heereplein

A cafe for the young working class. Very crowded. I ran into a former colleague of mine who moved to Utrecht a year ago. Quite a coincidence.

I'm not there

As i am stilla secret Bob Dylan fan only because of the song one more cup of coffee, I was very glad this song made it to the movie. The movie contains short fragments of 6 different lives, in which the storyline is not very linear and not intended to be clear. It is abstract and entertaining and has nice music. Especially Cate Blanchet was really good, it is funny how she acted a man, while being a very beautiful woman.

Voor een echt succesvol leven BY Bas Haring

A wonderful philosophical story! It works very inspiring because it looks at reality in a different way, but uses the same reality to do so. Hence he creates a new reality which makes it surprising and triggers me to recognize it in my daily life. I discussed it with many people and I tried what it is that he tries to proof. I am not even sure if I do it the right way, but it sure is a nice topic to talk about. A real successful life. What is success? Why do we want success? in what do we want to succeed?

Vietnam

Three weeks in Vietnam were gone before I knew it. It was great and I will only post some picture here.

cantina mexicana

The only good mexican restaurant in Groningen I know so far. I was quite sceptic beforehand, but because one of my toneelvriendjes (linde) works here, we were going there altogether for a meal. I actually didn't eat something typically Mexican, but furthermore it looked much better than what I ate at the four roses or the other mexican restaurant I don't remember the name of.

russian fairytales in Groninger Museum

It was a long time ago I went to the Groninger Museum. There was anice exhibition of illustrations from russian fairytales. tjitske and I tried to make the fairytale and the story behind the pictures. Was also nice to see that Kandinsky was actually also part of this exhibition.
BEsides that also some chinese art was exposed, because of the olympic games in Bejing this year. Actually that was quite nice to see. They really want to provoke other people (chines people) to confront with the daily life in China.

eastern promises

Strange movie about the russian mapphia. With Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts, you know it's not really russian, but it is scary somehow, because most likely the practices from this movie are true in some way. The cruelty of some people, unbelievable. Though I think the plot in this movie was not very strong and the kiss way too much, it was interesting.

ocean 41

Not my kind of dancing! The music was way too loud and I could fel the bass in my throat. As we were already quite tipsy from the leffe blond, we left after 10 minutes to go home and sleep.gr

vive la fete

Concert, not too good, I was very tired. I looked forward to it, but it was not as good as the previous time I saw them on Koninginnenach in Den Haag. Only at the end there were a few good songs and the performance was very short. I danced a bit, but didn't feel it. I just like other music better.

a thousand splendid suns - Khaled Hosseini

Similar to his other book the kite runner this book is full of details about afghanistan. It is unbelievable the two women in the book can bare with all the terror they come across. Of course it ends kind of with a happy ending, though, as in the kite runner, it has a bitter aftertaste. Sometimes he skips to tell something, and that makes it a bit strange (like how did Laila en Tariq leave Kabul to Pakistan, as it was difficult the previous times). And how come they didn't go after Laila and only punished Mariam? It is a nice book, but sometimes I missed the connection to the main characters, but that can also be because it is so not in my reality.

la villa corse

After three weeks of budget food in vietnam I went to this restaurant with some colleagues in Paris. It costed as much as I had spent in one week in Vietnam, so you can imagine what kind of restaurant this is. Though I have to admit, the food is very good and sophisticated and the wine was splendid.

Bee's movie

Another movie I watched in the plane. This was a very sweet movie, but also a bit too stupid. Talking to bees, hm. But I think that it will stimulate schildren to be nicer to bees.

Michael Clayton

I started the movie because George Clooney was acting in it. But halfway I fell asleep. It was in a plane and I couldn't hear the soudn very well and I had the feeling some scenes were cut out, because I didn't quite follow the storyline.

