FullJelmerAlchemist

The last two days of the fam in town+a cycling tour the day after

Posted on July 15, 2018 by jelmpi

So there were two days left for me to enjoy my mum and sisters’ company and so I had organised a whole city tour for them. We started our day with a lovely Full Ulster Fry Breakfast. It tasted incredible but the place we had it in also looked really nice. Harlem cafe has all kinds of extravagant wall decorations and it’s a very cozy place 🙂

We then walked around the cathedral quarters, got my mum her daily fix of coffee and took a look at the murals behind the dark horse inn. All three of them were pretty impressed with what they saw and took quite a few pictures.

The murals represent all kinds of Belfast or Belfast related events and I’m sure everyone will recognise one or two of the scenes depictes on these walls 🙂 As I had taught the ladies more than enough about Belfast we just headed home early. My mum cooked us one of my favourite dishes: Burritos! And they were incredible ( as always ) gosh, It’s even mouth watering as I’m writing this down! Haha

The last day was something my sisters just love: shoppinggggg. Now with all the weight I have lost my clothes obviously had become too big and so we did some shopping. My sisters are good at lingering though so we ended up shopping for about 5 hours (lol) maybe it was a tiny bit less but I reckon in total it took about 5 hours. Then on our very last night we had a burger at five guys which we all enjoyed very much. The next morning I put them on the bus and they all had enjoyed Belfast a lot….

Having said goodbye to my sisters and mother, sure meant that I felt a bit empty. You get used to three different mothers telling you what to do, what to wear and what you definitely should not be doing with your hair! Haha

So I went for a long cycle! I basically cycled from Belfast to Lisburn and it’s still a good 45 km bike ride! I took the Lagan towpath which is a beautiful, scenic cycling route that takes you all the way to Lisburn. Lisburn does not have too much to offer but I really enjoyed walking around in the small city centre! I also visited their local lisburn museum which was nice. I enjoyed my day and had myself a quick lunch at this bakery before I cycled back home :)! A lovely little cycle amongst some beautiful natural landscapes surely soothes one’s mind ^^

Hurray, the family is here!

Posted on July 13, 2018 by jelmpi

So my anticipation was building up to the moment of the 21st! My family was coming to visit meeeeee. My sisters had not seen me for three months and it was an incredibly funny moment when they got to my house! They were like: “Who are you?!” Who’s this tiny face :D!!! So they came into the house and I sat them down in my room. They liked the house. Yes, a bit old-fashioned. Yes, a dodgy neighbourhood. But hey! I had a spacious room for the price I was paying and it was at the edge of the city center!

Belfast April 017

So what did we do on day one?! The only thing we could do! Go hike on cavehill! We took the bus to cavehill and I showed my mum and sisters around the castle! They absolutely loved it and thought it had a bit of a cinderella feeling to it. Of course they also could not stop commenting on just how different the make-up style of the Irish girls is compared to the Dutch. It sure felt like the three ladies were back :)! We started our hike and it was pretty damn warm alright. It even caused my sisters to break a sweat!

As my mum and sisters were blaming me for going too fast we took some breaks whilst going to the top. This enabled us to take some nice pictures and even have a few new sibling pics. There was one sibling pic which have recreated! You see, 10 years ago we gave our mum a canvas with the three of us lying on a beach. At the moment of that picture it was pretty windy and we were actually squinching our eyes just to be able to see something! So when we got to the summit we did so again 😀 ! A fine result as again, it was super windy!

Sibling pic!

And a fine panorama

So we were starting to get tired and slowly made our way down. By the time we got to my house my mum and sisters were just done for the day. So I invited them to a lovely Italian restaurant: la villa Italia. They have an area which feels like your sitting somewhere in an Italian village beneath an olive tree but that feeling gets roughly interrupted by modern music playing on high volume hahaha.

We had a great meal and a lovely evening together. We were so full that all four of us were actually happy to walk back as our food would go down easier.

We all went to bed early that night and woke up the next morning just after 9 haha.

We started our SUNDAY, with some good old hagelslag( chocolate sprinkles ) on our bread and then figured it would be nice to go for a cycle! So we got ourselves some rentals and cycled all along the coast line! We got to Bangor where we head dinner and the route was in my sisters’ words: “way too long”

What we also had not realised was that we took an incredible up and down hill path that would let us back to Belfast. It was extremely beautiful and felt very nice to cycle out there. We had to do a small part on the highway which scared my mum and sisters a bit but in the end all ended well. They really enjoyed the views and we were also lucky with the good weather. We ended up going to bed earlier than expected because everybody had lost all their energy after such a tough day but it’s really nice to have the family over 🙂 !

Philosophical Park chillings with Aki

Posted on June 16, 2018 by jelmpi

During the week I noticed I was a little bit tired and it was slowly increasing every day. So I had arranged for my Friday to be off early! So at 12 I got off work, did some groceries and was ready for the weekend. I wanted to hang out with someone or maybe go to a park and figured I could give Aki a call. He luckily answered and actually loved the idea of a nice little picnic! So I took the ball I had at home, packed it and met Aki to do groceries together. After our groceries, we went to Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park which is a park right on the edge of Belfast and contains many flower fields. We got there and started our walk. The shitty part though: NOTHING was in bloom yet XDD
As Belfast had only just started to catch a bit of sun and most of the soil had been in a near-permanent frozen state till mid-March, the flowers we could see were almost none.

There should have been flower fields here.

That did not stop us from having a great conversation though! I have already told you that Aki and I get along extraordinarily well but we really do! We got into the park and he told me how his dorm was filled with many internationals but as far as Asian students concerned there were only Chinese students. According to him, they never really go out and always choose to study over accepting his invite to go for a drink in the pub or just a small meal out. We then kind of progressed into what Aki’s dreams were and I really admire him. You see, He is an avid Basketball fan and grew up watching a lot of NBA. Now he is following a lot more of his domestic league and he has a very specific goal in mind. He wants to study abroad, increase his English and finish his masters in International Business and then return to Japan with a bag full of experiences. He wants to put that to use and create a sporting environment for young Japanese basketball talent to be able to spend more time focusing on basketball and meanwhile still get their university degree. He dreams of taking the talent under his wing and set up his own campus for them! Wow man, I hope he makes his dreams come true because that is such a beautiful goal to have. Also, and a lot of young Japanese that I meet say so, he wants to work and live in Japan so that he is able to give something back to the economy and his people. He is so humble and says that he finds himself fortunate enough to be able to follow the road he is following right now and that he is doing what he likes to do.
We then, just as our conversation about his dreams came to an end, walked through a small Japanese garden and we both remarked that”The only thing that felt like home (Japan) were the gates leading up to it!” haha.

We then followed up the dreams I have and how I would want to make them come true. My goal is very internationally focused but I think that with the right steps I will be able to make it happen. I would want to study a master in International or European Relations and try to get an internship at the Dutch embassy in Japan to be able to work up close on how diplomatic relations and affairs are handled. From there on out, I would maybe do an internship in an international consultant company to experience up close on what its like to act as an intermediary between different nations or companies. I would either end up becoming a diplomat or an intermediary as such and would want to try and form a cultural bridge between Asia and Europe or just the world in general.
What I found really amazing from Aki is that, without any doubt, he said: I am sure you will be able to make that dream come true. The ambition you have is combined with slow steps building up to your goal and that is how you should work yourself up. I most definitely can say that after our talk I felt even more inspired.

Of course we still were just walking around and had not even had our picnic yet. We came across this weird forest next to the only residential building in the park. ( I think former residence )
The tree that stood in the middle totally looked like a “Tako” = An Octopus. Well judge yourselves.

So as we came full circle we picked a spot to sit down. We dropped our stuff and for the first 20 minutes, we chilled in the grass. We then unpacked our dinner and just started making sandwiches. As we ate, we got to discuss how Aki experienced growing up in Japan and also how he felt on the connection with his generation ( because all his friends have graduated and are working already ) We also discussed which events or experiences in our lives had formed us the most and how we had come to be who we are. Aki was formed a lot by joining the basketball team in his high school. Not only did it develop him physically but it was even more of a social development. With a tight group of seniors and juniors, they were his friends and family and the years they had gone through together really made him see the world differently and also appreciate basketball as a sport even more. Plus he gained some social skills and friends from playing with them in his high school club. Also, having missed out on uni the first time as he did not pass the entrance exam, he had studied and worked for a whole year but he also did what he liked and did that at his pace. He traveled around the whole of Japan and learned to appreciate where he was from and also how diverse his fellow Japanese were. It’s not just one background that makes Japanese who they are and to him, he’s seen so many differences throughout the regions that he’s been to.
I am so glad I have been crazy enough to send this guy a message on facebook because I am really grateful for the talks I had with him. We discussed how losing a grandparent had formed him and also how it felt for the both us to be so far away from home. We then just started playing a bit of football and just kicked it around for about 20 minutes. He may not like football but he still avidly supports Japan’s national team when they play though. As the weather was turning against us and the sun started to disappear we jointly decided it would be best to go home. So we packed up our stuff and took off. On the bus, we decided that we would end the day with some ice cream. We get out, walk to the Tesco, buy a pack of ice cream and even made friends as there were more in the pack than we could eat so Aki gave them away to three girls that were walking by.
It was an incredible day.

