April - getting over the wiz

April 2007.... the beginning of my triathlon training. Together with a small group of other students we are trained three times a week in the areas of running, swimming and cycling and twice a week we are expected to train independently. I know, "triathlon": not something generally associated with me. But here I am, three weeks into the program with my first competition looming (30 june - I think)... maybe here is a good place to mention that we are training for the 1/8 triathlon, which is still something! So far, Im enjoying it. Riding I like, swimming I can do... its just the running part which is proving difficult. Im only good at running with a purpose (eg. after a hockey ball, after the guy stealing my shopping trolley..) so running laps and stuff is really boring, and difficult- Im no runner.

I think we all knew that.

During April I attended my first ever stage musical, The Wiz. Its a bastardised version of The Wizard of Oz, with roller skates, crappy numbers, bad jokes, bad acting and a Dorothy with the largest breasts I have ever seen. Everytime they started to sing another number, Martijn and I would sigh (loudly) and roll our eyes. We were not the only ones but we were obviously in the minority - as we were heading for the door during the intermission we passed so many people humming the tunes and lining up to buy the cds and dvds... We dont understand it. We decided to leave and ditch the second act. I was so happy that the tickets had been free. Imagine if we had paid to see that! Check the link out to hear for yourself.


And once again it was the Queen's day - a national holiday with lots of free music, markets and beer (not free). Martijn and I got away from the crowds, went riding and paid homage to all things Dutch in our own way.... going to a pancake restaurant, ordering an apple and bacon pancake and being attacked by energetic rubbish bins (see film for re-enactment).

Where we stopped for lunch...

The bacon and apple pancake that we shared - I gave Martijn all the bacon bits, it was too much for the kitchen to just put the bacon on one half!

Martijn waiting for his pancake... mmm beer and pancake with tastefully decorated cutlery holders

April was a month of:

• "putting someone in the sun" day
• walking out on my first musical "The Wiz" - Dutch "modernised" version of the Wizard of Oz.
• passing my statistics subject
• first housewarming party
• my first planted tulips in NL bloomed
  
• first day of cycling in spring weather with Martijn and Deborah through a German forest
• babysitting Kaemon for an afternoon without supervision
• first bbq for the year
• watching Martijn's soccer team end the season in first place and promote to the next division
• searching for old teaspoons with castles, windmills and coats of arms on them