Then I watched it again somewhere in november and di follow the story line and it is actually a very good movie. And George CLooney is still very nice to look at.

nachttrein naar Lissabon by Pascal Mercier

This is a very nice book. Many philosophical thoughts are mixed with a chronological story of a man in midlife crisis. I like it when it stimulates you to think about life and yourself.

de vliegeraar (kite runner) by Khaled Hosseini

A very nice book, of course. I think there is not anybody who hasn't heard of it. It was very funny to read this book in Vietnam, as that country was also in war with the US. When I stopped reading I really had to realize that I was in Vietnam.
The book is very moving and reads very easy. It is a new theme and really as good as they say it is.

knielen op een bed violen

ALthough it was quite hard to get into this book, I really liked it eventually. It is about religion and hwo ti can get to you. Apparently it is autobiographical as the author is the son in the book. And the author is also my former French teacher (Jan Siebelink). It is written in an observing way, which is really nice. It is also quite heavy, but really worth reading.

de beurs

two visits:
With fleur in the afternoon, which was a really nice time and place. We had tea and talked about a lot of things.
With some people from the european project I am involved in. It was realy nice they had dutch food (stamppot) that night, as they wnated to try typical dutch food. It is quite hard to find, but it worked out.

pavlov

the new years drink started in pavlov near Spui in Den Haag. A fancy place, just nice. You had to go up two staris for the toilet, which was a bit weird. Fleur and I had to hear a million times that it was so special we came to den haag all the way from groningen. Next time I hope they will not mention it anymore, but well, it is just a way of making conversation really. But I didn't really feel like it I guess

mucho mas

we went to this tapas bar to have dinner with a group of 30 people. We had to sit in some space at the back, where no music and some atmosphere was p[resent. Although the owner really tried to make something of it, the food was bad and the service even worse. I would not recommend this place at all

de boterwaag

Fleur and I went to The Hague for a drink with other people of the same age of TNO; jong TNO. We got to know people from other departments and business wise it was good for networking. The chief of the board was so kind to give us a place to sleep (we even used his bed).
The boterwaag was the last cafe we went to. You can really notive The Hague is not a student city as the average age is higher than what you can see in delft or groningen.

de 3 uiltjes

Hanneke was here for the weekend. Fleur told me this is a nice cafe, so we went there to have a beer and talk a bit. The peopel that come here are a bit older, the atmoshpere is good. I also went here for the bachelorette party of Tjitske. I can remember from that visit, that there were quite some lesbians. But I might be wrong...

stadjershal

We organized a Squashtournament for some colleagues. 13 people were willing to participate including the future managing director. I had to play the finals against him, which was quite remarkable and surprised a lot of people. After that we had some drinks in the bar.
I had played here before for squash competition. It is quite nice and when I leave Squadraat I will probably start to play squash here.

de pelikaan

Joost graduated and his party was in de pelikaan. It was a party where I met many people from the time I lived in Delft. It was nice to see them again, talk to them and I even talked to some new people. I was lucky to have the key to the house of Joost, and I didn't have to wait for him... as it was his party he took quite some time.

campanille

My work forces me to stay in hotels in Delft or The Hangue sometimes. THis hotel is closest and although the stories were not that good, it was actually a pretty nice hotel, good breakfast and nice rooms. Though the bed was a bit hard, and as I am only sleeping there (arriving at 9pm and leaving 9 am next morning) this is what it is all about... maybe I take another one next time.

accommodatie de hullen

With my theatre group we went to group accommodation de Hullen in Roden. A cosy place, that looks very old fashioned. THe kitchen didn't have that much utensils, although the stove was huge. We could sleep in the attick next to each other; seven beds in a row. We had a very productive weekend, and some pieces fall on their place now. And it was a good time to get to know each other.

pomodori

Because Liliane and I had to do an interview near Voorburg, we went to a pizza place in Voorburg. This was a regular pizza and it took us only 1 hour inside the pizzeria.

het zwarte schaap

Together with my friends and colleagues maarten en mark we went to het zwarte schaap. We had to get inspired in order to create great ideas and see how we can set up a project we can work on together. Nice food... i had cheese fondue and creme brulee for desert.

