Update: Amsterdam garden

Almost a year ago I showed our venture of local grass cultivation in our backyard. Little over a year ago I was happy to share that the terrass was finished. Yesterday and today the weather accros Europe is faboulous so I took some snapshots. Presto an update.

A welcoming bench to relax behind the palm tree:

The terrasse to enjoy breakfast in the sun and find shade at noon:

To be honest I am not a big fan of BBQs, but I do love sharing a meal. My girlfriend likes both though. I guess with summer finally showing itself a compromise wil soon be reached.

Getting back in the sadle - Words of Wisdom

I started a path decided upon some time ago, but am faltering. I realise I am in need of strenght and wisdowm, some down to earth truths. I often start my own mental search with some of my favorite (active and non-active) blogs to inspire me and gets my thinking process going and "inner-self feelers" warmed up. In search of my source to get back in the saddle and on the road I tell myself that:

I will not wait for other peoples reminders to take make a step. The only perception that is truly important is the on I have of myself. I am decisive. I take initiative. I think and get my feelings right. I honestly ask myself difficult questions and answer them truthfully. Revealing my inner-self will ultimitaly result in a life better lived and enjoyed. Then when decided I do it and do it now.

Labor and hard work finishes the path taken.

This may remind you of the story about the tortoise and the rabbit. This story tell us that the tortoise won because he had a goal and stuck with it, he was steadfast and believed in himself. The rabbit, although fast, lost because he was unfocussed and was an arrogant prick at it. He was careless and underestimated his opponent based on prejudice and misconception.

Some good thoughts on the meaning of the story beside the obvious can be found here. Besides teamwork and the power of knowing ones own and other competencies I am reminded by it that when you fail you may learn. From learning you becomes richer and can refocus and take another step.


A note to the unknown readers of this obscure blog. The shared experience and knowledge of everyone around us can be very powerful. If you read this and feel you can contribute, then I ask you to take a step and share.

Terrass finished: ready for BBQ

The terrass is finished. This sunday my girlfriend and I finished the last section. We're ready for a BBQ now... waiting for a nice sunny day has commenced.

Thanks mum, dad, uncle and aunt! Without you're help it wouldn't be done for a while yet.

Next up is the garden for which we are deciding whether to do it entirely ourselves or have it done (we will likely end up somewhere in the middle). It is a black wasteland now, and really really deserves some attention.

Any ideas for a garden of 6x10 with a small cabana in the backleft corner are welcome. The objective is to have an easy to maintain garden (not many green fingers in our household) with some grass (mowing the lawn is not a problem). We are thinking of using flagstones to create a path from the house to the cabana. No other concrete ideas yet on our side.

Travel destinations

I was browsing my pictures to clean up my harddrive a little. I stumbled upon a treasure trove; Parties, friends, travel destinations and more. That gave me the idea to immortalise some of the travel destinations my girlfriend and I have visited. From time to time i'll add these as regulars to the blog.

First up is one of our most memorable trips we enjoyed quite early in our relationship. We travelled via Hong Kong to end up in New Zealand.

November 2005 - Hong Kong, stop-over:

We had a couple of hours before our connecting flight and decided to check out Hong Kong by day. HK was the first Asian city that I visited that inhabits millions of people. It felt as if HK dwarves cities like London and Paris.

We decided to take a tour into the city and split off once we got fed up. We got fed up pretty quickly. Demands of the tour-guide to "take picture" and "take picture now!" repeated mulitple times when we passed anything that she deemed picture worthy. It got tiring fast.

Once broken free of the herd we decided to go to higher grounds. One of the more impressive sights was the spectacular views. The by walk bridge connected towers lead to parks all spread over the inner city, something I had not seen before. In the business area a most peculier sight were the hundreds of women sitting on the floor, playing games, giving and receiving pedi/manicures, chatting or just eating . I later found out that Sunday is the day off for the mostly Philippino nannies working in HK.

December 2005 - New Zealand, being amazed:

Cruising

Skydiving

We started off on the north Island. I had prepared a tight schedule (in Excel ;p) that would bring us in three weeks from the Auckland on the Norht Island to Christchurch on the South Island and back to Auckland for the return trip. The weather was quite good, so we visited many places. We were not afraid for even the most touristic location (Hot Water Beach anyone?!) Brave souls we were. From there we moved to Taupo. Here we would meet with friends who migrated to NZ. They had some crazy stuff planned for us. Skydiving, Tangairo Crossing with views of Mount Ngauruhoe (aka as Orodruin or Mount Doom) and Kajacking was on the program.

Preperation

Helicopter drop off

The Kajacking was a great experience. Our friends had arranged to fly us to the Mohaka river in a mountanous area by helicopter. We were dropped on a stony riverbed. It would be a two day easy trip with a minimal amount of rapids. We would spend one night on the riverbank, so we had packed tents, sleaping bags and food in dry bags, which were rigged on the boats. It should have been an easy trip for all of us. It just didn't turn out like that. It was cold, rainy and the water was wild. We could somehow not find out where we were on the map. All orientation points we were expecting were not there. Approaching the end of the afternoon some of us were in danger of hypothermia. We had to stop and find a shelter warm up and stay the night. Luckily we found a fishermans house on a riverbed. There we were welcomed by a local fisherman, a hunter (aka John Darlington "the great white hunter", who gave his insulated socks to my girlfriend) and the wife of another fisherman who could return at any moment. They helped us with our gear, drying of cloth and given warm drinks and fresh fish (with kiwi!). Thanks again all, and a special thanks to John.

