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Travel information
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At home
Activities i am interested in:
Hi, I'm planning to leave to Asia February next year. I am interested in learning and improving a variety of skills and combining this with some surfing, diving/snorkling and hiking in my free time
Description
Hello!
For the first third of my life, I have always done what I was expected to do. After getting good grades in highschool, I went to university to study economics. Not because it interested me, but because "i could do a lot with that degree in my career". After getting 3 master degrees (marketing, international business and music management), I moved from my student town to London to try and make it in the music business. I had always had a deep love for music and was a classically trained musician myself. 6 years later, I was a project manager for music events, working on an international scale. But my mental health was the lowest it had ever been.
I made a drastic change and moved back to Belgium, with the idea to travel to South America for 6 months a few months later. But then covid happened.
A blessing in disguise, as it turns out. Because the first 3 months I spent living at my dad and spent my days walking the dog near the lake and puzzling. They were some of the happiest of my life. The world had shut down, but I blossomed.
Rather than acknowledging this change in myself, I once again decided to move to the city, to Brussels. I thought working a corporate 9-5 instead of the long music industry hours would be enough of a change for me.
It didn't take long for me to get frustrated with the pointlessness of my job (what difference am I really making here?) as well as the ways of thinking of upper management. Even with more time for myself, I still couldn't cope in the corporate world.
My mental health was declining and I experienced many physical symptoms as a consequence: Big spike in my allergies, jaw pain, headaches, stomach aches, insomnia,... All due to stress.
I decided to quit my job and travel to Asia (Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia) for a few months, My physical symtoms went away, even my allergies (which I had had my entire life!)
On top of that, it felt so good to achieve things on my own, things that mattered to me.
I got my open water license, my advanced open water, 19 dives in the log and did a bunch of different hikes through vietnam. I saw animals I had wanted to see my whole life and managed to travel through multiple countries of which I didn't even speak the language. All on my own.
On top of that, I didn't feel any need to drink alcohol anymore. Something that I did crave in the city every weekend, as a way to escape life.
Coming home was extremely difficult. Even now, months later, I still feel like I don't belong here anymore. Something has fundamentally changed in me since that trip and I just refuse to go back to my old life. It doesn't make sense to me anymore.
I therefore want to try something different and a way for me to try out different things is through a workaway. I love learning new skills and experience different ways of living.
The previous time I was in Asia, it was with a more tourist mindset, travelling through the countries and focused on what I wanted to do and see.
Now, I would like to live in one place for a while, experience local life and generally live in a less fast-paced environment and more surrounded by nature.
I'm hoping to get some experience with different skills and types of work as a way to search for something I could see myself doing in the long run. I have been focused my entire life on what I should do, but now it's time to figure out what I love to do.
Interests
Van life
Adventure sports
Hiking
Movies & TV
Water sports
Winter sports
Sustainability
Outdoor activities
Nature
Pets
Self development
Writing
Photography
Plant care
Music
Mountain
Languages
Hitchhiking
Farming
Gardening
History
Events & social
DIY & crafts
Culture
Camping
Charity work
Cooking & food
Beach
Art & design
Animals
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Dutch: Fluent
French: Intermediate
German: Beginner
Spanish: BeginnerMore details about my language interests
Would love to know some words in any local language. The more i know, the better! Happy to teach Dutch or English
Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn
I'm interested in:
Eco Projects
Teaching
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Life at a Farmstay
General Maintenance
House sitting
Some knowledge of:
Charity Work
Animal Care
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Helping around the house
Hospitality/Tourism
Able to teach about:
Languages
More details about your skills
- loads of experience with coordinating, managing teams and projectmanagement
- event management
- classically trained musician (guitar and bit of piano), know how to read notes and happy to teach it to someone (bit shy when it comes to playing in front of a crowd though!)
- Quick and eager learner: Ask me to do something i've never done before and i'll dive right in! My boyfriend calls me "the googler"!
- Advanced open water certified
- Had an intro freedive here in the local dive center in Brussels. I went to 8 meters but had a sinus infenction that day so can definitely go deeper than that!
- I've done callcenter work during covid so any type of reception work I'll be happy to do.
- I speak Dutch and English fluently and have a good understanding of French
- I have some marketing experience: worked closely with marketing managers and designers, designed a few things myself in canva, used to write the newsletter for the music agency I interned at, wrote copy for social media posts, did instagram stories for events, etc
- Not afraid to get my hands dirty - I love hard labour and am always excited when my friends start a renovation project - have helped with breakout, painting, etc
- Experience with animals - grew up with dogs, cat, guinnea pigs, chickens, fish
- I used to be in the scouts where I loved wood chopping and where we had to make our own table, coverage, cooking station using poles and rope. It was a long time ago but I'm definitely eager to do something like this again
- I am volunteering in a food distribution center for the homeless - at the moment it is still distribution but am hoping to switch to cooking soon as I'd like to think of myself as a pretty decent cook.
- In my late teens and early 20s I worked in the kitchen of an italian restaurant - answering calls / doing dishes / helping the chef with preparing dishes
- A little bit of experience with fishing - caught some piranhas in the Amazon!
- Moved to London on my own and managed to secure a career in the music industry: I would say I'm hardworking, independent and persistent
Age
33
What else ...
I would love to use my workaway as an opportunity to learn new skills. This doesn't necessarily need to be something big like learning a new language, but can be as simple as knowing the best way to plant a certain vegetable.
My 2 biggest loves are animals and nature, and mainly the ocean.
I like to surf (just started!), swim and dive.
I love going on hikes and looking for wildlife
And I hope that I find some inspiration to do some writing when I'm there, which is something I like to do just for myself from time to time.
Some more information
Smoker
Driver's licence
Allergies
Some fruits, nuts and veggies when they are raw but it's nothing deadly so don't worry about it too muchSpecial dietary requirements
