mcharlottesmith

I think I may have mentioned that I really enjoy my apartment here in Amsterdam. Now that I spend the whole day here I really get the opportunity to see it in different kinds of light, see how the sun stream in and where are the cosy spots to drink my coffee or have my lunch (Pro tip: its on the balcony on sunny days).

One of the other features, unexpectedly, is what we call Amsterdam TV.

For some reason, people do not really close their curtains, and although it takes some getting used to, after a while you remember that people can see you and it doesn’t really matter. With everyone at home however, it gets interesting to have a look into other people’s lives.

This morning the neighbour across from me caught my eye because he did some unusual stretches and I was intrigued until I realised he was just putting on a grey sweater. He then proceeded to pick up his cute black cat and play with it for a bit an d it was such a lovely moment to see. I didn’t get the opportunity to see if the cat continued to enjoy the attention, because the next moment my grey sweatered neighbour and the lady in the apartment above him did a synchronized window leaning movement. This got my attention, and i saw that there was a postman delivering a package at the door downstairs. Like in a film, the little tableau continued as my eye followed the postman to the building next door. There, emerging from the staircase came the guy with the cute dog.

The first time I saw them a few weeks ago I exclaimed “Puppy”(I was on the phone with a friend at the time) because the colour and proportions of the dog reminded me of a golden labrador puppy. However, the dog in question is senior dog of a smaller breed, probably a mix, and in reality the neighbour carries him down the stairs and it looks like he will have difficulty walking down them (the dog, not the human) before going on their customary walks. Every day I see them, it brings a smile to my face.

These antics of my neighbours reminds me of how we continue to do everyday things, maybe just a little bit differently. It also reminds me to consider which way to orient myself when doing yoga in front of the window.

Be kind. Stay safe.

I miss my family, and the country I call home.

In another life in another time I would have been in South Africa at the moment on my first vacation since moving to the Netherlands. I would have spent time with family and made silly jokes and eaten more meat than in the last six months put together. We would have talked about our worries and celebrated our happy events.

Today also marks 6 months since my arrival here in Amsterdam. When I arrived it was the start of a different season. Trees were decked out in gold and red and scores of tourists were bustling around the city.

I arrived, tired, uncertain of the life that awaits here and forever thankful for my best friend and her sister who met me at the airport to help lug my luggage to the hotel and join me on some preliminary sightseeing to make the best of my first day. I remember where we had the most incredible waffle with ice cream and for a few hours I forgot about the great uncertainty ahead of me.

Little did I know that six months later things might be a bit more familiar but life in general will be even more uncertain than anyone can imagine.

In times like these I try to remember the advice I normally give myself:

The difference between adversity and adventure is attitude – Janet Evanovich

I am not saying that all adventures are fun. I can guarantee that there will be parts that suck. I mean, even good adventures have bad bits. And perhaps this one sucks a bit more than I’m comfortable with, but I honestly hope that we get out of this a bit stronger, and perhaps a bit better.

It’s OK to feel down. It’s OK to be homesick. It’s OK to want to eat more snacks than normal.

For me, personally, it’s about finding a balance between feeling the feelings and not letting it drown me. It is about choosing to get up each morning and making my bed and helping to build the world of tomorrow, however it might look like.

Be kind. Stay safe.

When this all started I thought the lack of live sports on TV combined with people sitting at home will have some interesting side effects. I had a flight of fancy:

What if they started showing all the Rugby World Cup matches of 2019, in the order of appearance, but to a wider audience? Football fans all over Europe, and the Americas will take an interest in watching the game for gentlemen with odd shaped balls. The Japan team will get a cult following from countries where that do not have a direct association with any other team, and besides, as the home team who does relatively well, they have all the makings of the popular wild card!

Viewers will have alliances and players will have post-dated popularity, not unlike artists who really reach peak popularity long after their art reached a peak.
Nobody will be able to pronounce the name of Pieter Labuschagne and it will become a meme – people trying to pronounce his last name. The Labuschagne challenge.

