Reminiscing Delft

On a blue, not to mention grey, day like today, one can't help but to reminisce about the good old times back in Delft. Carefree and uncomplicated days with my loved ones without having to worry about any single thing at all. Well, not exactly 'anything' but you get the idea. A selfish prospect, I must admit, but sometimes one just want to break free from the past which is ever eager to cast a pall over one's glimpses of happiness.

Being characteristically over-analytical doesn't help either. My thoughts will be jumbled up by a host of present problems which are usually old, unresolved issues that can morph themselves into future boiling points, and spin off into other off-tangent matters. You don't say? You've been there too? That's what you get for staying at home as opposed to channelling all that nervous energy into some cash-cow operations.

Speaking of work, anyone interested in hiring a freelance writer? I am game on writing about anything save for sports. :P

As the title of this blog suggests, I plan to allocate some electronic space for my final week in Delft, way back in mid-August 2007. Lest my memory be swallowed by the signs of time, herewith are snippets for purpose of posterity.

The last few days were the hardest. At one point or rather, I was in a state of denial that we were leaving. It was just hunky dory going along with our normal routine that I was sad that it would all come to a screeching end. Screeching in the sense because hubby had thrown the idea of going back earlier than expected at the start of the month of August. Since he was not due for work until September, I had happily thought that we could go back a few days before that fateful date.

However, that notion turned out to be both foolish and selfish. The overriding factor that changed our mind was Sadia. She had to acclimatize, so to speak, to living in Malaysia before hubby reported for duty. That would in turn give me an extra set of hands for a two-week duration to help in the adjustment process. It would simply be irresponsible for my hubby to just chuck us out at home while he went straight to work, without formulating some ground rules in case of emergency and other necessities.

Two subsets falling under the 'Sadia' reason were finances and house-cleaning. After taking into account the currency exchange, it would be more prudent to spend our remaining Euros back in Malaysia as compared to staying in the Netherlands and its relatively high cost of living. Conserving cash was uppermost in our minds. Or is it my husband's mind? Hehe.

Also, a one-year absence would make our apartment in Ampang a magnet for dust and lice, thus direly needing a through clean-up. After our arrival in KL, my husband even went back first to the apartment and left me and Sadia in Kota Damansara so that he could at least clear the bedroom mainly for Sadia's benefit. Thanks dear for doing your best.

Therefore, two weeks would give us plenty of time to readjust. Or so we thought.

Now, back to Delft, we managed to hire a shipping company to transport back a total of five items - two bags and 3 boxes. The service was reasonably priced and we had the option to insure - from a stated minimum amount of course - the goods according to our budget. The company - which is affiliated with KLM - informed us that our stuff would get to KL the latest in two weeks' time. But as I wrote here that didn't happen. The movers came on Tuesday of our final week.

Here's a recap from Monday to Friday:

(1) Monday, 13th - We hosted a makan-makan for fellow Malaysian friends - Ahmad, Ju and family with Najo and her hubby, July. We served them Laksa Sarawak and a great spot of Apple Crumble, among others.

(2) Tuesday, 14th - After the movers came that morning, we headed out the door for our last Amsterdam jaunt. Here's the entry on that trip which includes a boat ride in the canals and walking down Albert Cuyp street market.

(3) Wednesday, 15th - Tired after our Amsterdam hike the day before, we decided to stay in Delft and enjoy the day, feeding the ducks and pigeons at Delft Plaza. Of course, there was that gradual packing and re-packing. I wanted to spend some time sipping coffee on the Plaza that I sat down at one cafe while my two loved ones threw bird seeds on the cobblestones. I even took some photos of them in action from my vantage point at the cafe. As wont, we took turns having our cuppa. Oh yeah, Riza also came by earlier that morning to get some stuff that we planned to leave behind.


(4) Thursday, 16th - This was when the panic started to kick in. Albeit temporarily. We went to Schiphol to pick up our plane tickets only to find out the ticketing counter worked so efficiently that it had closed by lunchtime (That was sarcasm, by the way). We wanted to spend the day roaming around the Thursday street market so that we came back to Delft shortly before business wound down. We also bought more bird seeds but the temperamental cold weather deviated a flock of pigeons from visiting the Plaza.





5) Friday, 17th - Even though we were pressed for time, we decided to go to Schiphol again in the morning so as to avoid any unnecessary headache simultaneously checking-in and getting our flight tickets on the same day of departure - Saturday. Our route home from Schiphol passed through Den Haag that, on the spur of the moment, we hopped down to Den Haag for lunch. This was despite having said our long goodbye to the quaint city the previous weekend. We were tired and hungry from all the train commuting and wanted a quick bite. And Sadia was getting antsy from having to woken up earlier than usual. On the way back to the Den Haag station, we dropped by the park at Malieveld to watch and feed the ducks, swans and other animals.

At home, even with last minute cleaning and packing, we managed to take pics of Sadia's final bath in her faithful green tub. It was a sad moment. The reality finally sank together with Sadia's bath toys. After putting Sadia to bed, we cleaned the rest of the apartment, cooked Sadia's food and tried to squeeze whatever we could into the bags. (Oh yeah, we even bought new duffel bags in Den Haag that day for stuff that kept mounting up, but we still couldn't fit EVERYTHING!)

Good bye dear Delft! Till We Meet Again!