My story

Hello, friend. Nice to meet you. 

I've been thinking about writing for some time, so I opened this blog to begin and practice. 

Since I don't really know yet what to write about, I will tell you a little of my story. 

I would rather hear you tell me about yourself first, to be honest, but this will do for a start. 

My name is Oles Deyneka. I was born in 1992 in a small town in Ukraine called Kolomya, close to the Carpathian Mountains. I spent my first 10 years living there and in Lviv, a bigger city in that area. Then I moved to Italy with my brother to reach our parents and newborn sister. 

Our first few months were spent in Osimo, a small town in central Italy of which I have very fond memories. Next, we moved to Trieste, where I went to school and spent most of the following 15 years. 

At age 15 I tried playing drums at school and fell in love with it. I was a young metalhead back then, and later on, played in a band called 'Shapeless Sphere'. We recorded an album so you can look it up! 

After finishing high school, I gave engineering a try. A year later I quit and went for my first solo trip, looking to try new things and to get out of my comfort zone. 

I was inspired a lot by Estas Tonne, his music, and his 'Inner Flight' travel video. My heart ached to play something melodic as well. What happened later seemed like pieces of a puzzle fitting into place.

Conquering my fears in Bruxelles

I bought the cheapest flight from the nearest airport, and it happened to go to Belgium. There I found an organic farm (called Plukrijp) to volunteer on through the WWOOF portal, picked at random among dozens of other farms. 

I lived and worked there for a month. It became like a new home, with its amazing people from all over the world, delicious organic food, pleasant work, and a philosophy of abundance never seen before. 

There I learned about permaculture, got deeper into meditation, read interesting books, and had my first experience with street art.

Seasoned busker and creator of  'Ypres - City of Wings' festival, Frank Poelvoorde, guided us in this endeavor. We played music, did clownery in funny costumes, and made huge soap bubbles at the local market, on the streets of Antwerp, and at events for children. It was super fun, and it inspired me to continue on my own. 

A second piece of the puzzle was given to me by my dear friend Scott, a beautiful soul from New Zealand. He showed me the 'Hang Massive - Once Again' video and told me "hey, you should get yourself one of these". It made perfect sense. 

After a year of waiting list, I had my first Handpan made by 'Vision', in D integral scale. 

With it, I busked around Italy and Europe, but soon stopped in Lviv again. There I met Sonya: the amazing, talented, beautiful woman who is now my wife. 

Once married, we moved to Trieste together, looking for stable family life. Here I started working in the beautiful cafè  'Lettera Viva' while doing my best to keep my Handpan passion alive. 

We miss our homeland though, so who knows, maybe one day we will follow our hearts back home...

Write in the comments below, or in private (oles_deyneka@yahoo.it) to share with me something about yourself too, or whatever else you would like to say. I will be happy to get to know you as well. 

Much love!