not-a-papergirl-anymore - Tumblr blog

[not-a-papergirl-anymore]

The Rainbow Railroad is helping gay men escape Chechen concentration camps. They need our help.

WHO THEY ARE:

“Rainbow Railroad receives hundreds of requests for help every year from countries where LGBT individuals are open targets of violence. Because the volume of requests is so high, we focus our efforts on assisting LGBT people who have faced physical violence or face an imminent threat of violence, imprisonment, or death. We have been successful in helping individuals from the Caribbean, Africa and Middle East where we have local networks to support and validate cases.”

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO HELP?

“The costs range as every case is unique. Sometimes the individual has the resources to help themselves and they just need information and support from us to make a move.  In these cases, the cost to Rainbow Railroad is staff and volunteer time to research and provide information.  In cases where they need financial support to get to safety, it costs about $5000 to cover flights and other related costs.”

You can donate at the following link: https://www.rainbowrailroad.ca/donate

If you can’t donate, please reblog/like to signal boost!

[not-a-papergirl-anymore]

Thanks to Hiero Band you can speak 100+ languages from just your wrist. Get more information here

[not-a-papergirl-anymore]

I just almost died in what has to be one the most embarrassing ways.

I was on the toilet. (Good start, right?)

I saw there was some hair on the floor from when I brushed it this morning. I thought “oh, before flushing I’m gonna clean that up with some toilet paper and throw that in there.” 

So the toilet it still un-flushed, I haven’t pulled up my pants all the way, I crouch on the floor with a wet piece of toilet paper in my hand to wipe up the hair and I slip on the now wet floor.

I almost hit my head on the toilet. Wow.

Shoutout to not only God but also Jesus for not making my mother find me like that. 

[not-a-papergirl-anymore]

Travel Agency, kinda

Why workaway.info?

When I first saw their website and looked at the places you could volunteer at, I thought: this can’t be real.

It just looked too utopian.

Ecological farmers, beautiful places, super friendly people who all write in suspiciously good English. A community like that - around the whole world - just seemed to good to be true. And the fee of 23€ for two years of using the site sounded not that pricey. Now I’m not a very suspicious person by nature (*cough* shut up) but- There had to be something wrong, right?

I looked the site up and didn’t find anything negative except for someone with a pretty bad experience in Canada. (Apparently she got sick but they insisted on her working. Then they told her they’d take her to the hospital because that’s how sick she was and left her at a bus station instead. In winter. Way to go against the Canadian stereotype!)

Workaway let’s you search whole continents, countries or specific regions. You can specify what kind of work you’re willing to do. They show feedback on both hosts and workawayers and even at what rate you’ll get a reply from a host in what timeframe. You can search by map or add yourself to a list of ‘last minute workawayers’ where the hosts themselves can find you and message you.

Right now it looks great and practical but I’ll share my experiences as they come.

HappyTraveling!

[not-a-papergirl-anymore]

Making Plans

Now this blog does have a few followers - even though you probably don’t even remember following it - and maybe you’re still interested in what I have to say.

I am bad at making plans. Wait, no, that’s not quite it; I am bad at following through.

                          Exhibit A: this mess of a travel blog.

Now I have wanted to travel for years and there are several reasons why I never did - one of them being an unfortunate genetic predisposition for depression - and the number one reason why I didn’t was: fear. 

I thought about it and planned and thought and rethought and never. Got. Any-. Thing. Done.

Now a few weeks ago Mimi asked me if I wanted to come with her and a few others to Amsterdam for a few days. Bingpot! Plans I have to  make with someone else. A set time! Yess.

So. Amsterdam, for a few days at least.

After that it’ll be a private host with a garden and a small cabin they rent out for tourists. I’ll get food and accommodation for a few hours of work a day, which I can totally do, probably, I TAKE MEDS NOW.

Most people speak english in the Netherlands, my host speaks a little German and I have started learning Dutch for free thanks to Duolingo and Ashton Kutcher. I’m gonna get shit done. Yess. 

Anyways here is my workaway profile: nyooom

And here is my host’s page, don’t they look great?

Happy traveling!

PS: talking about workaway.info here

[not-a-papergirl-anymore]

sooOOo

this travelblog has not seen a lot of travel

and then not a lot of activity either

but I am looking tO CHANGE THAT

...

WOOH.

Let’s see how it goes.

(this time.)

