mcharlottesmith

Today the Netherlands celebrated Liberation Day, 75 years of freedom after the war. That is a very long time, and hopefully it will continue to be a long time of peace. Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a world completely devoid of war?

I celebrated by taking a long walk, listening to an audiobook and in the afternoon I took a long bike ride with some friends through some of the Amsterdam parks. I know that in this time of Corona I am missing out on many firsts: No First Kings day celebration, no first festival in Amsterdam, my first spring is completely different from all the others.

However, Amsterdam is such a beautiful city in Spring, and without the tourists, perhaps I get a rare opportunity to see a bit more of the beauty in a less crowded environment. The canals are rimmed with greenery, and everywhere there are flowers in gardens and parks. Amazing new birdlife is visible in all the parks, and today while cycling, I even saw a rabbit!

I get the feeling that people are rethinking what is really important to them. Perhaps more people are considering family values as priorities rather than climbing the corporate ladder.

Be kind. Stay safe

Today there was a 2 min of silence to remember WW2. Growing up on a different continent in a different world makes it easy to forget the immense sacrifice of so many people and the senseless suffering of so many more. Thinking about it is not always an comfortable thought, but it gives perspective to the term freedom and hopefully it is a reminder to guard against repeating the mistakes of the past.

I have heard commentary that this pandemic is the world war of my generation. I wonder if it really is and if people will remember it in years to come as a turning point in history. I see on social media there are people who claim it is not really that dangerous after all, and I wonder if they really consider all the facts.

Hopefully in years to come we will remember the good things and learn from the rest. Hopefully we can also celebrate our freedom from a virus that made the world stand still, against all odds.

Be kind. Stay safe

7×7….that’s a lot of days.

I made good use of the beautiful Sunday to go for a long walk in the park, around and around. A friend met me there and we kept our social distance while talking and people watching and generally enjoying Spring in Amsterdam.

When you forget that you can’t go to any restaurants or theaters, there are moments when you nearly forget there is a global pandemic going on. I stopped watching the news about it, I just get snippets every now and then.

I feel incredibly lucky to be in a country where things seem to be OK and I can still buy a takeaway latte from a number of places. I know this is not the case everywhere and my heart goes out to the people who are not allowed where they are. I feel even more for those whose jobs are affected by this crisis, and I guess we will only see the real effect later on.

It’s a strange balancing act, trying to comprehend the impact of this thing, while still trying to be positive and hopeful for a future.

If you struggle to cope with it, please know you are not alone. Everyone is suffering, in one way or another. Reach out even if you just want to call.

Be kind. Stay safe

Today I cleaned my house. Seriously, I can’t imagine how the dust gets in within the space of a week, but at least I got to clean my house and getting it back into shape. I miss Priscilla, and Anna, and all the amazing ladies who cleaned my house in the years past. I guess I am spoiled but those amazing women are part of my family, and I miss them.

In the evening I did an online wine tasting with some friends. What a lovely experience. We booked online and the company came past during the day to deliver a box of goodies. I got an amazing box with six bottles of wine and some yummy cheese. It was a blind tasting and a big treat, because i could try some wines i would have never chosen by myself. . I would love to do it again, if they had an option to taste another selection.

Another day, another adventure.

Be kind. Be safe.

It is the weekend! And just in time too, because I’m exhausted.

One day I was so tired that I ended up spelling the word as “exhorsted” and since then it was my go to word for being more than tired.

This past week was one of those. At work we are going through a crunch time which I knew about long before I knew about COVID-19 and a global pandemic,so I am not surprised that I’m tired. I suspect the added level of complexity is that everyone is working from home and there are forever calls to make and calls to take.

I guess that’s what the weekend is for! To rest, relax and recharge. What are your weekend plans?

Be kind. Stay safe.

I went for a walk this morning that turned into a run, because, why not? I am proud to say that I ran a bit longer, further and faster than last week. Let the record state that I was running 10 min longer and 10 seconds per km faster. That does not mean at all it was long or fast but I am still happy with the progress. I am also happy that I can get out, get moving, and appreciate nature.

Just as well I got moving before the work day started, because afterwards I was in conference calls for 5 hours and small change. Or as a dear friend put it : death by conference call.

It wasn’t all bad though. After the work day I had a guitar lesson, the first with my new guitar and definitely one of the highlights of my week. Then thar was followed by quiz night with some colleagues turned friends.

I hope you also had something to make you smile.

