My 2012

Wow, it's been a while since I last updated this blog! March 2011 was the last posting... Let's see if I can pick it up again, starting by my year-in-review. And in order to write that, I have to start with what happened in 2011.

2011

The reason why I didn't write an end-of-year review last year, is because I didn't have the energy to do it. In January 2011 I woke up one morning and found out I couldn't move my left arm very much. It turned out to be a shoulder impingement, but wasn't diagnosed as such until much later on, when it was already too late... During the summer of 2011 it did seem to get a little bit better, but unfortunately the worst was yet to come. In November the pains had gotten so bad, that I couldn't sleep anymore and I was finally diagnosed with a severe case of "frozen shoulder". The lack of sleep meant that I couldn't cope with anything anymore and I had a bit of a break-down. And while 2011 turned out to be a year full of pain and misery, there was definitely also one very big positive side to it. On Christmas Day my then boyfriend proposed in a very original way, by giving me the book "If the Buddha would marry..." It was the highlight of my year!

Now on to 2012...

2012

Work

Still working for the same company, but in a different position. I'm now responsible for everything concerning e-learning in the Benelux. The company purchased a tool, Articulate, to develop its own e-learning modules, as well as an LMS (Cornerstone), to manage all e-learning courses. This fits in so well with my combined background of psychology, training and IT, that it's a perfect match. Plus I can use my creativity when creating e-learning modules. The company also introduced the new way of working, which means that I can work from home a couple of days a week and be flexible with when and where I work.

Love

Just as Roy's proposal was the highlight of 2011, our wedding on February 3rd was by far the highlight of 2012! We had a small wedding, with only our close relatives and a handful of friends. During the morning it started snowing, which made the day even more special (in spite of me being nervous about our guests being on time due to traffic jams caused by the snow). It was a truly special day! A few days later we left for Cuba, to spend our honeymoon there.

Health

The "frozen shoulder" took a long time to heal. It's really only now, almost 2 years since it started, that I can say it's almost completely gone. In my daily life I have no more problems, but I can't yet do everything I could before. According to my physio therapist, it will come back 100% in time!

House

Two years ago, we had just put our house up for sale. This year we took it off the market. The economic crisis has strongly affected the housing market. If we really wanted to sell, we would have to do so at a very big loss. So we decided to wait a while until the housing market is more settled and we've paid off a chunk of our mortgage, so we can (if needed) lower the asking price.

Cats

My two sweethearts, Tux & Roxy, are happy and healthy.

Dancing

Due to my "frozen shoulder" injury, we had to take a break from competition dancing. We started again just before the National Championship in May, but that was really a bit too soon. We've struggled a lot since then. It's hard to come back after not having been able to compete for 6 months. The other dancers have moved on and gotten better, and new, strong couples entered our competition class. Even though we trained hard and had great lessons from our trainers, we didn't seem to be able to progress in the competitions. Yes, our dancing definitely got better, but when you put so much time, energy and money (dancing is a VERY expensive sport), you want to see results as well. This resulted in a sort of "dance depression" at the end of the year. After thinking long and hard, we've decided to make a new start in our dancing, by putting 3 of our 4 trainers on hold, and adding one new one. We'll see what that will bring us in 2013! On that note, I want to wish all of you a Happy New Years Eve and a wonderful 2013. May the best of 2012 be the worst of 2013!

Ayurvedic Wellness Trip to Bad Schandau, Germany

Initially we weren't planning to go on vacation this year, as we thought we'd be busy moving house. But since it looks like our house won't be sold any time soon, we decided to go on vacation after all. Both of us were longing for quiet and relaxation so a wellness vacation sounded like an excellent plan! Via de wellness travel organisation Puur & Kuur we found a really good offer for an Ayurvedic Wellness retreat near Dresden, Germany.

We arrived in the hotel Elbresidenz on Monday 7 March, where we had to wait about 10 minutes for our room to be ready. The hotel is a composition of several buildings and contains both a regular spa as the Ayurvedic Viva Vital health center. Our room was quite nice, clean and well maintained. We were just a little disappointed that we didn't have a bathtub. The hotel itself is a bit of a maze at times, because of the way the different buildings are joined together. We then went off to the (regular) spa, with the Aurora swimmingpool, saunas, solarium and wellness center. Here I asked for a head/neck massage and was lucky enough that somebody was available. Good start of our vacation!

The Ayurvedic retreat is half board, so it includes dinner and breakfast. There are two types of Half Board at this hotel, the regular one and the Ayurvedic one. The first evening there was a little confusion among the staff as to which of the 3 restaurants was expecting us. When we finally found our table we were introduced to Ginger Water, a warm glass of water with pieces of ginger in it. This supposedly is good for your immune system. We also were served our first Ayurvedic dinner of the week. The dinners consisted mostly of: a salad as a starter, a soup, a curry dish, and a fruit platter for dessert.

Tuesday we had our first Ayurvedic treatments scheduled. The Ayurvedic center at this hotel is connect to the Siddhalepa Ayurvedic resort in Sri Lanka. We both started with a consultation with the Ayurvedic doctor to determine our "dosha" and based on that get nutrition advice and compose our meals for the rest of the week. After this we enjoyed a nice, relaxing head massage. The head massage was comparable to the kind of massage some hair dressers give you, except that this was combined with some warm oil which was poured over the head.