Cooking for colleagues and a well-deserved chill weekend.

Posted on June 14, 2018 by jelmpi

It was early April and Belfast, as expected, was still rather grey. I think we had rain for a consecutive streak of eight days and it showed no intention of stopping. I had invited my colleagues from the Earlier hangout to my house for a nice little dinner together. I was going to cook something I really like myself: Smoked Mackerel with rice and my special mushroom sauce. I had previously discussed with the guys that I would cook, and they would bring dessert and drinks. Rainier had come a little early and we sat down in the living room. We discussed how life in Belfast sucks when it rains and just as we were about to start cooking Matt too, showed up and the gang was complete. It’s funny how we always get our conversations going so easily. I think we discussed like a lot of life experiences from Matt and Rainier when I figured it was time to start cooking. Now I had not briefed the guys on what the sauce exactly would contain, so once I started they immediately wanted to know what it exactly was that I was going to serve them. Rainier is rather picky in what he exactly eats but as the food came on the table he was actually the first one to say: hey this does not taste that bad!

Maker:S,Date:2017-10-23,Ver:6,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar02,E-Y

The Result

We had a lovely little night and I think all three of us really enjoyed it! The only thing we didn’t enjoy as much? The Viennetta! hahaha Rainier had brought dessert to work but, as it turns out, there was no freezer! So the dessert had molten to a milky puddle of chocolate! Poor Rainier! He even went through the cold weather to get us a new one and so we enjoyed that double as much! It was about 8 when Rainier left and Matt asked if he could stick around. So we had ourselves a cuppa and shared some good stories. I really like the fact that we can discuss anything together. We went from politics to history to random daily life in seconds. It must have been about 10:30 when I was getting tired and politely kicked Matt out 😛

The weekend did not bring much new. It was rainy as ever and I did not feel very motivated to do anything. So I stayed inside and finished the anime I was watching: Hunter x Hunter. The whole anime is basically about the hardship and training a 10-year old kid and his friend go through to find his father who is a famous hunter. I really enjoyed watching it and it wasn’t too bad to stay in. I did the dishes, my laundry and watched the match of NAC. On Sunday I spend my time doing some indoor training and I read a book. AND I found out there was a one-time screening of a Japanese Movie! So I texted my friends if they would be interested and they actually were :D!

So on Tuesday I first met up with Maki! As Aki was not available for dinner me and Maki just went to eat burritos near the cinema. It was a lot of fun and we mostly discussed general experiences of her daily life in Osaka, Japan and how I had priorly experienced mine in Fukuoka. It was so nice though :)! Aki then showed up too and we were off to see:メアリと魔女の花 = Mary and the Witch’s Flower! It’s funny to go to the cinema with the only two Japanese students that live in Belfast and to watch a subtitled Japanese film! haha, What I also kind of like is how all three of us were like: “HEY! They wrongly translated those subtitles. ”
In the end, the film was pretty nice. It kind of felt like watching a different version of Kiki’s delivery service. It was fun and had the same kind of feel as the main character was also a small witch girl. Only, in this case, she gets herself into trouble because she acquired her skills through a miracle and signs up for a magical school on the very same day! Of course, they read through her false scheme. But that’s okay! It ultimately narrowly ends happily and the ending was satisfactory. I spent the rest of that night writing a few postcards, one of which went to my Argentinian friend Laura whom I have known for 6 years from an anime website! Pretty cool :D!

Belfast April 002

When weekends are boring and rain just keeps falling

Posted on June 2, 2018 by jelmpi

So I had decided to work some overtime on my free Saturday as my boss has informed me that a little bit of extra effort would make sure I would get the bonus for that month, so I did. I worked about 5 hours together with one other colleague of mine and apparently secured the bonus! I got home and did my usual other duties: put my clothes in the washing machine and the drier, do the dishes and cooked a fresh meal. Now as my Saturday was a bit dull and my Sunday later too I went on Facebook to see if there was anything Japan-themed in Belfast. Unfortunately, there was not much to be found and so I just checked the international student page of the university: I found a Japanese person! In My Dutch directness I decided I would just send them a message with a formal greeting. I did! It read something along the lines of: “I’m sorry to send you this very abrupt message. Please do me the honour of letting me introduce myself. My name is Jelmer, I am together with you in the same group. I have been wanting to speak Japanese lately but have very few opportunities to do so, which is why I am sending you this message of contact. Is there any chance we could maybe meet in the student cafe once?
I would very much like to hear from local Japanese what they think of living in Northern-Ireland. Once again, forgive me for my rudeness and thank you for hearing my story.”
Well, this story does not give off that much of a “creep-vibe” right?! So I waited and the next day I actually received a genuine response! He very much wanted to meet and hope he would do as the representation of a Japanese person! He was interested in sharing stories! So we set a date for the 5th of April and agreed we would have dinner together. I let him choose the venue and we actually met up!
Belfast Part 3 March 199

