lb@large

Well, there is a little bit of explanation to it…

My name is Liesbet and I am from Belgium. L-i-e-s-b-e-t. How the hell do you pronounce that as an English speaker? The first part “Lies” is not at all like the English word “lies”. I used to just nod my head when people called me “Lisbeth” or “Elizabeth”, but who was I kidding? The Dutch sound [ie] is pronounced like [ee], so my name should actually be spelled “Leezbet”. Huh?

An ex-boyfriend of mine, he is American, still couldn’t pronounce my name the way it is, after trying for a year. So, since Americans (especially Texans, even the liberal ones) like to use abbreviations, he came up with a new name for me: Lb. Sounded all right to me, easy, different, even a little cute. And, it described me in two ways: Liesbet and Lazy butt. Yep, I admit, I can be somewhat lazy at times, but only if it requires doing something I don’t really like. Luckily, that doesn’t happen too often…

At large? I was convinced I saw a road sign once, with these words on it. As far as I remembered, it must have been somewhere in Australia, driving through pasture land. In my head it means “cattle at large” and “be careful of roaming cows”. I searched the web for hours, but no such sign showed up. The dictionary didn’t give me the description I was hoping to find. But, the thesaurus version was right on! At least when I get to pick the words I want. At liberty, free-spirited, independent, liberal, loose, relaxed, unattached, uncommitted, and free. That’s me!

I’ve done lots of travelling in my 31 years of living. I work to travel. I basically live to travel, to explore, to try new things, to “expand my horizons”. The only things I own are a backpack, lots of memories, and heaps of photos and souvenirs in my parents’ attic. I guess I am addicted to the disease of roaming, wandering, vagebonding.
For now anyway…