abn business centre in euroborg

Nanko van Buuren paid a visit to the Ntehrlands. An old friend from my father but moreover the owner of ibiss, an association that works in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. They do all kinds of projects for the children that live on the streets in Rio. To keep them out of the criminal circuit and drugs things and all shitty things. They have quite some success and this was also why he was honoured by the queen on this evening in the euroborg.
Next to that, all kinds of famous people were walking there, but I didn't really recognize one of them. Apparently famous Groningen football players.
We had a nice meal, and especially my dad met a lot of people from a long time ago. I had to leave early for hte whiskyproeverij, but he stayed for some while longer.

cafe de vriendschap

How do you end up in a cafe in ZW? I will not mention the name, as it is actually a secret. When it is a secret no more, I will explain more. They do not have the best coffee, or capuchino to be better.

a coffeebar in Arnhem

I don't remember the name, but it was a nice and fancy coffeebar near the postal office in the centre of Arnhem. I went to Arnhem with my dad to get our tickets to vietnam and also to shop around for a backpack for him. We had a coffee break at this restaurant.

sally o'briens

On the first thursday borrel at TNO there were not yet that many people present in the office. It was the thursday after new years eve and most people still have the week off.
Hence, we went to sally o'briens. I went here once efore in the keiweek a year ago. It was very crowded then, but now it was a bit cold. We just had a chat.
Later we went to el txoko (wrote abotu that before) together with Fleur and Jaap-Henk. Nice conversations and nice to get to know colleagues a bit better.

santiago de cuba

This is the place where we went for salsa dancing. Or actually merengue and samba. Especially samba is not a very easy dance, but the guy I was dancing with could explain it a bit.

de kram

In eindhoven, hanneke and I went for a good night out. After the tapas we first went for some salsa dncing and then we ewnt to this cafe called the kram. I think Hanneke didn't like it that much, as her jacket was stolen, but the music was just great. Rock music, where can you find that! I think the last time I danced on this kind of music was in a bar in India called mojo's. I had a great time and it was a shame we had to go.

het pakhuis

Delft also has a pakhuis. Instead of a bar it is also a restaurant and Hanneke organised her graduation party in this cafe. Was really nice food and nice ambiance. I had a nice evening together with Froukje en Zeger. But I was very tired and still had to do something for work. I stayed the night over in the plataan on doelenplein and the next morning Merijn and Hanneke were so kind to also get up early and meet me for breakfast.

whiskyproeverij in de toeter

Together with some whisky lovers I organized a whiskytasting in de toeter. With some scottisch music and explanation with the tasting it was a really good atmosphere. You get to know your colleagues a bit better and after we tasted 4 whisky's we continued with karmeliet. We left theplace at 3.30 am, which was actually not as planned, but we had a good night out.

cafe rene

I don't think I will ever come back in this cafe. A colleague of mine had his own new years eve party and we decided to visit it, as it was not that much fun in de toeter. Actually the place lacked a good air conditioning which resulted ina very damped space in which it was hard to breath. Though, I decided to stay a bit longer and talk a bit. It's weird that a small cafe like this can actually exist.

de koffer

The new year's eve ended in de Koffer, just around the corner. Roos had worked there when she lived in Groningen. THere were some friends of her, and they were nice friends, some more beer, stupid conversations.

l'auberge espanol

It was the second time I saw this movie and it was perfect for the day after new years eve. We woke up at 2.30pm and went for some food and grabbed the movie. Feel good movie that stimulates to travel more. It's so nice to meet people from a lot of different places.

the Notebook

On my last day of sickness I rented two new movies. One of them was the Notebook. I heard quite some stories about it, and they were good, so I was probably going to like it.
And i did. But as it started I remembered seeing a part of this movie once before. I don't know where and when but I jsut know I did. And back then I wanted to know what the title was,because I wanted to see the whole movie.
And finally I did. I just love the romanitc love stories. True love hurts once again.

das leben der anderen

I remembered seeing this movie together with some squashmates. Not a particular happy movie, but it was a good movie. Also with Sebastian Koch and I remebered we discussed this actor then because he also took par tin zwartboek.
And this movie is also about a war, and I gues also the 2nd world war. I can't remeber exactly how ti goes, but I do remeber the sad main character who eventually turns out to be the hero.

