Where is home?
After traveling to so many amazing places and living at great destinations for months this question was in my head for a while and I didn’t have a great answer.
Then I stumbled on this awesome and very inspiring TED talk: “Where is home?” from Pico Iyer and he came up with a great definition for me as well
“Home is where you become yourself”
Another great quote from Pico Iyer is about traveling which holds true for myself as well:
“Traveling is a little bit like being in love, all your senses are turned on”
or
” Traveling is not like seeing new sights it is looking with new eyes”
If you get the chance watch this great and inspiring TED talk, or some of the others TED talks
Coming home
After six month traveling around the world, it was time to fly back to Germany to meet family and friends back home.
What an incredible journey where I met so many inspiring and amazing people.
Now it is time to reflect this awesome adventure and plan the next steps 🙂 And from my experience I can say, the next “mini retirement” will come for sure!
If you have ever considered to take a sabbatical DO IT! It is an amazing experience for a lifetime. Thank you all for being part of it and reading my blog, traveling with me and supporting and inspiring me in so many ways. Thank you!
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- My “office” at the airport
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- Love this Ad: We will not rest 🙂
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- Sunset on my way to the terminal
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- London Airport Impression
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- London Heathrow impression
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- Back to Germany
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- London sightseeing 🙂
Life lesson
In this brilliant 6 min talk Angela Lee Duckworth talks about the success in education and in life. And she has observed it is about the GRIT. How do you build grit? She is not sure yet, but a growth mindset is very helpful. When you stick with your future, life will progress in this direction.
Live life as it is a marathon
This video reminds me very well of my learning experiences on my around the world trip, especially surfing. In the beginning I was more falling then surfing. I was more paddling then anything else, I was so exhausted from all that, especially because my body and my technics were weak.
But then you have one second on the board and you feel the adrenaline rush in your body and you know all this falling and being exhausted is part of it. And I knew that over time I will get better in surfing. And I did! Not that I’m a great surfer yet, but I see the progress and this is very rewarding indeed and helps me to stick to the goal in learning how to surf 🙂 Life lesson learned!
Bahamas Part 2
After New York it was back to the Bahamas for another 2 days and I had already booked a full day trip with Powerboat Adventures to one of the outer islands with a speed boat and what a great action day:
Feeding iguanas at a remote beach, feeding stingrays and snorkeling with sharks. Great food and I met very nice people and had some great chats! Awesome last day on my around the world trip.
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- Flying into Nassau, Bahamas
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- Yeah Day Trip with Powerboat Adventures
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- wow this is a fast and fun ride
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- Iguana
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- on a nice small island
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- feeding the iguana
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- Scary!!!
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- ok this shark is close
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- and there are many …
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- picture time
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- Great day trip
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- Time to snorkel
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- the water looks amazing
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- Snorkel impression
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- Snorkel impression
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- Cooking in the water
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- Time to cook
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- Thumb up for the day
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- Island impression
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- New friends a couple from Chicago
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- Nassau impression
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- Nassau impression
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- Nassau impression
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- Nassau Harbour
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- I will 🙂
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- Sunset on my way to the terminal
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- Love this Ad: We will not rest 🙂
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- My “office” at the airport
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- London Heathrow impression
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- London sightseeing 🙂
Photo Safari in New York
For me a big part of traveling around the world, beside meeting awesome people in amazing places, is to learn new things. On a beautiful day in May I did a Photo Safari in the Central Park, New York. Wow what a great thing to do.
With 4 other people our photographer teacher (with more than 15 years experience) was explaining us great things about photography and how to improve our compositions. Amazing 2.5 hours tour with a lot of new things to consider when taking pictures!
