Throughout the year, even though it’s misty April or sunny June, I find myself whistling the same stupid Christmas carol again and again… And now finally, in the month of December, I may whistle it over and over again and no-one will look funny at me. So, here my top 6 (in no particular order) of favorite Christmas tunes:
Merry Christmas!!
This year my winter blues have arrived early. Even though, the temperatures have only just now dropped to the 30′s and 40′s, which by the way, is crazy (maybe good old Al, as in Gore, has a point), I’ve been cold to the bone for more than a week now. Further, I’m beyond tired and it doesn’t matter how many hours I sleep, I just can’t seem to shake it. Or could it be that I’m suffering from a bad case of "ziekte van Pfeiffer" (= glandular fever)?? No, that’s just my hypochondriac-self talking. But last but not least, my skin color has paled even more than it’s usual translucent stage. I didn’t know that was possible, but I guess I was wrong.
Thankfully, I have some great days to look forward to, and hopefully they will pull me out of this wintery misery.
Because on Friday, I drive to grand ole’ Almere-Haven to celebrate my sister-in-law’s birthday, of course I will then challenge my nephew into a playing a couple of games "Catan". The next day, I drive home to spend some time with fatty catty George. But I will go to Antwerp with a friend to see a movie (The Holiday), after which I will leave on Sunday to start celebrating the holidays. Sunday night it’s time for presents and great Indian food at my aunt’s place in Amsterdam. My mom, cousin & his girlfriend are coming too. Then Christmas day is spent in Hoofddorp at my cousin’s place. Of course, again "Catan" and then on 2nd Christmas day I drive to Voorburg to spend time with my steph, Lenie. We’ll probably take a walk on the beach, then on the 27th I’ll drive back to BoZ…
On the 27th I’m going to dinner with a colleague and his wife and then on the 29th I’m going to Maastricht with a friend. We stay at a cute little castle "Vaeshartelt" and we will of course shop till we drop…
I bet all these events will pull me out of my dark & moody winter blues, I just think that I’ll be even more tired after that week is over, but then for a good reason!
Ace – Haven’t hit one as of yet, and I don’t think I will any time soon, because for that to happen I need to first hit the freakin’ ball inside the proper lines.
Backhand – They say: "It’s all in the wrist". Right.
Court – How to make the ball hit the court between the lines, is still a mystery to me.
Double fault - I took a subscription on this one.
Forehand – The one thing I’m starting to manage at this point, once again it seems to be all in the wrist.
Grand Slam – Partaking passively? Yes. Actively? Never.
Love – Zero points in a tennis game… Sounds familiar.
Match point – To me: A myth.
Racket – Got one!
Second service – See ‘double fault’.
Top spin – When the ball spins forward in some crazy way; this gives the opponent a hard time in hitting the thing back. This happened to me ‘on accident’, but I claimed it was merely ‘raw talent’ showing through.
Winner – One day…
P.S. By the way, I’ve been going to tennis class since October, and I’m loving it!
Ouch. It has been over 2 months since my last sign of life.
In the mean time, the clutter has been diminished into manageable proportions. I realise that I owe you some blogs about what has been going on in my life during my absence on the web. I promise you to post a log or two about the annual wine trip with our 2nd year students, I’ll also tell you something about my new hobbies, tennis and theatre (passive & active), further some tantalizing lines about choosing (and purchasing) the perfect kitchen (haven’t managed as of yet) and last but not least, I’ll throw in some revelations, musings and the occasional rambles and raves. And no, I haven’t forgotten, I still owe you a thrilling story about my trip to Cyprus.
All I can hope now, is that you haven’t forgotten me, as I’ve neglected you for so long… I’m happy to be back!
Welcome!
My weblog started out to be a way to ‘keep in touch’ with all my buddies from the US. Now, I realise, it’s merely a way to silence the little voices in my head, whoahahaha
Before I forget, I apologize in advance about my tendency to ramble and rave.
In the mean time: ENJOY and don’t hesitate to enter your comments!!
Peace,
Danielle
In answer to someone’s question:
Metaphorically and literally speaking, I’ve found myself in a life filled with clutter. A clutter in my mind and a mess in my home (renovating).
So, before I can get my life (and this blog) back on track, I need to get rid of the clutter.
Bare with me…
To start of the new school year with a bang, my colleagues and I had dinner at "’T Veerhuis" in Wolphaartsdijk (near Goes).
Over the last couple of year’s, we’ve been at several different restaurants and I’m happy to say that last Friday’s dinner was absolutely the best I’ve had! Not only was the food amazing, the accompanying wines (all Italian) were a joy and the service was impeccable.
At the end of the dinner I ordered my usual cup of tea, why mention it? Well, the presentation of the tea was amazing. I will probably forget what we had to eat that night, but I’ll never forget how they served their tea’s. The tea was namely served on a beautiful silver tray with a tea cup, a beautiful glass tea pot and an hour glass. The server instructed me to turn the hour glass once and when all the sand had run through my tea would be at it’s best. One of my colleagues ordered a different tea, and the server instructed him to turn his hour glass twice before drinking the tea. Awesome, it’s that attention to detail and care that I love. We actually decided that night, to adopt this kind of tea service for our own restaurant at school. So you see, we don’t only go to dinner to eat, drink and be merry, but also to keep up with the developments in the restaurant industry, kitchen and front-of-house….
If you would like to check out what we had, click on the links below:
Download menu_t_veerhuis.doc (Dutch version)
Download menu_t_veerhuis_en.doc (English version)
Last but not least, if you’re in the Lowlands you should definitely check this restaurant out. By the way, it’s a great place to bring a date 
But somebody has to do it.
Next wednesday, August 30th, I have to fly to Cyprus and visit several of my students, who are completing their internship on this beautiful island.
Cyprus is part Greek (the bottom half) and part Turkish. During my stay, I’m visiting several hotels on the island, Louis Apollonia Beach in Limassol and Hilton Cyprus and Hilton Park in Nicosia. ‘Further, I will go and see other accommodations for future interns. It’s obvious that I’m excited about this ‘business trip’. Of course, I have to work during my stay, but I hope I’ll have the opportunity to visit some sights too. And, last but not least, I get to see my students and I’m really looking forward to that. For now: Adxeco!
A bit of a radio silence…
Been busy buying my place. Let me tell you that is a whole lot of paperwork and other stuff, but the goal is near.
Will be back soon on a more regular basis. Vacation is almost over, therefore structure in life will also re-appear. I’m looking forward to it.
Peace!
1500 Opportunities to relive the time when Reagan was still president, Madonna was like a virgin, Dynasty and Dallas rocked the tube and when large shoulder pads and even larger hair (does Flock of Seagulls ring a bell?) were a DO instead of a DON’T.
Yep, you’ve guessed it: It’s 80′s time!
