Our world

Holiday-issues

My Finnish girlfriend traveled to Thailand yesterday with her sister to have a one-week holiday in the sun. Our time difference usually is one hour, which is really easy. But right now, the difference is six hours! (I feel for LDR couples who have such a big time gap.) This makes it not realistic to have our daily goodnight conversation on Facetime. This week I have to fall asleep on my own. On the day after tomorrow, I will go to Austria with my skating team. So my girl will be in Thailand and I am in Austria. Fingers crossed for WiFi!

Three weeks

Three weeks to go before we are together again. A lot of things are going on in both of our lives at the moment. My Finnish girl achieved great things in her work this week, and I have been skating a lot of real-ice-marathons. It's freezing in The Netherlands. Maybe, after all, it wasn't that bad for us to live apart this week. We both needed a lot of time for our own activities, and weren't able to invest so much as usual in our relationship. We can deal with it because we know that better times will come. We also knew that this period would be one of the hardest to get through, because 1) it's the longest one we had so far, 2) we both have trips abroad in this period, 3) we both are very very very busy in work and other things we need to do.
Luckily, we have the Pair-app on our iPhones now, and that makes some fun. Send short video-messages to each other, draw something sweet or funny, and let each other know that 'I'm thinking of you'. Next week, my love will go on a Thailand-holiday, and I will leave to Austria with my skating team to race competitions there. We have to hang on. It's definitely worth it! Love is strong.

Damn busy... LDR Hell!

It’s freezing cold in The Netherlands. And for who doesn’t know: We are crazy about speed skating on ice. So, this evening was the first marathon on natural ice (we usually skate on artificial ice). I am a marathon skater in a semi-professional team, so I have to race those competitions. We have a competition every evening this week, starting today. Big media exposure, radio channels broadcasting live, TV registration (live as well), newspapers and so on. A big audience who cheer in the corners, with orange Unox-hats on their heads. There is one big issue for almost all the female-skaters. TIME. Only the men’s can make a good living out of this sport, so we have to work during the day, race in the evening and sleep (a lot) at night. Laundry? Not possible. Cooking some dinner? Very hard. We have to go away from work earlier than what’s actually allowed to be in time for the races. Not nice.

Conclusion… DAMN… When do I talk with the love of my life who lives in Finland??? After all, this speed skating circus is amazing to be a part of. I wouldn’t miss it. But it’s so hard to just accept that there is not enough time to talk to my girl these days…

Quote

“I just knew it was like coming home, and I haven’t even realized I’ve been away.”

—	Heather Peace

Weekends

Being in a long distance relationship (LDR) isn’t nice. For example, weekends suck. Being home alone, or better said, spending your well-earned free time without the one you would like to share that time with. On different blogs all over the internet I read about couples whose family or friends doubt about the reliability of being in a LDR. Luckily, we never felt any doubt about it in our own environment. Of course it is good that the people who know us best stay critic about my girlfriend and me, and our situation. They can warn us or keep us sharp in daily life to keep our feet on the ground. And yeah, we both daydream a lot and fantasize, more or less realistic, about our upcoming future together. One thing we are so sure about… We will be a very happy couple!

Long time no see part 2

Less than a month to go in our latest countdown. Four lonely weekends. For me (the Dutchie) it means 18 days at home and work, and the other 12 with my skating team in Austria. My girlfriend and I try to count in many different ways, to make it feel faster in some way. Usually we count weekends, because those are more empty or lonely than our workdays, but now we have our longest 'long-time-no-see' so far. It was five weekends, right now it's 'only' four left. My girl will have a Thailand-holiday with her sister, I have my skating trip to Austria. We planned them in the same weeks on purpose, because communicating will be a little harder when we are abroad. Not everywhere is WiFi, or even a good phone network. In this way we have the same kind of distraction and neither her or me will be sort of 'waiting' at home. We have to stay strong. We know we can do it and our love is stronger than even before. Hang on my love!

No fear

Long time no see...

I got back home in The Netherlands yesterday. Last week I've been in Helsinki together with my amazing girlfriend! We did a lot of things, so there was no time to write any blog post here to inform you about our busy, busy life. So, here the day-to-day report: