jelmpi

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[jelmpi]

The last two days of the fam in town+a cycling tour the day after

The last two days of the fam in town+a cycling tour the day after

So there were two days left for me to enjoy my mum and sisters’ company and so I had organised a whole city tour for them. We started our day with a lovely Full Ulster Fry Breakfast. It tasted incredible but the place we had it in also looked really nice. Harlem cafe has all kinds of extravagant wall decorations and it’s a very cozy place 🙂

We then walked around the cathedral quarters, got my…

[jelmpi]

So my anticipation was building up to the moment of the 21st! My family was coming to visit meeeeee. My sisters had not seen me for three months and it was an incredibly funny moment when they got to my house! They were like: “Who are you?!”  Who’s this tiny face :D!!! So they came into the house and I sat them down in my room. They liked the house. Yes, a bit old-fashioned. Yes, a dodgy neighbourhood. But hey! I had a spacious room for the price I was paying and it was at the edge of the city center!

So what did we do on day one?! The only thing we could do! Go hike on cavehill! We took the bus to cavehill and I showed my mum and sisters around the castle! They absolutely loved it and thought it had a bit of a cinderella feeling to it. Of course they also could not stop commenting on just how different the make-up style of the Irish girls is compared to the Dutch. It sure felt like the three ladies were back :)! We  started our hike and it was pretty damn warm alright. It even caused my sisters to break a sweat!

As my mum and sisters were blaming me for going too fast we took some breaks whilst going to the top. This enabled us to take some nice pictures and even have a few new sibling pics. There was one sibling pic which have recreated! You see, 10 years ago we gave our mum a canvas with the three of us lying on a beach. At the moment of that picture it was pretty windy and we were actually squinching our eyes just to be able to see something! So when we got to the summit we did so again 😀 ! A fine result as again, it was super windy!

Sibling pic!

And a fine panorama

So we were starting to get tired and slowly made our way down. By the time we got to my house my mum and sisters were just done for the day. So I invited them to a lovely Italian restaurant: la villa Italia. They have an area which feels like your sitting somewhere in an Italian village beneath an olive tree but that feeling gets roughly interrupted by modern music playing on high volume hahaha.

We had a great meal and a lovely evening together. We were so full that all four of us were actually happy to walk back as our food would go down easier.

We all went to bed early that night and woke up the next morning just after 9 haha.

We started our SUNDAY, with some good old hagelslag( chocolate sprinkles ) on our bread and then figured it would be nice to go for a cycle! So we got ourselves some rentals and cycled all along the coast line! We got to Bangor where we head dinner and the route was in my sisters’ words: “way too long”

What we also had not realised was that we took an incredible up and down hill path that would let us back to Belfast. It was extremely beautiful and felt very nice to cycle out there. We had to do a small part on the highway which scared my mum and sisters a bit but in the end all ended well. They really enjoyed the views and we were also lucky with the good weather. We ended up going to bed earlier than expected because everybody had lost all their energy after such a tough day but it’s really nice to have the family over 🙂 !

Hurray, the family is here! So my anticipation was building up to the moment of the 21st! My family was coming to visit meeeeee.

[jelmpi]

During the week I noticed I was a little bit tired and it was slowly increasing every day. So I had arranged for my Friday to be off early! So at 12 I got off work, did some groceries and was ready for the weekend. I wanted to hang out with someone or maybe go to a park and figured I could give Aki a call. He luckily answered and actually loved the idea of a nice little picnic! So I took the ball I had at home, packed it and met Aki to do groceries together. After our groceries, we went to Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park which is a park right on the edge of Belfast and contains many flower fields. We got there and started our walk. The shitty part though: NOTHING was in bloom yet XDD As Belfast had only just started to catch a bit of sun and most of the soil had been in a near-permanent frozen state till mid-March, the flowers we could see were almost none.

There should have been flower fields here.

That did not stop us from having a great conversation though! I have already told you that Aki and I get along extraordinarily well but we really do! We got into the park and he told me how his dorm was filled with many internationals but as far as Asian students concerned there were only Chinese students. According to him, they never really go out and always choose to study over accepting his invite to go for a drink in the pub or just a small meal out. We then kind of progressed into what Aki’s dreams were and I really admire him. You see, He is an avid Basketball fan and grew up watching a lot of NBA. Now he is following a lot more of his domestic league and he has a very specific goal in mind. He wants to study abroad, increase his English and finish his masters in International Business and then return to Japan with a bag full of experiences. He wants to put that to use and create a sporting environment for young Japanese basketball talent to be able to spend more time focusing on basketball and meanwhile still get their university degree. He dreams of taking the talent under his wing and set up his own campus for them! Wow man, I hope he makes his dreams come true because that is such a beautiful goal to have. Also, and a lot of young Japanese that I meet say so, he wants to work and live in Japan so that he is able to give something back to the economy and his people. He is so humble and says that he finds himself fortunate enough to be able to follow the road he is following right now and that he is doing what he likes to do. We then, just as our conversation about his dreams came to an end, walked through a small Japanese garden and we both remarked that”The only thing that felt like home (Japan)  were the gates leading up to it!” haha.

We then followed up the dreams I have and how I would want to make them come true. My goal is very internationally focused but I think that with the right steps I will be able to make it happen. I would want to study a master in International or European Relations and try to get an internship at the Dutch embassy in Japan to be able to work up close on how diplomatic relations and affairs are handled. From there on out, I would maybe do an internship in an international consultant company to experience up close on what its like to act as an intermediary between different nations or companies. I would either end up becoming a diplomat or an intermediary as such and would want to try and form a cultural bridge between Asia and Europe or just the world in general. What I found really amazing from Aki is that, without any doubt, he said: I am sure you will be able to make that dream come true. The ambition you have is combined with slow steps building up to your goal and that is how you should work yourself up. I most definitely can say that after our talk I felt even more inspired.

Of course we still were just walking around and had not even had our picnic yet. We came across this weird forest next to the only residential building in the park. ( I think former residence ) The tree that stood in the middle totally looked like a “Tako” = An Octopus. Well judge yourselves.

  So as we came full circle we picked a spot to sit down. We dropped our stuff and for the first 20 minutes, we chilled in the grass. We then unpacked our dinner and just started making sandwiches. As we ate, we got to discuss how Aki experienced growing up in Japan and also how he felt on the connection with his generation ( because all his friends have graduated and are working already ) We also discussed which events or experiences in our lives had formed us the most and how we had come to be who we are. Aki was formed a lot by joining the basketball team in his high school. Not only did it develop him physically but it was even more of a social development. With a tight group of seniors and juniors, they were his friends and family and the years they had gone through together really made him see the world differently and also appreciate basketball as a sport even more. Plus he gained some social skills and friends from playing with them in his high school club. Also, having missed out on uni the first time as he did not pass the entrance exam, he had studied and worked for a whole year but he also did what he liked and did that at his pace. He traveled around the whole of Japan and learned to appreciate where he was from and also how diverse his fellow Japanese were. It’s not just one background that makes Japanese who they are and to him, he’s seen so many differences throughout the regions that he’s been to. I am so glad I have been crazy enough to send this guy a message on facebook because I am really grateful for the talks I had with him. We discussed how losing a grandparent had formed him and also how it felt for the both us to be so far away from home. We then just started playing a bit of football and just kicked it around for about 20 minutes. He may not like football but he still avidly supports Japan’s national team when they play though. As the weather was turning against us and the sun started to disappear we jointly decided it would be best to go home. So we packed up our stuff and took off. On the bus, we decided that we would end the day with some ice cream. We get out, walk to the Tesco, buy a pack of ice cream and even made friends as there were more in the pack than we could eat so Aki gave them away to three girls that were walking by. It was an incredible day.

Philosophical Park chillings with Aki During the week I noticed I was a little bit tired and it was slowly increasing every day.

[jelmpi]

Cooking for colleagues and a well-deserved chill weekend.

Cooking for colleagues and a well-deserved chill weekend.

It was early April and Belfast, as expected, was still rather grey. I think we had rain for a consecutive streak of eight days and it showed no intention of stopping. I had invited my colleagues from the Earlier hangout to my house for a nice little dinner together. I was going to cook something I really like myself: Smoked Mackerel with rice and my special mushroom sauce. I had previously…

[jelmpi]

When weekends are boring and rain just keeps falling

When weekends are boring and rain just keeps falling

So I had decided to work some overtime on my free Saturday as my boss has informed me that a little bit of extra effort would make sure I would get the bonus for that month, so I did. I worked about 5 hours together with one other colleague of mine and apparently secured the bonus! I got home and did my usual other duties: put my clothes in the washing machine and the drier, do the dishes and…

[jelmpi]

So Darts came to Belfast! Most people already know but I am an avid sports fan! I love both watching and doing all kinds of sports. And one of the sports that I follow very fondly is Darts!  Darts goes back a long while for me as my parents used to watch it when I was young. Back in the days, when the PDC was not watchable on television yet, you would be able to watch the Lakeside World Championship of the BDO on Dutch SBS6. This made me grow up watching Raymond van Barneveld play and sometimes win, on many occasions. I now follow it with my mate Jorik and one of the coolest events of the year, apart from the World Championship, is the Premier League. It is a 16-week event in which the best 10 darts players play each other in a league format and it all culminates into one big final in the O2 arena in London. Now, this event mainly tours around the UK but the big advantage of that: IS THAT IT CAME TO BELFAST! I had nobody to go with and first doubted whether I should go but my mate convinced me and I loved it!

