Kyria's journal

 Last week we both took the week off from work and we had some free time with our family. It has struck me that we're probably doing this holiday thing all wrong, as we didn't actually go on holiday. We stayed at home! I had a rough week before our holiday week, as E was out hunting for two days so I had to take care of Eliza and Noushka by myself for three full days. The other three I worked, two evenings I taught and on the seventh day we visited my mother in law. I was kind of dead after that.

But our holiday week was different! 

Monday
we went to the zoo in Amersfoort, where they have done a nice job of turning the old zoo into a mix between animal habitats (they have less animals, but the animals they do have variation and room. They also used very heavy plexiglass so we could be really close to the animals. We had a tiger lying against the glass, about 10 inches away from us. They also added 'jungle routes' for the kids. Kids can clim and use slides to get to small windows that look into the enclosure. For example a rabbit hole where they can go underground, or a tree top walk over the wolves. Very nice. Eliza loved it and so did we!

Tuesday
We brought Eliza and Noushka to their regular day care and E and I went to the city and had lunch. We bought some clothes (socks and underwear, I got me a pair of skeleton leggings because I wanted those for dance class). Got some really nice food at a restuaurant before it was time to head back. We also bought two new metal frying pans from the fancy shop with cooking equipment. We don't want to fry things in teflon pans any more, and these pans are expensive but they last for ages.

Wednesday
E and N went to daycare so we could go to Alexandrium, a large mall with loads of furniture and 'style' rooms. We're not happy with our current livingroom: it's okay but everything is old and it doesn't match. ever since we moved in together we have a bit of an eclectic thing going on with furniture that functions perfectly fine, but isn't something we both like. We got some nice ideas and a bit of a shock from the price tags. I guess that buying from IKEA has made us forget how expensive high quality furniture is. I also think that buying brand new designer ANYTHING isn't a good idea with a young kid and a dog.

Thursday
We visited the Miffy museum in the center! It was busy and Eliza was a bit put off at first. All that noise and random stuff going on, she wasn't having any of it. She loved seeing Miffy and wanted to kiss her statue, and got to playing after a while. It is a really cute museum, with Miffy's house, a zoo/farm, a place where kids can play with a hand puppet theater and everything designed to play with. Very nice. I bought a Pomelo at the local toko in the inner city that turned out to be unripe and a bit of a disapointment. A well. That's the only thing I miss: a nice toko or Turkish store with fresh herbs. I bought a big bunch of fresh Turkish mint and drank hipster tea for the rest of the day. Eliza also liked the bike ride as she can look around and see all kinds of things. She kept on talking about it.

Friday
My mum came over to play with Eliza and E and I took the opportunity to visit IKEA. We looked at the furniture but couldn't find something that would fit our needs. Instead we bought a colorful tarp and two cushions to match. Our house now has a splash of color in it! It freshens it up a bit and makes it more playful. E took care of the two hares he took home with him the week before, and we ate hare for dinner. It was delicious.

Saturday
I went to Bussum to meet upo with Sense of Bellydance. We had a rather productive meeting (mostly talk) about our group photoshoot at the end of November. It went all over the place and I was a bit weirded out because the others were looking at me often, looking for approvement or agreement with the choices. Might be because I have done over twelve shoots and I carefully suggested that some of the ideas would look great but would also take out a big bite of our time with the photographer, that woul dbe bette spend on taking images. Plus bringing cushions, drapes and other items might sound like a great idea, but it only clutters up the image and makes it harder to photoshop/use for the flyer.

I asked them on advice for the studio and sort of had a break down (break through?) because things are growing over my head. My friends offered great advice and a shoulder to cry on.

When I got home, Eliza was asleep so I sat down and wasted time on Facebook instead of dancing. We hang around the house because it was rainy. I started painting Eliza's chair that she got from Little Brother when she was born. Turns out that the dance studio is also perfect for small furniture painting projects.

Sunday
E got inspired by my painting and he went out and painted the windowframe in front of the house. The one we replaced over two years ago and still needed to be painted. That one. I was elated. I took Eliza out with the cargo bike and we made a tour through the park, went to the stores and back home. More easy dinner was made (I love having stuff in the freezer that I can throw in the oven or in a pan and it's ready). It was another nice occassion to try our new frying pans and I love using them.

