting in Istanbul. If the cat is outside, it is easy to get frostbite or freeze to death.
This year, a female director in Turkey, named Ceyda Torun, made a very interesting documentary called "Kedi", which translates to "Cat". There are novice mother cats, street gangster cats, little fish-stealing cats, little mouse-catching cats, female cats who are very fierce and prevent her husband from stealing fishy outside, and nobles who don’t have friends and always go alone and like to eat high-end cuisine. There are cats who live in Tarlabaşı and live with the workers for nine years and like to be coquettish. All kinds of cats, like humans, live together in the city of Istanbul.
In this video, someone introduced why there are so many cats in Istanbul, especially in the Chihag neighborhood where I live. The first reason is that there used to be a port in Chihag, and all the ships going to and from Istanbul are staying in this port. Most of the crew on the ship have cats. One is a long-distance sailing trip. It is good to have a cat to pass the time. Second, if there is a rat infestation on the ship, the cat is their best natural enemy. After the boat docked, these cats would also disembark, and some did not return to the boat, but stayed because you can see cats of various bloodlines in Chihag, even Norwegian cats.
The second reason is that during the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan began to build sewers in the capital Istanbul. Although these sewers greatly facilitated people's lives, they also caused rat infestations. In order to fight the rat infestation, people at that time started raising cats in every household. Although the Ottoman Empire no longer exists, the descendants of these cats still live in this city and have witnessed the development of several generations. Come and go, the rise and fall of several dynasties, compared to the residents of this city, they are even more like the owners of a long history.
Istanbul people really love cats, so in that documentary, some people think that "people who don't know how to love small animals won't know how to love people." But the way Istanbul people treat cats and even dogs is unique. Few people keep them at home. Cats and dogs are as comfortable as the Bosphorus seagulls, coming and going freely in different neighborhoods and houses. Growing up eating Baijiafan, every Istanbulite is like their master, every Istanbulite is like their shit shovel officer. In Qihage, you can see a lot of small houses. For these kittens and puppies, almost all street businesses put some cat food and water at the door, which can be enjoyed by cats and dogs who come and go.
This kind of warmth always reminds me of my childhood years, when I lived on the mountainside, the whole mountainside was only our family. The door of the house is never locked. One thing the auntie wakes up every morning is to make a pot of tea. Farmers who pass by can come in to ask for tea, but such days no longer exist, and we too Don't live on the mountainside anymore.
My friend Ayse told me, you see in Istanbul, most people are really tired and hard, busy all their lives, and ultimately don’t know what they got, just like in "The Strange Thing in My Head" It's the same as the Maifrut who sells Boza. That's why everyone looks very sad. They always have a sullen face, don't laugh much, and their faces are covered with wrinkles. But this is the serious Istanbul people who left the most tender side to these little cats. Everyone looks so happy when soothing a cat.
Perhaps it is said in the documentary that cats have the power to soothe people. People feel that cats have the energy to sense God, and they are the middleman between God and cats. In fact, cats are not between man and God or between man and nature. What about the "middleman"? Because of this, in the face of more and more tall buildings being built, the people of Istanbul are more worried about the fate of these cats than they are worried about themselves. After all, people can move to another house, but there is no green space and small streets. The bricks and tiles of the alley, where are these cats going?
Perhaps you will never find a city that loves cats more than Istanbul, and it is precisely because of these cats that this city is so unique. Everyone living in this city is a shoveling officer for these cats, and everyone gets spiritual comfort from these cats.
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