Writings

In a few weeks I will be turning 25 years old. That’s an interesting number: it’s a quarter of a century, and it also feels like a pivotal moment in one’s life: the middle of one’s third decade, now closer to the beginning of the fourth decade than the end of the second decade. Instead of having a mid-life crisis, I decided to reflect a bit on the idea of getting older, but more importantly belonging.

Saturday we participated in a home barista training session at the headquarters of Lucifer Coffee Roasters, here in Eindhoven. That’s also where they roast their beans. I was quite looking forward to it and I’m very glad I joined. It gave us the opportunity to learn more about the world of espresso, and do our first ☕️ cupping.

This is my first time participating in a IndieWeb Carnival. I had seen this name floating around before, but I have never participated. After reading both Manuel Moreale’s and Jan-Luka’s posts, I got interested, especially due to the topic: multilingualism in a global web. This month’s edition is hosted by ZinRicky.

September is now almost gone and we’re diving deeper and deeper into the autumn. Despite a few problems here and there, I think it was quite a nice month, and it’s important to always try seeing things for their positive side, despite that now always being very easy.

I have been using the same two NuPhy keyboards for almost two years, and I’ve also been wanting to write something about them for quite some time. Why not just do it?

Yesterday I used ChatGPT for the first time. Well, that’s not true. Let’s rephrase: yesterday I used ChatGPT for the first time to actually help me complete a task. A boring tedious task. It did help me complete the task, but I’m still not very convinced on whether it was faster than doing it manually.

Swimming. An activity that can be very relaxing, and, at the same time, straining and very good for your body. Since I was a kid, I’ve always had a complicated relationship with swimming. I enjoy the process of swimming, and I can swim, but as soon as the body of water is deeper than my height, it’s a hard no-go.

Uff, I wanted to write this before the end of August, but I’m still on time. August is over and it’s starting to feel a bit like autumn to me. Quite excited, as it will become a bit colder, hopefully, and it’s also one of my favorite seasons. Very colorful! But now, let’s recap August!

Last weekend - starting on Friday - we went on a small trip to Limburg, the southernmost region of the Netherlands. The initial plan was to bring our bikes and bike to some interesting points in this region. Due to my wrist, we decided it would be better to just walk. I’m so glad we made that decision!

July is coming to an end and the sun is shining. This was a month with quite some events for me, both on the good side of the spectrum, as well as on the bad side of the spectrum. But mostly good. Let’s dive into it!

Vandaag heb ik de uitslag van mijn Staatsexamen Nederlands als tweede taal ontvangen en ik ben geslaagd! Ik heb officieel Nederlands niveau B2. Volgens de ERK (Europees Referentiekader) ben ik nu een “onafhankelijke taalgebruiker”.

Today is the 12th of July. For most people, this date doesn’t say much, but it marks the anniversary of this website, counting from the first ever blog post I wrote here. And… that was ten years ago, in 2014. Yes, gentle reader, this website is now officially a decade old!

Welkom bij de achtste deel van deze serie: vergeet niet om in te checken. In deze serie schrijf ik een beetje over mijn leven in het Nederlands. Vandaag ga ik het hebben over de afgelopen maand en ook een beetje over de laatste dagen.

Two months ago I announced I was leaving my previous job, a completely remote position, for a on-site position. This is my first on-site position, since my previous job was also my first and only job until now. It’s been now a bit more than a month, and I have some thoughts I would like to share.

It’s time to take an indefinite break from my Dutch language classes. I have been following Dutch courses since the end of October last year. That is almost eight months. Non stop. Well, I did stop for one to two week breaks between courses, but that was only because of the dates at which the courses started.