Latest / Whereabouts Tales | Stories of Belonging and Immigrant Experiences / "Too Wild": An Instagram Love Story Across Continents

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"Too Wild": An Instagram Love Story Across Continents · Whereabouts Tales | Stories of Belonging and Immigrant Experiences

• 0:00
  Welcome to another episode of What About Stairs.
• 0:03
  I'm genuinely thrilled to introduce you to an
• 0:06
  intercultural family whose journey is truly unlike anything
• 0:10
  I've heard before. Please welcome Mark and Alink.
• 0:14
  The incredible story began way back in the nascent days of
• 0:17
  Instagram in 2014, spanning continents from Ukraine to
• 0:21
  Ecuador and now Spain. What started as a few likes
• 0:25
  online quickly escalated into an extraordinary leap of faith,
• 0:30
  including a truly unbelievable one way ticket that Alinka took
• 0:33
  to join Mark in South America. As professional wedding
• 0:37
  photographers, they've built a life filled with connection,
• 0:41
  resilience, and adventure. This episode is a heartwarming
• 0:44
  testament of trust, open mindedness, finding love across
• 0:48
  the globe, and creating a new life in a new place for both of
• 0:52
  them. You won't want to miss a single
• 0:53
  moment of their tale in Spain. Let's dive in.
• 0:59
  Good evening and welcome and happy to hear that you clicked
• 1:02
  this episode. I'm I'm happy to have this
• 1:06
  evening an interesting intercultural family that I have
• 1:10
  never met one like before. I'm happy to welcome Mark and
• 1:15
  Alinka today in this in the in the Whereabouts There's podcast.
• 1:20
  Thank you. Thank you for being here.
• 1:22
  First we, we discussed before start pushing the record button
• 1:24
  and I have to ask you again, because all the emails that All
• 1:27
  in all the e-mail communication, you are like Mr. Blashkov and I
• 1:30
  always thought, OK, that's you took your wife's family name,
• 1:34
  but the printer is not that thing, right?
• 1:37
  Yeah, well, The thing is that we are waiting photographers.
• 1:41
  I'm a professional waiting photographer and for the name of
• 1:46
  Instagram and website, I, I needed a name.
• 1:49
  I needed a professional name. My imagination was running low
• 1:53
  at that point. And I think it was her idea.
• 1:57
  And her last name always sounded cool to me because it's very
• 2:01
  unusual to that part of the world where where I'm from.
• 2:04
  And Blashkov sounded good. And the website isblashkov.com.
• 2:10
  And she says, well, you're Mr. Blashkov now, and I'm Mrs.
• 2:15
  Guevara because Guevara is my last name, OK.
• 2:19
  We just interchanged. But I have to say, I would have,
• 2:25
  I would have, I would have expected that, that that Quevara
• 2:28
  is more with a much more attraction than Blashkov is,
• 2:31
  isn't it? Because of you know who.
• 2:34
  To me, yes, that's why I put his name and he's like, OK, at that
• 2:38
  moment we lived in South America and you know, like something
• 2:43
  from Eastern Europe, like Slavic last name sounded exotic.
• 2:49
  Correct. True.
• 2:50
  OK, now to to go back a bit in the story, because it just
• 2:54
  mentioned South America. So I think it's interesting.
• 2:57
  Please, first of all, in the order that you want to, please
• 3:01
  tell me where you were, where you were born and grew up.
• 3:05
  Starting with me, because it was a longer story.
• 3:09
  I was born in Ecuador in South America.
• 3:12
  Both of my parents are from Ecuador and I was born there
• 3:18
  when I was 11 years old. A lot of people from my family
• 3:22
  already lived in the states, like even second generations in
• 3:26
  the United States. So I moved there.
• 3:29
  They, they took me. I was, I was a child and I live
• 3:33
  there with my mom's family. My mom passed away, my
• 3:36
  biological mom. So I was raised with my aunt and
• 3:39
  she lived in Texas. So she was like, this is home.
• 3:42
  And that's where I grew up. So I felt very American.
• 3:46
  I felt I like the sports. I went to school, I went to
• 3:51
  sports events, everything was American life.
• 3:55
  However, I always remember my dad.
• 3:57
  You know, my dad is in Ecuador and I used to go visit him.
• 4:02
  He was like I just visiting a foreign country.
• 4:04
  It was beautiful to me. But I never imagined going back
• 4:09
  to live there to a place that I barely remember how life was
• 4:11
  like. And well, but that happened
• 4:14
  actually because we met and we met online.
• 4:19
  You know, this is the part where maybe I let her speak where
• 4:23
  she's from, because then I wasn't this.
• 4:25
  It makes sense, yeah. The other side of the world and
• 4:28
  yeah. Born and raised in Ukraine and
• 4:34
  yeah, like I cannot add up more, more details.
• 4:36
  Like you have like a different countries, different countenance
• 4:40
  and cultures. Yeah, in the Ukrainian family, I
• 4:45
  grew up happy childhood, happy an elephants and and then I met
• 4:53
  my husband. I think, look, I'm coming from
• 4:56
  Romania, so we have a boring life in Eastern Europe.
• 4:58
  I always talk with my colleagues and I realize every time that
• 5:01
  they tell stories. Then I travel there and there.
• 5:03
  No, I was born in my village, raised in my village and then
• 5:06
  got married there and then left together with my wife.
• 5:08
  So. I thought, I thought you're
• 5:09
  always from Germany. I'm living in Germany, that's
• 5:12
  why I started doing this. I'm living in Germany since 2015
• 5:16
  together with my wife. In the meantime, we have a we
• 5:18
  have a son here, but we are both originally from Romania.
• 5:21
  So I kind of know the Eastern European country culture, sorry,
• 5:25
  culture. And I'm also coming from the
• 5:27
  north side of Romania. So Transylvania most probably
• 5:30
  Nova Linga. So it's not that far away from
• 5:32
  Ukraine, of course, not that close, but exactly.
• 5:36
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 5:37
  So, but guys, first of all, I have to say Mark the the Texas
• 5:42
  part really interesting and really interesting lifestyle.
• 5:48
  I could I do guess that was not that easy the the American.
• 5:52
  But like you said, you did all the the movies cliches from me
• 5:56
  as list the the high school prom, the everything that needs
• 6:00
  to be done there, right. I think that's cool.
• 6:02
  And I don't know if I think I don't know if for you the same,
• 6:04
  but for me was always something that I always dream to see, like
• 6:08
  to see US to see all those cliches that we've been used to
• 6:11
  from the movies. We've seen a lot of movies, but
• 6:13
  that was it for us. So.
• 6:16
  It's like a like a dream, like a fairy tale, sort of.
• 6:19
  Exactly. Now, guys, you, you.
• 6:22
  No, no, no, sorry, sorry for interrupting.
• 6:24
  You, you, you met when Instagram was a newborn.
• 6:31
  Yeah, I could say the same, right?
• 6:32
  So can you share a bit how how that went?
• 6:37
  Well, at this time I'm on an extended vacation in Ecuador
• 6:41
  with my father. I'm hanging out.
• 6:43
  I'm hanging with my dad. I didn't see him for a few
• 6:46
  years. This time it's 2014 and I see
• 6:50
  that some of my friends had Instagram I downloaded about a
• 6:55
  month later I have about a lot of photography.
• 6:58
  I started putting photos and I realized that a gross putting
• 7:06
  their hearts in every single one of my photos, which that was
• 7:09
  unusual because back then that calls your attention now social
• 7:12
  media. I love it, I love it.
• 7:14
  What year was that? 2014.
• 7:18
  Crazy I I made my Instagram account also somewhere around
• 7:22
  1314. I do remember what you said
• 7:23
  every follow that you had, you know exactly who the person won.
• 7:26
  You know exactly who was what he was doing.
• 7:28
  You know exactly every like it's completely different than it is
• 7:31
  today. Sorry for interrupting you.
• 7:33
  He popped up on the recommendations and it was cute
• 7:37
  with the hashtag single that and many of the photos.
• 7:43
  So it caught my attention and I thought it was so sweet.
• 7:47
  You know, like the way they spend time together, Monkey son
• 7:52
  and the family and it was very warm.
• 7:55
  I that that point. I did not think of creating a
• 7:59
  family with that. Yeah, because I, as you said, it
• 8:04
  was a hashtag single dad because at that point I, I have a child
• 8:08
  from, from when I was from before and my kid and me, we
• 8:13
  were together. So I always have pictures with
• 8:15
  him. But I didn't want people to
• 8:18
  think that I'm married because I wasn't, I was happy being a dad
• 8:22
  and he was with me in Ecuador. So we were both American.
• 8:26
  We both spoke only English. He spoke only English, but, and
• 8:30
  he was like a discovery of a new culture as a father and, and a
• 8:34
  child. But this time he is like 8 years
• 8:37
  old or something. And this lady from the other
• 8:41
  side of the world thanks a like on us.
• 8:45
  And that's how it began. So first of all, I have to ask
• 8:48
  Mark, have you had any idea and be honest where if you if you
• 8:53
  see a globe and someone asked you to point on Ukraine to
• 8:57
  pinpoint Ukraine, were you able to do it back then?
• 9:01
  Well, I, I love. I love geography.
• 9:03
  I love. Yeah.
