Amsterdam, Netherlands

Friday the 13th today, but fortunately no bad luck to speak of. On the contrary, in the evening I played host to a dinner with Ian and Ana. Both had been to my new apartment before, but they’d never had dinner here. Both arrived within a minute of each other just after 7 in the evening and all of us had a wonderful evening. The picture shows part of the meal, namely cod with added rosemary, dill, lemon, and other spices in an oven dish. It turned out to be a delicious meal, served with rice, veggies and a greek salad. Sound familiar? Well yes, admittedly it was a remarkably similar meal to the one I had served to Günter and Rob a couple of weeks ago (with the cod replaced with salmon)… but as the saying goes, never change a winning horse. Well, not tonight anyway.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

The good news is that yesterday’s sharp decrease of my weight continued today, and that meant that I have nearly reached my pre-Easter weekend weight again. So it was a temporary increase after all, and that is great to know. Not only do I know that I can actually diet, I also now know that if my weight increases for whatever reason, I can pick my diet up again quite effectively afterwards. That gives me a bit of confidence.

The other good news is that I went swimming again this morning. When I swam after work, I did not go swimming on Thursdays, for the simple reason that the pool is closed on Thursday evenings. But now that I’ve switched to morning swims (and loving them) there is no reason not to go on Thursdays either. It turns out that I don’t mind getting up at 6:15 (and I can hardly believe that I’m writing this) and it turns out that I enjoy early morning exercise (ditto) so… off I went! It has the added advantage that cycling through Amsterdam at 7:15 is so much more enjoyable than cycling (or rather avoiding accidents) at 8:30.

And some more remarkable news is that I have quit eating chocolates again. The Easter weekend was exceptional, but all the leftover chocolates in the office (see picture above for Exhibit A) have remained untouched by me, and again that’s something I had never expected. Maybe I had a stroke or something because I sure don’t recognise myself. Very pleasant stroke though.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

I didn’t mention it in yesterday’s post, but my weight, measured early in the morning, before I went for a swim, was even higher then than what it was on Monday morning. Half a kilogram more still! The Easter weekend sure seemed to have caused havoc in my diet plan. So, I was very relieved this morning, again before I went for a morning swim, that my weight had gone down considerably. More than a kilogram less than yesterday. It’s fascinating how your weight can fluctuate so heavily. Let’s hope that the decrease continues and that the Easter weekend increase was just a temporary one.

I met up with Günter tonight, and this time we went to the Bekeerde Suster, a lovely old-style pub on Nieuwmarkt, just a stone throw away from my place. I was relieved to find that today’s special was a tuna salad with fresh cuts of raw tuna. Delicious! And definitely low carb! The beer maybe wasn’t as much low carb, but it’s home brewed and simply divine, so I ordered that as well. Everything needs to be done with moderation – even dieting. The picture is of some new office buildings in the Zuidas financial district, as seen from our own office on the 26th floor. Just as a rain shower descended over Amsterdam. Luckily I managed to stay dry as I left the office a bit later.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Back to the office! Or, perhaps I should say Zurück ins Bureau! Let me explain. Yesterday I posted a link to the website of the Süddeutsche Zeitung quality newspaper on my Facebook. It was to point people to a beautiful poem, Was gesagt werden muss, by German author Günter Grass. In short (and I realise I’m not doing it justice here) it questions why the world is looking so anxiously to Iran’s possible nuclear weapons program when at the same time it has allowed the most powerful country in the region, Israel, to have a secret nuclear weapons program. Israel has never admitted its program, simply doesn’t talk about it, but from people who worked on it we know that it exists. Grass is concerned about Germany’s support for Israel by sending it yet another submarine, and asks why the criticism that Iran faces is not applied to Israel as well. As a German he is of course, and he says so, painfully aware of Germany’s stained past. It’s a brilliant poem and if you can find a good English translation (should you not speak German) then it’s definitely worth the search.

“I didn’t know you speak German!” our German business developer, who was in Amsterdam today, said to me the moment he saw me in the morning, “I may have a job for you in my team!” Later in the day, when he sat at my desk, it became clear what he meant. He was looking for a contact person who could communicate between our company and a possible German speaking client. Would I be able to do that? I told him that I would be comfortable speaking German but that the task may not be really suitable after all because I didn’t know that much about the subject that had to get discussed. Not in English and not in German. It was a funny moment though. I actually love German, and think it’s one of the world’s most undervalued languages (quite possibly due to that horrible moustache man in the 1930s and early 1940s) and admittedly, had I been born two kilometres to the east, I would have been German. We’ll see where we go with this German task but I don’t think I’ll expect much of it. The picture is the view from my computer table, looking west. Quite a nice sunset (or should I say Sonnenuntergang?) today.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Of course one of the things I was most curious about as I got up this morning was how the Easter weekend with its delicious but rather carb rich foods had affected my weight. I stand on my scales every morning after the shower and record the measurement in an iPod app and also in an Excel spreadsheet. So I know that a person’s body weight (or at least mine) fluctuates and is hardly ever exactly the same as the previous day. And in general, the measurements on Monday and Tuesday mornings are the highest of the week, with Thursday’s measurement generally the most flattering. Nevertheless, this morning’s verdict was quite a shocker. Compared to Friday morning, just three days ago, I was 1.9 kilograms heavier. Given that, on average, I lose just under a kilogram a week, that means that the Easter weekend put me back two weeks in my diet – if the increase is an actual permanent one of course, which remains to be seen.

It didn’t stop me from going out for lunch with Hanno though. This Monday, the one after Easter Sunday, is a public holiday in most of Europe. In this country it’s simply known as ‘Second Easter Day’. Hanno arrived at my place at around one and we went for lunch in a small, cosy cafe not far from where I live. Of course I tried to order something low carb, but I don’t have carb tables in my head so I have no idea if the soup I ordered was really low carb… and even though most of the ingredients in the salad seemed to be low carb, did the cheese in the salad also comply with my diet? I had no idea (I looked it up afterwards: yes, cheese contains no or hardly any carbohydrates so it’s safe to eat in this diet.) And then there was the bread that came with both the soup and the salad. Even though it was delicious, it definitely was not low carb. I ate it nonetheless.

After lunch, Hanno and I walked to Gallery W139, a large space on Warmoesstraat where Hanno worked as a volunteer, specialised in modern art installations such as the one in the picture above. It’s an interesting gallery. Depending on the artist(s) that are exhibiting their work, the entire space gets adjusted according to the artist’s needs, which often meeds a complete overhaul of the interior. I have no idea what the installation in the above picture is supposed to be other than four record players with a fluorescent light uncomfortably low over them. I’m not a huge modern art fan, I’m afraid. Still, it was nice to see, and definitely nice to catch up with Hanno again!

Munstergeleen, Netherlands

I had my very first Easter egg of the year today, at my parents’ place. From a low-carb diet I have completely switched to a go-carb diet, and that’s just fine. It was a very nice day with the family today, which included some card games in the afternoon, watching the Paris-Roubaix cycling race on the telly, playing with Senna – my sister’s adorable little dog that you see in the picture above – and having a very nice dinner in the evening. Especially when eating the oven potatoes I could hear my carb counter go over time. They were delicious!

In the early evening I took a train back to Amsterdam, and I got back home at around 10, staying in for the rest of the evening. I’ve not been going out that much, so, even though tomorrow is a public holiday and I could easily go out now and party till the early morning, I was quite happy staying in. It was a very nice Easter weekend in Limburg. No need to follow that up with late night drinks in some Amsterdam pub. Besides, my scales, as I stood on them (clothed) when I got home in the evening, warned me that a return to a low-carb diet would probably be quite advisable.

Maastricht, Netherlands

One thing that I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post is that I finally got around replacing the light bulb that was still suspended from the ceiling on an electricity cable with a real lamp worthy of the living room (even if that living room is actually also my bedroom, kitchen and laundry room at the same time.) I bought the lamp at a nicely discounted price at Bijenkorf in the morning and hung it up in the afternoon. One of the advantages of being a qualified physics teacher is that I’m not too afraid of working on electrical things – so all went well, there was no blackout in the city of Amsterdam due to me creating a shortcut or anything like that.

Back to today. I’ll be spending the Easter weekend in Limburg with my parents and this morning I took the train down to Limburg, also taking my bike with me. I’d bought my parents some Easter chocolates as well as a nice bouquet of spring-like flowers. Speaking of Easter eggs, I have not eaten a single Easter egg yet this year. Andy and Colin gave me some delicious Lindt Easter chocolates when I was in Glasgow in February, and admittedly they were too irresistible to leave them in my cupboard as decoration, so I did eat those – with much greater moderation that normal – but I’ve not eaten any of the dozens of Easter eggs that are in a couple of locations in the office. Nor did I eat the chocolate Easter bunny that was left on my desk (I gave it to Ana, for her son) and that is a huge contrast with previous years, when the pre-Easter weeks were completely chocolate fuelled. And you know what? I don’t miss it it all!

For this weekend, however, I decided to let go of my low-carb diet and just eat ‘normally’. So I did eat the bread that was on the table during lunch time and for the evening meal, even though I’ve not eaten bread for weeks now, and of course it tasted great, especially because it was home made. I was actually a bit curious if my family would notice that I had lost more than 11 kilograms already since they last saw me on 15 January. My mother didn’t say anything during lunch time, but in the early evening she remarked that I looked thinner, and that my ‘tummy’ was disappearing. Great – it’s noticeable! In the evening, when we went to my sister Joyce’s place, I also didn’t stick to any diet – and it was fine. Earlier in the week I had been wondering if I’d been losing weight to quickly, so it will be interesting to see how my body reacts to two days of carb-rich diet.

