There is so much to write, so many things have been hapening lately. Been away to Denmark, there is a new collective photo-website, I am helping to organise an (un)conference on hospitality exchange, have been on an adventurous trip to Enkhuizen (fun!), friends are visiting from all-over, work is steady and the house in full progress. And then there is also a new movement for Apathy… More to come soon!
So much movement in so little time, it is like when sun and rain team up and show light in all colors. Slowly it builds up and bang it is there, right here, and I am in the midst of things, holding it in my own hands, realising it, fulfilling it.
A new job and at the same time a renovated house. Suddenly the base I had been working on is here, under my feet, above my head, it surrounds me, it carries me. No more nonsense, suddenly I have a house and a job, both with permanent contracts. And it doesn’t even frighten me.
Lots of work still needs to be done, but there is time and space to turn it into more than just a fulfillment of a promise; it is more than a dream that finally becomes true and a planning that becomes real. It is a space that opens up. A space for even more movement, that carries, facilitates and enables.
From a bike in Romania, back by plane to Holland. Happy I was, cycling from village to town, over mountains and rivers, coming to places where no sane traveler would ever come, finding myself on that same very day, just after sunset, bleeding and scratched, fainting and screaming for help.
Three weeks ago, I was in this small town close to Sibiu in the Transylvanian region of Romania. It was a marvelous day, with great blue sky, big white clouds and a warm sun. I was cycling just by myself, enjoying one of the nicest tours of my life, while my travel-partner was out on a museum-day.
As I was cycling through a beautiful countryside with hills and greens, I realized yet again how priviliged I was. Passing through the numerous small villages where hardly a stranger ever comes, I was greeted by many. I waved back and asked how to avoid the high hills, as I explained I am from Holland and that I like flat land.
But these events soon turned differently and my laughing turned into crying. A man send me up a different road and an hour later I had to walk up a hill with bike in hand to find my way home. Seeing the sun going down, my pace increased as I went down the hill on the other side.
I lost track when a big hole in the ground appeared in front of me. Breaking turned impossible to avoid falling so I jumped high and landed well. But I couldn’t avoid falling as I landed in yet the next hole and I had to dive, away from the bike, towards the ground.
That hurts.
I deny the pain and get back up the bike again, only to faint 3 seconds later. I look for help when I wake up and spot a horse with some people slowly driving away from the scene. I call out for them, without result.
Thanks to a stranger that appeared, a taxi driver who was his friend, some villagers and an older lady, I got to a hospital an hour later with my travel-partner and our hosts who were able to locate me after a phone call and a long search. The doctors took away the pain and told me to get straight back to Holland.
Three days later we were on a plane, a particularly funny event when you know your travels are over. At the hospital here they explained me my collar-bone was dislocated. No operation was needed. All I need to do is rest and relax…
It would be impossible to summarise Istanbul. There are only impressions, feelings and thoughts. No matter how many different perspectives you would acquire, there are simply too many different paths and lives here, to give a conclusion so sound that its people find their own stories back in it.
A city this huge just makes you realise there is yet more to explore. Never enough, there is always another corner and another road, another family and another party. Life of the Istanbul wo/man seems never-ending and no words can really grasp what this city is about.
Highlights, this is one of the few things what you might be able to offer. I recently made one small effort for this purpose. With the photo-essay “Live it and you will love it” I offer a viewpoint of what Istanbul-life for me is about, how I perceived the city, and how I see the people and culture here. I hope it offers you a good snapshot of Istanbul.
I find this country and this city one of the most social I have been so far. People meet each other everywhere and nobody seems lonely. True, there is a lot of poverty and people who just try to survive but somehow they always receive a lot of support from each other. Here I see people interacting with each other continuously. Meeting on the street, a random passer-by, somebody who waits for a bus or sits next to you on the boat, they are all excuses for a conversation.
And when they find out you are not from here, they become very curious and want to know where you are from, what you are doing here and how you like it. Imagine that in a city such as London, Amsterdam, Paris or Barcelona. No way that someone would even show the slightest interest in your life or imagine people talking in the bus or whilst queuing!
Here, though, the person you start talking to will respond with genuine interest, without hesitation. Imagine how it feels to have the freedom just to talk to anyone you like. What therefore might be one of the biggest paradoxes of this massive town with more than fifteen million people: there are no strangers here, only people you still have to meet.
Each moment can give you a different view of what is around you. Rain, snow, sun or mist, an early sunrise, or a colorful sunset, they all bring you a different taste and view, a different mood and atmosphere. There is no moment better then any other; the scene is part of a constant change of light and other circumstances.
From where I am currently staying, it is only a 2 minute walk to be out of the city: no cars nor houses to bother me. So when I woke up early this morning, I took a hike in the surrounding nature. Just like the first day I was here, I woke up, saw the hills and decided to get on top of them. Pure beauty.
Because when I am discovering a new city the question of where did nature go is always on my mind. I feel missing it, I feel I am locked up somewhere. And I look for a river that streams through the city, a sea that borders it, a lake, the parks, hills, or simply the nature around the place.
In Salzburg this isn’t very hard. While I am sitting on a sunny balcony I have a first-line view on green hills, I hear birds and I feel a gentle sun. The view on the surrounding mountains with their white tops is very clear and the green on the hilltop in front of me, simply makes me jump out to reach for its top.
So after I jumped out of bed into the world, I found on my walk a little river bringing water down and giving life to the plants on its trail. I saw flowers waking up, a spider starting his day and a sun slowly evaporating yesterday’s rain. And I know for myself I am on the right track. I realise how to let it go, how to flow and to make it grow.