Mysterious skin

On a lazy friday night I watched this movie together with a friend/colleague. It is a strange movie and is definitely not one to cheer you up. It makes you feel awkward and suspicious to the world around you. Thinsg I can't relate to at all, but it was all filmed very human, except for the alien part, which turned out to be all imagination. Pedofiles and whores, aids and loneliness, strange things and all in one movie is quite much, but maybe logical at the same time.

yasmin

I was attracted to this movie, because it had an indian cover. I though it would be nice ot see some about India again. But when I finished it, it wasn't really because of that that I liked the movie, but because the way they showed what September 11 has doen to the muslim community. And although it wasn't very well acted, I could imagine things liek this had happened. THat because of the way the muslim community was treated after that day, they only became stronger and more fighting than they were before.

hable con ella

I don't know why everybody made such a fuz about this movie, because I didn't really like it. Crazy spanish guy and a beautiful spanish girl. And the torrero, the lady looked like a man almost. But anyhow, I didn't like the story either, it was toos ad and to farfetched if you ask me and it was too obvious she would come alive in the end.

dogville

When I was ill I rented some movies I always wanted to wathc, but never got the time for. So I also watched dogville. Strange form, but nice story it is still in my mind. Especially because half way the movie you don't mind the open decor anymore, you just don't see it. Only the ost basic thinsg that have a role in the story are there and even then some in a very minimal way. And I can understand why she did what she did. It's a sad story

Kinky Boots

I don't why I kept watching this movie, because it is an incredible unlikely story. too stupid to be true but on the othre hand, it was about shoes, hence it could be somewhat interesting. A boy earns the shoe factory which is about to go bankrupt. Then he meets a transvestite and starts making special shoes for that target group. With all the conservative citizens and employees it becmoes quite hard but eventually everybody shows their good side... blablabla

Zwartboek

I very much enjoyed this movie and actually watched it twice in three days. Unfortunately due to copying I missed the first scene and it was a bit weird at first. But it turned out I only missed the prelude for what can be seen as the actual plot and sense of the whole story. I have to admit I fell in love with Sebastian Koch, although I had see him before in another movie (das leben der anderen) this was the first time my eyes were touched by his sensible smile and the way he looked at Carice. Later I understood that they were seeing each other since the time they worked together for thi smovie...
But about the movie, it is just remarkably well written and directed. Everything that happens makes sense and no stupid details attract attention. Another way to look at the 2nd world war and apparently we can finally admit what has happened and see that there are always two sides of a story.

sideways

A nice movie about wine. I already saw it once but only learned to appreciate it at the end of the movie. The guy is so extremely sad, but that makes the movie really good. He is just too true, too real, and therefore nice to see you are not as bad as he is.
And then the whole winetasting. He really appreciates it, but is more an excuse not to feel miserable. He gets in a flow when talking about wine, but he also stil gets drunk of too much of it.

de postillion

De first activity with jong TNO was in this cafe in Utrecht. I went there together with Fleur, ebcause we also had to be in Utrecht the next day. it was nice to meet the new people. I joined games of macchiavelli, twister and weerwolf. I wonder if we see them more often.

de charlatan

By accident we ended up in the charlatan. Welln ot realy by accident, but it was quite a coincidence it was the same bar I wetn to a few years ago during the gentse feesten. It was quite a surprise when I entered the bar, because I didn't expect to find it back after all the years. We danced a bit, but unfortunately it wasn't really my music.

de 8 zaligheden

I think Gent is also the city of numbers. The restaurant we went to on the second night was also with a number. We had the traditional dish gentse waterzooi, which was quite special. Good food and free drinks for us. For coffee they took us to some fancy bar.

de 4 tafels

Nice restaurant in Gent. I went there with the consortium meeting of one of my projects for my job and we had dinner with 12 people over here. My parents visited Gent just a few weeks before that and recommended the place. They have all kinds of meals form over the world and that makes the menu very varied.

wandering in Amsterdam

Gro was in Amsterdam for the weekend and that was a good occasion to take the train to Amsterdam and meet her. We had a coffee across the dom plaza, which was tow times as expensive as a regular coffee bar in Groningen (but we had a good view, so we didn't mind). We walked through the kalverstraat, not looking for something particalur and we chat.
We ran into a demonstration against fur. They walked through the klaverstraat with a lot of police protection. Strange to experience, so much violence coming form the people.

