“Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to be a dancer. From a very young age I had it planned out but all of that changed two years ago. They told me my feet did not meet the requirements of a professional dancer and that I had to quit the dance academy. I remember I cried for days, it literally broke my heart.”
“How did you get over that?”
“I don’t think I ever did.”

A few days ago I was walking down Rembrandt square when suddenly I noticed this little girl with bright red shoes being completely hypnotized by two street musicians. I got to talk with her father who told me they were from South Africa and her name is Barbara. I asked him if I could take her picture. He said it was no problem but I would need to get her attention by myself. ‘Things that move tend to hypnotize her’. I kept calling her again and again without any success. I wasn’t going to give up and after a few minutes she gave me this look.
After I took her photo, I sat down and I kept observing her. Then I saw her father encouraging her to take a big step.

Check out what happened:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOtOmdBR9TY&feature=youtu.be

Small step for mankind, big step for Barbara.

“I live by the philosophy of the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. My favorite quote of Sartre is : Man is condemned to be free because once thrown into the world. He is responsible for everything he does.”
“How does that apply on you?”
“I don’t believe in being a victim. You can’t control which difficulties cross your path but you are able to control your own reaction to those obstacles. The way we deal with tough situations is something we have control over and that reaction truly says something about our personalities. In my last year of high school I didn’t pass all my exams so I had to start all over again. Which meant an extra year of school and leaving my friends behind. In the beginning it was very depressing to be in a new class and having to make new friends. After one week I decided to make the most out of the situation. By the end of the year I had good grades and I was even tutoring my fellow classmates.”

I arrived from the states yesterday. Now I am drawing my first impression of Holland.

“I manage to get myself through art school by serving coffee by day and pouring cocktails by night.”