Be kind. Stay safe

In an email from one of the global leaders in the company, they talked about the fact that beyond COVID-19 we will likely adopt a more flexible way of working. It encouraged us to reflect on what works in the current setup and which practices we should keep up in future. So my musings below…

There are things I miss while not going in to the office. Having my colleagues around for a bit of banter and coffee machine chats. Asking a question by turning to the person next to you in stead of having to send an instant message or a phone call. I miss the energy of a collaborative discussion where ideas grow from each other. I miss comments from the peanut gallery. Also I really do get exhausted from having conference call after conference call.

There are things that work well, however. I think a lot of senseless meetings are now resolved with an email or a phone call. I find that there are less incidental interruptions and when I want to work on something specific, I can block out time and get stuff done. I enjoy taking mini breaks in between the meetings, taking a stretch or playing a couple of chords on my guitar. I enjoy the time saved from not commuting and having more time for walks or runs or going on a bike ride.

Something that has really improved is having a daily coffee with my colleagues. I cannot always make it, of course, but in some ways I feel like I know more about people now than before, from work related stuff to what they like to watch on Netflix and what they do on the weekends. Perhaps this is more meaningful to me because I was based full time on projects for the last two years and change, and I wish I had this type of opportunity earlier. Interacting with people regularly while everyone works from home, does tend to make persons a bit more “real.” Along with the faces and the “business persona”, you get to see a bit of their home life, their partners, children, pets, the stuff in their backgrounds. Something I like in work as well as private life is that more people take the time to call and talk.

Some days I feel like although we are all in isolation, we are more connected now than a few months ago. I hope we do not lose that.

Be kind. Stay safe.

The problem with public holidays on a Monday is that the following Tuesday becomes a bit confusing. Some Monday things have to happen on another day while Tuesday things keep happening. On top of that the 5 days of work needs to be done in 4. Add to that the fact that days just run into each other like water into the sea and well… I no longer know if it is this day or that day or the other day it what day!

The weather in Amsterdam returned to the grey skies and general drizzle which I have come to accept as normal and I am glad I managed to take in thy beautiful days over the weekend.

In response to the cooler weather I experimented with another dish,this time a chicken and mushroom pot pie for one. I call it “quarandine.”

After a lot of deliberation, I got a new guitar today. A steel string “western guitar”. It is beautiful and sounds really good, but surprisingly it doesn’t magically play itself, so I got to spend a lot of time this evening getting accustomed to the feel of the new instrument and learning to play the new steel strings. Spoiler alert…its hard. But gratifying, as with most things that is worth the effort.

Be kind. Stay safe

King’s day 2020 in NL. Freedom day in SA.

Legend has it that King’s day is one of the biggest parties around the country. I have seen pictures and videos of a sea of orange and a lot of beer.

It struck me as odd today that I wouldn’t know what “normal” in Amsterdam looks like. This is a year of firsts for me; first spring, summer, King’s day etc. And also a first worldwide pandemic. What a time!

I guess that even when this all passes things will not exactly go back to the way they were. I guess we will be wary of the disease for many weeks or months to come. And when it passes and hopefully there’s a vaccine. But economies are already crippled. People lose their income and their savings lose value. A lot of things that used to be second nature has to be reconsidered from an affordability point of view. Maybe even from a disease risk and hopefully environmental too.

One thing I do believe, is that the sun will rise tomorrow, and every day after that, even kb the days we can’t see a thing. And one day will be the day when we slowly start seeing the new normal set in. Let’s hope and pray that day is sooner than we expect.

Be kind. Stay safe

One of the interesting side effects of this stay at home malarkey is that people seem to rediscover their own kitchens.

For a while al the flour has been sold out and its only now making an appearance again in the supermarkets, but still in small quantities.

My social media feed has a lot of food pictures, and not the restaurant Instagram type, but homemade goodness.

Aside from the sourdough craze that seemed to sweep over the world, there’s also a lot of carrot cake and banana bread going on.

My personal favourite are these three ingredient scones https://www.recipetineats.com/lemonade-scones/ which I enjoyed with some home made blueberry toffee. I can hardly call it blueberry jam, since its way too sticky, but still it is yummy on scones.

One of the hardest challenges is to learn to scale recipes down so I don’t end up eating the same thing four days in a row. This isn’t always bad, but sometimes an experimental recipe is not that great and then I am stuck eating the same mediocre leftovers for a long while.

A friend suggested a great tip, to freeze meat portions in Ziplock bags. I tried that, so hopefully I can have a bit of variety.

I also want to practice making the portions smaller in recipes. Today I managed to reduce the recipe for scones to make just enough for one person. I still struggle with food, but getting there. I reckon my kitchen skills have improved somewhat in the last 6 weeks.

What have you been cooking up?

Be kind. Stay safe