Orkater - Bloedband

Together with Joost I went to my old employee; theater de VEste. The premiere of this play was just great and guaranteed the presence of some semi-famous dutch people. It took a while before it got to me, but I really liked the dynamic and modern way of acting and making theatre. A mix of music and acting and nice choreography. three storylines intertwining, giving the characters a bit more depth, showed the other side. Nice to be in the theatre and see some people on stage.

Hemmingways

After too much bottles of wine, Fleur and I went to the hemmingways to dance some salsa. Unfortunately our colleague maarten couldn't come along, he is the salsa dancer and we just try to follow. It appears I am not a very good leader, didn't know anything. We had a good laugh and I ran into Roos accidentally. Such a coincidence.

Sauna in Peize

As a very impulsive plan I asked Fleur to got to he sauna the day after the TNO party. And we went in her car (I was happy she has one). A very relaxing day. two times loyli, a hot and cold one. The cold one with mint christals and the hot with several buckets of water.

Frysk Film Festival

Together with my dear friend Tjitske we drove in her car to Leeuwarden on an early friday night. Her friend Nynke Laverman was having the premiere of the documentary of her last show the Maisfrou in het harmoniegebouw in Leeuwarden. With a take-away salad from the Albert Heijn we had dinner just in time and arrived right on time for the show.
Nice documentary and she just makes good music. Funny to meet someone only on birthdays and then see her as an artist. As a surprise she received a golden plate for her first album siellesalt; the frysk fado.

nacht van de fascinatie

For the first time in 75 years TNO (where I work) celebrated his birthday with all the employees of TNO. Meaning 6000 people at one party in the jaarbeurs in Utrecht. Although it was called the night of fascination, it had more to do with an early evening of fascination but despite this sarcastic detail, it was a good organized party with a good atmosphere.
To extend the party into the afternoon, I prepared together with Fleur and some nice lunch. We had to go by bus to Utrecht, so it took us a while to get there and we also had to go back.
We met some new people from TNO Defence and safety and some of them drove back to Groningen with us. Fleur and I spent most time in the salsa and merengue place. We followed two workshops and it was funny to dance with colleagues you normally only see at the office. But it was really good and it really feels like more, I want to dance more, salsa and anything really. Dancing with one of the managers I normally don't know anything to say to, with a colleague who is sometimes hard to communicate with and now were getting along on the dancefloor. Music is magic.
And by the way, we had a performance of Jeroen van der Boom (jij bent zo...) and edsilia Rombley (but I missed that mostly). The night opened with a band of TNO people; and it was really good and professional. I was impressed. And singing for so many peple in such a professional entourage can only be an adrenaline kick.

cd release Vence

Finally the new CD is there. And I had the opportunity to buy that CD and the other two form before. I invited quite some people to come along to the performance in the platform theatre. But only Maarten came with me and my dad was there as well. It was a good performance, especially the second half, with a new swinging song as the last song.

4 mijl

Since a few years there is the 4 mijl (4 mile) form Haren to Groningen. For many people the reason the start jogging. I walked through the noorderplantsoen a week before and many people htat normally don't run were trying their best with red faces and wobbling tits. But I didn't, I hate running.
I went as a spectator to the finish of the 4 mijl on the vismarkt. Quite some people from the squash association were running and I was there to support them and take pictures with my new camera. THere was a very good atmosphere in the city. Many many people run along, some in weird outfits, some with many luggage and some as fast as they could. It is an event frm the people; anyone can do it, runnig 4 miles is just about 6 kilometres and will take about 30 minutes. But I was happy just to watch.

