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Continue reading β: On Leaving Things BehindI donβt think bad habits are the enemy. Most of mine once kept me safe. But what protects us for a while can eventually slow us down. Looking back at 2025, I see patterns that helped me explore and stay grounded. I also see how some of them now hold…
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Continue reading β: Reason Big Decisions Come After the New YearEvery year I notice the same thing. Big decisions rarely happen in December. Not the ones that quietly change direction. Not the decisions that shift how we live, work, or see ourselves. They tend to appear after the new year. Sometimes immediately. Sometimes a few weeks later. But almost never…
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Continue reading β: One Bite Back to Basel π¨πThe first bite of raclette did not just taste familiar. It quietly erased decades. We revisited the Royal Christmas Market in The Hague on a dry, cold winter day. It was crowded, lively, full of movement. We walked past beautifully decorated stalls, but I already knew what I was looking…
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Continue reading β: Winter Is Not the Problem βοΈ ποΈDecember in the Netherlands can feel heavy. The rain seems endless, the sky stays low and grey, and days pass without much light. People retreat indoors. Curtains close earlier. Energy drops. It is hard not to notice how the lack of sunlight affects mood. Winter depression is not some abstract…
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Continue reading β: No Christmas Tree This YearMy mother has always had a creative knack for Christmas decorations. This year, there is no Christmas tree in her home. Instead, there is a flower. An Amaryllis stands quietly in her living room. A thick green stem, two red buds, slowly opening. She showed it to me with pride…
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Continue reading β: An Accidental Theory on Weather and World HistoryBeing in the Netherlands for half a month now, after having lived the past two years in rural Japan, Iβm only just noticing how much I miss venturing out into mountainous and forested landscapes. I miss my hikes. I miss my droning spots. I miss the feeling of space and…
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Continue reading β: Does Your Music Taste Move When You Move?I have been wondering about that lately because music has always been a steady presence in my life. I listen to it often, and I listen to it intentionally. I never played random radio channels in the background. I have always been an album listener. In Switzerland it was cassette…
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Continue reading β: Temple Floor Sweeper in my Past LifeI think I should have been a professional demolisher. Why? Because I seem to be really good at destroying things and cleaning up. Not the glamorous kind of destruction either. More the everyday demolition jobs that no one volunteers for but somehow always fall into my hands. At home, for…
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Continue reading β: A Very Un-Swiss, Un-Dutch Christmas DinnerTurkey is not a Swiss Christmas tradition. It is not really a Dutch one either. Yet somehow a Christmas turkey has found its way into our plans this year. It reminds me that traditions are not always passed down. Sometimes they appear quietly in our lives because of where we…
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Continue reading β: We Wanted Raclette and Got Rainwater InsteadYesterday later afternoon my mother and I headed out to visit the Royal Christmas Market in the Hague. It was horribly rainy weather, but when you have lived long enough in the Netherlands like us, you go out anyway come hurricanes, thunderstorms and floods and preferably on the bike too.…