We had an amazing night! and he had even brought one of his friends along! So on the left, you see Maki and on the right you see Aki! ( no jokes! ) Aki is a 26-year old guy who is studying here. First to do a pre-master and then to roll into a business master. Maki is 20 and on exchange from international relations department of Kobe University.
The whole evening was so much fun! We quickly bonded over things we were missing from Japan and the conversation ended up with me and Aki discussing the Japanese Educational system and what we both thought they could improve on it! It was such a pleasant evening and filled with such interesting discussions! Where we were supposed to just have a quick meal together at 6:30, we actually ended up staying in the bar for quite a long time and I walked them home only to get to my own home around midnight. We exchanged LINE and promised each other we would stay in touch and meet up again soon!

Here I was, I had just made two new Japanese friends and we had an amazing night talking about our great experiences in Northern-Ireland and our even better memories of Japan :)!

Darts Came to Belfast!

Posted on May 31, 2018 by jelmpi

So Darts came to Belfast! Most people already know but I am an avid sports fan! I love both watching and doing all kinds of sports. And one of the sports that I follow very fondly is Darts! Darts goes back a long while for me as my parents used to watch it when I was young. Back in the days, when the PDC was not watchable on television yet, you would be able to watch the Lakeside World Championship of the BDO on Dutch SBS6. This made me grow up watching Raymond van Barneveld play and sometimes win, on many occasions. I now follow it with my mate Jorik and one of the coolest events of the year, apart from the World Championship, is the Premier League. It is a 16-week event in which the best 10 darts players play each other in a league format and it all culminates into one big final in the O2 arena in London. Now, this event mainly tours around the UK but the big advantage of that: IS THAT IT CAME TO BELFAST! I had nobody to go with and first doubted whether I should go but my mate convinced me and I loved it!

Panorama of the Arena

So I got myself tickets and had a brilliant view of the stage! The arena was packed with happy people and I was ready for a good night. Something special was going to happen because out of all nights, tonight would be the night that the two Dutch Darting Legends would play each other!
Michael van Gerwen ( The current world number ONE ) and Raymond van Barneveld ( The Dutch record world champion: 5x ! )
I was sitting next to a group of people who were obviously there to get drunk and could not care less. But that did not mean that I was there to have a great night! The night started off with a few good matches and quickly became better as Match 3 approached.

The Dutch Clash!

It was time for the Dutch Clash! The Magical thing about Darts is that every player enjoys the privilege of a Walk-On, accompanied by their walk-on song. With Raymond van Barneveld, this is Eye of the Tiger. As Barney is also a five-time world champion, he is honoured a bit extra by the PDC and has his own Air Horn going off so that the crowd knows he is coming! You must have been there to truly experience it but the crowd went completely insane when Barney came :D! HAPPY ME!! The video is below!

It did not matter that Barney ultimately lost his match as my night was completely made. And there were two matches to still come! I will just tell you about one more:
Match four. The reason it is so special that the Premier League came to Belfast was that for the first time, a Northern-Irish player was in the league! Daryl Gurney from Derry has made it into the top 10 of the world and he was greeted with an immense cheer and full continuous support from the crowd :)!

So YEAH! I had a superb night! 😀

Food Appreciation: Cooking Jelmer

Posted on May 28, 2018 by jelmpi

Ever since I moved to Northern-Ireland, I also started a quest for cuisines. The thing is: I have never been too bad at cooking but I always made more basic dishes. This does not mean they were not good, just means that I tried to keep my kitchen-time to a minimum. But ever since I arrived here I really felt like I should cook some more and learn some more. I love Japanese cuisine, I love Indonesian cuisine, I love Indian cuisine etc…
I cannot imagine anything better than cooking some good fresh food :)!
So here are a few of things I have made so far in random order 🙂 A lot of these days have a story to tell so in This Food Dedication post of mine I’m going to share some memories and tell you a bit about the food you see in the pictures :D!

