The Best of 2012

Well. It's 7pm on New Year's Eve. Elliot and I are relaxing at home, listening to the sound of the rain pound against our windows and slightly (so slightly) drown out the pops! and booms! and whistles of (legal) fireworks. (It sounds like a warzone.)

This year has been incredible. Full of excitement, stress, love, change, happiness, and general emotion! Started the year with a short trip to South Africa to see dear friends. In February we checked out Carnival in Maastrict and went ice-skating on a lake in Rotterdam. In March, Elliot graduated from his MBA program, we packed up our Rotterdam life and moved home to California, via India for 3 weeks (why not?). Back in the Bay, we finished planning a wedding and then we got married, surrounded by our dearest friends and family from all over the world. It was the most wonderful day of my life. A week before the wedding, Elliot got a job offer and a month later, we said goodbyes and moved again--to Amsterdam. A couple Dutch beach trips, many bike rides, a couple boat rides, and 2 temporary apartments later we were 'home' once again. Fall came quick. I took a break from job-hunting and met a friend in Rome, and another in Paris. Leaves fell, my parents visited, and Elliot turned 30 and finished his first running race. As the cold Dutch winter started setting in, we visited friends in Paris and it was my turn for a 30th birthday. After a lot of hard work, I finally got a job and life just got a lot busier! The first snow came, and then Christmas brought Elliot's mom over to Amsterdam. Holy cow, that made me exhausted.

7 countries. 47 train trips. 2 cross-country moves.  1 graduation. 4 apartments. 3 weeks in India. 1 wedding.

 

But here we are! Another year ahead. What will it bring? What new memories will we make? Every year, I think: how did that go so fast? How can we slow it down? Even just a little? Every year I'm utterly perplexed that it's already December 31. I read a great idea the other day: take a large Mason jar and when something happens through the next year, write a quick note about it and add it to the memory jar. Great idea! I still need to think about some projects and goals for 2013. Any good ideas out there?

See you in 2013! Gelukkig nieuwjaar! Happy New Year!

Tot Ziens Rotterdam

What a crazy week! I finished up a couple projects at work--as best I could. We had a good bye dinner every night and tried to pack, sell, pawn, and throw out all our stuff. Moving is terrible! It makes you never want to buy anything ever again--and it makes you never want to move ever again. All in all, we came with 4 suitcases, about 100kg, and we just shipped 8 boxes at about 20kg each. Man oh man.

We are going to miss Rotterdam, and Holland, dearly. Even if we come back at some point, many things will obviously be different. The wonderful people we've met, some will stay and some will move on. Rotterdam Central Station will be finished. But many things will stay the same--and we have cherished those so much over the last 15 months...wonderful, timely trains, easy bicycling, the Blaak market that has everything you need. We'll miss living below sea level, and viewing the flat landscape speckled with windmills and sheep. I'll miss the three-kisses and gezelig (cozy) cafes. And fresh, warm stroopwafels. Indonesian and Surinamese food. And so much more.

Most of all, I'll miss our lovely Dutch life and the people we've shared it with. I know we won't be able to talk everyday, or have romantic dinners every week, but I know we've made friends for a lifetime. And that skype will help us keep in touch.

In a couple hours we leave for Mumbai. In this crazy world, it was half the price to go from Amsterdam to Mumbai then 3 weeks later, Mumbai to San Francisco, than it was to fly one-way from Amsterdam to SF! So we're off another adventure before we head to California.


So, tot ziens Rotterdam. Literally: till next time. Because we'll be back. At some point.

Feyenoord football fever!

On Friday, my colleagues took me out to a lovely dinner at a local Rotterdam hotspot. They gave Elliot and I Dutch jerseys--that we had to wear the next night...one of my managers took Elliot, me, and another colleague Inge to the Rotterdam Feyenoord football match against NAC Breda. What an experience! My first European football game! It was pretty awesome. It was also the 75th anniversary of the 42,000-fan stadium. The same guy who opened the stadium 75 years ago opened the game tonight too. 

The game was great! Lots of singing and cheering, jumping up and down. The whole stadium shook! We had such a great time. Feyenord scored a goal in the first three minutes and two more soon after. Made for a slow 2nd half, but the cheers and people watching made it worth the while.

The cheers were the best part of the game. You can't really understand anything they say, first because they're in Dutch and second because they're garbled pretty bad. But Jeroen translated some of them (he's a true Rotterdammer and knows ALL the cheers). My favorite roughly translated as such:

Number 10, number 10!

Your mom's a whore, your mom's a whore!

Classy! Check out the video at the end...second goal in the first 10 minutes of the game! 

Graduation!!!

Elliot is now a Master! Hoera! Such a great weekend reunion with all of Elliot's wonderful classmates and their partners...so glad we got to see them before we leave Holland--only 1 more day!

Spring is in the air!

I woke up the other morning to a bright blue Rotterdam sky. Not a cloud in the sky! It was gorgeous. My hyacinth also decided to really bloom as well. Have you smelled on of these things?! It's amazing and totally made my day. Our entire apartment smelled of sweet hyacinth.

Since the weather was so nice, we decided to take a bike ride in the city. Spring is really in the air! And on the ground for that matter as well. Small little tulips are starting to sprout out of the earth; it's a beautiful thing. There are no leaves on the trees yet, but people are happy! The big jackets are stashed away, cafes are moving their chairs outside, and you can feel the energy. I love the seasons! Here are a few pics from our bike ride...

The Laurenskerk near our old hood

Crooswijk, northern Rotterdam

Crooswijk

The Meent, one of our favorite streets in Rotterdam

The Meent

 Rotterdam Central Station, it's coming along!

Hotel Bazaar and restaurant in our new hood, on Witte de Withestraat

Well, the countdown is finally here...we have 18 days left in Holland. We leave April 3rd. Don't remind me, there's so much to do and I'm still in denial we're leaving. There's a chance we'll be back, but for now we are San Francisco-bound--with a 3-week layover in India. Who said you can't have a honeymoon before the wedding?! Besides, we have a wedding to attend there! 

And yes, some well-deserved beach time after this long, long winter. ;)