In the afternoon I went to Maastricht by train (the sky looked too threatening to risk riding my bike there) and had a nice time walking through that wonderful time. To be honest, I don’t see myself returning to Limburg anytime soon, contrary to my statement when I left my home province nearly 20 years ago and expected to be back before the turn of the century, but should I ever return, then Maastricht would most likely be the destination. I love the place. At the Graus photography shop I looked for the new Nikon D800 camera, but unfortunately it was not in stock. Too bad because it seems to be a fantastic new Nikon camera. If my apartment wouldn’t have cost me an arm and a leg, I’m pretty sure I would have bought one, because my old D200 (nearly 6 years old) is clearly not in good shape anymore and certainly hasn’t kept up with the fast moving times of digital SLR photography. The picture above (taken with my compact Nikon) is of the wonderful Selexyz Dominikanen bookshop in Maastricht. It was chosen as the world’s best bookshop by the British Guardian newspaper a couple of years ago. I’m not sure if that’s justified (Waterstone’s Piccadilly flagship store springs to mind) but it is a wonderful shop indeed. I love it!

Amsterdam, Netherlands

The weather was absolutely wonderful today, despite gloomy weather forecasts for the Easter Weekend earlier this week. With Good Friday being a public holiday, at least for those working in the Financial Services industry, I considered myself very lucky with the timing of the blue skies and the warm sunshine. At around noon I had a stroll into the western part of the city centre and on Westermarkt saw in astonishment that the queue to get into the Anne Frank house, on Prinsengracht, was going all the way down to Keizersgracht. My guess was that that was about a two hour wait – just to get inside. I guess the tourists have flocked en masse to Amsterdam for this long weekend.

On the way back home I bumped into Darren, or to be more accurate, he bumped into me as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere from behind me. Darren is my former room mate who actually stayed with me twice, in two consecutive winters, for six months each time. It was only because I bought my current apartment, that I had to ask Darren to move out. And of course having a room mate is out of the question in my studio now, otherwise I would have been happy to once more share the place with Darren. He’s a very nice guy, very considerate, and easy to talk to so I look back with pleasure on the time that we shared Amstelkade 106-1. It was good to hear today that he’s happy and that he and his boyfriend Vilius are living together in an apartment close to Westergasfabriek. Good Friday.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

A thought occurred to me that I would have deemed inconceivable just a couple of weeks ago. Maybe I’m losing weight too fast? I mean, is there such a thing? Where, in the past, I had difficulties losing even half a kilogram, with my current low-carb diet and regular exercise (swimming) regime, the kilograms are vanishing visibly. I stand on my scales every morning and today’s weight (which shall remain a secret until I have reached my target) was 1.4 kilograms less than what it was last week Thursday, which in its turn was also 1.4 kilograms less than the Thursday before, which in its turn again was 1.7 kilograms less than the Thursday before that one. Ever since I started dieting I’ve lost nearly 11 kilograms. I’m extremely happy with that… but wonder if there are any side effects to that. Don’t get me wrong, I feel fitter than I have felt in years (even went swimming this morning despite the fact that on Thursdays I typically don’t swim) and to see it all going so easily – and healthily! – is wonderful. We’ll see where this ends!

The picture is nothing special today, but in a way it’s special for me: I have a view again on the canal side of the house! For three months there was scaffolding on this side and those were three very long months. Now, the scaffolding has moved to the street side of the house (where the view is now gone) but at least there is sunshine coming through the windows and early evening again on this side. Ugly as the building may be from the outside, at least the view gives me more to enjoy inside.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

The picture shows the office at around half past eight in the evening. It may seem as if it’s still light outside, but that wasn’t the case. In fact, almost the entire office, as well as the exterior, were dark. Only one light was burning, and because the rest was so dark, this picture makes it look as if that light was extremely light. I guess I should have selected an underexposed picture, but I was not in the mood to think too much about that. Nor did I have the time really.

Just to clarify; No, I didn’t work till half past eight. No one did. Around 30 of the paintings and illustrations that were still hanging in the Amstelveen office were ‘auctioned’ to the staff this evening after work. It was also possible to indicate, on a bid sheet in advance, if you would like to receive a certain art work for free rather than for a price. I didn’t bid on anything, not for free and not paid, even though I can still use a piece of art in my studio. It’s just that not too much of what was on offer was to my liking, and furthermore, I am not too sure that I would like anything from the office hanging on my walls at home. The office is in my head plenty already when I’m home. No need to have a physical reminder as well. Still, it was a nice evening where I got the chance to catch up with some of my colleagues, have some drinks and some snacks (obviously I stuck to the low-carb snacks) and just relax with colleagues. When it was time to leave, I rushed to my desk, grabbed my stuff, and took this picture. Then the last of us (five people) left the building. At last.