Panorama of the Arena

So I got myself tickets and had a brilliant view of the stage! The arena was packed with happy people and I was ready for a good night. Something special was going to happen because out of all nights, tonight would be the night that the two Dutch Darting Legends would play each other! Michael van Gerwen ( The current world number ONE ) and Raymond van Barneveld ( The Dutch record world champion: 5x ! ) I was sitting next to a group of people who were obviously there to get drunk and could not care less. But that did not mean that I was there to have a great night! The night started off with a few good matches and quickly became better as Match 3 approached.

The Dutch Clash!

It was time for the Dutch Clash! The Magical thing about Darts is that every player enjoys the privilege of a Walk-On, accompanied by their walk-on song. With Raymond van Barneveld, this is Eye of the Tiger. As Barney is also a five-time world champion, he is honoured a bit extra by the PDC and has his own Air Horn going off so that the crowd knows he is coming! You must have been there to truly experience it but the crowd went completely insane when Barney came :D! HAPPY ME!! The video is below!

  It did not matter that Barney ultimately lost his match as my night was completely made. And there were two matches to still come! I will just tell you about one more: Match four. The reason it is so special that the Premier League came to Belfast was that for the first time, a Northern-Irish player was in the league! Daryl Gurney from Derry has made it into the top 10 of the world and he was greeted with an immense cheer and full continuous support from the crowd :)!

So YEAH! I had a superb night! 😀

  Darts Came to Belfast! So Darts came to Belfast! Most people already know but I am an avid sports fan! I love both watching and doing all kinds of sports.

[jelmpi]

Ever since I moved to Northern-Ireland, I also started a quest for cuisines. The thing is: I have never been too bad at cooking but I always made more basic dishes. This does not mean they were not good, just means that I tried to keep my kitchen-time to a minimum. But ever since I arrived here I really felt like I should cook some more and learn some more. I love Japanese cuisine, I love Indonesian cuisine, I love Indian cuisine etc… I cannot imagine anything better than cooking some good fresh food :)! So here are a few of things I have made so far in random order 🙂 A lot of these days have a story to tell so in This Food Dedication post of mine I’m going to share some memories and tell you a bit about the food you see in the pictures :D!

One of the first things I made when I got to Belfast was A Fusilli Pasta! Pasta is something I have always loved and as a kid, my mum always made us some. It is maybe not the most difficult dish but I always spice it with some herbs, some chili sauce or just mix my cheese into the pasta.

Now some dished may not look spectacular but they do taste like it! A remnant of my time in Japan probably is my love for Curry Rice! I can make them in all sorts and sizes but Japan sure made me love it. On the left, you can also see my chicken stir-fry and in the middle is one of my favourite accomplishments! Omu-Raisu! Omelet covering your rice. In Japan, this is more of a child’s dish I guess but that does not mean that people don’t love ordering it. Usually, the omelet completely encircles the rice and people pour tomato ketchup over it. I don’t like messing it with ketchup and my omelet did not completely stay whole when I tried to lift it over my rice but for a first attempt it was good, tasted good and I loved it!

Don’t think I only eat meat though! YES, I love meat dishes. Yes, Fish is great in so many meals. But I do sometimes eat vegetarian meals and those too are really nice :)! This was my: Let’s throw in whatever I can noodle dish. All the ingredients you can spot are: Carrots, egg, noodles, onion, leek, beetroot, potato and tomato. Herbs used: Cumin! ( One has to love Cumin!)

Chili con Carne!!! One of the things I love so much and I think I can say: one of my best dishes! I have already made the dish three times and it just never bores me. I do sometimes throw in some extra or exchange some of the vegetables but the base, the sauce, and the rice are always served with it! I love a good peri-peri chili pepper sauce and have lately started to really like spicing it up even more!

This dish deserves its own stage! This, what I think at least, Vietnamese noodle dish even surprised me! It’s in my top 3 of dishes that are just founded on their herbs. My mum had, caring loving great mother she is, given me some herbs and spices mix bags and one of them was for this dish! YES, it tasted great! And the garlic is such a mastermind behind the tastefulness of this dish :D!

Another dish I was really proud of! Oven-Roasted Duck! I made this dish on Easter evening and boy was it good. You see, I am a true life enjoyer. I live moments to the fullest and try to make every day count. I really believe this is something that has been a big part of my family too as these kinds of days are always spent well in my family. Easter brunch is a big thing in our family and we would always have a massive breakfast where my mum would cook some special pastries and my youngest sister would show off her baking skills. Also, these evenings would be spent by having a more special meal or one that we just usually would not have during the week! So I guess that’s why I made myself roasted duck!