• 9:07
  Yeah, I can. You can show me a flag from a
• 9:10
  place I know it is. However, I didn't realize how
• 9:13
  big it was. I didn't realize how big Ukraine
• 9:15
  was. Yeah, nobody, I have to be
• 9:18
  honest, I we are neighbors. I say it again and I have to say
• 9:21
  I knew the size of Ukraine because believing there, you
• 9:24
  know the you know the neighbors, you're on the size and you learn
• 9:26
  in the school, you know that was Hungary was Serbia.
• 9:29
  You go Slavia, you go Slavia before, because I, I'm, I'm that
• 9:32
  old and we, I know Ukraine and so on.
• 9:35
  And we knew the, the size and the population.
• 9:37
  But everyone was impressed, at least in Germany when the war
• 9:41
  started, because nobody was aware of the, of the size of
• 9:44
  Ukraine. This is so interesting because
• 9:45
  everyone knew the countries there and so on, but nobody was
• 9:48
  aware of the size, right, and of the population size.
• 9:51
  It's impressive. It is it.
• 9:54
  Is and who? Sounds kind of cheesy, but I
• 9:57
  have to ask who made the first step?
• 10:00
  Probably me because I would like some.
• 10:03
  Yeah, that doesn't count. That doesn't count.
• 10:06
  That doesn't count. Yeah, as soon as I see someone
• 10:13
  is taking a look at my account, being active, I I, I was
• 10:20
  thinking who, who do I know in Ukraine?
• 10:22
  And I, I text. Do I know you?
• 10:26
  She was like, no. And then we started.
• 10:28
  Talking first like comments to the pictures.
• 10:30
  That movie was very innocent. So we had this long, long
• 10:37
  conversation in however I get a phone call or I get a text
• 10:43
  message from her and I never gave her my number or or or talk
• 10:47
  at all. So what happens is that I
• 10:51
  thought she was connected with the police or something, or
• 10:54
  government. How does she know my number?
• 10:57
  Instagram, you know you, it's not public.
• 11:00
  No conspiracy. In one of those first pictures
• 11:05
  that I posted, one of my cousins says hey, I have many, many
• 11:09
  cousins and big family. And he says, hey, I see you have
• 11:12
  Instagram. Send me your your your new
• 11:14
  number, your Ecuador number because I only have your old USA
• 11:19
  number. And he did in the comments open
• 11:21
  to public. We are all at the beginning back
• 11:30
  then. So we have to be honest.
• 11:31
  And besides that we are from Mr. we can organise everything, even
• 11:34
  phone numbers. And how was so the contact you,
• 11:40
  you contact, you contact each other then you had exchanged
• 11:43
  phone numbers. I do guess that was a period
• 11:45
  when you you had a lot of calls and discussions and so on.
• 11:48
  I don't know. There was, we had WhatsApp back
• 11:50
  then. I think we had it right.
• 11:52
  Yes, the you guys when was the 1st place you always use Viber?
• 12:00
  In Eastern Europe you use Viber was very popular.
• 12:02
  Through before Telegram was Viber, you are right.
• 12:05
  Because tell use Viber. Yeah, really so.
• 12:09
  So she, so either I was had I had to change to Viber or she
• 12:13
  had to move to Instagram. And OK, what's up?
• 12:17
  What's up? Yeah.
• 12:18
  So I think we did Viber for a while, but that while is only a
• 12:23
  few days because within the same week, within the same week we,
• 12:28
  I, I knew that she was going to be very, I was, I was going to
• 12:31
  marry her within the same week. Like I think it was like 3-4
• 12:34
  days later. And and what what happened?
• 12:37
  Did you, did you travel to Ukraine?
• 12:39
  When did you met the first time? In person.
• 12:42
  I went. No way.
• 12:45
  Yeah. Three months respect after we.
• 12:49
  Respect. OK.
• 12:51
  And how was the How was the meat?
• 12:55
  It was good. It was better than expected.
• 12:58
  Of course you cannot say no. No, everything goes, yeah, I'm
• 13:02
  very bad. I'm just joking.
• 13:06
  It was tiring. I lost my luggage on the way and
• 13:10
  because of the layovers and confusion and everything, it was
• 13:13
  good. Yeah, but The thing is that I'd
• 13:16
  expectedly I I didn't want to go alone.
• 13:18
  I took a couple, I took another friends, friends of mine.
• 13:23
  And in the city that she arrived unexpectedly, the soccer
• 13:28
  championship of Ecuador ended up being two teams from the same
• 13:33
  city. So they're fighting that.
• 13:35
  It was the final night of the tournament of the year and the
• 13:40
  hotels were booked even though I had a we.
• 13:43
  Had a reservation but we arrived after the midnight so they
• 13:46
  probably thought that we cancel it when we didn't show offers.
• 13:49
  I had a reservation, so we ended up we.
• 13:51
  Were looking for all my luggage. Yeah, it was all chaotic.
• 13:55
  We're meeting and it was all chaotic.
• 13:56
  No luggage. And we ended up sleeping in bunk
• 14:02
  beds in the big room with several men and women of all
• 14:07
  ages and, you know, walks of life because everybody wanted to
• 14:12
  go to that game that day. And so all my reservation was
• 14:16
  were gone. So she didn't, she knows 0
• 14:20
  Spanish. She has no idea where she's
• 14:22
  trusting completely. And my, me, my, me, my friends.
• 14:27
  And we were picking her up on the city where I don't live.
• 14:30
  I don't live in the most dangerous city probably right
• 14:33
  now, maybe top 10 dangerous, dangerous city in the world,
• 14:35
  Waikiki. Let's go Waiki.
• 14:38
  So she is there, she doesn't know Spanish I'm her whole life
• 14:43
  and protect her at that point. And now I'm scared of myself
• 14:46
  because I'm like where? Where are we going to sleep?
• 14:48
  This is crazy. It is dangerous.
• 14:49
  Yeah, we survived that. It was, it was a real life
• 14:52
  experience. No problem.
• 14:54
  But. Alinga, what was the family
• 14:56
  reaction when you told them? You know what, I will just take
• 14:59
  a small flight. Just just just small like.
• 15:02
  No, my parents knew since the very beginning that I that we
• 15:07
  met, that she was a child, that she lives in South America.
• 15:10
  And then we talking online. My parents don't speak English.
• 15:15
  They don't speak Spanish either. So like I had to translate.
• 15:18
  They saw each other on Skype back then.
• 15:22
  So yeah, those times more than 10 years ago and it was kind of
• 15:28
  like very natural, but I was stressed.
• 15:36
  They just didn't probably realize right away that I'm
• 15:39
  going one way ticket. That was one way tickets like
• 15:43
  you went and. But that's how sure we were.
• 15:47
  Yeah. OK, I mean, I'm kind of
• 15:50
  wordless. So so it was, it was literally a
• 15:55
  one way ticket that you bought. It was literally one way ticket.
• 15:58
  Yeah, we were talking for three months, really intense hours
• 16:05
  every day. We knew everything about the
• 16:09
  past and the present of each other.
• 16:10
  We were talking about plans for the future, likes, dislikes,
• 16:14
  mistakes, hopes, fears, beliefs, everything.
• 16:20
  So it was very deep conversations.
• 16:24
  Not like maybe like teenagers who would talk, you know?
• 16:31
  How old? How old were you guys when you
• 16:34
  met? City.
• 16:39
  I mean the perfect time to start directly serious relationship to
• 16:42
  be honest so. One from light.
• 16:45
  Exactly, exactly. I mean, I have to be honest is
• 16:48
  the first Internet love story that I hear and that it really
• 16:52
  worked out. So yeah, I'm so of course you
• 16:56
  had this, this crashes. You have things like you see
• 16:59
  someone, then you crash and then you start talking and realize
• 17:02
  you are far away from each other, like you don't have
• 17:04
  anything. So you hear all of the stories
• 17:05
  or they met like 2 to 2 days and they say, OK, those two things
• 17:09
  were so, so, so, so long. So we don't no, no, no, we don't
• 17:11
  do it. So but I have to say it's really
• 17:13
  cool. I mean, it's nice to see that
• 17:17
  you can still trust people. I think that's that's so
• 17:20
  critical. Of course, we talked about 10
• 17:21
  years ago still or more than 10 years ago, but still I think
• 17:26
  because one of the biggest problem that we have today and
• 17:29
  and Mark, I will talk about your your home country.
• 17:32
  I think the this untrust that you have and the hate you have
• 17:35
  between each other. I think it's something that is
• 17:37
  not natural and should not be like this.
• 17:39
  And I think to have this examples like yours, when you
• 17:41
  when the trust was there and the the trust was also confirmed,
• 17:44
  not only the trust like you didn't, you didn't do anything
• 17:46
  with the trust. You took it and you, you, you,
• 17:49
  you, you conform it. I think that's amazing.
• 17:51
  And I think that's something that the world should should
• 17:54
  tell more story like this, because most of the stories that
• 17:56
  you hear are the one with the bad ending, ending, let's be
• 17:59
  honest. We know that, and we would
• 18:01
  probably not suggest anyone follow our examples in that,
• 18:05
  because bad stories are much more common than the ones with a
• 18:11
  good ending. So you always have to check and
• 18:16
  double check. For sure, for sure, especially
• 18:18
  today. I think we are some years later
• 18:22
  and we know that there are some things which change and you have
• 18:25
  AI which can which can simulate the voice and can simulate the
• 18:27
  discussion and you can sound really friendly.
• 18:30
  I have video, but still I think I think the trust is important
• 18:33
  like but I think with thirst you can read someone.
• 18:36
  I would say you with 30 you should be able to read the
• 18:39
  person on the other line on the other side of the line, but I
• 18:45
  don't know how the how the legal processes are linked up.