That evening we found out that the helicopter pilot had dropped us too high up in the mountains, at that moment we were not even close to the intended starting piont of our trip. We decided to end the trip and go for another pickup point he next day. However, our adventure didn't end there. Maybe a story for a next time if you'd like it.

Fresh fish with Kiwi

Sulfer lakes

After saying goodbye to our friends in Taupo (who now live in Wellington with a baby on the way! - congrats). We moved south towards Wellington to take a boat from there to Picton. In Picton we met with a friend from Europe, lets call him Mao, who was traveling in Australia and NZ. The three of us travelled further in a relaxed pace to enjoy a roadtrip from Picton to Nelson to visit the Abel Tasman National Park. From there we followed the west coast and moved south towards the glaciers.

Old MacDonald's farm

View on Fox

The glaciers were an awe inspiring sight. We shot many beautifull pictures there. Above you see our view on the glaciers. After the glaciers we moved further south to Milford Sound. Here we had our second dolphin sight (our first was at Mount Maunganui) on a 1 day cruise. My girlfriend was in the water when they were sighted. I saw the fins coming out of the water in a distance.. the sight remembered me of other fish. I checked my Lonely to see whether those swam in these waters. Nope.. phew. With camera ready I tried to take some nice shots from the boat. However, just seconds after the sighting the entire boat jumped in the water to "swim" with them. Ofcourse this scared the dolphins off... The evening the three of us spent playing a good game of Cluedo with another cruising couple.

Dolphins

Scenery

At Christchurch we had our last dinner together. We would fly back to Europe via Auckland, Mao would stay a bit longer. Our last money was spent on a fancy Hotel in the center of Auckland, where we recounted our adventures in Middle Earth.. eurhm New Zealand.

My journey has started and I am not alone

My life is in turmoil. I do not know who I am. I live by expectations which I believe others have of me, the who I should be.

My past, present and future are like a dark fog that slowly glides over the land. I am afraid.

In the fog I started seeing a light more clearly, only recently noticing it was ithere to help me find a way out. The light, It illuminates from her. With her love, her challenges, her being she nudges me back to reality, to now, to what is important.

Oh, I realise the journey out of the fog is still mine to take. That it will be slow and difficult. Fear still lingers and some days I am afraid I will fail. But first steps are taken and I am not alone. That encourages me, it fills me with strength.

My task is to keep this strength, to keep momentum by taking one step after the other. To defeat the fear. To find who I am, to find my goal.

24

Those are flight hours, not the american hitseries. Flying from EU to New Zealand took me 24 hours, including a stop over in HK. I'd like to share a couple of snapshots from places visited.

First stop Hong Kong:
















Final destination Auckland - NZ:




With my girfriend in the US (West Coast) in the same period I was able to experience a whopping 19 hour time difference. Her being a day behind me most of the time felt strange. Especially monday around 6PM just after work, at which time she was in full party mode in San Fransisco on Sunday evening.

I enjoyed the stay. Eventhough it was short the spaciousness of the country and friendliness of the kiwi's made me feel relaxed. However, back and forth in 7 days, just over 2 of which spent in the air did leave me exhausted. I am happy I have been able to enjoy bits and pieces of both Hong Kong and New Zealand several years before.

Next destination unknown.

Exciting & Fun in Luxembourg City

We’ll be visiting the sister of my girlfriend coming weekend. She moved apartments recently from a suburb to a location more close to the center of Luxembourg City. Her boyfriend will be over that weekend too.

I’m very much looking forward to seeing them again. Because they are nice people, but also because of ulterior motives (:wicked:). You see, when they’re around, something fun is always happening. Of course fun is relative. But, let’s presume for the purpose of this blog-entry that the happenings are fun.

For example, the last time we were all together we brought down a 15 meter high tree with only an axe, saw and a rope. Really exciting & fun. There was a catch though. The tree was standing in a garden of 6 square meters surrounded by garden sheds…. Pure manly fun you’d think…... However, the garden was ours, the sheds were not. I never knew chopped down trees created such chaos. Only last week, when I had the perfect opportunity, I finally finished clearing up the mess. Alas, details details.

A tout, I’ll be away next weekend having excitement and fun in Luxembourg City.

Home Alone

My girlfriend is currently in the LA area for work. It’s a new job as Manager of a L&D Department for a US listed company. She is there to meet some of her overseas colleagues and attend several courses.

Great you’d think. Sadly I must admit that I’m worried… Common guys, wouldn’t you be? First thing that pops in my mind when thinking of LA is not very comforting.

So I gave her some instructions when she left.

1. Text me when you arrive (I think that is were it all started to go wrong…




2. Have fun (awww, yeah I’m a nice guy)




3. Stay away from the most dangerous people in the LA.

She arrived at LA Airport (texted me ^^, instruction nr 1. met - check the box) were a rental was ready for her to drive to her hotel. Now I know for a fact she is a good driver, but the thing is I’m not so sure about the Americans in their big cars.

Would you not see that huge yellow bus? What was the driver thinking in that Hummer.

However, good thing is that so far she is enjoying herself. I am happy for her. I am also happy she is back with me in 51 hours 24 minutes and 12 seconds.

Bisou ma cherie.