HAPPY 2008 NEW ZEALAND !!!

Persistence

If you're not ready to climb a mountain, then see if you can walk up a gentle hill.
If you're not ready to walk up a hill, then set out to take a leisurely stroll.
If you're not able to walk that far, then you can take a single step.
After taking that step you'll likely find that you're ready to take another.

If you have trouble imagining yourself reaching your goal, then imagine yourself taking one small, simple action in the direction of that goal. Imagine it, and then do it.

After that first step, there will be another one you can take, something that's a little bit more challenging and yet not overwhelming. Keep it up, and soon the ultimate goal begins to come into view.

Anything can be accomplished if you are willing to keep taking the next step when it is time to do so. What you lack in brute strength, or resources, or knowledge, or skills, you can make up for with persistence.

You absolutely can get where you choose to go, step after step after persistent step. And now is the perfect time to begin.

Happy pumper

Well it has been a while, but that's just because I was busy. As always of course, but also because of something special. What? Well when I got back from New Zealand I received a letter from Les Mills in The Netherlands with the news I was invited to an audition day to become a trainee and hopefully after that become a trainer. I had to choose one program, which I found hard but I decided to go for BA. I was also thinking about BP because I love that to. I was a hard decision, but BA won at that time when I had to send in the tape. The audition day was yesterday in Leusden. Man, I was nervous. When I got out of the my hard rate was the same as after a BA track 9. Out of all teh tapes only 9 people were invited to come to the audition.
What did we have to do?
Give a 5-10 minute presentation about ourselves, our motivation and whta our addition to the would be. Then we had to present to different tracks from the program we wanted to audition for. And last but not least we had to do a workshop presentation from about 10 minutes, for which we had 30 minutes to prepare.
We had to pretend the other people were the new instructors and we had to give the presentations for them, while Brigitte (Head trainer) and Arthur (trainer) were obeserving us and taking notes. We had to participate during all the other track presentations. So, we had to to a lot of programs (all except BV, as nobody was doing audition for that). We were also observed in how we participated in the classes.
I wasn't to happy with my personal presentation. I was almost last and you hear so many stories and with the nerves running through my whole body I found it hard to stick to my prepared story. After that I started to feel a bit more comfortable and my BA presentation felt pretty good. During my preparation I was a bit worried about presenting a workshop, as I do not ahve a lot of experience in giving presentation. I usually talk easily, but you have to stick to the point and man, I find that hard. I had to prepare a workshop about the key element connecting. That was a relief. I knew I could do that and after my presentation I knew I gave the best I could. And if that wasn't enough, well then I would be disappointed, but I had a great learning experience which would help me to grow again in teaching and also in other stuff.
After we all gave our workshop presentation we had to go downstairs and after a while Arthur came down to get the first person. From that moment on, everbody started to get nervous again. Shall I make it or not? Few came down very disappointed, which I can really, really, really imagine and I was one of the others: being very happy!! I did not make it for BA, but they wanted me to go for BP trainee as I probably did do very well in the BP, while I did the class!!!! Cool!!! 5 of us made it to Traineeship (1 BC, 1 BB, 1 BJ, 1 BS and 1 BP). It will all start in January. I just can't wait!! I have been assisting a couple of module trainings, but now the real thing will start. Í just can't tell how excited I am. I know it will be tough, but I want to give all I have. I know there will be ups and downs, but the downs will make you stronger so you get up again. I;m going to go for it!!!!

Awesome Quarterly!

You guys ... last weekend was AWESOME! What else can I say. I had the best time. Great Masterclasses, cool party and heaps of fun!
Left home on Friday already as Saturdaymorning 09.00 am was BC Masterclasses. I didn't feel like driving almost 2 hours before that, so Claudia and I booked a room in the Koningshof from Friday. Ofcourse I still had to tell her all about NZ, so also because of that it was way better to go on Friday :-)
So Saturdaymorning BC34 was the kick off for the Mega Quarterly 2007. The releases weren't very big surprises for me this time as I had seen and even done some of 'm in NZ during GFX. But still it was great, it's good to see our own Dutch and Belgium trainers present.
I like the combo in track 6 with the side kick, knee, back kick.
After BC class I went on to BP with Susan and Steve. I always like it when they are presenting. I always learn a lot from them. During biceps Karin and Jan came on stage and did the BP dance with Susan and Steve haha ... was so much fun to watch.
Then Claudia talked me into doing BV. Actually I planned to rest for an hour because I still had BB and BA ahead of me ... but anyway .... who cares .....it sounded like fun. I don;t teach BV, but I really like the music. And since I was really sore from my classes on Thursday I figured it would be better to keep moving instead of sitting down. Christel and Patricia made it a lot of fun. I like the BV music and I can imagine it's a lot of fun teaching the class. It's very social and you get to talk and connect with the members a lot.

Then of to BB with Christel and Hadewych. I love the ending of track 9... left and right splits..... I could still do 'm... Yessss. Great music choice, good excercises. I had my BB module training with Hadewych. She's pregnant now and it's unbelievable what she can still do with only 7 weeks to go. You go girl. I love it when the Belgium trainers teach BB, they always sound so friendly with the soft G they use in Belgium. I also love the follow up cues Hadewych uses.
Well after BB it's time for my favourite class. I could feel the energy coming. Lisa was presenting with Karin and Daniel ..... awesome team. Found a good spot on the first row, together with some other assessors. It was great.... the energy ran through my whole body and I had the feeling I cold go on 4 ever. WIth track eight we had 3 slovenians coming on stage, they are also on the DVD presentation in track 8 and with track 9 Lisa pulled me on stage .... COOL! with2 more people. It was awesome. Just another energy boast!!!

Since I had all the energy going on, I decided to do BS class as well. Claudia and Cecile together with the Mam to be be, Susan. Amazing what she still can do. The did a terrific job and with the party step they changed into their 70's outfit .... FUN!!! By the time we got to the power track...my light turned off .... I had to stick with the option so prevent from falling of the step. But anyway.... it was great.

We went to get a quick and unhealthy dinner .... changed into our Pirate outfit .... and it was Partytime. Buffalo .... Haka.... drinks, more drinks... dance more dance .....and sore feet.

Next day ..... I only managed to do one BA class... was jsut too tired to do more ... haha. Stayed and watched BS and another BA class and then went home. The next weeks will be pretty busy..... I will have to do a lot of preparation for an audition day and also learn the new releases in between.... will also cover some classes at other clubs and work @ KLM has started again too.......Back to reality haha.... it's good to be home (for now)!

