Haarlem

About two weeks ago I’ve moved to Haarlem into a studio with my own kitchen! A very big improvement compared to all the houses I’ve lived in before (except my parents place ofcourse). Nice place, clean, quiet and in a beautiful city. Best decision since I’ve been back from down under. Since life has been pretty occupied with moving and a bit of tension because of my dad not being in the healthiest time of his life I’ve not updated for way too long. Also not having internet at home in Haarlem yet makes updating a not so easy task. Which doesn’t mean nothing has happened ofcourse!
First of all: my dad’s been out of the hospital for a while now and doing a little bit better every day. Still having painkillers, sleeping on a special bed and not being able to do anything workwise ofcourse, but he is up for most part of the day now and not in extreme pain anymore. They went to the hospital again last Thursday and there was good and bad news. First the good news: it was the tymoon (which explains why he wasn’t making any new blood) as they expected and the upper part was ok. The bad news was that the lower part consisted of agressive cells and even though they hope they got everything out he probably needs radiation therapy to make sure it stays away. No chemo, so that’s good! The radiation can very precisely target the areas where the tumor has been and was stuck to other internal organs. The academic hospital in Groningen makes the decisions about treatment now, but he can still be treated in the local hospital in Leeuwarden. Also very good news is that his body has started making new blood so for now he doesn’t need any more blood transfusions! Ofcourse he has to be treated still and won’t be considered well for a long time (he needs to get checked in 3 weeks again and after that every so often for a few years at least), it is a very good first few steps!
Second: work. I’ve started work again and it has been relatively quiet, also since my boss just got back on Tuesday and she’s the one who gives me loads of extra things to do. It’s picking up again now, but it’s ok and am not too unhappy about work at the moment. Besides that I haven’t had a very excilerating social life. The first few weeks every bit of spare time was devoted to moving and redecorating my new home. Which is absolutely lovely by the way. I’ll make some pictures and post them next time.
About the moving: disaster. Someone stole the burners from my cooker and the moving guy was 2 hours late (and it was very cold and raining….not nice as I had to wait outside with all my stuff). But a well, we got to Haarlem anyway…
Last weekend Marieke came over from Groningen and we went for some serious home decoration shopping in Haarlem! Friday afternoon I did some prep work by going to several stores and on Saturday morning a quick round of Ikea completed the orientational phase. At 2 in the afternoon Marieke arrived and we first had a quick coffee at my place to dump her stuff, catch up a bit and make a plan of action (she had to see the room first as well, to be able to help me make good decorating decisions). We bought a few tops first (you have to look pretty as well ofcourse) and then off to buy some curtains. It was about five by then and most shops close around that time on Saturday, but not Ikea! So off in the train to Ikea to buy a couch (first time in my life I own a couch whoehoe!) and a tiny dining table (same story). Ofcourse we also bought little decorating things like plants, pillows for on my freshly painted chairs etc. The nice thing about Ikea is that they sell lovely food at really nice prices… so we had way too much to eat in the restaurant hehe. By the time we got home we were exhausted from all the shopping and decorating (putting the curtains in place, unpacking all the stuff we bought etc) so we needed some quiet time. The plan first was to go out and dance, but poor Marieke fell in Haarlem and badly hurd her knees and we were tired anyway, so we decided to stay in and watch the movie ‘Becoming Jane’. A lovely movie! A lovely sleep and chilled out morning after which Marieke left again for Groningen and I did some house chores.
This week started of not soo great: Monday evening Ikea brought my couch and dining room table and all went smoothly untill my heater started leaking and there was water all over my lovely wooden floor (it was 23.30 when I discovered this). Fortunately after my panicky call the houseowner quickly aranged me a plumber who fixed everything! Tuesday night I had dinner with one of my upstairs neighbours (I knew him from Groningen already, he lived in the same flat in Selwerd as I have, and he just moved in a few weeks a go as well, what a coincidence!)
Thursday afternoon I left for Friesland because my brother and I went to Veldhuis en Kemper (cabaret) in the evening. Great show! Yesterday afternoon I went shopping with my mom and in the evening went to a dance show (breakdance, freestyle, streetdance) and this morning I finally got a haircut again. In the afternoon I’m off to see a friend of mine and her babyroom and tomorrow it’s back to Haarlem again!