Iyi Yaşa

Back in late November before I came to Turkey, one of the English teachers at my school had a shopping request- was there any way I could buy him one of those yellow Nike Live Strong bracelets? Oblivious to the massive trend, I had no idea what he was talking about until I looked it up on the internet. There, I discovered that they were pretty much sold out every where, impossible to find or buy at the moment. If you wanted one, you had to put an order in on a website and wait 4-6 weeks for your wristbands to arrive. Nevertheless, I checked 4-5 sporting goods stores and got the same response from all of them- no bracelets and no idea when they’d be stocking them again. Oh well, I tried.

Shame on Nike for not being able to make those simple yellow rubber wristbands fast enough. It’s not like they were making violins or high-precision electron microscopes- they’re glorified rubber bands!

With Nike not being able to supply them fast enough to meet the demand, I’m sure plenty of smaller companies manufactured imitation knock-offs in order to capitalize on the wristband frenzy.

In fact, they even sell knock-offs here in Turkey! The guy who originally wanted me get him a bracelet in the states- his dad found some counterfeits at a supermarket here in Izmir and bought me one. He even had to go early in the morning before they sold out. Even these iyi yasa bracelets are selling like life vests on a sinking ship here. When I go back home in a month, I’m gonna be the coolest kid of all because I won’t be sporting a simple Live Strong Bracelet like everyone else; instead I’ll have a Turkish “Iyi Yasa” (ee-yee yashA) bracelet, which translates into English as “Live Well.”

I like the idea that I can follow the massive cultural trends like a brain-washed lemming, yet I can still retain some originality and individuality. What a tempestuous misfit I can be sometimes.