I'm not doing much at all, but that's about to change...
This past week I have lived up to my promise of taking things slow. I think it was necessary, but I also know that it is not a way I like to spend my time. I like it when things are moving so fast, that I can not predict what is going to happen next. In fact, I don't even like to know what's going to happen, I'd rather just be surprised. Not all the time, of course, but I guess I'm often in the mood for it.
It doesn't have to be big adventures like the sailing weekends I have previously written about, it can also just be small everyday adventures. That's the kind I've had this last week. Sunday the weather was great, so I put on my jacket, an empty rucksack and some good walking shoes and went outside. I had no plan for where I was going, and that's how I made it a little adventure. At every turn I simply looked in all directions and made a decision about where to go now. I kept my inner compass fairly well aligned, so I was never lost, but I had not seen any of the places I walked through before. At one point I walked by a compass rose on the floor and realized that I was about 20 degrees off, but that's not enough to get you lost unless you walk for a really long time! Anyway, I spent a couple of hours walking around and got to know the area a lot better. Not that it matters much, as I won't be staying long, but it felt like a fine little accomplishment anyway.
Tuesday I did the same, only on my bike and in the city center, so I was not lost at all. But I did some turns I wouldn't usually do and let it take me to some new places. Wednesday is the day of sailing and that is always a lot of fun. This time we had a lot of wind for the first time and we actually capsized once in the Laser Vago. When we got back ashore we had dinner in the clubhouse like always and at half past eight we usually leave for the Wednesday night party. This time, a lot of people had exams, so not a lot of people were going there. I didn't feel much like going either with all my wet sailing clothes, which I would have to put in my bag with my laptop. Instead Tea and I had a friendly drink and some nachos at a bar closer to the sailing club.
Today my little adventure consisted of buying a new thing at the supermarket. It's something I love to do. When I see something that I don't know what will taste like, I get an urge to buy it. I went a little over the top this time (again), by buying both a butternut squash and a rutabaga. I still don't know how I'm going to eat the rutabaga, but I'll leave that concern for tomorrow. Tonight I made a soup from the butternut squash and what a hassle that was. I think I might be getting a bit too used to the convenience of the dutch kitchen, but really preparing that thing took almost half an hour. I might have been doing something wrong peeling it like a potato, but that's how I understood the instructions I found online. In the end it tasted great, so that was much beyond expectations. Sometimes, when I buy things I don't know I have to throw them away. That has happened twice already in the Netherlands. Once with a Turkish specialty, which tasted like dried cotton candy with vanilla (I had to give up, because it was way too sweet). Once with a Swizz specialty cheese that had such an intense taste that I was worried I might be acidic. I had to give up on that one, because I was afraid my taste buds would take permanent damage...
All of these little things are my ways of wasting time, while I am waiting for bigger things to happen. At the office I am still waiting to have any kind of interesting assignment (I'm starting to lose faith that it will happen at all).
With Orionis I think I have signed up for a lot of events, but I am not sure how many I will end up participating in. It can sometimes be a little confusing to be the only foreigner (in fact Tea and I are the only foreigners in Orionis).
At home I will have to move out soon, as the contract ends on Sunday. After that I will move in at Hanneke's apartment while she is on vacation. I look much forward to that, I think it will be quite luxurious compared to this one. I have to think of some appropriate gift to give her as thanks, but I'll have lots of time to do that.
Oh, and if you think the title of this post is a bit of an overstatement. Referring to moving out and participating in Orionis events this weekend, then I can inform you that it is a reference to the weather in Amsterdam. There is absolutely no wind today, but Monday the weather report says there can be gusts up to 59 knots. For those of you unfamiliar with the metric it's just short of a category one hurricane (but that would be constant wind, not only gusts). On the hurricane scale, it will still be a tropical storm, though. I wonder if it will really be that bad, a lot can change in a couple of days, but I will have to stay updated on this. I might reconsider taking the bike to work if there is indeed a tropical storm in Amsterdam...
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