[not-a-papergirl-anymore]

disappointed my mother again today

not doing what she wanted me to do 

being a lazy asshole

the usual

didn't feel too well today but she didn't either so there's not much sympathy to expect there

when I realized that I had bled on my bed (because my uterus hates me apparently) I felt mortified (I'm 18 for god's sake. shouldn't it stop being so awkward sometime now?) and confused (I'm wearing the biggest pad known to mankind how did that happen) and a bit helpless because I know how to get blood out of clothes but this soaked through to the mattress and I was not sure how to got about this so I did what I had to do and went downstairs to ask my mother

she was still in the living room, lying on the couch. asleep.

and while I stood there, not sure how to wake her, the light from the hall behind me, the dark living room in front of me...

I thought that if my life was a novel, the moment I told my mother that I had bled on the mattress would be when my mother realized that I'm still as helpless as I was at 12 

and that I don't have any idea what I'm doing

that I need my mother 

to help me

there's symbolism in there and I always was a sucker for symbolism and metaphors and things full of hidden meaning that don't happen outside of novels and movies

and sadly my life isn't a novel

so she blinked at me when I asked her

annoyed

and she told me in a few words what to do

and of course I should just dab at it with a moist towel

cold water, not hot

so I nodded and left

and she's still lying in the dark living room, tv probably still running

and I'm sitting here and dabbing at the blood on my bed with tears in my eyes

because my life is not a novel

and that just sucks　

[not-a-papergirl-anymore]

[not-a-papergirl-anymore]

Hey. Hey you.I have an idea.Like... the idea of ideas.... coz, you know. I'm the king of ideas.Anyways. The idea.We're bros, right?And... you wanted to do thoughts from places videos anyways? And I wanted to try vloging some time?And we're bros? (I know html doesn't work in ask boxes. Just imagine it would turn out italic.)...So, I was thinking... ...that maybe...Oh, you know what I was thinking.

Yes. Yes, I know. because you told me irl

[not-a-papergirl-anymore]

loveamouramorliebe:

not all that wander a lost.

[not-a-papergirl-anymore]

It is Tuesday, I'm back home since saturday evening and my bag is still not unpacked.

I get the impression my subconscious wants to go away again.

My conscious does as well.

Not sure what I'm gonna do though. This is so much more complicated than my delusional self thought it would be.

[not-a-papergirl-anymore]

Well, that was my hair.

[not-a-papergirl-anymore]

Has anyone else cried while reading "Nathan der Weise" or is it just me?

Just me?

[not-a-papergirl-anymore]

That awkward moment when you're standing in the changing cubicle, topless, and your teacher calls to know if you're still alive.

Also, "Hello, here's Charlotte" is a bit confusing when the person calling is a teacher.

[not-a-papergirl-anymore]

I took eighteen books with me but I forgot to bring my razor.

Priorities, I have them.

Seriously though: those eighteen books include three plays by Shakespeare ( two of them both in english and german, one solely in german), Oliver Twist, a collection of short stories by Edgar Allan Poe (in english), The talented Mr. Ripley (english), Cry Freedom (which we read in english class last year), Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales by Robert Louis Stevenson(english), Le Malade Imaginaire (in french and german), Emilia Galotti and Nathan der Weise by Lessing, Madame Bovary (sadly in german. I have the french version somewhere. Tried reading it. Realized that I don't understand a thing. Actually, I wanted to bring that one, too... Forgot it. Damn.), Kabale und Liebe by Friedrich Schiller and Goethe's Faust. First and Second part. Oh, and How to kill a Mockinbird.

I have a problem. I realize that. That is the first step to improvement, right?

Also, do you realize how much that stuff weighs?

[not-a-papergirl-anymore]

Just got a phone call from my course instructor.

Interesting how people react when you're sitting at the station, cradling your phone, crying. 

Especially when you start laughing.

I love her.

"Don't harm yourself, please.. No sleeping pills, don't jump into the Rhine - it's so dirty..."

[not-a-papergirl-anymore]

Not-really-a-thoughts-from-places-but-a-little-summary of Wiesbaden (Part II)

I think Tumblr didn't like the amount of pictures I've uploaded on the other post... thus, part II

Wiesbaden is a city full of oxygen producing organisms that, incidentally,  

also look and smell pretty good.

I like having enough oxygen in my lungs. That's a good feeling. If you've never experienced it, you should try it some time.

Being an 18 year old runaway, just having quit school, what do I do in a relative big city?

Visit a museum, apparently.

Also, I've spend amounts of time at Hugendubel, a book store that had WLAN which I found to be incredibly nice of them.

Other than the fact that they let me have my internet life and use their washroom they had a not-so-lovable-looking giraffe,

these - I don't even really know what to call them -  these lounge-monstrosities

and a coffee shop with Hogwarts armchairs. Hogwarts armchairs.