The power of words

I AM DUTCH… So, there you have it. An obvious point, I know, but I need to say it. And why do I need to say it? Well because it means my first language isn’t English and that frustrates the heck out of me.

Yes, I write in English, I can speak English, I can even stand up and address groups in English and feel comfortable doing that but I am never as good or as fluent as I would like to be. I’m always grasping for words, searching for meanings and struggling with spelling. Especially while writing.

Writing to me is the ultimate form of expression. It is where I can pour my soul, humanity and creativity into and really express what I feel. Doing it in English though also means it is a constant struggle of searching for words and meanings to capture my thoughts. You don’t realize the power of words until you find yourself searching for them all the time.

Those words and combinations you only use in exclusive situations, the finer nuances of language, all those specific details that the 2-4 hours a week of high school English I got in my teens, didn’t cover.
And so I learn. I learn daily, from reading other peoples blogs, from watching English TV, from interacting on social Media. Analyzing and Googling every word and linguistic anomaly that triggers my interest, expanding my vocabulary constantly.

It’s my obsession, it’s my frustration, and it’s my insecurity… as it makes me feel so inadequate and unprepared.

So?! Why don’t you write in Dutch then? Well because I want to be heard. I write to invoke a response and many of the people I would like to reach don’t read Dutch. So yes, it is a choice to write in English and therefore to struggle with it.

I’m well aware my English is already better than most non-native English speakers. I’m also proud of the fact that apart from Dutch and English I can have conversations in German and even have basic skills in French but at the same time I’m jealous. I envy all you native English speakers for having a language at your fingertips that allows you to communicate with at least a third if not more of the world population. A language that is seen as the standard and that you have been taught from the crib, a language whose finer details and quirky depths to you aren’t a mystery so much as well as a tedious lesson in school.

I want to be you, I want my brain to grasp those words I’m often searching for, those expressions and fantastic nuances... till I do I will struggle, with every blog, sometimes with every tweet. I will make mistakes and get corrected, I will mess up and be told off, I will experiment and get it wrong but, I will not give up. And not just because I feel an urge to be heard, but also, and maybe more importantly, because during all this struggle I didn't just get to appreciate the English language, I got to love it; its variation, its complex simplicity, its quirky uniqueness….

So next time when I ask you for a word definition, or use an uncommon word in a chat or tweet with a “(?)” behind it, know that it is me learning and grasping and tell me if I do it wrong. And hopefully, one day, I will be able to express everything that goes on in my head in English as easy as I do in Dutch. Till then, bear with me, smile about my silly mistakes and help me get better.

It’s simply me loving the English language.

Thinking outside the box - Optician

I used to have perfect vision..... used to have. Because lately I found myself readjusting the font sizes on my screen to bigger fonts more then once (Windows: CTRL +, Mac: CMD +) and so I decided to have my vision checked.

Walking into the optician on a whim I asked for a test.
[optician] What is your reason for wanting a test, are you experiencing problems?
[me] Lately I seem to have trouble reading the finer fonts on my screen sometimes. I have to enlarge them, never had to do that before...
[optician] Ok, how many hours a day do you sit behind your pc?
[me] Ehhh..... not sure, do smartphone, and iPad count too? 
[optician] Yes
[me] Pretty much all day except when I sleep, run or eat then....
[optician] Ok, well then we're finished. Limit your time behind the screen to 6 hours a day max and all your problems will go away!
.....

Lol, ok now this was not the answer I expected, especially considering that my work alone requires me to spend at least 8 hours a day to look at a screen, but she explained to me that looking at something so close as a computer screen requires your eyes to constantly focus, tiring them out, causing my problems. She tested my eyes and well apart from a very light adjustment they are actually really good (normally I would not require any glasses). Seeing however that I'm not likely to limit my 'screen habit' (as she called it) she proceeded in measuring me with glasses.

