I’m from a city called Winnipeg in the middle of Canada. It’s a prairie town which means its surrounded by farmers’ fields. I like to think of it as one of the biggest small towns in the world. It’s not a stretch to think that you could literally drive for 12 to 14 hours before hitting the next big city. It’s home, though the last few years have seen me become a visitor rather than a resident.
I began working and travelling around the world in 2009. Freshly graduated from an MA in Classics, I wanted to get out and see the world and possibly even write a book much like my hero, Herodotus. Although the book part hasn’t happened yet, I have ventured across the globe a couple of times, though I still have not technically gone completely around the world. (For that to happen I need to traverse the area between Kharkiv, Ukraine and Bagan, Myanmar.)
The problem with travelling is that it costs money which means I need a job (or jobs) to pay for these travels. And so, for the better part of five years, I’ve been working and travelling around the world. To date I’ve worked on four continents (Canada – North America, Ukraine – Eastern Europe, South Korea – Asia and Australia) and travelled through quite a few more (23 in total, not like I’m trying to brag.)
Not only did travel enable me to see new places and meet a lot of new people all over the world, it was the catalyst I needed to get writing and publishing. What you see here on this website is a combination of travelogue (stories that basically consist of “I went and this is what I saw” type of narrative) and a few articles on working overseas, especially teaching ESL or farm work.
But long term travel is a relatively new thing for me. Another two interests of mine are music and movies.
I’ve been studying music since I was a kid and picked up the drums when I turned 13. I’ve played in a few bands, some you may have heard of, others maybe not. I’ve played all sorts of genres from rock and metal to jazz and tribal percussion but my influences are much broader than that. Currently, I am recording and producing some solo work which you can find, alongside some of my older work, on my music page.
Finally, movies. Much like music, movies have been a constant in my life. From the early attempts to the later, more formal productions at being a filmmaker, I’ve written, produced and directed a few short films. Although I draw a lot of my inspiration from old Soviet films and independent cinema, due to my extensive travels abroad, I’ve been slowly assembling a documentary of sorts.
I hope you enjoy what you read here and that it may even be helpful to you. If you have any comments, questions or concerns, please get in touch with me through email, stevensirski [at] gmail [dot] com.
Thanks for stopping by!
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