Bucketlist #54. See a dinosaur ✔

25 August 2012

Some people know this about me, most people I haven’t dared to tell this yet. I’m talking about my fascination for dinosaurs. Most children go through the dinosaur fase, I’m still at the peak. I don’t want to be a paleontologist,  dusting off sand for hours and putting miniscule pieces of bone together is not my cup of tea. It’s pure fascination; these giant creatures used to populate the earth. Incredibly bizarre.  When I had to babysit a five year old boy in September last year I couldn’t be more thrilled. Books and movies about dinosaurs everywhere. Together we spent days watching movies and documentaries and reading all the books about the subject.
I think the it all started when I visited a park in France when I was a little girl. In the park there were many dinosaurs made lifelike, including sounds and movement. I remember full well how that massive T-Rex roared at me, and in my eyes he was real. When I close my eyes I can still picture how it moved and sounded, just like all the other dinosaurs at that very park. Other than that experience I also had sleepless nights after watching ‘The land before time’, where a baby dinosaur wants to find his parents accompanied by his friends. Ofcourse T-Rex tries to eat time many times. Terrifying. Still I’m curious, just like I am when I watch horrormovies. I watch them, even though I know they freak me out and I won’t be able to sleep in the dark for weeks.
When my mum told me she wanted to take me to New York I immediately knew where I wanted to go. Ofcourse I wanted to see the statue of Liberty, the 9/11 memorial and the Empire State Building. But the National History Museum would make a dream come true. Real dinosaurs. I’ve seen them! Call me childish but I don’t give a shit. They’re massive! How can you not be fascinated?!

 

Bucketlist #85. Let a balloon go with a personal message for the person who finds it ✔

I remember doing this when I was a little girl. The whole school gathered at the playground and all children had a colorful balloon. There was a countdown, but ofcourse a few children couldn’t wait for it and let theirs go before the signal. We all had written down a personal note attached to the string which also had the schools’ address on there, so we could see who’s balloon would travel the furthest. I didn’t win, but the exitement was the best part. When I was thinking about this a while ago my heart got filled with exitement again and I decided to put this on my bucketlist. Today was the day, I phoned a local party-rental shop and asked them for two balloons. The man on the other end of the phone was a bit suprised by the request of just two helium-filled balloons, but money is money so he said to pick them up in half an hour. I’m sure he thought we were about twelve years old when he opened the door and saw two small girls there he also said ah thats so cute when he opened the door, fucker!  but in all fairness it’s find of a silly thing to do so whatever. I enjoyed it anyway and hope to hear soon from the person who found my note 🙂

Eternal Love in Paris

Have you ever been to Paris? Then you must have visited the now famous Archeveche bridge. It became the bridge for lovers. Couple all around the world come to the bridge that crosses the Seine river to hang (engraved) padlocks on the side and throw the key into the river as a sign of their eternal love.

Paris is the city of love, so the perfect place for a romantic gesture like this. You have a nice walk in the Paris’ sun before looking into eachothers eyes, whispering sweet things in eachothers ears before locking the padlock to the bridge and dropping the key into the Seine river to remain for eternity.

Other places (perhaps closer to home) are :the Hohenzollern Bridge in Cologne (Germany), Wild Pacific Trail in Ucluelet on Vancouver Island and the Humber Bridge in Toronto (Canada), the Ponte Vecchio bridge (Italy), Ha’penny Bridge in Dublin (Ireland). Unfortunately in most places the government started to remove padlocks because they damage the bridges. These places to far from home? Start your own by putting the first padlock on a bridge in your own town. 🙂

I’m not that romantic at all, but this makes me melt away. I love it, what a great, romantic idea! I think Paris would be the most romantic place to hang your padlock. This goes on my bucketlist, someday I’ll go there and hang my own. Beautiful.