@ home

I;m back. Did some great shopping i Hong Kong, well as far as my baggage allowance would let me. I know I work for the airline, but 20Kgs isn't enough when travelling via Hong Kong, after being in Auckland with Les Mills and a Nike Platinum at the corner. But I made it without paying excess baggage. Yeah!
I was in Hong Kong 5 years ago, but couldn't remember a lot from it. Just from my pictures, but that was about it. I booked a very nice hotel, with swimmingpool, so in the afternoon a spend a couple of hours next to the pool. What else I did? uuuhhhhh... shopping!! Bought clothes, some watches and other presents for my friends. I could have bought so much more, but I managed not to be a complete Shopaholic. Do you now the Shopaholic books by Sophie Kinsella? I do! And just replace Rebecca's name by mine and it would be the story ;-)

It's good to be back home. Had an awesome trip, which left me with great memorable moments. Now it's time for the next steps. To start of .... teaching tonight: BP and BA! This weekend: MEGA quarterly and PARTYYYYYYYY!!!!!

Just some more Les Mills...

Had a midnight flight from Tonga back to Auckland. Tried to sleep before, but unfortunately didn't. Arrived back in Auckland around 05.00 am. And by 07.00am I arrived in the hotel. Still couldn't sleep, so ended up doing a BS class with Lisa at 08.30. Then went to get breakfast, walked around in the city, still couldn't sleep, so went to BA class. Wow, it was tough. But it felt good doing BA. At the end talked to Zoe from the UK, but she moved to Auckland now, so actually she's a local now :-). We ended up going for a quick dinner. By 09.00pm a was so tired I finally could fall asleep and slept untill 07.00 Sunday morning. Did BS with Mark and then BA with Nate, I was glad he did BA58 as I know the release and I was tired from the BS class. Still I wanted to do BA, but I wasn't as energetic as I normally am. My knees just wouldn't get up.
Then packed the rest of my stuff and my KLM collegue picked me up for the rest of the afternoon. We didn't do very much, just enjoyed the nice weather, which I will really miss back home. Heard it was cold, rainy and just now very nice :-(.
My flight is at midnight to Hong Kong.

Tonga, where every new day begins

..... and where there also comes an end to my holidays. I had a great time here. but tonight is time to go home. Met some very nice people, saw beautiful islands, enjoyed the sun, well I could go on forever, but the next step is coming up. 2 More days in Auckland, then off to Hong Kong on my way home.

Here some pics of the island:

Just to let you know .....

... it feels so good to enjoy the sun, nice tropical islands all around, white beaches, palm trees, blue sky ..... fresh fruit, coconuts ..... one more day to go :-)

Hello from Tonga

Wow you guys, there's much to tell since last post. Filming has been great. Another experience I will not forget. Claudia and Karin both did great and of course all the others as well. Some stuff had to be done a couple of times, but still it was great and a whole bunch of fun!! I have met so many nice people and it was also good to have to experience of the GFX, which can be compared with our Mega Quarterly in November. Cool I'm going to have to party's. Yesss the Masquerade party was fun too! We first went out for a drink with the Belgiums or as they are called ' the Les Mills Family' . Lien is too young to go to the party unfortunately, so they didn't go. Cris (BP) joined us and we met some more people at the Drake. We had a few cocktails to celebrate the hard work was over for Karin and Claudia, and then of to the party. Danced, drank had fun and ended up with sore feet. Man, my high heels were killing me. We left the party around 2 am. The next morning I went for a coffee with Claudia as she was leaving at noon. Then Karin, Cor and I joined Lisa for a trip to Devonport. Dean & Kirsty were are there and so was Cris. We walked up to one of the volcanoes then had lunch and went to the gym to watch Lien and Anne shadow with BJ. Lien had a great time with shadowing in the filming. Gandalf, Matteo and Rach have been great with her. I think it's more than a wish come true for her, which is great when you know from where she had to come! Good job you girl, you made me cry watching you doing your BJ tracks!
Then unfortunately it was time to say goodbye again. Our Les Mills family was leaving at midnight and Karin, Cor and I were going for dinner with Cris. So a quick drink was all we had.

Then after dinner I packed my bags as I left for Tonga!!!!!!
And that's where I am now! Enjoying the sun, doing nothing etc. I got here yesterday, walked around for a bit and enjoyed the sun. Today I took a tour to Atata Island, were I did some snorkeling, walked around the Island for a bit had lunch and relaxed. I will be here until Friday. Then I have Saturday and Sunday in Auckland again, Leave at midnight for Hongkong, have Monday all day there and then it finally is time to go home.
Keep you posted ... big hug!

Auckland - Les Mills

Yeah, back in Auckland and I'm sore already. Had an early morning yesterday. BC 08.10 with Dan & Rach. When I was walking up to the gym I saw Karin and Claudia our 2 dutch trainers who will be presenting. They just got in in the middle of the night and Claudia had to join BC after only a couple of hours sleep. After BC I stayed at chatted a bit with Karin and after that I joined BA with Mark S. I just love him. He's so good with connecting in class. In the afternoon I did another BA class. First I wanted to join BP as well, but I was pretty tired after not working out for 2 days, I decided it would be better to give my body a bit of a rest. Showed Claudia around for a bit, went to the supermarket, sat down for a coffee and later that evening the three of us went for dinner. Claudia didn't present yet, but Karin did, and I think she did great. Especially when you think of the fact she'd hardly slept over the night.
This morning Claudia presented BC for the first time. Cool! I'm enjoying this BC release, and after not doing combat for a while, I can really feel my shoulders. After BC I joined the Team teach BB class together with Karin. We both needed a good stretch. A beautiful release it is.
This afternoon I will be doing BP and BA (of course) and I'm not quite sure if I will be doing BC, might just watch Claudia and take a couple of pictures. I'll see.
Wow, it's so good to be back!

From South to North

Yeah, I made my way up to the North Island. And wow what an amazing trip it was yesterday. The train left Christchurch at 07.00 am already. A shuttle goes through town and stops at the hostels to pick people up. Good service as the train station is pretty far out of the way.
The train was comfortable and the nice thing about is, that there is a viewing balcony. It's open and good to take pictures. I really enjoyed the trip. Saw so many things go by. Most impressive to me are still the mountains with snowy tops. So weird to see those when you see the Pacific on the other side. Also saw penguins and seals swim in the ocean. Later on, the landscape changed into vineyards, as the weather is good for that at the top of the south island. The train arrived 5 hours after it departed in Picton, but time went by so quickly. Than went on the Inter islander ferry. It was amazing how beautiful it was the trip through the Marlborough Sounds. I'm so glad I finally got to this ferry crossing. I already know my pictures will not show the beauty I saw in real. You just gotta go and see it for yourself.
Got to Wellington late afternoon, but for me it was just to spend the night as I left early this morning to go to Napier.

I love this city. I love the art deco. I have been walking around for just about the whole afternoon, enjoyed the sun for a bit while having a frappuchino, walked all the way up to Bluff Hill Viewing point, wearing my flip-flops, or should I say jandals while over here in Kiwi land :-)
Had good dinner at some place near the boulevard and then played around with my camera, trying to make good pictures from the colourful fountain.
Auckland is getting closer and closer ....

