Wouter

Travel information

I am currently

Activities i am interested in:

Exploring the area north of the Arctic Circle again.
Kvikkjokk in particular. This time without van.

Description

Living in Belgium but inexplicably attracted to Swedish Lapland since our thus far only and admittedly short trip in summer/fall 2024. We have lived abroad before and are no stranger to traveling either.
But this pull from Sweden / Lapland — “cosmic” pull some have called it — has never been so strong. Not even my trips to Australia had left *such* a deep impression although they had felt otherworldly by themselves back in the days.

Now feeling like a Space Shuttle orbiting earth and looking for the right place, right time and right way to re-enter the stratosphere to return to Earth / home, i.e. Sweden / Lapland.

Interests

Sustainability

Self development

Mountain

Gardening

Farming

Books

Astronomy

Architecture

Adventure sports

Cooking & food

Music

Technology

Van life

Photography

Videography

Winter sports

Writing

Yoga / Wellness

Outdoor activities

Nature

Hiking

Cycling

DIY & crafts

Charity work

Carpentry

Camping

Blogging

Animals

Languages

Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Dutch: Fluent
French: Intermediate

More details about my language interests
I’d love to learn Swedish and could teach Dutch and English. Dutch is my mother tongue since I grew up in Belgium. I have lived in Florida for 8 years and am thus fluent in English. My passive knowledge of French is decent though actively speaking it is more basic.

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Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn

I'm interested in:  

Charity Work

Animal Care

Life at a Farmstay

Eco Projects

DIY and building projects

Helping around the house

House sitting

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Some knowledge of:  

Hospitality/Tourism

Helping with Computers/ Internet

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Able to teach about:  

Languages

Teaching

More details about your skills

Academically and intellectually trained as a scientist, teacher, professor, psychologist but no longer operating in that capacity.

Went through an awakening the past decade and since then more spiritually oriented. Went through some kind of otherworldly experience that could be likened to a near death experience in which interconnectedness of all things was deeply experienced. Since that experience I have been drawn to serve a higher good / the community at large more than just / individual (career) goals, and also to a “simpeler” less material life.

Have been working as a regular sales clerk in a local grocery store for the past few years with the specific intent to serve the local community but also support the co-workers wherever I could from my unique perspective.
In terms of hospitality I have served as an AirBnB host for the past 8 years and been awarded superhost status on multiple occasions.

Now looking to contribute even more deeply. I have come to understand that the cosmic pull from Sweden / Lapland is to be viewed in that regard.
Living in even closer harmony with nature, serving those people who already do that. Contributing to their work and learning from them. Co-creating new realities from a connected, simple and not-materialistic perspective.

Age

54

What else ...

My professional skills have been mainly “intellectual” (~ mind oriented) but the past few years I have worked more physically (sales clerk grocery store). I would like to continue to grow in that direction.
I do not have particular building skills but would love to assist in such projects wherever possible, for instance helping to build / restore outhouses / simple wooden buildings. I have been particularly attracted to working with wood lately.

A peculiar and not so common hobby of mine is riding any of my onewheeled vehicles: unicycle, monocycle or onewheel.
They are a great way to center yourself (navigating with your center of gravity which is also the place of our gut feeling) and to have an absolutely great time at the same time.

I also tend to take an ice bath every now and then. It’s one of many ways I try to be vigilant of my energy hygiene.

In terms of diet: I essentially eat anything but have restricted the feeding windows in terms of time. I follow an intermittent fasting schedule window of 18-ish hours of non-feeding 6 hours of feeding. Having said that, I always try to start my feeding windows with eating fresh fruit, and am now evolving in the direction of consuming less artificial sugars.
As for cooking. I am the one typically bringing food on the table at home. But I would not call that cooking.

The current master plan is to combine workaway with traveling with a van / mobilhome in order to get a more in depth impression of what it is to live in Sweden / Lapland during more challenging times than the one we had visited (August/September). And who knows one day we will move up North? Really, at this point nothing is ruled out.

I am a father and husband. And although I traveled on this one previous trip to Sweden with our 19 year old daughter, this upcoming workaway trip I’d be traveling by myself.

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies

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  Special dietary requirements