Another dish that deserves my mention and your attention: Smoked Salmon Nachos! I came up with it right on the spot but loved it! What’s in this? Onion, Avocado, Tomato, homemade tzatziki sauce, Salmon, Nacho Crisps, and a very small bit of mushrooms!

The taste of home! So on the Top, you can see my strawberry croissants! Left bottom are Cornish pastries. These remind me of my holiday grandparents Bob and Jan. They were travelers like my family and we had met them in France many years ago. We became friends and they were like my extra grandparents to me. We have visited them twice in Cornwall, where they lived, and one of the things that Bob and Jan always got for me where these Cornish Pastries :)! The 3rd photo is just something my mum would never allow me to do as a child hahaha! I put my chocolate sprinkles on my Nutella and it tasted just as good as I had hoped it would :D! The last one is another true taste of home dish: Potato with Green beans and Chicken drumsticks!

Maker:S,Date:2017-10-23,Ver:6,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar02,E-Y

We have come to the last section! Number 1 is a pasta salad! I accidentally made way too much and kind of underestimated how big the salad would become with all the ingredients that I threw in. So I treated my colleague to some! Ingredient list: Peppers, cucumber, tomato, pickle, onion. leek, tiny bit of garlic, mushroom, beetroot, aubergine, egg, and pasta. This with a spring salad dressing and some iceberg lettuce to make it look great! 2nd photo was the dish I made for my colleagues! Smoked cod, with my signature mushroom sauce which I won’t tell you the secrets of, and rice. 3rd photo is a dish I fell in love with during my days in Poland: Pierogi. And the finishing touch of picture number 4: A Turkey burger, with lettuce, onion, pickle, tomato, turkey burger and a bbq sauce :D!

So, I guess you can say that I have a nice and varying diet right :)! I do know that my mum and my nan are not worried anymore that I’m not taking good care of myself. My nan even said she wanted to try some of it herself :D! So yeah, healthy food all the way :D! ( With occasional exceptions of course)

Food Appreciation: Cooking Jelmer Ever since I moved to Northern-Ireland, I also started a quest for cuisines. The thing is: I have never been too bad at cooking but I always made more basic dishes.

[jelmpi]

So the day after my hike it was still such lovely weather that I decided I had to make the most of it. Even though I had stayed in till 12 I really felt obligated to go outside. You see: To have three days of sun in a row in Northern-Ireland is an incredible rarity and you then just have to make the most of it. Now I try to explore a different part of the city every time I go out for a walk or a cycle and today was no different. You see: not too far from my house there is a very nice area where at the top of a small hill the local parliament is seated. The name of this estate is called: Stormont Estate. This is an open to the public area where you are allowed to walk around and enjoy nature. The estate has quite a big forest and I previously cycled by the estate a few times thinking: I should check that out one day. So today was that day! I went downstairs and made myself a small lunchbox: 4 sandwiches with ham, cheese, tomato, and cucumber. Adding some fruit to that with a banana and an apple. So I cycled my way to Stormont Estate and rolled my bike onto the grounds. In Northern  Ireland, they do not really provide you with many bicycle designated roads nor areas to stow your bike away easily and on the estate, it was no different. I found myself unable to find a place to put my bike and just took it along.

Forest of the grounds

Palace coming up!

The walk around the estate does not even take that long but I really took it easy and just looked around. I also thought that getting rid of my muscle soreness from the hike would only be done by walking it off. So this walk felt like my remedy. I got to the top and checked out the views of the city. It was so lovely. Hills on both sides, cave hill and the other mountains all the way on the other end. Since the sun was out even the city center was showing a lot of activity. I even took a few pictures to be able to share what kind of view I had. But of course, the majority of my pictures are of the building itself.

I walked around and noticed that a lot of the areas after the building were heavily guarded. So I walked up to one of the guard houses and asked the men whether I could be allowed in or not? They responded really friendly, telling me that I could even leave my bike at their building and I could come through after my items were checked. So I walked my way around the building and found out that a lot of it is off-limits as people actually worked there. As this was my extra day off from work I figured I would just relax in the café of the building. I ordered myself a large cup of tea ( with milk served next to it ) and a scone. It was only 1.8 pounds! Cheap!!! So I sat down in the cafe practically eavesdropping on a few of the conversations just to get a grasp of what the people working there were doing on a daily basis. As they were nearing closing time, 4.15PM, I walked my way out back to the security guards. I cycled down and stopped to take a few last parting pictures. One of the castle on the grounds! Little did I know that they had a castle there :O! But of course I found out why I did not know about it: It is off-limits. Nobody is even allowed close. I took a picture from quite up close nonetheless and then slowly started making my way out.

The walk up to the entrance.

