500 followers! thank you so much, I’m looking forward to going abroad with all of you! and I hope you enjoy it, too!
toda, shokran, tack, thanks, danke, terima kasih, dankon, merci, grazie, obrigado, gracias! did I forget your language? tell me what “thank you” means in your country! :)
remember my beloved quote of jaimal yogis? here it is again:
“…I realized every surfer has to like paddling, at least a little. this was because extremely little of each surf session is spent actually standing up on your surfboard on a wave – maybe one percent – so if you’re looking to have a good time it’s essential to find a way to enjoy paddling, or at least good-naturedly bear it. and in that way, I thought, surfing is kind of a good metaphor for the rest of life.”
today, nothing special happened – okay, I booked our flight to morocco – but besides, it was just another day. pretty normal one. still, I didn’t have to paddle much today (in the last weeks I had to… really hard work…) and I’m sooo grateful! thanks a lot for today (whomever…)!
AND HEY: I really booked our flight to morocco! at the end of october! I’m sooo excited! because we couldn’t find a cheap airline at first and I already thought, we couldn’t go – but it worked! yippieh-ey-eh! :)
somewhere in a capitalistic state a girl with a university degree and a nice job decides to leave everything behind – to gain some more salt water experiences in the developing world. she’s very lucky, because her family is backing her all the way.
her friends? some are cool with it, some think it’s cool and some might say she’s a total freak. “you will give up your job?” really? like really really? YES! with a big smile on my face! because I feel it! and at least I should try, no?
and then there are travel-companions who understand you lock, stock and barrel! and they also have some very important words for you that bring you back down to mother earth’s ground:
“just remember that your capitalist job pays for your vacation to diverse 3rd world countries… otherwise you would be ‘living’ 3rd world… which is not nearly as exotic as ‘passing through’ 3rd world – it’s a catch 22, I know…”
thank you so damn f****** much, my dear friend! and to say it with rocky leon’s words: “the sun is shining and the grass is green, so quit your whining…” & “maybe you shouldn’t work anymore…” :)
have you ever felt like not knowing exactly where you belong to? which part of a country or which country at all you want to live in? which way the right one for yourself is? I guess I’m always feeling like that and always thinking about that when I return from a journey…
I have just returned from Istanbul and Israel, the first I spent four days at, the latter I had ten days to discover. far too few, if you ask me. or anybody. but it was long enough to start thinking about my life again. and now I am packing for Indonesia, my next surftrip, starting on saturday. I am really, really looking forward to catch some waves again, being in the line-up, waiting for sets… for me it’s carpe diem at its best there.
but… and that is a really stupid thought perhaps… I am afraid of the returning after three weeks. because I know that it will be hard. hard to be in a rainy country again, without shores. hard to live a 9 to 5 life again. hard to deal with all those tiny problems we use to complain about.
and every time I return, I come up with naive daydreams about going abroad. the question now is: am I allowed to manipulate destiny? or is it the other way round and paths are only created, when I walk them…?
hello, shalom, hei, hallå, olá, ahoj, merhaba and namaste!
it took me a very long time to travel the world with passion again, but now, as it is rising unstoppably inside of me, I enjoy it with open arms and open eyes, almost like a child.
surfing has become my best friend on the road, if it is wavesurfing, couchsurfing, tentsurfing or whatever you can think of. and you know, “the best surfer is the one who has the most fun in the water”! I’m sometimes still working on that issue…
english is not the language I have been raised with, but from childhood on it has been a very important instrument for me and in the meantime I guess I’m using it more often as my mother/father tongue.
why did I start this blog? actually it hasn’t been an idea of my own. a friend I met on the road has called my attention to it and as I am just about to smooth and polish an already written absolutely true story, I guess it couldn’t hurt to get to know you, dear world.
I am really looking forward and I hope you feel the same,
hang loose & take care
stephsoul 