Now after all the usual checks, she took away the eye machine and the vision cards, walked out, got her laptop put me behind it and asked me to open a site where I had had problems reading the fonts. She then put on the test glasses again and tested to see whether it would actually make a difference. It did! She then proceeded with the same tests while I was watching the laptop, changing glasses to see what would work best and finding that up close to the screen I really needed stronger glasses then when I was using the vision cards. She explained that by slightly overcompensating the glasses my eyes would have to do less, making them less tired and more likely to hold out. As long as I would take some more 'down' time too.

I love this. She completely thought out of the box. In stead of telling me to bugger off or sell me glasses just for the sake of it she actually analyzed my problem, adjusted the testing to fit my personal circumstances and gave me some pretty good advice!

So they are ordered now and I'm curious to see if they are going to help me with my eyes. At the same time though I'm also going to try to limit my 'screen habit' a bit. Who knows, maybe I should take up yoga like she suggested on the way out :)

ps. Don't they look nice? Feel like a proper school teacher in these! ->

The forbidden vocabulary

Last Friday I visited TEDx Dordrecht. An independently organized TED event in my home town listing 12 speakers on topics related to Sustainability and Food. It was a good event. There were some excellent speakers, good food, a nice venue and enough breaks to socialize with some of the other visitors.

The last speaker of the night was a 19 year old student and member of the Dutch national youth council for sustainability. Excited and in the heat of her youthful exuberance she used some words during her speech that where, well... how do I put it....

Ok she used the word 'F*ck' more then a couple of times. Now to be fair, using that word in Dutch is, although still seen as a swear word better to be avoided, really not to big a deal. Especially as it is an incorporated English word and therefore doesn't really have the same weight to it as it would have in English. It is often used to stress a point or an exclamation of annoyance among younger generations. So using it in a Dutch context, although frowned upon, wouldn't normally cause much of a reaction. Probably also because we aren't that easily shocked. The session however was in English and was being broadcasted to 35 countries world wide.

Right.... now that mischievous word suddenly became a full blown profanity and probably caused some stirs around the world as was hinted on afterwards by the host.

It is funny as it emphasized to me the subtle differences in language. To my shame I have to admit I too use that word on occasion. Most times though, not in an English or public context as I know the word really does have a bigger weight to it in English then it does in Dutch.

In fact, it seems more and more people prefer using foreign swear words. As if swearing in a different language has less impact then saying a similar swear word in Dutch. And it probably does, as to a lot of people, the word becomes just that: 'a word'. It's original context and meaning fade a bit and it becomes a word on its own. Yes, everybody still knows it is a profanity but it is seen less connected to what it actually describes. Especially as the Dutch translation of the word (verb) 'F*ck' isn't officially classified as a swear word at all. It is somewhat of a taboo word, not to be used often or in a formal or public conversation but it isn't considered a real profanity either.

Somehow, not having the same context, makes swearing in another language less harsh then using a similar swear word in your own language. And it's not just the Dutch that do that or have a fascination for foreign swear words. I've had numerous situations where foreigners of all nationalities proud to show off their skills, start reciting all the Dutch words and sentences they know. Stumbling their way through the obligatory 'Hallo', 'welkom', 'goedemiddag', 'mijn naam is...' unto some pretty harsh Dutch swear words... often with a big grin to their face.
In that regard, using foreign swear words seems to allow us to be that little kid again trying out the new forbidden vocabulary we picked up in the school yard.... It reminds us of the good old times when innocent as we were we really didn't know yet what all those words meant, the actions it described and the cultural load it had.

No wonder there are so many sites around that will teach you the most gruesome swear words in almost any language around. I guess some fascinations just never die, do they.... :)

The Virtual Super bowl party – game time the social way!

Yesterday (or should I say last night) was an absolute first. Attending my first ever real American Super Bowl party and watching the game with a group of Americans and Australians. So did I fly over for a quick weekend break?!? Nop, I attended right from my own couch in my own living room.