Stewart Island - Ulva Island

Here I am again. Where do I start..... Let me think. I left you guys in Christchurch, so I'll begin from there. The bus trip took forever. It was a nice ride ... but way too long, so during the 10 hours on the bus I had decided that no matter what I was going to take the plane going back to Christchurch. Anyway ... the ride was beautiful again. For a long time I could see the Southern Alps again. We were going through a lot of small villages. Every once in a while a stop to stretch eat or do other stuff :-) Well 10 hours and 40 minutes later I arrived in Invercargill. The weather changed a lot, so by this time it rained, the temperature had gone way down and the wind was blowing. So bad that the ferry did not go that day to Stewart Island.... uhhhh any other possibility??? Well I just waited until the next morning. Still they could not tell if the ferry was going. But anyway I could cancel the whole thing and fly over to Stewart Island. Surprisingly enough, the flight were still going. Off to the airport then. The tickets were made out hand written, the reservation system was a cardboard separated into several boxes with 8 places to add the names. Really old fashioned, I think my dad used to work like that when he started working with KLM over 40 yrs ago ... haha. Anyway I hopped on the flight and when we were about to take of I got really scared. You know to small parts in the paper which tell those stories like, small plane missing in bad weather. I could already imagine this in next days paper. Luckily it did happen and I arrived safely at Stewart Island. A bus took us to Oban, the main city, or actually only city, or shall we call it 1 street village. I dropped my bag at the hostel and picked up a map to do a walk. There was this nice 6 hour walk I decided to do. Even though it was raining and really cold. The track was mostly through like a jungle.Too bad the temperature didn't feel like a jungle. Heard more birds than I saw. Passed beaches, bridges. Listened to the sounds of the birds, the wind, the rain. It felt like I was the only one there. By the time I got back I was freezing, but it was a great walk. I could really feel my feet and legs and I was tired, but it was a satisfying feeling. I had promised myself a hot chocolate and they served carrot cake as well. That was a nice treat after this walk.
Went to bed early and because of that I woke up early as well. I decided to go for a walk, as the weather seemed to be better as the day before. Went to a look out, then walked along the shore and at 8.30 I got back and went to the visitors centre if they had any options of going to Ulva Island. There was a water taxi leaving at 09.00, so I had to hurry. They also arranged my flight back to the mainland. I checked out the hostel and went on to Golden Bay Beach were the water taxi would be leaving from. It was still windy and cold and every once in a while it would still rain, but at least the sun was shining too. The weather is really amazing. Within 5 minutes it changes from sunny into rain, dark grey sky, into bright blue sky with the sun shining again. Anyway the waves seemed to be pretty high, and this boat is fairly small. Crazy .. but with this good captain it was all okay and I arrived safely on Vulva Island. This is completely national reserve. Few tracks have been set, which can be followed. The walk was beautiful. The sounds of birds, the wind blowing through the trees, the waves approaching the beach. The tress were making scary sounds like they could fall down any minute and then all of a sudden it was quiet, the sun tries to reach through the trees. I stop walking and enjoy this moment of silence. Then the birds come out again, all making different sounds. After while I see the beach coming up. Walk a long the beach see a seal sticking his head out of the water. It feel like I'm the only one on the Island. Amazing. After 2 1/2 hours I'm back at the were I started. Have to wait for about 30 minutes until the boat comes again to pick me up, right on time to catch the flight. I get to sit all the up front next to the pilot. Nice views and the flight was better than the one yesterday. The weather clearly as cleared up luckily. I arrived in Invercargill. Arranged my ticket to fly back to Christchurch and cancelled the bus ticket. Walked around in the city for a bit, got some food for tonight and also arranged the train to Picton and the ferry to Wellington. Finally I'am going to make the ferry crossing from South to North. I hope it's not too rough on the water and that the weather will be good enough to take pictures. Let's keep the fingers crossed.

AMS - KIX - AKL - CHC

Wow that was quite a trip. Flew after a day of work to Osaka. Had a great flight 3 seats for me and was able to get a pretty good sleep for about 4 hours on board I think. Arriving in Japan I was very glad there were signs in English as well so I managed to get my way to the train station. Bough a day pass which would get me to Kyoto and back. I was right on time catch the 10.15 train. The doors closed right behind my backpack. The train ride was about 75 minutes. Arriving in Kyoto was an experience. How to get out. The only words I understood were Arrivals, departures and Exit. Well you would think with exit it's easy to get out .... uuhhh which exit .... Just took a guess and picked the right one. Started walking and after a while I figured out how to get to Gion, the area where the geisha's are. It was nice walking around after an 11 hour flight. The weather was great (23 Celsius) the sun was out. After about an 1 1/2 walking through smalls streets I got in another different world ... you the book about the geisha? Well that's where I just arrived. Amazing! I was told the geisha's usually don't get out before 4 pm ... but I saw quite a few walking around. Waiting patiently for people with camera's. I walked around for a while, saw some temples and then I decided to go to the station and then the airport. After almost 4 hours of walking my feet were tired. I still had some time left for the flight. Slept for a bit and ate and drank.
On the next flight I did not sleep at all. It was quite a full flight. Read, watched a movie, some comedy's, played games and then it was time to land. Immigration etc in Auckland went pretty fast this time so I managed to get a 1pm flight to Christchurch. Found a place to sleep there and more important .... a hot shower. After arranging stuff to go to Akaroa and Stewart Island .... I was knock out and fall asleep at 7pm. Woke up only once during the night and this morning my alarm woke me up at 7.30 Left the hostel at around 8.15 to get a coffee at Starbucks (Yeah!) Exactly like 1 year and a half ago. At 9.00 the bus left for Akaroa. Awesome views all around the banks Peninsula. Clear blue sky, we even got to see the Southern Alps all covered with snow.
When I arrived in Akaroa I walked around for a bit, sat in the sun even though it's fairly cold, had lunch and then went to the wharf for a swim tour with the Hector Dolphin, the smallest Dolphin in the world, only living in this area. The dolphin will be maximum 1.20m (female)-1.40m (male). After a little while we saw penguins, but still no dolphins. Finally there was one, but this one was probably still hungry and getting his fish. No interest in playing. Then all of a sudden 3 dolphins came up to the boat .. all curious. I don't think I was ever so happy and quick in cold water as I was now. So cool..... 3 dolphins swimming around us, coming up to you, I can't describe how that is. After about 35 minutes the called us in the boat again as the dolphins had left. I think my body temperature went down about 10 degrees. I was shaking all over, but is was well worth it. I spilled my hot chocolate all over as I kept on shaking. Arriving at the wharf again, took of my wetsuit and could only get a quick shower as the bus was waiting for me. Wow what a great day!!!
Tomorrow I'm off to Invercargill and Stewart Island.
Keep you posted. Big hug!

Fitvak Utrecht Demo Team

Claudia, Corine and I did a demo again in Utrecht at the Fitvak. It was fun again. One more day tomorrow. Below some pics which have been taken today during the 20 minute demo of 7 LM programs. BP, BS, BV, BB, BC, BJ and BA. By the way: something very unique happened. What?! Haha .. do you like to know ...... I did BJ .... Thursday evening we have been practising until 01.45 am and again at 07.45 am. Just so you know. I am not a jammer and learning 2 routines is pretty difficult. Deng ..... but I did it !!!!!