My reverse Bucketlist

As you know I’m keeping a bucketlist. I’m trying to be active, but there’s still a lot to do this year. Today I came across a weblog where the owner made a reverse bucketlist. You know, instead of making a list with things you want to do, making one with things you’ve already accomplished. I thought that was pretty cool, because often we forget the things we have already done and should be proud of. As I was making my bucketlist for 2012 I searched through many other lists for inspiration. My intention was to make a Day Zero list, 101 goals in 1001 days. As it turns out, it’s not easy to think of 101 goals.  What I noticed was that a lot of things others had on their bucketlist were things I had already done before. I kind of felt extra proud of myself. So after reading the reverse bucketlist today, I decided to make one myself. Here is goes.

–          Graduate college
June 2010 I graduated Social Work. In the four years that stand for it. Have I got a job in the field? Eh.. no. Turns out I prefer to goof around and try lots of different things. Maybe this is why I got to do the things that are on this list. Sometimes you should just go for your dreams instead of just thinking about how nice it would be. Everything is possible.

–          Travel the World
From November 2010  until July 2011 me and my boyfriend travelled the world. We started off in India (1.5 months), then took off to Nepal (2 months), through Singapore we travelled New Zealand (3 months) and finished off in Indonesia (1.5 month) It was amazing! Every one of these places had something unique and special about it and everywhere I went has been an experience on it’s own. When can I go again?!

–          Ride an elephant
This I did in Chitwan, Nepal. Celebrating the orphanage’s fifth anniversary we took off with the children to Chitwan, a national park. Here we did lots of fun stuff, including the elephant ride. I enjoyed it, Sabin who sat next to me on the other hand, had looked pretty scared the whole ride.

Sabin was not too happy about the wobbely elephant haha

–          Bathing with an elephant
This I also did in Nepal. Although the picture seems to tell you otherwise, this was one of the most fun things I have ever done! I’m very very lucky to have experienced this! Also since they don’t do this anymore due to someone dying during this. But because of the lovely adorable children from Swarga, they decided to make an exception. Thanks a million to Swarga Orphanage!

–          Boatride in crocodile river
Also in Nepal, pretty scary when you’re responsible for a couple disabled children, there’s crocodiles next to you in the water and your boat is low and unstable. But in one word: Amazing. We went quit early in the morning, you could hear the Kingfisher chirping and the dawn hung over the water while we moved slowly through the river with rainforest all around.

–          White water rafting
Our travels ended in Indonesia. In Bali we went wild water rafting, awesome! It’s really going fast and is definitely rough. But so much fun! I must say it’s not without any danger. The boats are small and unstable, and apperently are not suitable for overweight groups. This we found out after a group of Australians barely surviving this trip by ending up in the rough water and being dragged away by the strong current. They were lucky having a pretty strong lifeguard who could drag them out of the stream just in time. Luckily they were positive people commenting just after being rescued: ‘Did it at least look good?’. Wild water rafting is not for pussies! 🙂

–          Snorkling
In Bali we got some snorkling gear and took off on a small fisherman boat onto the crystal clear sea. Somewhere a bit out of the coast we jumped into the water and began snorkling. It’s a bit of getting used to, to keep breathing when your body screams YOU CANT BREATHE WITH YOUR HEAD DOWN, but after a bit of practising you’re getting the hang of it. After two seconds in the water I get the fright of my life, out of nowhere there’s a shark coming towards me, at least three meters long and with his massive jaw and rows of teeth showing! He is clearly hungry and goes for my leg!! Ok, this didn’t happen, but this was the first time snorkling and I was scared to death this would happen. I’m terrified of fish (all sizes, I realise it’s rediculous but I can’t help but freak out when I see- or worse, feel one) and expecially sharks. So at first I hung on the the tiny boat (with an annoyed Indonesian man who clearly was getting anno) and tried my best to relax and to keep looking down. After all, it’s better to see it coming than being caught (haha) by suprise. Anyway, after 20 5 minutes my boyfriend finally convinced me there’s no sharks there and I enjoyed seeing all the beauty of sealife! Definitely a must-do!!