It all started a couple of weeks ago when my twitter stream exploded on NFL tweets by @CuriousMitch  and me reacting to that

Before I knew it I was involved in a whole conversation stretching out over multiple days about the merits of American Football and culminating in getting myself invited for a Super Bowl party to be hosted by Mitch. He was having some guests over to his house and invited a bunch of others to join in through a Google hangout so that we could all enjoy it together from our respective living room (and time zone!).

Now I did have to think about it for a minute as I realized I would have to take a day off (game started at midnight Sunday night and was going to last at least 3 hours according to those who knew). But I was more then willing to do that, seeing it as a great social & cultural experiment to see if Social Media really could make this possible. Plus anyone that knows me knows I’m always in for something crazy and this one certainly fell into that category!
There was only one problem, I had absolutely no clue about American Football!.... And so I was drilled and grilled over the last two weeks through Twitter and Skype by several people about everything NFL and American Football. Waking up to tweets like this

And even getting a visual demonstration with diagrams and lots of arrows through a LotusLive meeting & Skype.

All leading up to the big event: The game.

 A multi layered play in 4 acts played out on the field, in a Google Hangout, on Twitter and on Facebook.

I loved it! 

Not just because I like being part of big parties (which the Super Bowl certainly is) but also because it shows the power of Social Media and the cultural shift it is bringing about. Who would have thought 10 years ago that something like this would even be possible and that I would be able to enjoy a ‘cold one and a game' from my living room in The Netherlands with people in Australia and the USA? Allowing me a very personal and up close glimpse into their worlds, living rooms and passion for American Football.

So what have I learned from all this? 

• Taco's & Chili in at least 5 variations seems to be the favorite US Super Bowl party food 
• American Football can be fun and exciting once you get a basic grip of the game rules. Even if they drag out a one hour game to 4 hours easily 
• Australia really is sunny this time of year (Yes, I know mentally that it's summer over there right now but seeing it just makes it real) 
  
• Getting a social crash course on game rules through Twitter, Skype and LotusLive works and is much more fun then learning the old fashioned way!
• Google Hangouts actually lives up to what it says it does (really impressed after 5 hours of continuous and error-less ‘Hanging out’ with 6-8 others) 
• I have friends here in NL that were watching the game as well (found out through Facebook halfway through the game). Setting up a date to do next year’s Super Bowl together 
• I should never drink Redbull at 3:30AM if I want to have any chance of sleeping anytime soon (couldn’t fall asleep until 6:30)

So.... having a 'virtual' party like this doesn't necessarily trump the real live experience and might, by some, be considered really geeky. But getting this group from 3 continents together otherwise would have simply been impossible. It just added a whole new layer to being social, showing how Social Media and online collaboration tools really do stimulate cultural learning and exchange. And in doing so making the world a smaller place.

Thanks guys for making this an experience to remember! 

"Burning the midnight Soc'oil"

Definition:
To be Socially engaged on online Social Networks into the wee hours of the night.

Meaning:
The incessant staying up not to miss out on all the social fun. Often caused by having a very lively online Social Network that is mostly located on the other side of the pond and the abundant availability of devices that make accessing ones social tools (Skype, Twitter, Facebook, etc) possible everywhere and anytime (eg. in bed). Doing it long enough could have detrimental consequences for sleep patterns and cause the subject to dream in 'tweets'. (Though that could be seen as a good pre-Lotusphere training where sleep is hard to come by anyway).

Origin:
Derived from a combination of the word 'Social' and the phrase "burning the Midnight Oil": To work late into the night. Originally this was by the light of an oil lamp or candle but is nowadays replaced by the blueish shine of electronics and iShinies, hence the figurative terminology.

Related terms:
Insomniac, hermit, Twitter-critter

Follow up "Lotusphere-less"

A few weeks back I posted a blog with helpful links to Lotusphere resources for those of us that won't be going but want to taste the atmosphere anyway. An updated follow-up of that blog with additional links is now posted to the IBM Insights blog. Check it out!