Sorry haven't been too good in writing my blog that last couple of weeks. I don't know where the time goes. On one hand that's good, because that means I get to go to NZ sooner, but on the other had, there's still so much to do.Last week I have been adapting to NZ time for a bit since I was working night shifts for a couple of nights. Too bad I had to change back to Holland time again. Furthermore I have mostly been living a Les Mills world. Learning choreo's, doing the club launch last week. I I'm happy to tell BA was best visited class. It was crowded and everyone was so excited, including me :-) It was great energy and passion. Thank you guys!What else?! BB was a low priority for quite a while, because there weren't a lot of classes to substitute and I do not have my own class. Thanks to LM NL, I was able to postpone my exam tape, but now it's time to do it. At the club I have asked for an extra BB class for a couple of weeks, so I can finally work on my BB exam. They let me do Thursday evening (after BP & BA which isn't that easy). It starts to feel better and better. I have been taping my classes and watching it. Got some help from my friend Claudia as well. She really gave me some great advice. Yesterday I filmed a pretty good class, and I will have one more chance tomorrow. Then I will have a choice between the 2 videos to send in the best one. Still I think it's a difficult class to teach. I love it, but it ain't easy. It's so hard to stay calm and be quiet for me. It's a challenge which I love to take. Life would be boring without any challenges right?!

NZ ..... Here I come

Exactly 1 month from now and I will be heading for NZ again. Today I confirmed and paid for my tickets, so there is no way back. Ha, not that I want to cancel my trip anyways.I'll be leaving 16 oct and will travel via Japan. I have never been to Japan, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to do a short visit. Unfortunately my ticket does not allow making any stopovers, so I just have to do it with the 10 hour layover. I will be flying into Osaka and take a trip to Kyoto, from which I have heard it's a nice city. Then I will be heading for Auckland and probably fly straight on to Christchurch. I plan to stay there for a couple of days and then I will be heading south towards Stewart Island. Then back up to Christchurch to take the train and ferry to Wellington. Then I want to go to Napier, Rotorua and back to Auckland. Then I plan to stay in Auckland for about a week and then I don't know yet. It'll depend on the weather what I will be doing. I will return home 13 nov late evening, so I get back on the 14th, right on time for our Mega Quarterly that weekend. Only one more month .......

LM demo Nieuwegein 8-9 sep

Here a couple of pictures from a demo triple C did for LM. The demo was a combi from BP, BS, BV, BB and BA. Les Mills was asked by Heidehal, Nieuwegein to do a demo. As we have done more demo's we were asked to do this one.

Time flies....

... When you're having fun. Last couple of weeks has been busy, but fun!Last weekend and the weekend before we there were quarterly workshops and master classes. I did assessment and of course my own master classes/workshops. I'm always looking forward it.This time I did BA in Roosendaal and did BP assessment there and all the other stuff I did in Nieuwegein on Saturday. On Friday and Sunday there was assessment again. On Sunday I decided to join the BS master class. I'm really starting to like BS :-)BA is great again. I love the release. In the beginning I thought it was a bit flat, but very soon I really liked it. Some new moves, nice combinations and a good flow from one track to the other. I nearly died during the Master class. Isn't it great to go that deep! The trainers pushed us really well and just by the look in their eyes I had to give more. Awesome! I really like track 9, it makes you work hard. I always like jumps, and now we have the air jack .... Feels like a happy jump all the way up in the air. Track 4 some killing Plyo's ... cool! :-)Well I think you just have to do BA to experience it, as there is now way you can describe the true BA feeling.BP has some neat innovations, with adding the weights with the chest. It's quite difficult here as we do not have the rubber weights, so they slide off easily. Good way to keep you bar evenly!Push ups on the bar with shoulder track and also use of the barbell with the abs! And I can tell you, I did the Master class on Saturday and on Monday I could still feel my inner abs!! Thanks Glenn, you made me work my abs very well with this track! With the lunge there is use of just a weight and the step. And with assessment we already noticed a big improvement for the instructors. Really nice 90/90's, good body positions, so imagine what this will also do for your participants. Unfortunately It doesn't make it a hard track when you already have a good body position as you only have the 5 kgs weight to hold. I'm glad the bar is back in the shoulder track! Well also for this one ... you've got to feel it!BC awesome. I already did BC when I was assisting the module training, which gave me the opportunity to go really deep. I always enjoy the master class most when given by Claudia and Daniel. They are just great together. By the way Claudia will be going to NZ to be in the filming in November!!! Together with our BA trainer Karin she'll be flying out to join the NZ presenters on stage. Isn't it great!!! Well I can tell you ... I'll be there :-) and I'm looking forward to it. BB was great as well. Unfortunately for me it was early morning, and I'm usually not that flexible when it's early morning. But well, it was a great start of the day. This release is better to do for me than the last release. I found that one a really hard one.What will I have planned ..... well, tomorrow I'm of to Nice, France for 3 days. Just to relax, and enjoy the weather (I hope) and oh .. when I get back I'll be a year older ..... Thursday is My B-day :-)Then in September I will be doing a Les Mills demo again with 3 C (Claudia , tiny C. & Corine, Mamma C. & Me Kiwi C.) somewhere in Nieuwegein. In October, right b4 I leave for New Zealand, we will do another demo at the "Fitvak" in Utrecht. Just like last year.For now, I off to pack my bag and get ready for work. Late shift today. Big hug

Last week

Wow, it's august already. By the end of this month I'll be one year older again. Mmmm, don't think about that too much. What have I been doing? Mmmm work, teach, learning choreo. Did I also have some fun stuff to do? Yes of course. We went for a fun afternoon with all the instructors of fitness 365 in Amsterdam to Huizen. We went Lasergaming. I don't have a clue if that's actually English but it goes as follows: The group is divided into to teams. You get a thing around your upper body with a laser gun. Then you get to enter a pretty dark area, and you have to shoot as many people from the other as possible. Every time you shoot some one you get points for the team and the opponent stays out for about 5 seconds. It's so much fun. Especially with all instructors as there's nobody who likes to loose. We played 2 games from I think 20 mins or so, and I can tell you .... it's like a workout ...run run run for your "life". Afterwards we had dinner because most of us were pretty hungry.Then on Tuesday I fell down the stairs at work (I think just about every single person at the airport must have seen it as there were sooooo many people :-( and imagine seeing a girl in uniform falling down the stairs, actually trying not to fall. Must be quite funny hey). But I hurt my back and shoulder pretty bad at that time !$#(^$#^!%$!*$. so I wasn't able to teach that evening &#)*@$^!)&*#$. Wednesday went to my cousin for a BBQ. Thursday I did my classes again, but It didn't feel to good... don't think about it too much. My mom would say you'll get better before you turn into a guy (it's a Dutch saying which I have translated). But anyway, Friday I had the afternoon off of work and went to friend and we actually did nothing but enjoy the sun in her backyard. In the evening we went out for 'Pannekoeken', something we already decided to do for a long time, but somehow we never did. This weekend I assisted BC module training. I really like to assist the module trainings. It's quite a big group, and when that happens they have assessors assist the trainers during the module. Already in these 2 days I have seen people grow into the program and their techniques and coaching. Next weekend will be the last day. Hope everyone will be able to practise their tracks during the week in an actual class. It's quite an International group this time. People from Holland and Belgium, which is the usual mix, but this time we also got people (living in Holland) but who are from France, Portugal, South Africa, Romania......The only bad thing about the module training this weekend.,..... The weather.... we have had rain, storm and cold weather for the last 5 weeks or so.... this weekend it finally turned out to be 30 degrees celcius and I was indoors for the whole weekend. The other side..... I love to assist the trainings so I may not complain. 2-morrow back to work at KLM and teach my classes again, hopefully without any pain the back.

