The first one - Fake Lashes and Laxatives
Modeling has given me the privilege to see the world. I've traveled around the globe for more than 10 years and got to live in a lot of beautiful countries. Although I didn't make it to the top and didn't make millions, I did receive something much more valuable than any of these: beautiful memories with beautiful people in beautiful places. I carry them with me every day, but often they just seem like dreams. And then I watch a movie, I smell a dish or a familiar perfume and all the memories rush back, for a second I'm there again... in one of the cities I used to live in. I truly wonder how long will it take for me to forget them, or if I'll feed on them for the rest of my life.
Nowadays we can all travel, it's much easier to buy a ticket and just leave the country to discover something new, something unknown. Now that getting on an airplane is like getting on a bus, almost all of us can explore - even if for a little bit - how people in different countries with different habits live. This helps to learn so much not only about the country you visited but also the country you live in and also about yourself. This made me who I am today and this is why I decided to share my memories with you. So let's begin with where it all started...
My first trip was to Malaysia in 2004. That was the first time I took an oversea flight, my first time in Asia. I don't recall having a major culture shock - although I'm sure it happened - I do remember not being able to breathe properly after getting off the airplane because the humidity was so strong for my little European lungs. I spent 3 months in Kuala Lumpur, rode around the city with our toothless driver called Aziz, worked almost every day and partied almost every weekend. I haven't really done any modeling beforehand so this trip was a first for me in every aspect.
I remember for example the first time I came across fake eyelashes. Well, the Malay makeup artist made sure that I'll NEVER forget it. Today almost every third girl has fake eyelashes, back then I had no clue they even existed. So there is this little short makeup artist in a studio somewhere in Kuala Lumpur, telling me how beautiful he will make me with his funny Malaysian accent, but he also told me that in order to become beautiful he has to put glue on my eyes. I was like: ok, do it. I had no clue that the glue is not supposed to go on my eyes but on the fake lashes. So I ended up having my eyes glued together for a brief 2-3 minutes accompanied with a minor heart attack, because I literally thought I'm going to be blind for the rest of my life. Thank god that didn't happen.
I lived with 7 other girls in one apartment, no parents or anyone checking upon us, so we did take advantage of that. There was an Australian girl, a Romanian, a Russian, one from Belarus, three Brazilians and me, the Hungarian. So many young girls from different countries living together can be a tough one sometimes. I never had problems getting along with girls from other countries but not everyone is as easy going as I am. There was always a conflict between Russians and Brazilians and I was kind of the one in the middle who understood both sides.
On weekends we used to go out and get drinks in various pubs that offered free drinks and food for models. Since we lived off not much pocket money that the agency gave us every week, we had to take advantage of anything given free for us. Of course, we could have survived on our pocket money as well if we really wanted to, but that would have meant going nowhere and eating the cheapest food. Just imagine getting 30 euros a week, not a cent more. One of the pubs offering free food was the Hard Rock Cafe. One night there was a Hansons concert and I went with my Brazilian roommates who I hung out with almost all the time. At the end, we ended up having drinks with them and taking loads of pictures which I, unfortunately, lost already. Then one other night Armin van Buuren came to town and because he was single back then, of course, he enjoyed the company of girls. We had drinks with him in his hotel, he taught us some Dutch and then we partied all night in the backstage with him and his team. The same happened with Sasha and Tiesto who were both very nice old men back then already.
To be honest I had no idea who these DJ's were, I heard about the Hansons before, but none of the others. All these nights with the DJ's happened in a club called Zouk. One of Zouk's investors was a lady who was always very nice to us. Especially to me. I didn't really realize at first but when my girlfriends told me, I could see that she is kind of hitting on me. So yes, that happened as well: the first time a woman hit on me. She was very polite and nice, nothing too pushy, she would get me anything I wanted or needed. But I never asked for anything... especially not the cocaine coated champaign glasses on my farewell party. I still don't know if that is true, I did have much fun on that night but I usually have much fun when I drink. I always tell everyone that I have never tried drugs and I really never tried anything on my own will, but that night it might have happened.
After 3 months in Malaysia, I got back home with a few extra kilos and a laxative addiction. Yes laxative addiction, because the agency in KL thought I'll lose weight by taking laxative pills. They realized that I'm getting "bigger" so they told me to take it after I eat and I will stop gaining weight. I really had no clue what to eat on my own without my mom buying the groceries plus healthy eating wasn't a trend back then, so of course eating a big bag of cookies for dinner made me a bit fatter. Some of you may not know that a models contract states that the model is not supposed to gain more than a certain amount of weight otherwise the contract is automatically terminated. I did gain more weight than indicated in the contract, but fortunately, agencies don't steal all your money immediately if you do gain weight. They will push you to lose it and help you any way they can. But sometimes they just don't know how to help. I've been told so many diets and ways to lose weight during my career, I know that they only tried to help, but the lack of knowledge about losing weight in a healthy way could do so much harm for so many young girls. As it did to me and some of my roommates as well, because I was not the only one getting the pills from the agency. And we had one toilet. I think that is enough information for your imagination right now.
