Over the past two weeks, you gradually heard less from me on social media. My outfits became duller, my hair lost its shine, and my cooking skills were regularly replaced by microwave meals. In short: I was tired. But there was a good reason for that…

On World Autism Day, I was booked for two talks: one in person near Amersfoort, and one online. In between those two sessions, I had an impromptu meeting with Elyse, who used to live in Tokyo but now lives back in the Netherlands – in Amersfoort, to be exact.

The next day, I took it easy. I had planned to have lunch with my dad, and we did, but instead of going to Bagels & Beans – my original idea – we walked to a new little place closer to the station. It was windy, and I was too overstimulated to walk far. Luckily, the new place was nice.

My dad also brought along a book that had been returned to sender. Since I’m temporarily living in a hotel, I had used his address as the return address. After a brief email exchange with the recipient, we discovered she had made a typo in the postcode. No problem, I’ll just send it again! In any case, over the past two weeks I’ve been walking to the mailbox or the post office almost every day to send out your orders. (Thank you!)

On Saturday, I had plans with Maan to do a little thrift store tour. We started in Bilthoven, where I once lived, and then drove on to Zeist.

Unfortunately, on the way there I got into quite a heated discussion with a boomer in the silent carriage on the train. This man was, of course, not being quiet, and for some inexplicable reason also felt that he didn’t have to be. He pointed at my AirPods and said, “You’ve got earplugs in, don’t you?” to which I replied that I could still hear him. He also pointed out that we were in first class and asked whether I had actually paid for that. I had literally bought a same-day class upgrade just minutes earlier, precisely because the train was delayed, crowded, and noisy. I asked the man once again to be quiet or go sit downstairs, and thankfully he and his companion eventually did. But damn. I really needed a moment to recover from that.

On Sunday morning, I was photographed for a major newspaper. The photographer wanted to shoot at my home, so that turned into a photoshoot in my hotel room. Charlotte quickly did my makeup before heading off to her other appointments. The rest of the day I did nothing – well, nothing except eat chips and watch YouTube.

Monday was my first webinar – you know, the one people received when they placed a pre-order. I did have a brief technical hiccup when I plugged in my HDMI cable and somehow disrupted my internet cable, which left me without internet for a moment. Luckily, it was fixed quickly.

I also ordered the second print run of Autastisch leven. Yes, the second print run! The first thousand copies were almost gone, which meant CB kept sending me dramatic daily emails warning that stock was so low it would run out within two weeks. I emailed the typos I had found while recording the audiobook to the designer, got the corrected files back, and ordered another thousand books. Wow!

On Tuesday, I made an attempt to take it easy. I dragged myself – and my laptop – to my favorite little coffee place and made an Instagram post about a lovely review I had received. (If you’d like to leave a review or rating too, that would be wonderful!) I also prepared my talk for the next day.

On Wednesday, it was time for my next event. At Eindhoven University of Technology, various speakers and autism-related organisations had gathered – and I was one of them. With my gigantic suitcase full of books, I headed to Eindhoven. By the end of the evening, my new book had completely sold out!

Already after my webinar on Monday, I started losing my voice, and I got through the talk in Eindhoven largely thanks to a big bag of honey licorice. I’ve been dealing quite a lot with hay fever, and on top of that I’m simply no longer used to talking this much. I decided to take Thursday as a rest day and cancel the extra shoot I had originally planned. Instead, I enjoyed my bed and took a walk through the city.

The rest didn’t last long – my poor throat! – because on Friday, Aafke and I went to see K3 Originals!

Honestly, I hadn’t wanted to go at all. I thought this reunion was rather silly. These three had stopped, there is a new K3 now, those girls have been working hard for years, and suddenly the “old” K3 returns, prompting people to compare again and take the new line-up less seriously. Even in the documentary series Studio 100 made about this concert run, not a word is said about the new girls. If you didn’t know better, you’d think they didn’t even exist. And then Karen (once my favourite) also shared a newspaper headline saying: “The real K3 gives fans what they want”?!

But still. I saw the videos too. I saw how, at one point, everyone loudly shouted “Zet bij!” (“bring it!”) – an obscure reference to a scene from Het Huis, in which Karen and Kristel look back on their first song, Wat ik wil, and the choreography that came with it. “Zet bij!” choreographer Axana Ceulemans would shout. “Zet bij!” the fans shout now.

When I was looking for tickets for Call It Off, the TicketSwap algorithm served me K3 instead. “Trending for you.” Oh, quite a lot of tickets are still being sold, I thought. I asked Aafke if she maybe wanted to come along. “Yes, I always wanted to go – you didn’t!” said Aafke. So, I got over my autistic sense of justice and bought the tickets.

And it was fun! Everyone had come there to celebrate and relive a bit of childhood nostalgia. Lots of people had bought or made K3-inspired outfits, and everyone wished the best for one another. And after K3 had once again impressed upon us how much more beautiful we are when we come together, that message was put into practice not much later – in the metro from Ahoy to Rotterdam Central.

The metro was absolutely packed. Not least because RET had decided to run two pathetic little carriages instead of four. There was also only one train every ten minutes. In short, we were pressed together like Japanese salarymen during the morning rush hour. It kept getting hotter inside the metro, and a girl fainted. Immediately, the whole carriage acted as one. Someone pressed the emergency button. Dextro was offered from two sides. I grabbed my Japanese fan to give the girl at least some cooling air. In the end she recovered, and we continued on to Central, where I sprinted for my train. “See you, uh, later!” I shouted to Aafke. In the Netherlands or in Japan.

I spent the weekend with friends. On Saturday, I had lunch with Hannah in Utrecht, and on Sunday I ate pancakes with friends in Zoetermeer. Yesterday I hosted my second webinar. Thankfully, the technology cooperated this time.

On Thursday, I have my final talk. My mind is already turning toward my departure. Before I leave, I still need to ship books, sell things on Vinted, drop off kimonos at Léonie’s, switch over the ordering links, pack my suitcases… And honestly? I’m struggling with leaving. Although arriving in the Netherlands was a culture shock, I’ve been enjoying how productive I am here. I’m afraid that once I’m back in Japan, I’ll lose my momentum. At the same time, I also have all kinds of new plans for Japan – for example, I’m considering selling my office apartment and buying something else instead. More on that later…