Australia '97-'98

Wow, that seems so long ago. Well it actually is, almost 10 years. I can still remember so much from that trip. It didn't start too good. We had a delay because of the weather and therefore missed our connecting flight in London. We were lucky there was still a flight available in the evening, but only one hour from home we had to wait for over 10 hours. We were supposed to have a full day layover in Bangkok, but that turned out to be just a night unfortunately. From there we flew to Brisbane for our training camp. So weird it was when we arrived. We left in the middle of winter from home and we arrived in the heath in the middle of summer in Aussie. Another drive to Toowoomba our home for the next weeks. For three weeks we worked our butts of from mon-fri and during the weekends we had our free time. We went to Brisbane, we went to the beaches, visited a Kangaroo farm, saw Koala's., stayed a night at Tangaloma Island. We were also there during Christmas and New Years Eve. That was difficult. Even though we were mostly friends, we missed our families a lot at that time. Christmas Eve we spent at a Movie theatre watching Titanic and of course crying. After that we did presents and than phoned home in the middle of the night and cried some more. That probably had to do with the fact we were all so tired of training about 8 hours a day. After 3 weeks we went to Perth, unfortunately didn't do very well in the competition. But had a great time anyways. When we were finished we took a team trip to the Pinnacle's and we also did a trip with a couple of the girls and all the parents who were there to support us to Rottnest Island. Than most of the team went home. Not me, I still had 3 ½ weeks left :-) One of the girls in the team and I joined my parents for a trip from Sydney to Cairns! My parents already flew to Sydney and we met them at the airport. We had 2 days in Sydney, and one thing was so remarkable. I thought is was cold. It was 25 Celsius, but this girl was cold. Well in Perth it was 45 Celsius. Does that explain? Sydney is a nice city. I saw it so many times on TV, but it was impressive to be there in real life. To be honest I just need to go there again. Then we got our rental car and drove into the Blue Mountains. Do go for some hikes, Saw the three sisters. I can remember it felt good to be out of town and enjoy nature. During the trips we usually stopped for lunch and had picnics. On an easy pace we drove to the north, visiting Brisbane, Byron bay, the most easterly point in Australia, the Gold coast. We also did diving and snorkelling trips at the Whitsunday Islands. Awesome! Than we arrived in Cairns, for the last 5 days we stayed there. Did some boat trips, again diving and snorkelling, but also some trips to Daintree. I can tell you; these 3 1/2 weeks went by fast. The relaxed atmosphere, easygoing people, beautiful country, this all made it unforgettable. A couple things that I noticed and was completely new to me: The dogs at the airport searching for fruit instead of drugs and the checks on the road where you have to turn in your veggies and fruits at the border. And then we I got home: 45 Celsius in Cairns, minus 10 Celsius when I got home.... NO fun, but an awesome tan :-) I had been away for 2 months.

My other passion...

... One passion you know all about by now.... Les Mills, sports, especially BA & BP.The other one is traveling. It already started when I was a little kid. My dad had to travel quite a lot for his job and every time he was about to leave, I grabbed the worldmap and had him point out where he was going.. I loved geography in school, learning the countries, cities, rivers all over the world. My dad used to work for KLM as well, so flying is something I have been able to do for most of my life. I'm very much aware that's something quite exceptional, as a lot of people are not in the position they can do that. My very first flight was one of the rare domestic flights we have in Holland, from Schiphol Airport to Maastricht in the south. I do not know my exact age, but I think I was about six months or so. My mom went went to visit her sister and she took me with her. At a very young age I also traveled a couple of times to Canada as my dad's sister lives in Sarnia, Ontario. I don't remember a lot of those trips, except for the fact that I saw my cousin in Canada do synchronized swimming and from that moment on I wanted to do that as well.One of the first trips I really remember was to LA, California at the age of 5. Mostly by pictures, but still memories are there. Most of the trip was about visiting theme parks like Disney, Sea world and Universal Studios. But it was great. One thing I will never forget was the shark (Jaws) at Universal Studios. It scared me so much, that you could see my fingers and nails in my mom’s neck. About 12 or 13 years later I was there again, and I had to laugh so hard, that the thing had scared me so much. We also went to a water park with slides, and it was so cool. I still love those water parks with these enormous slides. Of course we also had our holidays closer to home. I think up to the age of 4 my parents had a boat when they sold the boat they bought a caravan. Every year we went camping during summer for 3 weeks. Either in Holland, or in Belgium or France. That was always great. The possibility to be outside with friends all the time, swim, be out on the water surfing, or go out for walks with my mom and dad, along rivers, into caves, old cities, going to castles. Of course at that young age the lakes, sea, swimming and playing was the best part, but I never mind going to the little towns or other sights in the surroundings of where we stayed. In spring we usually went away for a week by plane. That could vary from Tunesia, Greece, Malta, or some other places in Europe. Then by the age of 14, I started swimming on the Junior National Team and vacations started to be different. Mostly training camps followed by a competition. The last time we were actually able to go on holiday over summer was when I was 15, 3 weeks to the south of France. Camping and a friend of mine stayed on the same camping with her parents so that was fun. I think we spent most of the time at the beach and shopping. At that age that was just about all I was interested in.During my swimming career I have been able to visit a lot of cities all over Europe and some of them even more than 1 time. Rome(3 times), Milan, Loano and Bari in Italy, Barcelona and Sevilla in Spain. Vaduz in Liechtenstein, Vienna in Austria, Wuppertal and Bonn in Germany, Odense in Denmark, a couple of cities in Belgium, Paris in France, Athens in Greece, Zurich and Lausanne in Switzerland. Kharkov in Ukraine. But also Atlanta in the USA, Calgary and Edmonton in Canada and Perth and Toowoomba in Australia. That last training camp and competition in Australia were followed by a pretty cool vacation.
The next couple of posts I will try to tell more about my trips and why I love it so much.

Special BP workout

Okay, I know it's almost a week ago, but last Thursday I had Susan T. team teach with me for my BP class. It was great to have her again since the first time she was at the club a year and half ago. It was great class and it I can tell you, it feels a bit weird to have a great trainer like her standing next to me, teaching my class with me. Last time she was at the club it was an official workout arranged by the club, with a whole bunch of instructors and I was very happy to shadow with her. But this time it was different as it was just a regular class. After BP she joined for BA class. Both classes were filled with energy, fun and enthusiasm as always. Afterwards we went for dinner at the club and finally got some time to chat.

