Exciting Changes
Door: Ronja Jansz
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Ronja
04 Juli 2014 | Nederland, Almere Stad
Mary Shelley, daughter of daring philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft, and prizewinning author of Frankenstein once said “Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.”
An while this in essence may be true, I must add that such a sudden change can often also clear our minds and provide a great deal of new space that can be then be refilled with the exciting adventures and experiences ahead.
Going back home brought A LOT of new changes. I won't go into detail but they proved to be both challenging as well as liberating. Now that I have been back ten days, I have had quite some time to reflect, settle in, and luckily even more time do fun things with friends and family.
In a nutshell, I have been catching up with Samantha over coffee in Amsterdam, I got to show around and catch up with my Hawaiian friends Danielle and Erin who are currently touring Europe, I caught up with Mike, finally got to see Nichal again, went dancing in Amsterdam with Koen, went to my Little Brother Sven his graduation, played bananagrams and went to the movies with Babette and her wonderful parents, went to Dutch island Texel with my father to mentally support him as he jumped from a plane and where we "sluftered" our way through the beautiful nature reservoirs, spent time with my grandmother, got to visit the farm my sister interned at, ran a 10K race, and spent time with Lara in both Amsterdam and by the sea.
Overall it's been a wonderful trip so far with lots happening. I am very excited about going to Sensation White tomorrow and continue to plan my upcoming trips. As I mentioned in my first blog, I will go to Madrid from the 9th through the 14th of July and -this part has changed- will continue to travel to Cuba from there!
This gives me less time to prepare but I purchased my tickets and I went to the Cuban Consulate in Rotterdam today where I successfully obtained my visa, there's definitely no way back anymore! Now that that step is completed, I will have to book several casas particulares over the weekend and plan which exact places I would like to visit.
For those who don't know what Casas Particulares are, they are rooms in Cuban people their homes that tourists can rent. They often include breakfast and at times also dinner, authentically cooked by the family. This is still quite a new concept considering that Cubans initially weren't allowed to own and make money of private goods, it was part of the Communist culture at the time.
However, since 1997 the Cuban government adapted a communist model similar to that of the Chinese. Cubans are now allowed to rent out rooms, start small restaurants, offer taxi services with their cars, and several similar concepts. The great thing about this change is that Cubans have the opportunity to make more money and that tourists can experience a more truthful and local glimpse of Cuban life.
I am certainly getting more and more excited and strongly believe that this will be a life changing experience. I will try to keep you updated, I will certainly share another post before I leave, but keep in mind that access to Internet is very rare in Cuba and I don't plan on standing in line for two hours to be able to send a few emails while I could be watching the waves crash into the street on the Malecón or sip on a mojito with Pachanga playing the background. No offense of course :).
Please share your comments and thoughts, I always appreciate the feedback and would love to hear what you have been up to!
Veel liefs,
Ronja
An while this in essence may be true, I must add that such a sudden change can often also clear our minds and provide a great deal of new space that can be then be refilled with the exciting adventures and experiences ahead.
Going back home brought A LOT of new changes. I won't go into detail but they proved to be both challenging as well as liberating. Now that I have been back ten days, I have had quite some time to reflect, settle in, and luckily even more time do fun things with friends and family.
In a nutshell, I have been catching up with Samantha over coffee in Amsterdam, I got to show around and catch up with my Hawaiian friends Danielle and Erin who are currently touring Europe, I caught up with Mike, finally got to see Nichal again, went dancing in Amsterdam with Koen, went to my Little Brother Sven his graduation, played bananagrams and went to the movies with Babette and her wonderful parents, went to Dutch island Texel with my father to mentally support him as he jumped from a plane and where we "sluftered" our way through the beautiful nature reservoirs, spent time with my grandmother, got to visit the farm my sister interned at, ran a 10K race, and spent time with Lara in both Amsterdam and by the sea.
Overall it's been a wonderful trip so far with lots happening. I am very excited about going to Sensation White tomorrow and continue to plan my upcoming trips. As I mentioned in my first blog, I will go to Madrid from the 9th through the 14th of July and -this part has changed- will continue to travel to Cuba from there!
This gives me less time to prepare but I purchased my tickets and I went to the Cuban Consulate in Rotterdam today where I successfully obtained my visa, there's definitely no way back anymore! Now that that step is completed, I will have to book several casas particulares over the weekend and plan which exact places I would like to visit.
For those who don't know what Casas Particulares are, they are rooms in Cuban people their homes that tourists can rent. They often include breakfast and at times also dinner, authentically cooked by the family. This is still quite a new concept considering that Cubans initially weren't allowed to own and make money of private goods, it was part of the Communist culture at the time.
However, since 1997 the Cuban government adapted a communist model similar to that of the Chinese. Cubans are now allowed to rent out rooms, start small restaurants, offer taxi services with their cars, and several similar concepts. The great thing about this change is that Cubans have the opportunity to make more money and that tourists can experience a more truthful and local glimpse of Cuban life.
I am certainly getting more and more excited and strongly believe that this will be a life changing experience. I will try to keep you updated, I will certainly share another post before I leave, but keep in mind that access to Internet is very rare in Cuba and I don't plan on standing in line for two hours to be able to send a few emails while I could be watching the waves crash into the street on the Malecón or sip on a mojito with Pachanga playing the background. No offense of course :).
Please share your comments and thoughts, I always appreciate the feedback and would love to hear what you have been up to!
Veel liefs,
Ronja
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