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- Let’s start the photo safari in Central Park
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- This was our first composition
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- Experimenting with this bench
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- Wow so beautiful weather
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- Central Park Impression
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- Sun was shining all the time 🙂
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- Some more impressions from Central Park
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- What a lovely small garden in Central Park
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- So beautiful
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- Park with the Skyline
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- Part of our group for today
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- Street impression next to Central Park
New York
After more than 3 month without being in a city, fate brought me to New York! What an amazing city over and over again. I love being in Central Park seeing how everything is blooming at spring time. Walking around in the city soaking up the energy and being amazed by the great architecture. What an amazing city 🙂
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- Flying into New York
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- Welcome 🙂
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- View from my room
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- The sun is shining and the trees are blooming. Amazing 🙂
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- Love Central Park
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- What a nice run around Central Park on a Saturday morning
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- Central Park View
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- Fruit and Vegi Alphabet
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- Wow how awesome Stephan just moved to New York
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- Great weather and a nice walk
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- Near the Cathedral
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- So true words
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- Watching a kids baseball match
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- Mmmhhh so delicious butter chicken
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- After a nice run, sun and a great breakfast. That’s how I love to start my day
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- Kitchen view
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- Watching a tourist bus passing by and thinking I feel more like a local as I was staying in a residential area in Manhattan
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- Ready to move apartments
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- Thanks to Stephan my stay for the next 8 nights
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- Wow Central Park is so amazing with the blooming trees
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- And the weather was just stunning
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- Watching a tree climber in the garden of the apartment
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- Train Station impression
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- Thumb up for Times Square
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- Wow so stunning to watch those high buildings
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- Street impression
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- Next to the Rockefeller Center
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- So true words
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- Love the architecture in New York
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- Runner’s High is awesome 🙂
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- Another great building
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- Highline Park in New York with a delicious ice cream
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- Street Art
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- Find your beach 🙂
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- Highline Park Impression
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- Highline Park Impression
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- So true!!! Inspiration 🙂
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- Brooklyn Bridge
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- They just finished the building one week ago. And I always said I will be back in New York once the tower is standing completely and here I am
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- Great 1 hour talk in the Ground Zero Memorial with this lady from Brooklyn
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- Ground Zero Memorial Impression
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- Ground Zero Memorial Impression
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- Street impression
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- So true
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- Street impression
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- Flat Iron
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- Enjoying the great Bryan Park
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- Grand Central Station
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- Awesome Building
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- Friday and time for free afternoon visit at MoMA wow how stunning!!!
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- Time Square at night
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- Time Square at night
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- Street impression next to Central Park
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- Wow reminds me of the Harbour Bridge in amazing Sydney
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- Flying over Manhattan on the way …
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- … back to the Bahamas
Bahamas Experience Part 1
After 2 month Costa Rica and 1 week Nicaragua now 2 days in the Bahamas … what a change. Well what can I say I stayed at the Atlantis resort. For me a bit artificial and ridiculous overpriced. When booking a hotel expect to pay another 20-40% on taxes and extra fees … they get very creative here! Beside this I tried to make the best out of those two days and …
… I got the chance to hug and kiss a dolphin very humbled experience. I always wondered why they have such soft skin now I know … Every 2 hours they get rid off their old dead skin. Wow amazing! (Sorry no pictures from this experience, didn’t feel that 160$US was a fair price to get a couple of pictures)
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- Spectacular view above the clouds in Costa Rica
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- Miami
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- Yeah getting closer to the Bahamas
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- Smaller plane maybe on it’s way to one of the 700 islands of the Bahamas
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- Flying into Nassau, Bahamas
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- Beach impression
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- The Atlantis Resort
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- Ready for Mass Tourism
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- Sunset impression
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- Wow time to hug a dolphin
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- Yeah jumping dolphin
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- Huge aquarium in the Atlantis Resort
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- Watching the fishes
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- Beach impression
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- Love the colours of the beach
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- Love walking barefoot on the beach
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- The Atlantis is big!
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- View from my room
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- Guy trying to sell something on the street
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- Love trees
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- Leaving the Bahamas to
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- New York
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- Welcome to New York
Surf Nicaragua
Beside the humbled experience in helping to build a high school in a remote coastal region in Nicaragua with Surf For Life and Waves of Hope, I had time in the early morning to do some surfing.
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- First day of surfing in Nicaragua and the waves are great!
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- Yeah this is fun
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- De, James and I are exhausted after the surf
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- Let’s get some footage from the board
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- Pop up
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- Yeah some more surfing 🙂
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- Oh almost caught this wave 🙂
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- Morning surf is the best!!!
