Access to pictures of various things going on in my life.

 


My blog has been lacking updates for quite a while, but I couldn't let this occasion go by to write something. This month it has been 10 years since I moved to California. On May 30th 1996 I left from Eindhoven Airport to fly via Amsterdam airport to San Francisco. So what has happened in those 10 years....

Here are some random facts:
- I've lived in 3 different houses (El Cerrito, Berkeley, Oakland)
- I've had 5 different cars (Honday Accord, 2 1965 Cadillacs, Acura, VW Beetle)
- I've bought 8 projectors, and sold 5 of them
- I've had lots of opportunity to travel (India, China, Tibet, Vietnam, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Hawaii, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Italy, Germany, France and of course Holland)
- I've had girlfriends from Hungary, Mexico and the USA
- I've hiked all over California and the Western US (Mt Whitney, Mt Shasta, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Grand Canyon rim-to-rim, Arches National Park, Exit Glacier in Alaska, Mount Hood etc)
- I've learned to scuba dive and rock climb
- I've become 75% vegetarian, and 95% non-alcohol-drinking
- I've been on about 10 different meditation retreats since September 2003
- I've suffered for about 3-4 years from Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), of which 1 year I worked without a mouse or keyboard, only using voice commands.

So the above were just some random facts, but it makes me realize what a blessed and diverse life I've been able to lead over the past 10 years. I left Holland just after Scala, the cultural student center opened in May 1996. This was a big project for me, and working on it was the highlight of my student time in Eidhoven. During my first year in Berkeley I met Piero Scaruffi and hiked and camped all over California with a gang of crazy au-pairs. This went on for about 7 years. I shared a house with Daniel for the first 4 years. In 2003 I went to a meditation retreat led by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in Colorado. I very much enjoyed it and have been actively meditating and attending retreats since then. Last year I co-organized a Young Adult Retreat here in California. It was a big success, there were about 40 young adults and 4 monastics (2 monks, 2 nuns).

In August of 2005 I started rock climbing. During the years of my RSI injury, I was always wanting to rock climb, but when your hands hurt so much that you can't carry bags, the last thing you want to do is hang from a wall by your finger tips. The turn around for my pain was this webpage.

In the mean time I have received my green card, so I can stay in the US now as long as I like. How long that is, is an often asked question. I honestly don't know. I really like my job and friends/community, but the job is very dependent on funding. If it ends, I might well leave the US.
posted by Christian on Sunday, May 14, 2006, 0 comments