In short, the holiday was great though it was over way too fast :-( I look forward to December: we have two weeks off between Christmas and the second week of January. I have to admit that I am exhausted and I need to tune down a bit on various activities. I'm almost done with painting Eliza's chair (yay!) and we're planning ahead for her second birthday in a couple of weeks. Funny how time flies by.

Little Brother and two of our travel friends from Indonesia went to Barcelona last weekend. I've been to Barcelona twice: the first time with my Ex which was quite romantic. The second time with my ex inlaws, which was awful because I got sixk and we had to spend half a day searching for the football stadium whil eonly one person in the group wanted to see it. (hint: it wasn't me)

This time, we booked an appartment through AirBnB. A first for me, I am positive about the experience. The appartment was large, with a private terrace, living room and three bedrooms (Little Brother and I shared). It was perfect because I needed a kitchen for midnight snacks and a place to nap. If previous I was the queen of naps, I am now promoting myself to Empress.  We waited a bit too long to book our plane tickets and as a result we had sucky departure time on thursday (7 in the morning) and an indirect flight back on Sunday. Let this be a lesson for next time. I was however practicing my skills of not giving a fuck and letting other people handle things, which all in all went splendid.

Thursday
E. drove me and Little Brother to the airport on Thursday (5 am) where we boarded in good spirits. With only hand luggage we quickly were out of the Barcelona airport and on our way to the appartment. A friend of the owner showed us around. The AirBnB site didn't mention that the door to the bathroom consisted of an aluminium frame and bubble wrap, or that the appartment was kind of 'industrial'. Meaning it was an old warehous and they didn't spend much on remodelling or decorating. It was fine for our purpose though.

After settling in, we walked to the beach enjoyed the blue skies and even ventured into see with our pants rolled to our knees. Great to be in a place with nice weather. When I bowed over a fountain to drink some water, an delderly guy on a bicycle drove past me and slapped me on the butt. I was too stunned to react. Even at three months pregnant my ass looked inviting enough to slap! How rude. We had some lovely tapas on the beach and got some groceries on the way back to our appartment. We planned on going out but the others had a couple of drinks on the terrace and before we knew it, it was dark. We stayed in and watched a movie on Little Brother's laptop, nice and cozy.

Friday
Park Guell! one of my favorite parcs, much to my suprise they have a new ticket system in order. Due to limitation of the amount of visitors, you have to a buy a ticket for the next available time slot, which was usually 2-3 hours after you arrived. This came as a suprise, but we bought a tickets and wandered through the parc to kill the time. It really is gorgeous. Climbed a pile of rocks that didn't look steep but in retrospect, 10 feet is still a pretty long way down. We enjoyed the famous mozaics and went on our merry way to the Sagrada Familia. I am allergic to something that grows in the parc because my hay fever was going crazy at this point.

We decided to have dinner first, which was a mistake. By the time we got to the ticket line, we could only get a timeslot around 7 pm and my eyes were burning and I was very, very tired. Instead we went to Catalunya and did some shopping on the Ramblas: a nice summer hat and a Desigual dress. I have to go for size Large these days, but that was to be expected considering the circumstances. My bossom is very impressive and for the first time in my life I face the problem that my cleavage is always indecent due to it's size. Who knew THAT was ever going to happen to the flat chested A cup teenager! At seven Little Brother and me went back to the appartment, where I fell asleep and woke around 20.30. The others went out and came back around 2.30 with stories about drinking cocktails and bar hopping, while I stayed in and watched 'Jupiter Ascending'. I liked my night better. Much as I hate to admit it, I miss the taste of wine. I can do without drinking alcohol but I've come to appreciate the taste of wine and it sort of sucks. It's all worth it though.

I never quite understood the concept of going out to town to meet strangers, try to carry shallow conversation in bars with loud music and getting back home smelling of smoke and sweat. There should at least be some dancing to make it worth my while. As it was, I liked the couch and the pot of tea next to me.