But alas… People are watching something called Tiger King, running up and down in their gardens, and doing some ridiculous challenge that involve swallowing a raw egg (because one illness isn’t enough, we need to throw salmonella in there to mix things up.) People post motivational posts about learning new things. Other post motivational posts about feeling OK about not learning anything new. Some people say they will get fat. Some people say its OK to get fat. Some people are working out at home like they never used to work out in a gym. Some people are running up and down in their gardens until their dogs give up and takes a nap.

All I know is, this is a hard time. Everyone is doing what they can to cope with circumstances we could not even begin to imagine if someone from the future told us this straight in our faces. Even if we have it better than some others, that doesn’t negate the fact that some days are just hard.

I am thankful that I have a lovely apartment that has sunny spots in different times during the day. I am thankful for my pot plants and my hobbies and reading books and the wonder of the internet and video calls. I am thankful for music, the eternal medicine of the mind.

Be kind. Stay safe.

4 weeks in and I’m kind of getting used to this new way of living. I spend my time mostly indoors and when I go to the shops I take a shopping cart, keep a wide space between myself and others and try to touch as little as possible. Friends and family continue to call and I’m genuinely glad to hear so much of everyone. It makes me happy to know my loved ones are doing OK

Today was Easter Sunday. The world over the resurrection of Christ was celebrated, along with the new beginning of life in the northern hemisphere. My memories drifted to Sunday morning sunrise services on Nahoon Beach, celebrating this big day with the start of the new day. This year people celebrated in their houses, listening to podcasts and YouTube videos to bring the message of hope and new life.

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I daydream of the adventures I want to go on when this is over. I want to visit cities and countries and go surf in new places and familiar places too. I wonder when this will be possible, and if it will be possible at all. What will the world look like in a few months time, or will we be locked in our concrete cages for a longer time still?

Will we learn to celebrate our birthdays with friends singing on a video call and each eating a piece of cake/tart/snack of our own choosing. Will we be able to have friends over for dinner and laugh and share a bottle of wine? Only time will tell, unknown, mysterious time.

Be kind. Stay safe.

In the afternoon I took my pink bike out for a ride to the Amsterdamse Bos to see if the cherry blossoms are in bloom.

I think I was a bit late, there were some blossoms but I think a week ago it must have been incredible.

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Even so, it was a pleasure to het out into nature, see the impact of the new season and host celebrate life in a time where we are so tied down.

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Be kind. Stay safe

Good Friday.

Its a different Easter weekend from any other in living memory. People stayed at home, and breakaways to the beach or somewhere special.

Throughout the day I kept thinking about my trip to Israel 3 years ago at this time of year. My visit coincided with Easter weekend, because I was going to attend the wedding of close friends of mine. I think the trip in itself is worth a post or a series of posts at least, but until then here are my thoughts sparked by the Good Friday celebrations around the world.

Did you know that the old city of Jerusalem is 0.9 square kilometer? Walking through the cobbled and stepped streets made me realise how much I have to adjust my mental picture of city on the hill. I wonder how the people crowded around and how many of the shops and stalls looked similar to how they do today. Did they also struggle with the things we do? Maybe not the frustration of slow wifi. But did they also worry about how work is going and whether it will continue like that. Did kids also play outside with the neighbours’ kids and make up new games?

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Walking in the ancient streets filled me with a sense of wonder that i cannot put into words. I was struck deeply by the fact that people were going about their lives in this place for much longer than I can begin to imagine. Kings rose to power and fell again. They had built walls against the enemy from outside, and sometimes the dangers lay within.

In a city so small, maybe for a few meters my footsteps coincided with the footsteps of Jesus, so many years ago?

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In this time of uncertainty and silence, let us remember to tread lightly wherever we go.

Be kind. Stay safe.

The highlight of the day was that I accidentally called a work associate by his last name, in stead of his first. We had a little laugh over it in a teleconference.

I am sad, because I was planning to go on a holiday for the Easter weekend and the following week. I was planning to see my family, my friends, and spend some time at the seaside. My heart aches for my home country. I long to see the people close to me and once again share lovely moments together.

