.: July 2008

Ok, no need to tell me, it has been way too long since I updated my blog. But here it is, with pictures!! July has been very exhausting but satisfactory. It has been a month with numerous furniture hunts, assembling the furniture (giving me nice bruises to never forget the sweat, blood and tears it took my friend and I), a trip to Holland to meet up with my good friend Melina. We spent an awesome weekend together. Upon my arrival on July 12 we visited another friend and spent the day in Utrecht - a town I fell in love with. We went out to dinner in a nice restaurant 'The Connaisseur' alongside the 'grachten' in Utrecht. Oh, before that Melina, the friend and I visited a book store, where I did buy 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus'. I'm onto chapter 3 or 4 I think. Very interesting I have to say. Later on that evening and dinner, we walked around town and spent the rest of the evening drinking a nice herbal tea on the town square. As it was Saturday night, there was a good atmosphere going. We ended the day with going to a nightclub 'Monza'. I hadn't been to a nightclub in AGES! Melina and I left the club at 2.30 am and finally got to bed at 4 am. As we had to go to church in Breda that morning, we only got 4 hours of sleep. You can imagine I did not like waking up when the alarm went off!! We ended this weekend with the Young Adult service in Gouda from 3pm until 6pm. I arrived in Brussels in my apartment at 10pm. I was SO ready for bed! :)
The following weekend, I had 4 days off due to our National Holiday. On Friday 18 July, I visited my friend - I have known her for 14 years I think. She had just had her first baby - a boy named Simon. It was nice to hold Simon. I passed by my grandparents. With my new TomTom, it was easy to find my way to my grandparents. Oh yes, I swear by TomTom. It's the best invention ever!! :) Saturday afternoon, my friend arrived and we spent the afternoon at IKEA, picking out my furniture and having a slice of lemon cake after a couple of hours walking around in the IKEA empire. My furniture and couch arrived that same day ... that's where the sweat, blood and tears come in...we spent 2 hours or so carrying up my couch up 2 narrow stairways. We left assembling my wardrobe and TV set for Sunday. Sunday night, I was so happy to be finally able to sit on my very own couch! I had never had a couch in my studio. Do you understand my joy? :) On Monday - our National Holiday - I joined a small group of our church to go kayaking that day. It was FREEZING and I walked out after 2 hours on the river Semois shivering, stiff hands, blue lips, etc. I had never been so cold! And of course, the person with the bucket with my coat in it was the last one to arive with his kayak! I have never enjoyed a hot shower that much in a long time! :) On to the last weekend of this month. On Saturday, 2 friends and I decided to spend the day together. Somehow our own lives made it so that we hadn't seen nor talked to each other for some weeks. We started off by visiting 'Fort van Breendonk', which is a prison camp run by the SS during World War II. I was prepared for a day of fun at the beach, not a prison camp which came pretty close to a concentration camp! We spent 2 hours in the camp. I don't think I will forget that visit quickly. We continued our day of 'fun' (we did actually turn around our moods from gloomy to happy) by driving out to my home town Wenduine. We walked on the beach, had dinner and watched the sunset. We rushed back to my old house, picked up my car and drove out to the movie theater in Bruges to catch the 10.30pm movie. We watched "Wanted". A true action movie which made me look away a couple of times. But still an awesome movie, which gets your adrenaline going right from the start! :) After taking my friends home - in Brussels - I finally fell knock out on my bed at 3am. :) This Sunday I basically did not do one thing. Yesterday, temperatures outside climbed up to 30°C. Too hot for me, especially with the humidity. It was as if nature closed the weekend with a bang, just like in a concert. A huge thunderstorm passed over our country, making it rain like crazy. I was relieved with this refreshing shower. This morning, it's once again grey and wet outside, but still warm. Ok, time for pictures!

Utrecht - Night Club Monza