Hello Autumn

It's a Sunday night and G made a valid point that I haven't written a blog post in a while. It's not because I've forgotten about it, but rather because there's a lot happening and big decisions being made (more about that in another post). My last post was 30 Before 30 but that didn't really discuss how I felt/thought about living in AMS etc. - that was last discussed in March as we were starting to escape winter's clutches. We had a nice summer although only a few weeks of it felt like a proper hot summer (and I was in Rome for the bulk of this). However, autumn has felt a bit like an anti-climax. It seems to have only properly started 3 days ago as the temperatures have been hovering around 13-15 for the past few weeks. On Friday it dropped and now it feels like winter is properly on its way. There's a pot of soup on the stove, the heating is on and I'm wearing a tracksuit plus slippers plus a blanket. Ok, maybe I'm overcompensating a little!

A beautiful summer day in Rembrandtpark, Amsterdam

It's been an eventful 8 months since my last post. I left my job and moved to a much better one – more interesting work, nicer people, more responsibility and a more interesting range of products. G left his job and returned 3 months later. We had a fun summer in AMS, made new friends and started making decisions about our future. We both finally got around to registering with our respective professional bodies as full members instead of partially-qualified students. And we have seen more of Europe. Since end of March, we've been to:

- Berlin. What a cool city but we definitely needed more than just a weekend. We focused on museums and the history whereas there is so much more to this vibrant city than its history. It's a bit like Paris where you'd probably need a fortnight to even start understanding a portion of it. I can tick it off the list but it's a faint tick.

- Mallorca. We went as G's middle brother and some of his friends were competing in a half Iron Man. G also entered as a team member of a relay and did the cycling portion. Such a beautiful place! I love the south of Spain and the Balearic islands are no different except it has more of a holiday feel than the mainland. The weather was very warm and I'm glad we spent more than a weekend there. We rented a scooter and explored a bit of the countryside; we had a few very fun nights out and mooched on the beach and at the hotel pool. Overall it was a proper holiday.

- Norway. This has been the best trip we've done. What an unbelievable country! The landscapes are amazing and even though it wasn't a cheap holiday, I would happily do it again and again. Once again we spent a few days here, flying into Oslo for a night and then taking a series of trains, ferries and buses through the fjords over 2 days across to Bergen in the west where we stayed for 3 nights. We walked beautiful trails, ate more salmon than is probably good for us and took thousands of photos. We were there over the longest day of the year so it was still light long after 11, yet we managed to find snow and ice. What a beautiful country.

A small village on the Aurlandfjord, Norway

- Rome. I was sent to Rome for 3 weeks for my new job in July. There are definitely worse places to be sent for 3 weeks! My luggage didn't arrive for the first few days which was a setback, but KLM compensated me for some new clothes. The second weekend of my trip was our wedding anniversary so G came over and we basically had an all-expenses paid anniversary weekend in Rome. Winning!

- Les Contamines, near Chamonix. Friends of ours from SA have a chalet in a small village in the French Alps that they were visiting for a few days, so 6 of us had a wonderful weekend walking in the mountains, eating delicious food and getting horribly drunk in the jacuzzi. Trips like this make me miss home and the crazy people we've left behind.

- Nerja, Costa Del Sol. This was a solo weekend for me while G was on a boys' weekend to Prague (they shot guns, rode in tanks and generally behaved like boys). I had a wonderful weekend walking in the mountains, sitting on the beach, eating tapas and people-watching.

Next on the list is Cologne in Germany in early December, London for Christmas, a ski trip to Saalbach in Austria (Can. Not. Wait!), a trip to SA for several weddings, hopefully a trip to Krakow in April then a big adventure in June that starts with a wedding in Chamonix (we're still ironing out the details).

Winter sun in Nerja, Spain

We've also had quite few visitors these past few months. G's dad, my parents, a friend from Australia, a friend from SA who had just moved to London, a friend from Germany that I hadn't seen in over a decade (but I've seen her twice this year and we'll be visiting her in December), friends from London and relatives that I've never met before.

