Ahum...Hello, anybody?

I know I know, what is keeping me with an update. In all fairness, there are several reasons, all with their own solution...
1) I do so many fun activities during weekends. Even if I think I will have a quiet(ish) weekend it turns into an active one. 'We are going kayaking, grade 2, down the Hurunui river, wanna come?' or 'We are going hiking to the West Coast for 3 days and you are coming with us' or 'There is a place free in our car to go ice-climbing, are you interested?'.
Solution: just go and enjoy. Live now, is my NZ motto!

2) I realise not having a computer is starting to become a nuisance. I cannot write the amount of emails I would like to do, nor do I have time to blog at work (obviously). Furthermore, skype would be useful to keep in touch, but if there is no computer, talking into cyberspace becomes quite difficult...
Solution: buy a laptop as soon as I have a free weekend to look into those horrible gadgets (can you see the paradox between point 1 and 2 appearing...I can...)

3) I hate to say it, I am crawling away in shame, but after 6 month in my exhilarating job, my lovely job has recently taken over. My project was kicking off in February (the actually launch and the first teaching sessions) and that has taken more time than I wanted. Last minute budget changes, adjustments to the workshops and just first time teaching takes way more preparation time than the next ones. Working 12 hours per day became more than 'incidental'. And, as you probably know, this is my biggest fear...falling back into that old rhythm of working my ass off. The good thing about my job is (although, this happened in my former job too: I just like working...), that the project is doing well. My parents always call me a 'regeltrien' and that is a good characteristic to have when doing project management. And the teaching: I truly, absolutely love it. And even though I say so myself, I am good at it. Of course there is always room for improvement (life would be boring otherwise!), but it went amazingly well. So the solution to this issue is simple, though extremely tricky for me:
Solution: cut back on hours... Sounds simple, but for those who have been there before: it is absolutely not easy to do. So good thing I have climbing buddies who want to climb at 5.30, Wednesday Walkies at 7 (which I have been cancelling...) biking buddies who want to be ready to go at 6, a boss who gets seriously angry at me for working to much, a lovely Patrick who verbally assaults me if I stay in work too late and in general friends who do the things I mentioned in the first reason of not updating the blog regularly.

Enough excuses though. Behold: the last 6 weeks in 'vogelvlucht' [bird view: I like the Dutch word, sorry!]. Enjoy!