I really am the absolute WORST with this blog thing! I always intend to update it regularly but then I get sidetracked by basically everything else going on in my daily life.
Things are going well here, although I'm not looking forward to winter here at all. It's started to get a little colder and rainier and things will only go down from here. I will surely miss the comfort of cars when I'm biking in pouring rain and freezing temperatures.
In other news, Margo has gotten so big and is naughtier than ever. She's always climbing the curtains, the walls, people, etc. and running all over the place. I can't get much done with her around (she's sitting in my lap right now, playing with her tail) because she's surprisingly attached to us. She loves to be near us when we're home, often falling asleep on us.. I even woke up once with her sleeping on my back! She's fascinated by the computer and TV and has a habit of coming to sit right in front of us, blocking our view. She loves to play and be petted and she's really the sweetest kitten in the world. Happy almost 3 months to her!
Now on to the best thing going on in my life right now: DAMALY COMES NOVEMBER 4TH!!! I'm beyond excited. I live for her visit and I'm excited for her to meet everyone. She'll be here for 2 weeks and there's so much I wanna do and show her. Last time she came to Holland, she wasn't able to stay long and it wasn't he best experience so I'll definitely make up for that. She, Mic and I will go to PRAGUE from the 12-15th which I'm sure will be super fun and exciting! I think we'll also go to BERLIN just the two of us from the 8th-11th for some sisterly bonding and serious troublemaking. I've heard nothing but rave reviews about Berlin so I'd really love to go and leave our mark on such a sexy city!
Besides being extremely happy romantically and having great friends, being able to travel is one of the best parts of living here. I have such a lengthly list of countries and cities I'd love to visit and it feels amazing to cross places off my list. Mic will have a lot of vacation time this year so we'll be able to take several long weekends and also a couple big trips. We've explored Africa together, and though there are other places we'd love to see like Egypt, Tanzania, Zimbabwe (I love saying that haha) and South Africa, we're both very much intrigued by Asia. I spent 2 weeks in China when I was 18 but Mic has never been. We'd both really love to go to Japan and maybe do a 2 week trip through Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.. maybe even throw in the Philippines. It'd also be cool to do 2 weeks going through Tibet, Nepal and India.. the possibilities are endless and it seems that everyday there are new places I want to add to my list. While I've been fortunate enough to see several places in Europe, there are still lots of places I'd still love to visit: Vienna, Poland, Istanbul, Greece, Budapest, Geneva, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. Also, I still have lots to see in Italy and Sicily. I think Mic and I will explore Tuscany and Sienna sometime in the near future.
There's so much I want to do before I die besides seeing as much of this great big world as possible. I still have yet to skydive, I wanna go in a hot air balloon, climb a mountain and do a deep sea dive. I want to start an orphanage, a scholarship fund, a mentoring program and eventually become a UN ambassador. I want 2 kids of my own and houseful of foster/adopted children. There's so much wrong with this world of ours but at the time of my death, I wanna know that I did everything I could to change it even if it's one person at a time. I'm reading a collection of stories about the various ways AIDS affects people in Africa and the number of orphaned children breaks my heart. The earthquake in Haiti is still fresh in my mind and there are lots of children and adults in need of "luxuries" like food/water, clothing and shelter. I really have to find a way to help directly this year. First step, running the Rotterdam Marathon in April, with proceeds going to the Ronald McDonald Children's Fund!
