Blast from the Past

Friday night I saw a friend I hadn’t seen since I was 13. Now I know that would sound more dramatic if I was 80, but still, that’s half my lifetime ago.

I remember blogging about this awhile ago (I’m sure you all remember) but to re-cap for those that don’t hang off my every word: I had been looking to get in contact with some school friends that I made when we lived in The Netherlands. I had tried before we left NZ but hadn’t had much luck until I found Jasmijn on Facebook a couple of months ago, she directed me to a Dutch networking site “Hyves” where I contacted Anke and Marjon and some other people I once knew. We e-mailed back and forth a few times catching up on each others lives… all in English of course.

Jasmijn e-mailed me to say she would be in London in June 08 for a weekend with her family and would love to catch up. We met at Embankment tube on Friday night and recognised each other straight away – surprisingly we still look the same, only somewhat taller. It was fantastic to se her and we spent nearly 2 hours chatting to each other in a bar (yelling over the music would perhaps be more apt). Jasmijn can speak English fluently (lucky, or else we would’ve just sat there smiling at each other) and she has an amazing memory so had lots of stories to tell from our early teens.

Jasmijn loaned me a pile of letters and postcards I had sent to her from NZ after we left in 1996. The darling had kept them all, and it was so lovely to look through them the next day. They’re mostly in Dutch, it’s unfathomable to me that I used to be able to speak and write that language fluently… I could understand most of the letters but got stuck on a few words. I’m going to photocopy some of them as it’s like a diary of things I did when I was 13-16. Lots of funny stories, a few photos and other bit and pieces. It reminded me who I was spending most of my time with in those years, Kim and Kirsty had a few mentions as well as Sarah and Ricky.

I was telling Toni and Louisa the other day how (for some unknown reason) I thought I was so mature when I was a teenager (they proceeded to burst out laughing) anyway I’m serious…. I totally thought I was, but reading those letters is absolutely hilarious and proves me a wee bit wrong… just a normal teenage girl =)

Jasmijn has convinced me to try and get to The Netherlands for a weekend before we go home so I can see some of the others. It is a wonderful idea and I truly hope I can fit it in. I’ll keep you posted.