the turkish wedding new.art.fs
we got invited for a wedding, but as typical balkan custom we were late. instead of this, allready in turkey, why shouldn’t we go to istambul, to get some tee, to eat some baklava
I didn’t know that in the european part of turkey the people speak also bulgarian. I didn’t know that here the yoghurt is so authentic and tasty, as well as the cheese. I didn’t know there are so many military bases, kangals on the streets and so many complaisaint and good people. I didn’t know what megapolis is. I didn’t know the gas prices here are between 1.7–1.8€ per liter, the cars are everywhere and the cyclists are a pure exotic. I didn’t know, that we will not be able to find a single date, nowhere! I also didn’t know, that on the other side we are called bulgaristan.
neverending roads, heaven, but no so...
we go to bed with sunsets and wake up with sunshines, moskitos are almost none. the sun hea
ats up since early morning, and from 15 grad it easily turns to 35.
the engine overheats, contless springs, but in our strandja, brother, there are none. d
dunk and throw, sticks and burns, current runns through you just to become kompot.
I go around by bike, because I love to see the world with my own eyes, to smell and feel everything around me, because at home the people really don’t know how’s life in the foreign countries, and in the university everything is put into books and computer simulations. often I get asked how could I afford a bike for few thousand euros. but I ask how could you afford to drive cars, while just the taxes for one year are 1000 euros. I come across lot of astonished looks when the people see the amount of my luggage. they wonder how I can travel so long with so little. I understood that less is more and completely enough. also, one kilogram uphill takes one percent more energy. meeting all the people on my way, I see lot of kindness in their eyes, they manage to open their hearts and show their good sides, to help, and they do it absolutely selflessly. the only way to pay them back is to pay forward the kindness to the next stranger in need. they tell me that such a trip costs lot of money. what you need is good equipment, psycical health and mental stamina. the money are not more than what a man usually spends sitting at home, and I am 24/7 on excursion with the same expense. I ask myself would the people change the status quo of the automobiles, wheater they understand, that this is just one of the ways, which is just imposed, and is not necessary to be the best practice. in sofia I saw how a boullevard could be taken by playing kids, by cyclists, and this suddenly changes the perspective towards the city, the roads, towards the status quo.
kilometer after kilometer, beyond time, in the universe of overall boundness and guardian angels vigilan helping, shelter and warmth, silence. gratitude
nt watching over us, over tubes and holes. rain, toilet, water, city, bulgarian, gas station, turk, giving, welding,
smoking building stays in front of us, waddled by waves, winds, engines and people. sort of a space ship, in love with gravity and diesel.
30 seconds for a sandwich, 15 minutes on a spot, quickly everything on the head and towards the next hungry clients. easy, adaptive and cheap.
the chance of a kangal with ears cut off to start chasing you and with an agile bite to deprive you from several square cm fabric/flesh is as the next dog to come and play in your legs. would the registration number softens the character?
40 kilometers through the city, milions of cars, as I wouldn’t see alltoghether in the whole year, so many buildings, as I wouldn’t like to see at one place never more, so little greenery, as only in one arrogant megapolis could be. so this is what a construction boom is, this is a growing economy. everything is a tool, the bike, the car, the money, the earth. you manage to fit in the apartment, in the car, in the office, but where do you live?
the nature has fitted succesfully in a transformer station, a temporary protected space.
close my eyes, am I dreaming, familiar faces speaking, smiling, we know each other. places and events, stories, action, the brain is overexcited, looking for a play.
close my eyes. turkey is so close and so unknown. I catched in my mind the vision of this part of the country, with its people, nature, cities, food and customs. but still so far away, still so big and immense. the answers raised new questions.
close my eyes and go back one week, cheking the maps with hope, want to get away from the city, from the mighty stream of tasks, people, talks, plans. saturday morning, again in front of the computer, the mail is there, as the idea. it is time for it to become alive. the night train slowly and certainly takes me to the beautiful burgas station. in the night above us stars and secret signs are lining in rattling rhythm. there it is the guiding star... a week later, there again, but with the star in the back, under the same sky. I come back, but from where and towards what? the time doesn’t belong to the space. it pulls us inward in itself, we sink, detach from ourselves to understand how powerful is this environment, which forms us, obey us, insists and directs. open my eyes and I am again here, over and over.
The demo version was kindly provided by Slav and Heikki. For the whole version you need to cross 600km from Sofia or 370km from Burgas.
burgas–istambul–sofia 10–17 june 2013 new.art.fs