coffee united

This lovely little cafe bar in de herestraat serves very good coffee. It is a bit like starbucks, only it is not. You can also get good takeaways, as I did a few weeks before in the weekend when there was the 4mijl.

the Dreamgirls

After a stroll in the city and looking for some emotional products to buy, we decided to rent a movie to see in the afternoon. We made a lot of nice food (my first time artishok, some sushi and tortillas with guacomole) and settled ourselves in front of the laptop. Many songs and music in this movie, it has not a lot of depth and the storyline was hard to follow and didn't really get to me. It won quite some golden globes and an oscar, but is was not that good I think. The food was :-)

het feithuis

I heard a lot about it and now finally came the time to experience it myself. I happened to pass it by somewhere earlier that week and knew how to find it. It feels a bit like dudok in Rotterdam, with a bit more borwn influences. Nice capuchino and many different herbal teas. We didn't eat something, but it looked nice.

de zevende hemel

Before we went to the movies I took my sister out for dinner as a gift for her birthday. We went to this restaurant because it also has biological and vegetarian food and as my sister tries to be a vegetarian, this was a good choice. It had something classy, but also something casual. Your coat had a special place, nice plates and luxury portions, but on the other hand decorations form all kinds of influences and styles. Hence, a good restaurant with fine food and nice atmosphere. Make reservations (as I did) because it's popular.

Alles is Liefde

A wonderful Dutch movie which resembles the english version Love Actually. WIth a cast that is similar to the amount of people in the ocean's series. A true feel good movie that has something recognizable for many people. Together with my sister we went there and enjoyed it very much. It didn't even feel like we were sitting there with hundreds of people, just the two of us. Many laughs in the whole room.

Admiral Freebee

WOW! This was a very good concert. It went from melancholy to madness to overjoy and pleasure. The music was just fine although I had only listened to it the entire afternoon. Live it is much better!

Vietnam by Mister Pham

Original title something with catfish...
Read the book because I am going to Vietnam in February!! Looking forward to that. This book is about An, who is a viet-kieu; a person who emigrated to the USA after the Vietnam war. He describes a return to his native country and the bike trip he is making there. This is just a nice book, nothing special, and if you like to know something about Vietnam it is illustrative but not that much.

the ugly duck

My dad came to Groningen to take me out for dinner and to visit a friend. So we had dinner, he paid. OK restaurant, nothing special. It had something of an american steak restaurant.

Closer

I zapped, which I normally do not do because I don't have a remote control. But I am glad I did, because who doesn't want to look at Jude Law. He is just soooo sweet. Also julia roberts is a nice actress, but can't beat the looks of this gorgeous fellow with nice accent and beautiful eyes. THe movie was weird, which is good, talking about it, not too much seeing it, torturing yourself because of love, it is just a feeling I can recognize.

Faithless

In March my dad came outside and showed me a printout; my birthday present was a ticket to the faithless concert with him and some friends in Gelredome. And now was the time to really go. I was quite tired (working too much) but it was a great show. Good light, good sound, mith some low sounds really deep in my stomach Who can't dance on god is a DJ...?

de grote frederik

Because of Fleur's birthday we went out for dinner in this little restaurant in the oosterpoort area in Groningen. It was really cosy, like a living room restaurant. They serve decent food with a slight exotic touch. Diverse and well taken care of. I happened to have a great hangover who I was killing by eating a lot that day

NRC de zeester

For a good cup of coffee and quiz questions... when it is raining outside you need a place to spend some time and have a good coffee.

hotel van der werff

Not that we slept in this hotel, but we had dinner in a strange setting. The whole hotel had a weird atmosphere. Also a smoking launch as if it was really chique and dandy. Also for dinner, althoug cheap, they did there best to make it an exquisite meal. It was basic and perfect for its price, coffee only 50 cent. We spent more money on alcoholic drinks than on the food, we had a nice night in the tox bar.

