Rocky Leon. Born in San Francisco, California. Raised in Salzburg, Austria.

i am proud to be a child.
i am you. i am everything, but not my thoughts.
i am love. but don't you dare call me a hippy. :)
I like to sing and dance, play guitar and jump around. i like to be a little kid.

After i got my degree in music production, i decided that i really don't want to work for anyone other than myself. I don't want to produce other people's music. I just want to play. I left my sheltered little town in austria to go traveling in north america for the better part of a year to perform a little experiment. I was convinced that, as long as i don't let fear get ahold of me, there is no real danger. The worst case scenario is that i die, and i was sure i wouldn't. I wanted to prove to myself that i could move through the world doing only that which i love to do, and not only survive, but thrive. I saved up all the money i needed for the airplane flight by playing music on the streets of salzburg and earned all the money i needed for food and everything else along the way playing on the streets and selling CDs.

I wasn't always happy. In my case i actually made a conscious decision after thinking about it long and hard. Over the last few years, the great destructive force of negativity became just as clear to me as the constructive power of positivity. When i worry i not only don't contribute to solving a problem, but i create new problems by draining myself of the energy i need to deal with the challenges that life presents us every day. i found that once i was able to put my fears aside and simply trust that life was good even if i couldn't understand why, more and more positive things began coming into my life.

Rocky Leon - Quit Your Whining (on the boat from vancouver island to washington)

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Roko Belic. I was born and raised in America and I currently live in Los Angeles, California.

I am an amazingly lucky person, a tiny group of particles in a possibly infinite universe, who revels in the experience of life.

- I am an independent filmmaker. I usually spend a few years directing and often editing one project that I am passionate about. That is how I earn a living…though sometimes I am barely earning a living. I hope to have a positive impact on the world and I hope to enjoy myself while doing it.

I am happy because I appreciate life (I do not really believe in reincarnation) and I feel extremely lucky to have had the experiences I’ve had. I have met many people who suffered much more than I have in my life and I am aware that there is very little in my life to complain about. I hope to spread my good fortune to others so that they, too, may feel what I feel: a deep awe at the mystery and the gift of being alive.

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Rose and Vincent Den Braber, Egypt, South Sinai, Dahab

«Are you afraid of being under water? But it’s one of the most beautiful things in the world!» These were the first words Rosa told me after my story about my first unsuccessful experience of diving. “You just need more time. If you want I can teach you privately and you’ll have as much time as will be needed”. She had such a nice smile that I felt trust and sympathy at once. Thanks to Rose I felt the fun of diving. She’s an amazing instructor. Those who read Castaneda remember about Don Huan and Don Henaro. Rose as real Don Henaro is full of fun and humor. During the last day of diving had great excitement – were jumping under water into special rings, as circus tigers, were running on the seabed without flippers (‘moon gait’)and spinning somersault. And Rose even did a head stand! ))) Super! Vincent was Alex’s instructor. Charismatic, athletic, with earring and Haida’s tattoos allover back…It seemed all the time that he reminds some Hollywood actor ))) They both are amazing. If you’ll be in Dahab, tell Alena and Alex are sending their best regards)))

Vincent and Rose are from Holland. At their native land they’ve been successful office workers in some medical company. Eight years ago they first went to Dahab and tried diving. After that they were coming here on every vacation. And four years ago they moved here “forever”. Now they both are working as managers of a small almost family «Bedouin divers» diving center. On the logo of club there’s a totally relaxed camel under water with (in flippers, mask and snork) which more looks like a joint. )) Though Rose and Vincent consider this logo to be stupid, it fully reflects the essence of this place and people working here – smiling, well-disposed and relaxed.

«Bedouin divers» is situated on the main Dahab’s quay but a bit aside from the center – Lighthouse. The quay itself is a cocktail of shops, cafes and diving centers. The main part of interested tourists as well do not reach our Bedouin divers settling in the similar places on the way. «We never have agiotage and a big flow of people. Me and Rose work two together. If some clients want special course or something like that we call friends and invite outsourcing instructor» - tells Vincent. As a result, guys have one of the lowest prices together with individual approach, since there can be no other students.

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My name is Valerij, I am 39.

It’s amazing – we are in Ukraine now, and I’ve just received an e-mail from a fantastic Ukrainian (judging by the e-mail address) guy who is now making his first steps in his new life in London. Valerij, I am really grateful for such a sincere and lyrical e-mail – it has really made me smile. Happiness is contagious – don’t you think so? And Alex and I are dreaming of flying in an own small plane over the Namib Desert :)))

- Recently I’ve caught myself thinking that I am a totally happy person. All my young years I dreamed of becoming a pilot – and I learnt to fly and graduated from a flying school. Then I worked with real estate in Riga, then there was this crisis, I went into bankruptcy and now I am living in London – for the moment on the street, but this all helped me to feel happy.  Don’t think that I look or smell like I am a vag – I smell perfect, I am clean and my shirts are always fresh – and not only shirts. I am working hard and searching for a new job.

I am happy to walk along London streets and see my breath. I spend lots of time in cafes at weekends, I am happy to see so different people, to have fallen in love with a woman who is in love with me – despite of the fact that we have only talked via Skype and seen each other’s photos, and haven’t meet offline yet. People say that difficulties make a bad person even worse, and a good person – even better. The main thing is that I am happy that the difficulties gave me back the zest for life, the dreams, readiness to love, create, fly and smile. I am happy to see the London autumn, leaves, people of different races and ethnicities who are like flowers – different, but beautiful in their uniqueness. I am happy to see London cabs, beautiful women and kissing and embracing couples.

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Galina Bushova, Russia, Tomsk

She could manage all her projects in any place in the world, but to her own surprise she keeps living in Tomsk. Galina is full of energy, charming, unconventional, open-minded and straightforward; I liked her during the very first minutes of our unexpected and a little chaotic conversation. On the tenth minute I didn’t doubt that in front of me there was a successful yet very humane business lady loving her business with all her heart. On the fifteenth minute I couldn’t help asking “Are you a happy person?” “Yes!”.

- Sometimes it seems like a pathological state, “a built-in happiness pill”. The feeling of happiness at the present moment.  I expand the comfort zone around me: I’d share positive attitude with one person and he would bring it to his family, his child would go to school and give it to his friend. It’s like rays of sunshine.

I never thought what chain of events brought me to what I am now; I have always been working, working and working. I like to travel, so I opened a travel agency. I like to read a lot, so I began to publish a magazine. I like talking to people who travel, so I give them a place to express their thoughts. It is important to me that they talk “heart to heart”. What a person walking along the equator is feeling is much more interesting to me than pure facts: length of the equator, time of dawn, time of dusk.

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