Today me and my boyfriend decided to go for yet another bike ride since the weather was nice and we already had the day planned on where to go.
I have always wanted to see where my boyfriend works, but it is quite far away so we decided to do today and combine it with a visit to the shopping senter since it was in the same direction. The weather was beautiful and pretty warm with it beeing 25 degrees.
The route we took to his work wasn’t a very exciting one since it was mostly just straight forwards. We did get to cross over a big bridge where we got a great view over the river that runs through Antwerpen. It took us around 40 min to first get to his work where he showed me around on the outside.
After that we continued on towards the shopping senter. Here we ended up spending the rest of our day. Nathan bought a couple of spices and some snacks while I had plans to do some clothes shopping. I bought myself 3 pairs of trousers, 1 t-shirt with stripes and a purple hooded jumper pluss some lingerie.
When it started to get late we decided to eat dinner at KFC. I had 6 hot wings menu while he had a chicken burger. Everything tasted delicious, but not as good as the burger place we had take away from the first week I was here. We ended up being there for way longer than we thought and by the time we were done the clock was already 19.30.
On our way home we decided to take a small detour along side the river which was way nicer and more quite than following the main road. We got home at around 20.22 and was feeling pretty exhausted. The rest of the evening have been decided to watch Demon slayer the movie and eat some of the many snacks we bought.
Hope you guys have had a lovely weekend and are staying healthy and safe ♡
Me and my boyfriend decided to go for a bike ride to explore more of the surrounding area and today I went to the hairdresser.
This Saturday I had planned out a route for us to follow, but when we started we just ended up biking around. I got to see a bit of the next city called “Ekeren” and I got to see where the closest cinema is. The cinema is located in a nice little area surrounded with different restaurants. We decided to sit down and take a drink. I had a “Raspberry Mojito” and Nathan had a Cherry beer. After our break it started to rain ever so slightly so we decided to make our way home. We just relaxed for the rest of the evening.
The next day Nathan had plans to meet up with his band that he hasn’t been able to play with for over a year. I decided to spend the day to have a small stream and play some more “Green Hell” and that was basically our weekend.
Today I had an appointment at my boyfriend’s hairdresser. The guy was really friendly and chatty. He asked me all kinds of questions about me and Nathan. I usually don’t fancy small talk but he was so nice and sweet plus he had a really adorable dog to keep me company. It was only me there and I am still a bit unsure about what I feel about my new cut. but regardless it’s way better than my previous one. Now we just have to prepare for the wedding on Friday.
My new look
I hope you guys have had a lovely week so far and I’ll write a new post about it during the weekend.
This Sunday was the last day of my boyfriend’s vacation so we decided to do something fun outside the apartment. We found this lovely park which featured some lovely walking areas and a mini golf which was on the list of stuff we wanted to do together.
So we woke up at around noon since we didn’t want to go out until the weather had cooled down a bit. We ate some breakfast and got ready to head out. The weather was nice, not too cold and not too hot although it was suppose to rain so Nathan brought a jacket just in case. We got on the bus which took around 20 min. When we arrived we headed straight to the golf course.
Since it was a nice day and a Sunday there were quite a lot of people outside. The golf course was thankfully not too crowded but we had to wait a couple times for the people ahead of us to finish up. It wasn’t crazy golf so most of the holes were quite simple but as we progressed they got a bit more fancy . They had the standard 18 wholes. I was hoping that this could be my revenge from the bowling, but unfortunate Nathan beat me again by 10 points less, but we had a lot of fun. When we were done I felt a bit hungry and by the clock was already getting close to dinner time. We walked a bit around the the park before we head over to the restaurant that his father and brother recommended. The park had a lot of playground for children and a lovely pond with a nice place where you could sit.
To get into town we took the tram which act was the same way as a subway since it goes both above and bellow ground. We took it to the stop right before the shopping street and walked the rest. So the restaurant that we were going to was on Groenplaats so it wasn’t too far of a walk. We found the place really quickly and sat down. The place was called “Takumi Ramen kitchen” so we both decided to go with Ramen.
I went with the Spicy Teriyaki Miso Ramen and my boyfriend had the Spicy EBI Furay Miso Ramen since it was his first time having ramen. While we were sitting there the weather changed went to partly clouded to a mini rain storm as I would say it started raining cats and dogs. The other people moved inside but we decided to stay outside since we were sitting under cover so we didn’t get wet at all. The food was amazing and Nathan really loved the dish. After we both finished up we decided to share a Donburi dish called Korokke-Gyoza-don.EVERYTHING was super tasty and we were so full at the end.