tox-bar at Schiermonnikoog

If you need a disco with bad music and some partying students, go to the tox bar when the student association in Frysland is there. They were completely wasted, and so were we at the end of the evening. Nice weekend by the way... nice people

pasta with bleekselderij and prei

another splendid recipe, just out of the blue, completely unexpected.
What to do with a vegetable you actually don't want to eat: bleekselderij.
What to do:
boil the pasta, cut the prei and bleekselderij in small pieces, fry them till the bleekselderij gets soft. Make a guacamole with avocado, milk, lemon, tabasco (a bit too much) and salt. Pour it over de pasta with prei and bleekselderij and ready to eat.

de Wipselberg

For my first training in communication skills I staid in the Wipselberg in Beekbergen. It's a Golden Tulip breakfast which resembles a bungalow parc. I hardly staid in the room, but was busy in one of the many rooms they have for trainings. It is placed in the middle of the Veluwe, which is quite lovely.

new recipes

Couscous salad with mozzarella and tomatoes

Boil the couscous, mix it with fresh coriandre and some salt. cut the tomatoes in small pieces and make it warm till they get soft. Stir it with the couscous. Cut the mozzarella in pieces and mix it with the salad. some fresh pepper will finish it.

Pasta with prei and bacon

Boil the pasta (penne). Cut two pieces of garlic and fry it in some olive oil. Fry the bacon with it till they get less fatty. Add the prei and fry it for someminutes till it's soft. Add some cream and thym and salt if you like.

!!! and C-mon and Kypski

Both of these badns were to be attended for free at Noorderzon. The first one was good, though short, because I had to go to London the next day, and the last one was just incredible. Nice light show, and party music, really go on!!

Are you experienced - William Sutcliffe

With mixed feelings I was reading this book and I still haven't quite figured out how I feel about it. In one way I agree with backpackers being terrible, but both the boys as the girls style is not my way. But I keep wondering, how did I do? How did I experience India? I recognize both the girl and the boy in their reactions, but still I have the feeling i did it differently.
But about the book; it's funny, entertaining and reads very fast.

Little Miss Sunshine

Sweet humoristic movie that resembles reality in a painful way. WHo is a looser, who is a winner. Dad in the movie has a special theory about that, but this doesn't prevent him from being, actually, a loser.

Ictus - Waits & Weil

My second show at Noorderzon in the Juliet tent. Fourteen people performing beautiful music in an excellent quality. Many many instruments, some humor, a crazy dirigent, nightingale singer, and someone that apparently can sing like Tom Waits without hurting his throat. Definitely worth paying for and a unique Noorderzon experience.
The band after it was somehow not very audible, so we just chatted and had a beer on one of the terraces. After that, Roos, Kristian and I went to the city, had a beer in het Pakhuis and went home.

Maf

Had a lovely dinner after a dissatisfying squash session. The meal of the day is cheap 8,50 for what you get.

het Nest - Sonsbeekfestival

Apparently Arnhem also has his own version of the parade; sonsbeekfetsival in the Sonsbeek park. Close to my parents place (Otterlo).
I only went there to see Katalijn performing some cabaret together with 12 other crazy people. It was nice to see her finally on stage by herself doing her things, it was moving, beautiful and funny altogether, not the least because she was doing it with two other nice performing women. We left early, but it is actually nice to spend the whole afternoon and evening. Nice arts, makes me happy :-)

Acrobat - Smaller Poorer Cheaper

Second night of Noorderzon and I was sitting in the Juliet tent watching naked man and naked woman doing incredible things with their body. As I am always a bit sceptic about nudity in theatre shows I was curious how this woudl turn out, as already in the annoucement it was said nudity appears, without having a legitimate excuse for it. OK, let's see. Id on't know if it was becasue I was prepared, or that it was just there and not like in some confronting plays, just halfway the end of the play someone undressing and stnading there for 2 seocnds. It was good.
Furhtermore they had very nice sometimes shocking sadistic pieces of art in it. To balance that with slapstick and just bizarre pieces. A man in a white trousers can literally walk on a rope to the ceiling, it appeared the rope is read, and a bag of red fluid was hanging at the top of the rope. This resulted in a body that got marked by the rope, as if he being punished.
A woman that rolls on his face just as easy as she rolls on her back.

well done people form melbourne!