–         Swim with a seaturtle
After overcoming my fears of scary sea creatures I went snorkling again and not even two meters from the beach we saw a massive seaturtle hanging around at the bottom of the sea, right underneath us! Hanging around I said, because turtles are very much like.. cows. They just stand there, chewing for ages on a pieces of gras / seaweed. Bit wow, so amazing, I could even touch it when diving down!

–          Volunteerwork abroad
In Nepal I did volunteerwork for two months. I worked in an orphanage for disabled children. Had an fantastic time, how could I not with all these beautiful kids?!

–          Celebrate New Year’s abroad
New Year’s 2006-2007 I spend with one of my best friends in London! It was a messy trip, we didn’t have tickets for any clubs so we ended up spending New Year’s with a million people on the streets after also missing the countdown, we met a lot of people, walked an hour back the hotel seeing all of London by night and ended up missing the ferry back to Holland. Nothing worked out as we had planned, but it was one of the best and most memorable New Year’s I have ever experienced.

–          Be a vegetarian
When I look at the most common Bucketlists, I often see people are trying to dine without meat for three weeks, and find it difficult. I have been a vegetarian since I was seven years old. I read a comic book (Jan Jans & de kinderen) where the oldest sibling is becoming a vegetarian and I decided to become one too. Ofcourse my mum didn’t expect me to actually stick with it, but it turns out it’s not that difficult and I really don’t miss eating meat. 

–          Learn to knit
My mum taught me to knit last Christmas and I definitely want to try do it more often. How proud was I when I made my first knitted headband?!

–          Go to a concert
Three years ago I went to Bruce Springsteen performing in Arnhem. So great to see him performing live, such an entertainer!

–          Join a multiple day festival
Two years ago I went to Sziget festival in Budapest, Hungary. I just love the atmosphere at festivals, Sziget was fantastic! A week long of chilling in the sun with a (cheap!) beer listening to good music, eating lovely junkfood and hanging out with different kinds of amazing people.

–          Pierce yourself
This I tried last year, when I wanted to get my ear pierced but was absolutely broke. How difficult can it be, I thought, to do it myself? Turns out, very.  The first thing is
bashing the needle through your ear, which is not as easy as I may sound. Ok, it
doesn’t sound that easy at all, but I didn’t think it would be that difficult. Just do it in one go, I thought. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that probably would work if it wouldn’t feel like your trying to stick a big fat nail through your ear. It hurts like crazy. But when your already in so much pain and putting in all that effort, you can’t really go back. And I didn’t. It took me an hour and a half to put the needle though, trying to replace the needle with an earring, then again the needle because the earring didn’t fit, and so on.. But the result is there, after not having slept for a week (ofcourse I hadn’t realised I slept on that ear so my ear looked like someone had seriously abused it) my earring is still there and I’d say it looks quite nice 🙂

–          Dance in the rain

Summer 2011 

–          Visit: London, Edinburgh, Cambridge, Amsterdam, Prague, Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Bratislava, Budapest, Dublin, Belfast, Stockholm, Brussels, Auckland, Singapore, Kuta, Brussels..

–          Visit: Wales, Scotland, England, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Slovakia, Chech, Sweden, Northern Ireland, Holland, Belgium, Turkey, Greece, India, Nepal, New Zealand, Singapore, Bali, Lombok, Gili Islands

–          Make a snowturtle
When you’re bored and it’s snowing you get wacky ideas. Why would you built a boring snowman when you can make a turtle? It took a while to convince my brother to make a snowturtle, but it turned out to be a lot of fun 🙂 This photo was taken in December 2009.

–          Experience drugs
I studied about drug addiction and I believe there’s nothing wrong with knowing what you constantly talk about. In Holland it’s legal to smoke marihuana, so I could say it wasn’t so weird to try this. I must say it’s alright sometimes, it just makes me very tired and hungry. And gives you some pretty good ideas and inspiration sometimes 🙂  XTC and Magic Mushrooms on the other hand were fun for one time, but too crazy for me. MM, insane shit.

