Tuesday, February 24, 2009

What happened the last 12 months (part one in a series...)

Hi,

As promised in an earlier post (I'm too lazy to figure out which one) I'm going to tell about what happened the last 12 months or so. Since quite a bit happened, I'll be posting a few blogposts to cover the period. This is part one in the series.

Last year as you might have read, my brother and his wife lost their pre-maturely born daughter Bindi. That pretty much marked the last blogpost of me in 2008.
In April right before Easter I got really sick. Sick enough to be hospitalized. Yup I spend a few days in the hospital. But no operation or anything else, only a very strict diet. I could only drink apple juice and eat some shakes. And I had an IV in my hand, probably just to keep me from running away. Now I have to say that those shakes weren't too bad. Especially the banana flavored were rather good, and efficient. Only 5 or 6 shakes a day and I had all nutrition of the day. No chewing involved.
Ok, I had to spend like 4 hours in the ER, and suffering from really intense pains in my abdomen. As it turned out I had a problem with my intestines. Hence the diet. After 2 days all pain was gone and I was allowed to drink coffee again. That's right, I wasn't allowed to drink any coffee, or an espresso. So that sucked.

Easter Sunday I was back home, which was good. Hospitals aren't too nice a places, so I intend not to go there too often.

Iwan

PS: I was told that I should eat whole wheat bread and lots-n-lots of fruit by my doctor. So nowadays I have whole wheat bread and eat lots-n-lots of fruit. Do you?

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Back from the Maldives

Hi,

So I'm back in the Netherlands and already missing the serenity and quietness of Kandooma. But obviously I'm really happy to be with the boys again. And so is Olcay, who's suffering from a flu at the moment. I guess it's best to be sick when you're at home.
Jay and Ray had a great time at my parents who made sure that they wouldn't be thinking about anything else than doing fun stuff.

The flight back was not too good as Air Berlin appearantly doesn't care about leg-room, which is really not much more than a few cm I estimate. And 10.5 hours folded in a chair is not cool... and not to mention the fact that they don't have adjustable headrests on their seats. That sucks.

Last Sunday was Ray's birthday (8th of feb) and we had a great day. Although he's suffering from a serious ear infection. The goo is literally dripping from his ear, no kidding.

Yesterday was my first day back at my main customer at the moment and the last 2 weeks some interesting things had happened. And a lot of realization took place as well. 

Iwan

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Words from the Maldives (7)

Hi,

So this is going to be a mixed feelings blog... Today was our last day on Kandooma :'( but also the last day we have to miss Jay and Ray.

So what was done today? Not much, or maybe quite a bit. We went snorkeling this morning on two sites, both not as impressive as our snorkeling trip yesterday, but we saw a turtle and there was a nice current, that allowed for a nice drift. Still the fish weren't as bright and numerous as yesterday.

This afternoon we spend soaking up more sun, and we had some nice talks with some of the guys working here. This night we had diner at The Kitchen, where Olcay had 2 deserts. Yup and both times the Almond Fried Ice. And we got the promise that we would receive the recipe by mail.

All-in-all this vacation has been tremendously cool and relaxing and Kandooma is really a great place to spend your time when you just want to relax and want to be amongst the friendliest of people. Although everybody is trying their best in serving you as good as they can, it doesn't feel as if they're trying... it feels as if it all comes naturally. This added to the experience and whenever you are thinking about the Maldives, but don't know which of the islands is the best place to spend your time... go to Kandooma.

Well that is about it, for now the last Words from the Maldives. Maybe in a couple of years we'll be setting foot on the island again, for now, we're longing to see the boys again.

Next time, Words from the Netherlands and I'll try to get you up to speed about what happened in 2008.

Iwan

Monday, February 02, 2009

Words from the Maldives (6)

Hi,

Today we actually did something significant... we went on a Catamaran trip to another island close by to snorkel. It was great. Olcay saw a turtle and we also saw a Gruper and a Morene.

The rest is pretty much the same... soaking up the sun, although yesterday and today the sun was really burning during the hours around noon.

When we got back we were pleasantly surprised by Rasheed (we think) who had our bed decorated with red flowers... a true romantic. That was really nice, he's been very forthcoming all week, which added to the whole experience.

So tomorrow is our last day here. Wednesday we're probably off really early as our flight is at about 11 AM. We're going to miss Kandooma, but we still have a day to enjoy life here on the island. Tomorrow more snorkeling on the menu and good food at The Kitchen, the a-la-carte restaurant on the island.

Until the next blog...

Iwan

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Words from the Maldives (5)

Hi,

Another post from the Maldives. It's Sunday and that means a quiet day... well just because we're at the Maldives where it is more or less a quiet day everyday. Not much happened since we're here to relax, but I went on a night dive, my last dive here this time. As you might expect, it was dark, and fortunately I had two torches, since my primary went out after 24 minutes.
We saw two octopussies, octopuses, octopy (?), anyway, we saw two of those fighting. I think about territories, but that doesn't matter, it looked great. Never saw it for real.

Tonight we had a nice diner, although the duck wasn't really good. I left it where it was. We did see a Chinese movie (Curse of the Golden Flower), which seems to be a nice movie (soon to be found in my collection I guess).
Later on we went for fried ice with almonds for Olcay (her favorite desert as it turns out) and some lounging with an espresso (Illy) and a cognac (Hennesy VSOP) and a Shisha. That turned out to be a nice finalle of the day. Monday and Tuesday are left for us before we're leaving paradise and getting back to the real world, where there are Jay and Ray, who we really miss.

Iwan