Portugal 2016

In August, I had the opportunity to cross another country off my list and I spent 2 weeks exploring northern Portugal.

I don't even know where to begin with describing how awesome this vacation was, so instead I created another vlog to showcase some of the fun stuff we did.

Portugal is a wonderful country to visit (though I do not suggest trying to drive there from the Netherlands.  Google maps says 22 hours, but it's more like 32).  The cities are bustling with culture, the coast is gorgeous, the hiking is brilliant and there's cheap port, so what more do you need in life?! It's really hard to recapitulate an entire 2 week holiday in one post, but if I had to pick, there are two moments that stand out as my favorite moments of the trip.  First is dinner on the beach.  Half of the group decided to go to Coimbra (the old capital of Portugal), and the rest of us decided to have a relaxing evening at the campsite.  Instead, we ended up packing up our chairs, our drinks and ourselves and heading to the beach to watch the sunset.  One thing led to the next and before we knew it, we had ordered pizza and were having a fun night playing tag in the sand and visiting while watching the sun set.  That is until the group called us from Coimbra saying that their car was stuck in the parkade.  They had missed the operating hours and turns out their car was stuck there for the night. There was a brief moment where we thought we might have to send our DD to go get them, but luckily they managed to find someone who spoke Portugese and English and they called the company to come let them out.

The second evening that remains one of my favorite memories is when we were visiting Geres national park.  We were at a campsite that led right onto the riverbed and one night, we decided to have a campfire! We gathered up some twigs and driftwood and sat on the rocky shore enjoying each other's company all evening.  It was something so simple, but it was so relaxing and spontaneous.

Overall, it was a great holiday, so without further ado, I present to you a not-so-short photo/video summary of our trip to Portugal!

Summer in Photos

2 months, 23000 km, new cities, brilliant hikes, many laughs, a few tears, a boatload of memories and I still haven't written a blog post about it!

I promised it would happen, and I'm going to hold myself to it.  In the meantime though, here is a 10 photo summary of what my summer included. :)

One Year

I've been mostly absent from the blog lately, and there really is no other excuse than I've simply been living and loving life.

My parents were here for two weeks in April, which most definitely deserved its own blog post, but, alas, that did not happen.  We spent our time together catching up and showing them our life over here.  We laughed, we cried, we explored and we created new memories that I don't need to write out to remember.  Bottom line is that is was a wonderful visit and I am grateful that they made the trip over here.  Now when I talk about this or that, they have a mental image of what life over here looks like, and for me, that's one step closer to closing the feeling of distance associated with living across the world.

Yesterday, too, was a special day for us.

It was the night of the Ludovico Einaudi concert, which is the concert Sander got me tickets for for my birthday.  It was everything I expected and more.  My excitement could no longer be contained, so we headed over the the venue about 45 minutes earlier than needed.  I was vibrating with excitement and when 8:15pm finally rolled around, my heart was pounding with anticipation.  I don't think I've ever been so excited for a concert in my entire life.

Pre-concert excited selfie

I was curious if this was Ludovico's own piano or if he just plays
on the piano at the venue he is performing at

When Ludovico stepped on stage, I think my heart skipped a beat.  When the first note hit, my eyes welled up.  I kept saying I was going to bawl the entire concert, and I'm happy to report that wasn't the case, but I would be a liar if I didn't say that I teared up a bit.  I spent the better part of 3 hours completely transfixed by this musical genius. Every single song was beautiful and the acoustics were perfect.

Nothing to watch, but lot's to listen to! This was the song that originally got me hooked on
Ludovico Einaudi.  It was even better live.

Seeing Ludovico Einaudi was a dream come true, and it was the best birthday gift and the perfect way to celebrate being in the Netherlands for one year.  Yes, time flies!  One year ago, yesterday, Sander and I arrived at Schiphol with our 6 suitcases in hand and butterflies in our tummies.  It was definitely a milestone in our life together that was worth celebrating and I couldn't image a better way to do it.  

A New Personal Record

Last Sunday, I ran a 10km race.  I made a new personal record, and I kind of want to talk about it.  Deal with it.

I love running.  And if you were to ask me why, I really wouldn't be able to give you a straight answer. When you think of it, it's really not that fun.  You do the same motion over and over again, there are no rules, there are no points, and no one wins.  It's mostly a solitary sport, it's hard on the joints, and it makes you insanely hungry.  But somehow, even with all of these cons, it brings me an intense sense of satisfaction.  I think it boils down to pushing both my physical and mental limits.  Sometimes when I run, I feel strong and powerful and it motivates me to work even harder, but other times I feel weak and useless and though it sucks and is frustrating, it also pushes me to keep going.

Over the last year, I have had more of those weak and useless moments than the strong and powerful ones.  When we moved to the Netherlands last May, I immediately signed up for the Amsterdam half marathon.  That was my very first long distance race I ever ran, and I wanted to do it again not only for nostalgia, but also to see how 4 years of hard work can pay off.  Unfortunately, I didn't end up running the race due to a minor knee issue.  I needed some time off to rest and heal, and that forced me to put my goal on hold.  If there's something in this world I hate more than olives, bleu cheese and mustard, it's promising myself to do something and then not following through.  So, once my knee was feeling back to normal, I started training again and set my eye on the Utrecht half marathon.  But, as we all know, shit happens, and shortly after getting back into my training routine, I became quite ill with influenza, and again, I was forced to take the time to let myself heal.

Come January, I was back to being healthy and ready to tackle training once again.  What I didn't consider though was that over a period of 4 months, I had hardy ran at all.  My very first run of 2016 yielded the slowest pace I had seen in years and I was beyond frustrated. I actually considered just giving up on running entirely right then.  In the last year, it had brought me more disappointment than joy and I felt like it wasn't worth it anymore.  But like I said, I promised myself I would run another half marathon, and I wasn't going to give up, so I drew up a training schedule and began the hard work.

In the last couple months, my frustration has been transformed into determination and on Sunday, I finally saw the fruits of my labor as I ran the Utrecht marathon 10K event.  During the race, I felt so incredibly powerful and strong.  Whenever I wanted to give up, I just reminded myself that I didn't spend all those hours training to walk, and after 51 minutes and 4 seconds, I crossed the finish line. I had just ran the fastest 10km of my life, and though my muscles were cramping and I was so exhausted I could hardly talk,  I felt like I was on top of the world.

And that is what I love about running.  I love proving to myself that I can do these things.  I love that at the end of it all, it's a competition with myself, and that when I cross the finish line in record time I can feel a sense of accomplishment even though there were 53 other women who finished before me.  Perhaps I didn't win the race, but in a sense I did.  I won against myself and that's what inspires me to continue training for the half marathon I've been working towards.

I'll be running the 21.1 on May 22 in Leiden, and hopefully I'll have another success story to share with you!

Ludovico Einaudi

The piano is one of my favorite instruments in the whole entire world.  When I hear the piano, the music grabs at my heartstrings and tugs them in a way that doesn't make me sad, but inspired. 

I started playing piano when I was 10.  If it were up to me, I'm sure I would have started sooner, but my parents decided that, after having to fight with my sister to practice, they never wanted to do that again.  So, they made me wait, and at the magical age of 10, the 'rents decided I was mature enough to make my own decision, and I began with piano lessons. 

I started with the books made for 5 year olds, and quickly progressed into the Royal Conservatory grades. Within a couple years into my piano training, I had finally caught up with the kids my age.  I continued with lessons until the end of high school and I loved every single second of it.  I remember hugging my piano teacher, Sara, on the last day and both of us crying .  We shared a love for music and it was heart breaking to hit the end of our road together.

At the time, I thought it was the end of my musical road, period.  I was entering university, I had just started dancing with Volya, which demanded at least 2 full evenings a week,  and furthermore, I was moving into a condo and I had no piano.  It made no sense for me to continue with lessons, so I settled for playing as often as I could when I was home, but as time went on, my playing dwindled, and eventually, I stopped entirely.