We've both trained for and completed another half marathon (I did the Rotterdam in April and we both did the Amsterdam in October, even though I had been quite ill in the build up and probably shouldn't have run it). In and near AMS we've visited castles, celebrated Kings Day, celebrated Gay Pride, gone ice karting (go karting on an ice track), braai'ed in Vondelpark (definitely not the same as a South African braai!), explored coastal nature reserves, celebrated a friend's birthday in a boat on the canals, witnessed the wonder of Amsterdam SAIL (thousands of boats including impressive tall ships in the harbour to celebrate the city's maritime history – only happens every 5 years), seen The Script perform, seen Fall Out Boy perform, seen One Republic amongst others perform at the PinkPop festival (Foo Fighters were supposed to headline but Dave Grohl broke his leg 2 nights earlier), lost money trying to get tickets to Foo Fighters, had some fun nights out with friends and generally tried to experience everything this city has to offer. Coming up, we have tickets to Florence and the Machines, Imagine Dragons and Mumford & Sons. We want to see some more museums now that the weather is cooling – we still haven't been to the Rijksmuseum even though we've been here for over 2 years! We haven't done a New Years in the city so we'll be here for that and all the fireworks (the Dutchies LOVE their fireworks). And I'm sure there are hundreds of other other things we will be squeezing in.

SAIL, Amsterdam

Overall, things are going well here and we're doing everything we set out to do: travel, experience living somewhere else and generally get out of our comfort zones. We never intended to move here permanently and nothing about that plan has changed.

30 Before 30

I can’t quite remember how the topic came up, but last week Nikki asked if I was doing 30 Before 30. I hadn’t thought about it but I liked the idea so when we got home that evening I started drawing up a list. It’s quite difficult to come up with ideas of things I haven’t done before, that I would be interested in doing and will be able to do before 1 August 2016 (e.g. finding a message in a bottle on a beach means that 1. I’ll need to go to a beach which is likely but 2. There needs to be a bottle with a message on that exact beach which is unlikely and 3. Somebody can’t have found the bottle before me which is even more unlikely). I looked at other people's lists on Pinterest and occasionally I would see things like "Get married" or "have kids" but that's not always within your control. And I'm already married and not sure if I want to have kids by August next year. Some of the things on my list are things every 30 year old should have done and others are a little silly. Some are for both G and I (such as number 11) and others are just for me (such as 3). I also reserve the right to change the list as I go.

So, here is my list (in the order I thought of them/found them on Pinterest):

1. Cook a roast chicken with gravy and roast veg

2. Go vegetarian for a week

3. Go on holiday by myself

4. Floss every day for a full calendar month

5. Learn to say hello and goodbye in 10 languages.

6. Run a sub-2 hour half marathon (this is possibly the most difficult one – I’m capable of completing one but I’m not exactly fast)

7. Go sober for a full calendar month

8. Host a party/dinner for a particular holiday and go all out with food, décor, research etc. (possibly linked to number 24?)

9. Fire a real gun

10. Ride a motorbike (sitting on the back of one counts – G has a licence so he is very excited about this one)

11. Watch every James Bond movie in order of release. I love Bond but haven’t watched many of the older ones.

12. Watch the sunrise and sunset of the same day (I have done this indirectly before but never concentrated on watching the entire things on the same day)

13. Create photo books of our trips

14. Create a message in a bottle and send it out to sea

15. Attend a proper yoga class (yip, I’ve never done this)

16. Get a caricature done of me

17. Get my fortune told by a crazy gypsy lady in a little caravan

18. Buy a ticket for a random destination at the last minute (i.e. go to the airport with my bags packed, ask for the next flight that costs less than x-amount and go)

19. Dye my hair a completely different colour (slightly closer to blonde doesn’t count)

20. Send someone flowers anonymously for no reason

21. Take G to a ballet/opera

22. Cook a roast beef with Yorkshire puddings and all the veg

23. Read Gone With The Wind (as a nerd I probably should have done this by now)

24. Learn more about Judaism (growing up in a mixed religion household only taught me so much – there are definitely gaps in my knowledge)

25. Knit a scarf but with slightly more than plain knitting techniques (i.e. more than what we learnt in Grade 4)

26. Learn how to play poker properly – more than just Texas Hold ‘em (actually, my Texas Hold ‘em knowledge can also use some brushing up)

27. Invest more. Need to decide on what though – property? Shares?

28. Get hypnotised

29. Be an audience member of a TV show. We were on the list for Graham Norton but couldn't make it. I'll keep trying. The benefit of being in AMS is that London isn't too far away.

30. Still to be determined. G thinks it should be something almost impossible or incredibly silly.

I’ve started preparing for some of them: I’ve downloaded all the James Bond movies and we’ve already watched Dr No. I have my mother's and grandmother’s recipe for Yorkshire puddings. We’re in a great part of the world to see ballet or opera. Yesterday I discovered that one of our favourite junk shops sells knitting stuff. Now that this is out in the internet, I have 490 days to do the above. Wish me luck!

