May 18, 2017

Today in History

In the Gregorian calendar, May 18th is the 138th day with only 227 remaining days before the new year starts. This date is also likely to fall on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday versus the weekends and its likelihood to fall on either a Tuesday or a Thursday is slightly less.

At least that’s what Wikipedia says. 

18th May was also the day when:

  • Apollo 10 was launched (1969)
  • Mount St Helens erupted in Washington (1980)
  • An American singer-songwriter and guitarist Jack Johnson was born (1975)
  • It fell on a Thursday today

Those amongst other things.

Perhaps the lesser known fact was that 18th of May (2016) also happened to be the day we left Bangkok for good and made our way to the Netherlands. It was a Wednesday.

It was the day we tearfully bid farewell to everything we knew about life in Thailand. It was the day we said our last goodbye,  leaving behind the familiarity of life as well as an empty shell of an apartment in which we were living in for a good 6.5 years. 

20160518_083237
The Living Room where we last stood. To the right of it is a large guest room with a connecting bathroom
The memory of us leaving in our regular travel-taxi still lingers

That was it. We have not look back.

11 hours flight later with 2 kids, 3 cats, 7 suitcases and a nasty eye infection in tow, we landed at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands at about 6.45pm. We were greeted by Dutch hugs and kisses from Silver Bullet’s family, his family friends and his good friend. 

It marked a beginning of an end. A fresh beginning to start life anew. A new life experience as we decidedly soak up our feet into the unknown. It was sometime this year right about this exact hour.

Oh what a year it has been! What crazy, crazy year and what chaotic time this has been. Not only for me, but for all of us as we try to ease into a new life, the language, the weather and trying to make some sense out of the new routine we have.  

This transition has not been easy. It took a toll on me physically, emotionally, mentally and as much as I try not to let it affect my mental state, some days it just does. Ironically, today I am also just about recovering from a newly-minted eye infection in both my eyes.

It came back to haunt me about a week ago and this time, I got it from my son. It was also a funny coincidence that this happened at almost the same time I caught the infection from Spud prior to our move last year. I’d say up to the day!

Fortunately, it was not half as bad as I had it before. But still as annoying. I just don’t understand why. The groundhog timing is just too creepy.  I mean, what the hell?!

I blame it on the weather. And the full moon. Of course it’s the moon! 

Seems like the immunity in my body has been down. Not only  did I get Squirt’s eye infection, I also developed a bit of a skin condition in the last few months. Just 3 weeks ago, my whole head broke out in bad acne, causing my whole face to swell up.

The diagnose for that was bacterial infection. As with my eyes. 

The GPs seem to think I”m super stressed and not getting enough rest. For that reason alone,  I’m very much vulnerable and susceptible to get sick. Excuse me? Me? Stressed? Lack of sleep, long commute, the rush to the daycare, toxic workplace, chores…how are all that stressful?

That could never, ever be. I mean… I’m NOT stressed. Never ever. At.All. Honest.  

A year on out of Bangkok and we are still adjusting. I reckon the adjustments will last a little while more especially since my hormones seem to be out of whack. My face is looking like I’m undergoing puberty once again. On the other hand, it can’t be early menopause can it? 

At this point in time, all I can do is hope that things could only get better from here. It has to. After all, it’s 18th May once again.

18th May in a different year; marking the day of reckoning in pursuit of building a new history with a fulfilling life story.

Let today be the day where we rid if any negative energy harming our way. Go. Shoooo! I mean the negative energy. Not you reading this. You stay just where you are.  Right on this blog then just start clicking around. I really  would appreciate that.

And thank you for staying and hearing my roooaaaarrrrrrrrr! rant. OK. Rant over. 

Posted by:    |    10 Comment

May 15, 2017

Taking the scenic route of Flevoland

Not quite a long road trip, but a road trip nonetheless as we decided to head north of the country a few weekends ago.  To Drenthe (again!) we went, though a different part of Drenthe this time.

We made a short weekend out of it and stayed overnight in Frisland before driving on to meet up with one of our old friends from Bangkok who have now also made the Netherlands their temporary home. For the kids, it was like reuniting with long-lost friends!

Our stay in Frisland was cold (there was no heater at night) and uneventful, but we did booked ourselves in a cabin surrounded by nature where the kids can run around to their little hearts’ content.  

The cabin somewhere in Frisland called Molecaten Park t’Hout
Hop around…hop around…

Did I ever mention that spring is really a beautiful time of the year to drive along in this country? Because as we made our way over  and back, we were greeted by many a field of tulips in all sorts of colours.

They were too beautiful to ignore and on our way back home, we took a scenic route and decidedly stopped at one of the many fields in Flevoland to look at the tulips up, close and personal. We had to!

Only because stopping by one of those wild fields has indeed become our annual family pilgrimage. It may be different fields every time, every year and not quite the Keukenhof but we still had a great deal of fun walking (carefully) about the fields, taking photos as well as take in the stunning sights we see right before our eyes.

