Author Archives: mcharlottesmith

I don’t know what “going back to normal” would look like, if it ever happens. My work team and project is changing, so I’ll have a different environment altogether. My life in the Netherlands is full of firsts, like any new experience, so I don’t have much to compare it to. My first few monthsContinue reading “Life in the time of Corona – Captain’s log: Day 101”

Life is getting back to some sort of normal. IT issues appear out of nowhere, and my house mate arrived back in the Netherlands after his French lockdown. We welcomed him back with a beer overlooking the canal. Be kind. Stay safe.

99 bottles of beer on the wall. If we started playing that game at the start of the lockdown we would have drink the last beer today. Unless you were in South Africa, then you would have had quite a few pineapple beers or other home brews instead. In the last 3 months and changeContinue reading “Life in the time of Corona – Captain’s log: Day 99”

It’s the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. I wonder if I fall asleep tonight whether I will have a midsummer night’s dream? A part of me wishes the long days and the sunshine will last a long long time,but I know that luckily, in time seasons change and really that’s aContinue reading “Life in the time of Corona – Captain’s log: Day 98”

I decided that since I have limited options to travel at the moment, I would be tourist in the country I live in and spent a fun morning at Zaanse Schans. It’s a pretty little village with windmills, water, farm life, and generally Dutch things. Due to the travel restrictions there is the rare opportunityContinue reading “Life in the time of Corona – Captain’s log: Day 97”

When I was a student I had a dream that I was studying all for a maths exam and the next day the paper was on something else. It was some nightmarish 3 dimensional linear algebra that I had to then plot in a plane with projections. Today reminded me of that dream. I wokeContinue reading “Life in the time of Corona – Captain’s log: Day 96”

There are always things in life that we don’t really appreciate to its full worth unless we don’t have it anymore. And then I’m even talking about something that I did appreciate a lot before, but still, it wasn’t enough. I am talking about hair dressers of course. In the Netherlands they were allowed toContinue reading “Life in the time of Corona – Captain’s log: Day 95”

The day the plant fell out of the window. Today was a day, like many other, spent working at my little corner office, or more precisely: the desk in the corner of my lounge where I built my home office. Early morning I spent some time trying to rescue one of my balcony plants byContinue reading “Life in the time of Corona – Captain’s log: Day 94”

Life is short. It’s too short to spend being angry about things I can’t change. It is too short to eat bad tasting food of watch TV shows I don’t like. Use your time on this earth wisely. Make time to go the things that make you happy. Make time to talk to your lovedContinue reading “Life in the time of Corona – Captain’s log: Day 93”

Today I had a work free day, and I decided to make use of the opportunity to visit a new museum. When I just arrived in the Netherlands I invested in a Museumkaart that provides free access to a lot of the Dutch museums, and as of the first of this month they allow museumsContinue reading “Life in the time of Corona – Captain’s log: Day 92”