After the massage and much needed hair wash we went into the town of Bad Schandau for lunch and to visit the Tourist Information to determine what else we wanted to do/see while there. At the Tourist Information we purchased tickets for the amazingly cheap price of 15 euro in total that would cover the return fare for both ferry and train to Dresden for both of us! Back at the hotel after spending some time in the spa it was time for dinner. This time we were not only served the ginger water, but also special elixirs and teas, as determined by our "dosha" analysis earlier in the day. The elixirs had to be taken before dinner and before breakfast. They weren't very tasty, but we decided to go along with it and give it a try.

Wednesday was our "Dresden" day. First breakfast! The Ayurvedic guests have a special breakfast menu they can order from, next to chosing whatever you want from the extensive buffet. Unfortunately the chef was just taking a break when we wanted to order, so we had to miss out on the specialty this morning as we wanted to get to Dresden on time! After breakfast we took the small ferry across the Elbe to get to the Bad Schandau railway station. From there we got onto the train to Dresden where we arrived just before 10am. We walked from the main railway station through the Altstadt to the river Elbe. Dresden really is a very beautiful city, with some magnificent buildings! We were both very tired though, you know, the kind of tiredness you feel when you finally let go off build up stress and tensions! So rather than continueing on foot we decided to take the Stadtrundfahrt guided tour by bus. This tour isn't cheap (20 euro per person) but it gives a good insight into Dresden and its history. There are 22 stops and you can hop on/off unlimited for 1 day. After the tour we had lunch outside in the sun before heading back to the hotel and spa for some relaxation.

Unfortunately Roy had by now developed a really bad cold and wasn't feeling very well. He also decided to stop with the Ayurvedic ginger water and elixirs and some of the teas. At the same time I was feeling very good and really noticed the stress and tensions leaving my body, so I continued with the supplements.

Thursday was another relaxation day, with a full body massage and herbal steam bath. The massage was very nice and very oily :-) After the massage I was led to another room for the steam bath. This wasn't as I expected a bathtub, but a wooden capsule where you lie down on a wooden raster and a wooden capsule closes above you. Through the raster the steam rises up. Your head sticks out of the capsule, so it's only your body that is being 'steamed'. Very, very nice! After this we had lunch in one of the hotel restaurants before heading back to the spa for more relaxation, followed by dinner.

Friday we wanted to see more of the environment, specifically of the National Park Sachsischer Schweiz (Saxony Switzerland). There is a historic tram, the Kirnitzschtal Bahn, that goes from Bad Schandau up to the Lichtenhainer Waterfall. Unfortunately a tree had damaged the track so we took a bus instead of the tram. The waterfall itself was a little bit disappointing, I had expected it to be much bigger and more impressive. But the area itself was really beautiful with impressive Elbstone structures, the forest, mountains, and here and there some snow and ice. In fact, the snow and ice meant that we couldn't really walk the trails, as it was simply too dangerous. We didn't want to slip on the ice and break our legs, so we stuck to walking back to Bad Schandau via the regular road, a good 2 1/2 hour walk. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, especially since we'd be driving back home the day after.

The drive back home was uneventful and we arrived safely home just before 6pm on Saturday. In general I've really enjoyed this vacation and have found it very relaxing, just what I needed! For Roy it was a different story, as he didn't 'click' with the Ayurvedic doctor and treatment. Plus he suffered from that ugly cold! But we both enjoyed the spa, the environment and time to be together without all the work pressure!

You can see more pictures taken during this trip here!

My 2010

It's pretty unbelievable that another year has passed! It's true what they say about time passing faster when you get older! Anyway, this is my yearly attempt at summarizing all that happened in that year...

Work
I actually still work for the same company as last year! After a few turbulent years I've finally found a steady work environment again. I'm learning a lot about HR Management, which is also part of my responsibilities. The workload is very heavy though and I really have to watch the work-life balance to avoid coming too close to a burn-out situation. It's a good thing I really like the job and the variety of responsibilities!

Love
We've been living together for almost a year now and so far so good! Our love is only getting stronger and I really do believe that I've found the love of my life!

Health
The biggest news here is probably the lasik eye surgery I've had in July 2010. I can't even begin to explain how wonderful it is to wake up and see! No more glasses, no more contact lenses... No more eye infections either, which is the reason why I could finally have the lasik surgery. They disappeared as sudden as they appeared almost 5 years ago! Good riddance!

House
Well, our house is for sale at the moment! One of the requirements of my current job is that I live within 30km of the office. Right now it's 89km, so time to move... Unfortunately the house market isn't very good and I already know that I'll have to sell the house at a loss. I am also struggling with leaving my current home town, as my entire social life is here and I don't find it very easy to start all over in a new place. On the other hand, it will be really nice to start a new home together and find something that pleases us both. But first we've got to sell this place... Will you keep your fingers crossed for us?

Cats
Tux & Roxy are both well. They had to get used to collars (?) this year with a magnet on it to open the cat flap. An unfortunate measure we had to take to stop other cats from coming into the house!

Dancing
We did it again, promoting to the next class within one year! We are now dancing in the one-but-highest class for our age group in The Netherlands. Progress is getting harder and slower, but we're definitely still growing. Our biggest challenge is to add more power and dynamics to our dancing, which is what we'll focus on for 2011. I also have a beautiful new dress and we've added an extra trainer who together with our regular trainer will help us progress even further. Another highlight of 2010 was of course the trip we won to Vienna where we had lessons from a top dance, Anastasia Stiglitz, to help improve our Viennese Waltz!