• 18:48
  But have you do you need a visa to to travel to have back then
• 18:51
  you need the visa to travel? No.
• 18:53
  OK, we. Did not ask Anissa to go to to
• 18:57
  Ecuador. OK.
• 19:00
  And you stayed in Ecuador, you got married there?
• 19:02
  Yeah. A month and 1/2.
• 19:09
  Later, tell me a link up for you.
• 19:11
  What was what was something that you expected?
• 19:15
  Was it something that you didn't expected from Ecuador?
• 19:20
  Since we already mentioned, we talk a lot about everything
• 19:24
  about culture, about food, how people are, what is the like
• 19:29
  sound specifics of the mentality of Equatorial.
• 19:34
  So I cannot say that I was completely aware.
• 19:36
  I, I have never been to South America before the trip.
• 19:41
  So obviously it was all new, but it was not new like blind new.
• 19:49
  And what what did surprise me? Obviously the the cultural
• 19:54
  differences exist. I do, I do remember a couple of
• 20:00
  instances in which she is very, she is very a very clean person
• 20:04
  culturally. Ukraine is organized Ukraine and
• 20:07
  they're everybody kind of is well put together.
• 20:12
  And I remember she was impressed that going into the public
• 20:15
  transportation and there's kids licking the window of the bus,
• 20:22
  licking the window, looking out. Their.
• 20:25
  Immune system is much stronger than ours.
• 20:28
  And she could not handle. She said, they're going to get
• 20:30
  sick. I was like, no, they've been
• 20:32
  doing this for for ages. Like they're just eating with
• 20:36
  dirty hands. And that was shocking for her.
• 20:41
  Street food is big there. Street food, yeah, that, that
• 20:44
  was probably the biggest difference.
• 20:45
  I mean, kids licking the bus windows could could happen
• 20:50
  anywhere but street food like I'm I'm not used to like having
• 20:53
  maybe some hot dogs from the little hole in the wall.
• 20:57
  Like you can find that in Europe back then.
• 21:00
  I'm talking about like 12-13 years ago maybe, but not like
• 21:04
  the like actual food. Like people sell food in a
• 21:07
  little food stands. Then they they do my son of how
• 21:12
  how do you. Say grilled corn.
• 21:15
  Or like some meat on a stick. It's like how you can do the on
• 21:22
  the outside, like how do you wash your hands?
• 21:23
  How do you eat that how how you're still alive?
• 21:27
  And a year later I was eating that food like no problem.
• 21:32
  I have to say, I, I don't know, I, I do fully understand you.
• 21:35
  I, I have to be honest, most probably we come from the same
• 21:38
  side and we always did not eat from the floor.
• 21:40
  You don't, don't, don't eat from the street.
• 21:42
  It's dangerous. Don't do that.
• 21:43
  It's dangerous. I don't know why, but I do
• 21:45
  understand your opinion. I have to say, sounds really
• 21:48
  bad. Now, I will still not eat it
• 21:50
  because I, I haven't, I haven't been in that, that much time in
• 21:54
  the culture. But I do fully know what you
• 21:55
  mean. How long were you in Ecuador?
• 21:59
  Because I said you, you got married and you remained there.
• 22:02
  Eight years. Eight years Were you living?
• 22:05
  Where are you living? Which city?
• 22:08
  Right now or in no. No, no.
• 22:09
  In Ecuador. In Ecuador.
• 22:11
  Buenca Ecuador because they have Cuenca in Spain too.
• 22:19
  It's a beautiful city in the mountains.
• 22:22
  It was, it still is probably the safest city in Ecuador at the
• 22:27
  moment. We, we had a nice and as a
• 22:30
  partner and we, we grew up in a way growing up together and we
• 22:36
  together knew the country because remember I, I grew up
• 22:39
  somewhere else and together we start traveling the country for
• 22:43
  a while and it was great. We saw, I think, every province.
• 22:49
  Maybe we missed one or two proper native states.
• 22:52
  Waterfalls. Volcanoes.
• 22:55
  Galapagos Islands animals, something that I've never seen
• 23:00
  before. Were you living with family
• 23:05
  there, Mark? With your side of the family
• 23:07
  somewhere close to them. Yeah, my dad, my dad and yeah,
• 23:12
  is there. I have family still there.
• 23:14
  I have family also in the United States, but the family in
• 23:16
  Ecuador are still there. I, you know, was hanging out
• 23:20
  with us. It was nice to have that
• 23:22
  support. Some of my family members speak
• 23:24
  English, but she was pretty much forced to learn Spanish right
• 23:30
  away because to buy, to go places, work for everything, for
• 23:36
  everyday life, Spanish was necessary.
• 23:39
  Now, Alink, I have to ask you, did you, have you had
• 23:41
  telenovelas in Ukraine or was something that we only had in
• 23:45
  Romania? In the beginning of 90s, yeah,
• 23:47
  yes. But the the the which ones?
• 23:52
  Also I should cry something like that or.
• 23:55
  Not exactly exactly the the Yeah, the Salome the rich are
• 24:01
  crying. Yes, you're right.
• 24:02
  And was. Yeah.
• 24:03
  Yeah, crazy, crazy. We actually had the same.
• 24:08
  Did it help with your Spanish? Not really because I mean I
• 24:13
  never watched them in the the original they were translated
• 24:17
  straight into they. Were dubbed.
• 24:19
  They were dubbed. OK, Yeah, because we had it in.
• 24:25
  My wife is able to understand Spanish only because of
• 24:27
  telenovela. So we had them.
• 24:29
  Yeah. We usually have them with
• 24:30
  subtitles. And when you watch a lot like, I
• 24:32
  mean, you can you get them in your head, you and of course.
• 24:36
  I came to Ecuador just knowing how to say that I love you and
• 24:40
  I'm hungry. Makes sense.
• 24:43
  I mean, makes sense. Makes sense.
• 24:44
  Absolutely. We have the advantage, we have
• 24:49
  the adventure. Of course the the Romanian
• 24:51
  language is close to the Spanish one because it's because of the
• 24:53
  Latin heritage and that's why most of the words.
• 24:56
  So I do, we do joke that some other times you just add an S to
• 24:59
  the Romanian words and you are close to the Spanish one and not
• 25:02
  of course a joke. But we are not that far away.
• 25:07
  What triggered your, your, what triggered to leave from, from,
• 25:10
  from Ecuador? You move from Ecuador to the
• 25:12
  state. No, we were fine in Ecuador
• 25:16
  until the war began Ukraine when it was attacked by Russia.
• 25:24
  Then we decided to it was better to be with closer to her family,
• 25:29
  her mom and dad, that because of their age they could not leave
• 25:33
  Ukraine and we wanted to be closer to them.
• 25:37
  We did not make the move straight to Ukraine obviously
• 25:39
  because of the war, but we making decisions as to we should
• 25:44
  go to what country and Spain was always a top choice because all
• 25:49
  the times that we. We spoke the language already,
• 25:52
  we love the culture in Spain and we thought it might be a good
• 25:56
  place for my family if they decide or we'll be able to
• 26:00
  leave. Your plan to also come to a
• 26:02
  safer country? OK.
• 26:05
  So you moved from Ecuador directly to Spain, correct?
• 26:09
  That's please tell me how was the move because I'm pretty sure
• 26:13
  it was funny. It was we, we felt that we never
• 26:18
  going to leave Ecuador for the war.
• 26:20
  We were comfortable. We, we were OK.
• 26:23
  We had a nice house. We lived by the mountains.
• 26:27
  Our kid already was, you know, used to.
• 26:31
  It and friends and family, everything like we were
• 26:33
  established there. So we were wondering what how
• 26:36
  are we going to sell everything? We were attached to a lot of our
• 26:40
  things, you know, furniture and stuff, and I put a post in
• 26:46
  Instagram that I was selling things, but someone replied and
• 26:52
  said I'm interested enough for me.
• 26:54
  But I have some friends that are moving into Cuenca.
• 26:56
  Let me put you in touch with this.
• 26:58
  American. Couple, American couple.
• 27:01
  So the American couple was like, well, they're very interested on
• 27:04
  our home, our things. And I had to make videos,
• 27:09
  several videos. I have to measure everything,
• 27:12
  the homes, the items. And they bought absolutely
• 27:17
  everything except a part, like this electric part instead of.
• 27:21
  But somehow they didn't want the part.
• 27:23
  I don't know what was. Yeah.
• 27:26
  And that made the move so much easier.
• 27:30
  And getting rid of all our things was very difficult, was
• 27:33
  very difficult. We and.
• 27:35
  I I figure out for myself that it's not the material value of
• 27:39
  things because I mean, you can regain them, but it's emotional
• 27:43
  attachment to things. Coming from Ukraine, where I was
• 27:48
  born and grew up and lived all my life in the same place.
• 27:52
  Like it was so stressful for me. What besides the move from
• 27:56
  Ukraine to Ecuador? But now, like we already like
• 27:59
  for eight years established there and having our like family
• 28:02
  stuff, including cats. This is one of our Ecuadorian
• 28:07
  cats that show with us. It was hard like emotional
• 28:13
  attachment to say bye bye to your things.
• 28:16
  Like it's your bad, it's your pillow, it's your blanket.
• 28:20
  Like you just I don't know, like I never thought that I would be
• 28:24
  so emotional attached to some material things.
• 28:28
  But in reality, in in a week or two, you forget about that.
• 28:31
  You get an improvement on your fight.
• 28:33
  I, I, I think it's somehow a combination.