Happy Social Year!!

A few years back I made a dramatic change in my life. From being a pessimist I decided to become an optimist. I know sounds good, he?! "Where do I find that button?" Well you don't. It took a lot of hard work and self-reflection to make a chance like that and it still is a work in progress. But overall I think I'm doing pretty well.

To give you an example of how melodramatic I used to be I will tell you a story my mum used to tell me....

As a kid, I must have been about 7 years old, she found me sitting on the stairs holding a melting ice cream, crying my eyes out. Startled she asked me 'what was going on?'. My answer between two heartbreaking sobs: "In a few minutes my ice cream will be gone!" Yep, seriously, I was contemplating the end of my ice cream and that literally tore me up.

So I refuse to be like that nowadays. I take life as it comes and try to enjoy the moment (eat that ice cream before it melts!). I don't plan beyond what I can handle and I don't regret the past either. In stead, I see the mistakes and problems I had, or caused, as lessons to do better in the future. And to remind myself of that I started blogging. Three years long I wrote down all the little (and big!) embarrassing, funny, silly things and mishaps that happened to me and most turned out to be really funny. Reflecting upon them put things into perspective and  often made me chuckle. Now, "Where do I find that blog?!?" I hear you ask... Yes, well it is online (here) but it's in Dutch so most of you won't be able to read it.

The last few years though I haven't been writing on that blog anymore. Oh I still have my embarrassing moments worth chuckling over and I still do! The medium changed, the fun didn't. Nowadays I put them on Twitter, Facebook or share them with my friends and coworkers. Really, my life is like an open book and I'm the one having the most fun about it. By being open and honest about both my successes in life as well as my trip-ups I show people who I really am and show them I'm fallible just like everyone else. Both in private as well as in business this has made me stronger and more secure. And most importantly it has resulted in lots of new friends and contacts.

So on the brink of 2012, looking back on 2011 I can only say I had the most awesome year! I made lots of new friends (in real life as well as in cyberspace), had the most amazing experiences (becoming an IBM Champion, walking part of the Camino de Santiago, running a 15k, doing a Redbook Residency) and found a renewed love for my work with Social Business and the IBM community.

Someone wrote me a message stating "your enthusiasm about being social is contagious!" and I'm taking that as the biggest compliment there is. I can't wait to see what 2012 is going to bring us, so Happy New Year, make it a fantastic year, make it a Social Year!

social fun risks

I can be kind of goofy. Love a good laugh and am always in for a joke. So when someone starts a Twitter meme by tweeting a picture of his feet while in a meeting with the hashtag #TweetYourFeetFriday I will join in. 
Just for fun, I mean how detrimental can a picture of two feet be?
Well.... I got told about the risks quite soon when someone who saw it pointed out the risks of certain fetishists picking up on it....

Mmm... ok yes. The idea actually had passed my mind when I was posting it but somehow I really didn't fear that too much. Does that make me gullible? Probably, but at the same time I really don't want to live my life looking over my shoulder every second for alternative motives. Do I expect them to be out there? Sure, do I want to mind? Nop. 
 
So call me crazy but I will do (good natured) crazy stuff some times. I do it in real life (ask my colleagues) I do it online (follow my Twitter). Most times it's received as intended (good natured), sometimes its not. 

So does it mean I sometimes hit myself on the nose? Yes it does. Still I refuse to be anything less than the spontaneous, sometimes slightly crazy me!



ps. Why a picture of shoes and not the one of my feet? Well, I'm not that gullible as to putting the words 'feet' 'fetish'  and a picture of my feet in one blog post. :-)

Social seating

KLM yesterday (unofficially) announced that they are looking into ways to make the seating process more social by allowing people to upload their Social Media profile information on check-in. The idea is to have people pick a seat based on the profiles of people sitting next to them so that people can check beforehand with whom they will be spending their precious hours in flight.

