What we can learn from the woman from LA

It's ten o'clock in the morning, I'm just coming with Otis from his My Gym class (a kind of children's play paradise) and I'm standing in line at a coffee shop around the corner. As well as I can get used to our new LA rhythm, I am just as poorly getting used to all those altered faces in line: literally every lady (and gentleman) has had something done to their face. How do I know that? Everyone looks literally the same. The same teeth, wrinkle-free foreheads, and sometimes even full facelifts that made me think a couple of times that I had seen a twin. And not just older women, but especially young girls who ironically look a lot older. A ‘habit’ that, as far as I'm concerned, can stay far behind us when we travel back to the Netherlands. But there are certainly also things I would like to take from the LA girls in my suitcase and introduce as soon as we are back, because these ‘habits’ could bring us a bit more ease, coziness, and joy in our lives.

• Wear your sports outfit as your latest designer outfit: a real LA girl is recognizable by her super cool jogging outfit that she simply wears during lunch with friends. Whether she has even sweated a drop in it is a second matter, but it saves you a clothing change AND you don't have to think long about a complicated fashion outfit that day.
• Take a good walk at least every other day: okay, this one might not be entirely fair. In LA, there are beautiful hills where the LA girls love to hike, in Amsterdam those hills are hard to find. But a nice walk through Vondelpark or along the canals is also lovely and moreover good to clear your head and take in the surroundings (so without a phone screen!). For the ladies living around Maastricht: you do have those hills nearby.
• Give a compliment to a stranger woman daily: you will give and receive a lot of joy with this. LA girls give other women compliments ‘on a daily basis’. The nicest one I received here was from a woman who said: ‘OMG, I love your outfit, your diaper bag, and your kid: if I grow up I wanna be like you. But if you weren’t so nice I would’ve hated you for that.’ Your compliment must be sincere, although you can of course also be too honest.
• Something we hardly do in the Netherlands, but which is the most normal thing in the world here: ask for a doggy bag if there is enough left of your lunch/dinner. It is of course a shame to throw food away and this could just be the perfect meal before you go exercise. It can also serve as lunch/dinner for the next day.
• Make a small talk on the street/in line/in a coffee shop: now it’s not so difficult with Otis by my side, because thanks to that little guy I get approached all the time, but in the years before I also noticed that LA'ers quickly make small talk with you. For example, during this trip, I have already met two LA girls who approached me and with whom I have now made a lunch date. It would have been even more fun if this had happened in the city where I also live.