Moneyless Home-Country Walking

// June 17th, 2011 // 2 Comments » // blog, dumpster diving, hospitality, life, travel

“Hello, my name is Robin and I walk through the Netherlands. I do this because I don’t want to go faster than my feet can bring me and because I want to discover more about the culture that I grew up in. To dive deeper into Dutch culture and into myself, I also choose to not bring a phone, computer, bank-cards or money, and instead to completely rely on people’s goodwill for food and whatever else they want to share.”

For a little over three weeks I walked through the Netherlands, from the west to the east, from the city where my house is at (Amsterdam) towards the German border. And it was fabulous: the things you learn, the people you meet and nature that you reconnect with. Most of the nights I slept in forests, of which there are surprisingly many around, falling asleep in my hammock around sunset and waking up by birds before sunrise.

After three months of money-less travelling in Portugal last year and now these three weeks of walking in my home-country (of which people said it would be “impossible”) I am getting better adjusted to it: the hunger you can feel sometimes, dealing with desires of the things you want and surrendering to whatever life brings you, at any given moment. And the funny thing, the more I experience it, the more I actually want it, because of what you learn from it. As such any experience is neither negative, nor positive; they are just life. And as such they are equal to the joy you feel when people give you food, invite you for a coffee or take you in their homes.

People’s responses are equally worth it. Some envy me, others think I am crazy and again others simply reject my life, seeing it as a threat to theirs. “Why don’t you go home and make money instead, you’re a fool!”, was one of the most extreme responses that I received. Most people though have a lot of respect for my decisions and thanks to them (and the occasional dumpster treasure) I’ve enjoyed breakfast, lunch and dinner at fast-food restaurants, exclusive hotels, lunch-rooms, as well in the intimate spheres of people’s homes, after variations of the introduction on the top of this post. And so far I’ve never ever really had, what you would call, ‘hunger’.

Every step I take is another challenge, every step is one that carries me further towards life and at the same time one that brings me closer to understand the self. And it ain’t over yet. This country has a lot more to explore. When I don’t know yet, but this is to be continued… from the place I left it – but I am sure that by then we will already be further.

Water is Life

// February 24th, 2011 // 4 Comments » // blog, life

I am on a raft, a small structure with little protection, in a river going through a jungle, to the sea. I can’t tell what’s behind the next curve, if the water will go faster or slower. If there are more rivers or if the pace remains the same. All I know is that I am in the water.

Sometimes I want to go faster, and then I actually find it holding me back. The faster I want, the slower I move. And sometimes when I desire to go slower, the water hurries me faster.

Other boats come on my path from separate rivers. Some surfboards, small motorboats and others are like gigantic castles with protection all over. I overpass these bigger boats quickly, no matter the engines they carry. They are too heavy for the water to be carried by the river.

Some boats I see together, others collide, with people drowning or just able to swim. Others again find new boats, abandoning ship, loosing identity and their original path. How will they make it to the sea?

I feel a boat close to me, bumping from the back. I try slowing down but the water lets me go, and faster I flow.

We pull up ropes and bind ourselves together. Why I don’t know. For safety it is not. As the water lets us go faster, a waterfall approaches and I can’t avoid to jump: I have to get off my raft!

Looking for cover, I swim closer to the shore, holding on to branches which sometimes slap my face and I climb over slippery rocks that make me fall when I want to get up. A wave comes in and the water dumps me into a swamp, where mud is all over and everything gets stuck.

But then I understand this is where I am to be. That this is part of the path that sets me free. That a pause is only a different movement, and a stop equally an action. And a new current comes in, bringing me into the stream.

I find my raft, together we go through showers of rain, into mist, and later when it all clears I notice a boat in front, hindering some of my sight. But I also notice we are yet again floating towards the sea.

A bird lands on my shoulder and whispers: “Go slow, don’t hurry yourself down. The sea is yet far, and is not where you are supposed to be. Be free and feel your raft as if you were one. Let yourself float, enjoy the streams and sail towards the sea”.

For a second there I wish for wings to fly me over the sea, just like the bird. What? Am I really so much enslaved to being free? And I find the answer enclosed within the question, and I just let myself and the river be.

Always Furthur

// January 14th, 2011 // No Comments » // blog, life

Silence. I am here to understand what is coming, instead of thinking where I should be running. Seeing the so-called endless possibilities, ideas spread in me like fire… and I hold on to sitting still. Silence, you bring what no word can!

Inside. I travel to far away places with a body that remains seated. To places I have been before, but deeper we go. I let the space surround me and I fill it with invisible motion, letting thoughts witter away.

By myself in a house that many came to refer to as casa. A home that is centered around people and one that indeed made lots of movement. A space that now is empty of people, a space that now fills me differently, with silence.

Happy Celebrations

// April 14th, 2010 // No Comments » // blog, life

This year I had a really great birthday-celebration. As a surprise I received dozens of e-mails and phone-calls from all sorts of (old) friends and people who stayed over in my house. And quite some people also came over to celebrate my 32th with me.

The day started with a great practical joke: on the casa-site I found myself back in a photo with the Dutch Royal Crown. If that wasn’t enough already, it came with a story “that several royals from across Europe will Hitchhike for the milestone birthday!”