That pretty much sums up 2010 for me! I'm looking forward to what 2011 will bring us and will end this blog with my favourite new year wish:

May the best of 2010 be the worst of 2011!

Bye bye glasses!

Since the age of 10 I've been wearing glasses and since the age of 12 contact lenses and I've always hated it. So when years ago I first heard about the option of having your eyes lasered I was immediately interested and started following the technological advances in this area as well as the experiences people had with lasering. Just over 2 years ago I decided that the time was ready to take the plunge myself. After hearing very good things from various people and consumer organizations about the Eyescan clinic in Utrecht I contacted the optometrist from Hofstede Optiek in The Hague for the preliminary tests.

I have been really impressed by the way Norbert Hofstede handled the preliminary track. He always took his time to explain things and discuss various options. He also told me that because of my very bad astigmatism my eyes would normally not be suitable for lasering. But recently the Eyescan clinic had acquired a new machine that might be able to do it. Another complication was the fact that I had regular Scleritis eye infections, an infection of the eye ball itself that can cause further astigmatism. So he sent me to the military hospital in Utrecht to be examined there by Dr. Rouwen, one of the surgeons of the Eyescan clinic who is also experienced in the scleritis infection. Dr. Rouwen told me that while my eyes could now be treated with the advanced technique, the lasik intralease, he advised me against it until my eyes had been infection-free for at least 6 months. Well that took almost 2 years, but with my last scleritis infection in October 2009 I contacted Hofstede again in May 2010.

When you get tested for lasik or any other kind of lasering you have to make sure that you stop wearing your contact lenses before entering the test track, especially when you - like me - wear hard contact lenses. The optometrist performs checks at several intervals to make sure that your eyes are stable and that there are no changes in eye sight or astigmatism. After it appeared that my eyes were stable, the lasik was planned for the 20th of July 2010. We had chosen for the lasik intralease superior technique, because it was the most advanced technique and also pretty much painless. With the superior plan I was also given a lifetime guarantee. After the date was set, the Eyescan Clinic sent me a lot of additional information, with detailed explanations of each step of the proces.

About a week before the surgery I had to stop using eye make-up and clean my eyes twice a day with sterile tissues. For me, wearing mascara is pretty much essential, even if I wear no other make-up, so I felt very naked and strange without it! But it was for a good cause, so oh well... When the day of the surgery approached I was starting to get a little nervous. After all, these are my eyes, which I treasure!

On the day itself, my boyfriend drove us to the clinic. And on the way I thought to myself "what if this is the last thing I see?". Pretty dramatic, but it shows that I was indeed quite scared for the procedure! When we arrived at the clinic they first did a last check-up and based on those results the lasik machine would be pre-programmed. They also started to apply the eyedrops that would make sure I would feel no pain during the lasik surgery. The eye drops would normally feel a bit stingy, but I didn't feel any discomfort at all. Next, I was taken to a room where they prepared me for the surgery by making me wear a robe, sterile shoe protection and a hair net, before taking me into the sterile surgery environment.

First part of the surgery was lasering the eye to create a 'flap'. In order to do this, my eyes were forced open with a little tool which then created a vacuum on the eye. This doesn't hurt at all, you just feel some pressure on your eye. The laser then lands on top of it, which adds to the pressure. When the flap is created, you notice your eye sight getting really blurry. The procedure was then repeated for the other eye. After the laser was removed the assistant (who by the way continuously keeps you up-to-date about what's going on in a very friendly way) took my hand and led me to the other operating room for the real lasik surgery.

Again, the eye was forced open, the eyelashes taped back and the laser moved over the eye. During the actual lasering, which only takes about 45 seconds per eye (!) I heard ticking sounds from the laser and I actual smelled a slight burning. But other than that, no pain at all! After the lasering, the surgeon moved back the flap and the eye was cleansed with water. You don't really 'see' anything during the procedure, as the eye sight is fuzzy. All you see is a little red dot, which also gets blurry. After the procedure, when I got out of the chair, I could immediately see better. It was just as if I was looking through a fog, but the sight itself was quite clear. The assistant gave me some further instructions on the frequency of the eye drops I now have to apply for several weeks, and the protective glasses I have to wear at night to avoid touching my eyes in my sleep. She also gave me a painkiller as the anasthetic eye drops would soon stop working.

The 2 to 3 hours after the lasik surgery were probably the most uncomfortable part of the entire procedure. My eyes felt as if they were burning for a while! But the painkillers worked, and I took the advise of the optometrist to sleep it off. When I woke up (and yes, it takes time to get used to wearing protective glasses while sleeping!), the burning sensation had passed and I could already watch TV. Reading a book or email on the computer were still difficult and extremely tiring though.

Now, as I write this, it's the morning after, and not even 24 hours have passed since the lasik surgery. I can see really well, even on the computer. Reading is still a bit tiring, so I won't overdo it, but I'm confident that soon life will be back to normal, with one exception: I won't need my glasses anymore!

That doesn't mean I'll never have a need for glasses in the future. The optometrist has told me clearly that my eyes will age normally, and like pretty much every person I will one day have the need for reading glasses. I will have my first check up later today, when I will find out whether my eye sight is at 100% now, or whether there is still a slight correction needed.

