Some Thoughts

About vegetarianism:
Spain is arguably the most difficult country (that I have been to thus far) to be a vegetarian in. Up until my holiday in Spain I generally found it very easy to not eat meat or fish, but as soon as I had been in Spain for a couple of days, all I could think about were hamburgers and tuna sandwiches. Of course I didn't cave. Although I can't begin to tell you about the numerous times that there was not a single vegetarian meal to be found in any of the restaurants that we visited, and I had to depend on tapas and side salads, most of the time we had dinner at my family's place where it was easier to accommodate to my vegetarian wishes. But it was very, VERY hard. Now that I am back in the Netherlands it has become much easier, and I definitely want to keep going through August, so that I can say that I have been a vegetarian for two months (as was expected, Jochem quit after one month and is happily eating meat and fish once more). I am not sure where to go from there. I truly think that it might be too difficult to never eat meat and fish ever again, so I will probably end up some sort of semi-vegetarian. Luckily, I now know of a lot of ways to replace meat and fish with other food. I feel perfectly comfortable eating my soy burgers during bbqs, or replacing meat and fish with veggies and nuts in pasta and risotto dishes, and I even managed to successfully prepare my signature chicken tandoori dish with tofu (although I must admit that my first attempt at this tofu tandoori was not as successful). Luckily Jochem supports me and if I am able to find a vegetarian option for an otherwise non-vegetarian dish, he will join me in my vegetarian cooking. If I really can't find a suitable replacement, I will buy real meat and fish, but only if it is organic. Since this is quite expensive for us, we will probably eat less meat and fish anyway. I will probably never have fastfood like McDonald's and 'kroket' again, but at least I won't have to say goodbye to tuna sandwiches and sushi. Sometimes I feel guilty for not pulling through completely, but then again: Jochem and I support four organizations that aid animals and the environment, we take care of the environment ourselves in our own surroundings by recycling and not wasting, we only buy products from The Body Shop because they are not tested on animals and support fair trade, we hardly eat meat and fish, and when we do, it's organic, and in my spare time I end up taking care of a bunch of kittens for three days before bringing them to the Spanish local police (a whole other story). There's only so much that a person can do without indulging in guilt forever. So I now declare myself a wannabe vegetarian!

About philosophy:
I used to hate philosophy in college and I still can't bear to read philosopher's original works, but now I'm reading Philosophy for Dummies and it's really interesting! I tend to side with Agnosticism and am now reading Bertrand Russel's "Why I Am Not A Christian."

About renovating:
Jochem and I were supposed to help out my parents for a couple of days as a means to say 'thank you for helping us get to Spain this summer.' I thought we'd be redecorating my parents' bedroom and my old bedroom, but dad had a much less pleasant job in mind. He wanted us to paint all of the wood on the outside of the house. Thinking that as long as I can paint, all is good, we set out to work, but what a painful job it was! It has been very hot and humid in the Netherlands recently, and I kept hurting myself or dripping paint all over my newly acquired, 'especially bought for the world trip,' favorite (of course) hat, until the grand finale where I accidentally poured half a bottle of paint thinner on my front body. It stopped hurting after a couple of hours, but after almost two days my skin still has a very red color. I keep putting aloe vera on it but should I be doing more? Danielle asked me whether I'd been to the hospital... Needless to say, Jochem has been doing most of the painting after that, while I stayed in and edited our pictures. But at least my parents are very happy that the painting has finally been done after ten years of procrastination, and that's what's important.

About reading:
I feel especially proud of my reading skills this summer. I don't read a whole lot during the school year because I am usually too busy reading for my studies, so in the summer I go all out and read all of the books I didn't get to read before. This summer, in just two weeks, I finished the latest two novels by my favorite author Santa Montefiore (finally!), one novel by Cecilia Samartin, one book by my American educational guru Ron Clark (which, admittedly, I had read years before), and the 735 pages of The Other Boleyn Girl (for comparison: Ulysses is also 735 pages long). In total I managed to read 1990 pages in two weeks! One quotation that I wanted to share with you from Ron Clark's book is the following: "Always make sure there are seven things in your life at all times: laughter, family, adventure, good food, challenge, change, and the quest for knowledge." I am proud to say that all seven things are in my life; how about you?

About accomplishments:
Besides feeling pretty good about having read so many books over the summer, I feel pretty good about myself overall, I think. Of course I still feel great for having finished my master thesis on time, getting good grades and being accepted into that internship. I also managed to squeeze in four extra weeks of work for some extra money to save. I cleaned out my apartment and did a whole bunch of little things that had been on my to do list for over a year. My parents' house looks great. I can't wait to start the new, and last, year of grad school. I just feel great! Time for me to indulge in this greatness at the hair salon this afternoon...



These are Chips (the red kitten) and Salsa (the black kitten). It's a long story...