How the sun shone bright!
A beautiful field in Flevoland filled with lilac-tipped tulips
Large tulip fields nicely line up
Let’s hop again!
Jump up, jump up and get down!
A panaromic view of the field

You could argue that after seeing one, you’d see hundreds and then everything sorts of look the same. I beg to differ.

They may look the same from afar, but there’s always subtle differences in the colours, shades and variety being planted. Plus the fact that they would last long enough for the flowers to be hacked off because they are planted only for their bulbs only means that you are catching this stunning view on borrowed time!

They truly are one of the most panaromic sights you could ever seen! They would leave you speechless. I did.

Posted by:    |    10 Comment

May 15, 2017

The Liebstering Liebsters

Category: Awards

Liebster: German for dearest, darling, liked or loved above all others.

One of my favourite Daddy Bloggers, Eric aka Stomper Dad aka the cool, educator Dad behind All in A Dad’s Work did it again! Amongst the many other awards he has bagged previously, he has once again been recently nominated for another Liebster from another renown blogger over at A Momma’s View

This award is one of the coolest around. I feel honoured to receive yet another nomination from Eric. I mean, he’s not just Eric the American-Canadian Dad. He is also most of WP bloggers favourite Daddy Bloggers around.

And just when I thought that we have been a little dry on awards, there came a pingback. Thank you Eric for the nomination.   

The rules state that I need to thank the person who nominated me. (Done!) Then I need to answer some questions, give some facts, nominate some others and give them some questions to answer. So here goes with the questions given to me. So here we go:

  1. How do you re-energize? Sleep. Lots of sleep! As well as long walks and having a quiet time of my own. 
  2. What yearly salary would you consider “living comfortably”? This is a hard one. I suppose the best answer is “It depends”. As in it depends on what comfortable means to each one and where living comfortably would be. In the Netherlands, the average nett mean personal income that’s enough to get by would be about €25K-€26K annually. I suppose if there are no financial commitments €30K-35K would be reasonably comfortable. That’s 978K THB in Thailand which makes for a VERY comfortable lifestyle and in Singapore that’s just slightly breathable.  Sheesh! I could write an entire post on this!  
  3. If you met Mother Theresa, what would you ask her?  What’s her biggest secret and confession?  
  4. What ice cream flavor do you think your personality is like? Chocolate Mint: Not the most popular but always there to weather the storm and dependable. 
  5. If your car had a super power, what super power would you like it to have? A huge layer of protective shield will appear in emergencies to ensure that the passengers are safe an dsound in case of accidents. Much like Violet Parr in The Incredibles.
  6. Do you have a plan for your blog for the long run? Does planning to keep writing count as a plan?
  7. Is there a word you avoid using? A word you don’t like? I try to avoid saying the eff word especially in front of the kids. I don’t like the words “I don’t know!”
  8. Do you have a favorite word? Hmmm…Dammit!
  9. If we communicated by playing musical instruments, what instrument would you communicate with? The Bass Guitar.
  10. Is there a time when something didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to, but in the end you were glad that it didn’t? Yes and Yes!
  11. What’s the best piece of advice you would give a new blogger?Blog authentically and always reach out to other bloggers often by leaving comments on their blogs or share their pieces. Most of all, play nice. 

 
Next step: 11 “interesting” facts about myself (2 of which I took wholesale from Eric and the one is the exact opposite)

  1. I’m an introvert but with extroverted tendencies when the need arises
  2. I’m terrible at sucking up 
  3. I can roll my tongue and I can flip it both directions
  4. I can also tie a cherry stalk with my tongue in no time at all! 
  5. love it when it rains
  6. I’ve never come face-to-face with a  Tornado in action (not like I ever would want to)
  7. I’m a concert junkie
  8. I don’t know how to skate
  9. I’m a better listener than I am a talker
  10.  Making small talks tire me out
  11. I’m grumpy in the morning

 
Now to nominate 11 bloggers, I thought I’d give a shout-out to my most recent followers; not only for clicking on that follow me button, but for doing all that they do: 

  1. Reading for Sanity Mom
  2. Sparkle with UC
  3. It’s Kate & Me
  4. Robbie’s Inspiration
  5. Amari Silver
  6. One Hungry Bunny
  7. Anchor Town Life
  8. The Recipe Hunter
  9. Welcome to the Nursery
  10. Witty Mummy
  11. JT Weaver

 
[An updated post because I forgot to include the 11 questions. DUH!] Here are your questions should you choose to accept…

  1. What’s your favourite time of the day and why?
  2. What TV series have you found to be so ridiculous?
  3. What’s the strangest thing you have ever eaten?
  4. If there’s one thing you could change in your life, what would it be?
  5. Any regrets?
  6. What word or phrase do you find to be most annoying?
  7.  Name one thing you like about your other half.
  8. What’s your hidden talent?
  9. Can you share one of your favourite posts from your blog?
  10. Android or iphone?
  11. Do you believe in destiny?

 
This has been such an honour to write about. And even if you are not into doing the awards, this is my high-five and tip-on-the hat for you. 

Posted by:    |    6 Comment

Privacy Preference Center

Close your account?

Your account will be closed and all data will be permanently deleted and cannot be recovered. Are you sure?