Una vida Holandesa en Mallorca

Last thursday I reached the bottom. I have been feeling down before but this is the only time that ´seriously really depressed´ felt like the only way to describe it. Since Easter Lucas is crying when I leave him at childcare, making me feel an awful mother. I have had so many problems and stress at my work and negative feedback that I could not see one positive point of my work anymore. I have been really tense preparing for the big experiment in Svalbard and I really doubt if things will work out. Husband has taken advantage of me still being at home and been out for work a lot. Not to mention a bit distant. I cannot describe it by words, it was a truly awful feeling. It has gotten a bit better but I still can play the harp on my nerves so tense (if I had a feeling for music that is). Tonight I am leaving. For a month. To go to the eternal day and snow at -16C. Coming from +27C, short skirts sandals and beach. 43C difference and a month away. I feel so guilty I hardly notice how much I will miss my nice sunny home and the happy (and sometimes very demanding) voice of Lucas. And it is going to be so troublesome and so hard to get this experiment done.......... Wish me luck. And my family as well......

On a positive note: these kind of moments show you how good your life actually is. I will not forget. If I ever make it back to o.a. a decent climate again.....

Beach weather!!!!!! Cala Pi is beautiful and soooooo empty in April. I brought the tent because the sun is already strong for very sensitive baby skins. Good I put sunscreen on baby. Too bad I did not on myself. Though a week April sun would not do me harm..... well. Not so much anyway. And it is a good reminder:-)

Last sunday of the month they close down the ´avenidas´ in the city and promote cycling:-) So we went on bike. Because the weather is nice....

Sorry, swamped with work lately.
But one comment: babies don´t come with the instruction manual. If I should write one for Lucas this would definitely be in it:
* will not eat broken cookies. Fix by holding both ends close together or better, supply with new cookie. DO NOT eat broken halfs yourself as this will prove terrible outburst.

Ik ben een beetje teleurgesteld in jullie mensen. PVV, alsjeblieft zeg. Okee hier is het ook geen paradijs met super corrupte politici en keihard falende systemen (waar anders dan Spanje bedenken ze een registratie nummer voor buitenlanders, dat met X begint maar denken ze niet voor uit dat de X op raakt en er Y nakomt. En wachten ze vervolgens meer dan 2 jaar (and counting) om de computers aan te passen zodat geen buitenlander nog een vliegticket over internet kan kopen of zelfs zijn eigen registratie van dat nummer kan betalen....). Ik voel me een beetje wees qua vaderland. Nederland begint toch steeds minder een optie te worden maar hier blijven in de falende bureaucratie is ook weer zowat................

Hee, ik blijk vrij te hebben voor Pasen (begin April). Waarom komt er niemand buurten? Het is hier lekker zonnig en heb extra kamer.
Ik kán ook naar NL/UK of ergens anders komen natuurlijk maar tis hier zo lekker warm. En bovendien ging ik al naar de Noordpool de maand erna. Jullie weten waar me huis woont!

I must have fallen trough a worm hole. This morning I left for fieldwork with the big boat and reasonable (although not splendid) weather predictions. At least, if you interpret the text the right way: marejada (swell) bajando a marejadilla (slight swell). And the other site (windguru.com): windforce 2-3 increasing to 4 (at 13:00, I was going to be out of there at 13:00). Okay, there is a *slight* discrepancy in those predictions as the waves are supposed to pick up with faster wind velocities. Anyway, I was optimistic. Evereyone arrived as good as on time (rare for Spain). And off we went. Crossing the bay of Palma with alarming sideway-movements. But I thought: once anchored it will be better... Well. No. It didn´t get better. The bravest of us (that wasn´t me, I promised my dry suit to a colleague and a wetsuit in 14 C is not so bad I hear you northerly folks thinks but hey there was time enough to go diving, I wasn´t going to be the first) went to check out the wave movements at our shallow site (We had to MARK our animals which requieres reasonable stability). Well, first thing he noticed was the anchor moving at a disconcerning pace towards the rocks (onshore winds...ooops). With two out of three colleagues on the verge of puking and me not being far off (the fourth was in the water remember) we called it off. Only to find out the anchor got stuck under a rock. After many attempts and the bow dipping in the hungry waves the same brave (or mad?) diver went down and manually released the anchor. The way back was far worst, the wind picked up 2 hours before prediction and we swayed back while barely managing to keep our food inside. And then the worm hole kicked in again. Woosssh.... once onshore the sun started shining and I am typing this text in my singlet on my sun-filled and quiet (okay except for those guys hammering off the side of the wall but I am used to that now: they are restoring the building) terrace......... What the h* happened??????????? Good thing here in Spain we are allowed beer for lunch. Cheers!!