  The inside

The castle on the grounds

I took one last break before going and set myself on a bench, mindfully listening to the birds and daydreaming my way through. 30 mins later I picked up my bike and got off the estate. I decided to do one last thing: cycle a full alternative. So I took a rather atypical route home and found myself in some very wealthy neighbourhoods. It is one of the funniest things in Belfast: The immense disparities of the rich and poor and the non-subtle transition from a poor neighbourhood to a wealthier one. I came home feeling very satisfied and made myself a good dinner. Tired and content I fell asleep at 9, only to be lucky enough to go to work again at 7 the next morning….

  Day after hiking: More walking! So the day after my hike it was still such lovely weather that I decided I had to make the most of it.

[jelmpi]

Here it is THE CLIMB!

Here it is THE CLIMB!

So I had been searching the internet to try and see if I could step up my climbing game and climb something sick. As I started going through all kinds of places there was one that peeked my interested: SLIEVE DONARD! Now this mountain lies in the very deep South East of Northern Ireland and has a summit that is just shy of 900m. As it was a great and sunny day, I figured it was time I’d hop on…

[jelmpi]

Let’s quickly continue with where I was: 17th of March, St Patrick’s day! You all may now that I recently joined a samba band. Now, my samba band does a lot of epic performances over the year. As we practiced really hard they told me a gig was coming up. This was not just SOME gig. We were performing in the parade of St Patrick’s day 😀 !!! As I had practiced hard and diligently under the guidance of my great and funny leader Matt and the esteemed Damian it was time that we were putting it all into the parade. So the day started harshly early: got up at 8 just so I would be able to make it to the venue at 9:30. At this venue, we would gather, dress up and prepare for the parade. I got there quite early and had made the rookie mistake to only wear a thin double-layer. Thickheaded as it was I did make it through the day alright. There were a few times when I had a small shiver run down my spine but apart from that, it was acceptable enough 😛 So we all wore themed green clothing and soon we just had to wait for our group to be complete.

So we were off! Now the songs we played were fairly well known and one of them was even loved by small children: Jungle Book’s I wanna be like you! We walked through the majority of the city centre and I have to admit: I have never seen so many people for a parade in 2 degrees weather hahaha. People were filming us everywhere. The crowd cheered as we walked by. I really liked it. The whole parade must have last about an hour and a half and it was great fun. We were however not done yet! We were also walking in the 2:30 parade in Downpatrick. So off we went on a coach to Downpatrick with the whole group 🙂  We had a great lunch and it felt like a school trip.

As Northern-Ireland also has a Chinese population living here we even ran across some Chinese in the parade! It looked really cool but the dances they did were the best! As Downpatrick’s parade was over we were all back on it to Belfast. We gathered at the band quarters and some had a drink to conclude our night. But now comes the funny part: Something really wicked happened! So the thing is: I walked in the parade and knew nobody in the crowds standing beside the road of course. But it turned out to be quite less true than I thought. It must have been about 1:30 when I received a message saying: “So it was you” And I was like: “Uhm, wrong chat?” But the other side insisted: “No, it was you. I saw you in the parade” and I was like: “What?! You have to be kidding me?!” So as it turns out: My Polish friend Estera was in Belfast! There is a completely different story attached to how we’ve even met so I am going to tell you the short version: In October I was in Poland to visit some friends, enjoy the country again and go to some neat parties. Now on one occassion I had to travel all the way across the country from North to South. So here I am, on a 6-hour train ride all by myself. I sat down next to this blonde lady who seems to be about my age and for the first 45 mins I don’t think we talked. But there comes a time when Jelmer thinks: f*ck it! and so I just started a random conversation. Some of you might know that this is typically me but if not: Well yeah hahaha. So we got along really well and I think we must have talked for like 1.5 hours. We actually started in Polish because I had answered the train conductor in my brief Polish but soon we switched to English. We talked all the way till she reached her stop but somehow we got to exchanging facebook and told each other to stay in touch. Well, here she was! She had come to Belfast with her boyfriend for the wedding of her cousin. In Belfast, there is quite a big Polish population so I was not surprised to hear she had family here but to think we would meet while I’m here?? It was so cool! We went to Lavery’s, a cool bar near the University Quarters, and we talked all night. At the end of our night, we promised we would meet again in a different city! All along st Patrick’s day was a crazy fun day!

St Patrick’s day!!! Let's quickly continue with where I was: 17th of March, St Patrick’s day! You all may now that I recently joined a samba band.

[jelmpi]

So weekend had come! I had been wanting to make some new friends and asked my two Dutch colleagues whom I get along great with whether they would be up for a coffee. They actually were. So There is Matt who is 35 and Rainier who is 39. As you can see I am a just the youngest! By about 12 years haha. I get along great with both of them and so we went for a good cup of coffee. Well, actually I had invited them for a Milkshake. You see there is this amazing student place in town called Maggie May’s. It has two locations and they serve the best milkshakes in town! There is so much variation it is unbelievable and I just love it. 

