On the Tamada way

When you've got a Schengen passport, you don't really care about Visas. For a long while, before you actually decide to see the world, you don't even understand its concept, you just fool around with friends here or there, finish your holidays and end up home. One could say, it's an easy life.

Once, I've decided that it was time for me to see how far I can go overland, to see the differences between countries, to open my mind....you know, school of life and this kind of things.

I'm from the so-called Western Europe, and grew up learning how nice and powerful was my country, compare to those underdeveloped remaining scraps of our old empire (not exactly but let's say...). Nevertheless, the eyes have to check, and to confirm or reject the educational knowledge.
So, I took my side money, grabbed my backpack, made my way through numerous countries, crossed a couple of borders, hitchhiked in many a language, slept inside or outside of the strangest places ever with the help of many a lovely person and so on.... I eventually stopped when I saw a sign on the road, informing me of this following fact : TEHERAN ~ 1200 km
At this very time, something changed in my mind. Deep inside I felt it. This was it. I was suddenly free, far away from home and close to those mythic countries of my childhood. I then started to explore this amazing Caucasian republic I was into, enjoyed numerous interesting cultural experiences and, of course, learned a lot from it and its people....

But I was talking about Visas. Even though they are among the best of one's anecdotes, travel memories are something else. The visa, yes. There ain't nothing more unfair than a visa. Who said that I worth more than this guy ? Why don't I need a visa to come here ? He needs one, and only my broken German language allowed me to help him. Three hours of fight in the visa office of West Berlin. A looong time to explain that this guy wasn't a migrant, but a future member of a nice European project, and I needed him to lead the group with me. We had just met. While waiting there, I started to realize that so many people throughout the world gave me a hand when I needed it, and now that I had a possibility to give it back (understand : a project and a shelter), it was time for me to try my best. So, we tried, and indeed it worked..... We then spent the two-weeks project together, and we had a great time.

Hope you now understood the connection between the two parts of the story. This guy is coming from the very same Caucasian republic I was so impressed by. And during this time we had, he explained me many more things about his country, I did the same about mine and Germany, lifestyle and culture of our respective places explanations, and we understood that our worlds are but completely different. And I learned. A lot. As he did. So, before the moral of the story, I'd like to introduce you a little bit about this surprising country.

Its a place where they like toasts. Its a big deal there, nothing compare to home. There is one guy around the table, he is the toast leader. They call him the Tamada. And there is not a single possibility that you will get a drink before the Tamada said his toasts. All the ritual seems established and goes in a right order : Country, death, birth, foreigners....In theory, his son will get the heritage as toast maker, if he's considered by its pair.
There are long beautiful sayings during the toast, some of those deep touching sentences that makes you shiver. I don't say that I understood each and every word, but one can understand its meaning.
And oddly enough, after spending a long time getting in touch with this man and this country, I found myself last time being the only one around the table to make a toast for a group of people from as many as 15 different countries. And I spoke about that. About him, about my experience in his country, and I dedicated the toast to the one that was not accepted in the project, because he didn't manage to get the visa. Someone probably decided that he “didn't worth it”. That bring us to the whole moral of this story :

1) If you need a visa most of the time you want to cross a physical border, I'm sorry for you. You do have the right to discover the world, don't worry, it's unfortunately just a matter of odds, and its unfair.You do worth it. If you really want to leave your country, then think twice about the pros and cons. Try to discover the amazing things your country has to offer, acknowledge them and then go away. It will help you not to get lost. Abroad might be more expensive than your homeland, but don't forget that a lots of people are here around to help you, so just grab your luck !

2) If you don't need a visa to travel (at some extend), but still are surprised by the content of this text, so please turn off your computer, grab your backpack and go to see the world. It doesn't matter how far, what you will do or how long, but try to have an insight of the true possibilities that are offers to you. You are among the lucky ones, and a whole encyclopedia is awaiting for you behind your door, you are strongly invited to go and have a look. You have the chance to do it, just try. It might not fits to you, some hard situations might happens, but you'll hardly ever forget your trip. Go to the first country you think about or make it to a place you never heard of. Ask the simplest questions to people you don't know and enjoy the friendship and the generosity of the inhabitants. Feed your soul everyday and go where you usually don't go, doing what you usually don't do.
Then, after a while, come back home, enjoy your bed and your mother's sweet meals and all the little pleasures you dreamed about when you were gone. After a week or so, when you start to feel both comfortable and awkward in your homepalce, start to digest your story, write it down on a paper, and begin to make toasts about what you now realize is important, just like a real Tamada.