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.

etang de longeau

thomas

burcht st oburg

After climbing a hill (byc ar) we came at this ruin of a burcht. It was crowded with families, and that explained all the children's thingies at some places.

altenahr

Altenahr is a kind of place you would never think of going if you don't accidentally end up there. We were driving just like that and apparently we though this was a nice place to stop,place our tent and walk around. There was a small castle on top of a hill, we walked around it, how entertaiing. THen we took the car and drove to the touristic centre of Altenahr. Mostly visited by elderly there was a large danicng bar where elderly coudl dance int he middle and tohers wathcing them, it looked sooo stupid. We had pizza and went bakc to the campingsite. It appeared it was close to a racing track for motorbikes and the whiole night we heard motorbikes runnnig over our tent, just at the other side of the A-river.

nancy

Why did we go to Nancy, just becasue. Like the rest of the holiday we just did it because it was possible. We didn't know anything about Nancy, about it being interesting or not, but we went ther. Parked the car and were looking for a tourist information office, because we also wanted to camp there somewhere. After a few chocolate croissants (finally) we asked an old lady where it was, adn it appeared we were very close. They gave us directions to the cammping site.
But next top that the tourist office was next to a square which ahd tohe most gigantic golden thingies. So we walked around, came in a park, entered a church, had a coffee (french capuchino is not good). and after some chopping went to the camping site.
THe samping site was quite empty when we arrived, but later that eveneing many dutch people with large caravans were using it to spend the night. We played some beach ball on a volleyball field, and read and had some dinner.

expo atomium

After dozens of pictures I now have finally seen it myself. It took a while to get there (we missed some signs, or belgians are not good at it). It is immense and great and just nice. Ther were some peopel playing music, nice music, happy mood.

recyclart festival in bruxelles

After sme wandering in the streets of Bruxelles we finally found this festival. It has to be said, the regualrs were there. smoking, doing acrobatic things, have dreadlocks or bold, and sit to do nothing, but above all drink beer. WE also sat there for a little while, but were not very entertained by the band that was playing, so we left after being there only 15 minutes.

hoge bomen in hanoi

This february I am going to Vietnam with my dad. So I decided to prepare myself for that and bought some boosk about Vietnam. This is one of them. It has a very factual character, but read easy enough to finish it, better than history books. It i snice to read something about the daily life, hwo people are still living with the war and how the different parts of Vietnam are different. This makes it easier to choose between what to do and what not to do.

extremely loud and incredibly close

A very sweet book about a boy who looses his father in 9/11. Actually it has two storylines intertwining and it took me a while to figure out how they were related. Because you read everything from the boys perspective, it is hard to make a good picture of reality. Sometimes I really felt that he was fantasysing. And he is also very naive, which is also sweet.

new: recipes on my blog

In my creativity I combine some ingredients I never thought I would. How to make the most brilliant meals with the few ingredients you have at home. Past two days I made the following:

rice with tomato fish and sperziebonen

boil the rice with salt
Cut one piece of garlic and 3 dried chillies into small pieces and stir it in a hapjespan or wok. Put one small can of tomatenpuree in it with 3 cans of water (first pour out the tomatepuree and then hold the same can under the tap three times and throw the water in the pan). Stir it. Add some kurkuma and coriandre powder and salt. Cut the fish (I used pangasiusfilet) in blocks of 2 by2 cm approximately. Dop the sperziebonen and cut them in half. Put the sperziebonen and fish in the pan, cover it with a lit (deksel) and let it steam for approzimately 20 minutes until fish an sperziebonen are cooked.

pasta with capsicum, dried tomato and yoghurt

boil the pasta with salt
Cut one piece of garlic and heat it with some olive oil in a frying pan. Cut the red capsicum in small pieces and fry it for 5 minutes. Cut four dried tomatoes and two dried chillies in small pieces and add it. Add some salt and fresh basil. wait untill the capsicum is soft enough.
Take a small boil with some yoghurt and mix it with some mayonaise.
Mix the pasta with the capsicum and yoghurt.

