Wow. It’s been so long since I posted.

I’m happy to say that we did climb La Concha. It took us three tries haha, but in the end we managed. The second time we couldn’t get to the top because Murphy wouldn’t go past one point where it was a very narrow track with a big fall down on one side. So we had to either leave him behind or turn around and of course we did the latter. But on the third try we left Murphy at home and managed to get to the top in 2 hours and it was totally worth it!

Next week we’re going to try and climb the highest mountain in mainland Spain: Mulhacén. It’s in Sierra Nevada and there’s probably still going to be a lot of snow. So we’ll have to see if it’s actually possible right now, but if it is, we’re going there!!

But, I wanted to post about another thing. Running!!

I started running at the beginning of February. Some of my friends in Holland were talking about a run in June that they wanted to start practicing for. And even though I can’t join that run I thought it would be a good idea to practice “with” them. And so I started running with the famous Evy and to my big surprise I actually really like it! Then, a couple of weeks ago, I found out that there was an organized 5km run here in Malaga ‘Mujeres contra el cancer’. So, of course, I had to join! That run was today and it went great! Even though it was very hard, because I actually never ran for 5km until now. I’m still following the Evy schedule and it’s only up to about 4km in 30 min now. But, thanks to Anita’s constant (and sometimes annoying) motivation I ran 5.93km in 39.57 minutes!!

I’m pretty proud of myself. I tried running a couple of times over the last couple of years and I was never able to run for more than 3 minutes haha. And now I ran for 40 minutes with only two small 1 minute breaks.

Next goal: 10km SEB Tallinn run in Estonia! I have no clue if I’m even able to get the time off from work to go there. But for me it’s nice motivation to keep on practicing and pushing myself. And it would be a great excuse to visit a country I’ve never been to before .

Every day when I drive to and from work I see this mountain. The La Concha (seashell).

Today, my friend and I decided to walk up that mountain.

We knew where to start, but that was about it. And as it turned out, it wasn’t enough! We didn’t get to get up to La Concha, but we did get to the top of two other mountains. It was a 4 hour walk and every time we had to “climb” up I noticed how fit I am NOT. Still, it was a lot of fun and next week we’ll definitely make it to the top of La Concha (which should be much easier when we ignore the other mountains and don’t go up all of them ).

The mountains we went to the top of were Juanar and Salto del Lobo (I think).

At the beginning of the trail. With the Cruz de Juanar right in front of us.

We were on the right track!

The view from the top of Cruz de Juanar

See that white top in above picture? That’s Sierra Nevada! I went snowboarding there a couple of weeks ago!

Picture time!

They have a big cross on top of the mountain. There is a legend that says that a fishing boat got lost in a thick fog, they had no idea in which direction to head towards the beach. The fog cleared for a second and one of the men saw the tip of the Juanar mountain. This saved their lives as they managed to head home. In gratitude they planted a big black steel cross up on top of the Juanar mountain and therefore it is known as the “Cross of Juanar”. There is a pilgrimage up there once a year and mass is said under the cross.

Cross of Juanar

Murphy on top of the second mountain (Salto del Lobo??). He was a bit tired XD

This is where we decided to head back. As the farthest top is the La Concha one and we figured we wouldn’t make it there and back before it would get dark.

La Concha! We found you! And next time we will climb you!

The trail we were supposed to walk

(Details of the trail can be found here!)

Happy New Year!

While looking forward to 2013, it’s also time to look back at an eventful and amazing 2012. So much has happened this year! It’s hard to imagine that at the beginning of 2012 I had just “bought” a business. That I was about to make the hard decision of quitting it too. I’m very happy to say that my business partner is still going strong, even though the franchise is not. He was able to get out of the franchise and successfully launched his own agency under the name Hanzewerk. I’m also very happy and grateful that me and him were able to stay good friends, even though our business adventure together didn’t work out as planned.

Then came my decision to move to Spain. I had money to stay here for three months without a job. I was fully expecting to drive back after these three months. But look at me now, nine months later, still enjoying the sun at the Costa del Sol and loving every minute of it! Driving to Spain is the best decision I have made in my life. In the beginning I had a tough time. I wasn’t particularly happy and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I also had a hard time adjusting to life in Spain. I didn’t have any friends and it was harder than I expected to really build up a life again.

I was still enjoying myself most of the time though. And I’m also very grateful that I got to be close to my sister when she gave birth to Jayden. To experience the last couple of weeks of her pregnancy and also the first months of her being a mother. That is very special to me. And when Jayden was born I knew that my trip to Spain was already worth the trip. To have been here for that is very precious and I will never forget it.

After about 2,5 months I got a job. A very good job. And I’m still very happy to have it. I’m officially a Web Application Tester and within that job I have the privilege of working together with a group of designers and programmers to create a new and innovative web application. It’s a very cool project to be a part of and I hope it will be a success. My colleagues are great and so is my employer. I feel very lucky that I got this job.