I want a do-over of the holidays in the past, I want to go back and relive every amazing moment and redo the ones where we disagreed about silly things. I want to tell past me to cherish every moment for the rare and beautiful thing it is.

When things go back to the new normal, it remains to be seen how much this time will impact us in our relationships and goings on. Maybe we will be a bit more gentle.

Be kind. Stay safe.

Spending this much time in a social distancing situation is bound to lead to some introspection. Whatever your current situation, it is very likely different from how you thought your year would look when you said Happy New year 98 days ago.

In less than 100 days everything we took for granted has changed. All of a sudden priorities shifted and people are acting differently. In the northern hemisphere the spring season is in full swing and all of a sudden all the bunnies and chicks on the Easter merchandise make a lot more sense.

Something i have realised is that I am drawn more and more to practice mindfulness:

• In my work environment I find I am more mindful in planning my tasks and keeping track of it. I have to make sure I do everything I plan to do, but I also have to plan to take regular breaks, check in with my colleagues, stretch, and learn when to end the work day and take my rest.
• In my free time I am more mindful of how I spend it and what I do with it. I think about taking walks and catching up with friends. I think about limiting screen time for myself and practicing on my hobbies. I think about taking time to do nothing.
• In my spiritual life I am more mindful to reflect on how this situation relates to what I believe in. What I can learn from this adversity and where I find my strength.
• In my relationships with friends and family I am mindful, trying to understand how they experience this strange time and reaching out for their benefit as well as my own.
• In how I utilise my daylight hours I am more mindful. I think which tasks I would enjoy doing by natural light and do them first before the evening sets in and I have to switch on the light. I am thankful that when I chose an apartment I found one with a bright living area full of natural light, and even more so now that I can enjoy it.
• Even in my kitchen I am more mindful. I spend time thinking over how I will prepare the meals, what ingredients go well together and what key ingredients I can add to make tomorrow’s meal more interesting than just today’s leftovers.

Do you find that you are more mindful now?

Be kind. Stay safe

The sun is out and the days are getting warmer. The trees outside my window is starting to sprout young leaves.

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Nature is continuing the cycle of growth and life regardless of the global health crisis. Inside their houses people are worrying about the world economy, job losses and literally staying alive, while outside the cycles turn once more.

Maybe there is a message in it, or at least some food for thought. Everyone I know had to change plans; weddings, trips, birthday parties have been cancelled around the world. To me it is a clear reminder that we think we control everything, but in the end, we are part of something much bigger.

Our best course of action is to tread lightly on the earth we walk on, tell your loved ones how much you care and stay at home.

Be kind. Stay safe.

The world is going crazy. I am flooded with memes, good ones and bad ones and sometimes I am not even sure if it’s really funny or whether anything is funny because everything is upside down.

When I started writing this blog I expected that the world will go crazy and maybe they will play reruns of the 2019 Rugby World Cup and Japan will get a cult following. I would still like that to happen. And maybe marble racing can become a popular spectator sport.

What did happen is a whole lot of emoji puzzles. Like seriously, a lot.

There are all kinds of conspiracy theories about. The more expected ones referring to a Dean Koontz novel that has a virus with a similar name. Some science guy in the US who is in trouble with the law for not declaring his interests in China (and he should be prosecuted according to his misdeeds). And the most bizarre one to date: some mysterious link between the new 5G mobile Internet technology and the global health crisis. I didn’t even bother to get into the details of this, because its just so bizarre.

But then again, we live in a bizarre time. If someone told me 6 months ago that the majority of the world will be in lockdown, we would have found it as bizarre as the crazy theories people come up with.

In the end, there will be many things we do not understand. What is very clear is that the best medicine is to stay at home, wash your hands and sneeze and cough into your elbow.

Spare a thought for all the essential workers. The medical personnel in the front lines. People in the food industry making sure we can all eat. Law enforcement and other officials making sure people are safe and at home. Garbage collectors, truck drivers, manufacturers of key materials and equipment. To everyone who is risking their health to serve the rest of us, we salute you.

To the rest of us: Be a hero, stay at home.

Be kind. Stay safe