• 28:35
  I do, I do fully agree. I think it's somehow a
• 28:37
  combination between material attachment and also the
• 28:40
  emotional one because you build something together.
• 28:42
  Like I think that was the, the thing you that attached you,
• 28:45
  that it's attaching you from the, from the things.
• 28:50
  So OK, that was AI would say there was a big luck that you
• 28:53
  had there. I don't, of course, not purely
• 28:55
  luck, but also, I mean, I save you, save you a lot of effort on
• 28:59
  your side to work around to, to, to sell things and so on.
• 29:06
  How was the apartment hunting in Spain?
• 29:07
  Well. Very hard.
• 29:11
  Terrible hard. Really.
• 29:13
  Yeah. Because it's very hard to find
• 29:15
  one. And when you find one, the
• 29:17
  requirements are things that you new cameras don't have.
• 29:22
  I understood. I understood very quick and I
• 29:25
  was so shocked and so really very quick.
• 29:27
  And then I realized you said very hard.
• 29:28
  I'm sorry for. Yeah, four months.
• 29:34
  Yeah, they're they're asking the requirements to to rent are not
• 29:37
  those requirements are impossible for a foreigner
• 29:40
  because you don't have a history of working here, you don't have
• 29:44
  a history of payrolls or contributing to the Social
• 29:48
  Security of Spain or nothing like that.
• 29:50
  So how, how do you how do you going to do it?
• 29:54
  And another thing is problem with occupus here in Spain, the
• 29:59
  people who a common rent from you, if you're the owner of the
• 30:03
  place and then just suddenly they stop paying.
• 30:05
  And if they have kids especially or they are like elderly or
• 30:09
  something, you according to the law, you cannot kick them out of
• 30:12
  your own place. And you have to keep on paying
• 30:16
  electricity and Internet bills and everything while those
• 30:20
  strangers live in your apartment and they're protected by the
• 30:24
  law. And if you you bring like some
• 30:28
  someone stronger to kick them out, then they will go with you
• 30:32
  and you will end up in the court.
• 30:33
  So if you own an apartment and you you had the owners have
• 30:37
  kids, you cannot kick them out if they don't pay you if.
• 30:41
  You if the people who rent from you, yeah.
• 30:44
  Or or if you have two homes and you live in one and the other
• 30:48
  one is a vacation home, or it's somehow you don't go that often,
• 30:52
  so which is empty. Somebody can just, they're
• 30:56
  working legally and you cannot take.
• 30:58
  It and occupy your living studies.
• 31:01
  This is I'd I'd wow. So that explains a lot like why
• 31:09
  it's so hard to rent a place here, especially for foreigners
• 31:12
  who like are unknown of the territory of Spain yet like how
• 31:16
  how the owner of the place entrust you as much as they
• 31:20
  think they will entrust you their apartment to you.
• 31:26
  And especially it's coming from a different country.
• 31:28
  Makes sense. You have no history.
• 31:29
  You have no history and anything.
• 31:30
  They have no idea what you do. You don't I have to say also,
• 31:34
  most probably they ask you where you come from, said Ecuador.
• 31:37
  They were also not like impressed.
• 31:40
  Like if they would say, I, I don't want to be mad, but I, I
• 31:43
  think there is a pre pre prejudice here when they say,
• 31:47
  OK, it's not the, it's not the US, it's not a rich country.
• 31:50
  It's just a normal country. And then they think, well, for
• 31:52
  sure they don't have money. And that's that's not so cool.
• 31:56
  We register on two or three different platforms for rentals
• 32:02
  and we got about I would say 8080 to 90 requests that we were
• 32:09
  sending out. We're explaining that we.
• 32:12
  To see the place. We, OK, financially we can,
• 32:15
  we're able to pay a rent and we can, we could get anywhere.
• 32:20
  We at this point, it was not about where we're going to live.
• 32:22
  It's about where we can live, where we're going to go.
• 32:26
  And so at this point, we already have a car.
• 32:30
  We, we sold our car in Ecuador, we bought a car here.
• 32:33
  So we were able to move and see different neighborhoods, but it
• 32:37
  was not our choice where. But remember, remember what
• 32:41
  worked for our place? It was just our friends were
• 32:45
  helping us like everybody that we knew, like they were trying
• 32:48
  to put in there. What's upset is that this family
• 32:50
  from Metro, they're looking for apartment.
• 32:52
  So it was just from the regular platform for rentals, Transfane
• 32:59
  Italista, the the owner of the place.
• 33:02
  When they replied to our request to see their apartment, we sent
• 33:07
  the description of our member of our family and we sent our also
• 33:12
  social media for them to see like who we are, what we do.
• 33:16
  Because you know, on these platforms you have to try, try
• 33:20
  to sell yourself as far as you have to put a photo of who you
• 33:23
  are. But I, I went the extra mile.
• 33:27
  I, I put a whole paragraph of who we are.
• 33:29
  I put links to our website, to our social media, so they, they
• 33:32
  understand what kind of work we do.
• 33:34
  And this person, which is the owners of this home, they went
• 33:39
  in. There.
• 33:41
  I like your vibe. I saw your social media, I saw
• 33:43
  your Instagram and yeah, comes come check out the place.
• 33:48
  My we're. The first class to see the
• 33:49
  place. And it's a very decent, it's a
• 33:52
  very nice place. Everything is in good light,
• 33:56
  good, perfect location. And we have transportation.
• 33:59
  We have a big park across the street.
• 34:01
  It was right by the the amount that we wanted to pay.
• 34:05
  And so, yeah, we live here and we don't know until when,
• 34:10
  because maybe we moved to Romania or something.
• 34:14
  I can give her good some good tips.
• 34:17
  I have relatives at Romania. Sorry.
• 34:20
  I have relatives in Romania. Really.
• 34:23
  Where? Bucharest.
• 34:25
  OK. I'm from Kluge, from around
• 34:27
  Kluge. So on the other side, you have
• 34:31
  family that went from Ukraine after the war started, or you
• 34:33
  have someone living there. My mom has a sister that married
• 34:40
  ages ago, a guy from Moldova, so they lived in personnel, and one
• 34:45
  of my cousins eventually moved to Romania.
• 34:48
  Yeah, she married there. It's, it's so interesting to
• 34:52
  talk about your home city, home country with someone that is
• 34:55
  living on the other side of the world.
• 34:57
  So yeah, guys, you, you decided on the city before you you left
• 35:04
  Ecuador, so you knew exactly in which city you're going to go in
• 35:07
  Spain. And we were leaning towards
• 35:11
  Valencia since the beginning because we heard a lot of
• 35:15
  beautiful things about the place.
• 35:19
  Our friends recently moved to the seat and they were
• 35:21
  suggesting they say like they, they made their own
• 35:23
  investigation that like the climate is good, the criminal
• 35:28
  situation is safe enough. And we only knew Barcelona in
• 35:33
  Madrid back then as tourists Valencia didn't know much about.
• 35:38
  But you know, it caught her attention.
• 35:41
  Can I ask you why not Barcelona or Madrid then?
• 35:45
  Too big Barcelona to criminal, unfortunately.
• 35:48
  Too touristic, Too expensive. OK, that's thank you.
• 35:54
  That was really a good argumentation if you want.
• 35:57
  Not Barcelona and Madrid too. But to live it's, it's different
• 36:01
  to live in those places, different than to be just a
• 36:03
  tourist. OK, makes sense that do you have
• 36:07
  the feeling in the previous in the previous episode when that I
• 36:11
  have with that I have had with the Gonzalez that you most
• 36:14
  probably known from Valencia. They let's say the the feedback
• 36:21
  in the comments was not the best one because exactly what exactly
• 36:23
  in this the same direction that people are moving a lot in
• 36:26
  Valencia and like it's in fashion.
• 36:28
  Do you have the feeling that someone was getting busier than
• 36:30
  busier since the first time when you came?
• 36:34
  So yeah, I think so. I think rents have gotten higher
• 36:38
  and more people are moving. Somehow it became popular quick.
• 36:44
  It's big enough. It's third major city in Spain,
• 36:49
  just like Barcelona, Valencia, song on the beach.
• 36:52
  But it's big enough to be like a real city where people live and
• 36:55
  work, not just they come for beach vacation.
• 36:59
  So it's nice and beautiful, safe.
• 37:02
  A lot of entertainment, a lot of sport events, a lot of festivals
• 37:07
  here, a lot of people with families, with kids, they can't
• 37:12
  move here. It's pretty safe.
• 37:15
  I mean, certain little things, friends, so obviously happen.
• 37:19
  But overall, we're talking about the bearing to other places.
• 37:23
  It's good. It was interesting because it
• 37:25
  was the first time that we were together in a new culture for
• 37:28
  both of us, because this is the first country that we live in
• 37:32
  that we don't have family so together.
• 37:36
  But this time she already knew Spanish.
• 37:38
  It was, it was good. And we together adjust and
• 37:42
  adjusted well, I think. Do you?
• 37:47
  Do you how's the how's the settled down process, do the
• 37:52
  registration process, bank account and so on.
• 37:55
  Do you have the feeling it went smooth or it it was complicated
• 37:58
  I. Would say so.
• 38:01
  Easier than I thought. I mean, The thing is that having
• 38:04
  a different perspective on things, Ecuador specifically,
• 38:09
  that everything lacks, Everything takes forever,
• 38:12
  everything is corrupted and you feel that you cannot really do
• 38:16
  things the right way. You have to pay somebody under
• 38:20
  the table for things to happen. You have to think.
