Digital Nomads: Marshall Zadeh

I'm shedding some light on the lives of the Digital Nomads. Find their stories in this tag. More will come later... Today, we have another fellow nomad on our page: Apu or Marshall Zadeh!

Hiking in Portugal Sintra

Can you introduce yourself to us please? How did your life journey begin?

I’m Apu (abdollah) Zadeh or Musically Marshall Zadeh. It started As most stories start usually with school and being a teenager. Where it kinda started getting interesting was the school i joined following my parents decision. I did 6 years in Persian school and 6 years in Arabic school where I graduated from the latter. That kinda made me fluent in 3 languages by 18. Going through that experience made me realize the huge gap between two cultures since an early age. I think that kinda gave me a taste of how cultures can be gateways for our personal freedoms and expressions. Many things can be considered taboo in one culture while loved in another.

What influenced you to start a nomadic life? How did you get out of your comfort zone?

At first i was so eager to travel abroad and kind of get out of the bubbled culture of a local lifestyle. So i left my parents house at 17 and went off to southeast Asia. But the comfort zone! That was a tough one actually. I got homesick for a year or 2, but that started fading away by 20. After a while i found myself exploring new cultures and lifestyles and the internet became a source of income.

How was your nomadic journey? Which countries have you been to?

I wasn’t aware of such a culture at first, the more people i met they kept telling me your a nomad! That’s when i started meeting more nomads from different parts of the world. In my case i was settling in each country for a year and above. I’ve been to Kuwait (obviously),Dubai (obviously),Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand (love heart), Malaysia in Selangor mostly, Turkey 2 years and and now in Portugal and probably Amsterdam next.

First Band in Malaysia

How do you manage to settle again, like accommodation job education etc after you switch a location?

The golden tool is English language i would say. You know how nomads live in the internet network (haha) so i was able to connect with many nomads who have been to where i am and im highly appreciative of their efforts in building such simple elegant businesses that make settling in as smooth as whip cream.

How was your life and decisions and motivation affected after the pandemic?

The pandemic hit when i was in Istanbul actually And I’m so thankful for that. It helped me alter and reconsider many things in a beautiful city where i stayed for 2 years. Motivation was a tricky one and Meditation has really helped me during that period. It taught me to control emotions, thoughts and have a wider perspective of life.

How was you stay in İstanbul? Is it a good spot for global nomads?

Istanbul is beautiful that’s for sure. As for a spot for global nomads it definitely can be. given few more businesses need to exist for it to be a well equipped spot for global nomads.

I stayed there from 2019 till 2021. When your a nomad you learn to eliminate expectations in a way or control it and be willing to adapt and change to a certain degree. its a whole other culture compared with non-nomads. My only advice for Nomads wanting to settle there is to hire a local assistant / translator. It can be useful at first.

How do you remember the music nights we had? :) Especially the one we had at home to rehearsal?

Oh yes I still have the pictures! I got to meet a lot of cool people there and that night was definitely filled with wonderful people.

Apu, Yasseer, Malik and Ozkan Tong rehearsing Hotel California

Playing my guitar at Moda park in Kadikoy was a fresh experience after lockdowns and as I saw the people in the park loved it too =))

Where will be your next stop?

I dunno man… it’s definitely somewhere in EU. Could be one of these : Denmark, Amsterdam, Barcelona or Stockholm

What are the downsides of the nomadic life? Do you miss anything from your past way of life? Do you consider to go back to settling somewhere or your home city?

Downsides exist every where. But i was willing to accept those downsides than accepting living in a bubble where people in society have only 1 way of living, 1 way of thinking and 1 way of dying.

I highly appreciate the freedom given with this lifestyle and the ability to be who you truly are, for in my opinion a man who has not lived such life to some degree did not actually live!

Now that i have finished discovering myself and knowing myself I believe im at a stage where i am allowed to settle and get married ! #2022 haha

But for some reason I do not feel like settling in a place I’ve been to before.

Apu in Malaysia

Do you have a target, a point of achievement in life and how does the nomadic life help you in doing that or help in not having one?

Travelling a lot and living with different religions, cultures and people has helped in identifying what my goals are and what I want out of life. Which is what caused my current destination to be Portugal in Europe to start my music career. Thinking about it now, it has probably prepared me for long travels with the band and to write music for people from different cultures.

What do you think about Artificial Intelligence? Is it an opportunity or risk for humanity?

AI will never be a threat to us in my humble personal opinion. Humans are smart but not to a degree to create something smarter than them. Or I could say : why on earth would we add Greed into the programming of a supercomputer? Its interesting when you ponder that question for a minute…. .. Because humans were created with greed in the DNA (or software) That kinda explains why we think that way and see the world from our side of the wall.

Thank you bro!

As a memory from the night we made music with Marshal Zadeh, Yasser, Malik and I...