I'm still not allowed to wear eye make-up and will have to wear the protective glasses while sleeping for a few weeks and sunglasses when outdoors for the next few days. But as of tomorrow I'm allowed to drive again, which means that I can then do pretty much anything without the discomfort of glasses or contacts!

Last but not least, some questions I've been asked, with the answers:

Does it hurt? No, the lasik surgery doesn't hurt. The only discomfort I felt was the pressure when the flap was made, and the burning sensation for the first few hours after the surgery.

How long does it take before you can see? In my case, I could watch TV after 4 hours, and read after 18 hours.

Is it expensive and does the insurance cover it?? It's certainly not cheap, but in my opinion it's absolutely worth it, especially with the lifetime guarantee and highly qualified guidance I've received! My health insurance covered about 10% of the cost, but that differs between insurance companies. Just remember that buying glasses and/or contact lenses year after year costs a lot of money too!

If you have any other questions, please ask, and I will answer them in follow-up posts!

Exit 2009 - Enter 2010

So here we are, coming to the end of yet another year! Time to look back, reflect, and glance forward...

Work
Wow, where to start... Last year in my end of year blog I mentioned that I was loving the new job I had just started. I did, truly did... But then the world found out that the crisis was a bit more than just a few banks that had done silly things. One of the industries that was hit really hard was the training industry. Companies were just not outsourcing their training any more, or at the very least reducing it to save costs. All in all it meant that I found out relatively early in 2009 that there just wasn't enough work for me to do. And not just for me... The crisis hit us so hard, that the company was defeated and had to declare bankruptcy in July. Luckily for me I had already found a new job to go to and I am now very happily working as an HR/Learning & Development Manager for a large international company in the building industry. Building industry? Yes, another industry that has been hit hard by the crisis. So fingers crossed that this job will work out as I am truly enjoying the job, the people, and have great opportunities for personal development there! And really, having gone through the experience of seeing a really great company with really great people see bankrupt is not something I want to go through ever again!

Love
Our relationship has developed further and despite the troubles my boyfriend and I have both had at work (he had quite a lot to cope with this year as well) our relationship has grown stronger. We have been able to support each other through difficult times and our definitely hoping for better times to enjoy together as well. We have now also taken the big step to start sharing our household (he moved in with me this month!) and are looking forward to explore this new way of living...

Health
Nothing new to report, thank goodness!

House
Still loving the house, which has now become our house. And at the same time looking forward to the house we are going to buy in the future - 2010 or 2011 - which will be closer to our new jobs and for me also closer to friends and family.

Cats
My two darlings are in excellent health and hopefully will remain so for a very, very long time!

Dancing
Ah, our biggest passion! We continued our climb up the ladder and ended up winning 6 first places in a row in the national ballroom competition, which led to a promotion to a higher class just before the summer. And we are ending 2009 as champions of this higher class, as we won the last competition of the year. So things are looking very good for 2010 when it comes to ballroom dancing! As for latin dancing, we are working hard on our technique and choreography for latin and will decide towards the summer of 2010 whether we will continue with latin or whether we'll put all our time and energy in ballroom dancing. So stay tuned for that!

A sneak peak of 2010
Lots of changes on the horizon... We both have new jobs to get used to, and a new living situation to adjust to. Plus a possible house move coming up. But most important is that we stay happy and healthy, and that's also my wish for those of you who have read through my ramblings. As a lady of a networking club I belong to said: may the best of 2009 be the worst of 2010.

Happy New Year!

Lille, France

Last weekend it was time for the yearly weekend break with my mother. It has become a tradition that the two of us take a city trip sometime in November/December every year. We've already visited some very interesting cities, like Prague, Vienna, Chicago, Copenhagen, London etc. This year we planned to stay in The Netherlands and book a wellness weekend, when all of the sudden Lille caught our eye.

Lille was a city we had both heard of, but never really been to. It was also a city we didn't really know much about. So we decided to change that and spend our yearly weekend break there.

The drive to Lille went very smooth. It's surprisingly close to the Belgium border in the North West of France. We found our hotel quickly and were pleasantly surprised by our room which was spacious with a nice bathroom. We didn't get the view on the square we requested, but oh well. Grand Hotel Bellevue is a 3 star hotel in the middle of the city, walking distance from the tourist office, shops, cinemas and restaurants. We can thoroughly recommend it!

We arrived on Friday afternoon and after checking into the hotel we went to the tourist office to book a bus-tour of the city. We were the only 2 passengers in the mini van so had pretty much a private tour. There was a lot more to Lille than we were aware of! After the bus tour we walked to the cinema to book tickets for the movie "the imaginarium of Dr Parnassus". For movies in the original language with French subtitles, make sure you check for the acronym VO (version originale) in the movie listing. We then had dinner in one of the restaurants close to our hotel before going back to the cinema to watch the movie with Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, Jude Law. Weird movie, but entertaining nevertheless!

The next day was spent with shopping. We walked over to the Centre Commerciale Euralille, a huge mall with several interesting shops! In the evening after our dinner we went to see another movie, The Box. This one (with Cameron Diaz) was also interesting and based on a scary concept...

In short, we truly enjoyed our trip to Lille. It is a beautiful city, with amazing architecture and a rich history. Definitely worth a visit!

What do Ice Age 3 and Andre Rieu have in common?