What a list :O !!! We were a bit unfortunate though and had the unlucky timing that we picked the location with the broken milkshake maker. We had a small lunch instead and talked about how we had gotten to Belfast. We really had a great time and we talked for about one hour when we decided to walk to the other location to get that promised milkshake! So I got a Death by Chocolate milkshake with so much fudge that I was in Choco-heaven! It was amazing. We went for a walk through the park afterwards and decided to even check out the botanical garden.

It was good shelter from the rain too! The building we were in is called the Palm House. The cool thing about it is that it’s filled with all kinds of tropical plants and seasonal displays and is one of the earliest glasshouse structures to be made from curved materials. The Botanic gardens were opened in 1828 and have been here for quite a while. The area even has a tropical ravine, much like my Uni town Leiden in the Netherlands, and the park is very popular with students and used as a great hangout.

We had a good time and after our walk in the park decided to go home because it was way too rainy. So we split up and took a last group selfie. A very funny photo. At home, I ended up not doing much but watching a bit of anime and I went to bed early. I did, however, scour the internet looking at one of my latest fascinations though: Interior design. I really like cool designs and have already made dozens of plans for my future dream house. I even have the location: It would be a combination of a lot of nature’s best elements. In a rural area, adjacent to mountains and with a sea view but not too far from a city so that sceneries can be busy when I want them to but I can return home to my quiet peace retreat whenever I need to:)! Now I keep seeing the coolest designs: Dark oak walls and flooring with high windows letting in a lot of light, a rustic fireplace. A big garden with flowers blooming in all seasons, a palm tree, a basement which can turn into a 1950s jazz bar with a jukebox and a too chill setup. A bedroom That has broad windows that can let in a lot of light during the day and show a beautiful starry sky during the night.  And don’t forget a cooking island! So that guests can join the cooking experience and the cook the conversation :D! Does it not sound too good:)?

Loving my weekends 🙂

Weekend: Chilling and a drink with Colleagues So weekend had come! I had been wanting to make some new friends and asked my two Dutch colleagues whom I get along great with whether they would be up for a coffee.

[jelmpi]

The Week of March the 8th was a busy week. I was doing great at work but making long hours, my colleague was in a great mood and I was cooking new dinners!

I keep challenging myself to cook new things and this week I made a terrific ( not boasting ) tasteful Chili con Carne!! Ow man it was good! I even added some yummy Jalapeño to it and it just was great. As I had kept an eye on local events happening in Belfast I noticed that there was a day full of cinema on Thursday the 8th. Now that specific day was International Women’s day. As I had two days of Annual Leave that I had to take that month I figured I might as well take one day to watch a lot of films! Now I left out the best parts: 1. They were all free and 2. They were in this lovely small cinema that was designed like a cozy living room with beanbags everywhere across the room. I had a great day and got to see some great films.

I saw Raise the Red Lantern, a Chinese film centering around a concubine who is struggling and basically fighting other concubines in order to get attention from the master of the house. He has a Red Lantern raised every night at the specific house where he spends the night. But he plays a minor role. The struggle between the concubines is the real focus and it ends up revealing some pretty dark secrets of all the four different women. Next was Persepolis: A story about a strong and own-minded girl growing up during the Iranian Revolution. She rebels against the common rules in her own way and discovers Western bands like Abba and Iron Maiden and dresses modern. Very interesting animated film! Then came a documentary: which showed the life and legacy of the internationally renowned and hugely influential human rights and trade union activist Inez McCormack. Lastly: If these walls could talk 2. This film tells the stories of three lesbian couples, who live in the same house at different periods of time, who are at a crossroads in their lives. I thought this film was the best as it showed such an interesting story and just how different those three periods were. 1961, 1972 and “Modern-day” 2000. I would truly recommend watching it.

Was there anything else that happened? Yes! I entered the void of not knowing what to watch next on my Netflix. I finished a cherished series: Grimm and really felt that I now had nothing to watch that would meet the intensity. Man was it good. As you can see my week has been pretty normal overall. I have even started reading a fascinating book about historical accounts described by ordinary people! It is a Dutch book which describes a normal Amsterdam day in the 1700’s and somebody who witnessed the razing of the Antwerp harbours in the 1600s. There are so many different interesting stories that it is keeping me reading at list a bit every week! ( I just can’t read every day haha )  I may as well conclude by saying: I got a haircut too!

The week of March 8: International Women’s day and a the end of a series The Week of March the 8th was a busy week. I was doing great at work but making long hours, my colleague was in a great mood and I was cooking new dinners!

