mcharlottesmith

Today I tested an hypothesis,and was proven right, kind of.

My theory is that when the aim is social distancing you don’t get much better in terms of sport than surfing. The nature of the waves and the geometry of the boards are such that you keep a long distance between yourself and the next person. This part is true. The harder part is when you take a lesson and everyone stands closer to listen and suddenly you need to tell everyone to back off a bit.

Luckily the surf school I attended was amazing in this regard, so we could have a safe and enjoyable surf lesson.

That means that at this very moment I’m so tired, I’m battling to keep my eyes open and I already have numerous stiff muscles. Tomorrow is going to be interesting….

How was your weekend?

Be kind. Stay safe

Ons gaan nou braai.

When I arrived in the Netherlands, I was a few days late to join a big braai (like a bbq, but more meaty) for the South Africans in the Netherlands. I thought it looked like a great place to meet other people and make friends.

There was another event planned for spring this year, which had to be deferred due to the corona restrictions.

Luckily it started a conversation and a smaller group of us, all strangers from the Internet, could get together for a braai and a visit with new friends. It turned out that we all had something in common aside from a mutual homeland, and I look forward to getting to know everyone a bit better.

Be kind. Stay safe.

Life is strange, although I can’t even say compared to what.

Sometimes when I step outside and I see people going about their life, it’s nearly as if nothing is wrong.

But then you see that all the shops sell masks, like its the most normal thing in the world. People step aside to keep a wide gap between each other. And we realise that life has irrevocably changed.

Worldwide economies are struggling. People are unsure of their income and some have already used their savings just to stay alive. In many countries people are stranded, far away from home, their visas running out and no way to get a flight out.

I hope this will end soon. I hope we can find a way back to life that is sustainable and reasonable and will take care of everyone, not only the ones that are better off.

Be kind. Stay safe.

Now that I’m working from home I have finally managed to get into a routine of planning, cooking and eating well balanced meals and snacks.

So what if it took me 80+ days? At long last I go grocery shopping and come back with ingredients that make up a series of tasty, pretty and nutritious meals.

As someone who always enjoyed cooking, I have a long track record of under planning over estimating the quantity and then I end up eating the same thing 4 meals in a row. Now, however, it looks like the tide has turned.

Do you have any ideas for tasty and quick meals?

Be kind. Stay safe

The other day I was catching up with a friend and he told me he was so lazy the last few weeks.

Spoiler alert: he wasn’t. He is working a full time job (from home) studying an additional course, taking music lessons and taking time for exercise every day.

But it made me think… How often do we criticise ourselves for everything we wish we could do, without realising how much we are already doing?

Despite the fact that the world has been brought to a grinding halt by this pandemic, we are still driven to do more, be more. While in fact we are already surviving through the biggest global event of our lifetime.

And in the middle of all of it, we are continuing with work, life, self improvement and hobbies. We should take a moment to give ourselves credit for what we are doing, and focus on the good stuff for a change, in stead of the stuff we want to change.

Be kind. Stay safe

Today I had dinner in a restaurant. I celebrated the fact that we can go out again (with limitations) by visiting Nazka, a Peruvian cuisine restaurant in Amsterdam.

With Peruvian food you get two kinds of establishments: the fancy kind that experiments with incredible ingredient combinations and fancy plating, or the mom and pop kind of shop that serve family favourites in portions fit for giants.

NAZKA is one of the former type.

Not only was it incredible to spend time with a friend, ve served an amazing dinner and get outside of the house for all of the above, but it was also a wonderfully nostalgic experience to taste the exquisite flavour and combinations that is so true to all Peruvian food.

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Be kind. Stay safe

One of the big mysteries in life, along with “where do the other socks go” , and “what happened to the tupperware lid” is : what creates IT issues??

After a too-short weekend with a too-short night’s sleep, I try to log on to my computer in my corner (home) office.

Having worked from home for 12 weeks now, I thought all the crinkles have been worked out. Only my laptop doesn’t recognise the two giant screens it needs to project the display to. This alone is really frustrating but I push through, only to find that my computer doesn’t want to connect to the VPN that grants it access to the company network.

At this point I should really contact the IT department but I need to be connected to the network to do that…

So I restarted everything: my computer, my modem and even my kettle, because it is the kind of situation that calls for another cup of coffee.

Although restarting is probably the most popular advice from any IT department, this seems to have made it worse, because all of a sudden it doesn’t even recognise the network!

After a bit of fiddling I finally contacted the IT guy through my telephone, and then before he could do anything it magically worked… The connection, not the screen. For that part I had to indeed send an email to the IT guys. At the end of the day, minutes before I wanted to log in, I finally got a call from one of them, and with a bit of fiddling about in an expert way doing expert things, at last it worked like it should!

Let’s hope that tomorrow it stays that way.

Be kind. Stay safe

If you change your plans in NL because of the weather, you will never have any plans.

So today, despite the ever changing weather, I went to explore a lovely little beach town called Zandvoort aan Zee.

Not only was it cute and old, it also has a vibrant beach front and many people doing kite surfing in the choppy little waves. I was also cheerful to notice some surfers paddling out and catch a few waves.

This is definitely a place I’ll visit again, and maybe with my surf gear next time.

Be kind. Stay safe.

Today I witnessed the birth of the tiniest little horse.

Welcome to earth little one.

Be kind. Stay safe.

Just when I thought that the European summer is ready to arrive, the Dutch rain decided to make an appearance.

For the last couple of days it was overcast and today it was raining on and off for most of the day, at some points pouring would be the right kind of description. I even took my indoor plants for a walk on the balcony to get some rain water, I have always had the impression that plants do better with rain water than from the tap.

Halfway through the day I even went to put on a sweater and even my sheepskin slippers!

Today was the kind of day where I was kind of happy that I didn’t have to brave the weather to get to work, and I could continue doing my thing from my “corner office”… or more specifically, the corner in my lounge where I set up my home office.

I celebrated the arrival of the weekend with a bit of a treat from home: I cooked up some of the amazing boerewors I bought from Kuierkos a few weeks back.

I didn’t have the right stuff to make Mieliepap, so I opted instead for a salad with everything. I can honestly say that for many many years I would have not believed myself saying “Mmmm, I want to get a salad for dinner.” And yet, here we are, and was it good or was it good!”

Be kind. Stay safe.