Have you ever felt like somehow, your life was chugged in a high- speed blender - Nutribullet for you gym nuts– and mixed into oblivion? Forgive the drama but that’s exactly how my life with all the tips and turns it’s taking feels at the moment. Now this ain’t necessarily a bad thing, just like a thick creamy smoothie tastes better than chunks of banana, spinach and almond butter eaten with a spoon, it’s just …. Dizzying.
A new country, a new - or none at all – language and a challenging culture (not whining), and a Turkish pitbul pup that’s taking over my life and now I’m doing what I prided myself to never do; joining the corporate world. Meet the senior digital marketing specialist at a “Financial brokerage” firm, I know, I’m pretty surprised myself.
I’ve always pursued my passion, always a self-starter, freelancer, self-employed you call it whatever you wanna call it, I call it authentic and FREE. I actually never worked for someone or some firm, and I paid my dues for that independence and freedom, mainly insecurity (which sucks), and lack of means at times. But hey anything we chose in life comes with a price, even botox (folks lose the wrinkles along with thier soul). Yet, starting July 1st, 2022 I bartered that freedom – for now - to make it in a city where against all odds I still remain.
Why did I ?
A hypothetical question no one will ask, but here’s what’s what:
1- In order not to live in ultimate commuting hell i will be changing house/ areas. I know I’ve eaten your brains about my infatuation with Cihangir, yet weirdly enough I could care zilch about moving. The house hunt starts .... yesterday folks. Now, how do I feel about going through that horrid, horrific, horridness ordeal all over again? Completely NUMB, and I’m totally shutting down all thoughts of the bureaucracy horror waiting for me on “the other side”.
2- Gonna change my gym … again. Am Ok with that too (as long as I don’t miss a workout). I mean unless I found my super-hot, tattooed, muscular stallion who deadlifts 3X his bodyweight and Benches no less that 200 kg, all Istanbul’s poorly equipped gyms are one and the same. Now scouring the area for a new gym was my first course of action day 1 of my climbing the corporate ladder life. The night before, with the assistance of google ağabey[1] I found 3 gyms and 1 CROSSFIT BOX in the area between the Metro station and the company I’m working with. In addition, there is a fitness facility – to call it a gym is a scandal – inside my building which is also – a big plus – free, the only caveat is that it’s tiny, lacking in equipment (I have a goal remember), deserted and smells of an old suitcase. The trainer – which I had to wake up – was excited to see me, although he asked that I write the building’s manager first, get a written permission, then “book’ in advance every time I needed to use the play room (I figured to call it a fitness facility is a stretch too).
If I was living anywhere else – even in Saturn – swinging between gyms of the same franchise would be a no biggie, but because I’m not living in Saturn it is as complicated as it gets. See one of my potential gyms is MACFit, which is the same gym I currently frequent. To save myself hassle and money I wanted to simply transfer my membership … not so fast Lana, life doesn’t always give one what one wants including good service, failing to make things happen at my gym, gonna try my luck during lunch hour on Monday (I might even get a quick workout)
How did day 1 go?
AWESOME … for me, not so much for my lil black bulldozer.
Me breezing through day 1
My first day was awesome. Work was challenging/ interesting which I like, so I dug in.
My department is a small space, one long desk, with face to face PCs were I’m squeezed with 5 dudes. Barely speaking English (my Turkish as you know is luke warm and I’m being generous here) we managed to communicate just fine, we even hung out after work. We were those morons frantically passing around phones (google translate).
Ateş’s day on the other hand was a mixed bag. I was so afraid she’d get lonely – and destructive – so I hired a dog walker who cost me an arm and a leg. This guy takes maybe 20 dogs to this forest and lets the pooches loose to walk and play for 6 hours. I wanted her to have the best day ever. Now the guy – let’s call him Şems – kept sending me videos of her running with the pack, she seemed happy and that put my heart at ease. However he brought her 2 hours late during which I was worried sick, but then when she came something was off, I couldn’t pin point it. She was also severely dehydrated and kept gulping down water like it was running out of style till the next morning, which means neither I nor her slept last night. She was also starving, as it turns out he didn’t feed them, THE WHOLE FRIGGIN 12 HOURS – and probably weren’t given water too. So never again. I still need someone to be with her or at least walk her once while I’m gone, I’m just not so sure I can trust anyone, I can’t bear the thought of her being abused while I’m busy climbing the corporate ladder.
Last, I’m having some mega successes with my training and diet lately, and although I know you are dying to know, I’ll have to wrap it up and say
To be continued …..
[1] Older brother, an honorary title