This week we had a lot of plans. Some of them were really fun while others were a bit of disappointment. One thing is for sure we got our self a lot of exercise xD
So on Tuesday afternoon we decided to go bowling to do something fun. The place was 30 min with walking away from where we live so it wasn’t that far. I haven’t gone bowling for at least a couple of years if not even more so I was expecting to be a bit rusty. He hadn’t played in a while either so this was definitely going to be intersting. The place we went to was called “Bowling Stones” and they had so many different modes. You could pick classic, hyper bowling etc. We just decided to go with the Classic.
We played 3 rounds and my boyfriend won all of them. It seems like he is pretty good despite the fact that he hasn’t played in a while. The competitive side of me got a bit upset and annoyed that I didn’t manage to win once, but that wasn’t the point of the evening. All in good sport and besides I’ll have my revenge at mini golf :D. After the bowling we decided to get take away from a Chinese restaurant that Nathan liked. It did require some more walking, but the food was worth it.
For our next adventure we decided to go to Antwerp Zoo since we both love animals. So we woke up early so we could get on with our day because boyfriend had music school in the evening. We got there at noon and started to walk around. Unfortunately a lot of the animals that I wanted to see weren’t out that day, but we got to see a lot of other ones. There war a lot of monkeys, birds, fishes and reptiles. They also had Penguins, Kangaroos, Hippos and Zebra. The animals I wanted to see that wasn’t out was the lions, tigers and meerkats, but maybe some other time. There was also a very horny Okapi who kept trying himself on the female without succeeding xD. We spent our entire day there just strolling around so after we were done we just went home after stopping by a Starbucks and a multimedia store :P. The rest of the evening was just spent to chill.
PENGUINS!Just a couple of kangaroosLook at this fabulous Lizard
Now to yesterdays exploration. We took the bus into the city and started walking down the shopping street. There were a lot of stores open and a lot of people. Most of the shops were cloths or shoes, but there were some unique shops. After walking for a bit we headed towards a place to sold bubble tea since it was one of many places my boyfriend wanted to show me. I decided to go with lychee tea with raspberry bubbles. It tasted nice and sweet and very refreshing.
Lychee tea and raspberry bubbles.
After we had drink our tea and were at the end of the shopping street my boyfriend spotted the waffle stand that he usually goes to and since I hadn’t tasted Belgium waffle yet we decided to do that too. I had mine with Nutella on top and I will say that the Belgium waffle really good. Really thick and tasty and I think I like them more than the regular ones. When we were done eating those we headed towards Groenplaats which was a nice little square surrounded with both small shops and restaurants. We found a ramen place which we are going to check out later since we had quite a bit of food in us already. We could see the lovely cathedral which was under restauration. but still looked amazing.
For our late lunch we decided to go to this Sandwich place that our friend recommended called “Panos” which was located on the corner of Groenplaats. I got a panini with crispy meatball, cheese and pesto and my boyfriend got som sort of pastry. Both of us agreed that they did have really good sandwiches so I would recommend them to anyone who just want a small snack og and a nice view over the square.
Our next destination was the river that runs through the city separate the east and the west. When we were heading towards the river I spotted a giant Ferris wheel and we looked at my boyfriend and we headed towards it. The wheel was 15m tall so we got to see the entire city from there.
The MAS museum.The cathedral
After the Ferris wheel it was getting late so we decided to head home. We decided to walk along the promenade before we walked towards the bus. As we walked the wall there were something written on them. I couldn’t understand it since it was in Dutch and we were going kind of backwords but it seemed like it had something to do with the history of Antwerpen. Regardless we made our way back to Merksem and then proceeded to collapse on the sofa for the rest of the evening after ordering some sushi.
This has been a pretty joyful week and the weather hasn’t been too hot either. It has actually been pretty cold and I was freezing for those two days we were out in the city, but I have learned my lesson and I’m now prepared for tomorrow.
So it has now been a bit over 1 week since I arrived. So far I have had a fantastic time with my boyfriend. We have walked around Merksem where he lives, cooked together and I got to meet his father side of the family. I really love it here already
The first day we didn’t do much. He met me at the airport and we both just took our time to get to know each other which didn’t take long because we had spent so much time online. We got to his apartment which is really nice and spacious and he just showed me around telling me where everything were and how it worked. The next day we just went to the store to buy groceries. We bought some drinks too for later. The rest of that week he had to work so I just relaxed at his place making myself comfortable.
My boyfriend’s honey glazed spare ribs.Chicken with peso filling wrapped in bacon!
On Saturday we were both invited to his older bother as he was having a bbq to celebrate his birthday. So I got to meet his brother, sister in law, his niece , father and step-mother. I was really nervous because I was told that they didn’t speak English and my Dutch is not really good enough for a conversation, but thankfully the wife of his brother knew a lot of English so I didn’t feel so lonely. His family is also very laid back and goofy so we all just enjoyed our self, cracked some jokes and played some games. The food there was also delicious. All in all a good day.