• 38:23
  So just all run down and you know, it's not easy.
• 38:28
  So having that perspective and being ready for things like that
• 38:32
  coming to Spain, even though some things may lag.
• 38:36
  It, it, it also takes forever to sorry to mention that the
• 38:40
  bureaucracy and you know, like people work for, for anything
• 38:45
  you need an appointment. It's impossible to find an
• 38:47
  appointment online. Yeah.
• 38:50
  What I like you guys, I, I, I, I like the positivity.
• 38:54
  I like the fact that the end is, is important.
• 38:57
  What you are comparing it with, you know, I, I always said, and
• 39:00
  I think it's important. Like Mark, when you mentioned
• 39:02
  the the corruption and the bribery and money, I thought you
• 39:05
  talk about Romania, but OK, I mean.
• 39:09
  Yeah, I requested that the the bright side of things.
• 39:13
  Exactly, I think it's important to say bright side, you know, my
• 39:16
  my colleagues in Germany are always complaining, always
• 39:19
  constantly complaining about the the train systems in Germany,
• 39:22
  which of course it's not perfect, there are some delays
• 39:25
  here and there, but bad you have no idea what it means.
• 39:29
  So I I talked to colleagues and I said you have no idea what the
• 39:31
  train what you what actually means a train to have a delay.
• 39:34
  You have no idea when they how is it to be in the train station
• 39:37
  and they tell you we have no idea where the train is because
• 39:40
  we lost contact with them. So we don't know when it's going
• 39:42
  to come. So you might as well go home.
• 39:44
  So when you hear something like this, you realise what exactly?
• 39:47
  Delayed. Not 10 minutes, not 15, no, no,
• 39:50
  no, please no. Just don't complain.
• 39:52
  I think it's a matter of perspective.
• 39:53
  Always right? Same same.
• 39:55
  I feel the same with the Spanish people that a lot of them
• 39:59
  complain because they are comparing it to. 10 years ago,
• 40:04
  20 years ago that Spain back then.
• 40:07
  However, a people that have traveled, people that have gone
• 40:11
  to Latin America or Africa, most of them are pretty content with
• 40:16
  the way things run here. I think it's a, you know, Mark,
• 40:22
  I see this nostalgy everywhere. I see the fact that everyone is
• 40:25
  missing. 20 years ago it was always better.
• 40:27
  So everyone that you asked, they said yeah, no, no, everything
• 40:29
  was better. They talk also in Romania about
• 40:31
  the fact that in common this was much better.
• 40:33
  Everything was amazing. And I think most of the times is
• 40:36
  the the youth nostalgia. Everybody wished to be young
• 40:40
  again and I think they think about those times that was so
• 40:42
  good, but most probably it was because they were younger and
• 40:46
  they could enjoy life in a different way.
• 40:48
  I mean, I think somehow that's the reason why they say no.
• 40:50
  Everything was better back then. Now I don't know, even the food,
• 40:54
  when I hear this discussion in Romania, the food was better.
• 40:56
  Like if you if you read the some documents from the Communist
• 40:59
  Party, you are going crazy. What we ate, right?
• 41:02
  Of course we survived, it's OK, but you cannot say it was
• 41:06
  better. You have a different memory of
• 41:08
  the situation. But I don't think it was better.
• 41:10
  And I think it's just it's just a matter of perspective.
• 41:13
  When you come from a country when where the that you don't
• 41:16
  have it so good, when you move to a country that is better, you
• 41:19
  just you just don't understand anyone who's complaining, like
• 41:23
  shut up. And I think to to be more safe
• 41:28
  and have inner peace, it's probably better not to compare
• 41:33
  this new home country with your original home country or the
• 41:37
  place that you live most of the time because it's just different
• 41:40
  places. And if you want to be happy or
• 41:44
  happier in the new place, you just need to assimilate with the
• 41:47
  culture and just accept it with what it is.
• 41:50
  You cannot change people in cultural culture that they have
• 41:53
  for ages here. And if you are a newcomer and
• 41:57
  then in the new place, you know you probably need to make some
• 42:01
  adjustments. I, I think this and as well, the
• 42:04
  fact that nobody, you know, I always say nobody invited me to
• 42:07
  come to Germany. Nobody said please come, come,
• 42:10
  we need you here. No, it was my decision.
• 42:12
  And then I think it's hard to come here and complain about
• 42:15
  this and that and that. No, I decided to enjoy what's
• 42:18
  here. They have a different culture,
• 42:19
  they have different habits, they have different humour.
• 42:21
  I mean, in the meantime I managed to understand the humour
• 42:24
  as well, but there is also different humour because they
• 42:26
  left with different jokes. I we, they're different, but
• 42:28
  like you said, you come here, you accept the culture, you
• 42:31
  learn the language, because that's also a sign of respect,
• 42:34
  right? When you move somewhere, the,
• 42:35
  the sign of respect is to to learn the language.
• 42:39
  The apartment hunting, you said it was awful.
• 42:41
  Did you, you live in an, in an Airbnb before?
• 42:44
  I would guess right. No.
• 42:46
  No in again Instagram. Well, turns out that in Ecuador,
• 42:54
  in Ecuador we met. I went from Spain years years
• 42:59
  before, family years before and we were friends so he took a lie
• 43:03
  on us. We were kind of in touch once in
• 43:06
  a while and I posted the Instagram that we're moving to
• 43:11
  Spain and I would like to rent a place for Airbnb.
• 43:15
  I was ready to. For the first month to see like
• 43:18
  where we end up, like to see offers, whatever it is.
• 43:22
  And this man says, text me and he says, well, I met you years
• 43:27
  ago. Do you Remember Me?
• 43:29
  And I, I did. He was like, he lives in Ecuador
• 43:34
  and his home is in Spain. He says my home is in Spain.
• 43:37
  Isn't Galicia in the rural town in the rural N the North Point,
• 43:44
  NE part of Spain? And he says my house is there.
• 43:47
  You guys can stay there free of charge.
• 43:51
  Oh and also my car. You can just turn on the car.
• 43:54
  The car is available. Imagine that and we took the
• 43:59
  offer and. It really helped us a.
• 44:01
  Lot it's incredible because I, I crossed the words with this man
• 44:05
  for like maybe like 10 minutes once and then few messages
• 44:10
  throughout the years. So we arrived in Madrid airport,
• 44:14
  2 cats, 5 bags, three people knew everything knew from zero.
• 44:19
  We we only knew the language. Fortunately, we rented a
• 44:24
  vehicle. We it was packed with all our
• 44:26
  bags when we headed to Galicia. That's where he lived in the
• 44:29
  rural area. All I had it was a code to get
• 44:32
  to retrieve the keys and the picture of the house and that's
• 44:36
  it. And we drove.
• 44:38
  It was beautiful. We drove and it was beautiful.
• 44:41
  We it was nice home, but I'm surprised it was empty back
• 44:45
  then. How did?
• 44:46
  You make him feel about that. Yeah, we arrived.
• 44:48
  It was by forest. It was rainy here.
• 44:51
  We're listening to some soft music.
• 44:53
  It was a new beginning. 2 cats. The cats are like being flying
• 44:57
  with us since from South America.
• 45:00
  Our kid is with all this luggage in front of me.
• 45:02
  I mean, it was our home was that that was from this vehicle, this
• 45:07
  rental car. We arrived in the in the home
• 45:11
  and I was thinking what if this code doesn't work when if I
• 45:15
  click the buttons I still remember that that it was 1924.
• 45:21
  The code was. I pushed the button and it
• 45:27
  opened and. The typical locker, you know,
• 45:30
  like they would do for Airbnb. Yeah, but it was free of charge.
• 45:34
  It was a nice home call because nobody was there for a long
• 45:37
  time. We arrived, we went to the
• 45:40
  groceries immediately we unload and that's how our life began.
• 45:44
  Then we start searching for apartments from there and turned
• 45:48
  on the heater, swatched the mountains and that was they.
• 45:53
  Our first month. First first month was.
• 45:58
  There and a month later we end up already.
• 46:02
  But that's a that's an interesting story.
• 46:05
  So you, you would not say you were friends with that guy,
• 46:09
  right? You exchange some words.
• 46:11
  Well, once he offered, I needed to see him in Zoom to make sure
• 46:15
  he's for real. Like you've given us an offer.
• 46:22
  That sounds weird, a little weird.
• 46:25
  So anyway, we saw him on Zoom. We see him on Zoom several
• 46:29
  times, a couple times and I remember he.
• 46:32
  The thing is that he's following our almost daily posts on
• 46:36
  Instagram, so he knows who we are, but we didn't know how much
• 46:39
  who he was. It's so interesting with his
• 46:44
  family and they they came and stayed same as his wife came to
• 46:48
  stay in our place. Yeah, Valencia with their
• 46:50
  parents. You know, that was last, that
• 46:52
  was last year. We were able to repay the
• 46:53
  favour. He wanted to have a little
• 46:56
  weekend vacation in Spain, in Valencia.
• 46:59
  He came with another couple, so it was four of them and I was so
• 47:04
  glad that we were able to somehow pay the favour of their
• 47:08
  home. We cook for them, we hang out,
• 47:10
  and you know that we print. The the it's crazy when when you
• 47:14
  think about it, it makes sense. Don't get me wrong, but it's
• 47:17
  crazy when you think about it says yeah, we Ioffer you my
• 47:19
  house for free. But can we have a can we have a
• 47:22
  call? I want to see your face because
• 47:24
  it's like but makes absolutely sense.
