An American Life in Istanbul

Sorry it has been a while. We have been super busy with the fair. I made a short video by taking pictures periodically, of our stand being constructed. I will edit and post when I get back to Istanbul. Unfortuneately this post is not going to be a long one. I would just like to cover a few things.

1. So far it has been a lot of fun. I have been talking to people from all over the world for the past four days. Mostly about screw compressors, but it has still been fun. I always get the same reaction from people: they cannot believe that me, an American, is working in Istanbul for at Turkish company. The French guys are even more surprised when I speak French to them. An American who speaks French is rare, but one who also lives in Istanbul is more rare, they say. One American guy even gave me his card and told me if I decide to come back to the states to contact him and he would have a job for me.

2. These past two days I have not spent evenings with the group. They are all smoking and speaking Turkish, so there is not much point in it. Instead I have been going home and jogging at the end of the day. Afterwards I have been eating at a cafe and reading my book: “The Secret History of the Free Masons.” It’s a book I borrowed from Izzy’s dad, who is a free mason. This weekend I will also break from the group. A friend of mine is coming to Hannover for the weekend so her and I will tour around the city together. The Turks are renting a car and driving to Hamburg, or something like that. Murat said they just want to be able to say they went somewhere else, which seems stupid to me. Hannover is one of the nicest cities I have ever been in. There is so much to see and do here.

3. Since I have been trying to be very friendly and outgoing for the past four days, I am exhausted. I feel like I am not going to have any desire to meet new people for a week. I have been shaking so many hands, collecting so many business cards, regurgitating again and again the same speech about our company and our products, and eating so many Turkish delights that my head is spinning. The people with personality are fun to talk to, but many of these people are lame. They have no sense of humor, or they don’t smile.

4. Since Murat is god-knows-where all day, I have been talking with Alper a lot. Alper is the purchasing manager for the company. He is 31, married with a few month old daughter. He is one of the few guys at the company that can communicate well in English. Of the english speakers, four of us, he is one of the three that has a sense of humor. So when no one is at our stand, we are joking around, or he is questioning me about english words and expressions. His English has gotten a lot better since we came to Hannover. He also has arranged a wind surfing teacher for me at the wind surfing club near where I live (so he says). He also said he will try to find me a Turkish teacher.

Alright, that’s all for now. Ciao.

PS Visit the fair’s website, and our website:

http://www.hannovermesse.de/homepage_e

http://www.tecompressor.com

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!