Some more good news for me. At KLM we finally will get the opportunity to get a new contract. When I started working at the ticketoffice the only option was to work 5 days of 6 hours (75%), while I was always used to work 5 days of 8 hours (full time). Ofcourse it's quite relaxed to work only 6 hours a day, but still I have to go to work 5 days a week. And the schedule is sometimes pretty tough as we work 4 days, have 1 day off and then work 4 days again. Now we can start working 90%. So not quite fulltime, but almost get a fulltime salary. The schedule is great. Always 2 days off in between the 3 or 4 days work. Will get paid way more, because the payment for working irregular shifts is also way more!!! I'm very happy with this, as we have been fighting for this since the beginning. The exact date we do not know yet.
I will have to go and see if I can still teach 3 days a week, but 2 I will defenitely do. I just can't live without my classes!!!! Maybe a bit more freelance instead. Just have to wait and see. Will give it a try for sure!

Quarterlies coming up next month. Again assessment and ofcourse my own classes. Will be busy but lots of fun again. In about 2 weeks I will be assisting a BC module training. Deng, will have to learn the whole new choreo and I don't have the tape yet. Hope I will get it soon.

Well the weather has been better the last couple of days, so I have tried to enjoy the sun for a bit and work on my tan. My NZ trip is planned oct/nov and I hope the weather in NZ will be better than last year, or I might have to go to the Cook Islands or so. Any suggestions anyone?? Ofcourse I wil try to join the filming classes. It was awesome last year and this time there are going to be some Dutch trainers, so that's going to be pretty cool as well.

Grrmpffff :-( :-( :-(

Don't you hate it when you're @ work and computers, printers, machines and/or any other technical stuff doesn't work. Well I DO!!! Same thing goes for the gym headsets, batteries, old CD's or the stereo, these things just must work properly!
Well monday was one of those days where it didn't :-(
In the middle of BA track 3 the music stopped and the headset stopped. Tried to make the class go for a bit while trying to get the thing to work again. Can tell you BODYATTACK without music is no fun and it's even harder. All of a sudden the thing started again and it was the end of the track. Same thing track 4, and again track 5. In all of this I already switched from Ipod to CD, but the problem stayed. By the time we were at track 5, I had figured to keep on going and try to stay with the timing and near the end of the track the music started again and we finished with music. Track 6 & 7 were fine and it started again with 8, again I kept going and again when the music started again it was the exact right timing. Wow, I was kind of proud of myself for staying in the right speed! Well this kept on going. The people worked really hard, but it's such a bugger when things like this happen and you're not able to solve the problem. I heard In the BODYJAM class they had the same problem too, so I was glad it wasn't just me. But with classes like this the music is soooooooo important, and it takes so much away when it isn't there. I was really glad the people stayed motivated and did such a good job. Thanks you guys.
After I was finished I spoke to the group fitness coordinator and I can tell you: He knows I wasn't pleased by this. Spoke to him today again and they now think they know what the problem is. The thing was overheated... someone left the stereo on all day after the morning classes. %#$*)(*#(@ Well I think I know another problem .... it's old and maybe it's time for a new one. The weirdest thing was ..... I did not have a single problem during BP class after BA, but maybe that's because you stop the music after each track. Well let's hope it's all solved by tomorrow.

What do people want?

Good question, in this case it applies to the gym and the groupfitness classes.
To start with, we're all individuals and we all think and feel different. We all have different goals in life and expect different things from it. So do the members in our classes. Some people come to the gym because they were told to do so, others are there to loose weight, some would like to get in shape, or to recover from injuries or maybe just to socialize with others.
And all these people, with different goals, thoughts and feelings, come to our classes.
What do they expect from me, or from other instructors? Wow, that's hard.... every single person expects something different from an instructor. Can I answer to all of that? Mmmm probably not, but I can give it a try. It's hard to satisfy everyone for 100%. Because if we do so, we forget about ourselves and after a while we get lost and won't be able to satisfy others at all. So don't even think of trying to keep everybody happy. Find the right way in between.
Get to know the people in your classes. Find out why they are coming to your classes, because when you know, you can help them to make it much more pleasant for them to keep coming back and maybe bring friends with them. Why should we push a person to lift more weights if someone's just there to have fun and just wants to be entertained. Safe that energy for the person who told you he/she wants to be stronger or fitter. Figure it out ... go the extra mile and stay after class, be at the gym early talk to your people.....
And participants, don't be shy to come up to your instructor, because they are always there for you, even when they seem busy. We are also only human :-), have one head with 2 eyes only. We might miss something, but we do not do it on purpose.

How did I get to this subject? Roel .... thanks!

Up to you

In addittion to a couple of posts ago:

You will never solve your problems by getting other people to change. The way to move beyond whatever is holding you back is to make positive changes within yourself.
The problem is not the particular situation you are in. The problem is the way you interpret and relate to that situation.
The problem is not the way you are treated by others. The problem is the way you allow the actions of others to affect you.
The problem is not what has happened in the past. The problem is that you're letting it continue to hold you back.
Take complete responsibility for a problem, and suddenly you are ninety percent of the distance toward solving it. For when you truly take responsibility, you gain real and powerful control.
Fully accept that it is up to you to get where you choose to go. And you'll find everything necessary to make it so. R. Marston

Busy week

What a week. Teaching 5 BA classes, 5 BP classes, 1 BC class and a couple of 15 mins Abdominal trainings. Let me tell you .. I'm tired, as my work at the airport is going on too. Some social stuff in between, birthdays, parents visit and best of all: a relaxing day on friday in a Wellness Center in Bleiswijk with one of my best friends. That was a good break before Saturday's launch. Oh and before I forget, I bought a new car this week. Not a new new car, but for me it's new. I get it by the end of this week and I'm really excited. I also heard we get a Starbucks at the Airport ..... yesssss... can't wait for a Vanilla Latte :-) Don't have a lot of time to write at this time as I actually was in the middle of a assessment tape and I need to go to work in 15 mins. No early shift today, I was already glad they were so kind to adjust my late shift to a day shift so I can teach my classes tonight. I just love my monday classes. People are excited, working really hard... there's Monday BODYATTACK fire in the studio!
I'm off to work... see ya!

