Tag: music

Sorry Rosinante, finally a warm Winter, Turkish hospitality, practicing cajon and serious music production (November 2022)

On Uludag mountain, I decided to head south towards the Mediterranean. Back in Bulgaria, the weather had started to get colder and in northern Turkey, the temperature was dropping day by day. I felt that my dream was finally coming true: for the first time in my life, I would have a warm winter!

After descending from the mountain, I made a small detour and visited the manufacturer of the Capra Camper camper cabin. Months ago, I had learned that the frame of my pickup camper, Rosinante, could potentially snap. This idea had never occurred to me before, as I had assumed that the stronger suspension meant that it could carry more weight and withstand heavy use, such as off-roading. However, I had heard of instances where the frames of all types of vehicles, including pickups, jeeps, and trucks, had snapped. For example, the frame of a Spanish couple I had met in Greece recently broke in Georgia. The realization of snapping frames had caused me some concern, but I had managed to let go of a lot of my fears at the time I had been at the Beglika festival. Nonetheless, something was still bothering my mind and I was curious and wanted to see what a smaller cabin would be like. The team at Capra Camper were extremely friendly and we had a great conversation about cabins, off-roading, the van life, Turkey, Germany, and more. They were so kind and gave me some parts I was searching for for free. I had a close look at their cabin and from that point on, I always recommended it to anyone looking for something simple, minimalistic, and lightweight for moderate temperatures at a good price.

But to be honest, from my perspective, the Capra Camper cabin is hardly comparable to the Fernweh-Mobil cabin of Rosinante that I call home. Although both cabins are detachable pickup cabins woth pop-up roofs, they are so different. That showed me once again how incredible Rosinante is in every regard. Since that day, I have met many people with different types of mobile homes: ordinary cars, caravans, jeeps, vans, off-road vans, pickups with other cabins, motorhomes, Landcruisers with pop-up roofs, Defenders with rooftop tents, and off-road trucks. Seeing all these different concepts has only made me love Rosinante even more. It has reassured me that she is perfect for me. Of course, there are things that I need to take care of and changes I would like to make, but overall she is perfect. And if her frame were to snap, I would try to have her fixed. And if that is not possible, I am sure that I would handle it as well.

It’s interesting how a comparison like that can ease my mind and bring me happiness. I mean, in the end, it “doesn’t make sense” to base my confidence and happiness on external factors like this comparison. It can become unstable at any time. But in a way, it feels like that comparison helped me to calm down the part of my mind that was unsatisfied and afraid. It made it possible for me to see things more clearly . Like it lifted a veil of fear and thoughts about a potential future. I think in the end, it helped me to let go.

I rarely drive long distances in a short period of time, but the call of a warm winter was too strong to resist, and so I drove straight to the Mediterranean coast without making any stops. I traveled from Bursa to Bademli and found my first home on the Turkish Mediterranean coast. The next day, I continued further south and on a large sandy beach, I met a wonderful and interesting couple from Germany. We immediately started having engaging and deep conversations. If you’re interested, you can follow them on Instagram.

The next day, I made my way to a beach near Demircili, where I stayed for a couple of days. I enjoyed the warm winter weather, with temperatures around 18 degrees during the day and 12 degrees at night.

Every day, I practiced playing my Cajon, and my playing started to feel natural, flowing, and even a bit groovy at times.

That beach was frequently visited by locals on weekends. They were all so lovely and welcoming. I was invited to a Turkish breakfast and had great conversations with different people. I found it inspiring how open and unafraid these locals were in making connections with others, despite the language barrier. Most of them only spoke Turkish, but that didn’t stop them from reaching out to me and making me feel welcomed. They just did it with ease and it was truly heartwarming.

Hooked by the warm winter, I ventured further south to the peninsula near Marmaris. Many other travelers coming from the east and locals had recommended the area from Bodrum to Antalya, stating that it was one of the most beautiful and warm regions in Turkey. I was excited to explore this area and experience the natural beauty as well as the even warmer temperatures of this region.

The first beach I visited on the peninsula was beautiful, peaceful, and I did some hiking through the hills surrounding it. One day, a German couple arrived at the beach and we had a lot of conversations about various topics. They were considering moving to Hamburg once they returned to Germany. Talking about Hamburg reminded me of the beauty of this city, where I had lived for the past 14 years. It felt good to be able to help them by recommending places to visit and the best spots for car living. One of them was particularly interested in FPV drone flying. Check out his Instagram, his work is incredible and of very high production value.

I took advantage of the Black Friday deals and purchased a large package of music production tutorials and samples. Before that, I had watched free tutorials on YouTube and read free articles from many music production teachers. I was producing music mostly every day for hours and I felt like I wanted to take my music production to the next level. I was curious about how paid courses were structured and what they could offer me. I thought that it might be possible to make money from my music production at some point in the future. I knew that this step and these thoughts could potentially cause some internal conflicts and affect the joy I felt while making music. But I underestimated the impact it would have and soon, it would escalate into something else…

Beglika part two: Connections, projections, anxieties, and something unique (August 2022)

The time at the Beglika festival was wonderful. All the people I met were nice, friendly, and peaceful. Maybe there were about one thousand guests at the festival at one point but at that location, it never felt crowded or like a mass event. It felt always natural. Like a good, healthy time with gorgeous people, and nice music in nature.