Saturday
We bought our tickets for the Sagrada Familia online and headed out to mount Montjuic first. It has abeautiful viewpoint over the sea and the city. I wouldn't bother with the castle next time as it was rather empty. I was glad we took the round trip ticket for transportation, if I had to walk the whole way I would have been exhausted after this. Afterwards we went to the Sagrada and it is magniificent. Last time I visited it was full with scaffolds, but now the church is in use, with huge stained glass windows and wonderfull light. I am so glad we went there and I even ventured up the tower on the nativity side. They cleverly designed a tiny elevator to get people up, and we only had to walk down. Great thinking, thanks guys!

We went back to the appartment where I took a nap, and we went out for dinner in the area of our appartment. Unfortunately the food was overpriced, didn't taste good and the waiter made some mistakes that he blamed on us (and he only wanted to talk to the man in our company). Blegh.

Sunday
A relaxed day, where we went back to the beach where we  layed in the sand while Little Brother took a dive. Watching people on the boulevard and once more eating fried tapas (by now, I couldn't stomach anything fried anymore. Too much of our food had been fried the past days. We took a taxi to the airport and went home. E picked us up and Noushka was extatic to see me again. E and I videochatted on Friday and when she heard my voice through the phone, she started looking for me in the room and outside. It was very cute.

E cleared the attic and tomorrow the builders will arrive to place the scaffold. Next week the construction will start and we'll have two nice attic rooms in a couple of weeks. Untill then, we have a bass guitar in our bedroom and too much furniture in our livingroom. The dog doesn't mind, she's walking into corners of wood funriture 'by accident', always with her jaws open and her teeteh ending up in the wood. Curious.

I am cutting my trip into three parts: we spent a week on each island so it seems appropriate to take you with me through Sumatra. Sorting through pictures is a very pleasant experience, taking me back there. What suprised me the most is that Indonesia is not a very sunny country. There are often clouds blocking the sun. Thank God for that, the few hours that we spent in the full sun scorched our skin. I am also posting some of these pictures on facebook so you might recognize them. This time, they come with captions :-)( Read more... )

After quite a disastrous week, things are getting better. I reread my entries to see how much of the drama made it to lj but it wasn't much! It makes it easier to write a recap after things are solved because I am less emotional about it.

( Read more... )
Things to do before the end of June:
-rewrite the new IT security policy and send it out to whomever needs to give advice on the topic (policy advice stuff, been there and done that.)
-finish the planning and money needed for the next two years on IT security (I am doing project management stuff here, which is new to me so I am all scared shitless that people will call me out on writing down bullsh*t.)
-pack stuff for Indonesia! Buy the basic travel clothes that I need for a 3 week trip and include enough Deet and medicine to make sure I can take care of myself. My biggest fear: get ill and spend three weeks feeling like crap.
-paint the fungus wall of doom.

Things are starting to get a bit vague, so excuse me if I happen to mix up days and events. I left with Oslems workshop, didn't I?

Wednesday
After Galata tower we slept in. Since Ozma mentioned it, she was uncermeoniously dragged on stage by the not-so-good bellydancer and force feeded by a sultan, then coerced into dancing on stage. Being a good friend, I cheered her on and took crappy cellphone pictures. Well yes, that IS a tambourine she is holding!



I'm quite in the middle of finding a new subletter right now so I won't be able to properly finish this post. More will soon follow. :-)

Despite all the stuff that is going on at my work, I've been investigating plans for the summer holiday. Let's go through the list of options that I worked out, shall we?

1. horsebackriding
I do not have enough experience with horsebackriding for outside tracks, which sucks because that's what I envisioned in my highly romantic version of a horsebackriding holiday. I chose to be sensible and push it to a later moment in my development as a rider. It was fun though, searching the internet for trails and tracks in Spain, Italy, France, and even the Netherlands.  We're a flat country so our outdoor view is always of a flat plain. Flat plain with grass, flat plain with trees, flat plain with houses. Still, we have some great outdoor places where I could ride. One day.

2. diving
I'm taking my 5th indoor training this weekend and the outdoor training is scheduled at the end of June. There is no way that I'm going on a diving holiday on my own this summer, I'm going to get me some experience below my lead-belt with dives in the Netherlands. Maybe Egypt/Red Sea diving next summer....

