My job in Turkey, or How I lost 50 kg

I imagined that after work I would go to the sea and under the sound of the surf in the warm, coming ashore waves, I would admire the rays of the sun setting somewhere far beyond the horizon ... But it was different.

 

After another exhausting day of work, all enthusiasm for swimming in the sea disappeared with the last forces. And the only desire was to walk to the nearest cafe and eat a real Turkish deener, thereby somehow making up for the lack of food. If at least some desire to swim in the sea still remained, it is to reach it and only dip your feet in salt water, releasing steam from them, removing the tension accumulated during the day.

 

 

My acquaintance with Turkey began long before I got there.

 

 

We all know about fast food establishments. And recently, it is the cafe of Turkish cuisine that is gaining popularity.

 

Döner is an exotic overseas dish, the technology of preparation of which is even more interesting. Not one piece of pre-marinated chicken fillet is put on the metal rod, which is then pressed, fused into a homogeneous mass and slowly rotates around the heating panel, thereby as if hypnotizing to buy this dish. In fact, döner is quite easy to prepare and tasty to use. And fries, tortillas, kebabs, cola and other all sorts of attributes are suitable for him as well as possible.

 

I did not ignore this fact, and enjoyed all the advantages of this institution. I first learned about fast food from there.

 

To my surprise, after a while of working, I found myself getting a little better. 30 kg of weight gain was difficult not to notice. To give you a better idea, this is about 4 five-liter bottles of sunflower oil per year. Having reached the mark of 95 kg, many things, unfortunately, became small for me, and I decided that if this continues, then I will soon have to wear a cover from an airship instead of a jacket.

 

My weight steadily grew and grew. I didn’t know how to stop this process. But to be more precise and honest, I was not satisfied with the answer. I decided to give up this food and take my lunch with me. But after a while, the place of work became inevitable again. In the course of intense cooking experiments, I tried to isolate one of the ingredients, the absence of which would have a beneficial effect on my weight. I decided to cook low-meat denours. But the experiment was unsuccessful.

 

Having reached the mark of 105 kg, I decided to resort to another tactic, began to prepare deeners, alternately reducing the amount of ingredients in them. But taste preferences invariably returned to the original full recipe. I realized that the only thing that could save me from the rapidly increasing weight was to be as far away from this cafe as possible. By the time of realization of this fact, the weight was already about 110 kg.

 

 

Miraculously, saving way just at that time came the date of our first flight abroad to the resort in Turkey. The trip to the Alanya hotel was the most interesting. Weeks of waiting were fast and at the same time slow. And the end of September, the velvet season in Turkey, was in full swing.

 

They say time heals and nothing goes unnoticed. And the last weeks of work in the cafe of Turkish cuisine left their mark. By the time I left for Turkey, my weight was 115 kg. Terminator is what one of the best chefs of Turkish cuisine called Ismal Bakir, one of his best assistants.

 

3 hours of successful flight was left behind, and our plane, heated from the sun’s rays, already flew to the airport of Alanya. Palm trees, unusually warm air for this time of year, warm sun and a removed sweater in your hand - the first thing that awaits you. We had to get to the hotel by bus, 50 km. A picturesque road with palm trees along it, banana trees, pomegranate trees, orange trees and ships in the sea, not a resort, but a fairy tale!

 

 

From the first acquaintance with our 5 star hotel - Ozkaymak Ingekum, we were delighted. To find yourself in such a place in the middle of the gray September climate of the CIS is a fairy tale.

 

The first thing to do in Turkey is to go to the sea. Even if you're just out of the way. Just look. The sea was close. The first coastline fully justified itself. The noise of the waves, like the sound of rain, hypnotizes and for a moment makes you forget about everything, even the fact that you are now thousands of kilometers from your home.

