It is on days like the past few, that I am very grateful for the household help and driver we have. I have spent most of the last 3 days flat on my back in bed because of a (literally) crippling back pain and in the mean time the house got cleaned and the shopping was done. Bliss.
I have read two books and caught up on several Dutch TV shows. Not bad at all, if only my back would get better quicker.....
Friday, 17 January 2014
Sunday, 12 January 2014
Nothing much (but a few surprises)
This blog is called 'What's going on with the Spaanders?' and I haven't written anything this week so I guess that sums it all up.
It is not that nothing has happened of course, but I just don't think there was a lot going on that I could write an interesting blog about.
The first week of school and work has come and gone. Monday was an all time low for all of us. The boys needed to be dragged out of bed and got on the school bus in a bad mood that morning and came out of the bus in the afternoon in the same foul mood. It took them a few days to get back into a routine and leave for school in a (slightly) better mood. This weekend is a long weekend, so they have 4 days to get over it all.
Adriaan went to KL on Wednesday, so after battling one jet lag he could start the next.
It took me some time to feel at home again too, but instead of moping about, I decided to get out and catch up with friends. Always a good way to spend the day ;-)
There were two occasions this week where I found myself wondering how to respond to/feel about other people's action (or lack of action).
The first occasion was when somebody called me to let me know she accidentally received one of my magazines in the mail. {Our mail goes via the office and both our surnames names start with an S, but that is the one and only similarity that our names have, so the mail room just couldn't be bothered to check it properly apparently. I was missing one magazine, but Simon is missing at least 2} She had wondered how come she received this magazine, but had opened the plastic wrapper (with my name on it!) anyway and had read it before putting it back in the plastic and checking who's it was.... I found that odd to say the least, but was happy that she would hand it to me after all. When her driver dropped it of and I took it out of the plastic it looked like it was well read (to put it politely) and the cover was torn and fell off...
I am still not sure whether to laugh about it or get annoyed by it, but I am surprised about it to say the least.
The second occasion was at the Dutch Club New Year's party yesterday. My friend Inge and I had both announced we would leave the committee as of yesterday after three years and two years in it. We had announced it right after the summer break and in December there were 5 people willing to start as the new committee from January.
Only one of those 5 was there yesterday, but nothing was organised to thank us for our time and effort. A friend of ours decided to give an impromptu speech to thank us and we got a round of applause and that was it. At least it proved to us it was the right decision to stop. Out of the 4 committee members we were the ones that did most of the work and we knew nothing would happen if we didn't organise it ourselves.
Again I am not sure whether to laugh about it or to feel annoyed, but I guess I'll just have to get over it, because however I feel won't make any difference to the situation.
So, let's see what next week will bring us. It is going to be a strange week with the boys off from school on Monday and Tuesday and Adriaan having a holiday on Wednesday. There is a 3 day festival called Pongal and apparently everybody just picks a day for their holiday. Unfortunately CISB and Shell picked two different days.
It is not that nothing has happened of course, but I just don't think there was a lot going on that I could write an interesting blog about.
The first week of school and work has come and gone. Monday was an all time low for all of us. The boys needed to be dragged out of bed and got on the school bus in a bad mood that morning and came out of the bus in the afternoon in the same foul mood. It took them a few days to get back into a routine and leave for school in a (slightly) better mood. This weekend is a long weekend, so they have 4 days to get over it all.
Adriaan went to KL on Wednesday, so after battling one jet lag he could start the next.
It took me some time to feel at home again too, but instead of moping about, I decided to get out and catch up with friends. Always a good way to spend the day ;-)
There were two occasions this week where I found myself wondering how to respond to/feel about other people's action (or lack of action).
The first occasion was when somebody called me to let me know she accidentally received one of my magazines in the mail. {Our mail goes via the office and both our surnames names start with an S, but that is the one and only similarity that our names have, so the mail room just couldn't be bothered to check it properly apparently. I was missing one magazine, but Simon is missing at least 2} She had wondered how come she received this magazine, but had opened the plastic wrapper (with my name on it!) anyway and had read it before putting it back in the plastic and checking who's it was.... I found that odd to say the least, but was happy that she would hand it to me after all. When her driver dropped it of and I took it out of the plastic it looked like it was well read (to put it politely) and the cover was torn and fell off...
I am still not sure whether to laugh about it or get annoyed by it, but I am surprised about it to say the least.