After being here for about 6 months I finally started to feel like I was building up a life. It’s weird how it can take such a long time to settle in. But the first couple of months I really felt like a tourist. I wasn’t trying to be anything else. But the last couple of months I have been making friends and just enjoying my life here 100%.

One thing that I’m also very happy about is that I got fit. And I don’t mean fit as in pretty, but fit as in healthy. The first couple of months here I gained some weight. I was drinking and eating way too much and I wasn’t very active. I felt like I really needed to lose the weight and joined a gym. Now, 6 months later, I have lost more than 5kg and feel better than ever. I want to get even fitter though. It makes me feel good and it’s nice to be active. I still don’t feel like I’m 100% in shape. I get out of breathe quite fast and I still can’t beat my mom in arm wrestling!

I think joining the gym actually was the turning point for me. It’s when I started feeling better about my life here, because I was being more active and not just slumming around. I also met someone there. Someone who’s becoming a good friend and who has made my life a lot more interesting.

So. I’m still in Spain and have no plans of going back anytime soon. I’m not worried about what I want to do with my life anymore. I’m happy now. And isn’t that the whole purpose of life? Enjoying it. I’m fully enjoying it and I plan to keep doing that as long as possible.

Of course being here has it’s drawbacks. I miss my parents like crazy sometimes. I feel bad that they don’t have one but two daughters who fled the country. It breaks my heart a little when I think about the little lonely moments they must have. But I also know that they’re happy that my sister has her little sister here. And that they’re happy when we’re happy. Still, it would be extra cool if we could all be happy together in the same country. Maybe someday that will be the case again! I think it will .

I miss my friends at home too. I just went back to Holland for a week and it’s so great to see them all again. To just hang out and talk or ice skate or play boardgames. I do miss them. But I’m also very grateful that even though I live 2400km away from them our friendships are as close as ever.

So much to be grateful for . 2012 was a good year. I’m looking forward to what 2013 has to bring!!

There’s just one more little thing I have to talk about.. new years resolutions! Of course I have them! I’m afraid to look at the ones I made last year though.. but let’s have a look anyway.

So… what’s next? I just made a 2-years-resolution on Facebook. A friend of mine posted her resolution of watching all the winners of the Oscar for Best Picture and I kind of love that idea. It’s a list of 83 movies though and I haven’t seen most of them yet so I know it’s impossible to watch within 1 year. I watch approximately 100 movies a year so I’d have to be watching almost only Best Pictures and that’s just not possible.

So, my 2-years-resolution is: watch all 83 Acadamy Award winners in the category Best Picture. I’ll make a seperate page on this blog to keep track of what I watched/have yet to watch.

Of course I’ll keep my yearly resolution of visiting a country I’ve never been to before in there.

Another one is that I hope to achieve great things with TeYo, both with Flex Uitzendwerk as with Altijd TeYo, which is our new name for administrative services we want to offer.

You know what? I didn’t get to fill any of my resolutions. Obviously the last one about Flex didn’t happen. Although I did learn a lot from the experience and I don’t regret it. It made me a little less ‘dreamy’ about having a business.

I didn’t get to fill the ‘visit a new country’ one either. But, in my defense, I did move to a new country, so I think I have a reasonable excuse this year. It will definitely be back on my resolution list this year though.

The first one, the 2-year-resolution. I guess I haven’t failed it yet as I still have a year, but I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to fulfill that one either. Since I moved to Spain I’ve been watching a lot less movies (58 v. 97 last year) and I’ve only watched 5 Oscar movies. And honestly, I’d rather be outside and do fun stuff than force myself to watch movies I don’t really feel like watching.

So… I guess I have to think of some resolutions that I will actually follow up on. So here goes:

1. Go to two countries I’ve never been to before
2. Learn Spanish!!! (this one I really have to do!)
3. Learn how to kitesurf
4. Cook more

And I think I’m going to keep it at that. I’m sure it will be difficult enough!!

Enjoy 2013!

Remember:
Happiness is Not a Destination,
It’s a Way of Life!

It’s going to be evenings like this that I’m going to miss when I go back to Holland. The simple evenings where you are already settled on your couch with an episode of one of your favourite TV shows, but then decide you feel like having a walk on the beach.

A night where you can just put on your flip flops and walk 50 meters to get there. Where you can walk past the chiringuito and have a little small talk with your camarero friend. The chiringuito is packed. With tourists on one side, being entertained by a Spanish accordionist. And where Spanish kids are celebrating a birthday on the other side, singing karaoke.

A walk on the beach is such a simple, but wonderful thing to do. Some people are still relaxing on their sunbeds. A few people are still swimming. There is already a fisherman setting up for a night of fishing. And the sun is slowly setting, giving a beautiful colour to the water. The water that Murphy does not want to get into, but he’ll happily play in the sand with me. Then a puppy comes running up to us and Murphy is so sweet to him. It’s all so simple and peaceful. So I just sit there, on the sand, enjoying the time pass by.

It really is a perfect night. It’s a night that you wish you could show to people. Can you see this? Isn’t this perfect? Can you see how happy this makes me?

I can’t show it, but this is my way of sharing it.

It really is a beautiful night.