What we originally planned as a quiet and relaxing Sunday, turned out quite different! Last evening on Twitter somebody asked if anyone was interested in 2 tickets for the show of Andre Rieu. The tickets belonged to somebody else and he would have to get them first before he was able to give them to me. But... they were offered for free! The person who got them originally had won them in a lottery and didn't want any money for them. So this morning I got a message containing a picture of where the tickets were hidden (he wasn't home when we picked them up).

Due to a misunderstanding (we thought the show would start at 11:30am, but it started at 2:30pm) we were at the location way too early. But no problem, there was a movie theatre there, so we decided to go and watch a movie. Not that there is a lot of choice that early in the day... We ended up watching Ice Age 3, in 3D wearing funny glasses. What a fabulous movie! I really admire the makers for making the 3rd instalment of Ice Age still interesting and entertaining, and maybe even better than the 2 previous ones...

After the movie and a quick lunch, it was time for the show! The Amsterdam Arena was packed! There were about 30.000 people! Our seat was really high up, close to the roof of the arena. The stage is amazing, a replica of Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna. During the show, Andre Rieu was accompanied by several solo singers, all with amazing voices. A well known Dutch comedian (Andre van Duin) also had a couple of acts in between. During the waltzes there were both ballroom dancers and ice dancers performing above and to the two sides of the stage. The well known choir, Mastreechter Staar, accompanied Andre Rieu for several acts in the second half of the show. They are in the picture at the bottom of this blog, bearing the torches while walking to the stage. And in between all that Andre Rieu and his musicians did an amazing job as well. This is a show I can truly recommend to anyone!

Oh and do stay until the very end... it's absolutely hilarious!!!

Neverland - and no, this is not about Michael Jackson!

One of the things I enjoy doing is taking part in surveys. All kinds of surveys, about business, food, politics, you name it! Most of these surveys start of with a few basic questions about yourself. Things like: your age, level of education, whether you're employed or not... And that's where I get stuck these days.

I am in a bit of a funny situation right now:
- I am not working for a company, yet I'm also not unemployed
- I don't get paid my salary, nor am I on unemployment benefits, but I do get paid what my salary used to be

The reason for this is the following: my most recent employer went bankrupt last month. Since they had already told me in April that they wouldn't be able to renew my yearly contract due to the crisis I had already searched for and found a new job. This new job has a start date of September 1st. The (old) company went bankrupt mid-July and all employees were fired by the lawyer handling the bankruptcy. So there I was, being fired after I had already quit! Weird situation... What was lucky for the employees is that the institution which handles the unemployment benefits in The Netherlands also continues to pay out salaries for 4 - 6 weeks after a bankruptcy - the notice period. And in our case it was 6 weeks, which means for me that I only have a gap of 1 week before I start my new job.

So in between the bankruptcy and my new job I am in a kind of Neverland. I've decided to call it my 'in-between-jobs' period, but if you can think of a better name, let me know! I count myself lucky that I already have a new job waiting for me, and I hope with all my heart that my former colleagues will also find something new soon!

SportSchloss Velen / Sport Castle Velen

Both my boyfriend and I have had a few stressful months work wise so several weeks ago I suggested we take a weekend break. One that should focus on rest and relaxation and spending quality time together. After a short search we decided that SportShloss Hotel Velen fit those requirements perfectly.

It's an original German castle, now in use as a hotel. They had an 'Entspanning und Erholung' relaxation offering which consisted of 2 nights in the hotel, an exclusive facial, hand treatment and aromatic massage. It also included the 2 evening meals to be taken at the hotel restaurant and the Orangerie.

When we arrived - a day later than originally planned due to my aunt's funeral - around noon our room was already available. It was a beautiful and spacious room in the main building, with the traditional high ceilings and also furbished in a traditional-looking style. The only downside of the room was really that it was quite warm, or even hot and it had no air conditioning. Even with the windows open it wouldn't cool down much as the weather outside was quite warm.

We started our break with a stroll through the village. It's a small village, with only a handful of shops and a few small supermarkets. We had lunch in the local biergarten (food was good but service could have been friendlier), bought some snacks for in the room and walked back to the castle as our first treatment was due.

Unfortunately when you go as a couple you cannot have your treatments together at the same time, as they have only one treatment cabin. So while one of us had the treatment, the other stayed at the indoor pool. The pool was nice and the water had a pleasant temperature. There are a few deck chairs with cushions to relax poolside. On the first day we had the facial and hand treatment. The facial was very nice, especially the massage aspect! The hand treatment wasn't anything special really, other than - again - the massage.

The first evening we had dinner in the Castle restaurant. For people who had booked an arrangement they had a set dinner which you couldn't change. The wine was included, which was great for me but not so great for my boyfriend who doesn't drink alcohol at all. Especially since any additional drinks were extra. But the food (and wine) was excellent! During dinner they played a game with scents. We were given 5 small vials which we had to sniff. We then had to guess the scent and write it down. We ended up with guessing 3 out of 5 correctly!

They also offer activities in and around the castle for all guests, and an activity calendar is always on display in the reception area. We got a big chuckle out of the calendar that was posted on Saturday evening. Look at the picture below and guess why!



The second day we enjoyed a walk in the area. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and we bought ice cream at a local bakery which was open on Sunday's. Then it was time for our aroma massage. This too was excellent and we both really enjoyed it. Dinner that evening was in the Orangerie which was housed in one of the outbuildings on the site. This time there was some choice as it was a small buffet dinner and the food was once more excellent.

