somewhere over the rainbow...

 what do you fight for? love. acceptance. freedom. happiness. more love. and it all starts with you.  love yourself. accept yourself. free yourself. be happy with yourself and your life. love yourself more. this is the hard part.  if you're a little like me, struggling and doubting if you're on the right path is part of daily life. there are times, i think i have it all figured out. i am just super happy, simply in the moment, connecting with myself and the people around me. and sooner than later, i find myself isolated, very low on energy, being and feeling alone.  during my high times, i love life. i love myself. i love everyone around me.  during my lows. well, i've gotten better at it. contrary to past times, i now tend to want to work on myself. it's not always happening though.  i am impatient. i have commitment issues. i tend to want to make everyone around me feel happy without attuning to my own needs. i overwork myself and then get overwhelmed and exhausted. i

i’ve been in tanzania for a week now. far away from germany, far away from corona. or so it seems.  sure, coming to africa to volunteer was meant to be a vacation with a purpose, but what feels most relaxing is not the new continent, country, people or food; it’s not having to deal with the craziness that surrounds the virus in the western world. life has to go on in tanzania, because life in tanzania doesn’t happen at home behind closed doors, life’s in the streets. it’s together, not apart. it’s loud, not quiet. it’s messy, not orderly. it’s fun if allow yourself to become part of it. at the airport and in western supermarkets they actually make you sanitize your hands and take your temperature before you’re allowed to go further. masks need to (sometimes) be worn in doctors’ offices and some stores. they sell them in the streets and occasionally you see a person in the streets wearing one, but nothin g lik e in germany. in some ways i feel safer, i’m not scared of contracting the vi

welcome to africa! after a almost 24 hour trip i made it to arusha, tanzania on thursday, july 9. it started out with rain in my city, rain in amsterdam, rain in dar es salaam, but when we arrived: sunshine in arusha! the beautiful girl hannah i met in amsterdam and me were picked up at kilimanjaro airport thursday morning to start our volunteering adventure out here. my first impressions of tanzania are humbling and exciting! life is the opposite of our western way. everything is pole pole , much slower and relaxed. you see women carrying heavy things like food on their heads. you see the small shelters where they are selling something right by the main streets. almost all of the other roads are not paved. you see men caring for their goats and oxes by the roadside. sunflowers and corn grows left and right, sometimes not a foot away from the street. it’s a completely different world, a very beautiful one if you come here with an open mind and heart. the first day consisted of getting

hello, old friend. so we meet again. how are you?  i am very well, thank you. i've been gone for a while since you know, life happens. some things have changed, others have stayed the same. i fell in and out of love. i moved places and ended up where i started. i found inner happiness through therapy. i lost friends and found new ones. the world is ever moving, sometimes spinning faster than other times. especially right now, a lot seems to change. for me, there are some things that will never change: my love for music. my passion for making this world a better place. and my undying love for travel. so here we go again. even though there is a pandemic happening, in less than a week i fulfill a livelong dream. and boy has it been a struggle to get here. but let me start in the beginning: i was 8 years old when the lion king came out. yes, that animated disney movie. i was hooked immediately. to this day, it's my favorite. about 10 years later, i saw the musical for the first ti