Let's dance!

We started our day yesterday with a good training session to practice several new dance moves we have learned recently. The past few weeks we haven't really practiced much, because of my hand injury. Which, by the way, is much better now. My thumb still tingles a lot, and not all feeling has returned yet, but I can pretty much do anything with it again.

Anyway, we also practiced because we had another competition yesterday evening. The weather here is very tricky at the moment, with moments of snow, hail, rain and then blinding sun in between. So we left early to make sure we arrived there well on time. This would be the first time we danced in the A-class for ballroom, which meant that we also would have to do a slow fox this time. I'm not all that comfortable with the slow fox yet, it really is quite a difficult dance to do right! Also, as the classes get higher, the quality of the dancers gets high as well of course. So when we started our first round I did feel a bit of a knot in my stomach! For Latin we are dancing in the B class, as we did last time. So not such a big knot in my stomach there. It wasn't my best dance experience, I forgot several steps and really didn't have high expectations regarding the results.

But we made it to the final for both ballroom and latin and to our big surprise we won first prize in both competitions! So two new cups (see below) to add to our collection... I won't take them to the dance school anymore though, don't feel like repeating the experience of last time I wanted to do that!

35 days before Christmas...

... and I just received my first Christmas Card! Granted, it came from somebody in the UK, but still, that *is* early for a Christmas Card! Then again, I shouldn't be that surprised really... When I lived in the UK, the first Christmas items started to appear in the stores around September. Here in The Netherlands there was a time when Christmas stuff didn't appear until the beginning of December, after the St Nicholas celebrations are over. But now it starts earlier here as well... Most garden centers have their Christmas items out in October, and you are getting more and more choice of Christmas card collections in the stores.

In my family we have started shopping for Christmas gifts a couple of weeks ago. Thank goodness we all create a wish list, so at least A)you don't have to think about what on earth to buy for your loved ones, and B) you know that you will get something you actually like. So at least we don't belong to the group that sells their gifts on eBay the day after Christmas :-)

For me Christmas is more of a Yule-fest anyway, the mid-winter celebrations, bringing light in the darkness, spending time with loved-ones. And being happy together is probably the best gift anyone could wish for!

A rising star...

Yesterday, after an intensive private dancing lesson where we learned a really cool move in the Walz, we went to the theatre. This time we had booked a performance by Maria Fernandes, a Fado singer.

Earlier in the week I read in the local paper that she was a local girl, and to be honest my expectations weren't very high. But boy, was I mistaken! She has a wonderful voice and if I had't known better I would have sworn that she was from Portugal itself.

I was thus impressed that I bought her CD after the performance, which she signed for me. Maria Fernandes is definitely somebody whose career I will follow, and I certainly won't hesitate to book another ticket when she performs here again!

You can find more information about Maria and her performance schedule on her website.

Love thy neighbor

What is it about the night from Friday to Saturday? I had another awful dream that really upset me...

I dreamt that I had been traveling and returned home with jet lag. I was sitting in my living room when I suddenly realised that the wall between my house and that of my neighbors had disappeared. It was now one big living room... When I looked out of the windows, I noticed that the same thing had happened with the garden. Not only was the fence between the gardens gone, but the garden had also been dug up and was now one big mess!

I tried to call my parents, but the phone was picked up by my little niece who was apparently staying with her grandparents and playing with the phone. Then I saw my neighbors in the garden and I went outside to talk to them. They were very laidback about the whole thing and didn't seem to understand why I was so upset. In the meantime their big dog was running around, which led my cats to hide in a little corner. I pleaded with the neigbors, threatened with lawsuits, cried, yelled, screamed, but nothing seemed to work. As reason for the destruction of my house and garden they gave the fact that they were in a competition with a specific type of flower, and that my garden gave the best light.

In the end I cried out that I loved my house and that they had destroyed it completely. Then I woke up...

Really, I have no idea where these dreams come from... The neighbors in the dream were my actual neigbors, but I have no problems with them. The houses were slightly different, as were the gardens. Oh, and they don't have a big dog in real life either, nor do they seem crazy about flowers.

If there is anyone out there who can explain dreams and who wants to have a go at this one, let me know!

Last night I kissed Nicholas Sarkozy

Well not for real thank goodness, I don't even find the man attractive! But it happened in a nightmare and woke me up right after! I would much rather be kissed by my boyfriend thank you very much!