Everything is Illuminated

I just finished reading Extremely loud and incredibly close and then a friend proposed to watch this movie. With Elijah Wood (how can he be free willy and frodo at the same time and still act someone else?) playing JOnathan Safran Foe, the actual writer of the book, or is het a pseudoniem? anyways. good movie, nice acting, nice shot material, aesthetically well, sometimes hard to follow, but that can also be becasue we were discussing too much.

Gingerbread man

THis movie was based on the novel by John Grisham. My father used to read a lot of books baout JOhn Gisham. But I think the books were more exciting than the movie, because there was though suspense no thrill. It was entertaining enough for sitting ona couch at a friends place while toher (better) movies and some yet unknown music was transferring to my laptop.

het pakhuis

This bar opened it's doors again about two months ago. I remember going there with Kirsten in one of my few visits to Groningen before I started living here. But it was closed down, despite the success of it, and luckily opened again. Just aftet it had opened I went there with Vence, then again with Sebastiaan about a week ago and then also last friday together with Froukje. THey have decorated it wel, play good music and the atmosphere is just right. The avergae age is about my age, whcih also makes it better.

Erin Brockovich

Besides having seen this movie already two or three times, it was a nice distraction from making my curtain (I am paitining a poem on my new curtain). It's a nice story, she is just tooo rude and honest and passionate and a nice lovestory besides that complete the picture.

El Txoko

This just opened tapas restaurant at the Kijk in't Jat straat is a good recommendation to all of you that like sophisticated food. It's also a new formula, with a bar that has all small kinds of toasts with a nice combination of tasteful ingredients on top of it. You save the sticks that are in it that represent a certain amount. Besides that you can also order warm tapas; patatas bravas of course and many fish and shrimp kin dof thingies.
I went there together with Froukje and we had too much food. We sat at the open terrace at the back, which was complettely full, also with people from louis XIV, the restaurant next to it.

de negende cirkel

Same as Hooghoudt, I never think of goling there myself. I entered it two or three times, busy as hell and not my kind of people. But this time I staid and I even had a good time (despite a drunken guy that was herrassing me). Dancing with beers with some of the most pathetic people around me (my friends not included of course). But hey, I had a good time

Hooghoudt

In the same row as der Witz you can find Hooghoudt. I never think of going there myself but last thursday I was with a group of my squashclub and one guy said to go there. So we settled at a table, had a good conversation, but then it was time to leave. There is nothing special about this place. I remember going there once with Roos and we sat at the bar, but it didn't really make an impression, because I only remembered that when I entered the bar.

breaking and entering

A sad sad movie with the most handsome guy Jude Law. He just has something... But how can love hurt and not talkinga bout it, when you stop tlaking. And when all your stuff you just have worked for, is goen, because of stupid boys. And how to take advantage from another persons sadness, loneliness. Why?

the beautician and the beast

A distraction from what I was actually doing. HEnce, this movie does not have quality, and is not surprising, it is just liek a romantic comedy and it also has the same experience. Very stigmatic, about russia, about Amerika, but love survives, boehoehoe.

images

marleen

groen

four roses

buckshot

de wensput

b&b in leersum

oslo

I went to Oslo as the first business trip for one of my projects. A consortium meeting. Which was very cosy.
the first night we had dinner in the middle of Oslo, on a terrace, nice weather.
the second night the organizers brought us with a boat to one of the fjord islands surrounding Oslo. We had a typical Norwegian dish, a potato with some vegetables and not that much for vegetarians. You could take a swim, which I didn't, and we played a game in which you had to throw something towards blocks that were standing in front of you opponents. liliane and I had a lot of fun, also because of the wine.
This time Oslo looked different from the first time I came there. then I visited Kim and later on went to trondheim to visit Gro. I met them in Australia and are still in contact. Then it was a white Oslo and now it was summer Oslo. Funny to see it again, see the restaurant where we had dinner, where we had a coffee, where we walked.