Today - October 27 - is a special day

Today is a special day for me : the day my adulthood started . It is the day when I left my parents as an 18 years old girl and I went on a journey into the  wide world . For ever.

On October 27, I took the train to Paris and started travelling through all the countries of Europe , included Turkey and Morocco . What I did not know is that the rest of my life would be based on this trip.

I started off with a interail card ( travelling by train for a month ) and after that I hitched hiked. With backpack and guitar I wandered from city to city to make music .

I was soon joined by a woman from the USA . She was a ship's cook but  as an American woman  an Arab country in which the ship was moored wouldn’t let her in. So she flew to Europe to visit and soon she met me (in Venice). We looked nothing alike, but needed each other badly. I needed her strength, and she needed my tent and cooking utensils. During the trip we had lots of struggle, but we were also very loyal to each other. Only later, when I was back home, I realized that there was a strong bond between us. It was not just been a physical survival ( life of the street is tough ) but also a mental journey that has shaped me . I not only carried the backpack with tent , clothing and cookware with me , but also a large luggageof the Past. This trip has beaten the bridge of my childhood to adulthood , a road which still would last long.

I have not  made ​​a CD yet , not even an ordinary good mp3, but I have written a well sold autobiography . Pseudonymous course, because the biography is very frank .

If you are interested let me know , I will send you a link .

October 27. At the moment I write this it’s 11.04 am , and at this time I was sitting in the train to Paris . There were only French people in it and I sat alone for 5 hours.

Tonight I would roam around in the dark with my guitar through the streets of Paris ,  too scared to get my guitar out and play . I remember well what a hurry all the people seemed to have in that big city . “Hurry to go home” , I said and I felt yealous because I was already homesick.The first night of this trip ( which took a year)  I met a guy who asked if he might  play my guitar and I said yes . It was on the square of the Pompidou. Nobody payed attention to his playing and then he told me to go to the subway, and play there . But I did not dare.It was a hard day, that first day, October 27.

  Luckily I'd take the step tomorrow and discover that I could come around with  singing folk songs . I discovered my strength and learned how to survive under difficult circumstances.  I learned to believe in the goodness of people, despite the occasionally unpleasant experiences. I still feel save at public places, just drinking coffee (with lots of sugar because sometimes I didn’t have much to eat). That’s one of the reasons I go everyday to the restaurant of the HEMA; I feel happy there because I am aware of the temperature, the people and the coffee. I stare out the window and imagine I will play in the streets again after I drank my coffee, and I remember that will feel safe again while I am singing, because singing is like a meditation.  

Today I recall as a dark rainy day of Autumn , an uncertain beginning of a new life . A beautiful and intense life. I will celebrate this date in the HEMA again. With a hot cup of coffee and I will realize where I am now.