The theme of this week: cheese.
French cheese to be exact, and a little bit of Swiss. Cow's, goat's, soft, creamy, smelly, blue - you name it, we had it all.
One of the friends who was here this [s]weekend[/s] week is from France, and she brought half (!) a suitcase full of cheese (and wine, and foie gras, and saucisson - but mostly cheese). Great stuff. *sigh*
Everyone's gone now - the last person left for Japan today. It was amazing being together with all these people again. And after six years, no one has changed. At all. Definitely a special week.
I have a few leftovers in my fridge, so I might just have to invite some friends over for wine this weekend.
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
June 27, 2008
June 21, 2008
Sunday madness
After a couple of hectic weeks (break-ups, work travel, double jobs, and so on) I now have a week away from the office to do NOTHING. Well, nothing related to work at least - the next couple of days will be quite packed.
Such as tomorrow - Sunday.
A friend and I will be be spending the whole day picking up various other friends from airports and trainstations. By the end of the day there will be eight of us - flying and train-ing in from all over Europe - for a long overdue reunion. This group of people are the people that I spent most of my time in Osaka, 6/7 years ago, with. Although I've seen most of them within that time at least once, and usually more often, this is the first time that we are all together. Although I suppose to make it a real reunion some others should be added too.
I can't wait. The time that I spent in Osaka was amazing, and in large part due to these people. We have no plans, so I'm hoping for great weather *fingers crossed* to just be able to hang out along the canals and have fun. Woohoo!
Such as tomorrow - Sunday.
A friend and I will be be spending the whole day picking up various other friends from airports and trainstations. By the end of the day there will be eight of us - flying and train-ing in from all over Europe - for a long overdue reunion. This group of people are the people that I spent most of my time in Osaka, 6/7 years ago, with. Although I've seen most of them within that time at least once, and usually more often, this is the first time that we are all together. Although I suppose to make it a real reunion some others should be added too.
I can't wait. The time that I spent in Osaka was amazing, and in large part due to these people. We have no plans, so I'm hoping for great weather *fingers crossed* to just be able to hang out along the canals and have fun. Woohoo!
May 12, 2008
Old?
According to my friends, I am officially 'old' as of tomorrow. To aid me in my seniority I have been given the above 'rollator' (sorry, my English doesn't include a proper word for this walking aid). Do pay attention to all the details though....
January 19, 2008
Reconnecting
It always happens to a certain extent around the time when one year changes into another. And so it did also this 2007/2008 switch. In the midst of mass emails with holiday greetings there will always be one or two from long lost friends.
This year I seem to have found back a lot more people than usual though. I guess the internet is doing its job.... with finally being on Facebook, having a blog, posting my pics on Flickr, and being on LinkedIn (yes, I'm everywhere) and keeping my very first emailaddress from years ago still active, many of these long lost friends have been able to track me down again.
It's great to 'catch up' and see how they're doing and - in a lot of cases - where they currently are. The best thing about those locations: they're getting closer! An Australian friend is now in the UK and moving to the NL in the summer. Woohoo! A Brazilian friend is living in Stockholm, a Japanese friend is living in Duesseldorf. I guess I have my travelling sorted out for me this year.
Now for the hard part: staying in touch....
This year I seem to have found back a lot more people than usual though. I guess the internet is doing its job.... with finally being on Facebook, having a blog, posting my pics on Flickr, and being on LinkedIn (yes, I'm everywhere) and keeping my very first emailaddress from years ago still active, many of these long lost friends have been able to track me down again.
It's great to 'catch up' and see how they're doing and - in a lot of cases - where they currently are. The best thing about those locations: they're getting closer! An Australian friend is now in the UK and moving to the NL in the summer. Woohoo! A Brazilian friend is living in Stockholm, a Japanese friend is living in Duesseldorf. I guess I have my travelling sorted out for me this year.
Now for the hard part: staying in touch....
May 20, 2007
Osaka
(sorry, a mushy post)
I was chatting to a very good friend of mine earlier this afternoon which made me realize again how much I miss some people. We hardly ever properly talk, but really, I should just make more time to stay in touch with these friends!