• 47:28
  I do understand why why you did it makes total sense.
• 47:34
  The how was the first. So the first question, do you
• 47:38
  ever had the impression that you are talking the different
• 47:40
  Spanish than the Spanish Spanish in Spain?
• 47:44
  Yeah, at first especially. Especially me, I'm learning my
• 47:48
  Spanish in the Latin country, you know, and coming here, it's
• 47:52
  like they, they use different pronunciation, they use
• 47:54
  different words and expressions, like again from zero almost.
• 48:02
  But Mark for you was easier. Well, I, I was more familiar
• 48:06
  with the Spanish from Spain a little bit.
• 48:08
  So I need to adjust some words. I still think on English.
• 48:14
  I think, man, when I speak Spanish, I have to make an
• 48:17
  effort to put different words for the Spanish people when I
• 48:21
  when I go to weddings or when I'm talking to people and.
• 48:24
  It's not that we disconnected from Latin country because like
• 48:28
  we used to have part of your family over there in in Ecuador
• 48:33
  and now like we have friends here and more like your mind
• 48:36
  switches. Yeah, in between the languages.
• 48:39
  No, no, you, you, you must adjust just like you said, you
• 48:43
  know, I mean, nobody invited me to move here.
• 48:46
  I, I wanted to. So, you know, you're just and
• 48:50
  they understand that I'm not from here.
• 48:52
  That, that's one thing that when I live in the United States,
• 48:55
  listen to this, I, I can go to New York and tell them, oh, I'm,
• 48:59
  I'm from Texas. And that was fine.
• 49:01
  Conversation continues. And they accepted me as from
• 49:04
  Texas. And when I travel through Spain
• 49:08
  and I'm in Madrid and I tell them I'm from Valencia, they're
• 49:12
  like that. Where, where, where really are
• 49:16
  you from? Because in Spain they have a set
• 49:20
  and physical look. Perhaps so a person that looks
• 49:25
  obviously Asian cannot say that he's from Barcelona because they
• 49:28
  will immediately ask, no, no. So where, So where are your
• 49:30
  parents from? Where are your grandparents
• 49:32
  from? And in the, in the United States
• 49:35
  that doesn't go, I mean, I can go to Los Angeles and say that
• 49:38
  I'm from Texas and New York and that's it.
• 49:41
  They they take to the cities back here.
• 49:43
  That's an that's an interesting, that's an interesting
• 49:46
  perspective. I think it's interesting social
• 49:49
  perspective because I know what you mean.
• 49:51
  So it's not not about me, but I have a lot of colleagues which
• 49:56
  so Germany has a big history of immigration somewhere in the
• 50:00
  60s, seventies, when they need a lot of working power.
• 50:03
  And a lot of Italians and people from Turkey came, came into the
• 50:09
  country. And because of this, you have a
• 50:10
  lot of a lot of Italian heritage.
• 50:13
  That's why you have a really good Italian restaurants,
• 50:15
  because they are made by Italians, not by locals.
• 50:17
  This on the side, but also a lot of guys from Turkey.
• 50:20
  And you see, I see it in you. Of course you see it in the
• 50:24
  names. There are Italian names, Turkish
• 50:26
  name. And sometimes even now, even
• 50:28
  though they are born here, or maybe also the parents are born
• 50:31
  here, not only they, they are also always asking so where are
• 50:34
  you from? And they said, I don't know, I'm
• 50:36
  from Muhan. Yeah, but where are you actually
• 50:38
  from? I was born in Muhan.
• 50:40
  Yeah, but where are your parents from?
• 50:41
  I know this discussion goes on always like, but it's
• 50:45
  interesting that this is not happening in the US, But I think
• 50:49
  the multiculturality is, is, is different there, right?
• 50:54
  Yeah, yeah. And and it's very important when
• 50:56
  you married someone from a different culture to be open
• 50:59
  minded on that. Because if I were to be just in
• 51:04
  Ecuador and I never left, I think it would be issues in my
• 51:08
  relationship because I will expect maybe for her to be, to
• 51:13
  cook for me three times a day, to cook specific meals filled
• 51:18
  with rice in every meal, things like that, you know, so however,
• 51:22
  I, I'm not like that. I, I grew up in the states.
• 51:25
  I'm, I think I'm closer to the Mexican culture as far as food
• 51:30
  wise and food inclination and. Whichever is the case that the
• 51:36
  travelling expense, you're mind your horizons, you're more
• 51:41
  flexible in your expectations towards other people and your
• 51:45
  marriage mate too. Mark Twain said that travel is
• 51:50
  the cure to prejudice. And this is something which I
• 51:55
  keep, I keep repeating. I, I read it once, I think it's
• 51:58
  so deep and so, so short and so correct.
• 52:01
  I mean, travel is opening your mind.
• 52:03
  Travel is making you understand that your village is not the
• 52:05
  whole world, that your city is not the whole world.
• 52:08
  And also that you're not the most important person in the
• 52:11
  world. And there are people have, there
• 52:12
  are things happening with or without you.
• 52:14
  And I think someone it gets it gets you down toward travel
• 52:17
  because you realise, oh, in this huge world where I am my I'm,
• 52:23
  I'm this. So I have to somehow try to be
• 52:26
  happy for myself because the others don't really care about
• 52:28
  my happiness. Like I do it for me.
• 52:32
  OK. And I think that's important.
• 52:36
  Mark, I don't know if you want to talk about it, but would you
• 52:39
  mind sharing your two cents about the events happening in
• 52:43
  the US at the moment? I follow the news daily.
• 52:47
  Everyday I try to see unbiased news, nothing that will inclined
• 52:53
  to either one of the political parties or the other.
• 52:57
  And it's, it's just sad. I think the social gaps are
• 53:03
  brightening and it's they're getting just stronger.
• 53:08
  I don't I cannot move back to the states.
• 53:11
  I don't think I can and I I won't for many reasons.
• 53:16
  I still love it. I still follow sports, I love my
• 53:19
  family there and I still miss some places as far as to go take
• 53:24
  my family there. It'll be very complicated.
• 53:28
  It's politically neutral. However, it's damaging to the
• 53:33
  people for them not to be tolerant.
• 53:36
  Big. Social.
• 53:38
  Issue, Yeah. Big social issues, yeah.
• 53:42
  I'm a huge fanboy of yours. I'm a huge I, I had the
• 53:47
  advantage to go there 5-6 times because of work.
• 53:54
  I work in a big company that that for which I have done a
• 53:57
  lot, some business trips there. I was there three, I think 3
• 54:01
  times already in holiday with my family.
• 54:05
  And I have to say it's really sad what's happening.
• 54:07
  It's for me sad as well. I love that country.
• 54:10
  I think that I will be living there sometime in my life, at
• 54:15
  least six months just to experience it.
• 54:18
  But it's interesting how we are fighting other people's fights.
• 54:24
  This is my feeling at least, that the normal people are
• 54:26
  fighting someone else's fights. And this I do see this.
• 54:30
  So I followed the news from US exactly from the same idea.
• 54:33
  I do. I do like that country.
• 54:35
  I'm I'm a subscription player of the New York Times.
• 54:37
  I'm reading a lot of things because I'm I'm interesting.
• 54:40
  I I, I'm interested in the, in what's happening there.
• 54:43
  And I'm sad because it's this rich are getting, the rich are
• 54:48
  getting richer and the poorer are getting poorer, which is
• 54:50
  exactly what you said. And this is what I see as well.
• 54:54
  So it's all sad. But yeah, let's see what will
• 54:59
  happen this year in November. I think everybody's expecting
• 55:02
  November like Jesus for the second time.
• 55:04
  Yeah. Elections.
• 55:07
  Yeah, for the midterms, you watch the Super Bowl.
• 55:14
  I watched the highlights. I I my team did not make it so
• 55:17
  after. And they started to like.
• 55:20
  Like, you know, yeah, the times I love this, I watched the ball
• 55:24
  half time the next day in the highlights.
• 55:26
  But no, I was I was devastated with when my team was did step
• 55:31
  away, step away, Yeah, just like 2 games away from Super Bowl.
• 55:35
  So. Do you miss the the football
• 55:38
  atmosphere from the US? The the like I have?
• 55:41
  I have the feeling that somehow the the three hours before the
• 55:43
  game and three hours after the game they still talk about the
• 55:45
  game. Yeah, right, right, yeah, yeah,
• 55:47
  I mean, I I'm from a big college town, Austin, TX.
• 55:53
  So that's what the Texas longhorse play.
• 55:55
  So people usually they even say hi like this showing your
• 55:59
  fingers like with the horns. It's a big is the stadium is
• 56:03
  bigger than professional stadiums.
• 56:05
  People that go carries more friends than professional teams
• 56:10
  sometimes. So yeah, I, I, I miss that.
• 56:13
  I miss the food, food. Miss people, friends.
• 56:18
  I still miss Chipotle. So to Portland, right, So I
• 56:23
  still I'm still there. I think I do do go to Ukraine
• 56:27
  every once in a while, or you have.
• 56:29
  Like 3 * a year I go there, yeah.
• 56:32
  OK, can can I ask you in which in which parts of Ukraine is
• 56:35
  your family? Living in this close to Poland.
• 56:39
  Oh, I know it. Yeah.
• 56:40
  OK, so let's say a bit far away from the danger.
• 56:44
  I would dare to say it like this.
• 56:47
  Not out, not out of danger, but a bit far away from danger.