The next day we checked out of the hotel and drove up to Münster, a city about 50km away from the hotel. We walked down the old town and browsed through the stores. After lunch we decided to drive back home. All in all we had a wonderful weekend break and definitely fulfilled our need for quality time together, rest, and relaxation!

The Dalai Lama in Amsterdam

It seems ages ago since I ordered the tickets, but yesterday the day finally arrived on which I would see the Dalai Lama again, for the 2nd time in my life. The last time was in Brussels a few years ago, and I remember praising myself lucky then to have the opportunity to see him life. After all he's not the youngest person and he has suffered from several health issues. So I was very happy indeed with this 2nd opportunity to see him and listen and learn from him.

The day started early, as we (my boyfriend and I) wanted to be in Amsterdam on time to secure a good seat. We arrived well on time and after initially going to the wrong entrance (for Tibetans only) we passed the security checks and entered the main hall. The security was meant to be really tight, but we found a big problem with it which I won't elaborate on in detail here. I don't want to give the wrong people tips!

Luckily we managed to get a really good seat with an excellent view on the stage. First we started with the lesson on patience. His Holiness the Dalai Lama guided us through chapter six of Shantideva's text "A guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life".

In the afternoon we attended the public lecture about 'The power of compassion in turbulent times'. It was quite funny that the Dalai Lama had to ask the translator what the title of the lecture was. He explained this by saying that no matter what the title of any of his lecture is, the content is always pretty much the same. The difference between the lesson in the morning and the public lecture in the afternoon was huge! The morning was more complex and really did require (some) background knowledge in Buddhist beliefs. The afternoon session was much lighter. It also included a question and answer session. One of the biggest learnings I got out of the afternoon session was that forgiveness doesn't mean that you should not help the person you're forgiving to correct the actions that led to the need to forgive them to start with. In other words, forgive, but don't forget and help the other person so (s)he won't make the same mistake again.

We also attended the evening lecture by Sogyal Rinpoche. It was the first time I met this very impressive Buddhist teacher. His lecture was also very interesting, but unfortunately by this time I was so tired that I had trouble concentrating on what he was saying. But I will definitely attend his lectures again in the future!

All in all it was a very intensive day, a great experience, and a day I will remember and cherish for a long time!

The picture below was taken when the Dalai Lama accepted an Amsterdam baseball cap and sunglasses as a gift from somebody and put them on immediately :-)

Ups and downs in these tough times

The last few days have been pretty tough... The continuing stories about how bad the crisis is and how the recession is worse than expected combined with my own current extremely uncertain job situation have really gotten to me lately.

Yes, there are still jobs to be had, but not a lot and there's a lot of competition for each interesting looking job. On top of that the pay for all of the jobs I've applied for so far is a lot less then what I've been used to and what my mortgage is based on. Selling the house is not an option either, as I would have to sell with a big loss at the moment due to the lower house prices. So not a lot to be cheerful about. Normally I'm not really prone to depression or pessimism, but the past few days have been really, really tough.

It took me 10 years to build up my life to where I am now, after returning back from the UK with next to nothing other than a huge debt, some books, CDs and my clothes. So I know I'm capable of crawling out of a shit hole and fighting for a better life. Thing is though... I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO DO THAT AGAIN. So there. I had to get that off my chest.

So today I was looking at the dreary weather outside, with rain resembling the interior of a car wash, and that didn't make me feel a whole lot better. After having a brainstorming session with my boyfriend on what we could do that would take us out of the house for a bit we decided to drive to the coast and walk on the beach for a bit. My boyfriend decided on the location: Egmond aan Zee - a town neither of us had ever been to before. When we got there, the sun came out, and even though it was windy, the wind wasn't cold. So we had a nice long walk on the beach, which we ended with drinks in a beach bar. The wind, sun, sea, beach & company really cheered me up and made me feel better. This was topped of with a good meal in one of the local restaurants, after which we had a huge ice cream before driving back home. So now I feel a whole lot better again, and ready to start the new week, with hopefully a really good job coming my way. Or a good lottery win, that would be quite allright too! :-)

Successful attack on the Dutch royal family on Queen's Day 2009

As most of you probably know, a lunatic in a Suzuki Swift killed 8 people including himself in an attack on the Dutch royal family during the Queen's Day celebrations on the 30th of April in Apeldoorn. I haven't blogged about this before, because it took some time for it all to sink in after seeing this happen live on television.

I also needed some time to think about the implications of what happened for the Dutch royals. Sure, they didn't suffer any injuries and none of them died, but I strongly believe that this has impacted them in an irrecoverable way. Just compare the pictures of Queen Beatrix at the beginning of the day - beaming, happy, glowing almost - to the pictures of her during her speech at the end of the day after the horrible event - grieving, shocked, visibly aged. I am sure that something inside her died that day. Look at the expressions of utter shock on the faces of Willem Alexander and Maxima right after the attack.

I cannot imagine that Karst Tates thought he would really kill or injure any member of the royal family by hitting the royal bus with a Suzuki Swift. If he had wanted to do real damage he would have taken a bigger car, or filled his small car with explosives. Nobody will ever know what went on in that man's sick head that made him do what he did. And even though right now royals and politicians are saying that Queen's Day will continue as it always has, I don't think it will ever be the same again. It's a day that has lost its innocence and its smile.

So was the attack on the Dutch royal family successful? Sadly... I think it was.

