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 months wasn’t exactly normal, because it was occupied with the business of settling in. Then a global pandemic confined us all to our houses and here we are.
We al had plans that had to change. I had plans and ideas to visit Peru and visit South Africa and travel all over, and here I am,just missing home and my family and spending the longest time apart from them ever.
Hopefully when we return to the new life, and soon I can plan a visit to see my family and loved ones.
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.
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 change we’ve seen the world adapt to so many things we never thought possible. We saw great things and terrible things and who knows what will remain in the future? But slowly, day by day, we will rebuild our lives.
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 a good thing. If you are in the Southern hemisphere, experiencing the longest night and wintry temperatures I wouldn’t be surprised if you agree.
I am not entirely sure what brought it about, but a few years ago I decided that it doesn’t do any good to complain about the weather. It is really one of the few things we personally have no control over. The only thing we can control is our immediate environment. If you are in winter times, make sure you have a warm coat, hat, socks, shoes etc. If you are un the middle of summer, wear sunscreen, a hat and lightweight clothing. Stay in the shade if you can and drink a lot of water.
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 opportunity to see what things are like around there without throngs of tourists around. I highly recommend going and supporting the operators who are trying to make the most of these difficult times.
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 woke up early, prepared to do a task and as I sat down at my home office desk I saw an email that completely disrupted all my plans. I spent a large part of the day dealing with it, trying to piece together the chain of events that led to it, while also dealing with the incidental things that come to through the day.
At the end of the day I saw that I still had the file open from my early morning ambitions and I only got to read it then, before slipping into weekend mode.
In comparison to my student day nightmare, however, this day came to a close, and much better too.
Somewhere in the afternoon my buzzer rang and I received a delivery for a giant bunch of flowers. I stuck it in a vase while finishing my work, wrapping and all. Later in the day, as I was taking of the wrapping, I noticed the card, a thank you note from my team on the project I was working on for the last 8 months.
I feel so spoiled and really thankful to work in a team with people who care and who take the time to appreciate my input. Not only are these flowers incredibly beautiful, it is also a symbol of the beautiful people I work with.
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 to open 18 days ago and the first appointment I could get was for today. I went to a new salon I haven’t visited before, and I was not disappointed. It was definitely worth the wait.
I have always wanted to wear my hair like Stella from CSI, with all the girls beautifully defined and shining. Today for the first time in my memory I felt like maybe I could manage that. My hair seems a lot shorter than normal, but that’s just the bounce of the curls.
The proof is of course in the days to come but for now I’m rather pleased. What do you think?
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 by meticulously cutting away leaves that look like it is infected. The good news is that it looks like there is already a lot of new growth, so maybe it will recover after all.
The bad news is that my plant adventures for the day didn’t quite end there.
Late afternoon in my weekly meeting, I was merrily carrying on, talking, listening, doing the usual meeting thing, when out of the corner of my eyes I spotted a movement.
As someone who lives alone and who comes from a place where intruders are a very real possibility, my senses picked up. In an instant I had scanned the room and noticed that something is missing. My head ran through scenario’s, the possibilities flickering through my head like the green numbers from The Matrix. Then it dawned on me: one of my plants had fallen out of the window.
Earlier in the day I opened the kitchen door for fresh air, something that I regularly do. And just before the meeting I felt very warm on the European summers day, so I opened the window in my living room. The two openings created a bit of a draft, and my plant, being lightweight in stature and in a lightweight wicker pot, got sucked out of the window and fell to the ground, 3 floors down.
I am guessing nobody got hurt, but a few minutes later my downstairs neighbour rang my bell to inform me that my plants are falling from the window.
I had moved the other plants from that windowsill to a spot where the windows don’t open, and after my meeting I went to go collect my plant and placed it next to its friend in the safe space. I was happy to see my plant survived it without a scratch too.
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 loved ones. Make time to make friends and be with them. Make time to plan and go on adventures.
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 museums to open once more. As an additional safety measure, it is a requirement to book a time slot, and in every room at the door there is an indication of the maximum amount of people allowed in that room.
One of the benefits of this is that the museum isn’t crowded at all. So when I visited the Mauritshuis in Den Haag I was able to enjoy the whole exhibition in relative peace. I seem to have missed the Goldfinch painting, but at least could spend some time looking at the most famous painting in the building.
mcharlottesmith 