2018, what a year!

31st of December 2018, what a year. Not to bring anyone down, but I think it was my saddest year so far, not in terms of that I haven't done or accomplished much (even though I travelled less than I usually do), but because I have felt sad quite a bit because of lots of things from the past and present. I just refuse to stay stuck in it. And maybe it wasn't even my saddest, but there's so much that happened, the entire year is just confusing and weird. My last years' resolution was to find happiness in something other than travelling, well I haven't. I went away in January and then again in October which is too long of a spread for me. Of course I did find happiness in going out, having fun with friends and family, making new friends. I also still find happiness in little things, I always have. I can still stop with whatever I'm doing and look up or outside or wherever and smile, because deep down, I am happy. Very much so indeed. But what I get out of travelling is nowhere else to be found (yet). And I guess everyone is allowed a few black days a year right :). I've had a lot of firsts, some good, some not so good. I felt sad, happy, at peace, numbed, lost, confused, silly, exhausted, I have loved, laughed, cried (not just sad tears, happy tears too), made new friends, lost contact with old friends, danced like there's no tomorrow, drank as if I had no liver, went to the gym, quit the gym, got braces (again), fell off my bike and hugged the street with my face and healed Speedy Gonzales speed, laughed so hard it made me gasp for air, lost balance, found it again, without doubt made mistakes and found my peace with them, said goodbye to my car after almost 8 years, purchased a new car, read books again and I can go on and on and on.

I also went through my pictures on Facebook (well from 2010-2013) and deleted thousands. Wow, those were the days, what I mostly saw was so much happiness and it made me relive those moments, it made me look back with joy and process some of the things that I hadn't before. Things that used to be, but no longer are and that's okay. Life isn't fun if not a rollercoaster right?!

There's a first for everything;

-       Motorcycle lesson (awesome!!!)

-       Bed bugs (still not sure that's what it was)

-       Big Mac (didn't impress me very much…)

-       Brazilian wax (and another, and another,…)

-       Energetic massage (very relaxing)

-       Kidney stones (not so relaxing..)

-       Ultra sound (and no not to check for a baby, but due to the kidney stones)

-       Cheese fondue (at least as far as my memory goes)

-       Christmas without seeing The Grinch who stole Christmas or Polar Express (but with E.T.!!)

-       Birthdays, Christmas and today without my oma

My oma is still with me every single day, but it's very strange to not visit her anymore, especially on these days, and to hold her hand. I wrote my mom a Christmas card and automatically grabbed one for my oma, but then realizing she wasn't here anymore. I still wrote her one and put it with her picture. It's these things and days that automatically are connected to my oma. I also remember last year on the 31^st, when I walked in my oma's room all smiling and happy, only to find my mom at my oma's bedside because she was not well. As I went home, sad, I wondered if this was it. I lit a big wishing lantern for her that night at midnight (that my mom gave me earlier that week) and after it almost crashed into the bushes, it made its way up again and went high into the sky, I made a wish for my oma to be okay and watched it fly out of sight. She did get better after that and we (my mom, me and her) made more memories, which I am very happy to have.

And then there's next year…

I have a lot planned for next year, travel plans that is! A few weekends away in Europe (including a wedding), a trip in Spring to Guatamala (I can always change my mind, but that's the destination of choice at the moment), visiting family in Florida, a trip to Indonesia with my mom (it will be her first time going back in over 60 years), New Years in Oz with friends. But as I don't plan ahead that much,nothing is set in stone yet. I also informed at my current job if there's any chance of me going away for a longer period of time and they're looking into it (3-6months), this would be for 2020 :)!

Well, there's not much more to tell you. I wish you all the best for 2019! And no, there's no new years' resolutions, just to continue life with all its bumps and turns and make the best of it, to keep it balanced and smile for no reason :).

With love,

T.

Verona; Wine, Food & Kidney Stones..

After being back for about a week and a half, I was already packing a small bag to leave yet again. A long weekend away that I planned a while ago. You see, the company I work for has their own 'sports programm' called Commited Power (running, cycling, nordic walking) and they organize events each year, of which some abroad. The runners were invited to run a half or full marathon in Verona, Italy this year and since a few direct collegues were participating, I decided to go for a city trip the same weekend to cheer them on and see the city. Another collegue/friend, that also wasn't running, thought it would be fun and so we went together! I've been to Italy once before when I was about 13, it was organized through my high school and we went to Rome. Since that was ages ago, it was a perfect opportunity to go again!

We (me and the other collegue I went with) kicked off our weekend at the airport with a glass of wine around 11am (friday, the others flew on saturday), one of many to follow..

We stayed in an appartment, pretty close to everything by foot and so we started to explore Verona on our first night. We went to Julietss statue and balcony (Romeo and Juliet), had pizza for dinner and discovered a great local bar by chance, Osteria ai Portegheti. A bar we would later call our hang-out and re-visit every day during our time here (except on the day we left).

I enjoyed, loved my time in Italy and I would love to go again! The wine is great wherever you go and mostly cheap as well! And the food, oh mama mia!! The food was fantastic!!!!