One of the first things I made when I got to Belfast was A Fusilli Pasta! Pasta is something I have always loved and as a kid, my mum always made us some. It is maybe not the most difficult dish but I always spice it with some herbs, some chili sauce or just mix my cheese into the pasta.

Now some dished may not look spectacular but they do taste like it! A remnant of my time in Japan probably is my love for Curry Rice! I can make them in all sorts and sizes but Japan sure made me love it. On the left, you can also see my chicken stir-fry and in the middle is one of my favourite accomplishments! Omu-Raisu! Omelet covering your rice. In Japan, this is more of a child’s dish I guess but that does not mean that people don’t love ordering it. Usually, the omelet completely encircles the rice and people pour tomato ketchup over it. I don’t like messing it with ketchup and my omelet did not completely stay whole when I tried to lift it over my rice but for a first attempt it was good, tasted good and I loved it!

Don’t think I only eat meat though! YES, I love meat dishes. Yes, Fish is great in so many meals. But I do sometimes eat vegetarian meals and those too are really nice :)!
This was my: Let’s throw in whatever I can noodle dish. All the ingredients you can spot are: Carrots, egg, noodles, onion, leek, beetroot, potato and tomato. Herbs used: Cumin! ( One has to love Cumin!)

Chili con Carne!!! One of the things I love so much and I think I can say: one of my best dishes! I have already made the dish three times and it just never bores me. I do sometimes throw in some extra or exchange some of the vegetables but the base, the sauce, and the rice are always served with it! I love a good peri-peri chili pepper sauce and have lately started to really like spicing it up even more!

This dish deserves its own stage! This, what I think at least, Vietnamese noodle dish even surprised me! It’s in my top 3 of dishes that are just founded on their herbs. My mum had, caring loving great mother she is, given me some herbs and spices mix bags and one of them was for this dish! YES, it tasted great! And the garlic is such a mastermind behind the tastefulness of this dish :D!

Another dish I was really proud of! Oven-Roasted Duck! I made this dish on Easter evening and boy was it good. You see, I am a true life enjoyer. I live moments to the fullest and try to make every day count. I really believe this is something that has been a big part of my family too as these kinds of days are always spent well in my family. Easter brunch is a big thing in our family and we would always have a massive breakfast where my mum would cook some special pastries and my youngest sister would show off her baking skills. Also, these evenings would be spent by having a more special meal or one that we just usually would not have during the week! So I guess that’s why I made myself roasted duck!

Another dish that deserves my mention and your attention: Smoked Salmon Nachos! I came up with it right on the spot but loved it! What’s in this? Onion, Avocado, Tomato, homemade tzatziki sauce, Salmon, Nacho Crisps, and a very small bit of mushrooms!

The taste of home! So on the Top, you can see my strawberry croissants! Left bottom are Cornish pastries. These remind me of my holiday grandparents Bob and Jan. They were travelers like my family and we had met them in France many years ago. We became friends and they were like my extra grandparents to me. We have visited them twice in Cornwall, where they lived, and one of the things that Bob and Jan always got for me where these Cornish Pastries :)! The 3rd photo is just something my mum would never allow me to do as a child hahaha! I put my chocolate sprinkles on my Nutella and it tasted just as good as I had hoped it would :D! The last one is another true taste of home dish: Potato with Green beans and Chicken drumsticks!

Maker:S,Date:2017-10-23,Ver:6,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar02,E-Y

We have come to the last section! Number 1 is a pasta salad! I accidentally made way too much and kind of underestimated how big the salad would become with all the ingredients that I threw in. So I treated my colleague to some! Ingredient list: Peppers, cucumber, tomato, pickle, onion. leek, tiny bit of garlic, mushroom, beetroot, aubergine, egg, and pasta. This with a spring salad dressing and some iceberg lettuce to make it look great! 2nd photo was the dish I made for my colleagues! Smoked cod, with my signature mushroom sauce which I won’t tell you the secrets of, and rice. 3rd photo is a dish I fell in love with during my days in Poland: Pierogi. And the finishing touch of picture number 4: A Turkey burger, with lettuce, onion, pickle, tomato, turkey burger and a bbq sauce :D!

So, I guess you can say that I have a nice and varying diet right :)! I do know that my mum and my nan are not worried anymore that I’m not taking good care of myself. My nan even said she wanted to try some of it herself :D!
So yeah, healthy food all the way :D! ( With occasional exceptions of course)

Day after hiking: More walking!

