Eye, Feeling, Mind

So it's been about a full month since I last wrote. For 2 main reasons, really. Procrastination and my CRAZY life these last few weeks! Now, I am mentally preparing myself for this next chapter. I got lots to catch up on, surprises in store for many of you. Like hey - remember that time I went to France to live as an au pair for 6 months, but after 3 world wars, essentially got booted from the house/ slash I ran away?! Right. A lot has happened since 'Versailles' and I am now writing from Eindhoven, Holland at my girlfriend Karlien's house. Yup. Back to an english keyboard (or rather):

9bqck to qn english keyboqrd0 is zhqt i zould no;qlly sqy/

!!!


Now back up juuusst a second here you say. What happened with the au pair stint? Well, perhaps it was really just me manifesting my own destiny before even coming to France - knowing full well que je ne suis pas completement doue (damn! can't do the french accents anymore! So just bear with me....) avec les enfants, past half a day of being around them. So how did I actually think I could handle 6 months with them?

Well...in all honesty, I don't even remember half the battles with the kids anymore, which solidifies the point that all we ever remember is the good stuff in life anyway, and what seemed hard at the time, shall pass too. For this I am grateful. I hold no grudges or bad feelings towards the kids - it is what it is, and in any case, I really did enjoy my time there. Hell....I think I lucked out even, having had a schedule that allowed every day to myself to explore the region, ride my bike through the countryside, take long quiet walks through the fields, visit Paris on the weekends when I needed a fix of city life, learn some great French cuisine (cannot get enough raclette!) and generally live life in a part of France I would not have otherwise seen on my own. I lived comfortably and quietly for 3 months in a beautiful region, and the kids are now the last thing on my mind.



Needless to say, I did not go to Normandy with them. Instead, I stayed with Mamie (grandma) for that week to sort out my next plans, and help her recuperate from a broken shoulder a month earlier, having just got out of the hospital. It was the first time I didn't have any help with french because if I didn't know the word in french, and tried to explain it in english....well....mamie doesn't speak a word of my language!

I left for Paris after the week was over, with NO idea of what to do next. I had the universe looking out for me though, taking care of me....only 2 or 3 days before leaving Betz, I was snooping through someone's facebook page and came across this discussion about someone going to Europe for the first time, and asking all their friends to give them tips about where to go, what to do etc. So of course, I thought hey! I'm in Europe! I could use some ideas! There was a website called couchsurfing mentioned, and that was all I needed to read. I immediately signed onto the website and since that fateful day, traveling has never been, nor will it ever be the same for me again.


This site has forever changed the way I look at traveling. It is exactly what I needed and wanted. For me, the site is about travellers looking to have a deeper human connection with the places they visit. Providing a differnt approach to how we travel, off the beaten track. It is a cultural exchange that turns human faith into trust, another proof that the most simple and "obvious" ideas are the best; connecting open minded people, to connect with someone in a new place where you don't yet have a friend, to see the place you are in through a local's eyes, sharing with people how they see the world from their own backyard, and genuinely having a deeper connection with people we meet in such a short timeframe. I can't say enough good things about it, my experience these past 2 weeks in Paris has been unforgettable, wonderfully rich and varied to say the least!



Hostels are great for meeting other travellers and speaking the common language of...english, going to the obvious travel guide book-recommended places, or meeting a lot of brits who just want to go to the bar and drink! (sorry to my Brit friends, no harm meant - I'll make it up to you later at the pub over a beer?! cool.....) But I still find hostels to be a bit impersonal...you usually check into a dorm room that might have 2 or maybe 3 other travellers staying there....who are on their way to a new city tomorrow. And so it goes, constantly saying hello and goodbye so generally I prefer to be on my own anyway, in these situations! But when you are surfing someone's couch, you get a more in-depth view of them, how they live, and what tourist traps to avoid in that town or city! Ha....perfect!


So this way I can still pick up the local language, learn some local cuisine, and see places I would otherwise not have known about. Which were my main goals of coming to France in the first place.

In my first week in Paris, I already had a host for a few days....which after those few days we decided that it really wasn't time for me to go yet, we were getting along so well and having so much fun together, we felt more like roomates than couchsurfing strangers. Adrien has that endearing quality of making you feel like you are in your own home while staying with him. From this wonderfully exotic (and I mean soon-to-be wild jungle-exotic!) Parisien apartment, we went to a ska concert, jazz night, a hundred+ person apero sur la Seine, ethnic trance concert, friends' apartments, a reggae festival, visited his neighbourhood of Montmartre (no, I simply will never get enough of that Paris neighbourhood, ever) drank champagne at the Tour Eiffel around midnight, hung hammocks from trees on sunny afternoons, ate beautifully fresh french food from the markets, and exchanged many many laughs. It is a rare yet moving act from humanity to receive the trust from an otherwise perfect stranger, to be allowed their apartment for the weekend to yourself while they go south for a few days to practice with their band....it is this sublime, inspiring act of Adrien's that I am forever changed by him and this couchsurfing movement, if you will.

I have had so far in my travels, many moments where I am reflecting on my fantastic life. Reflecting on moments that have shaped my path, who I have become along the way, places I have seen, roads I have wandered along, curiosities I have encountered, mountains I have climbed, waters I have swam, fruits I have picked (literally!) be it in my own backwoods of home or dirt roads of Guatemala or along the Canal St. Martin in Paris....I seem to have these moments of reflection more so traveling than I do living at home....and I wonder what it is my brain is trying to decipher, trying to piece together perhaps?

But at this point I am so happy, but more than happy, I am content. I am satisfied today. And every day. I love who I am, who I am becoming. I honestly had the most sensationally eye opening day about a week ago with a fellow traveller, through whom I was able to really see myself for once, from a wondrous enlightening viewpoint....my heart connected some beautiful segments of myself for me to see in plain view that ....well, when you think about it, we have known all along but through circumstances in our lives, we often ignore or forget. And I could not have been more high on my own self love that day, or since, if I tried.

It is not something you can describe apart from the physical grandeur you feel growing inside you, and the beaming smile that didn't leave my lips for 2 days afterwards, but something that just.....is. It just smiles inside me, a warm reminder of my beautiful mind and enriched soul that I am able to share with this world and receive nothing but the same in return, wherever I go.

These days in Europe, I am taking life pretty slowly, 'stopping to smell the roses' at every opportunity :-) I am in no rush to get to the next country or the next capital city...this is not a race to see how many European countries I can visit in my 8 or 9 months here. I am just enjoying being my own best friend and constant companion wherever I am. I have had to rethink a little bit of what my goal is for Europe for the next several months, but then I stop myself and think.....just wander dammit. Wander all over this globe and forget your 'purpose' or 'goal'. I am content just BEING.

So from the perfectly manicured terraces of greeeeeen Holland, I bid you adieu until next time. I am safe. I am happy. I am smiling BIG :-)