An innovative idea and certainly something that got them some attention but I must say I wonder whether it would be a success. Especially among the business travelers they are aiming this for.

As a business traveler myself the one thing I do when on a flight is trying not to have to socially engage to much with people next to me. You're in each others space already and for the next 8hrs of so you can't get away. So the last thing I want is to start a conversation that I can't politely get out off if it turns out to be not what you expected...

it's not as if you're making friends for life. So apart from a polite 'Hello' and 'could I pass you for a moment' I generally don't engage at all. I read my e-book, watch a film, prepare some work or sleep. That's it. The last thing I want is people rambling on for hours about how they love tulips and windmills because they read on my profile I'm from The Netherlands.

So what would I use it for.... Well frankly (and I really don't want to offend anyone with this, simply stating the obvious) to check if the person next to me is big. Yes, you heard it. I'll admit that is my worst nightmare on any flight and the first thing that came to mind when reading about KLM's initiative. Because space is already very limited it gets really frustrating if you have someone encroaching on that. Even though they can't help it and go out of their way not to, as they find it just as embarrassing. Because let's face it, most airplanes (especially short haul carriers)  have an absolute minimum of space alloted to each passenger and do not cater to the current situation in which at least 1/3 of people in the Western world is overweight. 

So from a personal viewpoint I think making the flight experience more 'social'  would be accomplished much better if they gave each passenger a bit more space, not by sharing our profiles... Still, I love and commend KLM for trying to think about ways to make the flying experience more social and will certainly give it a try if it gets activated.

Social calendar

I found this great blogpost on what 'Social Business' is. Read it its worth it.

What prompted me to actually search for it was that I lay in bed yesterday checking my calendar for this weekend realizing it was empty and that I was happy with two days of no obligations and appointments. It made me very aware of the fact that for the last year or so I've been really busy. With work, with friends, with running but mostly with being 'social'.

True, I've always been somewhat of a workaholic, checking my mail day and night, happily responding to messages at all hours of the day. But as most people (unlike me) shut their mail down when they go home around five it meant that the number of messages outside of office hours was limited.
That changed however when I became more socially active. The difference is that unlike mail, social micro blogging isn't confined to work only. People micro blog about everything from work to hobbies to kids to personal challenges. Not just during office hours but at all hours of the day. Offering an inside glimps to who they are, but more importantly: Humanizing them. And that is a real revolution.
I now sometimes meet customers and relations I've never seen or talked to before but that feel like old acquaintances simply because I've interacted with them in chats and on social platforms far before they even got to be of interest business wise. And because it's two way you are more familiar to them too, taking away normal barriers that are put up in business relations. Yes, you make yourself vulnerable but what you gain is trust and a deeper relation and that to me is totally worth it.

I immediately hear the 'but....' coming from all corners here. Because how does this improve your business?!? and How do you make socializing cost effective??

Well read that blogpost I mentioned at the start, I'm not going to repeat what was said in there but two of the poignant things that really hit home for me were:

"The historical [...] separation between the inside and the outside environments of a company is loosing importance"

"The ultimate reason of existence for the [social] corporation is no longer to generate value for its traditional stakeholders but to maximize the exchanged value between the company and the entire ecosystem". 

 Hello world! Its no longer about just making big bucks and putting up a nice facade to the outside world its about really working together at a personal level. Putting the individuals in the center of the process, not just the mechanism of work. Respecting that we all are part of the process and that each of us, whether you are a customer, contractor, relation or supplier, has a personal as well as corporate gain. And that by realizing and utilizing that we ALL stand to win.

Why? Well because when you see and respect that everyone involved has more to offer than just what was said on their job description, you suddenly end up getting much more value for your money. Suddenly you find that people are more than just output machines but that they are human beings with creativity, ingenuity, knowledge and intuition. Some of which might not even be related to work at all. But that by bringing all that together you end up getting something that is much more valuable and stronger than what any individual, even 'Guru' could realize. It's no longer internal vs external, contractor vs client its teamwork.