• 56:52
  Comparing to other places, of course you know, not not as much
• 56:55
  damage on the city itself. They do have like the
• 57:00
  consequences is electricity shortages and some
• 57:05
  inconveniences, but not as much danger as other places.
• 57:11
  Have you tried to convince your parents to move out?
• 57:14
  Of course, even when we were in Ecuador before we decided to
• 57:19
  move to Spain, we weren't like talking to them, but at least
• 57:21
  because we didn't know for how long it's going to last.
• 57:25
  So we asked them to come to Ecuador this for some time this
• 57:30
  for a few months. But it's hard when people
• 57:32
  getting older already, you know, like they feel that they're
• 57:36
  rooted there and to come to another country, continent, new
• 57:42
  culture, learn the language when they're in their 70s, It's it's
• 57:46
  a big thing. So they feel safer in their
• 57:49
  little place, even like when like the shack hits rockets
• 57:54
  passing by, but they feel like, oh, it's my place.
• 57:57
  Like here I buy bread, here I go buy milk and like, it's my
• 58:01
  community here so. Of course, of course it's, it's
• 58:08
  hard to move everyone where they live their whole life in one
• 58:10
  place. I think that's, that makes it
• 58:12
  easier for us when we say, OK, we can move to another place
• 58:15
  because you're not grounded. You, you, you switch already and
• 58:19
  you know, it's not the end of the world.
• 58:20
  Like you said before, like you takes one week and then you
• 58:22
  forget about it. So and then you move on.
• 58:25
  But I think it's hard then I, I do understand.
• 58:28
  I do understand them completely. You have this, you have the
• 58:31
  feeling of safety in your own home, like you said.
• 58:33
  And I think that's it's a pity that someone is able to take it
• 58:36
  from you by by invading a different country in the 21st
• 58:42
  century. It's unbelievable.
• 58:43
  It's I think it's something that nobody thought is possible.
• 58:50
  Mark, you already said that most probably Spain is not going to
• 58:53
  be the last station, Is it? Is it a thought in your head or
• 59:03
  or you, because I'm telling you from my perspective, I'm I'm
• 59:06
  always thinking, you know what? I sky is the limit.
• 59:09
  I don't really care. I as long as I have my family,
• 59:11
  my wife and my kid with me, I don't care.
• 59:15
  In which country do you have the same feeling or you are have
• 59:17
  already something in your head? No, definitely as long as I I I
• 59:21
  have my my wife, my kid, cats. Even with us I don't feel home.
• 59:27
  It's just us, not a geographical location.
• 59:33
  Home is a feeling. Yeah, yeah.
• 59:35
  I mean, this city is very nice. It's very pretty.
• 59:39
  It's all they're happy here. And when I see them happy then
• 59:44
  as the head of the household, in the way, as the man, whatever
• 59:48
  it's it's working for now. But I, I, I do feel them, if
• 59:54
  spent, will be the future. Perhaps maybe in a rural area,
• 59:58
  in a town, maybe within outside the city limits perhaps.
• 1:00:03
  And of course we're considering some situations due to the like
• 1:00:07
  my family situation with my father is getting older and
• 1:00:12
  older your father and depending how situation will be
• 1:00:18
  developing, like if one of our parents told me how that might
• 1:00:23
  be an another move as well. You mentioned the rural, rural
• 1:00:30
  area in, in Spain, Mark, and I always like to ask a question
• 1:00:36
  because it's, it's so interesting how you get
• 1:00:39
  different answers from different area of Spain because they are
• 1:00:42
  living in a city now. I had someone who lived in a
• 1:00:46
  rural area in a small city and they said the biggest impact on
• 1:00:50
  their life was the the fact that everyone, everything was dead
• 1:00:54
  between 12:00 and 2:00 in the midday.
• 1:00:58
  I don't want to call it siesta because everyone will complain,
• 1:01:00
  but do you have, do you see this in Valencia?
• 1:01:08
  Yeah. I mean, if you want to have a
• 1:01:11
  meal or have activities around 4:00 PM, you may not find a
• 1:01:15
  restaurant or you may not find nothing open.
• 1:01:18
  But if you go around A9. We open like around 5:00.
• 1:01:22
  Yeah, midnight. I've seen kids playing football
• 1:01:27
  in my neighborhood and all people walking around, like
• 1:01:30
  laughing, playing games or yeah, it's that type of culture.
• 1:01:35
  I always like to talk with my German colleagues when they are
• 1:01:38
  coming from holiday from Italy or Spain, because here the kids
• 1:01:41
  are sleeping at 7:00 PM or 6:00 or 7:00 PM and they go there and
• 1:01:45
  say we went to a restaurant, it was 10:00 PM and all the kids
• 1:01:47
  were there. Yes, yeah, that's.
• 1:01:49
  Right. It's a cultural thing. 8-9 they
• 1:01:52
  just opened. No, it's fine.
• 1:01:54
  Yeah. But do you think it's a, it's a,
• 1:01:56
  it's a second effect of the heat, the fact that they open so
• 1:01:59
  late? It could be, well, it's, it's
• 1:02:02
  not like it's hot, but it's very, it's nice.
• 1:02:04
  Besides that we are in the same time zone as you guys, even
• 1:02:08
  though we're supposed to be in a different time zone because some
• 1:02:11
  political things that happened in the past.
• 1:02:13
  So it gets darker much later, especially in summer.
• 1:02:18
  So the days are longer, sometimes the days are longer.
• 1:02:21
  But at the same time, I, I think he plays the role, you know,
• 1:02:24
  half a year it's like very hot, like noticeably hot.
• 1:02:27
  And during the pick up the day you cannot do anything, so
• 1:02:31
  people just go to sleep. Which makes a lot of sense.
• 1:02:38
  I I still, I have a thing with, with my, my kid as well, because
• 1:02:43
  every time when it's someone like usually he usually goes to
• 1:02:46
  sleep somewhere between 8:00 and 9:00.
• 1:02:48
  So I would say in the winter, but in the summer it's I, I even
• 1:02:52
  as I know most primer bad father, but I cannot tell him at
• 1:02:55
  8:30 go to sleep. It's full light outside still is
• 1:02:58
  the day is still on. So I feel like, you know, like
• 1:03:01
  how can I send him out to sleep? Like let him enjoy the light.
• 1:03:04
  Anyhow, we don't have a son here.
• 1:03:06
  It's from November to March, so we try to get as much as
• 1:03:10
  possible in the summer. Yeah.
• 1:03:12
  How old is him? Is he's 7, he's going to be 8
• 1:03:17
  this year, so it's the still the time when he still likes me.
• 1:03:22
  Yeah, I understand. I know that.
• 1:03:27
  How? How old is yours?
• 1:03:29
  He just turned. He turned 20.
• 1:03:31
  Oh. OK.
• 1:03:33
  He doesn't like me as when he was 7.
• 1:03:37
  So you know what I meant, right? Yeah.
• 1:03:41
  Totally I'm still still happy when I come home, which is which
• 1:03:43
  is really nice. So guys, I, I'm so happy that I
• 1:03:50
  got to know you. We have not done but I I always.
• 1:03:53
  Like to say. Sorry.
• 1:03:56
  Come to Valencia. I will, we will, we will.
• 1:03:59
  We have it in place. So I'll be, to be honest, I'll
• 1:04:01
  be next weekend in Madrid. No, the the next weekend.
• 1:04:07
  So on the 21st of February, but only with some friends because
• 1:04:10
  we are doing this mammoth March which is happening in Madrid.
• 1:04:12
  I don't know if you know, it's a 50 kilometres walk and we plan
• 1:04:17
  to come to Spain this year. So most probably be in Valencia.
• 1:04:20
  So I'm talking to the Gonzalez family, talking to you and I, I
• 1:04:23
  had another couple from Valencia as well.
• 1:04:27
  And you made me want to come to Valencia.
• 1:04:32
  I don't know, except the football team, the soccer team,
• 1:04:35
  but the soccer team. I don't know anything about
• 1:04:37
  Valencia, but I, I love it. And I'm pretty sure you'll be
• 1:04:43
  there this summer 100% so. Sounds good, you will enjoy it.
• 1:04:47
  Sounds good, yeah. I'm happy that I get to meet you
• 1:04:50
  usually usually before before I finish I have some some rapid
• 1:04:56
  fire question I called them but I tried to avoid to call them
• 1:04:58
  rapid fire because they are never rapid fire and they are
• 1:05:04
  some old somehow tail around the guests.
• 1:05:06
  So I will I will try to start with yours.
• 1:05:11
  Do you think that if Instagram would not exist, would you still
• 1:05:14
  be here? No, I don't think so.
• 1:05:20
  That's a nice one. I I did expect the other way
• 1:05:23
  around, but I like this one better now.
• 1:05:27
  Alinka, what do you think? That most part.
• 1:05:30
  It's a bit of an unfortunate question, but what do you think
• 1:05:32
  that Ukraine did better than Spain before the war started?
• 1:05:37
  What they did better? Yes, as a culture, as a country,
• 1:05:42
  you can choose whatever you want.
• 1:05:44
  You know, as a talking as a girl, I can say that everything
• 1:05:50
  around beauty area it's much more organized and more sleek in
• 1:05:57
  in Ukraine and post Soviet countries others.
• 1:06:01
  Too for salons you mean? Yeah, hair treatments, nails,
• 1:06:05
  beauty, fashion, style. Like here, I think you have this
• 1:06:12
  many or even services, you know, the restaurants, the atmosphere
• 1:06:16
  that they create. This is something that Spain is
• 1:06:19
  a little bit behind with all my love to Spain.