VENcE wins bandcontest

After being very tired of Oerol (had I said that before?) I had to go to the concert of Sebastiaan in the Toeter. It was the final of the bandcontest Groningen and couldn't miss this last episode as being their true groupie from the moment I heard them for the first time.
They played like maniacs, sweat all over, cabaret in between, one more cup of coffee, new songs and the voicemail of Sebastiaan was clear: they won. Now they can record a demo which will be promoted which will hopefully give them some more gigs and more people can enjoy their music!

le vagabond - rotterdam

This is a cafe on the nieuwe binnenweg in Rotterdam, close to Rotown. Nice, brown cafe. We (Roos and I) arrived late on the graduation party of Salome. Almost all her friends had left already, because they had to take the last train to Amsterdam. I felt stared at, by all the locals of Rotterdam that were not used to fresh blood and different looks. I chatted with some left-overs, and after they had left, the locals started talking to us. We went home

productiehuis 'n Meeuw - Metamorfose

After being so tired of the Oerol weekend, I did not have the energy to tell something about the most fabulous show I have seen in months. Now is the time!
A group of approximately 15 children aged between 15 and 20 manipulated me into a fascination for 60 minutes. It was incredibly well directed, acted, sung and performed. The theme of oerol was "sterke verhalen" and this group had all ancient greek mythical figures in it. The story of each of them was followed by another and all were interacting in each story. Do I make sense? Just, if you can, try to watch this show, it is great!

Greetje Bijma - Campagne Vocale

At festival Etcetera we went to a musical story in the armandomuseum. She could do alot with her voice slash mouth. A perfect resemblance of birdsounds, a door opening, insect sounds in a forest. The story was hard to follow, but this woman surely has a voice to be treated as a precious treasure.

Theaterfestival Etcetera

Amersfoort, always a stop when going from Delft to Groningen or vice versa. I do not know this city that well, but it was our destination this sunday. Together with my parents and sister we went to the theatre festival, in doubt when and where exactly it woudl take place. The lievevrouwenkerkhof was the site for a parade like set-up with small cabins in which short theatre cabaret acts were performed. In the middle was a bar with on top the on the move big band performing as the sunday morning concert. I was in a passive mood, hence a poem read to me in a caravan was too much and only Annet and Yvonne attended.
In the afternoon the sun was shining and we had lunch outside. It's a cosy festival, but hard to say something about; we had to leave at 14.30hrs.

Oerol on Terschelling

Oerol is a theatre festival I was planning to visit for already 5 years. Finally this year it happened thanks to my friend Pim, who is already an experienced Oerol visitor. I took the boat at 8pm on friday night and arrived on the island at 10pm, 2 hours it took us to reach the islan we already could see from the coast of Harlingen where the boat took off. Thanks to Roos we had some excitement, as she had decided to leave from home as late as possible, because then she would not have to wait for the boat. really fancy, but in the end it all went perfect and the group of people who vaguely knew each other or didn't know each other at all arrived on the island and cathced up at the other end of the two hour boat trip.
THe bikes were arranged and we picked up the key and cycled. We had two tandems, which is an experience in itself. Not hte tow, but sititnbg with two on a bike makes you aware of the dependency of the other and the balance organ in your head which constantly wants to do something else then theperson sitting in front of you. Once you decide to just move your legs along with the pedals it's ok. Just don't look in fornt of you. It's like sitting in a rikshaw. Do not try to drive along, the driver knows what he is doing and doens't want to die either! (right Pim?!)
Then the camping place: de kooi achter de tuinen. Also this was arranged thanks to an umbrella in the ground next to the tent of the two wonderful guys who arrived the night before. A reserved spot and the wlakking path was enough to place the next three tents and we were all installed and ready to drink... where?
this ended in a long cycle trip to nowhere. Since I don't know anything about the island (my first time here) I did not wnat to bother with the directions or worrying about where to go or how to come back. I decided to let someone else take over the leadership and lean bakc on the backseat of the tandem (does that exist elsewhere?)
we ended up nowhere. I start wondering, would that have been different if I would have bothered abotu it...? As I did not have a destination I came where I wanted to go and then went home. The trip is better then the destination is something we had to keep in hte back of our head for this journey.
To make this already too long story not shorter but not too long to be boring: we had a great time! the two wonderful guys bought tickets for two nice theatre performances (one better than the other) which I explain in a next post. NExt year I will definitely try to go longer, see more, go with the same people I don't know, or others I don't know, at least somepeopel I don't know and enjoy the fresh air, the camping and the absence of any digital devices whatsoever, except for a cash machine.