It wasn't until I moved to the Netherlands in 2011 that I dusted off those old piano memories and began playing again.  It all started with the movie Intouchables.  It's a French movie about a quadriplegic and the development of his friendship with his aid worker.  After spending years working with people in wheelchairs, I could appreciate the humor and the story warmed my heart.  But what grabbed my attention instantly was the music.

In the first scene, we are introduced to the two main characters as they're speeding through Paris in a car.  But, there are no sound effects.  There is no one chasing them.  The car does not crash.  And there is no explosion.  Instead, it's piano music.  Just a lone piano, its notes chipping away to expose raw emotion. 

After watching the movie, I had to figure out who wrote the music.  I needed to hear that opening song again and again-- it was an insatiable craving.  Eventually, I found my answer: Ludovico Einaudi.  Along with that though, I had discovered a musical genius with an entire repertoire songs to learn on the piano!

My love for Ludovico's music has not diminished over the years.  I have learned a number of his songs, and have been stalking his tour dates ever since we moved to the Netherlands.  Seeing him live was promptly added to The Bucket List and I was determined to make it happen.  Needless to say, when I realized I had missed his tour announcement over the Christmas holidays, I was completely heartbroken that I had missed my opportunity.  I checked Marktplaats (Kijiji) for weeks, hoping to find tickets that someone was trying to get rid of, but had no luck and only seemed to be drawn to scams.

Well, my dream has come true: I am going to see Ludovico Einaudi LIVE.  Somehow, Sander managed to get a set of tickets, and he surprised me, giving them to me for my birthday!! I'm still in shock a week later and grinning like an idiot.

The song from the first scene of Intouchables.

Just photos

Last weekend, we ventured a bit north for a weekend away.  Sander's graduating class is quite close, and each year they plan a weekend to hang out.  It was a really fun weekend, and the best part of all was that we woke up to snow on Sunday morning!!

Such fun! The crazy snow-loving Canadian in me was so incredibly happy to wake up to white on the ground.

Anyway, other than the snow, the weekend was fantastic. It was basically a weekend to be a kid again.  We played board games for hours on end, and even had a few rounds of a game in the forest that is really similar to Capture the Flag.

And while I was looking at pictures from last weekend, I came across some fun one I snapped while on a picture adventure with Richard in November.  I really liked the different lighting captured in each.  

That's all for now! Tot volgende keer (tip: use Google translate)! 

Our House

Check out the new dining room! 

It has been a couple busy weeks over here! Last Friday, Sander and I officially took possession of our very first home.  Unfortunately, I had to write a final exam in the morning so I missed the passing of the keys.  However, Sander and his parents were kind enough to wait for me before going into the house, and Sander carried me over the threshold in true old-fashioned style. Not long after that, we started moving!  It was a short move (to the end of the street in the background and around the corner), so we were able to move the big stuff on dolly cart.

We've spent the last week unpacking odds and ends and making numerous trips to IKEA and other home stores.  It's a bit of a slow process since the amount of stuff we can buy is severely limited by how much we can carry on our bikes.  We're not always the best estimators when it comes to getting things home, not that we've ever bought a painting or a firepit that didn't fit in our car or anything.  ;)  Okay, fine, those are true stories, but we're erring on the side of caution this time and making certain we can get it home before buying it.... hence the fact we've been to IKEA and Praxis twice and Action thrice.  

However, after a weekend of hard work, I can say it is starting to feel like our home. We've spent the weekend hanging the last of our lights, putting up shelves, organizing closets and, believe it or not, relaxing!

I can't wait to get the finishing touches done.  We have a nice painting to be hung and a few ideas of other art to have in the house.  We're also going to get some nice house plants (on top of the herb garden I planted this afternoon!) and awesomeize our balconies (yes, plural). It'll be a slow transformation, but it's one that we're thoroughly enjoying right now! Who knew being a homeowner was so awesome?! ;)