We also went to Bologna for a daytrip by train. A totally diferrent city, much busier and bigger. Although, we probably didn't see all of Verona. We came out of the train station and walked right into a chocolate festival! Amongst all the market stalls selling every kind of chocolate, they were attempting a -biggest mosaic flag made out of chocolate- world record. The other thing we noticed most was how they put melted/liquid chocolate in a cup (the size of a regular plastic cup), different flavors and people ate it with a spoon...very strange, like eating a jar of Nutella haha. 

We were recommended to try a few local dishes in Bologna; capelletti and lasagna and we also wanted to try the cheese and meat boards that seemed to be a thing here as well. We found a place called Ca'pelletti that sold both the capelletti as lasagna. It was very busy and there was a guy running around, calling out names. We had to give him our name as well and wait to be called. It was really entertaining to see, this guy was running around, up and downstairs to seat people and still had time to bring coffee and desserts around in between. And there it was; Talitha, Talitha, upstairs! Haha okay, off we went. We ordered a bottle of wine and the dishes we wanted to try. "Talitha, your wine" is what the guy said as he put the bottle on our table. The food was delicious!

We later tried the meat and cheese board with yet another glass of wine and made our way back to the train station to head back to Verona. We sat down next to a couple and rested. After a while, we started eating mandarins and the guy sitting next to me asked if we had one for his wive, you see she was pregnant and needed the vitamins. It took a few seconds before we knew what he was saying as he didn't really say the word 'pregnant'. And so I gave her my last mandarin, you would never see this in Holland haha.

We made our way back to the appartment and drank the bottle of wine we purchased earlier and were about to stay in for the night when one of my collegues texted me (they, about 400 collegues, arrived that afternoon and had a communual dinner). We met up at our hang-out and had a few drinks. The two guys that joined us had to run half a marathon the next day and so we didn't stay out too late.

Gooood morning Verona! Ready to run a Marathon?! Well, we sure as hell weren't but we were ready to cheer everyone else on!! We went to our companies tent and said our 'hellos, good luck, you can do it, knock m down, see you later' and headed to the start line. After that we went to another stop on route and waited till some of our direct collegues returned, we then went to the finish line to cheer everyone else on! One of them ran a full marathon and so when most of the collegues went on excursions, a small group of us stayed and waited till she came in. It took her about 5hours, what a winner, she just kept going!!! I wanted to head back to the appartment for a rest but she wanted to celebrate and sit down and so we all went with her. She didn't last long and soon headed back to her hotel to rest while the rest of us continued drinking wine. We told the other guys about our hang-out and, after somewhat of a touristy route, went there yet again. It's there where we stayed until dinner (we were welcomed to join the rest of the group for their communual dinner and after party).

It is one of those, 'maybe I should have stopped drinking', but I didn't. I have learned to drink water almost everytime I go to the restroom, but I didn't go very often. The after party was next to the dining hall and there was a DJ and bar. Nobody danced though and all I wanted to do was dance..and so for a while, I danced and danced and danced by myself with people just staring and laughing haha but nobody wanted to join me (yet). I kept telling the DJ to play Macarena, that would get everyone on the dancefloor and he kept saying yes, but kept playing different songs. After a while, the dance floor filled up and everyone was dancing. Fun and wasted night and then....

We went outside and I started to feel a sting in my back/side so I moved away for a bit pushing the spot until I couldn't stand up straight anymore, I was in so much pain. We had to get back to our appartment and three collegues decided to walk with us. It was just so painful and they tried to help but also seem to think I was just drunk and so words were said. The alcohol didn't help my responses to them either, but the pain was very much real. I kept telling (or probably screaming at them) to just leave me there and go home. When I squatted down, it didn't hurt, but obviously I couldn't walk in that position. Anyways, I learned it took us about an hour and half to get back, when it was suppose to take us about 15-20min. When we got back, the pain had gone down a bit, but I still decided to sleep on the floor on the side that hurted, cause I thought I'd pulled a muscle or something and needed to lay straight (same goes for my back). Around 6am, I moved to the bed and a few hours later we went for our last (big) walk around the city. My entire side was hurting, but I was able to walk again, slowly. 

We then had our last lunch, tortellini for me and headed to the airport. Our collegues were suppose to fly at 2pm our flight was at 4pm and so I didn't think I would see any of them until the next office party. Unfortunately though their flight was delayed and so everyone was there, some laughing at me, asking if I was alive again, that I was some dancer, etc. We also met two of the guys that walked with us, I told them it was probably kidney stones, but they had such a rough night because of it that they just kept making jokes and to pick a different moment next time, so I figured the Christmas office party would be a good moment to have them again ;-). The flight and trainride back weren't very comfortable to say the least, I couldn't find a nice way to sit and everything seemed to be hurting. Sleeping was no fun either, I had to sleep on my back because it was the least painful.

I did go to the office the next morning and was able to go to the doctors a few hours later for a urine test and yup...kidney stones, painkillers and back to work. I took it easy that week and only took the painkillers for about two days. Just to be sure it was all clear (no cloggs or infections), I had an ultrasound on friday. The results came in on tuesday that it was all clear (it's twins, two healthy kidney's). It's still not all gone and I do need to monitor it, but all in all, I'm doing well :)! And I had a fantastic time in Verona and yes, got drunk at an 'office party' again, but what's new. See you at Christmas ;-)!

Cheerio,
T.