During that time some topics came up inside me. I observed how my thoughts were questioning things that I was doing. If it was alright to do this or to not do that. It was a profound experience. First, it made me become insecure. I felt these ongoing commentaries of my thoughts and gave attention to them. Shortly after that, I felt like I was accepting these thoughts in a new and profound way and that felt deep and healthy. I felt more authentic.

I did different workshops and went to concerts and it was everything I hoped it would be. The concerts were all super nice and very direct/ without any barriers. The whole organization of this festival was just free. It was totally different than the German festivals (even the smaller ones) I used to know. Basically, you could just do whatever you wanted. And I did not feel any form of aggression during the whole time. People were under the influence of different kinds but never in a very unhealthy, uncontrolled way.

The people did love to spin burning sticks, staffs, Pois, and all sorts of things. I liked that a lot as well and it was strongly connected to my bo staff spinning and striking. After my first experience with burning pois, I gave the burning staff a chance and I loved it a lot.

One evening it took part in a temazcal ceremony. That one was a special experience as well. If you ever come across something like that, consider giving it a try. For me, it was very hot and refreshing, sweaty and cleaning, tight and opening.

The weather was changing all the time. At night it was around 10 to 15 degrees Celcius and in the daytime, it could be anything from 15 to 22 degrees. There were wind, rain, hail, and sun. Everything. These changes, the location, the all-present feel of freedom, and the people made this time so special and just beautiful. Magical. And still, there were people I connected more with than with others. I suppose that will always be the case.

The family I had met at the big lake came at the start of the festival and we continued having a nice time together. We had great conversations about everything and playing with the kids was always pure fun. I hope that I will meet them again at some point. I did not often meet a family that was so lovely, good willing, and open to each other.

I meet so many nice people… When I did have my first contact with a guy who was training spinning a staff, I deeply experienced how I was projecting things from deep inside of me onto other people. I asked him about the spin he was practicing and immediately I was feeling something going on. Something negative, insecure. Something I was rejecting. I kept being friendly and open and after some time that feeling ceased and we did connect and learned from each other. After that encounter, it really came to me how I was rejecting what I was receiving from him because I did not want to be part of me. It was profound and changed something deep inside of me.

One day, I was training spinning my bo staff at the beach when a Bulgarian woman came along. At first glance, I felt something deep. A connection, a warmth. We started a conversation and these feelings increased a lot. Artha and I never arranged a meeting, but we met a lot of times. Every time we met, we had beautiful conversations. Every time I felt something unique, authentic, and pure. I felt seen and a strong pull towards her, but at the same time, I did not want to rush anything. I wanted to feel and observe it. But the connection between us was ubiquitous. Strong and profound. When Artha was about to leave Beglika before its ending to head for a spiritual workshop at another place, we exchanged numbers…

Flow, new friends, writing, and music at a big lake (August 2022)

My idea was to drive from the car service in Plovdiv south in the mountains. But because the friendly mechanic recommended me the area and lakes/ reservoirs from Batak to Dospat, I went there. It was just a little further west and I felt like it would be nice to stay sometime at a calm lake in the mountains.

The lake was really beautiful and its appearance and the weather changed every day. It was so nice to witness these changes and I had a very calm time there. After I had faced my boredom and experienced kind of a liberation from whatever I somehow felt I should do and not do, and getting rid of the stuff, I felt very easy.

During my time at the UFO, I had got more and more into writing a lot of micro and short stories and I kept doing that. My love for writing, especially with making up all sorts of universes and the simplicity of writing got deeper and deeper.

At the lake I did come up with a story, that I only built in my mind: I did not write anything down. I just repeated it over and over again in my head and every time I did so, it was changing. I feel, that all stories are somehow alive and keep on changing but that one was and still is as alive as a story can get, I think. If you like to have an experiment, just try it. One of the good things about it: you don’t need anything apart from yourself and you can do it everywhere and every time. For me, it felt like having some kind of a pet or a weird type of companion. Now that I’m thinking about this story, I feel like it is more a real memory than a story I’m remembering.

In addition to writing, I did make more music on my iPad, again. This was super nice as well and both, writing and making music, felt very free to me.

But the most beautiful at that lake was, that I met a lovely and gorgeous family. They were living in their big van and traveling around for months. We had an awesome time together and a lot to share and feel. Playing with the kids was so creative and free. I loved it.

One day, they told me that they had been at a festival about music, nature, and spirituality some weeks ago. I had been looking for exactly that kind of festival in Greece and Bulgaria as well. I missed it just for a couple of weeks. But they told me, that in just two weeks there would be another festival of the same kind at one of the smaller lakes just a little further south and up the mountain! I was super happy about that and appreciated how things were developing/ flowing.

And this festival… Let’s say it will have some impact on me and my journey…