U.S. Chronices NO#2

So much has happened since I last wrote!

I’ve been lifting – and it was olympic lifting too!

Thanks to inspiration I got from Tyson Edwards & Clarence Kennedy, I wanted to try olympic lifting a lot, but I hadn’t done it before and didn’t know anybody who could teach me. I was talking with my housemate one day and we were talking about climbing. I was telling him that I had signed up for a climbing gym after coming to the U.S. He told me he was interested in it too. We then ended up talking about general fitness and he mentioned he did olympic lifting during his undergrad. My eyes flashed. I questioned him about it. I told him I wanted to do it too. Could he teach me?

He said yes. We were in the gym a week later. My climbing gym had got flooded so it was the perfect time to go do something different. I went with him. We got me a guest pass. We went to where the wooden flooring and the free standing weights were and we started lifting. He taught me how to go down into a squat properly and how I should be lifting the weight. It was great. Here is a video edit of my first time doing a clean&jerk :

Also, I’ve been going to New York a lot!

I went there for the first time because I had a friend there. I met her while I was waiting in line at the U.S. Consulate of Istanbul, at 8:30 in the morning.

We met again in New York. She took me all around New York 🙂

Ahh… New York’ta gezen iki Istanbullu…

New York martisi Istanbul martisina benzemezmis…

We first went to a street which had many Korean restaurants. She could speak a little Korean. She had lived in Korea for some months a few years ago. She took me to a bustling restaurant with four stories. There were paintings and posters all over the walls. There weren’t tables to sit at, but there were really long benches. It was more like a cafeteria or a hangar than a restaurant. We don’t have those back home… She took me to drink Soju. I knew about Soju because friends who had been to Korea always told me about it. I never had it before. Soju was great.

How could she buy it you ask?

She had her ways. Out of her wallet emerged a forgery which got me completely shocked. She presented it to the cashier without the slightest trace of hesitation in her voice. How can she be so crafty? Did she literally get this done for her? How is all of this confidence possible? I was amazed.

She then took me to Little Italy. We had a huge glass of punch there. I don’t really know what the drink was. The reins were in her hands. She took me to this restaurant and she went inside to order. The waiter emerged with a jug filled with a pink alcoholic beverage. We had our fill.

When we were all full and done, my friend got up and went inside. When she got back outside, she told me that she paid. I asked her how much it cost. She told me it was nothing, that she knew the people who work there. She said she was living here since she was 13 years old, and in the 7 years that passed, had learned how to live cheap.

I was amazed by this young, small woman taking me through the streets of the biggest city in the world. Going in and out of shops, getting discounts from everyone, knowing everyone in the stores we had been to. It seemed like she had done the rounds of these streets a hundred times…

She then took me to Chinatown. We had bubble tea. I had no idea what it would taste like. It was great. I didn’t know the bubles could be eaten too. She told me that they could.

At night, we were drinking beer by the Brooklyn Bridge. Again she had gotten us a discount because she was friends with the daughter of the owner of the convenience store we went to.

Her mind and body was an experience to watch. Following her as she went through the city, as if she were a fish swimming in a stream…

During the week I went climbing again with a friend. My friend was born and raised in New Jersey, but his family is from Columbia. During our climb we met a very nice couple who were good climbers.

The climbing was great. I’m really enjoying Method. I like how high the walls are compared to the gym I used to go to in Turkey. I really like the environment (the people). Here is a route I did and some more footage: