Its been a while since I was in Holland last…. I used to go every year when I lived in Greece, and on every trip to Greece once I moved to Australia. This is only my second trip here since I moved to Paros 5 years ago).

I have always loved Holland. The first time I went there I felt almost like I’d come home. I’ve often thought about living here but there were always reasons not to. I even applied for a job here after I’d finished high school, and planned to go to art school here, but I ended up going back to Australia where I spoke the language and could get AUSTUDY (a government payment which enabled me to support myself while I studied. Sure, I had to get a part time job as well, but it made life so much easier to have a steady fortnightly payment.)

I often wonder how different my life would have been if I’d decided to live in Holland instead, learned dutch, attended art school here, got a job at Greenpeace… The road not taken. If I had my life to live over again, I would definitely take that path.

People sometimes ask if I would do things differently if I had my life to live over. Of course I would. I’ve lived this ilife, made these mistakes. I would want to try different things, make different mistakes.

I’m really quite excited about this trip. I had planned a trip a couple of years ago but postponed it due to COVID, so this time I’m going to do the stuff I planned to do back then: visit Germany and the Christmas markets in Cologne, drink gluwein, hot chocolate and freeze my toes off.

There is nothing like a white Christmas and the markets though there is no snow and only rain, rain, rain (and some hail thrown in for a change since I got here. I doubt I’ll get the white Christmas I’m hoping for, but who knows… I would LOVE to be able to ice skate on a lake or a canal again, but its been years since there’s been enough ice over Christmas to do that I’m told…

Other than that… I was in Athens to see mom for a couple of days, and she’s well. She’ll lbe 91 in January and has had to give up driving which makes her very sad. Still, she’s healthy and her mind is intact so I am thankful every day for that.

Before leaving Paros I’d had a lot of social events to go to, which was fun, and some grooming to do. When I return in January I’ll have a tons to do, no least of which is following up with the container positioning and worrying about whether I’ll get water and power to it by summer. Ain’t looking too promising… Meanwhile the excavations have finished, and they moved on to the concreting this past week.

For now I’m happy to spend the holidays with good friends and just relax in the warmth while it rains outside.

z