[jelmpi]

Well… I have had a bit too many days where life got in the way of describing life on my blog xd. I have decided to queue 4 items so I’ll be able to prevent that from happening again. Sorry guys I have been busy. But with a two-month margin, I will now be able to write so much we will have caught up to the current life soon haha! So here is one from my weight diary: On the 4th of March I was weighing around 90 kilos. I have filled up my days with loads of healthy foods and always eat in these set schedules: Breakfast=Two wholemeal sandwiches with ham, cheese, tomato and cucumber. Two hours later: Banana then three hours later: two sandwiches with almost the same recipe except there maybe chicken on them instead of ham. Two hours later: Apple and sometimes orange. Two hours later: Mixed grains bar. And then lastly: A healthy dinner which on that night was an incredible cooked salmon with rice, spring onion, leek, mushrooms and some beetroot. Did the spicing with my own secret choice of herbs for them to be perfect! Why was the meal so fulfilling??? Because my day was too!

Today was an amazing day! ^^ As I am trying to get fitter and fitter I do a lot of exercises. Today was, however, the best day so far, as me and my noble iron steed have done an amazing 77.6 km!! So I had planned with my bandmates to do a bit of cycling from Belfast to Holywood and we set the appointment to meet at 10. This soon became 10:30 and then a pre-cycle coffee before we were off. We cycled this lovely path along the coastline and it was a lot of fun. We soon reached Holywood and both of my friends had to leave. I looked at my clock. Not even 1 yet? How were the legs? Steady…Alright, why not continue and go for it. The sea was pretty rough and the weather bad, but it still was a great trip. I cycled to Bangor and there were a few moments where I could feel a slight drizzle but that did not stop me from taking some beautiful photos along the way:

      So I got to Bangor. I explored the city and walked around the town centre. There weren’t too many people out on the streets but I managed to ask a local what I had to see: Just the coast, the Guinness bar and go eat a fry. Though it was not most helpful, I was really happy to see that the lady was proud of her local bar drafting the best Guinness. I restocked on water and explored the old castle grounds. There is no real castle left in Bangor. A few walls still stand and a small castle garden which looked really beautiful from what I could see in the advertisements. But still: It was only March so the Irish Spring was yet to come. As I had basically seen all ends of Bangor I wanted to move on: Why not cycle some more? I had seen this funny place allocated on my map: “Six Roads End” and I could not help but want to know what was really there. Would you like to know: Six roads end there. At a roundabout!! That is literally it!!! hahaha. Not much to see, not much to do.

  I took a break from cycling and headed to the supermarket to grab a bigger lunch than usual. I also checked my KM-reader and saw the number: nearing 40km… No wonder I felt out of energy! So I got my own tailor-made lunch: Two vegetarian spring rolls, a jumbo sausage roll, a fresh apple and a mango, 0,5L of Milk and extra water for the road! Well, that lunch was the exact recharge I needed. I felt ready for more cycling!!! One of six roads end’s directions was Donaghadee. So I thought: Wooooheeee! 😀  Donaghadee lies most Eastern of all Northern-Irish cities and on a clear day you can see Scotland on the other side of the water. Unlucky me picked the wrong day to be able to see Scotland but that did not mean that the way I got from the hilltop was not spectacular enough to take a picture of. Man, I loved it! I walked on the docks to catch some fresh sea wind and wondered off in thoughts for just a wee second. I felt like a few months ago when I was taking a beach stroll in France: Relaxed…Full zen.

  Tower on top of the hill

View 1

Docks of Donaghadee

Lovely houses

Donaghadee was alright! I got a local ice cream and then figured I needed to find my way home: The long way of course! So I picked Newtownards, Dundonald and the longest road back to Belfast! My legs were pulp, cycling that way to Newtownards! It wasn’t as easy as when I started anymore. I took a last break in Newtownards and saw the sun ( or more what was visible of it behind the thick layers of clouds ) disappear into the sea: Better get home now.

I snapped a quick shot of Newtownards, saw the Scrabo tower ( famous you know ) stand on the hill in the distance and went home. I was not in best shape on the steep hill bits and soon had to just walk a km to grab some energy. I called my grandparents to keep them updated on where I was and my granddad talked me through the football match that they were watching on the Dutch tele. This got my mind off the tiredness for a bit and gave me a brilliant reset: OKAY LAST BIT!

I cycled home in just as many minutes as my google maps predicted and felt proud. Wait, more than that: I got home feeling amazing!!  77.6km done by me and my iron steed!!!! ^^ Fit boy Jelmer, coming soon :D!

March the 4th: I’m back once again. Well... I have had a bit too many days where life got in the way of describing life on my blog xd.

[jelmpi]

Don't think being abroad is always fun.

Don’t think being abroad is always fun.