On Sunday we didn’t do much until our evening walk. He wanted to show me a bit of where he grew up, his school and the park that he as been to both as a kid and for band concerts. It was a really nice walk and it made me feel more at home here.
Yesterday we just decided to go to the store since I needed new shoes. Ended up with a new watch, a charging cable and then some shoes xD. So now we are all ready for our coming days walking around in Antwerp. Tomorrow we are going to the zoo and the other day we are planning going bowling, mini golf, shopping and just general sightseeing.
Lovely watch with amazing features.The new shoes called Sketchers. Feels amazing to walk in.
It was been a great start on my summer vacation and I’m so excited to be here and finally spending some irl time with my boyfriend after 5 months without being able to do so because of the Covid. Thankfully more and more countries are becoming green because of vaccinations which is good, so we are definitely heading towards our normal life’s again.
We are finally getting closer to summer and my month vacation. The weather is getting warmer with average above 20 degrees. Today it’s 10 days until I’ll finally get to see my long distance boyfriend, but until then let me tell you about my week.
So this week has been a bit different than usual. So my grandmother died 22.5.21 at the age of 93. She had sever case of Alzheimer which is a type of dementia aka it affects memory, thinking and behavior. It comes often with getting old. My grandmother got it in her late 80’s and got put into a home where she got treated very well until the day she died.
Her funeral was held in the church where she had contributed and been a member for the longest of time. Most of my family was there; my mum, sister, aunt, step-uncle, uncle, cousins, her younger sister who is the last person alive out of 5 sibling and friends who knew her. The funeral was beautiful filled with music, speeches and prayers. I helped out carrying the coffin to the burial place were we took our final goodbyes.
Lovely white coffin filled surrounded by flowers from friends and family.
The rest of the week I took some days off work both to prosess what had happened and because I had some appointments. I got myself tested this Friday, the results came back negative which is nice and it does seem that I don’t need to take a second one before traveling either.
Yesterday me and my parents went out and ate at a restaurant which we haven’t been able to do since my birthday last year. We went to this perfect little Thai place and had some delicious food. I ordered spring rolls for my starter and grilled duck as my main course. Both of the dishes were amazing.
Spring rolls with sweet chili sauce and cucumberGrilled duck in red curry sauce with tomato’s, grapes and pineapple. Served with rice.
It was nice to talk to my parents without my sister because she tend to hog the spotlight during dinners. We talked about my upcoming travel and ofc they wanted to know more about my boyfriend and what plans we had made. I told them that I was super excited but that we hadn’t made any plans since we weren’t sure on what would be open while I’m there, but I would keep them updated for later on.
So even if though the week started out a bit rough it had a lovely ending and now I just need to work for one entire week and then I can prepare myself for the trip. I will blog as much as I can and update you guys on how everything is going. Hope you guys have had a lovely start of June too.
Yesterday was Norway’s constitution day where everyone gets the day off. Because of the current situation this year some changes had to be made when it come to tradition, but all in all a good day.
Usually on our constitutions day all the schools around in and around the capitol mostly primary schools meet up in town and create like a long parade line where they walk up towards the castle. The day is usually celebrated with music, food and special arrangement, but because of the current situation there was no parade or things to do in town. We were however allowed to have guest since we opened up two weeks before. According to the rules we are allowed to have up to 10 guest and 20 if we are outside.
My family and I just had a small gathering of some of my parents closes friends. Everyone brought some food that they had made and then we just ate and talk together for the entire day. The food was delicious and it was nice to meet people again. The guest were very interested in my vacation to Belgium at the end of June so there were a lot of question around that. For food we had some ham,a pie, prawns with bread, potato salad and a lot’s of other good stuff and then we had a marsipan cake for dessert. Then we just spent the rest of the time talking and catching up.
This is Theodor!
Some delicious food.
I spent some time with them until I decided to go downstairs and spend some time with my boyfriend before i headed to bed and prep for a workday.
This weekend my cousin celebrated her birthday. It was being held outside together with family members from both her and her partner and around 40 dogs. It was really fun but embaresing at times ❤
My family and I got invited to a birthday party that were being held outside for my cousin. Unfortunately with my dads current condition my parents couldn’t join, but me and my sister decided that it would be nice to be with family and be outside. The celebration was being held in the woods with a lovely BBQ. It required my mum to drive us since it was pretty far away and would have take us way too long time to go there by public transport. When we arrived at the parking station we had a bit of trouble figuring out where to go since there were so many paths and we had never been there before, but after walking back and forth for around 15 min we finally found the right path and were on our way.