Winter blues and no regrets (mostly)

Once again it has been a long time since my last blog post. I've gathered that my last post gave the impression that we're never moving back to SA. Clearly that was written before winter had properly started! It's the end of March now and I think G and I deserve a medal for surviving the miserableness that is Europe in winter. At least this year we had snow - our first winter here was just cold and wet. I really struggled with the cold: I was prepared in terms of clothing but unprepared mentally. How can you go so long without the feeling of a hot sun beating down on your skin? Us poor African children were brought up to play outside 365 days a year. Boy I struggled. 

View from my train platform on a snowy day

But now Spring has arrived and the flowers have starting to appear on the islands in the middle of the roads. It’s not hot but at least some days the temperature is double digits. As I write this I'm sitting on a blanket in the sun in Vondel Park watching a lady throw sticks into a pond for her dog to fetch. I'm not sure who is happier - me or him. The sun is glorious and I think the whole of AMS is out to enjoy it. G is cycling by himself towards the dunes on the west coast and I had brunch earlier with some friends from that girls group I mentioned in the last post. Today life feels pretty good. 

Dog jumping into a pond in Vondel Park

But it's not all sunshine and daffodils. On Monday we got back from a very quick trip home for a friend's wedding. We had 10 days of family and friends and all it did was remind us where our hearts truly lie. We came to Europe with the intention of travelling and we have done that. We also have some nice trips lined up for the next few months (Berlin, Mallorca and Norway are already booked). But home is starting to call. Our friends at home are having babies, buying "grown-up" houses and saying goodbye to ill parents. We're missing out on being there for them. It's a very strange feeling whenever we go back. Everything feels the same but so much has changed and will continue to change. This whole experience is one big reminder that the only constant in life is change.

View of Llandudno (taken while cycling in Cape Town)

All of that said, I have no regrets. Yesterday I started compiling a 30 Before 30 list (30 things to do that I've never done before I turn 30 in August 2016) and I started where all other personal goals and projects start: Pinterest.  It was quite an ego booster to read other people's lists and see that I've done a lot already. I'll do a separate blog post for my list once I know what they all are (I'm stuck on 21 items). I think my mother will be horrified to read that the first one is roasting a chicken. Yes, I am a respectable married woman who has a postgraduate degree and has lived abroad, but I have never roasted a chicken. We can’t all be perfect…

Anyway, back to no regrets. In my last blog post I mentioned buying racing bikes. We did this in January and almost immediately starting riding them. In January. In Europe. Let’s just say my feet are still recovering from the first 3 rides – a beautiful range of purples, blues, yellows and reds that would look lovely in an art gallery but painful on my feet. We stocked up on suitable riding kit but that only protects you so much…I can also confirm that this country is flat. Training adequately for the Cape Town Cycle Tour was challenging and we were both slightly relieved when the course was drastically reduced from 109km to 47km following a week of fires around the Cape peninsula. The weather and flatness of NL had not prepared us sufficiently for the full distance’s route profile. We would have completed the race but we would have suffered a bit more than we’re used to suffering on long rides like that. Now that it’s over, I’m training for my second half marathon in April and G is concentrating on cycling for Iron Man.

G on a ride along the Amstel river with his shiny new racing bike

I finally arranged to attend a beginner’s Dutch course for 8 weeks earlier this year. I’m glad I did it but it was 2 nights a week which becomes quite taxing, especially when you’re trying to build new friendships and then have to turn down invites. I’d like to continue with the next course but not yet. I’m also not 100% sure it will benefit me in the long run. I know one of the reasons I wanted to go to a non-English speaking country was to learn a new language (I even wrote a whole blog post about it in June 2014) but it becomes a lot more difficult when the locals prefer speaking English to me because it’s 1000 times easier than trying to put up with my broken Dutch. All the discussion about moving back to SA doesn’t help matters much either.

A wine, food and craft market at Westergasfabriek (western AMS)

But summer is just around the corner. We've already noticed the terrace bars and cafes have more tables and chairs out. The general mood of the city is a little happier - I don't think we're the only people tired of the cold. Vondel Park is packed most evenings when I go for a run and tickets for the summer music festivals have gone on sale (I managed to get tickets for PinkPop - whoop whoop). Last year we missed a whole month of summer due to our wedding and I'm really looking forward to experiencing a full season here. If last year was anything to go by, it should be good.

Overall, the mood in our little home in AMS is positive but we’re missing SA and counting the minutes to summer.