I'm a musician, filmmaker and martial artist. I've been in connection with my Central Asian heritage for about 11 years. And this summer I'll be connecting with my father's grandparents' home island Crete to reconnect and learn more about my family.

I've spent the last 5 years in Portland, Oregon in commune with the mountains, the water and the original peoples of the land gave me the chance to come into my indigeneity, gender, ethnic identity, and it gave me a renewed vision as to what I am doing on this planet.

At the age of 13 I became a music teacher and that passion is still strong today. I recently passed on the ownership of my music school and studio called the Hive in Portland, which continues to serve many bands and artists in town.

I now also teach Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at which I'm a Purple Belt and have been training for 4 years. My grandfather did boxing and was interested in doing jiu jitsu, so maybe my inclination was passed down from him.

Prior to Portland I was living a nomadic farmer life for a few years mainly in California and Japan. I think rice farming in the island of Kakeromajima off of Amami Oshima is the highlight of that era. I got to meet my hero Ikue Asazaki which led to a whole tour with my band in Japan in 2019.

I've done two Vipassana meditation sittings: once in Kyoto and once in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. I try to do twice a day but more realistically end up doing once every other day. I'm a work in progress!

After studying songwriting at Berklee I created Time Travels Through Sound and traveled across Central Asia. TTTS is a documentary project highlighting music of cultures that face language extinction.

When I arrive in Greece this time I am planning to do an extended visit and do farming, study Greek language, do martial arts at local gyms and hopefully play lots of music.

The best experience is to make new friends in ancestral lands and I'm looking forward to achieving that in Crete.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I participate by hosting, surfing, attending CS events and letting people know about CS anywhere I go.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've hosted
-Alexandra, Aurore and Yiannis, from France and Greece;
-Havely, Forest and Nick from Asheville North Carolina;
-Indrek and Eleri from Tartu, Estonia;
-five french bikers (Richard, Karin, Pierre, Pierre; Xavier)
-Danitza and Putxa from Barcelona, Spain;
-Brianne from Vancouver, Canada;
-Johannes from Biessenhofen, Germany;
-Jana from Melbourne, Australia;
-Martin from Brno, Czech;
-Frane and Toni from Split, Croatia.

I have had surfing experience;
in Sofia, Bulgaria with Nadia and her friends
in Bath, UK with Jez and Fernanda,
in Yalova, Turkey with Selcen,
in Brussels, Belgium with Nar&Eddy, Dimitri, Malle, Tom
in Ghent, Belgium with Stijn&Tom,
in Tournai,Belgium with Jonathan,
in Liège, Belgium with Laura,
in Lens, France with Pierre&Pierre,
in Aachen, Germany with Andreas
in Düsseldorf, Germany with Thomas
in Brooklyn, NY with Emma & her awesome friends, Nikki&Daniel and Daniel,
in Queens, NY with Jay,
in San Francisco, CA with Scott,
in Santa Barbara, CA with Adrienne,
in Malibu, CA with Heikki,
in Long Beach, CA with Martin,
in Newport Beach, CA with Marcus,
in San Diego, CA with Sydney and her family,
in Puebla, México with Roberto,
in Boston, MA with Cagri, Max&Marcus,
in Montréal, QC with Pierre,
in Málaga, Spain with Mirian,
in Gibraltar, UK with Nicky&Jade,
in Granada, Spain with Flor,
in Almería, Spain with Gonzalo&Cristina,
in Vera, Spain with Greg,
in Aguilas, Spain with Callum,
in Cartagena, Spain with Anna,
in Murcia, Spain with Nina,
in Alicante, Spain with Romu,
in Gandia, Spain with Tania,
in Valencia, Spain with Nacho,
in Castellón, Spain with Ricard,
in Deltebre, Spain with Anna y Ruben,
in Tarragona, Spain with Georgina,
in Barcelona, Spain with Danitza,
in Girona, Spain with Natalia,
in Narbonne, France with Liam&Thomas,
in Montpellier, France with Sabine,
in Arles, France with Babbette and her family,
in Marseille, France with Cédric,
in Umag, Croatia with Sanjin&Aida,
in Rijeka, Croatia with Igor and Vladimir,
in Mali Lošinj, Croatia with Domagoj,
in Zadar, Croatia with Boris,
in Šibenik, Croatia with Sylvia,
in Split, Croatia with Frane,
in Zagreb, Croatia with Karolina.

I've had Coffee or Drink sort of experience;
in San Francisco, CA with Patrick,
in Laguna Beach, CA with Greg,
in Granada, Spain with Nazareth,
in Elche, Spain with Alejandro.

All of my CS experiences have been great. :)

Interests

Listening to music,
taking photos,
biking,
running,
skiing,
skating,
Playing instruments;
the guitar, bass guitar, double-bass
Learning new languages.

• photography
• documentaries
• dancing
• wine
• coffee
• running
• drinking
• traveling
• music
• guitar
• cycling
• surfing
• skiing
• hockey
• languages
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies:
Cirkus Columbia, Machuca, Léon, Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, the Shawshank Redemption, This is Spinal Tap, Historias Minimas, los Amantes del Circulo Polar, Annie Hall, el Mar Adentro, Trois Couleurs

Music:
Porcupine Tree, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Milton Nascimento, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Jeff Beck, Rush, Ivo Papasov

Here's some of my music:
http://soundcloud.com/deniz-aydemir/

Books:
the Doors of Perception, Zeytoun, el Labirento de la Soledad, the Buddha in the Attic

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Biking from Southern Spain to Turkey.

Donating my foot-long hair to Locks of Love.

Traveling for a year from Kazakhstan to Japan.

My uncle's wedding in Budapest; A three-day-wedding with amazing people all around the world in a beautiful city.

Studying Spanish and dancing the salsa at the university of UNAM in Mexico City, meeting many people from Sweeden to Korea.

Watching the band RUSH live in Montreal in a hockey stadium full of Canadian fans.

Teach, Learn, Share

If there's anything I can do to help you learn Turkish, English, Spanish, Tuvan or Japanese, photography, the guitar or bass, I would be happy to teach!

If you speak Portuguese, French, Arabic or Italian; have discovered music that is not really out there; have travel tips or experiences to share; know any tricks of some kind, teach me!

What I Can Share with Hosts

I love to cook. I'm good at cooking pretty much all types of meat and fish dishes -biggest specialties being lamb shank and salmon, HOWEVER, having grown up in the coast of the Mediterranean Sea I love to cook vegetable dishes with olive oil such as eggplant, artichoke, brussel sprouts, etc. as well. Besides I always love to help out in the kitchen!

As a musician a question I get asked a lot by my hosts is if I could play them a song or two. So I play a few originals and a few covers. Sometimes my host would do the playing and I would get to listen to their songs. It usually ends up becoming a longer experience than we anticipate, where my hosts and I get to bond with one another.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Monaco, Mongolia, Netherlands, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Spain, United Kingdom, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan, Mexico, Turkey, United States

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