–          Have a professional massage
I must say I didn’t like massages at first. I’m very ticklish so when some stranger touches my feet or fingers I just feel uncomfortable or start giggling. This was the point where my first and last Turkish massage ended. But after Turkey I’ve had some pretty good massages in Bali, Holland & Slovakia and I’m convinced. Massages are incredibly relaxing 🙂

–          Go to a buddist temple
In Nepal I went to a buddist temple and joined a ceremony. B-E-A-UTIFUL. And peaceful.

–          Live abroad
I live in Slovakia since September last year and I must say, it’s pretty cool to live abroad. I live with some really nice and cool people from all over the world; Israel, South Africa, America, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Malta, Greece, Ireland, England.. I love it!

–          Get a henna tattoo
I’ve seen this one on a few lists and this one I can also cross off! I got a henna tattoo in India for about 5 euro, way too overpriced since I found out a day later you can get the henna stuff for 5 cent in a local shop and do it yourself!:)

This one I got done. Looked very nice! After a week or so it started to look like I hadn’t washed one foot for a long time 😉
After I did it myself 

–          Send anonymous valentines cards
This me and a friend did in secondary school. We sent cards to a couple of guys who still don’t have a clue it was from us. If they even knew who we were, we took secret admirers very seriously.  (and thanks to one of the guys’ dad who was so kind of sending us back a poem about how nice he found our card, clearly thinking it was for him)

–          Tree Track
I did this in Wales, quite a few years ago. Despite my fear of hights I loved it!

–          Go to Disneyland
I went to Disneyland Paris when I was about 12 years old. Ha, can cross this off the list as well!

–          Hold a monkey

Bali, 2011

–          Have an auraphoto taken
This I had done a couple of years ago. I didn’t really take it seriously but it was quite fun to do. My aura wasn’t the best one though, it was mostly red with a bit of pink. Red stands for action, passion, impulsitivity and change. It also says anger and revenge. Right. The pink clearly stood for love. With these kind of things I tend to just believe the positive aspects 😉

–          See dolphins in the wild
Unfortunately it was difficult to take photos of the large group of dolphins due to my shitty camera. But we saw a lot of seals chilling on the rocks at the side of the road which was pretty really impressive as well!

Kaikoura, New Zealand, 2011.

– See a pinquin in the wild
In Oamaru New Zealand we saw a little blue pinguin on the beach. I tried to take a  photo, which you can see didn’t really work out because the pinguin must not have thought of himself as photogenic. I didn’t want to disturb him too much so I didn’t push it, so here you have it, half a pinguin. Better half a pinguin, than no pinguin at all 🙂

–          Drink Guinness in Dublin
I’ve visited Ireland many times. The first time in Ireland I travelled with a friend.  With backpacks on our back we travelled through Ireland in the pouring rain. At our first night in Dublin we tried the most expensive beer I ever paid for: Guinness. I don’t like it. It’s discusting. But adding a bit of black current and we turned it into a girly-beer. Jum!

–          Eat sushi
I tried sushi a couple of times. I fall for trying it again every time because I keep telling myself it’s healthy. I’m not a sushi-fan. Cold rice and a bit of cold fish on top with seaweed, I can’t get used to the taste / lack of taste.  But once in a while I just give it a go. Because it’s healthy.

–          Get your driver’s licenceI got my driver licence in 2006 after paying for over fourty lessons. My driving instructor and I were a good match, but there were a bit too many laughs in the car instead of really paying a lot of attention. Nervous as I was I didn’t want my driving instructor to join me during the practical exam. This might have been a good idea because I passed on the first go.

Here I took my driver’s licence to the airport instead of my passport. Luckily I also got an IDcard. My brother was not amused. 

–          Skate on natural ice
This is on so many bucketlists and I can proudly say this is something that I was able to do for years and years when I was growing up. Every winter the lakes and canals froze and we took the skates from the attic to take them for a ride. I loved it, even though my toes were freezing and I had fallen down a couple of times.