It also made me realize that my travels over the past half year have all been connected by one thing: Osaka.
I guess by now I can honestly say that I made some close friends when living there in '01/'02. I can't believe it's already been five years!
The trip to Krakow was together with a friend I met in Osaka. St. Petersburg was partly to see a friend I met in Osaka. Antwerp and most of all Leuven was to attend a wedding of friends from Osaka. And the upcoming trip to London is together with the Krakow-friend and we'll be meeting up with a friend who we met in - you guessed it - Osaka.
Seriously, travelling to see friends is one of the most ideal ways of travelling. It is so good to find out how people are doing, and to have them show you their life and their city.
Maybe it's the wine from tonight, but I can't help feeling really lucky to have these people as my friends. Not surprisingly, the friend I openend this post with is also an Osaka-contact. Can't wait to see him again - hopefully this year too as a trip to Spain with many of these people is supposedly on the calendar....
I was chatting to a very good friend of mine earlier this afternoon which made me realize again how much I miss some people. We hardly ever properly talk, but really, I should just make more time to stay in touch with these friends!
It also made me realize that my travels over the past half year have all been connected by one thing: Osaka.
I guess by now I can honestly say that I made some close friends when living there in '01/'02. I can't believe it's already been five years!
The trip to Krakow was together with a friend I met in Osaka. St. Petersburg was partly to see a friend I met in Osaka. Antwerp and most of all Leuven was to attend a wedding of friends from Osaka. And the upcoming trip to London is together with the Krakow-friend and we'll be meeting up with a friend who we met in - you guessed it - Osaka.
Seriously, travelling to see friends is one of the most ideal ways of travelling. It is so good to find out how people are doing, and to have them show you their life and their city.
Maybe it's the wine from tonight, but I can't help feeling really lucky to have these people as my friends. Not surprisingly, the friend I openend this post with is also an Osaka-contact. Can't wait to see him again - hopefully this year too as a trip to Spain with many of these people is supposedly on the calendar....
May 03, 2007
Escapism
Am just home from dinner with a friend who I hadn't spoken to properly for a very long time. Tonight turned out to be a really good evening too. I don't think we've had conversations this intense and personal and good before.
I think we're more alike than we realize. In a way we are both quite hard on ourselves, travelling is our escape mechanism but we also realize that it is just that - escape - and we want to make life work here and not in some faraway place in Asia or Latin America even if that would be easier.
A very good night. It's evenings like these that really make me appreciate my friends.
I think we're more alike than we realize. In a way we are both quite hard on ourselves, travelling is our escape mechanism but we also realize that it is just that - escape - and we want to make life work here and not in some faraway place in Asia or Latin America even if that would be easier.
A very good night. It's evenings like these that really make me appreciate my friends.
March 28, 2007
Babyshopping!
Strangely enough, although late '20s would be about the time that people start having kids, my social circle has been very empty of kids so far. Buying houses and talk of mortgages - yes. Weddings and hen nights - yes. Kids or pregnancy stories - no.
So, Sunday's toy shopping for tonight's dinner was quite out of the ordinary. But in a sense also perfectly rationalize-able - after all, the couple that I visited are in their late '30s.
It was still weird being in a toyshop though - trying to pick out a cool toy for a new(-ish; with all the hecticness of the past year we've been out of touch for a while) baby boy. Luckily, he loved it. His parents will have to live with the constant rattling of it I fear... And an evening of wearing the boy out so he'd sleep and trying not to wake him up again after he finally did sleep.
It'll be a different world when this starts happening to friends closer to me....
So, Sunday's toy shopping for tonight's dinner was quite out of the ordinary. But in a sense also perfectly rationalize-able - after all, the couple that I visited are in their late '30s.
It was still weird being in a toyshop though - trying to pick out a cool toy for a new(-ish; with all the hecticness of the past year we've been out of touch for a while) baby boy. Luckily, he loved it. His parents will have to live with the constant rattling of it I fear... And an evening of wearing the boy out so he'd sleep and trying not to wake him up again after he finally did sleep.
It'll be a different world when this starts happening to friends closer to me....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)