Our hobbies

January 27, 2010  
Topics: FAQ, India, Raw Food

If you would search information about Varkala, you would find not much more than cliffs and beaches. So you might think our everyday life is like this: IMG_7410

No, it is not.

We will share with you some hobbies we have, which are also part of our life here in Varkala (India), where we will stay another 3 months. It is important to mention that whenever we have been living on the road (like in Latin America), there was no space at all for enjoying our hobbies. Being on the road means spending lots of time with people we stay with, being dependent on them in certain ways. Also cooking 2-3 meals per day while being mobile takes a couple of hours daily. Life on the road also means having no private space, something necessary for expressing yourself and living your creativity. Last year we realized how important it is to have our own place. Let us call it “Home”. Actually, we always call “home” any place we stay in. However, this time, we are talking about Home with “H” in front. Alright, it is still kind of a mobile Home – few months here, few months there – nevertheless Home. At least it is what we need to fully enjoy and discover ourselves. Ok, let’s get back to the topic.

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Creativity in Katja's room

Painting and Drawing

This is what Katja was missing the most during the last few years. Now she has a corner for all her tools (brushes, pencils, chalks, colours…) she needs to express herself whenever she feels like. All this “equipment” is too voluminous for our backpacks while being on the road. Now Katja is the owner of her own time and space, so she can sit down and be creative whenever she feels like – in other words no limits 🙂

Reading

Katja has a hard time when she has no books next to her. She needs intellectual input. She enjoys reading about reality and spirituality. Real stories, real people, sipiritual and esoteric books. In comparison, I am very bad in reading books. Somehow things are happening too slow for me 🙂 In the last 10-12 years I have started probably a dozen of books, and managed to finish only one of them. Wonder which one? “Dharma Punx” by Noah Levine – from punk to buddhist. It took me 2 days to “eat it”.

Raw Food

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Energy raw nut bars - almonds, cashews, walnuts

Katja tried to introduce raw food recipes in our menu 2.5 years ago, when we lived 5 months in Ecuador. However, something was missing. Maybe taste? Last summer in Lithuania I watched a reportage about a former military officer, a young guy, who decided to live raw. It was shown how he blends various wild plants and herbs with the blender. In order to beat the taste of Green Grass he added fruits (e.g., apples). That hooked me. I tried that and I liked it. Since then I have periods when I feel like trying something new and experimenting with raw food recipes. We make energy nut bars, raw almond cakes, or marinated carrot-pineapple with cashew cream. Delicious! To make it short – time to time I read and watch videos about raw food, its advantages, and try new recipes in the kitchen.

Magic

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Magic corner of Augustas

One of my biggest hobbies since I was a small boy. We are talking here about creating illusions and art of illusionism, and not weird stuff. During our journey in Latin America I used to show some magic tricks to the kids and families we have met on our way or stayed with. Here in Varkala I am concentrating on learning more about the art of magic. More about performance rather than just secrets. Yes, I want to be a magician! The happy thing is that in Trivandrum (a city 50 km away from Varkala) there is a Magic Academy, where everyone interested in magic is welcomed. They offer courses for magicians of different age and level. At the moment I am taking private classes with the magician Raja Moorthy, an expert in street and close-up magic who is compared with David Blaine inside the Academy.

Writing

As some of you know, Katja has fully documented our 1.5 years journey in Central America, Mexico and Cuba. The overwhelming lot of material Katja documented about the other 1.5 years of our journey in South America are waiting to be shaped. And due to Katja’s creativity, so many new ideas about books are popping up, that at times it seems a real quest what to focus on first.

Guitar

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Katja learning guitar

Since Katja got a guitar as a present for her 30 years birthday, she has a dream to learn playing it. There were thoughts to take a guitar along with us on our trip to Latin America. The question was, how to fit the guitar on Katja while she is wearing a huge backpack? There was just no space on her tiny shoulders left, so we finally decided against taking it (to Katja’s sorrow). This time she brought her guitar all the way from Germany to India. Now she is very serious about studying music by herself (PS: any help and advice welcome!).

Singing

Katja is a symbol of creativity. She dreams about everything what lets her express and share herself through creativity. Professional singing is another dream of hers.

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Katja's experiment - baking gluten-free bread with improvised oven

Cooking

It is more like a frequent activity, rather than a hobby. Katja likes it more than me. Actually, I recently like raw food cooking (something new, suprise for both of us!). Everything else is Ok.

Internet

Yes, I like it too much. Katja can’t stay put behind the screen for long – she has too many ants in her pants! What are your hobbies? How do you combine them during travels?

Comments

  1. Theo Shaw says:

    David Blaine is not the best magician but he surely amazes me with his old tricks.”-

  2. Julian Cooper says:

    i like the magic tricks of David Blaine but Chris Angel is much better.:*.

  3. Catherine says:

    Thanks for your help – thats great. Dan has enjoyed researching traditional indian games like Kabaddi, Gulli Danda too.
    Regards Catherine

  4. Catherine says:

    My son ( and his class ) are doing his homework about India. He has chosen to look at hobbies/ pastimes. Dan is age 9. He is interested to know what are the pastimes that boys of his age do. In England Dan plays lego, monopoly, football on his bike and on his Nintendo D.S. What do children in India do?
    Thanks a million!
    Dan and his Mum

    • Hello Catherin. Our neighbors, here in India, have two boys (age of 9 and 7). According to them, in their free time they: play cricket, play video game (on TV with joysticks), read books, play with baloon, older boy attends karate lessons, and the younger learns at school cinematic dancing (dances you see on Indian movies). Hope that helps. Greetings! 😉

  5. Manca says:

    Good question would be also how do we combine our hobbies while going to work every day?!:) Life puts us in different situations and sometimes we just cannot do (yet) whan we really wish for. Hobbies are important part of our lives and I think it’s rather important to combine them well with the other obligations life gives us and to focus on them (the hobbies) when we have the time and when we feel like. Enjoy it!

    • Ok, here is the answer 🙂 Devote your life only for your hobbies! If travelling (or working) is one of the hobbies – make sure you do not spend all your time on it, so that other hobbies also finds its space 😉

  6. Brendan says:

    Stina just got a guitar for her birthday, too!