Posted on May 26, 2018 by jelmpi

So the day after my hike it was still such lovely weather that I decided I had to make the most of it. Even though I had stayed in till 12 I really felt obligated to go outside. You see:
To have three days of sun in a row in Northern-Ireland is an incredible rarity and you then just have to make the most of it. Now I try to explore a different part of the city every time I go out for a walk or a cycle and today was no different. You see: not too far from my house there is a very nice area where at the top of a small hill the local parliament is seated. The name of this estate is called: Stormont Estate. This is an open to the public area where you are allowed to walk around and enjoy nature. The estate has quite a big forest and I previously cycled by the estate a few times thinking: I should check that out one day. So today was that day! I went downstairs and made myself a small lunchbox: 4 sandwiches with ham, cheese, tomato, and cucumber. Adding some fruit to that with a banana and an apple. So I cycled my way to Stormont Estate and rolled my bike onto the grounds. In Northern Ireland, they do not really provide you with many bicycle designated roads nor areas to stow your bike away easily and on the estate, it was no different. I found myself unable to find a place to put my bike and just took it along.

Forest of the grounds

Palace coming up!

The walk around the estate does not even take that long but I really took it easy and just looked around. I also thought that getting rid of my muscle soreness from the hike would only be done by walking it off. So this walk felt like my remedy. I got to the top and checked out the views of the city. It was so lovely. Hills on both sides, cave hill and the other mountains all the way on the other end. Since the sun was out even the city center was showing a lot of activity. I even took a few pictures to be able to share what kind of view I had. But of course, the majority of my pictures are of the building itself.

I walked around and noticed that a lot of the areas after the building were heavily guarded. So I walked up to one of the guard houses and asked the men whether I could be allowed in or not? They responded really friendly, telling me that I could even leave my bike at their building and I could come through after my items were checked. So I walked my way around the building and found out that a lot of it is off-limits as people actually worked there. As this was my extra day off from work I figured I would just relax in the café of the building. I ordered myself a large cup of tea ( with milk served next to it ) and a scone. It was only 1.8 pounds! Cheap!!! So I sat down in the cafe practically eavesdropping on a few of the conversations just to get a grasp of what the people working there were doing on a daily basis. As they were nearing closing time, 4.15PM, I walked my way out back to the security guards. I cycled down and stopped to take a few last parting pictures. One of the castle on the grounds! Little did I know that they had a castle there :O! But of course I found out why I did not know about it: It is off-limits. Nobody is even allowed close. I took a picture from quite up close nonetheless and then slowly started making my way out.

The walk up to the entrance.

The inside

The castle on the grounds

I took one last break before going and set myself on a bench, mindfully listening to the birds and daydreaming my way through. 30 mins later I picked up my bike and got off the estate. I decided to do one last thing: cycle a full alternative. So I took a rather atypical route home and found myself in some very wealthy neighbourhoods. It is one of the funniest things in Belfast: The immense disparities of the rich and poor and the non-subtle transition from a poor neighbourhood to a wealthier one. I came home feeling very satisfied and made myself a good dinner.
Tired and content I fell asleep at 9, only to be lucky enough to go to work again at 7 the next morning….

Here it is THE CLIMB!

Posted on May 22, 2018 by jelmpi

So I had been searching the internet to try and see if I could step up my climbing game and climb something sick. As I started going through all kinds of places there was one that peeked my interested: SLIEVE DONARD! Now this mountain lies in the very deep South East of Northern Ireland and has a summit that is just shy of 900m. As it was a great and sunny day, I figured it was time I’d hop on the bus to Newcastle! I woke up at 7:15 and went to the coach! Which showed up at 8. I guess it must have been about an hour of driving when I got to this spectacular mountain view of Newcastle!

Picture from the bus

I felt already very exciting seeing this view but it just got better and better. I was so happy that I was going to climb this 😀 !! Ow man and for late March the weather was great! 14 degrees is not too bad but especially if you put that into perspective for Belfast! Two weeks prior to this moment we still had snow and night frost! haha

Ow MAN! It was not even 9 o’clock yet but all of a sudden I was awake! We slowly drove into town and were dropped off near the station. I got out and immediately ran towards the beach! Aaaaah, the sea! 🙂 I LOVE the sea and the beach and have always a had a fascination for beaches. I was very socially aware of how awkward it must have been to see a guy in 14 degrees weather run towards a beach, weirdly taking off his shoes and just foot-bathing his feet in the water but I DID. NOT. CARE! It was so nice to have the fresh sea breeze through my hair. The smell of the sea and the drying seaweed on the sand. The sound of the crashing waves! It was so nice! It was so liberating :)! It was BUT the start of a great day!