Cyrano by Groninger Studenten Toneel

De second production of the GST of this year was Cyrano (the first was the one I was acting in). We were there almost with the full crew of te first production (Iris and Melanie were missing). It was more intense, more emotions, less actors (except for the figuranten of shield people). But it didn't grab me. Am I too spoiled, too wasted on good quality, or just too cold to understand it? Too critical? It can also be because I act myself and would not be proud if the quality of the play would be like this... I can imagine standing there, I can see what can be improved.
But at least I understand the story of Cyrano. Because he had a lot of text and the actors only had limited time for rehearsing, two cyranos took part. Also two roxannes took part. The director did a good job on combining and playing with this aspect (not denying the fact of it). He also did a good job an adding music, piano music that reminded me of my favourite movie before sunrise.

de Twirre - Earnewald

The squashclub Squadraat that I am a member of has a weekend away each year. With some 20 other squash players we vacanted the Twirre in a small village in Earnewald, Friesland. We did some games, drank some beers or more, played in the water, got sunberned (except for me) and got to know each other. IT was a cosy, relaxed weekend that reminded me of camps with highschool (including the corvee lijst en someone telling you what you shoudl do). When you grow up, you don't need a full program to enjoy yourself, besides I only knew a few people, so I had enough to talk about. But it was fun, good, and just nice.

Pirates of the Caribean - at world's end

I do not go to the cinema that often. But I was having a lovely dinner together with Wolter (he is a good cook!) and we decided to go. We only had a few minuites to decide whcih movie, where to go and hop on our bikes to arrive their on time. Apparently Pathe has also ticketing machines, which is much more convenient than waiting in line for your ticket from a lady behind a counter
BUt the movie... we were sitting next to a few very loud guys, the space was packed!
And te movie was great, enormous, gigantic, loud, impressive, funny. Not the best I have ever seen, but good entertainment, nice storyline (even a bit complicated which made you pay attention for 3 hours). Good fantasy and action adn toooo sweet and irrealistic romantic scenes. Need I say more...

Me, You and Everyone we know

Sweet movie, but not as incredibly good as a friend once told me. It has a mysterious, melancholic, romantic, crazy kind of vibe and rolls on. It's a dream world in reality with some fantastic conversations, confronting as well.
Two people walk on the street and imagine that the wlak on the street till the crossing is their life together. They have met at the start and seperate at the crossing. What will be the beginning and the end... just that walk or is it a metaphore for death, other cruelty or is that just possible when you believe in coincidences, strong feelings and the connection between two people.

bar pepper

After the atelierroute we had dinner in Bar Pepper. This is a fancy looking restaurant on the Boteringestraat and beforehand I was not very enthousiastic about it.
But it appeared to be surprisingly good food. Fresh vegetables, pure ingredients and original meals. Well done and recommendable. In a wide range of prices as well

Atelierroute

Last sunday my parents came by in Groningen. I introduced them to my new lovely little two rooms en suite and OWN kitchen and bathroom. And after a good lucnh we went into town for the atelierroute.
I quite like art and different kinds of art, but after 10 ateliers I got tired of it. And actually the best thing about all this, is that you can look behind the doors; all doors that are normally close, open and let you into their own reality. A view on groningen from different domestic perspecrives. What hides behind the wall and window is something you can't imagine... in groningen it's lots of nice little spots.
We finished in the atelier where Vence was playing (because I have posted about this band for already so many times I will not botehr you with a separate post). They performed in the Silo; a nice place to give a party and to let hem play acoustic vence music... and to expose some paintings.

De waag terrace (Delft)

I had a coffee with Joost in front of Waag cafe, it was lovely weather and that evening it appeared my nose had been too long in the sun. It must have been the two hours I was sitting on the terrace and we drank one coffee; a record I would say. Good that the service wasn't too good.
Oh and I had lunch with applie pie, which was NOT as good as it is in Kobus, though it had to go for the lunch. And Kobus is always full, because everyone says it's great.

Jazzcafe Bebop in Delft

After a long period of not being able to an unconsciously not wanting to visit this idyllic town I got independent, I came to visit some friends. One good friend just came back from 6 months travelling and since I had some other friends I finally wanted to catch up with I went to Delft on friday night after my yoga class.
We started and ended in jazzcafe Bebop in the kruisstraat or something. I had already spend many hours in this pub during my colllege years (yeah I'm getting old...;-)) and now again I experienced it as a new environment. All the guys, approciamtely 99 % of all customers was male, turned their head as long as my frined (good looking, tall, friendly) and I (blond, tall, and unaware) were walking into the pub. We had a hard time finding a place, and finally we ended up sitting halfway in the walking path... the guys didn't mind. Fortunately her boyfriend and another friend came quite soon, and the attention was gone. Good to be living in Groningen!
Though, just as a remark, this is one of the best pubs in Delft!! Most of the time sehr gemuttlich and a wide range of beers and the like...

Alles over Tristan by Tommy Wieringa

I came across this book at my parents'place, just after I had finished Joe Speedboot. Even though I was not very enthousiastic about that book, I decided to start reading this one. And it was quite OK, not amazingly stunning story. It just doesn't touch me in any way, but I can finish it.
The struggle of a man between love and work, quite a hot topic nowadays, poetic surroundings of a klooster somewhere on a mountain and a deep deep secret that is harder to keep than love can survive.

New cool Collective

opname van het concert
nog een

pand 48

I got home quite late

queens day in Ede

VENcE in cafe de Hertog

The weekend I was moving from the Carolieweg to the Jozef Israelstraat Sebastiaan had a gig in cafe de Hertog. I was one fo the best I have visited and I have visited many of their gigs in Groningem, if not all. I am a groupie, yeah!
But this was just perfect and I needed it. My head was occupied with some guy I will not mention and this music touches me each time again, in a good way, a melancholic way. It feel slike something is about to happen, but it also feels like I can't see what and don't know where.

Alice in Glamourland

Roos and I were at my parents' place and wanted to watch just some movie. It appeared my mom had bought this movie. A dutch movie with Linda de Mol starring. It entertained us and as romantic as we both are, we coudl believe in it, wanted to believe in it. Yes it never stops and that's why I still like this kind of movies.

Hannahannah

A dutch tele-movie with Antonie Kamerling and a girl I knew from the Koppels Series. It was a nice movie, romantic, recognizable unforutnately. But it gives me hope for the real one, for the man that can understand me and wants to and can even love me irrealistic demands of everyday life and dreams with me. I can't stop dreaming and this movie shows I shouldn't, a little bit, that's what I make of it.

der Witz

This is a pleasant brown cafe at the grote markt. Fancy interior and good service. Mixed public. I had been here before with Sebastiaan, but this time I went there with Anne-Marije to catch up on the facts and figures of the Vuurproef

Chaplins

About a month ago I went to this cafe on a sunday night with a very nice guy. I haven't seen much if the cafe itself, we mainly talked and were more absorbed with each other as it became later and the alcohol started to do its work. But I was there!

de maronnier

A nice living room restaurant. We arrived wheni t was completely empty and left wehn comepletely full and a well sprayed woman sitting next to me (with perfume and lipstick).
The food was really nice, finetuned, but later on my stomach was hurting... maybe a bit too fat?? The service was good as long as it was not too crowded, but hey, I will come back I think.

EQD comedy cafe in Huis de Beurs

Together with my brand new colleagues, we had dinner in huis de Beurs, and a comedy night afterwards. Imrpovisation with familiar games such as, each says one word at a time to make a story, a blind date, dubbing, and even a song. They were ok, but in Dutch would be better!

VENcE in cafe de Toeter

My favourite band in the quarterfinals of bandcontest Groningen. And they won, which means I can listen again on the third of June in my favourite cafe, cafe de Toeter.
Nice songs like bang bang, just my vice, god is where you put him, and many many more...