–          Dine & Dash
Ok, this is really not something I’m proud of and I’m not too sure whether I should actually admit it to the world. Let’s just keep in mind I was a teenager, the waitress had been ignoring our request to pay for over half an hour and we wanted to go get an ice-cream. Enough said.

–          Date a Robert Pattingson look a like

Haha this is a joke ofcourse, but don’t you think they kind of look a like? 😛

Lots of love,smiles and happiness,

Evalina

Please don’t use any of the photo’s. Thanks!

Monster in a rabbit harness

My little monster is not allowed to go outside. Because we have three rotweilers in the backyard who would love a piece of him, I’ve decided not to take the risk and keep the doors closed. But ever since the weather’s been nice and he’s staring out the window I decided to think of a sollution to our problem. In the pet shop I came across a small animal harness, which, as the carton said, is very suitable for rabbits. The first question that came to mind when I read this was: ‘Who would walk their rabbit?’ There were even harnesses for smaller pets! Would there be people out there who walk their hamsters? Anyway, when I came home yesterday, I just had to try if it would fit. Darwin didn’t have too much of a problem with his rabbit harness except for the time my boyfriend tried to drag him around the room with it and he was happy chilling out in the sun, safe and sound. The main reason for getting the harness however, was that we have a long journey ahead of us. In 3 weeks we’re travelling from East-Slovakia to The Netherlands, by train and by car. This is gonna be a long, pain-in-the-arse- journey for me and my friend, but it’s gonna be even worse for Darwin, who has to spend his time in a animal travelbox. Now I have the harness we could stop for walks (and poos!) and hopefully our journey wouldn’t be too much of a hassle. But it’s all for a good cause, he’s gonna be very happy with the big garden waiting for him in Holland 🙂

Darwin the first time having his harness on.

Haha, kind of cute. I’m gonna make the lead a bit longer so when we do he could walk a bit further.

Beautiful places in the world: Nepal

Nepal lies in South Asia, between India and China. Nepal to me is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Every country has it’s own specialties and beauty, Nepal has a rich culture and amazing  mountains. Hinduism is very big here, and almost every week they celebrate something special by holding big ceremonies at their amazing temples. Dressed in their colorful saris and carrying baskets full of food and flowers to sacrifice for the Gods. Sometimes there’s even music and dances included before lighting the candles.

 Sacrifice

The people are poor but incredibly friendly and hospitable. They would invite you for a cup of chai (thee with lots, lots, lots of sugar and milk) or a plate of dal bhat (rice with a curry of lentils, potatoes, spinach, califlower and carot). In Nepal also lie the Himalayas,where also the worlds largest mountain, the Mount Everst, is located. The himalayas have at least 40 peaks above the 7.000 meter, which gives a fantastic view from the sky or when trekking.

Basecamp

 Pokara

Besides mountains and lakes, Nepal has some amazing national parks where you can ride elephants, kano in a crocodile river, go river rafting, kayaking or do a jungle tour where you might see tigers, elephants, rhinos, dear and crocodiles!

And ofcourse Nepal has lots more to offer! You can do a yoga / medatation course at one of the many buddist monasteries, rent motorbikes and explore the county by driving through the bright green ricefields, see a bollywood movie, shop in Thamel in Kathmandu (don’t forget to haggle!) or go bungeejumping! Nepal is an amazing country, definitely worth visiting!

Hellos and goodbyes at Budapest Airport

I’m going home for a week. Home in my case means Holland. The only train towards the airport leaves at 6 in the morning, which leaves me stranded at the airport five hours before my flight. I decide to sit down at the arrivals section, where there are still a couple of chairs available to spend a few hours of my time on. Airports fascinate me, they always have. When I was younger I told my mum that I wanted to work as a singer, actress, farmer, teacher at the airport. I just loved how so many different people come together, travelling to different countries for various reasons. People leaving, people arriving, loved ones that wait for them or waving them goodbye.