So March was upon us and my first month in Belfast came to an end. There were many reasons I had gone abroad. I wanted to earn money, live in a new city, get out of my standard comfort zone of Leiden and Breda, focus on new experiences and explore! With one month being over, I somehow subconsciously realised that too. Then all of a sudden, I had a day at work where everything went wrong and I…

[jelmpi]

I had been reading up about the best cycling routes in the area and found one that peaked my interest merely because it started almost next to my house: The Comber Greenway! Now the greenway used to be an old steam train that connected Comber and Belfast! This railway once was extremely important as it helped to evacuate thousands of people to the countryside during the Second World War. The railway was closed soon after the war, in 1950 to be exact. As the railway withered, it slowly became one with nature. It took quite long to find a new use for the railway and a conversion of the railway into a walkway finally started in the early 2000’s. In 2008 they reopened the path to comber, naming it the Comber Greenway! This path is now full of green and home to various wildlife and it is frequently used by cyclists because it is a traffic free path!

I really enjoyed cycling it, especially as this was the only sunny day we had had in over a week. I made sure to even check the weather forecast before leaving my house and that did not prove any good for the coming week: Return of snow! So today had to be enjoyed!

It must have been a bit more than an hour when I reached Comber! A lovely little village with streets from 6 directions all leading to the centre of town: The Statue of Major-General Sir Rollo Gillespie. I have tried to take a few pictures of the town just to show what it looked like and how it felt, to me of course, quite cosy in a sense! I also attempted multiple panoramas but with traffic constantly on the move, it has not been very successful.

There was something which I did not know: Castle Espie was very close to Comber! In my enthusiasm, I could only think of one thing: “Might as well go see it now that I have come this far!” Now, castle Espie is not famous for its ancient building. In fact, the castle has been long gone! The area is famous for its beautiful natural landscapes and some extraordinary wildlife. It is even a stopover site for almost the whole population of Nearctic geese! Can you believe that?!

As always there had to be something stopping me in my tracks. Want to know what it was this time? The Castle Espie site closes at 17:00….. You may wonder: what time did you get there? I arrived there at 16:58… Well isn’t that just FAN-tastic. Unfortunate as it was, I was not going to let it stop me! I am not a huge fan of using Google Maps because I usually love exploring without a map! That to me is the true thrill of exploring. Mapping undiscovered areas ( for myself as an individual of course ) and going on a true adventure. But! In this case, I did as I had to see just how on the edge of Northern-Ireland I actually was. And that showed me a very small road just up ahead which would not let me trespass the grounds but take me right next to it! Happy me was on his way for some truly special views!

    An amazing view and a fascinating tower on a hill site in the far back

  Love this Panorama

  I found a house on the edge. It had no neighbours for more than 200 meters but had such a tremendous view of the bay. The area it had for its “garden” was vast and I had to share this with someone. So I called my mom. I gave her an update of where I was but even more: of what I was seeing. I described it in full detail and told her that if she ever dreamed of a countryside house by the sea, she needed not luck any further.

I continued my way down trailing a small path towards the sea. I got to the end of it and found myself gazing at nothing but water. The wind threw itself into my face. I had longed for this moment for quite a bit. It reminded me of France, where I used to walk my old dog ( Good old Pummeltje ) along the rocks of the forest and onto the beach where both my dog and I would literally stick our heads into the wind and enjoy it to the fullest. The funny thing about my noble four-footed friend is that you could totally see him enjoy that moment, probably even more than me! I miss my dog to have those moments with but I was lucky that the wind and the feeling of that deserted beach at least made me relive that fond memory.

I climbed up to a higher point of the beach and walked all the way to the edge of what I will call: the wall of the beach. This wall stretched out into the water but with the low tide just made it feel even more special. On this wall, a very lonely tree was posted. With its leaves shed, it branches felt naked but nonetheless provided all kinds of funny metaphors which I had pas through my head. I could not help but take two pictures, one with and one without the lovely tree. I sat down on the edge and ate my homemade sandwich while I enjoyed my view. The view, the serenity and the wind completely calmed me and my endless flow of thoughts down. Ow if it could only remain like this.

After about 40 mins the sun started to set and I really had to go home. I cycled all the way back again and came home tired and fulfilled. I was happy with another productive weekend, felt incredibly refreshed and was ready for whatever was to come next. For tomorrow that would, however, be an endless horde of work…

With Tree

Without Tree

    Every weekend a day out! 25th: Comber Greenway! I had been reading up about the best cycling routes in the area and found one that peaked my interest merely because it started almost next to my house: The Comber Greenway!

[jelmpi]

Time to pick it up again!

Time to pick it up again!

I’m sorry I haven’t been writing for nearly two weeks. I have but two things to blame: Myself and the internet in the house! The latter especially has been keeping me offline for more than a week but now that it has become consistent I have become the opposite. So here we are! It’s 24 February and another weekend has come. Now the reason I don’t have anything to say about the weekdays is just…