Wendy Dijs was born in 1979 in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. Her parents were both artists and lived a very comfortable life in a country that was democratic, took good care of its citizens and also supported the arts. She was only five years old, when her family decided to go on an adventure and take a trip to the Pyrenees. After crossing France, Wendy’s parents saw a tiny village in the distance and decided to try and get there on foot. They parked their car and told her they would be back in an hour. But having grown up in the Netherlands, their concept of distance worked in straight lines, not valleys and mountains. By the time they got back to the car, hours had passed. Meanwhile, Wendy had decided to have her own adventure and had scrambled onto a cliff to watch the sunset. Little did she know that this small abandoned village her parents had just discovered in the foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees, would soon become her home. Unprepared for the mountains and with the notion that ‘it is always warm in Spain’, her parents picked up and left the comfortable Netherlands to move to Tercui. Their first winter was spent burning their own furniture and doors in order to stay warm. A local shepherd felt pity for them and gave Wendy’s family permission to use a large dead tree on his property. Despite the initial challenges, Wendy has beautiful memories playing in the snow, roaming around the mountains and feeling a sense of freedom and peace that shaped her life. The deep silence of this tiny abandoned village taught her at a young age to be with herself. Wendy describes her childhood as ‘serene’. Originally, her parents had planned on staying in Tercui for one year. It was like an experiment. They wanted to isolate themselves, focus on their art and live in the mountains. By the time they were finally established, it made sense to stay longer. One year turned into two years, two years into three years, and three years into eleven years. Occasional trips to the Netherlands to visit friends and family, bring back books and records helped break up long stretches of being isolated. But being isolated also forced Wendy’s parents to be with themselves and each other without any distractions. They started having more fights and their relationship eventually grew apart. At age eleven, Wendy and her mom moved to Reus in Tarragona, a coastal town with lots of life, diversity and opportunities. She made new friends, learned new languages and, at age twenty-four, traveled to India. Today, Wendy and her boyfriend live in Barcelona. She has a degree in Social Education and currently works with teenagers who struggle with the formal educational systems.
Wendy Dijs was born in 1979 in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. Her parents were both artists and lived a very comfortable life in a country that was democratic, took good care of its citizens and also supported the arts. She was only five years old, when her family decided to go on an adventure and take a trip to the Pyrenees. After crossing France, Wendy’s parents saw a tiny village in the distance and decided to try and get there on foot. They parked their car and told her they would be back in an hour. But having grown up in the Netherlands, their concept of distance worked in straight lines, not valleys and mountains. By the time they got back to the car, hours had passed. Meanwhile, Wendy had decided to have her own adventure and had scrambled onto a cliff to watch the sunset. Little did she know that this small abandoned village her parents had just discovered in the foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees, would soon become her home.
Unprepared for the mountains and with the notion that ‘it is always warm in Spain’, her parents picked up and left the comfortable Netherlands to move to Tercui. Their first winter was spent burning their own furniture and doors in order to stay warm. A local shepherd felt pity for them and gave Wendy’s family permission to use a large dead tree on his property. Despite the initial challenges, Wendy has beautiful memories playing in the snow, roaming around the mountains and feeling a sense of freedom and peace that shaped her life. The deep silence of this tiny abandoned village taught her at a young age to be with herself. Wendy describes her childhood as ‘serene’.
Originally, her parents had planned on staying in Tercui for one year. It was like an experiment. They wanted to isolate themselves, focus on their art and live in the mountains. By the time they were finally established, it made sense to stay longer. One year turned into two years, two years into three years, and three years into eleven years. Occasional trips to the Netherlands to visit friends and family, bring back books and records helped break up long stretches of being isolated. But being isolated also forced Wendy’s parents to be with themselves and each other without any distractions. They started having more fights and their relationship eventually grew apart. At age eleven, Wendy and her mom moved to Reus in Tarragona, a coastal town with lots of life, diversity and opportunities. She made new friends, learned new languages and, at age twenty-four, traveled to India. Today, Wendy and her boyfriend live in Barcelona. She has a degree in Social Education and currently works with teenagers who struggle with the formal educational systems.