When we arrived at the campsite we saw a lot of familiar faces from family members. Most of them we hadn’t seen since Christmas, but other we hadn’t seen since me and my sister was very young. The people attending were my second cousin, our aunt and uncle, my uncles two sons and their entire family which consist of partners and 5 kids, my cousins partners, mother, father and sister to the partner of the birthday girl, my ex-uncle (aka my cousins father) and his girlfriend. We were total around 16 people and around 40 dogs too.
My ex-uncle have always been a fan of dags and he is into dog racing. For those who doesn’t know what that inntale it means you have one carriage, then a line with around 9 dogs pulling it through a snowy trail. Throughout the years he have gotten more and more dogs and now he has a new girlfriend who are also interested in the same things. Thankfully most of the dogs where kept in away for the main duration of the party.
The entire celebration was amazing, lots of good foods and desserts. Lovely company and it was so nice to finally get to be outside and hang with people. Since lockdown it has been way less of that happening. The dogs were always super nice and played around the huge area. My cousin got some amazing gift that she could use for when she was on her outdoor trips. Everything was nice and joyful before the storm.
Since it was outside on a public campsite there arrived other people with their families. It is also that time of the year where dogs have to be on a restraint, but they thought it would be fine because the dogs were pretty well behaved. Then it got a bit out of hand from time to time because some dogs went over either out of curiosity, greeting the strangers dog or try to steal their food, There were a couple of times where we had to call the dog back or go and get it away from them since they were being annoying. Which when piled up became a bit embarrassing, plus that dogs aren’t always quite so their were also a lot of barking happening too. The most embarrassing moment was after most of the party had left my ex-uncle decided to put out the rest of the dogs so that they could get some fresh air and do their stuff. Now just all 40 dogs on a line and most of them barking or crying for food and stench from them when decided to go number two. Even my cousin got embarrassed at that time. They way they ate was that he had two giant doggo rolls as they are called that was total for 18kg and then he used an axe to chop them into big chunks of meat which he just through to the dogs. So it was not only party for the people but also a dog party xD.
By that time we were about to leave. The rest was going to spend the night because they were heading out for a trip in the morning together.
All in all it was a great day and I had a lot of fun hanging around and talking to people. We are still waiting and hoping that stuff will open up throughout this month. I wish you all a happy last week of April.
Recently I decided to freshen up my hair. It had already started to grow since I last cut it in October of last year so me and my mum booked an appointment together which was really nice.
I really don’t like to do a lot to my hair on a day to day basis so when it comes to getting a haircut I don’t really do it unless my mum wants me to. So that means that it usually takes up to 6 months to 1 year for me to get my hair done. The other day my mother looked at me and was wondering when I was going to get a haircut or what my plans for the hair was. I said that I hadn’t thought about it since I’m really fine with how my hair was. She thought it looked a bit messy and wanted me to book an appointment, but with everything going on lately I forgot it until recently when my mother came to me and said “Hey, I have an appointment on Tuesday do you want to see if they have time for you too?” and by then I just thought “Yeah, why not” So we did it.
The hairdressers my mum goes to is in town close to where she works so we had a nice little mother and daughter moment on our way down. I told her about my plans for the future and was wandering what her opinions were. She agreed and said she supported my decision as long as I learned how to stand on my two feet. I will tell you guys about them when we are moving closer to it so for now you guys just have to wait.
The hairdressers was really nice although I am terrible at small talk so for me it was very awkward. We talked about the past week and everything that had happened during the lockdown. They needed to give my hair a cure since it was very dry, but I didn’t mind. I was really happy with the result, but I will probably have to go to the hairdressers again before the summer break in around one and a half month. All in all it was a very successful day and I always feel very fresh right after a new look, they even gave me mini curls as a added flare.
This year we had a very special easter. With Oslo still being in lockdown it wasn’t a lot people could do, but our family decided to have a small celebration regardless.
Most of this years easter was spent at home. Usually when my sister and I were kids our family used to spend easter together with our Aunt, Uncle and our two cousins. We would go skiing together and settle down in front of a campfire and eat some hot dogs. After that we would go for an egg hunt. I do miss those simpler times.
This year we just had our internal family. We mostly stayed at home since there is not much to do. I did however get to go back for work for a short period of time, but I do hope that everything will start opening soon so that our days can become a bit more “Normal”
The best thing about this years easter was all the great food. We had our traditional lam legg for Easter eve and then we had some lovely leftovers for an amazing lunch the other day. Me and my sister also got an easter egg each which was packed with lovely sweets. At the end it was a nice calm easter with the family.
The Anna behind Yannani 