King Khan and the Shrines

My first Vera experience
Vera is a Popstage in Groninge, famous for its underground music... good underground music.
I was really tired of two exhausting days and kinda forgot I promised to go to the concert and since already tickets were bouht, I had to go.
It was a party, this is a really nice live band. I doubt if I like it on CD, but it was just party and splendid performance. 8 people, an canadian Indian brought back memories. But this Indian could sing!!

the Terminal

Catherina Zeta Jones is way too handsome to be the character she is playing. It was an entertaining movie though, in which the friendships and the sympahty towards allt he employes grows. It is not very credible though... but it is supposed to be based on a true story. Based, inspired, what does it mean...?

bevrijdingsfestival Groningen

TO celebrate our freedom (we were freed from the germans in 1945), we have freedom festivals across the country. Groningen is not famous for it, like Zwolle or Wageneningen. We had some beers on the field, because the weather decided not to rain for 40 days in spring. We listene to bad music, and chatted. It was only in the evening that it started to be entertaining, when leaving the festival and going for a beer in de Spieghel together with sebastiaan.

Huis de Beurs

Before going to the movies, we had dinner in Huis de Beurs. Despite all the stories I had heard about it, I had never been here. The food was OK, atmosphere good, with live piano music. We almost forgot to be silent for 2 minutes at 8 o'clock... memorial minutes for victims of the 2nd world war.

Angel

Together with Annet we went to Images and decided to watch this movie. On overacted shitty movie. It was hilarious, to some extent romantic, but not really good. Cult movie. Casablanca, meets monty python like...

de Heksenjacht by het Nationale Toneel

One week after we did our performance in Martini Plaza, the national theater of Holland did the same play in the stadsschouwburg. some wellknown actors took part in this play, so it was supposed to be a good one.
But it appeared that a boring play can even with good actors never become vibrant and entertaining. I knew the lines (were the same) and the stage and characters (also those were the same). We were not worse, not better, but the witch hunt in Salem didn't become very interesting.

de Vuurproef by ME

One of my active cultural achievements; acting in the play the Crucible by Arthur Miller. for three nights we possessed the Martini plaza in Groningen. A theater which has place for approximately 350 people per night.
The production period has not been one of the greatest I have ever had. It was chaotic and not well arranged, communicated , produced so to say. Together with some fellow actors we gossiped a lot about the organsiation (groninger studenten toneel), which is actually bad, but they were bad.
Each thursday we had rehearsals from 5.30 to 10 pm, dinner before with Robby, Daan en Marijke.
And standing on stage was not as overwhelming as it used to be. I was fed up with the lines, with some fellow actors, the director and the whole play to be honest. I was glad the third night was over and I was done with it.
But now one month later, I realised it has given me something special. If not only nice people I have met (which I only realised in the last few days and days hereafter), also some open mind, peace, and just knowing I stood in front of 1000 people, doing something stupid without feeling I did so.

Joe Speedboot by Tommy Wieringa

This book is a nig hit in the Netherlands. Though I have to say, in the end it touched me. In the end I couldn't stop and read it through the end. THe book is about a disabled boy that actually can't speak. You read his mind and the funny thing is, the actual author of the book really makes you belief you do, which is actually quite amazing. Now I am not the one that doens't think everybody is beautiful, but personaly I find it hard to communicate with someone who can't talk. Some other people in this book can find te peace and pateince to enclose him in their heart, for better or for good. So in the end I would recommend it.

afrika museum

Although my heart belongs to India, I became very intereste din Africa becasue of what friends tell me. A visit to the Afrika Museum has only strengthened this feeling and it is now on th etop of my travelling list (which does not mean it will be the first place I will visit). i can recommend this museum near to Nijmegen to eveyrbody. Very informative as well as triggering and illustrative.

het boek karna

Also the last of the trilogy was a page turner, although it was the least interesting on eof all three. From beginning I already knew what was going to be the end. it was not really about Karna, it was merely about the whole family, Benjamin and Dina included.

ice-age and sinbad

nice children's movies, always a pleasure to watch if you don't have anything else to do.

het boek Benjamin (the book Benjamin)

As a follow up of the book Dina (het boek Dina) of the swedish writer Herbjorg Wassmo (or norwegian or something) I again enjoyed the tension and emotional bonding between family members. Themes as love, friendship, betrayal and jealousy remain interesting topics to read about. The struggle a person had (in thsi case Benjamin) to give meaning to his life without really knowing his mother, trusitng her and being able to rely on her. It's a long struggle in which he makes the same mistakes in a different category as his mom... as all kids we are predetermined not to... Now I am reading the last book of the trilogy the book karna, more about that later.