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- It feels amazing being on the board early in the morning
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- Yeah 🙂
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- Surf the wave
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- This is how I feel after surfing: Exhausted but happy 🙂 Here: James
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- Surfing the volcano 😉
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- Volcano Surfing! Yeah this will be fun 🙂
Volcano Boarding in Nicaragua
Near Leon, Nicaragua I got the chance to participate at a Volcano Boarding. After a one hour drive from Leon we hiked one hour up the volcano. Then it was time to go 500 meter downhill. Wow what a great fun experience 🙂
Here some impressions from the daytrip:
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- Active Volcano in Nicaragua
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- What carefully this picture in the back a horse is “parking”
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- Street sign
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- Local fruit market in Leon
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- Mmmhhh delicious food
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- Buy local 🙂
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- Trafic jam
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- This is the vocano we are going to board today
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- Colorful bird
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- Volcano Surfing! Yeah this will be fun 🙂
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- First we have to …
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- … climb up the mountain
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- 1 hour hike to the top
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- Almost there
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- Moon like landscape
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- Jump 🙂
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- The creater
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- Getting ready
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- Ready for take off!!
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- Let’s get some footage for the video
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- Wow and down we go wow
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- Surfing the volcano 😉
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- Street impression
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- Great plaza in Leon
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- Street art at the university
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- Street art
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- Wow saw a lot of horses as part of the normal traffic on the street
Helping to build a school in Nicaragua
In April I got the chance to participate at an volunteer project from “Surf for Life” and “Waves of Hope” in Nicaragua. Thank you for your continuous support and donation for this amazing project. Now that I have been there I can tell for sure that your donation will have a great positive impact on the community there in Nicaragua.
It was such an humbled experience to see how people, who have only little resources and infrastructure, try to improve there lives by education and working hard. In the community where the high school is now build there is currently no economic system (no supermarket, no other services were people could spend there earned money) so all the money is currently going to the city which doesn’t help the community. Unemployment in Nicaragua is between 50 and 80%(!!!) depending on the age group.
The new high-school is also used as a vocational training center to educate the students to become bakers, mechanics, hairstylists or organic farmers. Giving them the opportunity to grow their own economic community system in the future.
If you have the chance support Waves of Hope and thus this community. Great small things are happening here!
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- Flying to Managua
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- Arrive in yesterday …
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- First part of our volunteer group for the week: Melanie, Katie, James, De and Pooja
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- Jamie telling us about Nicaragua and the project “Waves of hope” Amazing!!!
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- This is who I love spanish teaching in an relaxed and playful environment
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- Here som facts about the High school building
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- Open air shower, I love this!
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- Yoga hut for the week
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- Our group get’s ready for the work week
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- Time for our first work day
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- Thumbs up for your support for this project
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- Work for day 1 is to help make the floor for one of the class rooms
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- Great picture at the computer and library building
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- Hard work but happy 🙂
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- Cement making process
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- Sunset in Nicaragua
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- Pooja your were my life saver with those delicious nuts on the work site
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- Impression from the work site
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- Jamie and Ben the founder of this awesome project in talk with one of there employees
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- Work site impression
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- Project for the day …
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- Basic housing in the community
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- Primary school where in the afternoon English is tought
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- Eneyda was my first conversation partner in the english class
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- Cristel it was a pleasure to meet you.
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- Yeah some more surfing 🙂
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- Morning surf is the best!!!
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- It feels amazing being on the board early in the morning
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- Yeah 🙂
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- This is how I feel after surfing: Exhausted but happy 🙂 Here: James
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- We are ready for another day at the work site
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- Stay curious and ask lots of questions (here in Nicaragua)
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- Those kids will be going to the high school one day
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- Ok, no waste system in Nicaragua so everything is burned …
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- Ok this was very hard work but De kept us in a great mood with his “clean” jokes 🙂
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- Pooja shows us what we did yesterday (those 3 classrooms)
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- Ok and this is the work for today those other 3 class rooms 🙂
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- Yeah Jump 🙂
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- So humbled that I could participate at this project
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- Picture is almost done at the library/computer lab at the high school
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- Corinne runs the kids club every Tuesday and Thursday in the El Coco Loco
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- Wall in El Coco Loco
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- Dana on a horse
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- Plumeria my favorite flower
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- Have lots of quality time with my partner and friends (here in Nicaragua)
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- Awesome walk with Pooja on the beach for sunset
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- Last dinner with the group
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- Great pizza