Beach view!

I walked a bit through the town, it felt rather cozy, and slowly made my way to the starting point of the climb. Before all the climbing, I first had to make a sanitary stop somewhere though! As it was Sunday some places, including the public toilets, were closed! Luckily I found myself in a neat little coffee shop and the owner happily let me use the bathroom. I was refreshed and ready! I started my climb taking the atypical road and at the start of it, found nobody going my way too. I had however studied both the maps and the trails and was sure that I was going the right way. As it turns out there are 3 bridges you have to cross in a Z-like shape before finally getting to an intersection where everybody just heads up and over the rocks!

Newcastle!

The Rocky way up!

I was climbing solo and apparently the only one doing so. So many people were doing the climb as a family day trip or with friends enjoying a beer. Meanwhile, I was the only one going solo! I know it must have been just me, but it felt weird haha.
That does not mean that my climb was not totally beautiful and amazing! It sure was! In the mid-section of the climb you get to this open field, filled with small rocks and not lead by one designated, human-made path but by a small bunch of open spots and grass interchanging. The views that I encountered were so ridiculous that I think I will be posting more photos from here on instead of talking you all through my climb.

Views

SIMPLY WOW!

Slowing making it towards the end of the mid-section! I just looked back for a second.

So I was making steady progress and I had promised myself to not overdo it. So I took my moments, brought 2,5L of water with me and I had made sure to pack plenty of things to picnic with. I had 1 Twix bar, 1 apple, 1 banana, 1 pear, 6 sandwiches with ham+cheese+Cucumber+Tomato and a touch of BBQ sauce. I made it to the end of the mid-section and realised that my body was asking me to take a break. So I sat down somewhere quiet. Now when I do things I always do them randomly and I never go to the “mainstream” spots. Instead, I always follow my intuition and have it take me to the weirdest places without looking them up or thinking much about it. So I climbed over this “under construction” wall and found myself in awe of nature. There were literally 0 climbers sitting there and I could just not understand why they would not! I even called my grandparents with a mini video call to show them where I was!

Brunch with a view

I felt rested and ready for the last section of my climb! ONWARDS! So the last bit was the steepest. It was really steep and slippery and people were taking it very easy. I usually don’t talk about this but: I was so fast :D! There were so many people needing a break to huff and puff and yet I was going so fast! I wasn’t overdoing it because I was really going at my pace but I just kept that going! At first, I felt a bit desperate because I was not able to see the summit nearing it all. You see, you are climbing up with a certain gradient and the steepness of parts was so real that you could not really see what was lying beyond. But slowly I felt the steepness decrease and could see the summit approach! I made it!!!
Woohoooooo! I was so happy. There were only a handful of people on the summit and I just started taking pictures from every angle. I mean: IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE. I started an Instagram live for once to give it a go. I had 4 viewers but at least those 4 saw what I was seeing. Oh wow. I sat down somewhere with no people and lovers in front of me and just stared at the coastline. Believe you me, I was in awe of mother nature.

JUST WOW!

The Backside

A Panorama of the back views

A panorama of the left flank

My SUMMIT LUNCH VIEW

STUNNING PANORAMA

I think I spent about one hour on the summit. I enjoyed my achievement, I enjoyed my own strength for a sec and just felt incredibly happy with the ridiculous view that I had just witnessed. I even took a wee nap. 10-15mins. I think that, whoever saw me lying in the grass, must have witnessed a man sleeping with a MASSIVE GRIN on his face. I shared it with my loved ones and slowly started making my way down. It was slippery all right. And what was even worse: It started to hailstorm! haha if I had been an hour late I would so have not had this sick view!
I got down faster than I got up, of course it makes sense, but it never ceases to amaze me just how much! I was not, however, going to let the day end now! NO NO NO! I was off to another cool place. Allegedly one of the most beautiful woodlands of Northern-Ireland: Tullymore Forest Park. It was quite the walk to get there though. 3KM next to nothing but a road where cars fly by and you have no space to walk. I walked through some hilly area when I got to the last residence before the woods: I asked the man living there if I was at the right place because the gate looked like it was locked. What I was trying to make sure was that I was not trespassing through what could be the man’s private forest.
Lucky I wasn’t and I made it to the right place. I first walked up to the highest point of the forest ( 300m not too bad) and gazed down into the deep valley beneath me.

THAT’S WHERE I WAS HEADED!!!