3. Sailing
This one was on my list of 'stuff to explore'. I have never sailed before, so I signed up for a sailing weekend in Friesland for absolute beginners. Friesland is the Northern part of the Netherlands. It is also flat as a pancake, the view is mainly lakes, water and reed. I'm going in the first week of August on a boat with app 40 people, every day class on a smaller vessel, and everyone is between 20-35 years old. Let the fun begin!

random summer stuff:
-Laudie asked me if I want to participate in her new belly dance project so we're doing a couple of intens days together this summer to get most of the conceptual work done. We'll work on perfecting the theatershow next year. It's awesome that she invited me to participate *glows* Laudie is the creative director of The Oum Kolthoum Project

-I'm doing the fashion show for Laced-Up, the fetish boutique in Utrecht, during the Summer Darkness Festival at the end of August. Need to pick music and prepare a performance for that, something with a 40-50-60ies feel to it, that can be done in gothic/fetish clothes.

-Summer Bellydance Festival
The festival organised by Anusch Alwerdian. I'm not doing the workshops, just going to the show on Saturday because my coworker is performing with the studenttroupe. yay! Next to The Oum Kolthoum Project, my weekly classes and the private performances, I haven't been doing much bellydancing this year. I plan on dusting off my dvd collection this summer and try me som eof those. We'll see how that works out for me.

Things that are not going to happen:

-Castle Fest
Ikaiya didn't know if she could get the Saturday off, and it was the only weekend available for the sail week. So I won't be able to go to Castle Fest this year, it's good to take a break and reevaluate an event that I've been going to for the last couple of years. It's a bit like a renfair, which I totally adore, but I might have had a bit of an overload after a decade.

-sword fighting. Ikaiya took swordfighting classes in Utrecht a couple of years ago, as she is totally awesome. It's been on my to-do list, but it is not going to happen. Ballet, belly dance, badminton, running and horseback riding are sort of keeping me busy right now.

-camping. Mum and my aunt are probably 'going out to camp' when the weather is good and they feel like it. If this is during the weeks that I'm free, I might go a couple of days. I don't see myself taking another couple of days off at the end of summer for the promis of maybe we'll go, maybe we don't.

I picked up the special made soles in the hospital in The Hague today, and noticed an immediate difference when walking. Less pain in my knee! Though after an hour, my muscles started to protest and I put them away aain. The foot technician recommended to wear them longer every day, starting with one hour an taking it up with an hour a day. Tomorrow's queensday wanderings will start with the soles. I just watched Kate & William's wedding on the news bulletin, and they are gorgeous together. Good for them for kissing twice instead of once :)

While I was in The Hague, I witnessed the preparations for Queensnight. Traditionally the old Queen Juliana celebrated her birthday on April 30th. The current queen Beatrix decided to stick with that date as her birthday is January 31th, which is an awful season for the traditional outdoor festivities. Though the Dutch occasionally question whether we still need our royalty (most of the time because they cost us money) overall we are blessed with a very down to earth royal family that takes a real interest in their people. And let's face it, revolutions with pitchforks and guillotines are soooo 18th century and don't want to spend our precious free time on dethroning a lovely 72 year old lady with hair set in conrete. Here she is:
 

Throught the years, the younger people added Queens night to the celebrations. A night with music, beer and people wearing silly orange hats. The Hague is the official location of the Queen (she has several palaces: one in Amsterdam, one in Soestdijk (in use as a museum) and one in The Hague). IT was nice to walk in the sun and see the pub people setting out extra tables, burly man building stages and testing PA systems. In Utrecht the 'free market' starts tonight. It's our country's biggest flee market, where everyone can drag junk from the attic and try to sell it on the street. A lot of people will wake up tomorrow, wearing an orange sombrero or crown and clutching a lampshade with no clue on why or how they got it. In short, the famous Dutch stingyness will go down while beer levels go up. I won't go out tonight because beer is not my thing and I'm way to thrifty for my own good, but I wish everyone who's going out a great time! 

*edited to add congratulations to all the British flisties on the wedding of William and Kate. w000t!!