Something old, something new...

Here I am, sitting in the sun, outside by a little restaurant around the corner from the house that I can call my home for the next 2,5 weeks (it comes with a red-haired flatmate who stocks her fridge just like me: no food and plenty of alcohol, therefore it really does feel like home). The weather is so nice that my body doesn’t even notice it’s not in Asia or the Caribbean. And my mind is in total state of relaxation. Even though I am of course running, cycling and driving around like a maniac visiting as many friends as possible while I’m here in Holland.

Today is the only day during my three weeks stay in NL that I have only ONE appointment, dinner. So I have the whole day off. Hmm, is it technically correct to talk about having a day “off” during a sabbatical? Hihi... Anyway, considering this blank in my schedule I decided to enjoy the Dutch sun and have an espresso (followed by a glass of white wine, oh, and then one more, why not...) in one of my favourite neighbourhoods of Amsterdam. And I can even work on my weblog and upload my Pictures of the Caribbean, since I’m actually still in range of lady SKO’s wireless internet connection... I love modern technology.

I think I said it after my last trip to Holland already... It’s remarkable how easy it is for me to feel at home again in Amsterdam. It's so much fun to rediscover things I had almost forgotten about Holland - like the fact that houses in Amsterdam do not have elevators so you have to haul your luggage up four flights of narrow stairs... or like the fact that Dutch men are really quite tall and handsome... or like the fact that you can pay everything with PIN (debit card) instead of carrying around cash or prehistoric cheques... And I love revisiting my favourite places, eat my favourite Dutch food and see my favourite people... Perhaps this way of life just works best for me: forever live in some exotic country and come back once or twice a year for a couple of weeks to intensely enjoy Amsterdam and the company of my friends before going back to the desert or the blue sea or the high rise buildings or the cheap food stalls on the side of the street... Oh well, we’ll see what the future brings...

For now, THE question everybody is asking me is: what are you going to do after your sabbatical? And for now, THE answer is: I don’t have a f***g clue and I don’t care. I honestly experience a deep and extreme pleasure from not knowing what I’ll do next year. For now, I take the days as they come and so far, they’ve all been fantastic.

Today, after sleeping in late this morning, I woke up to find the sun shining and so I went out for a walk in the Pijp. I strolled along the Albert Cuijp markt, had a Vietnamese spring roll with sambal (breakfast) and then made my way to my favourite herring stall. The new herring arrived at the beginning of this month, so I’ve been binging on that since I got back to Holland... This morning (or was is already afternoon?) equally so. I couldn’t help myself and had two big fat herrings with raw unions and pickles... mmmm.... (lunch, I said to myself). Then I slowly walked back home and wandered past the HEMA... Oh oh... Can she ignore the smoked sausages? Does she have the willpower to walk by and say NO, it’s greasy and it will make you fat and you’ve already had breakfast and lunch respectively 10 and 5 minutes ago? You silly reader, are you seriously doubting the answer? So I had a smoked sausage drowned in mustard and considered it my afternoon snack. It’s a good thing that Kaat and Mirjam are busy at work today, I don’t think I could have handled an early dinner and we’re going to a fabulous restaurant!

Speaking of food... Upon coming back to Holland last Friday, I went straight to a weekend reunion with the Nio cousins. Luan, who live in Zurich, was in the country as well so it was the perfect opportunity to catch up with the Nio’s. A couple of things have changed since the last reunion, me = single, Xuan = no longer single and brought along his (very nice new) girlfriend... but otherwise it was the same old familiar setting: lots and lots and lots of good food (well cooked Xuan!), booze (I’ll pat myself on the back for making excellent Mojito’s) and board & card games until late in the night (or early in the morning, depending on one’s point of view). And since my dad is in the country as well, almost the whole Nio family was present at my aunt’s birthday BBQ on Saturday... In other words, it was definitely a family weekend! Of course we watched THE football game as well, but I won’t discuss the results, no need to dwell on things of the past.

However... let me reconsider that thought. Because I actually have a feeling that one of my themes this year is “renewal of old friendships”. In the next few weeks, I’m meeting up with two girlfriends from my post-grad course that I haven’t seen for a few years. And going back even more into the past, beginning of July I have a reunion with school friends from my time in Argentina, people I haven’t seen for 20 years! Many of them live in France and it’s going to be so exciting to see each other again... Thanks to Facebook, I at least know already what they look like nowadays and what they do in their daily life. This boy I had a little crush on - or was hopelessly in love with, if I remember my teenage emotions correctly - hasn’t changed a bit! And one of my best girlfriends at the time is still into Metal Rock today... So I can’t wait to get on that train to Paris... And just two weeks ago, also another old friend popped up in my life unexpectedly... As I was sitting on the beach in Curacao with Chantal, I suddenly spotted an old mate from the boarding house I lived in when I was in my late teens! And via Facebook, at least once a month, some old schoolmate hooks up with me...

So I may be going towards a new adventure (well, I'm in the middle of it already), but at the same time it feels great to find all these old pals again and know that whatever happened in the past has not been wasted and forgotten... Alas, we’ve all got a few more grey hairs or wrinkles or children... but in the end, it’s always like old times.... It's really "Something old, something new"... And I’ll leave the "Something borrowed, something blue" for what it is, for now... ;-)

Anyway... three weeks in Holland is nowhere near enough to see everybody I would like to catch up with on separate occasions, so I’m hereby extending an open invitation to everybody who feels like joining me and some other alcoholic friends for Friday drinks in Amsterdam on 4 July... Just send me an email if you care to join and I’ll send you the details of the pub!

In the meantime, here are a few series of holiday pictures for those of you interested... It’s a VERY stringent selection of the more than 1.000 pictures I took in Cuba, Jamaica and Curacao... Mmmm... what a holiday that was...

Cuba: Nature, Culture & Mojito's
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44485&l=81380&id=523210814

Cuba: Architecture & Transportation
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44533&l=2b2d0&id=523210814

Cuba: People & Politics
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44504&l=22418&id=523210814

Jamaica
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44586&l=d4744&id=523210814

Curaçao
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44587&l=c2e12&id=523210814

Family portraits:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44589&l=33e93&id=523210814

NB: I’m not the only photo-freak in the family, so I can’t claim the credits for all the nice pictures...

Big hug,

xYx