• 1:06:23
  Yeah, I, I think so too. I I'm very observant.
• 1:06:27
  I'm a wedding photographer so I observed details and in Ukraine
• 1:06:33
  I think every girl her nails are done.
• 1:06:37
  Her hair is Florida State perfect and then dressed nice as
• 1:06:41
  much as they can afford they they're well put together in
• 1:06:47
  Spain. I mean all humans are beautiful,
• 1:06:51
  however that not well kept as far as nails.
• 1:06:54
  Maybe less attention to physical parts.
• 1:06:58
  I have to say now that you, you you elaborated on that, now I
• 1:07:02
  understand what you mean. I have to say I have seen this
• 1:07:05
  cultural difference between Romania and Germany as well.
• 1:07:07
  And I don't know if it's a thing from a Western culture.
• 1:07:10
  I don't know as well. I have no, no extra explanation
• 1:07:12
  for this, but I, I realised that as well.
• 1:07:14
  Yeah, that's that's an interesting fact.
• 1:07:18
  Mark you, you are a wedding photographer.
• 1:07:23
  Where was it easier? Was it in Ecuador or it is in
• 1:07:28
  Spain easier? Well, in in Ecuador, I was an
• 1:07:32
  international wedding photographer because most of my
• 1:07:34
  couples were mixed cultural as as far as Americans with
• 1:07:40
  Ecuadorians, most of them even Austria and American, and
• 1:07:45
  because there's we lived in a city with many foreigners.
• 1:07:48
  However, as far as if I'm talking about Ecuadorian people,
• 1:07:52
  the culture, they're a little more shy.
• 1:07:54
  So it was hard to get them out of their shells to to be
• 1:07:59
  comfortable in front of the camera.
• 1:08:00
  In Spain, I find it easier. I find that that they've used to
• 1:08:06
  seen the camera They used to be taking photos.
• 1:08:09
  They used more relaxed. To go to festivals and they as
• 1:08:11
  kids so they more relaxed in front of the camera for for my
• 1:08:15
  style of photography. OK.
• 1:08:17
  That means it was easier in Spain.
• 1:08:19
  That's interesting. Yes.
• 1:08:22
  Alinka, who is more punctual? You're Mark.
• 1:08:26
  Mark. That's a surprise coming from a
• 1:08:29
  Spanish culture. That's OK.
• 1:08:34
  That's a that's a big surprise. Mark Does Alinka knows the real
• 1:08:40
  value of your photo equipment. It was a photo equipment.
• 1:08:45
  Yeah. The thing is that I'm I have my
• 1:08:47
  own camera. I'm not waiting for Toyota, but
• 1:08:49
  it's two of us. Two of us.
• 1:08:52
  We OK, so you're doing it together.
• 1:08:54
  Yeah, we, we do it together. We always did it together.
• 1:08:56
  So she starts with the bride and she stays with the bride and
• 1:09:00
  taking all the details, I go with them, with the husband,
• 1:09:04
  with the groom and I'm taking care of a budget and.
• 1:09:11
  OK, so you know. Yeah, although I am I am the the
• 1:09:14
  main photographer, she added. She's the editor.
• 1:09:18
  So if you go to my Instagram with the OR to our website,
• 1:09:21
  those are her editor style as far as color grading and details
• 1:09:27
  and the composition is mine and photos is mine.
• 1:09:30
  But yeah, she's also great. Thank.
• 1:09:33
  You. You, you made me.
• 1:09:36
  You made me somehow curious, Mark, and I have to ask you how,
• 1:09:38
  how did you start it with photography?
• 1:09:40
  What, what was the what was the starting?
• 1:09:43
  What was your first camera? Instagram.
• 1:09:47
  Really. No, my first camera was with
• 1:09:50
  like my uncle gave me a camera when I was a kid in the states.
• 1:09:53
  But when it started like a like a photography.
• 1:09:56
  Oh OK. I was referring to a friend that
• 1:09:58
  contacted us through through Instagram and he asked us to
• 1:10:02
  take pictures of his wedding in Ecuador and we were not
• 1:10:06
  photographers at the moment yet He just said, like, I like your
• 1:10:09
  Instagram style. If you can do my weighting in
• 1:10:12
  the stuff that you do, your Instagram pictures, that's good
• 1:10:15
  enough for me. And we had at the moment we had
• 1:10:18
  like semi professional camera Sony and that's.
• 1:10:23
  We should have we should have Sony and I had a Sony camera.
• 1:10:26
  This is already when she weirdo, I mean married already.
• 1:10:30
  We've been taking the wedding photos for eight years now.
• 1:10:32
  This is our 8th year on weddings.
• 1:10:35
  So we took our that first wedding again, American with
• 1:10:37
  Ecuadorian. That was like my typical mix and
• 1:10:40
  it was at the beach. It was beautiful.
• 1:10:42
  But between both of us, we have one small camera with one lens
• 1:10:46
  and one Mamma Mia. It was it was it was heavy.
• 1:10:50
  Now we have really good equipment.
• 1:10:52
  We're top of the line Sony. She has her own equipment at my
• 1:10:55
  own. So we're fully, fully all out.
• 1:11:02
  I think the important thing in all of this, because I, I have a
• 1:11:05
  Instagram account also because I like photography.
• 1:11:08
  There was something which which I my first camera, I bought a
• 1:11:12
  Nikon D3200. So it was really it was the
• 1:11:17
  beginning of the, the DSLR cameras.
• 1:11:20
  But I have to say this something I'm, I enjoy doing a lot.
• 1:11:24
  I I I was I never got to be not even serial professional, but I
• 1:11:29
  enjoy doing it a lot on private. I still do it unprofessional
• 1:11:33
  with the iPhone but I still like it.
• 1:11:39
  I was going to tell you I'm going to send you because you
• 1:11:41
  you have our family account, The Life of Lashkovs.
• 1:11:44
  But yes, yeah, I will send you my work.
• 1:11:48
  Mr. Lashkov. Mr. dot Lashkov is the work
• 1:11:51
  account. And that's all weddings.
• 1:11:53
  I mean, it's is at work, yeah. Oh, by the way, I will link
• 1:11:58
  everything that that all your social media in the show notes
• 1:12:01
  caption for anyone who wants to see them because I think it's a
• 1:12:05
  it's a nice experience. I only know I only have your
• 1:12:07
  family account. So I didn't know you had a, you
• 1:12:08
  had a private account? Yeah, we have a a photography
• 1:12:12
  weddings account. Oh, a photography account?
• 1:12:14
  Yeah, guys, I have AI have a cheesy question at the end.
• 1:12:21
  One of the the One of the because I think it's the chisel
• 1:12:26
  from the test. But I think I, I really want to
• 1:12:28
  know if, if your movie, if your movie, if your life would be a
• 1:12:31
  movie title, how would it be called?
• 1:12:39
  It'll be called the true wild. I like it.
• 1:12:53
  That was that was spontaneously and you haven't thought about
• 1:12:56
  it. I have to say really good.
• 1:12:59
  Expect the unexpected. I mean, what, what woman sees a
• 1:13:03
  man on the Internet from the other side of the world, backs
• 1:13:06
  or backs and in just a few short weeks buys a wedding dress, goes
• 1:13:11
  to the other side of the world one way ticket and stays in, in,
• 1:13:18
  in in my end. I mean, I, I understand that
• 1:13:21
  she's coming to me. So I had to be prepared.
• 1:13:24
  So I had a, a ring ready. I had an engagement ring ready
• 1:13:28
  and she came with her wedding dress.
• 1:13:30
  And that's how we met. Too wild, Too wild.
• 1:13:35
  This is just crazy. I I I some it's crazy.
• 1:13:40
  That's that's the only thing I can say guys, thank you so much
• 1:13:45
  for your time. I I enjoyed a lot talking to
• 1:13:48
  you. I enjoyed a lot of the time.
• 1:13:50
  I think of your you are a hope for me because I'm I'm a guy who
• 1:13:57
  was really giving his trust away really fast.
• 1:14:02
  And I was a lot disappointed because of this.
• 1:14:04
  A lot, a lot. And I have to say every time
• 1:14:09
  when I see someone or when I say a story like yours, it kinds of
• 1:14:12
  kind of gives me courage. Also for my son, because I'm I'm
• 1:14:17
  in the process of trying to give him.
• 1:14:19
  I don't know what's the best. I don't know if I should teach
• 1:14:21
  him to be an asshole. I'm sorry for my French, or if I
• 1:14:24
  should teach him to be nice and kind with everyone because that
• 1:14:27
  will come back. Because living in the crazy
• 1:14:29
  world that we are living today, you don't know what's better for
• 1:14:32
  his future. But seeing stories like you
• 1:14:35
  would kind of give me give me hope back.
• 1:14:38
  Thank you so much for me taking the time today.
• 1:14:40
  Thank you, much appreciated. Thank you.
• 1:14:43
  We enjoy it and we hope to. I hope to see you.
• 1:14:47
  Sometimes in real life when we are in Valencia, who knows?
• 1:14:51
  Sounds good. I'll send you an e-mail with our
• 1:14:53
  socials. And we'll go on a photo trip.
• 1:14:56
  Yeah, sure. That will be nice.
• 1:14:58
  That will. Be nice.
• 1:14:58
  That will be nice. You know the.
• 1:14:59
  Places, right, Yeah. Thank you so much, guys.
• 1:15:03
  See. You in the next one.
• 1:15:04
  Bye.