Open Letter
Door: Yaisa
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Yaisa
17 September 2010 | Nederland, Amsterdam
Dear friends,
As the season of clouds and rain seems to have really taken off here in The Netherlands, I am preparing myself yet again for a departure. Today I leave to Milano, to rejoin Stefano after five and a half weeks of separation. We will spend some time in a bungalow in a forrest - bungalow? hotel? tent? I don't know, I have not organised it and will let myself be surprised quite happily :-). Then I hope to have some time to go to a yoga class in the city and meet up with some of his friends before we fly off to the Maldives for our second season on Princess Haleema starting 26 September until May next year...
The five weeks in The Netherlands have been precious. It is the longest I have been in my home country since I moved to Singapore almost four years ago and it not only gave me the opportunity to see a lot of friends and family more than once, but also the chance to ease into the routine of a daily life. And of course, it was quite a pleasant daily life, since I was here on holidays.
Over the past weeks, I realised that the friends I always thought I had, indeed still are friends. Everybody I scheduled to see, actually made time and effort to meet up with me. Millions of questions were asked and answered both ways about past adventures & experiences, actual developments & daily issues and future dreams & plans. Many bottles of white wine, G&T's, plates of sushi, home made soups and pasta's, nespresso coffees and slices of Dutch bread were consumed over endless conversations, challenging topics, tears & laughter. Truth is, these five weeks were not even enough to see everybody I would have liked to catch up with, but I did get some quality time with many I have missed over the past year. And I cannot express fully how grateful and happy I am to have had this time with you. No matter how much I enjoy living in El Gouna or how much I look forward to the challenge of the Maldives, a big part of me belongs in The Netherlands, because that is were my friends are. If all of you would move to Uzbekistan, I would just as readily spend five weeks of holiday in Tashkent - actually, please do, I've never had a good reason to travel to that part of the world :-)
Being in Holland for so long however, also strengthened the belief that I have chosen the right path in my life. As much as I loved seeing you all again and enjoyed spending time in this little rainy country, residing in the Netherlands requires a life style that does not match my current needs and in which I would not accomplish the ambitions I have now. Not to mention that my boyfriend would probably freeze to death in no time in a country where they call it a heat wave when it's 30 degrees for three days in a row. And since I do not intend to let that happen, it is very likely that my trail will keep on leading through the more tropical regions of this world.
I am sad to leave though, perhaps more so than after the previous visits, probably because of the intensity with which I have lived over the past few weeks. Maybe also because in many of your lives, so many big developments have taken or are taking place. I'm talking babies - man, you guys go at it like rabbits! -, new relationships, weddings, sabbaticals, career switches, divorces, travels, new houses, more babies... All these changes!!! Is it the age? Is it that I'm looking at it from a new point of view? Is it because I haven't been in Holland for a year that everything seems so much more extreme? Or is it because I know that I will be stuck on a boat with none of you for more than seven months? I don't know, but I as I drove out of Amsterdam, I was just a touch emotional.
On the other hand, I am embarking on another fabulous season in the Maldives, with a man who I managed to convince to come along against his initial will. Which says a lot about his feelings for me. And it also says a lot about my convincing powers, because I do believe it is not the first time that I talked a man into moving abroad with me... ;-) Ouch... let's stop there with the comparisons to the past... Anyway, I'm digressing.
The Maldives is going to be a great challenge. We carry our experience from last season, but will also have added responsibilities in the job. Back to back trips with limited holidays, hundreds of dives to manage & hundreds of guests to please, coordinating logistics between the three boats, responsible for all the dive staff... I'm actually looking forward to working again! Stefano and I know each other much better now, we are very aware of each other's qualities, weaknesses and needs. But that doesn't mean it's going to be easier. It's going to be the ultimate test. However, the examination hall is a big ocean filled with manta's, whale sharks, white tips, grey reefs, nudi's, napoleons, eagle rays, turtles and lots and lots more. And that, my friends, is worth the challenge.
Somehow I feel I'm starting a new period of my life. The past two years, it seems now, were a period of exploration, of experimenting, of discovering. And now, slowly, a plan is forming, the contours of a possible future are emerging behind the rising sun at the Maldivian horizon. I know a seed has been planted somewhere in my heart, I just need to give it some more water before it can start growing. Well, no lack of water I would say!!