Birthdays for me are always a good moment to reconnect with old friends and lost connections, which this year turned out very well. As another surprise, I even had grandpa coming over. It was great to see my 91-year-old opa here.

It is just wonderful to see how people care for you and what they do to show you their care. I received poetry, a painting, many good wishes and the people who are currently staying with me in the house, took really good care of visitors, a clean casa, and food around the clock.

My birthday this year encompassed a lot more than I expected. Therefore: a Huge Thank You!

Trusting Freely

// February 11th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // blog, life, poetry

How one thing leads to another. How one ride goes into the next. Always bringing me further. I surrender to the route that is shaping me.

Grounded on earth, but flying like a bird. How do I decide what is next? I leave it be, I wait for ideas to come, play with them; juggle to see what stays up and which lands in my hands.

Tidal waves come in and splash their drops. There is salt on my body and I allow the rain to wash it off. Naked, I deeply wish to always be.

Roaming freely, looking further, while taking my time to embed my feet… trusting what is underneath.

Trusting Experiences

// March 19th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // blog, dumpster diving, life, travel

Living in the house where I have been since I got back to Amsterdam has been truly amazing. Somehow I got to meet so many great people over the past year, that I cannot believe it myself all the time. So-called randomness has become a core of life. Through friends, friends through friends, those tagging along or sent by a letter, or through the ones we somehow found, it seems even more present than for example, while traveling.

There are many people who would appear here if I would list them. And way too many stories for a simple overview. Things have been really great, and there are numerous different accounts you can get your stories from. But one of the core values of these events though, might be the praxis of creation through the tasting of life and trusting.

I am sure you will enjoy the video “Skipping Waste. Free (the) Food“, by Lily Barlow. While traveling and staying over at the casa, she made an awesome production about rescuing food from thrown away, and how to see waste as beauty. It documents six stories from three cities about dumpster divers, people who treasure and recreate trash.

To Not Think

// February 27th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // life, travel

Walking around a city. My thoughts go nowhere. I listen. I listen how the sound of the river flows with those of the city: the cars, the trains that pass, a barking dog and fluttering birds. A man walks by and blows his nose. And I? I observe how I feel my surroundings.

Not to think is truly one of the most relaxing exercises that I regularly do. And the more I do so the more I seem to become one with what is around me, the more I am able to focus and understand, simply by being, by feeling, by listening, hearing, smelling, but mostly by not thinking, by sensing.

Listening to the silence inside myself, it becomes easier to find my answers, to find my connection with my inner self. I let myself be guided by what I feel inside and by what my surrounding (which is now inside) is telling me.

And then, little by little, step by step, you realise you don’t have to think in order to know what is next: the right time and place is always there, no matter when, no matter where you actually are. You have reached closer to who you really are.

Same Different Story

// December 28th, 2008 // No Comments » // blog, life

One of my basic questions for this year was how to make the annual Christmas fest of spending, affluence and overconsumption into something sustainable, as a party of joy and sharing without the big spending that is normally associated with Christmas.

The answer was a lot easier than I thought – especially since we made Dumpster Diving a frequent activity here at the house, which started as a very practical way of feeding our hungry casa-visitors without emptying our wallets but turned quickly into our normal way of living.

Three delegates of the house therefore started already three days ahead of Christmas, bringing back home bags full of food from the market-dumpsters; good food that otherwise would have been thrown away. And each day, this food was only piling up…

Christmas eve itself was great. We had around 17 people coming over, everyone was participating in one way or the other to create the right setting for a perfect celebration – and although the laughing went on for the whole night, the day after I was fresh enough to hitch to my hometown & to have a great time with my family.

I Don’t Want a Career, I Want a Life

// December 10th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // blog, life, work

My biggest desire in life is to help enabling a world free of hierarchies. So when I did accept a job this year, I was only slightly enthousiastic. I needed some solid financial base and yes I was ready for a challenge but a corporate job was not on my list (at all). In the end I was relatively o.k. with giving it a green light for a while, until I would have at least build up some cash-reserves again.

There are good things about my job. I learned a lot about marketing, I got to understand the technologies that enterprises use to brainwash us, I traveled a bit, worked with some fine people and I learned a lot from them. But, there is so much more to life than just jobs and career.

So when to quit? There is never a better moment than now and I feel now is that time. There are so many useful things I can better direct my attention to, and there are so many more things I still want to accomplish in the near future, that most of my time in this office is wasted. And in the end, what is so usefull about working for someone else‘s profit?

Focus of the house

// September 21st, 2008 // 3 Comments » // life, work

While my house is still a coming and going of friendly and creative people from all over the world, since some months there has clearly been a shift. The people that have been staying here in the past months are now rather focused on projects, creating new concepts and starting initiatives, while still supporting the ones we have already been involved in. Some examples:

• Hitchhiking Hitchwiki, that recently reached its 1000th article.
• Random Roads, a new magazine for independent travelers.
• Trashwiki.org, a new initiative for Dumpster Diving, recycling trash.
• Sustainable Hospitality Exchange, with a meeting soon in Antwerpen.

And there is yet more to come. Bewelcome if you feel like participating, or stay over for a while to help working on whatever social project that you are involved in or that you want to create. We have a nice and creative working environment here.