So how does that make it cost effective? Well sometimes you have to 'give a little to get a little' but in general working together like this enhances the products, improves employee involvement and builds stronger business relations making the difference in getting future projects. And that to me is making my work a real joy. I'm a people person. I love to connect to people. And for the first time I'm seeing that that part of me is not just something I do because I like it but something that is actually becoming an integral part of my job and can help drive revenue.
 
And it's not just my work that is changing because of this. It's my personal life too. As stated above I've always spend lots of time on my work and people have accused me of having no personal life at all. Maybe they were right for a while there.... I've always been good at my job, but although I'm ambitious I never saw myself as a 'guru' and for years that made me feeling insignificant and holding back. I had trouble defining who I was and what I had to offer.
What changed is that I started realizing that I didn't have to be a 'guru' to contribute and that just being me in all it's uniqueness as a human being was more then enough as that made me a valuable part of the process and of the teams that I operate in. Both personal as well as professionally.

'Wisdom of the crowds' already described how crowds know so much more then individuals but its the Social revolution that is giving a platform to those crowds to actually leverage that wisdom. So bring it on! I love this new era in business. It's daunting and challenging and we are destined to make mistakes but as long as we do it together I'm sure we are on the right track.

And in the mean time I'm going to enjoy my busy calendar and Social activities and live life to the fullest. Because for the first time in my live I can truly say that my work is my hobby and NOT feel insecure about it.

7 Hills run 15km of dying.... and surviving!

People who know me know I've always struggled with my weight. I still do. A couple of years back I lost a lot of weight and started running. I was terrible at it but at the same time loved doing it. I pushed myself to achieve things I never thought possible. Like running a half marathon which I did twice. Since then however I slacked of, gained some weight again and stopped running.

I hated that but finding time and motivation to start running again was really hard. So for the past 3 years I had to decline when colleagues asked me to join the company running team for the 15km Seven Hills run in Nijmegen. Ironic as I was kind of the one that got the team started.
But today I finally joined and ran that 15km. It was REALLY hard and my time is not exactly a world record but I'm proud of it nonetheless. I did something that was totally out of my comfort zone and managed to succeed.

A perfect end to a perfect week!

So when you see me smiling like a mad man with a medal around my neck then know that I fought for that thing and died a thousands times doing it.....

I'M ON TOP OF THE WORLD RIGHT NOW!!!

21-11-2011: One day later and fully suffering all the muscle ache it's time to put things into perspective. My time (1:59:49) gave me the 25934th place out of 25964 finishers. Which means I didn't come in dead last but came pretty close to it. 
Still... considering 31000 people registered I at least managed to finish!

Early Adopter

I got a baby card in the mail this weekend from a good friend that just had his first son. Nothing special there, it listed the obvious details as name, date of birth, weight and length as well as the normal visiting hours for baby & mum.

What was surprising though was the design of the card (as if it was the personal Facebook page of the newborn) and the addition of the baby's Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and personal website addresses. This is what I would call a early adopter! This kid isn't just launched into the world, it's launched into cyberspace (with a little help and moderation of his parents of course).

Now this got me thinking about my own baby card. My parents intended it to depict a silhouette picture of a baby walking, supported by one leg. The printer however got it wrong, printing the picture upside down. It didn't look as if the baby was supported, it looked as if the baby was unceremoniously hanging by one leg. Not the idyllic image my parents had in mind and it meant my parents had to do some explaining there, not in the least to me when I saw it in my birth photo book a couple of years later.

I wonder what the explanation will be to this kid in about ten to twelve years when he sees his baby card and starts asking: "Dad what is Facebook?!?"

 

My babycard.... 35yrs ago, no Facebook in sight then!

Holiday - Letting Go

So for the first time in years I managed to take a holiday. Not just a few days or week or two around christmas but a regular couple of weeks in July. I can't remember when I did that last.