Live Your Passion

What are you passionate about?
Dare to express and expand that passion in everything you do. Stand back and look at your life from a distance, as an objective observer. What you'll see is a pattern, a common thread running through all the various aspects of all that you have done. That common thread is connected to a passion living deep inside of you. The more fully you allow that passion to flow from you, the more richness your life will know. The more readily you admit and express that passion to yourself and to the world, the more fulfilling your moments will be. Keeping it hidden and suppressed will only lead to pain and regret.
There is a passion in you that is constantly pushing to see the light of day. Let it out and let it grow. That passion is a unique and precious gift that you have to offer to life. Give it freely, with vigor, with courage, with love, and let all truly experience its special value. Ralph Marston

Guess what my passion is? :-)

Learning choreo

What have I been doing lately? Learning choreo. . .
BP I'm fininshed just Cool down and Abs which I still need to do. BA is done as well. track 8,9 and cooldown still to go. BB full thing to do yet, for BC as well. It's more difficult to learn those for as I do not have my own classes to teach so it's hard to keep memorizing when you don't do it a lot. At the launch I will be joining in for BC as otherwise my collegue will be there on her own. I will try to do at least three tracks with her, but I would need to know all the kata's as well on the other tracks. Mmmmm still a lot of work to do untill next week's launch. It'll be a lot of fun .....
How to learn the choreo? Well that's probably different for each person. BP I'll learn just easily, lying down, sitting outside in the sun, driving in my car (be aware, crazy girl in town), on my way the work sitting in the bus. When I know most of it, I watch the DVD workshops and also the full DVD just to hear what the instructos on the DVD are doing saying performing etc.
For BA it's completely different for me, I start with the DVD, make notes on my choreo and then again I start learning with my Ipod and the choreo notes. I also have to make the moves, just to get the feeling, so my fourniture has to move and I use all the space I have in my living to do BA. I apologize to my neighbours for that :-). BC is a combination of BA and BP. I need defenitely need the DVD for all the kata's. BB I think is one hell of job... I love the program but learning the choreo takes me days and days. I'm only able to do it with the DVD. It's so hard to learn.
Anyfurther ... the only music I listen to around quarterly time is LM music. My ipod is always with me, just ike my phone..... I sort of panic when I don't have it with me. It's next to my bed and some times when I wake up in the middle of the night I think of a choreo, but I can't fully remember ... I need to listen to the music, get the notes or else I won't fall asleep anymore. Call me crazy... I know Í am.... there's nothing I can change about that... sorry. I'm glad I like most of the music which is used in the program's or else this would be an awfull job to do.

Last weekend and the weekend before that I have been assisting and BP module training. It was great to do and I've learned a lot from it too. So many different people doing the training. Some love it, some had to go because the club made them. It's nice to see how the program starts to grow on people already in a week. Doing the Hongi, the challenge, learning the five key elements. It's so nice to see it's same all over the world. LM is like an international language. I love it!!! I'm so glad the talked me into teaching, it's become a part of my life and it's an awesome thing to do.

Love what you do in life or you miss out on it!

3rd Quarter Launch

23 June 2007, Healthcity Toolenburg, Hoofddorp

Studio 1
09.00-10.00 BODYVIVE
10.00-11.00 BODYCOMBAT
11.00-12.00 BODYPUMP
12.00-13.00 BODYATTACK
13.00-14.00 BODYBALANCE
14.00-15.00 BODYJAM
15.00-16.00 XCO

Studio 2
09.30-10.30 RPM
13.30-14.30 RPM

Every member can bring a friend, familymember, neighbour, colleague. Come up to the reception and have your names put on the list! You don't wanna miss it !!! and we do not wanna miss YOU!
BE THERE !!!

Only 24 hours. . .

. . . in 1 day. Sometimes that just isn't enough. Since my last post I have been very busy, that I was glad to read my email. That's just about all I did behind the computer. Well what have I been up to ... uuuhh..... mostly Les Mills, teaching and some work. So most of it: all fun things.
Let's see... where to start.
18-20 may we had our quarterly in Nieuwegein. For me quite long days. For example:
18 May
04.15 wake up,
05.30 early shift at KLM,
12.00 off to Nieuwegein for the quarterly for assessment, and masterclasses. (did BC and BS)
18.00 off to dinner with the family as it's my mom's 60th birthday
01.00 time to go to bed

19 May
07.00 wake up.
09.00 Workshop BP
10.15 Masterclass BP
11.30 Workshop + Masterclass BB
13.15 Assessment BC
14.30 Assessment BP
15.45 Workshop BA
17.00 Masterclass BA

Afterwards I always try to help out with handing out the choreo's and DVD to the instructors,, so it was about 20.00 when I got home. Deng .. still have to put my stuffs away, do laundry etc

20 May
04.45 wake up
06.00 work at KLM
12.30 off to Nieuwegein
assessment BP and BA and I joind BS (I'm really starting to like BS)

21 May again early shift at KLM, teach in the evening, prepare for BB demo the next day in Zeist.
22 May whole day in Zeist for BB demo's, which was a lot of fun. Then teach teach in the evening BA and joined BB since I was in BB mood after this day anyways :-)

Wednesday... no work, no teaching, but assessment tapes and a household that needed to be done. Mmmmm ended up learning new tracks, doing some assessment and enjoyed the great weather.
Thursday, Again superearly shift and teaching.. ohhh deng I just love BA and BP. It's so much fun to see how excited people in the classes get with BA! Thursday was so much fun again.
Some where in between I still try to talk to my friends. So somehow even when I'm home early I always end up going to bed too late as I'm talking on the phone and forgetting all about the time. Well, saturday work and off to quarterly in Roosendaal. Again for BP and BA and again joined the BS, to kill time, as it was in between BP and BA. Sunday work and then went to a friend of mine in Veenendaal. I went together with another friend, who lives pretty close to me. So we drove together. We actually had a relaxing afternoon, chatted, snacked, watched Grease (sang along :-), Bridget jones, the edge of reason and an episode of Greys Anatomy. Quite hard for me to sit down whole afternoon :-) But we had a great time. We used to swim together on the National Team. None of us is swimming anymore. One of us is still a synchrocoach but 2 of us (and I'm 1 of those), can hardly remember the smell of chlorine :-) Again home too late :-)
Well that's just about my week almost. Yesterday was a holiday, so the gym was closed in the evening. I organized an extra BA workout since there wouldn't have been BA that day otherwise. It was great. So many people came, and from the vibes in the studio and the feedback of the people... they all had a great time... and ..... so did I!!!!! Thanks you guys! After that unfortunately I had to go work. Late shift ...... mmm..... people at work already asked me whether I was lost... since I hardly ever work late shifts :-) Try to be more up to date with my blog.....sorry

Quarterly time

Wheeha, this weekend is quarterly time again!
BP 62, BA 57, BC 32 & BB 37.
Let you know more over the weekend.
First I've gotta go to work at 5.30am and after that I'm heading for Nieuwegein. Then in the evening my mum's 60th birthday. Saturday a full day of workshops, masterclasses and assesment. Sunday early shift and afterwards some more Les Mills assessment in Nieuwegein.

Never fear. . .

Never fear shadows, it simply means there is light nearby!

In a positive way

I just read this and I think it adds up to yesterday's post on making choices:

How do you keep yourself positive when the people around you are so negative? How can you maintain a positive approach when the situations and events around you are so troublesome?

