Marloes...

Sometimes you meet people who stick to you and you cannot get rid off. After my year in Ireland I played soccer at university again and I met Marloes. We were both in the first team: We got on, we weren't the best friends, just nice and casual.

After working a year at CINOP, I asked Marloes to do some work as a freelancer for one of my projects. She was good, she loved the work and the company so she decided to do an internship there. She applied for a position at a different team and she got in. Good stuff.
We got to know each other much better then. We had the odd trainride together, we biked together, we gossiped about certain people (oh what's his name again, my biggest allergy?), we giggled and eventually we even did this massive new project together at this very religuous school where we had to wear skirts. For those who don't know Marloes (or me for that matter)...Marloes and I don't do skirts....we are soccer girls, we do a lot, but not skirts...The first time we had to wear skirts I think we were both very shy and afraid to come across people we knew...

Anyhow, all this makes Marloes great, but there is another thing that makes Marloes special. During my final year at CINOP we did a course together about competencies and skills (we mainly did that course so we could teach it ourselves later on). As a final assignment we had to think about our own workfuture and what we would like to change and of course how. I did my presentation about my struggle with balance between work and life. At the end of that presentation Marloes got emotional and upset because although I was quite honest about me not having a balance, Marloes reckoned I was not honest enough. I can still see her pointing at me and saying that getting home at 8 or 9PM and switching on my computer to do some more work is not normal...

It sounds rediculous now, but I needed Marloes to say that and I am absolutely grateful that she did. Time has passed and I have noticed while I was travelling last year that Marloes was getting busier and busier at work and I was starting to get worried that she would do the same as me (which I think she was doing a bit...)Needless to say that I am damn proud of her that she quit her job too, to become a VSO volunteer in Nigeria. Check out her blog if you are curious.

Marloes rocks!

Important stuff in life...

One of my best friends, Eefje, is doing her PhD in mediaval literature. I travelled with her the first time I was in NZ and I discovered then that she has an absolute fetish for gossip magazines. The really bad ones...She even read some stories to me while we were in bed...Is this important? No not at all, but I think it is hilarious that a literature researcher actually is addicted to gossip magazines...Can you see the paradox here? Anyway, besides all this, Eefje is also a famous actress in Belgium. At least she will be in the next 5 years. Why? Because I say so. You want proof? Well go to www.sinthome.be, click on 'kortfilm', and then click on Eefje (the angry woman: bottom row, in the middle - with the red earrings). Sorry, no subtitles for the monolingual people...

Less important but massively important to me personally are my teeth. I'm not sure whether you can comprehend what my teeth's well-being mean to me. I have been told that I am a 'cool' girl, I'm tough and Im a dare devil [I've been told...]. There is only one thing I am really really really -from the bottom of my heart- scared off and that is the dentist. Why? I don't know, because I am 28 and I never had anything done to my teeth: no braces, no fillings, no nothing. My teeth are fine.
But since I was a kid I would seriously stay awake for hours knowing that I had to go to the dentist the next month. I would have total stress moments knowing I had to go into the office and SMELL the dentist. I would seriously question every single move the dentist made to be sure I was prepared...for nothing in those 28 years. Was that dentist horrible then? I don't know, because he never did anything...

And this week the moment had arrived of which I have been utterly terrified for, for seriously YEARS and YEARS! I had a tooth ache and it needed to be fixed...So what do you do? Exactly, you ask every single person you know about their dentist: what is he/she like, will they be gentle, would you recommend them, why, why not....please help! So Nigel turned out to be the ultimate dentist (3 people praised him!) and today was the day.
Result: the tooth that was aching probably had a tiny hole 5 years ago and now turned into a massive one. Before you guys start screaming 'you should have gone to a dentist earlier!', I have. The last time was just before I started travelling and nobody picked it up...So now Mr. Nigel repaired that tooth and seriously, I feel so stupid, because get this: it did NOT hurt (ok ok with anesthetic of course). I have been terrified for something, crying myself to sleep since I was 5 (no jokes there) for something that is not a big deal?! For fuck sake, get a life Maaike...I know, I am pathetic. But thank God I found it out now, so I can happily live my life without that fear...

Or....maybe there is still a little bit of fear...My best friend Nigel may have repaired that tooth without any tears on my side, but...he is not sure whether it did not effect my nerves, so I might need a root canal treatment...

[oeeeeeeeeehhhhhhh] [that's you in the background]

Don't worry, it's ok. It's going to be horrible if needed, but Nigel and I go a long way back (8 hours to be precise) and I trust him completely. So, in 2 weeks time I will go back, I will have a filling done on the other side of my mouth (a filling: piece of cake!) and he will check the other one.

So like every Greek myth, I want to end this story with some wise words (In dutch 'het moraal van dit verhaal'). Please tell every 5 year old that going to the dentist is not scary and that getting a filling does not hurt. If only I knew back then what I know since today...

[and if you now think that my parents didn't tell me that...Of course they did, but I was too terrified to listen...]

Climbing!

In my last post I think I was raving about the quality of my life. Or better said, the fact that I actually have a life...So for those who are sceptical, some proof.

I mean, having more spare time in the hills sounds much better than 'flat country' So to give you a better idea, look at the picture on the left. I'm on the Port Hills (climbing), you can see Christchurch down below and you can see the snowy mountains in the back...Isn't it great?

Or here you can even see the ocean...Fantastic...The guys I'm climbing with are Volker (in black) and Tom (in red). Tom doesn't know that I secretly have a competition going on: whenever he can do a climb, I feel I have to be able to do it as well. Pathetic I know, but for some reason it gets me going better...

So far we are even...I think...Volker is much better, so I won't compete with him. Not on the picture is Ivor, who I actually know from home and he is doing an outdoor educator course at CPIT (my school...) so he taught me some lead climbing things. Funny thing is that we did it in English: our Dutch climbing vocabulary is just not available...

Last weekend I was suppose to go hiking, but the weather messed it up. So I went mountainbiking instead with my new bike, accompanied by Michelle, Steve and Hamish. Really good fun. Of course, I wanted to keep up with the guys in front of me (I might get lost, you know...) so maybe I have done a few 'oh shit I'm going to hit that tree' screams. In silence of course, because I'm cool...But it was good. And yes, I forgot to take pictures...

The other week I went to a kiwi band 'the Shot Band' with 3 friends and I had one of those giggly girls nights. You laugh so much that you have to cry. Or pee your pants. Or both. But I only cried, honestly. Check their site (www.theshotband.co.nz) to listen to some songs. Bit folk or country, I don't know. But they were good. And funny...

And if you want to know what I have been doing the past Tuesdays, check this website out...It's hilarious! www.bugpolo.com