The second occasion was at the Dutch Club New Year's party yesterday. My friend Inge and I had both announced we would leave the committee as of yesterday after three years and two years in it. We had announced it right after the summer break and in December there were 5 people willing to start as the new committee from January.
Only one of those 5 was there yesterday, but nothing was organised to thank us for our time and effort. A friend of ours decided to give an impromptu speech to thank us and we got a round of applause and that was it. At least it proved to us it was the right decision to stop. Out of the 4 committee members we were the ones that did most of the work and we knew nothing would happen if we didn't organise it ourselves.
Again I am not sure whether to laugh about it or to feel annoyed, but I guess I'll just have to get over it, because however I feel won't make any difference to the situation.
So, let's see what next week will bring us. It is going to be a strange week with the boys off from school on Monday and Tuesday and Adriaan having a holiday on Wednesday. There is a 3 day festival called Pongal and apparently everybody just picks a day for their holiday. Unfortunately CISB and Shell picked two different days.
Saturday, 4 January 2014
A New Year has begun
2014 started with packing suitcases. Not the most fun way maybe, but school starts again on the 6th of January and we like to be home a few days before so we can acclimatize. We left the Netherlands on Thursday afternoon with wet and grey weather and arrived in Bangalore on Friday morning to sunshine and warm weather. We slept for most of the afternoon, had a restless night and slept till about lunch time again. Waking up early on Monday morning doesn't look very appealing from where we are right now...
I want to wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2014. May it be a good year for all!
I want to wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2014. May it be a good year for all!
Wednesday, 18 December 2013
Thursday, 5 December 2013
Counting sleeps
The count down to the Christmas holidays have started. The last weeks are always hectic, but fun too.
We celebrated Sinterklaas with the Dutch Club. Simon and I were Zwarte Piet and we had great fun.
We celebrated Sinterklaas with the Dutch Club. Simon and I were Zwarte Piet and we had great fun.
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| Simon in the middle, Inge on the right and I am on the left |
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| Our arrival |
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| It was sooooooo warm, my make up was melting |
Sunday, 24 November 2013
Last week
Last week was quite stressful. The boys had exam week, Adriaan spent 4 days in KL and my mother was admitted to hospital with pancreatitis. All this was spiced up with some puberty driven tantrums from our youngest, so you can imagine how much fun it was....
At the moment the atmosphere has cleared quite considerably; my mother is still in hospital, but is feeling a lot better, the exam week is over, Adriaan is back home, it is weekend and to top it all off the boys have no homework!
All the right ingredients to have some fun, so on Friday night I went to the Gala Night that the SCA from the Canadian International School had organised. I went with a group of Dutch friends, all without husbands (because they can't be motivated to go to a party at the end of a stressful week at the office/KL).
The theme was 'Bling, Bling', so we all sparkled in our gala outfits. To complete the look, Inge and Irene bought glittery hats for us all.
We had lots of fun, won some raffle prices and danced the night away.
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| From somewhere on the web |
At the moment the atmosphere has cleared quite considerably; my mother is still in hospital, but is feeling a lot better, the exam week is over, Adriaan is back home, it is weekend and to top it all off the boys have no homework!
All the right ingredients to have some fun, so on Friday night I went to the Gala Night that the SCA from the Canadian International School had organised. I went with a group of Dutch friends, all without husbands (because they can't be motivated to go to a party at the end of a stressful week at the office/KL).
The theme was 'Bling, Bling', so we all sparkled in our gala outfits. To complete the look, Inge and Irene bought glittery hats for us all.
We had lots of fun, won some raffle prices and danced the night away.
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| Jeanine, Irene, Inge, Fokkelien, Nicole and Corine |
Saturday, 16 November 2013
Weekend
Mum and Dad have gone back to NL and the house feels so empty. We had a wonderful time together and now I am left with 1300+ photographs and the task of selecting the ones that need to go into an album.
Mum and Dad's departure has also marked the count down till the Christmas holidays: 4 more weeks to go!
This weekend won't be a relaxed two days as usual. The boys have exams the coming week and Adriaan is leaving for KL tonight.
I guess it is time to get a cup of coffee and keep working on that photo book. Have a lovely weekend!
Mum and Dad's departure has also marked the count down till the Christmas holidays: 4 more weeks to go!
This weekend won't be a relaxed two days as usual. The boys have exams the coming week and Adriaan is leaving for KL tonight.
I guess it is time to get a cup of coffee and keep working on that photo book. Have a lovely weekend!
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| Found this on Facebook and I think it is a good advice ;-) |
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