I walked down and noticed I was nearly through rations. Just a last apple and 300ML of water. Alright. I had downloaded a grid map of the area and slowly walked my way through the longest trail of the forest with my map. I had not had any reception for two hours but I luckily had the map in my file storage :D! I walked and ran into some really nice areas of which I have taken my last few pictures.

A SMALL OUTSIDE BUNGALOW FOR THE RICH. IT WAS BUILT IN THE LATE 18TH CENTURY AND USED BY SOME VERY RICH MEN.

WHAT’S ON THE OTHER END?

IT WAS GETTING DARK AND SOON I NOTICED IT WAS PAST 6 O’CLOCK. Ow boy, my last coach home! I started setting a steady pace into it. I even called my mum and sister to talk me through a part as, you may have already guessed it, my feet were completely dead. I was so happy though. I had such an amazingly beautiful day. I soon made it back to the center and had 15mins to finish my last bit of water right by the sea. I got on my coach home and, when I finally did get home, crashed. I was really hungry so I finished my pasta but fell asleep at 9:45 only to wake up at 5 with an immense feeling of hunger.

WHAT A SATISFYING DAY. The last picture is my step counter. If your Japanese is not as fluent: The above tells you my walking and running distance. Below it, you see the total amount of steps I took that day 🙂 !! WOW :D!

St Patrick’s day!!!

Posted on May 16, 2018 by jelmpi

Let’s quickly continue with where I was: 17th of March, St Patrick’s day! You all may now that I recently joined a samba band. Now, my samba band does a lot of epic performances over the year. As we practiced really hard they told me a gig was coming up. This was not just SOME gig. We were performing in the parade of St Patrick’s day 😀 !!! As I had practiced hard and diligently under the guidance of my great and funny leader Matt and the esteemed Damian it was time that we were putting it all into the parade. So the day started harshly early: got up at 8 just so I would be able to make it to the venue at 9:30. At this venue, we would gather, dress up and prepare for the parade. I got there quite early and had made the rookie mistake to only wear a thin double-layer. Thickheaded as it was I did make it through the day alright. There were a few times when I had a small shiver run down my spine but apart from that, it was acceptable enough 😛 So we all wore themed green clothing and soon we just had to wait for our group to be complete.

So we were off! Now the songs we played were fairly well known and one of them was even loved by small children: Jungle Book’s I wanna be like you!
We walked through the majority of the city centre and I have to admit: I have never seen so many people for a parade in 2 degrees weather hahaha. People were filming us everywhere. The crowd cheered as we walked by. I really liked it. The whole parade must have last about an hour and a half and it was great fun. We were however not done yet!
We were also walking in the 2:30 parade in Downpatrick. So off we went on a coach to Downpatrick with the whole group 🙂 We had a great lunch and it felt like a school trip.

As Northern-Ireland also has a Chinese population living here we even ran across some Chinese in the parade! It looked really cool but the dances they did were the best!
As Downpatrick’s parade was over we were all back on it to Belfast.
We gathered at the band quarters and some had a drink to conclude our night.
But now comes the funny part: Something really wicked happened!
So the thing is: I walked in the parade and knew nobody in the crowds standing beside the road of course. But it turned out to be quite less true than I thought. It must have been about 1:30 when I received a message saying: “So it was you” And I was like: “Uhm, wrong chat?” But the other side insisted: “No, it was you. I saw you in the parade” and I was like: “What?! You have to be kidding me?!” So as it turns out: My Polish friend Estera was in Belfast! There is a completely different story attached to how we’ve even met so I am going to tell you the short version: In October I was in Poland to visit some friends, enjoy the country again and go to some neat parties. Now on one occassion I had to travel all the way across the country from North to South. So here I am, on a 6-hour train ride all by myself. I sat down next to this blonde lady who seems to be about my age and for the first 45 mins I don’t think we talked. But there comes a time when Jelmer thinks: f*ck it! and so I just started a random conversation. Some of you might know that this is typically me but if not: Well yeah hahaha. So we got along really well and I think we must have talked for like 1.5 hours. We actually started in Polish because I had answered the train conductor in my brief Polish but soon we switched to English. We talked all the way till she reached her stop but somehow we got to exchanging facebook and told each other to stay in touch. Well, here she was! She had come to Belfast with her boyfriend for the wedding of her cousin. In Belfast, there is quite a big Polish population so I was not surprised to hear she had family here but to think we would meet while I’m here??
It was so cool! We went to Lavery’s, a cool bar near the University Quarters, and we talked all night. At the end of our night, we promised we would meet again in a different city! All along st Patrick’s day was a crazy fun day!