"Change is not something that we should fear. Rather, it is something that we should welcome. For without change, nothing in this world would ever grow or blossom, and no one in this world would ever move forward to become the person they're meant to be." (Anonymous)
Thank you all for this unforgettable back-to-my-roots-summer-in-Holland experience, I needed it and I will miss you and will think about you - but I probably won't write to you much at all... I may have become a yoga fanatic, but haven't forgotten my trainings in expectation management ;-)
Hugs & kisses,
xYx
Catch up on pictures from our summer in Bali & Egypt!
A well deserved holiday, May-June 2010:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=278313&id=523210814&l=52463dd148
Diggers & Swimmers:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=241927&id=523210814&l=c5c087e212
Thorns & Flowers:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=241925&id=523210814&l=98acd1d878
Pointy noses:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=241922&id=523210814&l=c7b8bd8a84
Colourful squiggies:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=240739&id=523210814&l=d125559226
Creepy crawlies:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=240728&id=523210814&l=50fd95ce71
Claws & Antennas:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=240724&id=523210814&l=43dba66733
Alexandria & Cairo with lady SKO, June-July 2010
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=247436&id=523210814&l=bf34e43e3f
As the season of clouds and rain seems to have really taken off here in The Netherlands, I am preparing myself yet again for a departure. Today I leave to Milano, to rejoin Stefano after five and a half weeks of separation. We will spend some time in a bungalow in a forrest - bungalow? hotel? tent? I don't know, I have not organised it and will let myself be surprised quite happily :-). Then I hope to have some time to go to a yoga class in the city and meet up with some of his friends before we fly off to the Maldives for our second season on Princess Haleema starting 26 September until May next year...
The five weeks in The Netherlands have been precious. It is the longest I have been in my home country since I moved to Singapore almost four years ago and it not only gave me the opportunity to see a lot of friends and family more than once, but also the chance to ease into the routine of a daily life. And of course, it was quite a pleasant daily life, since I was here on holidays.
Over the past weeks, I realised that the friends I always thought I had, indeed still are friends. Everybody I scheduled to see, actually made time and effort to meet up with me. Millions of questions were asked and answered both ways about past adventures & experiences, actual developments & daily issues and future dreams & plans. Many bottles of white wine, G&T's, plates of sushi, home made soups and pasta's, nespresso coffees and slices of Dutch bread were consumed over endless conversations, challenging topics, tears & laughter. Truth is, these five weeks were not even enough to see everybody I would have liked to catch up with, but I did get some quality time with many I have missed over the past year. And I cannot express fully how grateful and happy I am to have had this time with you. No matter how much I enjoy living in El Gouna or how much I look forward to the challenge of the Maldives, a big part of me belongs in The Netherlands, because that is were my friends are. If all of you would move to Uzbekistan, I would just as readily spend five weeks of holiday in Tashkent - actually, please do, I've never had a good reason to travel to that part of the world :-)
Being in Holland for so long however, also strengthened the belief that I have chosen the right path in my life. As much as I loved seeing you all again and enjoyed spending time in this little rainy country, residing in the Netherlands requires a life style that does not match my current needs and in which I would not accomplish the ambitions I have now. Not to mention that my boyfriend would probably freeze to death in no time in a country where they call it a heat wave when it's 30 degrees for three days in a row. And since I do not intend to let that happen, it is very likely that my trail will keep on leading through the more tropical regions of this world.
I am sad to leave though, perhaps more so than after the previous visits, probably because of the intensity with which I have lived over the past few weeks. Maybe also because in many of your lives, so many big developments have taken or are taking place. I'm talking babies - man, you guys go at it like rabbits! -, new relationships, weddings, sabbaticals, career switches, divorces, travels, new houses, more babies... All these changes!!! Is it the age? Is it that I'm looking at it from a new point of view? Is it because I haven't been in Holland for a year that everything seems so much more extreme? Or is it because I know that I will be stuck on a boat with none of you for more than seven months? I don't know, but I as I drove out of Amsterdam, I was just a touch emotional.
