21 Nisan 2015 Salı

HELLO TEHRAN



My husband didn’t estimate he would rise such high positions in his career and change our lives effectively when he got a job in a Danish company 15 years ago. At the beginning, we thought that working in a well-coordinated,employee-cherishing, corporate company would be more than enough to be happy (typical Turkish logic greeding for less).

Years gone by and the opportunities of the company showed us that we could build up dreams independent from the country limits, for ourselves and our children. We could work and live a bit above the average life at any corner of the World.  

As parents of two professional swimmers, we were thinking about, of course, Europe and USA though, it was more than impossible to catch a suitable position at those countries in such a large scale firm as an Asian native citizen.

At the exact moment we were ready to let go of our dreams, one of my husband’s ex-managers asked him if he would accept an occasional position in Iran office where they needed his expertise. We put our heads together and decided that we could handle 4 or 5 months of separation and this experience would be valuable in the future. So last summer, we send him to Iran.

Four months whizz by between arrivals&departures, the intense rhythm of my and children’s lives and the summer energy. He lived in Tooba Apart Hotel near the office and made a Persian entourage for himself. When he came to İstanbul, he shared his experiences and all the things he had seen.

There was a surprise waiting for us at the end of that phase; the management wanted his position to be permanent and send him there as an expat.

This time we put our heads much more together and thought;
* Yes, he could go but we couldn’t because the children were at 7th grade and we had a tough exam marathon ahead.
* Besides, they were semi-professional swimmers and neither our club nor their athlete career kept this prospect warm. We had years of efforts!

When we shared our situation with the company, we realized that they didn’t have a positive look for an expat without his/her family. So we said kismetand let it go (once again the typical Turkish logic greeding for less) but both Iran’s position in international politics and the importance of the position for the company, they accepted our situation and Iran became our destination.

After long, looooooonnnnnnnng hours of discussions, we put our triple plan into action (with the support of our dear family); my husband is going to live in a rental apartment, children are going to stay at İstanbul, I am going to shuttle back & forth between two cities.


I would like to wish good luck to all of us and share my impressions about Iran.Continue following me if you are curious about it ;)