Back home, I never give water a second thought: I drink it from the faucet, brush my teeth with it, shower in it, put it in my drinks as ice cubes, and generally don’t appreciate it as much as I probably should.

Here, it’s kind of a different story.

We’ve been assured that the water here is perfectly fine, but Istanbul life has become accustomed to hosting a never-ending fleet of bottled water-drinkers. Restaurant tables are lined with bottles of water and corner shop floors are crowded with water jugs. The only time I’ve actually consumed non-bottled water here was from brushing my teeth.

We were joking around earlier today about how at home we guzzle water carelessly, but here, we’re careful to ensure that our water supply is constantly stocked – quite a change from knowing your next drink is just a flick of a faucet away.

At restaurants, we’ve come to expect plastic-lidded cups of water that look like glasses after you unpeel the lid. When we visited the Kocaeli government office last week, they gave us water in those containers and told us a charming legend: that anyone who drinks the water of Kocaeli will return someday.

I do hope to return someday, but I certainly miss those ice cubes!