happinez

I wrote an article about my first year in France for Happinez magazine. In store now in The Netherlands.

on writing

I changed my ambition at 17. From writing at an early age and wanting to become a writer I went to wanting to become a painter. I changed my ambition at 20. From being a selling painter I went to wanting to become a journalist. I changed my ambition at 22. From being a journalist I went to wanting…

mala

I got this beautiful Mala as a gift from my dear friend Sofia just when I said goodbye to go to Amsterdam.  I never owned a mala before, but owning one makes you realize how interwoven it is with humanity. In so many different cultures and religions it is linked to the divine. It is not…

love for nin

Shame is the lie someone told you about yourself. We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are. It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we see…

terra sacra

Our neighbours in France are shamans. I did not have any experience with shamanism other than knowing it has something to do with ancient tribes and medicine men. When I met Peter & Alice I got curious and they invited all four of us to a fire ceremony. It was a magical experience sitting on their…

frenchies

Max came home with his ‘devoirs’, full of – what else – food and nationalism. What to eat as a child: meat What not to drink as a child: cognac The holidays start today, two whole weeks of holidays every two months. Playing in the snow and feeding the donkeys. And the parents are off to Barcelona, giving the…

it’s been two weeks

    And it already feels like another lifetime. So different from life in Amsterdam. It is freedom to know how many totally different ways you can live your life. Nothing is what it seems!