España

Growing with the flow

So after an excellent time (and intensive days of yoga) in Toulouse with Zoe and Natalia, I got the train to Barcelona via a stop in Figueres and a visit to Dali’s museum.

I arrived in Barcelona to discover that I was just in time for the city’s annual La Merce festival. Thanks, universe! The photo is of Sagrada Familia at night, lit up by a special light show put on for the Festival. I'll upload a video to FB soon. But I’m not going to tell you what I did and saw, I’d rather talk about a couchsurfer I met.

Simon from Germany arrived in Barcelona very late and missed the last train to his host’s place. He posted on CS asking for urgent help and I responded with directions to our hostel. In the morning, I woke up to find him in our dorm and after a brief conversation we had a hilarious moment of realisation (although I already knew it was him of course). We proceeded to hang out the next two days together with a few other CSers.

Simon is 21 and reminds me of Alexander Supertramp from Into the Wild. I gave him my copy of the book because this was a perfect reason for why I brought it with me. He embodies a very purist concept of couchsurfing – spending as little as possible and just doing things without much planning. What struck me was that he ended up in this situation (with only 200 euros) intentionally. He had even told his mum in advance not to lend him money if he asks for it. I think this is the essence of growing as a human being – putting yourself into vulnerable situations where you will be challenged. It’s calculated risk-taking, of course but much more of your personality and spirit will emerge for you to see and question.

I’m going to call it ‘growing with the flow’. Instead of planning everything, going from A to B and being comfortable.. walking along a river and not getting wet.. you jump in and see if you can swim. And what if you can’t swim, you ask? Well, you will find out exactly how much you’re prepared to struggle to survive. Maybe you’ll discover you’re great at doggy-paddling, maybe a log might appear next to you, maybe you’ll get rescued by a passer-by and form a life-long friendship. If you don’t jump in, you’ll never know what could have been.

Like a good academic student, I’m going to give an example. I just realised that I have been in Simon’s situation. When I was 18, I came to Byron Bay a day early for schoolies and all the hostels were booked out. I managed to store my bags at one and just had a BMX bike I had taken up with me on the train for a friend. So I spent the night riding around, exploring Byron, even going up to the lighthouse and then I slept on the beach. I didn’t die. I didn’t get robbed. Anything could’ve happened but I learned that a bed is not essential for survival. I’m not going to start sleeping rough, that’s not the point.

It’s best to finish this with one of my favourite quotes from Into The Wild:

“You really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been to hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.” p 58

France ~ Tatty & Julien's wedding in Sarlat ~ Toulouse

Welcome! I've thought long about this 'blog' idea and have decided that I'm not really interested in recording some sort of journal of where I've been and what I've seen. You can google all that. Instead, I've decided to only share little bits and pieces that have stood out for me. Stuff that you can't google.

The photo above is of a little ancient town in South France called Rocamadour. There are many places in France that are quite ancient.. going back to the 11th Century, for example. It's a surreal experience to be somewhere physically that existed so long ago and was a part of a completely different world. I was hoping there was some kind of 3D glasses tour experience that could let you see the ancient streets as they were back in the medieval times, with horses, carriages, knights, lords, peasants and wenches. The photo is a good impression of my current disposition - looking up in awe at the travel experience before me..

I went to a yoga class in a local park in Toulouse a few days ago. Zoe - the girl I’m staying with - is the teacher and there were two other girls and a guy there. We set up under a tree next to a fence and some bushes. The weather was very pleasant, with crisp, blue skies and a refreshing breeze. People jogged past, mothers pushed their prams and some of the randoms stopped to have a look. When we had just started, a black man in a trench-coat with a backpack and a dog came over. After we told him we didn’t have a cigarette and explained that we were going to do yoga, not sport, he asked to stay and watch. Sure. Why not?

Fast forward about 20 minutes. Zoe is great, she makes us focus on details and constantly reminds us to breathe and to smile. I adopt the ‘down dog’ pose, head dropped down and looking behind me through my legs. There, on the fence, sits the black man, his trench-coat parts slightly and I’m looking upside down at him playing with his floppy cock. Focus on your breathing. Relax. Don’t forget to smile. Try not to pay attention to the clichéd, possibly homeless, pervert in a trench-coat jerking off metres from your yoga class.

So what would you do in this situation? Firstly, I don’t know how to say “Get the fuck outta here you pervert!” in French. Secondly, I don’t know if this is common in Toulouse or how exactly people deal with something like this here. I wouldn’t know how to threaten him with the cops or follow through with the threat. “Bonjour, gendarmerie. Je suis en parc et un pervert est masturbateur sur le yoga class. Come quick before he does?” Zoe chose not to make a scene or risk a confrontation. She stoically continued with the class, not letting up to the anathema of positive yoga vibes currently unfolding. I decided that since the guy posed no threat, this would just be an extra concentration challenge. The class went on and finally the guy left. He even politely said goodbye and wished us a nice day. The last 10 minutes of the class were quite a relief. Next time you’re doing yoga and feel like it’s a bit challenging, be thankful that some pervert is not masturbating nearby. I know I now have a new appreciation for ‘regular’ classes.

Til next time.. Peace out
Shly