Twitter Apprentice

In February I wrote a blog post about my very first experiences with Twitter. I really didn't get the point of Twitter then, but decided to hang in there, and see if, with time, I would come to see what the appeal of Twitter is.

Now, a few months later, I'm slowly getting there. I have a whole bunch of followers and am also following quite a few people myself. So where do you go to find interesting people to follow? Here are some tips:

- Use a directory, for example http://wefollow.com/ or http://www.twittergids.nl/ (for Dutch Twitter users)
- When you're following somebody, have a look at their twitter profile to see which people they are following. Perhaps they are interesting for you to follow as well
- Make sure to follow MrTweet on Twitter. He will send you tweets with suggestions for people to follow

When you start tweeting, you will find that people will start following you as well. It really helps if you fill out the short bio on your Twitter Settings, so that people with similar interests can find you.

It seems to be good netiquette to follow somebody back as a thank you for them following you. I did this diligently in the beginning, but have stopped now. Unfortunately there are a lot of people on twitter who abuse your kindness this way, whose sole interest seems to be to get as many followers as possible, but who will never really interact with you. This has probably been the one thing about twitter that has annoyed me the most.

So, when somebody follows you, check out their profile, bio & tweets before deciding to follow them back. That way you'll have at least some idea as to what that person is about and whether they are likely to interact with you or not.

I think the folks-that-just-want-thousands-of-followers-but-won't-interact issue is one of the major reasons why so many people quit using Twitter within the first month. It really is very annoying when that happens, while you genuinely want to interact with your followers and those you follow. But you play an important role in making that happen as well. Interaction involves you and at least one other person after all. So in order to interact, you will have to act as well. So tweet! And @reply to messages from the people you follow. And RT (retweet) any interesting messages you read from the people you follow. If you don't say anything, it's a bit unrealistic to expect that others will reach out to you. Unless you're a celebrity of course...

Anyway, that's it for this Twitter Blog. I'm also working on a blog about using Twitter for learning purposes, but am still researching it. In the meantime, you can find me here on Twitter if you like to interact! Happy Tweeting!

Sorry, so sorry... but we can't renew your contract...

That's what I got to hear from my boss earlier this week... not that surprising really, since even an idiot can see that there isn't enough work to keep everyone busy. And that means no income for the company, while there are still bills to pay... On top of that I'm the newest employee and the only one still on a 1-year contract and thus the easiest to 'get rid of'. But still, even if it was expected, it's not easy to hear this kind of news, nor to bring it. My manager was also visibly shaken that he had to give bad news.

My contract runs until the end of October, which gives me about 6 months to find something new. Having taken a first look at jobs in the learning consultancy / training management space I can tell you that while 6 months sounds like a lot of time, it won't be easy to find something. There simply aren't a lot of companies hiring at the moment, while the number of people looking for a job keeps increasing.

Having said that, I'm an optimist and a positive thinker and I'm convinced that things will work out. It's too bad really that becoming a professional dancer is barely an option, since I love dancing so much! I'm too old now to become a professional, and they pay isn't all that either.

So, my challenge for the next few months: finding a job that I feel just as passionate about as I do about dancing (and which will pay the mortgage!) ;-)

Dance Bootcamp

Today is the first day of what would have been our vacation... Well, it still is our vacation in that we won't be going to our regular jobs for the next 2 weeks. However, we're also not packing our bags to go on a lovely trip somewhere nice...

No, instead of all that, we have decided to invest 2 weeks of our time and energy into our own personal dance bootcamp! Now that we've reached the highest level of dancing in ballroom regionally we will have to compete against people who've been dancing at that level for many, many years. Some even on national level and not just regionally.

We have seen several other couples become demotivated and frustrated by never even making it to the demi-finals, let alone the finals, because the top couples in this class are just too hard to beat. We didn't want that to happen to us...

So we spoke to our dance trainer and agreed on a tough 2-week training schedule, with private dance classes for 2 hours every day, followed by practice sessions the rest of the day. In between we'll also be taking part in 3 dance competitions, one at the start, one in the middle, and one at the end of the two-week bootcamp.

I have no idea whether my body and feet will be able to handle this physically, but I do know that if we make it to the end, we will have made vast improvements to our dancing technique and we should be able to make it to a final round every once in a while.

Some people have called us crazy for sacrificing our vacation time for this, but we both strongly believe it's worth it. It's an investment, and it's bound to pay off!

To be continued...

Play it forward

Who doesn't know the inspiring and tears-inducing movie 'Pay it Forward' in which a little boy invents a system where you have to do 3 good things for free for other people who in return have to do the same for three other people etc.

There is now a similar concept called Play it Forward (which I first heard about on Twitter), initiated by a company called Akoha. The idea is there are cards circulating across the globe with activities on them. For example: invite a friend for coffee. You give these cards to people, who register on the akoha site that they have received the card and completed the activity. Then they pass on the card to somebody else. You can follow the progress of the cards you've received on the internet. I love the idea of this, as it is all about doing something nice for other people and I've just purchased 4 starter decks to start this game up in The Netherlands.

The idea is not really new, I already know it from bookcrossing, where you leave books you've read in public places for other people to pick up. Instructions in the book will invite finders to register that they've found the book on the internet and you can follow your books around the world. My books have made it all the way to the US, South Africa and Asia.

I hope Akoha will become just as succesful and that with a little help from our friends we can spread it across the world! Click here to find out more and/or to join!

