First Day @ TDN

I woke up to rain pounding against my window. I heard a loud dripping noise and I thought it was coming inside. I run to the window to check and find the window to be drafty but not leaky.

Only 2 more hours before I have to get up to catch a bus to work.

Only 30 minutes.

8:00 a.m. the alarm goes off and I tell myself, I have time and sleep in an extra 30 minutes. Then panic. Quickly run to the shower and pray the rain stops because I knew what I wanted to wear for my first day.

Quick breakfast and I'm out the door at 9:30 a.m. walking towards Tuksim Square, which is about a 15 minute walk.

Then I try to follow the directions I was given. Statue in the middle - check. Turn left and you'll find ladies selling flowers. I turn left and there are no ladies. I practically walk around the whole square when I see where the flower ladies are. I run there. I find the name of the bank and see a long line-up of people. It's 9:45. I am supposed to catch a bus at 10:00 and I see people getting on a small bus. I run in front of it. Stop it because I see the name of the building on the front window.

The driver opens the door and says something in Turkish. I pretty much say: Does anyone speak in English? The lady in the first seat said, there is no more room.

And here I thought the driver was telling me that I'm insane.

I check my watch and it's 9:50. That couldn't have been the bus.

I wait by the bank and more people start to gather. At exactly 10:00 a.m. a huge bus arrives. That's the one.

I get free transportation to the office. It takes about 30 - 40 minutes, depending on the traffic. It was raining, so the traffic was horrible. It's 11 a.m. by the time the bus arrives at its destination.

I follow the people through a short-cut that goes through the bushes and when I step out in front of the building, I stop, look up and think - welcome to the corp world, Anna, yet again.

I take a deep breath and go through the revolving door. I'm on the other side and slowly look back to see the outside world.

Security guard wants to scan my purse. I place it on the conveyor belt and hope I don't have a knife in there.

I walk through the metal detector and it turns red, but I'm not stopped. I don't even know what that means.

I sign in and head to the elevators.

13th floor. Turkish Daily News is on the top floor. Lucky 13?

Barcin - the managing editor is not in like she said she would be. She had to run off to do an interview. I was introduced to the staff and quickly forgot all the names. I cannot pronounce anything. Reeta took me into her hands. She's the senior editor and she sat me at a computer and got me editing right away.

At first, not a problem, some editorials. They weren't too bad, but then she got me to do news briefs that came in from another city. They were poorly translated from Turkish to English and lacked any sense.

I brought this up with her and she was glad I caught all of those mistakes and called the office and made sure they tell me the information that I am missing.

Then it was lunch time.

She took me to the cafeteria where all we do is submit a piece of paper and we get anything we want. The dishes are laid out with what's on the menu today and did I mention it's all free?

I got a soup, main vegetarian dish (there's a lot of beef and lamb here and I hate red meat) and a dessert.

Then it was off to the salad bar and the seven baskets of different types of breads.

Waiters come around cleaning all the tables and if a jug of water is half full (or half empty) it's replaced right away with a full one.

The food was amazing. Finger licking amazing. We also get dinner for free! Breakfast costs TYL 1 or 1.50 and it mostly consists of fruits and yogurt.

I also learn there's a free gym, which I am taking full advantage of as of Monday.

After lunch, we go back to editing. Finally, the managing editor comes and she's frantically busy and tells me that I'm in Reeta's hands.

Reeta gets me to edit more articles for Friday. The paper gets sent out at 6 p.m. We are waiting on a couple last minute things and she's starting to panic. The quality of the work isn't great. Writers mostly translate from AP or Reuters and that's why there are no bylines in the paper. They don't make the articles their own. All it takes is a phone call for an interview and the article is your own.

Thursday is also the day when we edit the weekend edition.

4:30 comes along and I'm just finishing up a really poorly written article by a writer who is not available to be contacted because she just so happens to be in Greece. I try to make sense of it. I even put in subheadings to make things work and rewrite sentences because you can tell she lacks the vocabulary.

4:30 is the first bus back to Tuksim Square. I miss it.

Practically everyone leaves. The only copy editors left are Reeta and myself. I stay because I see how things are going.

All the rest of the help goes.

6:30 second bus back to Tuksim Square and I miss it.

We are still editing Saturday features.

At 6:50 we catch the bus and when we arrive in Tuksim, Reeta asks if I want to get some dinner.

We have an amazing conversation on what she sees for the paper. How much she wants people to write their own stories and how she can't believe that people don't do their work to the fullest. She worked for the Financial Times in London and this type of workmanship would not be tolerated. I don't think it would be tolerated anywhere.

She is so happy that I am here. She said I was F.. good at editing and she cannot wait to see my articles. I think I may have even written a couple today.

She suggested a couple of topics I can write about and she cannot wait to start doing what she was hired to do and that is the financial pages. I want to be involved on all levels and tell her that I want her to tell the culture editor that I have lots of experience in that area. I just want to score free tickets to the Marilyn Manson concert or an interview with him. It would be a great way for me to get to know the city, except she tells me that I won't be taking public transportation to events. There's a car that picks you up. Great - there goes me getting to know the city.

We are walking along Istiklal street and a guy hands me a flier for a restaurant and she says she was just thinking about going there.

We turn left, down an ally lined with tables and waiters standing in doorways in white shirts, black pants and black aprons. People sitting at tables lit with candles drinking wine. Then we take another left and we go further down another ally and reach a restaurant that is on three levels.

We get to the very top and everything is carpeted. Areas are separated by small fences and cushions line the floor and walls. Tables are at floor level and you must take off your shoes before entering. We sit on cushions and eat at a very low table.

When a waiter enters, he takes off his shoes and he sits at the table with us to take our order. I have an eggplant kebab and it was absolutely amazing.

The breads, the teas, the food, the vegetables, the ambiance, the cushions with their intricate designs, the wooden panels - I would have never found this. I am too afraid to go down ally ways. I don't know them. Some are nice, but others, you just don't know what you might stumble upon.

I got home full of excitement and I cannot wait to start working.

I am no longer afraid of the corporation. I am ready to work again.

I have a huge smile right now and I'm full of energy that wasn't there just six months ago. I want to finish my papers this weekend so come Monday I can throw myself into the publishing world. You just wait until all those links start coming with all my edited and published articles.