The year 2020 was one of the darkest years, but also a year in which I learned a lot about myself. ‘Everything that could go wrong, went wrong’. That is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of 2020. I lost my job at KLM before I even started, I had to go through a lot in terms of love, I had to say goodbye to my little hamster girl Roo, who got a nice spot in the garden, and most of all I have lived in a lot of fear, uncertainty and loneliness. All thanks to the arrival of the coronavirus.
Read moreApplying for or renewing your driver’s license can be more difficult if you have diabetes. I deliberately say ‘can’, because it doesn’t always have to be that way. For example, I renewed my driver’s license without any problems and it wasn’t too bad. I was even a bit disappointed afterwards because I had wasted four months of validity by doing it so early.
Read moreToday it is exactly four months since I quit smoking. And I can hear you thinking. Huh? Smoking? You? Mm-hm. “I would have never expected that from you.” It is the most common response I get when I am seen with a cigarette. Four months ago, after many years, I decided that it was enough. I had never been so convinced. Partly because this time I really felt the motivation to quit, but also because during this attempt I got help in the form of a little pill: Champix.
Read moreBefore I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, over five years ago, running was part of my weekly routine. After the diagnosis, things suddenly changed. I found running difficult in combination with having diabetes. Impossible, even. But luckily, it all worked out and I managed to find a way to make running with diabetes less stressful.
Read moreGirona has gradually earned a place in my heart over the past few years. Although I won’t travel to Girona regularly for work anymore (because of my new job), it will always feel like a ‘second home’. Mainly because of the people and all the beautiful memories, but also because many of the hotspots in Girona have come to feel like ‘my places’.
Read moreDuring one of my Ikea visits, I was given a recommendation for the ‘KAFFEREP’ oat cookies. And not the normal kind, but the ones with a layer of chocolate in between. In Sweden, it is a well-known delicacy, which thankfully is now also available in the Netherlands, or… they can be made yourself! When Ikea was closed a while back and I was craving for the cookies, I decided to give it a try myself. My first try was reasonably successful, but not entirely to my liking. With a few tweaks here and there, I finally managed to come up with a recipe that is very close to the original oat cookies. And maybe they are even more tasty! 😉
Read moreIt is a year of extremes. If you had told me at New Year’s that we would be facing a pandemic this year and that I would be sitting at home unemployed, I would probably have laughed in your face. First of all: a pandemic? That only happens in movies. No way that the whole world shuts down overnight. And secondly: if I end up sitting at home unemployed, then something has really gone wrong somewhere. If anyone makes well-considered choices in that area, it’s me. So a pandemic and unemployment? No, I don’t see that happening any time soon. Boy, was I wrong…
Read moreToday would be my last day off for the time being. Tomorrow my alarm clock would not go off at seven o’clock, but earlier. Amstelveen is not just around the corner. I would be on the train with a strange feeling in my belly, of both excitement and enthusiasm. On my way to my first day at KLM: the start of a new chapter.
Read moreStrange, isn’t it, when the world suddenly looks completely different from one day to the next…? It’s an unpleasant period that we all have to overcome, and we will. I’m sure of that. But the fact that we don’t know how much longer it will take, sometimes makes me a little nervous… And that while we are only two weeks underway.
Read moreWhere working from home is a dream for some, it can be a nightmare for others. Unfortunately, it is not always in our control and sometimes we are ‘forced’ to work from home. If we like it or not. Like now in times of the coronavirus.
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