Although we’re missing two friends in the picture below, İzzet and Hüseyin, this was our lunch group that met every month at our alumni club (Bizim Tepe). Starting from the left; me, Yakup, Mehmet, Korkmaz, Taylan and Pınar.
The last lunch we were planning on having was to be on March 17, but because a day before that all restaurants, clubs, etc. were closed by the government we couldn’t meet.
Although we had stopped kissing and hugging (we Turks seem to love doing that) about a month prior to this because of the corona virus situation, we did not adhere to the social distancing suggestion, i.e., don’t be closer than 1.5 – 2 meters from each other. If that lunch had taken place as scheduled, we might have had more than one covit-19 casualty.
A little bit about Yakup
As is evidenced by the large number of condolence messages Yakup has received, he was a very popular member of the Robert College class that graduated in 1967.
He ran İlancılık Advertising Agency, which was established in the year 1909, i.e., in the Ottoman Empire era. Quite a history.
Not only was Yakup an outstanding advertising executive, he was also a great organizer. Besides his input into our alumni activities, he even organized a brunch and a question-and-answer session at Bizim Tepe, for classmates that were regular readers of this blog.
As you can see, I was also presented with a watch.
What can I say; he will be missed by all that loved him.
Coronavirus
As I was saying at the beginning of this post, we would have had our monthly lunch on March 17th and ignored the social distancing rule.
People are funny creatures as the ASSUME that bad things won’t happen to them???
I love this saying, “when you assume, you make an ASS of U and ME.
Given that there is a quarantine for 65 year and older people and people younger than 20 in Turkey, we have to adjust our living to this very unhealthy situation and NOT ASSUME that bad things won’t happen to us.
Those of us not quarantined, should definitely wear a mask when outside and adhere to the social distancing rule as much as possible. No physical contact, washing hands for 20 seconds after handling things touched by others or touching a surface or object that might not be clean. AND DON’T INJECT YOURSELF WITH DISINFECTANT AS TRUMP SUGGESTS.
For the quarantined crowd, here’s what I suggest:
- Eat healthy: No grains, no sugars, no milk or milk products (except homemade yogurt), no processed foods. Good proteins, green leafy vegetables, prebiotics and probiotics and one serving of fruit per day.
- Supplement with Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin D, Zinc, and Omega-3.
- Be as active as possible, to boost your immune system. I am very fortunate that there is a very nice path in our building complex that I use twice every day; 40 minutes in the morning and 40 minutes in the afternoon.
- Besides walking, do exercises at home; at least 3 times a week. You can do “Bodyweight Exercises You Can Do at Home”, posted on September 15, 2015, or “Isometrics…”, posted on April 6, 2020.
- As you may know, it is the Holy Month of Ramadan in Muslim countries. I was dismayed that some MDs in Turkey were trying to discourage potential fasters by saying that this would weaken their immune system. They don’t know what they’re talking about; FASING WILL BOOST YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEN. But be sure to drink plenty of water after breaking the fast, until the last meal before fasting again.
- Meditate twice a day for 20 minutes.
- Solve puzzles (my favorite in Sudoku) and read.
- Don’t sit across the TV all day.
That’s it my friends; I hope we have no more bad news in these trying times. See you all the next time.