Now it's not as if I couldn't take a normal holiday. Heck, my boss even told me during my evaluations more than once that he was worried I didn't take enough 'down time' for myself. So this year, after quite a hectic period I decided it was time.

The problem is that if I don't plan something to do during my holiday I tend to end up behind my laptop again. So to prevent myself from taking time off, only to use it on work again, I followed the advice of a colleague, and on a spur of a moment, decided to go to Spain to walk part of the Santiago de Compostella route or Way of St James. A pilgrims route that people have been walking since the middle ages. Not that I'm Catholic but as I needed to really wind down and de-stress, I figured it would be a great lesson in 'letting go'. And it was.

First step in learning to let go was that I didn't plan. I just bought a ticket to Bilbao and a a small guide book, packed a backpack with some essentials and got on the plane. Now normally 'essentials'  would incorporate my Blackberry, my laptop and my iPad. But as I was going to hike up to 25km a day carrying everything in my backpack and wanted 'to let go' I left the iPad and laptop behind. Ok, best would have been to leave the BB as well but that just was one step to far for this trip.

And so I started. 

The Santiago de Compostella route or Camino (as it is usually named) isn't just one route. You can start on routes all over Europe. Most (not all) confer at the Spanish border and continues as the Route de Frances running from St Jean Pied de Port (French side of the Pyrenees) to Santiago (North-East of Spain). About 800km of hiking. Untrained as I was I was not going to manage to walk all of that in just two weeks (the validity of my ticket). So I decided to start in Burgos and see where I'd end up before having to return to Bilbao for my flight.

Now this route is walked by hundreds of thousands of people a year and traditionally these people need to sleep somewhere so everywhere along the route there are so called 'Albergues'. Cheap hostels where the 'pellegrinos' (pilgrims) can rest for the night. They open around noon, offer a bed (in a mixed dormitory with up to 80 other people in bunk beds crammed together), a shower (usually cold), and sometimes a kitchen where you can cook some dinner. Check-out time is usually between 05:00 and 08:30 the next day, costs is between €4-€8 a night and you learn to sleep with people snoring around you. Dinner is either what you cook yourself or a simple pilgrims menu in the local bar. Very basic, very primitive but in fact everything you need.

Now I know for most people getting up before dawn, walking between 20-25km a day in the blazing heat of Spain in July, sleeping in dormitories, sharing bathing facilities, eating microwaved macaroni and having to hand wash your socks daily as you only carry two pair anyway isn't exactly the ideal holiday but for me it was. Right from the start all stress just evaporated. All I needed to do was put one foot in front of the other to get to that next town, that next bed and meeting lots of people along the way. Because that's another fact of the Camino, you're never alone for long and the beauty of a shared experience is that it creates in instant bond. You all suffer muscle aches and blisters, you share food and water and you talk.

I had conversations on everything from global politics, the American gun policy, gay marriage, religion and the best type of ice creams (that last conversation was during a really hot and barren stretch of Spanish Meseta). One moment you're talking to a guy from South Africa or a girl from the US, the next you're practicing your German on a couple from Austria.

I loved it. For me it felt like a warm bath. Even the sleeping in dormitories had a strangely relaxing effect on me. It forced me to live by the day and be relaxed and open to people and the situations you get into. Something I wish I could practice in my work more often.

It felt really strange when after 9 days and approximately 200km of walking I had to stop my Camino and return back because of public transport facilities.
I still had a few days before my return flight and spent those as a regular 'tourist', but not being on the Camino really felt strange. The drive of getting up early to start walking in the silence of the morning dawn, the heartfelt 'Buen Camino!' wishes from locals and fellow pellegrinos and the camaraderie that you shared....
This was definitely a holiday to remember, and who knows, maybe in the future I'll make time to do more of this. But I'm not going to fall back in my old pattern and start planning it all.

'Letting go'  was the adagio, so who knows what happens next year, all that matters is that this experience was great!!

 For more pictures of the trip check out my Picasaweb album