Today I have plenty of time to observe people in the arrivals section. I can and have to sit there for hours just watching people filled with excitement waiting for their loved ones to come home safely. That moment when they walk through the sliding doors is priceless. Sometimes people see each other from the other side of the window and you can see the happiness and anticipation on their faces when their eyes meet. Other times the airport doesn’t have windows and the welcome crew doesn’t know when their travelers will come through the door. As I’m waiting I watch a family that’s sitting next to me. Two grandparents with three beautiful children. The oldest is a boy; I’m guessing he’s about nine. The other two I realize later, are twins, a boy and a girl, about three years old. The girl has curly hair, the kind that African women have. Beautiful. She’s wearing a pink dress with a princess sewed on the bottom and on her shoulder a purple bag. She’s obsessed with her granddad’s hair, maybe because his hair is quite different than hers, he has short gray hair, straight and with a bold spot at the crown. She keeps stroking his hair and he seems to enjoy it. Her twin brother is running around the place, ignoring his granny’s warnings. The oldest boy has discovered the water fountain and is filling up his bottle. At that moment the mother comes though the siding doors. I wait for the magic to happen, for the children to run towards her, giving her kisses and cuddles, telling her how much they missed her. Instead, something else happens. She put down her two 30kg suitcases, kisses her dad, not even looking at her two young ones. She sees the oldest boy with the bottle and starts shouting at him. I don’t speak their language but it’s clearly about the fact that he’s filling his bottle with the water from the fountain. She grabs her youngest son by the arm and starts walking towards her friend, clearly telling her parents and kids to hurry up. I’m amazed. I know you shouldn’t stare at people, but I can’t help myself. I look at them with big eyes and an open mouth. What just happened? The grandparents don’t seem to care too much for her attitude and slowly make their way out of the airport, while the little girl strokes her granddad’s hair.

At the other side of the room sits a group of people in their twenties, waiting for check in. They’re Dutch. I know this because Dutch people in large groups tend to make a lot of noise and walk around the room as if it’s theirs. They’re still a bit pale after a holiday in the sun and wear tank tops and slippers, also after the sun has gone. I can understand their conversations, even though they think no one can. They’re talking about the ground stewardess, who seems to be a bit naked with her miniskirt and cleavage. One of the girls’ name is Floor. Floor is a typical Dutch name and in Holland I wouldn’t even notice it. Here, I’m still in the English speaking mode and look up when I hear them calling her. Her parents must not have thought their little Floor would travel to English speaking countries.

In front of me two women. I’m guessing they’re about fifty-five. The tall one clearly tries to look younger than she is, but fails miserably. She wears heels with fake diamonds, a skirt that’s a bit too short and three layers of blouses in different shades of pink. She tried to let the pink come back in a flower/shell necklace and large earrings. Her hair has two colors red and has more wax in there than many hairdos have seen in a lifetime. She has purple eye shadow, covering not only eyelids but is extended to the eyebrows. Her lips are pink. Her nails are fake and have pink dots with diamonds. She doesn’t say much, tries to keep up appearances. The woman next to her is the opposite; she didn’t give much attention to her looks but is very chatty and when she laughs, whole Hungary can listen to it. When their friend finally arrives she’s the one overwhelming the friend with a long big hug and lots to talk about. The friend could use a bit of eye shadow.

Next to me sits a girl. She must be around my age. She’s clearly nervous because she’s biting her nails and keeps checking her make-up. She keeps her eyes on the sliding doors. When a young man steps through them, her eyes sparkle. She runs towards his and a long tender kiss follows. Beautiful.

In Holland we have a program called ‘Hello Goodbye’. The presenter and his camera crew search through the arrival halls looking for people to share their stories. I’m hooked on this program and every week I find myself whipping the tears of my cheeks at the end of it. Everyone seems to have an amazing story behind the reason why they’re at the airport at that very moment.

Grandparents, waiting for their children with their adopted baby, a group of friends with signs for the couple returning from their world travels, an African woman hugging her mother after not seeing her for twenty years, two deaf girls leaving home to volunteer in China, a man welcoming his thirty year younger import bride from Thailand, adopted children who meet their parents for the first time, a husband and wife reunited after months, a man with his six year old daughter welcoming their au-pair after the mum passing away the year before, a mother carrying her two-year-old twins after months of skype conversations, lots of hugs, kisses, handshakes, awkward reunions, tears of sadness and of happiness, smiles, laughter, hellos and goodbyes.

Airports are amazing places, filled with nothing but love.

 

Lots of love,smiles and happiness,

Evalina

Bucketlist # 7. Visit Auschwitz ✔

The whole world knows what you’re talking about when you mention the city Auschwitz, Oswiecim for the Polish. After learning about the holocaust in secondary school I became fascinated with the subject. My history teacher had a great way of explaining history and I think he was the one that really made the story come to life. I started to watch movies about the holocaust, such as Schindler’s list, The Diary of Anne Frank and Anne Frank: The Whole Story. Ofcourse I have also read the original diary and have visited the Anne Frank museum more than once. The only thing missing was to visit the place it all had happened less than seven decades ago. The reason I really want to see it was because it moves me, it’s hard to actually imagine something extreme like this happened in Europe not even that long ago. I wanted to be there, I wanted to see it with my own eyes to remember all those people who had died there. We should all remember, so this can never ever happen again.

Last Thursday I took the trip to Poland to visit Auschwitz, the biggest concentration camp in Europe, where more than 1.300.000 people were murdered by the Nazis. It has made a big impression on me. I still think about it every day. The first part of the museum is the ‘main camp’, also known as Auschwitz I, the first of the Auschwitz camps for men and women where they did the first experiments on prisoners, murdered the first mass transports of Jews, where they did most of the executions by shooting, where people lived under terrible circumstances in the prison also known as block 11 and where most of the SS offices were located. Auschwitz I is the camp with the famous sign at the entrance that says: ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’, freedom through work. The camp has brick buildings where the Nazis located the prisoners. Some of the buildings are now open to public, and as a visitor you get sucked into the world of camp life in the 1940’s. The corridor walls are papered with photo’s of prisoners who died just weeks after arriving at the camp, roma children just skin and bones and adult women weighing less than 25 kilos. All the old belongings such as suitcases, pairs of glasses, clothing and shoes are there to be seen. But what was most shocking was the room displaying the tons, yes tons!, of human hair, piled up high as 3 meters and at least 10 meters long. Of course it’s all one big nightmare, and to really be in the gas chambers where so many people were killed at once was really unbelievably shocking.

For the second part of the museum, Auschwitz – Birkenau, it’s hard to find the words. Being at least 20 times bigger than Auschwitz I with nearly 300 barracks, the Nazis murdered approximately one million Jews at this camp through mass extermination. The museum now shows the barracks where 400 people would sleep in without enough water, food, hygiene and space. In the winters people would freeze to death, in the summers it would be roasting, diseases would spread quickly and people would have lack of water. Auschwitz – Birkenau had five gas chambers where people would be murdered in, thousands at once. I can’t describe what it feels like to be actually there to see it, at the moment I was there it was extremely shocking, but still hard to believe that’s actually the place where over a million people found their deaths. Now I can say afterwards it gets to me, I keep thinking about it but I’m glad I went. Auschwitz has made a big impression on me, and it has made me feel extra lucky to have freedom in every sort of way. You don’t realize every day how incredibly lucky we should be to be able to walk out our door whenever we want, be healthy, live a peaceful life with the people we love and love us, having enough food to eat and not having to live in fear.  I will never forget this trip. I will never forget the people who died there. May they rest in peace.

Forever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity
Where the nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women and children, mainly jews, from various countries of Europe

Auschwitz – Birkenau 1940 – 1945

Lots of love,smiles and happiness,

Evalina