A sincerely positive attitude is not a reaction to the way things are. Rather, it is an expression of the way you choose for things to be. Being positive is not an unrealistic or naive view of a negative world. It provides you with a solid foundation for making real improvements in the world and creating meaningful value. Being positively focused enables you to see, and to make the most of, opportunities that would otherwise be invisible. Being positive gives you the energy to move forward no matter what the obstacles may be. When you focus on the positive aspects of a situation, there will be plenty of people who disagree with you. But that is their problem, not yours. Look beyond those who argue for defeat, and find the path to victory. Whatever the current situation may be, you can always choose a positive way forward.

Life is all about...

... making choices.

Today I was talking to someone and the person was amazed that I had so much time to do sports and go to the gym. She said she never has time to do that. I'm not suprised about that anymore. It's something I hear very often nowadays. Everybody is busy with everything and so many people say: I don't have time. I think that's bull....
You can choose a lot of things you do in life. One of the choices I make is going to gym, teaching classes and enjoy that very much. But everybody can make that choice. A choice is something you prefer to do above something else. There's no right or no wrong, it's just something you like to do. An excuse which is made very often by people when they want to end their membership of the gym is: I do not have time to go to gym. But somehow these people know exactly what's on TV tonight, have seen every movie and know all about the newest commercials. Good for you, but don't come to me and complain you often feel tired, you're in bad shape, you've gained weight and other stuff like that. You choose not to go the gym but to stay home and watch TV instead. I know not every single person in this world loves sports as much as I do, but I hope everybody loves his/her life as much as I do and would like to enjoy it as long as possible. A healthy way of living will help you to enjoy your life longer. Just a work out for at least 30 mins a day would do good already. That doesn't mean go to the gym everyday. It means take a walk or ride your bike instead of taking the car. Take stairs instead of the elevator. Walk up to a person at work instead of making a phonecall to a person just 2 doors away from you. Be the one who gets the coffee, instead of the one being served. Small things like that will already help you. It's again the choice you and only you can make. I do not want to talk everyone into going to the gym, but I hope more people would like to make the choice to find some time to get up and move.
Take care.

Just a note

Tuesday went all great at Fitness365. The gym still isn't completely finsihed, but good to start with groupfitness. I had the honour to kick off with BA! There where 10 people in class, and it was 50/50 men/women. For all of them it was their first BA experience, and from what I have heard, they enjoyed it a lot. With BB there where only 3 people, and it almost felt like a personal training session. Still a ot of things have to be finished at the club, the lockerrooms, showers, reception, the lounge area. From what I hear it's starts to look better everyday. Keep you posted about this.

Yesterday's BA class was especially awesome. In BP people are not as outgoing as in BA. It's different and I love it too. Was able to do some good coaching and help people to improve their techniques. It's so good to see people respond when you are trying to help them get more out of their workout. In BA people were all excited, happy, having fun and working their butt's off! Cool. I was pretty tired when I started teaching at 6.30pm, as I had night shift and only slept for 4,5 hours. But once I started with BP music it just woke me up, and then ofcourse BA, I felt like I could go 4 ever. It's so cool when people are working hard and still have fun, that gives me heaps of energy and the people in class feel that as well, so they give energy in return to me too. It's like a circle. That's why it's so important that you feel good as an instructor, that you love what you're doing and ofcourse you know what you're doing. If you don't like it, you'd better quit. People around you will feel it and you will loose the important magic.

After both classes, I stayed for a bit and chatted with a couple of members.Then I had to go home and get to work. It was very busy. Lots of rebookings that needed to be done, due delayed flights. But time went by fast and since I had so much energy in me.... sleeping wouldn't have been an option yesterdaynight. I went to bed at 07.00 am this morning and woke up at 11.00. Had beakfast and then started to fix uo my balcony. Yesterday I bought a bunch of flowers and plants to make the place a bit nicer. I have been spending so much time outside, since the weather has been so good the past couple of weeks, so I decided it was time to cheer it up a bit. I'm not much of a gardener, but it looks okay now.

Fitness 365

Today is the very first day Fitness 365 is open. It's a completely new gym in Amsterdam Z.O. right next to the highway. Easy to reach, lots of parking space. Not everything is finished yet, but it's ready to open. We have had several meetings already and I know it's going to be great working there. I'm going to teach BP & BA on Tuesday evenings. At the moment the BP stuff has not arrived yet, so actually I was only teaching BA tonight. This afternoon Daniel called me and asked me if I could do the BB after my BA as the girl who's actually going to do it, had a family emergency. Uuhhh.... Since I still do not have my own BB class and hadn't paid much attention to BB anymore and the last time I did BB was 8 weeks ago ... deng ... Glad I had the day off today, so guess what I have been doing this whole afternoon .... BB choreo. But all is going to be ok. It'll be quite a challenge tonight. Tomorrow morning the BP stuff arrives, so from next week on, I will be teaching BP as well. If you wanna see some more of Fitness365 take a look here. I will tell you later how it was tonight. I hope I will get some people for the classes tonight. I really do not know, as it's a completely new gym and people will still have to find their way. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
This morning I already did BP class in Hoofddorp. I was glad to be moving again, as the past four days I haven't done a lot. I only took my bike to work and did 2 short trips on skeelers in the evening on Sunday and Monday.
Yesterday it was Queensday but I was so tired I fell asleep in the afternoon when I got home. I started working at 5.30 and got up at 4.15. Not funny, since I went to bed too late the day before. Queensday is always a lot fun, festivities everywhere, free amrkets, kids selling their toys and other junk. And then ofcourse they buy new junk with the money they just made haha. On Saturday I went to Leiden and spent to afternoon on the motorboat of a friend of mine and I did the same thing on Friday, but then I went to the boat of my parents. All those days I had early shifts, so I could enjoy the sun in the afternoon. I still love my job ... hahaha, actually I love both my jobs!!!
Talk to you later and please keep your fingers crossed tonight for me!

Another monday

Wow, this weekend was great. Beautiful weather, out on the water. Enjoyed the sun, it almost felt like a holiday. Deng....too bad I got back in this world at 5.30 am this morning. That's when the unpleasant beep of my alarm woke me up. I decided to take my bike to work as the busdrivers are on strike today between 09.00 and 16.00, and parking with a 7.00am shift is quite difficult. Taking the bus to work would mean there's no way back untill 16.00 and since my shift ends at 13.30 I thought I might as well hop on my bike. Had this awesome, but painfull sliding on my bike when I got to the airport and wanted to make a turn. Not funny, as my steer got loose and didn't work anymore. Luckily I was close to the place where I can put my bike, and luckily I wasn't hit by a car. My dear daddy hopped on his bike later in the morning and fixed my steer, so I could ride my bike home. That was quite an experience at 6.30 in the morning.
Tonight it's LM time again. It has been a while since my last monday class. Due Easter and my holiday my last monday classes were 3 weeks ago ..... I'm looking forward to it again. Somehow monday is always special. It really feels like my monday :-), even though I don't teach all the classes. People are always excited in BA very outgoing, yelling, ding all the fun stuff. It's easy to get them to work hard. Also for BP, when we do team-teach. So I'm all ready for tonight.
BE UNSTOPPABLE & LIFT WAY BEYOND YOUR LIMITS

Portugal pictures. . . girls just wanna have fun