Despite my newly gained addiction, I had a blast in Malaysia. I cried when I had to leave and go back to high school. But with all the experiences I gained for the first time I felt like I'm someone. I'm Bori, who travels. I don't really know why I wanted to be someone at that age, but for the first time in my life, I could relate myself to something that I enjoyed more than anything I ever did before. I couldn't even dream of the adventures I was about to experience after Malaysia.
Nowadays we can all travel, it's much easier to buy a ticket and just leave the country to discover something new, something unknown. Now that getting on an airplane is like getting on a bus, almost all of us can explore - even if for a little bit - how people in different countries with different habits live. This helps to learn so much not only about the country you visited but also the country you live in and also about yourself. This made me who I am today and this is why I decided to share my memories with you. So let's begin with where it all started...
My first trip was to Malaysia in 2004. That was the first time I took an oversea flight, my first time in Asia. I don't recall having a major culture shock - although I'm sure it happened - I do remember not being able to breathe properly after getting off the airplane because the humidity was so strong for my little European lungs. I spent 3 months in Kuala Lumpur, rode around the city with our toothless driver called Aziz, worked almost every day and partied almost every weekend. I haven't really done any modeling beforehand so this trip was a first for me in every aspect.
I remember for example the first time I came across fake eyelashes. Well, the Malay makeup artist made sure that I'll NEVER forget it. Today almost every third girl has fake eyelashes, back then I had no clue they even existed. So there is this little short makeup artist in a studio somewhere in Kuala Lumpur, telling me how beautiful he will make me with his funny Malaysian accent, but he also told me that in order to become beautiful he has to put glue on my eyes. I was like: ok, do it. I had no clue that the glue is not supposed to go on my eyes but on the fake lashes. So I ended up having my eyes glued together for a brief 2-3 minutes accompanied with a minor heart attack, because I literally thought I'm going to be blind for the rest of my life. Thank god that didn't happen.
 |
| After the fake lashes incident without the fake lashes |
I lived with 7 other girls in one apartment, no parents or anyone checking upon us, so we did take advantage of that. There was an Australian girl, a Romanian, a Russian, one from Belarus, three Brazilians and me, the Hungarian. So many young girls from different countries living together can be a tough one sometimes. I never had problems getting along with girls from other countries but not everyone is as easy going as I am. There was always a conflict between Russians and Brazilians and I was kind of the one in the middle who understood both sides.
On weekends we used to go out and get drinks in various pubs that offered free drinks and food for models. Since we lived off not much pocket money that the agency gave us every week, we had to take advantage of anything given free for us. Of course, we could have survived on our pocket money as well if we really wanted to, but that would have meant going nowhere and eating the cheapest food. Just imagine getting 30 euros a week, not a cent more. One of the pubs offering free food was the Hard Rock Cafe. One night there was a Hansons concert and I went with my Brazilian roommates who I hung out with almost all the time. At the end, we ended up having drinks with them and taking loads of pictures which I, unfortunately, lost already. Then one other night Armin van Buuren came to town and because he was single back then, of course, he enjoyed the company of girls. We had drinks with him in his hotel, he taught us some Dutch and then we partied all night in the backstage with him and his team. The same happened with Sasha and Tiesto who were both very nice old men back then already.
To be honest I had no idea who these DJ's were, I heard about the Hansons before, but none of the others. All these nights with the DJ's happened in a club called Zouk. One of Zouk's investors was a lady who was always very nice to us. Especially to me. I didn't really realize at first but when my girlfriends told me, I could see that she is kind of hitting on me. So yes, that happened as well: the first time a woman hit on me. She was very polite and nice, nothing too pushy, she would get me anything I wanted or needed. But I never asked for anything... especially not the cocaine coated champaign glasses on my farewell party. I still don't know if that is true, I did have much fun on that night but I usually have much fun when I drink. I always tell everyone that I have never tried drugs and I really never tried anything on my own will, but that night it might have happened.
 |
| Malay Levi's Campaign aka selfie in 2004 |
Despite my newly gained addiction, I had a blast in Malaysia. I cried when I had to leave and go back to high school. But with all the experiences I gained for the first time I felt like I'm someone. I'm Bori, who travels. I don't really know why I wanted to be someone at that age, but for the first time in my life, I could relate myself to something that I enjoyed more than anything I ever did before. I couldn't even dream of the adventures I was about to experience after Malaysia.
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