I just experienced my first Easter without chocolate. I wouldn?t recommend it. I think the joy in consuming all that chocolate far outweighs the guilt (and kilos) it brings. Aside from that we had 4 days off to relax. Usually we set off for a new exciting euro destination but Jarno had to work so we stayed home.

We went to a fabulous classical concert on Saturday night with Lora borderliner and Klaas Spinelesslessr quick drink after the concert turned into a fun night finishing up at 3am. The swanky bar was in an old castle, loved it. Lora and I wanted to go dancing afterwards but then Klaas reminded us they had to drive to Copenhagen in 3 hours. Oops. The next morning we had Easter brunch with Jarno’s family. My self inflicted headache was intensified by one of Jarno’s sisters who seems to have mastered voice projection without any lessons. Apart from that there was an impressive spread of goodies and a good time was had by all. Afterwards I did a marathon of Colin Mcrae on the PS2 while Jarno worked on his proposal. That’s about it really. Til next week.

Hey hey! This week I discovered I’m not as integrated as I thought. Like every dutch person I planted rows of tulips at the end of 2004. At lunch last week I heard my colleagues saying their tulips are 15 cms out of the ground. I have acres of bare dirt. I asked what the problem could be. The next day Klaas says to me “aaaah Susan, I don’t mean to be offensive, but you did plant your tulips the right way up??’ I reply, “Are you serious?? Is there even a right way up for tulips??” Apparently there is and I planted mine upside down so they are growing towards Australia….. there’s always next year.

I began with 4 working days a week in March. Sounds relaxed eh? So far I’ve been doing housework and waiting for new furniture to be delivered. Luckily, Gosia starts doing 4 days from April 1, so I’ve promised myself to have more fun from then on. A few of us want to start a dance class (bikini season is looming). We heard about something called Salsa jam and popped along to watch a workshop on Sunday. Picture 10 fat ugly girls dancing like they’re on speed and you’ll understand why we left after twenty minutes. Gosia’s exact words after 5 minutes were,”This is complete bullshit, I’m leaving”. The rest of us stuck it out for another 20 minutes and left to grab a coffee and discuss why it is that the concept of rhythm and grace never caught on here.

Speaking of gracelessness, I had another run in with a volleyball girl on Friday. Well ok I had a run in and she guessed it was normal human interaction. Lenny and I went to watch the boys play volleyball. It’s the first time I’ve been in months because I find watching paint dry a more interesting pastime, but it was the last home game and the boys love it if we come along to cheer them on. So Lenny and I decided to face it together. At the agreed time I rocked up and sat down with Lenny to chat. We were combining chatting and watching the game and generally having a good time when I noticed one of girls who plays in the same club but for ‘the ladies’ (I use that term somewhat loosely here) was glaring at us every now and then. I now have a sixth sense for a ‘moment’ about to happen so I braced myself for impact. It came after the second set. She turned to us and asked in the most patronising voice I’ve ever heard ‘Do you two even know who won that set??’. If Jarno had said it I would have laughed, but her tone was just dripping with distaste and it’s not the first time she’s felt the need to lecture me on my volleyball watching etiquette. Last year she chastised me for bringing a magazine, somehow she didn’t understand the connection of taking a magazine with the fact that these girls have been meticulously freezing me out since I arrived. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I saved a table in the bar for everyone and they walk straight past me and sit at another table (without even acknowledging I’m in the room). All my well intentioned attempts at contact have been met with an inexplicable combination of hostility, xenophobia and monosyllables. Luckily, the guys at volleyball more than compensate for it. They’re great fun. Really funny, interesting, relexed and easy to chat with. Half of them are dating girls from the ladies teams, I often wonder how those romances ever work?? Now we just have to hope that these ladies never find my site (or maybe it would be better if they did as my kicking ass skills failed me again on Friday and she got away without the dressing down she deserved). Gives me something to work on I guess….

Hey hello. Spring has finally sprung. It’s a whopping 11 degrees here today. Lots of happenings over the past couple of months so I’ll try to keep it snappy. I had my liveliest Dutch NYE yet (no boardgames this year). We had Marcin and Gosia over for champagne and watched as people let off a few million euros worth of fireworks. It was spectacular. We had a 360-degree view from the roof terrace, so it was hard to know where to look. After 20 minutes Marcin almost got hit by rocket, so we decided to head back inside. We then moved onto a club and danced till dawn. I don’t know what my story is, but lately I don’t storm off the dance floor when ‘My Sharona’ comes on. Do you think I need therapy?? Or am I just getting old…..

At the end of January I went for a whirlwind trip to Australia. I caught up with all the Canberrans and Sydneysiders but I’m afraid I missed most of the Melbournites. Next year I promise. I was there for just two weeks, so it was a haze of intense catch-up with friends, hanging at the homestead and lounging in the sunshine. For photos: Australia - 2005This time it was really hard to leave. It amazes me how I can slip back so easily into life there. I guess I’m still Aussie at heart. I landed with a thud in Amsterdam. Grey skies and rain for a change. It was Valentines Day and Jarno surprised me with a day at the spa. Lovely.

Again there was the whole people running round naked thing, but the massage and facial were to die for! In February it was Colleen’s birthday, she managed to get on the guest list to the hippest nightclub in Amsterdam. It’s called Jimmy Woo and we were dressed to kill. After we got through the 10 rather invasive security check points we were finally admitted into the Woo circle. To our surprise everyone was wearing jeans (only the Queen dresses up in Holland and even she does it badly). While the place was nice and the 10000-lightbulb ceiling was cool, it didn’t live up to expectations. In spite of this we had loads of fun and straggled home on the 4am train to Utrecht. I should actually call it the drunk and disorderly train to Utrecht. Weirdly enough we bumped into our neighbor on the train who told us Jimmy Woo is SO 2004. It’s hard to be hip these days. For photos click here Fun, Friends and Parties Two weeks ago I sat a two-day exam to get my Dutch passport. We’re hoping to both have dual nationality as it will make it much easier to move between the countries. The exam itself was a fairly pathetic attempt to brainwash me with the ‘norms and values’ thing. I’m trying to learn to laugh it off and not be so personally outraged by it all, yet I did answer some of the more patronising questions with my tongue firmly in cheek. Overall, I have a good feeling about the exam (even the part where I had to answer questions into a headset), I find out in 6 weeks so keep your fingers crossed.

After the exam, I threw a surprise party for Jarno. With the help of my super friends, I managed to pull it off. We got 40 people packed in the loungeroom in the dark. There were several things that should have made him suspicious, but he was clueless till the last moment. Even when he walked in and there were 20 beers missing from the crate, he still didn’t catch on. It wasn’t until he waltzed into the living room and 40 people jumped out with ‘SURPRISE’ that he finally got it. His jaw dropped satisfactorily and we dug into the divine choco cake that Miranda baked.

Speaking of friends, mine are great. We meet every Tuesday to watch Desperate Housewives and gossip. I have people to shop with, dance with and most importantly people who will listen to my whining about trivial things without a single complaint. I’m telling you all this because when I was in Australia, lots of you told me that you were worried about me. I know in some of my updates I sound pathetic and miserable but in the last year or two things have really turned around. I’m madly in love with Jarno, Utrecht and my life here. Yeah there are still those people who will never accept me, and others who are downright mean to me but keep in mind that I’m well trained. I went to Merici afterall!! I’m learning when to fight back and when to roll with the punches. I sometimes even leave parties with the Rocky victory theme song in my head (a good sign surely). But seriously, things are good with me. How are things with you? Suze P.S I now have a blog. It’s so easy to update that I’m going to write weekly instead of monthly (or quarterly…).