 

When we got back to the hotel, we went to dinner. We've never had a dinner like this before. The phrase "buffet", was not applicable to our table, it was more suitable expression "Chinese table". From a large number of dishes presented to the treat, the newly-minted gourmet can greatly exacerbate the feeling of hunger. The main thing in this case is to properly assess your capabilities. A pyramid of kebabs, pizza, Turkish buns, salads, vegetables and other, topped with a cherry on top. That was the look of my portion plate on my first Turkish dinner. The thought came to mind that the program for weight loss, was chosen by me again not quite successfully. What can I do? Sometimes circumstances force you to take a decisive step. A wise man once said, “If you can’t change something, change your attitude.” We just enjoyed life: went swimming in the sea and sunbathe with pistachio ice cream in our hands. The next day we were advertised a tourist peeling service in the hamam. It was there in the SPA-salon, in the basement of the hotel Ozkaymak Ingekum, in the hammam, right on hot stones that I first expressed interest in the possible prospect of working in Turkey.

 

The interview was excellent: during the general massage, under the crunch of my bones and the clicking of my vertebrae, I learned the answers to all the questions that interest me. All I needed to work in Turkey was to complete a massage therapist course. Summarizing the rest in Turkey, in particular, in Alanya, we can say that it can be called a full and truly rest only in the 5-star Ozkaymak Selekt hotel. And if you do not want your leisure to be limited only to a buffet, then go diving and swim in the open sea on a pirate ship - you will not regret it! Pirates are real and speak not only Turkish.

 

 

At home, I enrolled in massage classes. I studied conscientiously and diligently. After all, to show the Turkish masters what a Russian masseur is capable of is expensive! The road and the entrance back to the Turkish cafe were closed.

 

And already in April 2012 I took a ticket for 7 days to the Ozkaymak Selekt hotel, packed my bags and went on the way. Ahead of me was a journey full of discoveries. Discoveries related to both the host country and itself. For example, I was so rested that I did not notice or forgot about the end of my trip.

 

And in order to get to the hotel (no longer a tourist) you had to try. Passing security, maintenance personnel and administrators.

 

 

And I lived there, like all the others, in a losmana – a 4-storey building of an uncomplicated kind of pale pink color.

 

The first bright impression was the acquaintance with this place. To the design of gardens at losmana simple turkish treat with full dedication. In the morning, weed is watered, the flowers are really beautiful. Shrubs, roses, orange trees and trimmed lawn are a must-have design element of any home.

 

At first, my stay in the losmana caused me a slight inconvenience. 15 people in 3 rooms created a certain indistinguishable noise mixed with occasional wild laughter, heated discussions from the demonstration of a new massage technique and other discussions of the working day. Decibels of noise often exceeded the sound of television, passing cars on the street, and, as I thought, could well exceed the volume of a helicopter flying at the lowest possible distance from the ground.

 

 

Although in general, staying in losmana has benefited me - I learned a lot about the technique of massage. The main occupation after work was massage - each other, demonstration of their skills, from back pain to relieve tension, analysis of techniques and again massage.

 

At a demonstration massage to the owner of the spa, I wanted to show everything I was capable of. I emphasized all the massage techniques that I studied conscientiously and diligently in my homeland. The Georgian-Turkish response was not entirely affirmative. In his estimation, my skills amounted to exactly 0% of what masseurs do in Turkey.

 

 

Massage to tourists was forbidden until Michael, the chef's name, did not approve of the skills. So for 3 months I studied massage, and in order not to waste time, I performed Turkish peeling. The working day in the hammam began at 8 a.m. and lasted until 8 p.m.

 

 

But my weight continued to fall despite the increased diet. One day I was walking past a sauna with massage therapists, and someone noticed that the tourist who came to them was quite different from the worker they see in front of them now. After 5 months of work, my weight reached 68 kg, which I was on my first day at a Turkish cafe. In October, the day of my departure to my homeland came, the only thing that could save me from the rapidly falling weight.

 

When I got home, a lot of people were a little surprised. They didn't recognize me at home.