the curious incident of the dog in the night-time

Many people recommended to read this book. It's about an autistic boy that is determined to find out who has killed the neighbour's dog. For the few people that haven't read the book Iw ill not tell you about the exact story, but about the many times I though I was autistic. But hten again I relaised I do have emotions, and more than anything, I think about what other people think and about the subtle differences in meaning and understanding people can have. The reactions of peopel towards the bhavior of the boy where therefore sometimes very rude, because in a way I understand the boy. If this is indeed a relfection of how an autistic person thinks then it is very well written, but isn't this only the interpretation of the behavior of autistic people that makes 'normal' people think they think like that... well think about it and let me know :)

het Curryhuis

Great Indian food. When asking if they also served roti, the waiter said roti was turkish... he was not an indian nor had he ever been there. Luckily the owener of the place was a real Indian from Calcutta and he admitted that roti is also Indian but that they don´t make it, because nobody orders it and they have to throw it away.
It´s good Indian food... I want to go again!

argentinian Tango

I wanted to do argentinian Tango already for quite some time. I finally found someone crazy enough to be my partner and now we are attending the class of Rob and Inez on friday afternoon. It seems quite hard to fit the lessons in all the other activities we both have and can hardly make it each time. But when we attend we have great fun and it is a hard but very sensitive and emotional dance. I hope to improve a lot and in the end get the feeling instead of the thinking.

Raindogs

One of my temporary flatmates in Groningen, Tim, is the singer of the band ´Raindogs´. I saw their gig in the spieghel. All the other temporary flatmates were present as well. It was a guitar band, and I have to admit, though good, not very special. I seemed like they could not choose between a style and hence played many.

Cafe restaurant Vlaanderen

Before going to the drink and party at Bierhuis de Klomp I first had dinner in Cafe restaurant Vlaanderen at the Beestenmarkt. Very delicate food and the easiest fish was prepared so good it was just delicious not overly served and well decorated. I was there with my parents, Annet, Tjitske and Jody.

bierhuis de klomp (delft)

This cafe was the nice place I celebrated the end of my student life. In the afternoon I did my presentation and people that could not attend that could attend my drink and party in this cafe to congratulate me. Nice atmosphere and also cosy when there are not too much people. Jacco brought his camera, Arjen and Natasha showed up, parents left early, Joost came late and even some people from Groningen took the time to be here. I really like my friends!!

Veronika besluit te sterven - Paulo Coelho

I finished the book in one go, going from groningen to delft and back (this is approximately six hours). I didn't read it in my best mood and it depressed me. Though quite some visions Coelho tries to bring naturally, were familiar, it was also confronting. It decided to be crazy, act crazy, refind the directness and boldness I used to be famous for. I decided to use that strength, be crazy among the normal, and to find the other crazy people. Only to be crazy, you can truly enjoy and survive.

Half of Heat

It appeared to be a very long movie. It's a classic though and I quite liked the first 1,5 hours. Then it was more tempting to drink a cup of tea with a friend than to sit home on my couch... Next time better.

Before sunrise

I have seen this movie already five times. I can recommend it to everybody and so I do, which makes me watch it over and over again, because I watch it with them. The conversations, the romance, the connection, eveyrhting is just right and makes me feel good. Each time I hear something new that makes me think. I have watched it two times in the past month, can't get enough of it.

hotel Huettenberg

I went to this hotel in Switserland. It's a peaceful family hotel in Braunwald, Linthal. THere are no cars allowed in Braunwald, so no traffic jams in the morning. Unless it's for skiing of course... Nos kiing for us in the ten days around christmas and newyears. On our last day there was finally enough snow but we enjoyed ourselves with walking, reading and playing card-games.

The Italian Job

As I am a fan of Edward Norton, I enjoyed watching this movie. Not just because of Edward Nroton, but also becasue I liked the plot. Though it reminds me abit of Ocean's Elelven and Charlize Theon will always have a sad face I can't stand. It was enjoyable.

the Great Gatsby

On my extremely relaxing vacation in Switserland I read this classic novel. Reads easily. It leaves a lot of imagination to the reader, which makes it like a play almost. I could not prevent myself to having Robert Redford in mind as the Gatsby... never seen the movie though