November, 2014
Back in the Netherlands after three years of absence. So good to be surrounded by family, friends and even renewed friendships from 35 years ago. The first ten days I spent at my sister’s place, a small village behind the dunes, bordering the North Sea. A lovely area to go for a walk on the beach or taking the bike and use the beautiful assigned bike tracks along the sea shore. I was treated with a lot of sunny days and going out helped me to clear the mind. During the three weeks I stayed in my home country, I travelled in all directions. From the sea in the West, to the forest and moors in the East, visited the charming town of Alkmaar and my birthplace Amersfoort. Enjoyed my stay in Leiden, a town where I lived and worked for 7 years and although the town is rapidly growing, the centre still has it’s charm. I even spent a day touring through the city of Rotterdam, which impressed me with it’s diversity of buildings, neighbourhoods and waterways. The weeks were gone in no time, with so many people to see, so many good chats, the laughter and yes, also the tears.
Three weeks of packing and unpacking and now I was ready for my first house sitters job in the Algarve, Portugal.