On the other hand, I am embarking on another fabulous season in the Maldives, with a man who I managed to convince to come along against his initial will. Which says a lot about his feelings for me. And it also says a lot about my convincing powers, because I do believe it is not the first time that I talked a man into moving abroad with me... ;-) Ouch... let's stop there with the comparisons to the past... Anyway, I'm digressing.
The Maldives is going to be a great challenge. We carry our experience from last season, but will also have added responsibilities in the job. Back to back trips with limited holidays, hundreds of dives to manage & hundreds of guests to please, coordinating logistics between the three boats, responsible for all the dive staff... I'm actually looking forward to working again! Stefano and I know each other much better now, we are very aware of each other's qualities, weaknesses and needs. But that doesn't mean it's going to be easier. It's going to be the ultimate test. However, the examination hall is a big ocean filled with manta's, whale sharks, white tips, grey reefs, nudi's, napoleons, eagle rays, turtles and lots and lots more. And that, my friends, is worth the challenge.
Somehow I feel I'm starting a new period of my life. The past two years, it seems now, were a period of exploration, of experimenting, of discovering. And now, slowly, a plan is forming, the contours of a possible future are emerging behind the rising sun at the Maldivian horizon. I know a seed has been planted somewhere in my heart, I just need to give it some more water before it can start growing. Well, no lack of water I would say!!
"Change is not something that we should fear. Rather, it is something that we should welcome. For without change, nothing in this world would ever grow or blossom, and no one in this world would ever move forward to become the person they're meant to be." (Anonymous)
Thank you all for this unforgettable back-to-my-roots-summer-in-Holland experience, I needed it and I will miss you and will think about you - but I probably won't write to you much at all... I may have become a yoga fanatic, but haven't forgotten my trainings in expectation management ;-)
Hugs & kisses,
xYx
Catch up on pictures from our summer in Bali & Egypt!
A well deserved holiday, May-June 2010:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=278313&id=523210814&l=52463dd148
Diggers & Swimmers:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=241927&id=523210814&l=c5c087e212
Thorns & Flowers:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=241925&id=523210814&l=98acd1d878
Pointy noses:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=241922&id=523210814&l=c7b8bd8a84
Colourful squiggies:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=240739&id=523210814&l=d125559226
Creepy crawlies:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=240728&id=523210814&l=50fd95ce71
Claws & Antennas:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=240724&id=523210814&l=43dba66733
Alexandria & Cairo with lady SKO, June-July 2010
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=247436&id=523210814&l=bf34e43e3f
-
17 September 2010 - 08:58
TT:
Yaisa, jammer dat we mekaar niet hebben ontmoet in Warnsveld, maar ik zie dat je zo druk was en wens je het allerbeste! Hope all your dreams will come true!
Take good care of yourself end enjoy life as long as you can. -
17 September 2010 - 10:02
Anjo:
Hmmm, na zulke woorden is het moeilijk om iets bijzonders 'mee te geven'.
Dan maar gewoon:
Veel plezier! -
17 September 2010 - 10:17
Marta:
It's good to read U had great time in NL! Well, I can imagine this strange feeling leaving home again and on the other hand looking forward to the chosen new home- alike-destination :) I can only write down: Carpe Diem!
But that's just what you've been doin' already ;))
Best regards,
Marta -
17 September 2010 - 14:14
Katelijne:
Yais, het was fantastisch om zoveel qualitytime met je te kunnen doorbrengen. Das dus geheel wederzijds... Maak er samen met Stefano een fantastisch seizoen van op een van de mooiste plekken van de aarde. Ik wens jullie heel veel geluk, liefde, plezier, whalesharks en manta's toe!
x -
18 September 2010 - 09:57
SKO:
you will be missed in NL so much so that a trip to warmer waters is needed and i will bring some G&T and bubbles to feed your seed ;)
xoxo
SKO -
19 September 2010 - 09:27
Viola:
Hoi Yaisa,
Bedankt voor het reisverslag en de foto's.
Ik wens je nog heel veel plezier met je vakantie , geniet ervan.
Liefs, Viola
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