I have the weirdest dreams at times and have often thought of keeping a dream book. In my dreams I have been able to fly by making swimming motions in the air, I have saved the world, I have hugged trees, I have been lost, I have seen hose pipes wriggle their way into houses (that was a real bad nightmare!), and a lot of other things I can't remember right now.

Talking about dreams, isn't sleeping itself the strangest thing? You're kinda unconscious and your imagination does the strangest things while you're in this state. I often have small 'shocks' before falling asleep, like my body is protesting against entering that state. Of course Sleep wins in the end.

Waking up is another thing... Like most people I guess, I handle being woken up by alarm clocks really bad. When I'm woken up abruptly, for example by the annoying BEEP BEEP of an alarm clock, it really takes a while to become my usual cheerful self. Last year my boyfriend gave me a Wake Up Light though, and that's really amazing. About half an hour before the alarm time, a light starts to glow and it slowly becomes brighter... It simulates the sun rising. When the alarm time arises, you hear the soft sound of birds singing, a sound which gets louder and louder. But usually I'm woken up by the light, and it's a real gentle way to wake up. Not for everyone though, as my boyfriend sleeps right through it. So I wake him up, and I'm sure that's much more pleasant than being kissed by Nicholas Sarkozy!

I now know how Captain Hook feels...

As you know I had a little accident last Sunday which meant that for a few days I couldn't really use my right hand very well. It's going much better now, the bandage is off and the stitches will come out Monday. But I've been amazed by how hard it is to not be able to use your right hand!

Just for fun, try to get dressed by just using your left hand... Or ladies, put on your make-up with your left hand only. Try making a sandwich, or eating in general... Try going to the bathroom... You get the picture!

Anyway, this week is also the first week in my new job and I'm having a lot of fun. It's such a relief to have a job that stimulates and challenges me again! I'm developing course material for classes I'll be teaching this month and meeting my new colleagues. It's a fun and professional group of people, which brings back memories of the good old Learning & Development days from a few years ago!

A little accident...

I am typing this one-handed, let me tell you why...

Last night we had another dance competition. They changed the setup a little with the result that we're not quite sure how we did. Last night we were given prizes for second place in ballroom and third place in latin. However, on the official results list we were listed as first for both ballroom and latin. Anyway, we'll let our dance school sort that out, fact is that we came home with two prizes.

Today is our regular class and I wanted to bring the prizes to our dance school to show to our co-dancers there. I had already placed one prize in a bag and had the other in my hand when it slipped. My reflex was to try and catch it, but the cup hit the table and my hand slammed on top of it. The result was a small but deep cut between my thumb and index finger and a quick trip to the hospital where they stitched up the cut and bandaged my hand.

Luckily I'm still allowed to drive tomorrow, when I start my first day in the new job and have quite a distance to drive! Doctors advice is to take it easy for the rest of today and tomorrow. Stitches should come out after 7 days!

Food TV Shows

Don't know if it is the same where you are, but here in The Netherlands there seem to be more and more TV shows about food. There are the TV Chefs, showing how easy it is (until you try it out yourself) to make the most wonderful, creative, exotic dishes... There are programs about TV chefs helping people turn their not-so-good restaurants into the place-to-be. There are shows focusing on the hygiene aspects of cooking, visiting restaurants and people's kitchen at home to check on things that shouldn't be there...

And then recently a new show was launched: Who is the chef. Where 4 people each take a turn to cook for each other, one of which is a real chef. At the end they have to guess who is the real chef. It's kinda amusing to watch really, and while I think I'm a decent cook myself, there is no way I could do the things they do without a lot of practice.

The thing that gets me about all of these shows is that they all make it look so effortless! Ok, maybe not the shows with Gordon Ramsey yelling, cursing and swearing at you... My experience is that creative cooking takes time and practice and I don't spend nearly as much time on it as I'd like. My kitchen usually looks like a war zone after cooking an elaborate meal, not the clean, tidy, well organized kitchens you see on TV.

What I really want to see on TV is a show that demonstrates how to make healthy, quick and easy meals. When I come home from work, sometimes after hours in traffic, I just want something quick and easy, and not a microwave meal with tons of additives. So where is the show that does that?