Ep.5 "السباحة في السماء" "After 50" (Subtitled) "Swimming in the Sky"
Just hit 50! What do I do now? Stop seeking my dreams? Spend the day at the grocery store? Try fixing old stuff scattered around in the backyard? Give the children a hard time? OF COURSE NOT! I hope my dream comes true. For the last 3 decades or so, I've been seeing this strange beautiful dream of swimming in the sky. I don’t have any explanation for it, but am here today to make it come true by flying with Tugrul Bey from the peak of Babadag in Oludeniz, Turkey. I feel exited! (Heartbeats and laughter). The wind speed started to increase, a matter that generated 2 fears in me.
The fear of aborting the flight and the fear of what might happen if we fly in such weather conditions. As if the 2 previous fears weren’t enough, a 3rd fear came in. I couldn’t place my foot where I was supposed to, and the whole situation turned into a nightmare. Thank God. Finally, things turned around to my favor,
and I joyfully started to pay attention to what was going on around me. Tugrul Bey noticed that I was relieved and started to chat with me, and eventually handed the steering to me at 1800 meters above the Mediterranean. Just before landing, we saw a fascinating gardenbeneath. I couldn’t take it off my mind and decided to search for it the following day during my safari through the Turkish countryside. The final approach is seconds away, and I'll let you live these exiting moments! What an amazing experience! I felt as if I were an eagle.
Our dreams will remain only dreams, until we take the 1st step towards them, and only then do they become achievable goals. I wish you all the best! I'm an x-trail person. An extremist. I usually never follow footprints when am in a desert or a forest. I like to create my own path wherever I go. I spent the night in Fethiye, since it is the closest point to the garden I saw the day before during my glide. Now, my mission is to find the garden.
This is how I usually like to explore new places. Oh! What an antique this is! It looks like it was built during WWI. Oops! Not a very good start! This is better. See you.
This is what happens when renting a car without doing some technical inspection. Problems with the steering, seatbelt, the radio and the window! This poor turtle is probably going to get crushed. You shouldn’t be crossing the road by yourself turtle! Be careful next time. I passed a trail that might make a short cut to the garden.
Let me go back and see where it ends up. My orientation let me down this time! I wish I had stayed on the main road. However, my instinct kept telling me that there must be a shortcut, and there was one indeed. A perfect spot for a snack. I feel exhausted after struggling and wrestling with the steering.
Greetings. Hello. Please come in. Thank you. I'm Khalid, and you are? I'm Rasih. Nice to meet you. Rasih.. I want to.. Gosh, I wish I knew Turkish. I'm hungry. Do you sell snacks here?
Of course we do. How much is it for a snack? It's Absolutely free. No, no, I insist! No, sorry, I'll not accept any money from you. You are my guest. OK, I think I understand what you are saying. Thank you. Rasih makes his living from selling his homemade products, but he refused to take any money from me when he realized that I was a stranger.
Please have a seat. How are you? Am well thanks. You live in a beautiful place. (Rasih uselessly tries to communicate with Khalid in Turkish). I don’t understand what you are saying, but it's OK! Here you are.
Fresh grape juice. Bonne appetit. Thanks. It's so refreshing.
Rasih and I then took a tour in his exceptionally - beautiful place. Khalid, this is how we make grape juice. This is my family. Every member knows his/her job.
This juice looks delicious, specially that it's foot pressed! These grapes taste much better than the ones we find at supermarkets. What's this? Olives. Are they ripe? Yes they are. Have some please. Wow! They really taste good.
I think in Syria or Lebanon they call this type of olives "Attoon". Now this is one heavy cluster of grapes! What about these pomegranates? No, they are not ready yet, but the apples are. Try them. Hmmm! It's so crunchy. I think I have no room left for lunch Khalid, don’t fill your stomach. There is plenty of food waiting inside.
I think am already full Rasih. (Rasih speaks Turkish and Khalid understands nothing). You know what Rasih, the most interesting thing is that neither of us understands the other! (Laughter)! I'm a motorbike enthusiast. I was surprised to see this Russian antique here! Rasih, what year is this bike? 1966. Oh! We are the same age.
(Rasih bursts in Turkish again and I cannot catch up). What a surprise! Rasih, the bike and I came to the world in 1967. Even the bike refused to surrender to time. Just take a look at its excellent condition. As we were walking around, I saw fruits on their trees for the 1st time. Which cluster should I pic? They are all yours Khalid.
Oh, I didn’t expect it to be that heavy! Now take a look at these figs. The scent in here is just so strong and they taste so good. The garden provides everything Rasih and his family need. The only item that comes from outside is salt. We get our milk and cheese from these goats. OK Rasih. Enough talking and let's eat. This is goat's cheese. Khalid, everything you see on the table came from the garden. We are self-sufficient. The hospitality that Rasih displayed today made me forget my mission for a while, but I'll resume the search tomorrow morning.
The number of gardens is starting to diminish, which means that I've come closer to finding the one am looking for. I finally reached this garden, which pretty much looks like the one I saw while gliding. I noticed that the garden had no fence nor security, so I entered carefully only to realize that what seemed to me as a garden was in fact a big farm for producing and exporting apples. When I told the manager about my story, he invited me in. Thank God for a dream come true.
Not only is this the 1st time I climb a tree, but pluck apples as well! My dictionary didn’t have enough vocabulary to describe how tasty this particular apple was! This is incredible! I think this is an absolute and genuine happiness. I can't believe am here on top of this tree. It seems as if am dreaming. One of the staff members saw that I was struggling to climb down and gave me a hand.
Climbing was smooth and fast, but climbing down was complicated and slow. Even in my wildest dreams, I never thought that I would see apples on a tree, but plucking was just mind blowing for me! I just cannot understand people who leave such magnificent places to go live in cities. I appeal to the residents of the countryside wherever you are, please stay were you are. I live in a metropolitan area and there is nothing there but getting stuck in traffic jams, bureaucracy, noise and appointments! The bucket got filled up in seconds. The possibility of not finding this piece of heaven never even came to my mind.
The reason probably was that the fascinating piece of art that I saw while gliding motivated me. I think our ability to imagine and to practice the art of losing touch with reality is the first and most important step that we should take when seeking our dreams to make them come true.
2021-03-22 22:14
