Cleaning and football

Today has been a very hot day. Not only is it impossible to sleep at night, you need to cope with the heat during the day as well. I'm super tired because I couldn't sleep last night. I went to lie in the couch for a while but it wasn't that much better.
I got back from the gym not that long ago and now I've been vaccuming and mopping the kitchen floor as it looked horrible. I really just feel like lying on the couch for the rest of the day.

Tonight it's the World Cup final between Spain and Holland. Of course I want Holland to win since this is where I live. It will be crazy around here. I think we decided to watch the game here at home since it's probably the best if you actually want to see anything. We will probably go out for a walk afterwards to see all the crazy people roaming around. On Tuesday they're going to have some kind of party in the city, even if they don't win. It'll probably be fun.

Hup Holland hup!!!

The beach

Today me and Anna went to the beach. We were going to ride the whole way there and according to Google maps it would only take about 20 minutes. However, we didn't really find where to go and Google was wrong so we couldn't go the way it wanted us to go and there weren't really any other close ways to get there. So after about an hour we decided to take the tram the rest of the way. When we actually came to the beach it was quite alright, not too crowded and the water was nice. I'm happy with the day: got some sun, a swim and some exercise. Perfect.

Salmon

Lately I've been completely out of ideas of what to have for dinner at night and I really don't feel like anything. Today I got a good idea from my supervisor. I ended up making salmon and a salad.
Here's the 'recipe':

Salmon
Onion
Tomatoes
White wine
Salt and pepper
Herbes

Put everyting in aluminium foil and wrap it up. Bake it in the oven for about 20 minutes.

I just made a green salad with ruccola, tomatoes, cucumber and avocado. To this I also hade some nice bread.

I was very happy with the result. A glas of white wine as well and the evening is perfect.

Wine by the canal on a Sunday afternoon

Yesterday we went to Anna and Harmen's place to enjoy the sunshine and some delicious meringues that Anna made. They live on a houseboat so it was fun to sit there watching all the people driving by in their boats. It was also really nice just sitting there in the sun playing games and talking about life. Something I can definitely do more often.
Sunshine really makes you happy. Vitamin D for everyone. =)

The view from the boat

The Swedish girl

I had a great time last night. Met up with Marlie and we went to just have some wine at a place at Rembrandtplein. After that we went pubhopping a little bit. We ended up at this little bar with rarely any people but the guys in the bar were so nice and funny and the music was pretty good.

Sometimes it's nice to live in a foreign country because you get attention only for being Swedish. When the barmen found out that I was Swedish they went and got a massive Swedish flag and had that in the bar for the rest of the night. After a while however they went and got the Dutch flag as well. We didn't end up dancing that much but we did have fun and met a lot of different people.

2-1

Well, that turned out well. Only saw the first half and then I lied down on the couch to get some sleep but it was pretty much impossible when Holland scored because people outside were screaming. So I didn't get that much of a nap but I think I'll be alright for tonight anyway.

Now, I'm gonna make some dinner and then I'm gonna get ready for the evening. I'm going out dancing. It's gonna be hot and lovely.

Today's song:

Heat and football

My God, it is hot!!! 28,5 degrees in the apartment and 32 outside. I'm sweating without even moving. It's nice though so I shouldn't complain. I wish it would be cool at night though because it is really difficult to sleep when it's this hot.

The Dutch people are crazy when it comes to football. I was just outside going to get some stuff from the store and there were people everywhere, probably going to watch the game somewhere. And they were all wearing orange. It's like walking around in an orange meadow or something.

Now, I'm gonna watch the game so that I can join the conversations tonight. I think they will lose but it would be fun if they win.

Amsterdamse Bos

Today has been a lovely day so far. The sun is shining, no clouds in the sky and it's about 25-30 degrees. We went for a ride to Amsterdamse Bos today. We were lying in the sun for a couple of hours and we also went for the first swim for this year. It wasn't that warm but it was nice.

I'm now exhausted after the bikeride and I'm just gonna relax for the rest of the day.

Hope everyone else is enjoying the sunshine as much as I am.

Midsummer

Yesterday it was Midsummer's eve, which is suppose to be the longest day of the year. However, I think this year that day was a bit earlier this week, but I'm not sure. I didn't get that much of the Midsummer spirit this year as they don't celebrate it here in Holland. I did however get some summer feelings as we went to the park to have a barbecue. Very nice.

Bowen by the tiny instant barbecue

The weather wasn't great

sickie

I got summer feelings when I saw how good the weather is and how hot it is outside so I decided to go to the store right across the street and buy some fresh fruit. If I can't enjoy the nice weather of this day at least I can enjoy some nice summer fruit to get that summer spirit. And there are a lot of vitamins in fruit so hopefully I'll feel better.

What's better than fresh fruit?

The weekend

Hi everyone,

Today I'm at home. I'm not feeling very well unfortunately. Hopefully it will go away soon though so that I can enjoy the beautiful weather.

I thought I'd put up some photos from the weekend when I was in Sweden. I didn't take that many photos however but at least a few. Had a lovely time at home. It's always nice in my hometown during summer.

Charlie trying out her new babysitter and Ludwig playing Charlie

Charlie and me, super happy. It's been a long day, time for a nap

On Saturday night it was time for some partying with Elin

Sweden

Tomorrow it's time to go back to Sweden for just a short while. I'm going tomorrow afternoon and coming back on Sunday evening. I'm mostly looking forward to seeing my little niece but of course it's gonna be great to see the rest of my family and my friends as well.

Karlskrona is where I'm going.

Strawberries

We've just eaten the first strawberries for this year and they were delicious. Expensive but delicious. Yum.

Go-karting

Today I'm really tired. Slept more than necessary so I shouldn't be that tired I suppose. My arms and shoulders ache from go-karting yesterday. It was my first time doing that and I was a little bit scared in the beginning, especially since I had to change karts twice because they didn't work. But when I actually got in to it, it was so much fun. I really want to do that again. I didn't end up winning (surprise, surprise) but at least I didn't come last. :)

Optiver weekend

Last weekend we were with Bowen's work in Ijmuiden aan Zee. Optiver (Bowen's company) have team building events every year and the partners are allowed to come along as well. It goes on from Friday night until Sunday morning/noon. Dinner and party on both Friday and Saturday nights and then team activities during the day on Saturday. This year the theme was heroes, so every team was named after a "hero". All kinds of different heroes such as Michael Jackson, Albert Einstein, Jackie Chan etc. We were in the Richard Branson team. Wouldn't be my choice of a hero but oh well. Below are some photos from the weekend. It was good fun and we were very lucky with the weather.

Friday Night

Welcome drink (Mojito)

Dinner and party


Capoeira performance


Brazilian dancers

Saturday day







Everyone

Saturday night

Arriving to the fortress with the 'water taxi'


Dinner and party

P.s If you click on the photos they get bigger.