Twitter Newbie

Over the past few months I've been hearing more and more about Twitter. After expanding my use of LinkedIn, Facebook and Hyves I decided to find out more about Twitter as well. Where the social networking sites are pretty intuitive, I found Twitter much harder to get to grips with.

Oh signing up is easy enough, and Twitter tries to help by giving little hints as to what to do next. So you have to find some people you wish to follow and they have the same little tool you find on the social networking sites to search through your email address books to find people in your existing network who are also on Twitter. In my case there were only 2 people also on Twitter. This surprised me... isn't Twitter supposed to be this big hype that EVERYONE is using?? Apparently not...

Next I struggled and am still struggling to find others to follow. The Twitter suggestions don't really mean a lot to me and I wish Twitter would offer categories to search in, for example users from the Netherlands, or users who work or have an interest in learning technologies... But no, that's not possible.

So right now I'm resorting to occasionally hitting the 'everyone' button on the Twitter website. This shows you 'tweets' that have been recently made by all twitter users. I'm browsing through them to find interesting tweets, and thus people I might wish to follow.

So far I've not seen what the big fuzz is all about with regards to Twitter. I think it's only interesting if you can find the right people to follow. However there isn't a lot of help or support or tools that will assist you in finding the right people. If I'm wrong, please enlighten me!

Kitchen woes...

As some of you know, I've lived in my new house for almost 2 years now... When I bought it, it needed a lot of work done, including a new kitchen as the original one was totally falling apart.

So I did what you do and visited several kitchen stores and ended up making a good deal for a very nice kitchen. So far so good. Of course the kitchen needed to be installed as well and the store where I bought it recommended an installation company.

In the beginning all was well... Two nice chaps who seemed to know what they were doing and even helped me out big time when they discovered leaking water pipes in the space underneath my house. They also helped me get a new refrigerator when the one that was delivered by the kitchen store turned out to be damaged.

Now, two years later, I'm faced with all the things that didn't turn up quite right:
- electric outlets installed right above the sink
- a dishwasher, freezer and gas stove that aren't quite the quality I would have liked (do not ever consider buying anything from the Spanish label Fagor, I really cannot recommend it!)
- the transformator (sp?) for the spot lights broke and is hidden somewhere I don't know so I can't repair it
- and just last weekend the electric ignition for the gas stove broke, so I'm back to using matches

The worst part is that the installation company has disappeared and that I'm too much of a 'let's just all be nice to each other' type of person to complain to the kitchen store. I know I teach conflict management classes, but with these types of conflicts I definitely take the 'avoid' approach. I wish I could be as assertive with these types of people as I can be in other situations! I guess I'm just really annoyed with myself for not getting my act together and do something about this.

Having said all that, I still like my kitchen and my new house :-)

It takes two to tango...

It's time for a bit of a dancing update here... I have another site in Dutch where I write detailed reports, but since a lof of people reading my Tink blog don't read Dutch, here's an English update:

In the regional competition which we've been taking part in for just over a year now, we've done really well. At the moment we're dancing in the A-Class for both ballroom and latin, so only one class away from the absolute top. It's only the top class that wears the beautiful dancing gear, but with only 1 or 2 competitions away from it in ballroom I've now purchased a dress (picture to the right) and tan colored shoes (see picture below) to go with it. For latin it will be a bit longer before we reach the top level as we have some tough competition there! I expect to wear the ballroomdress for the first time in March or April, so stay tuned!


In the national dance competition we just finished our third competition. Unfortunately there are only a few participants in our class, and if there are only a few participants they don't give points to all couples dancing a final round. So progress is really slow, and at this rate it will take a good two years before we get promoted to the B-Class, which is when you have to wear the official gear in this national competition. Having said that, this is the competition we'll be focusing on as this is the one where we can see progress once we've reached the top in the other competition.

To help with the progress, we've decided to sacrifice our two week vacation planned for March, and take a two week dancing bootcamp during that time instead. Our dance trainer is developing a program for us. It will be tough, but most definitely worth it!

Apple Rulezzz

I remember it well, the day in 1999 when I decided to swap my PowerMac for an ordinary Windows based PC... I was working as a CRM Consultant at the time, and a lot of the tools I needed for work were not available on a Mac. Since then my personal laptops have been Windows-based, and for work I've used both Windows-based machines and Linux.

This past week I bought my first iPhone as well as my first iPod (Classic). And I have to say - I'm very impressed! I love the user-interface of the iPhone, absolutely love it! It's a vast improvement on the Windows Mobile based smart phone I had before. I love the fact that you can store a webpage on your 'home screen', the applications that you can download from the AppStore, and the fact that it has a mini iPod included. The only trouble I have is that I sometimes mistype, I guess my fingers are too thick to hit the right spot on the touch screen.

I store my entire music collection on my MP3-player, and the iPhone doesn't have enough space for it, which is why I also bought an iPod Classic with 120 GB of space. Plenty of space left for any future music acquisitions! The difference between the iPod and the Creative ZEN Touch I had before isn't as big as the difference between an iPhone and any other phone. But the quality of the sound, and the iTunes software is much, much, better.

As I mention in the title of this blog, Apple Rulezzz... I'm so pleased with my iPhone and iPod that I am even considering a Mac Airbook for when I need to replace my current laptop! Having said all that, I wish Steve Jobs, the man behind many of Apple's successes, a speedy recovery! We need more people like him!