marnix bed & breakfast

From the website this bed & breakfast looked really idyllic and personal. Then you always have to see what you get when getting there. And luckily the expectations were met. We had a nice japanese decorated room, that was maintained with care. A good bed and breakfast was also OK in the livingroom downstairs. On sunday the street had a streetparty so we had to park the cars somewhere else.
Because I was living in Dusseldorf instead of Groningen, we had to travel separate form each other to Antwerp, that was a bit of a shame, but in the end it was a really nice and relaxing weekend!

mata mata pili pili

On our first night in Antwerp we had to find a nice restaurant in the dark. This is quite hard....! but the day after it appeared we were quite close to a whole lot of them. However we ended up in this African restaurant at the hoofdstraat (near sweet and seksie). It was really nice food!! Especially the spicy pumpkin soup as a starter I can recommend!

zuiderterras

Just walk along the Schelde in Antwerp and you will find this restaurant/cafe on an elevated platform. We had a coffee here, before going into the city centre and do some shopping. Nice view, but weird staff, and coffee wasn't the best. It looked like they had nice breakfasts.

tapas bar in amersfoort

I really can't remember the name of this restaurant anymore... Can't find it on internet either. Itw as somehwere in spring that I agreed with Joost to meet in Amersfoort; halfway between Delft and Groningen. THis way we could have a chat and some food, adn didn't need to travel 3 hours. THe food was ok, what I can remember of it and it is just much nicer to see each other when talking to each other, instead of on the phone.

carlsplatz

This is the usual lunch place while in Dusseldorf. On first sight, you think there are many places to eat, but then again after a few weeks it drizzles down to just a few. I mostly go for italian, sometimes indian and sometimes fish.

wohlfuehl apartment

I staid in this apartment for a few weeks, during my stay in Dusseldorf. The owner of the apartment is a really nice lady called Edith Wingartz. She has taken great care of the apartment. One is called Lavender and the other one is called Rose, and they are decorated accordingly. It is a bit further from the old town, but I have my own parking spot and it is really close to the drive way.

keulen

We were here for business. I had a good dinner with Liliane on the first night, we decided not to join the guided tour, as we didn't feel like going with the other people. We didn't know the kolsch principle, so they kept on coming with beer.
The second night we had a social event in the tiger club or something. A performance of one of the cabaret artists that subscribed to the website of kabadu was although nice, a bit stupid as well. The game of the European championship of Germany was much better to look at. Here as well, we left early.

orangerie

This hotel is in the backyard of the vodafone office, just around the corner. Although well maintained it is not particular interesting. I stayed here the first weeks when I was in Dusseldorf.

strandfeest schevingen

I forgot of the name of the place, but the weather was good, food ok and music also fine. We had soem good dance and nice conversations with new people we hadn't met before. Fleur and I just booked our trip to India the night before, so we were completely hyper and full of energy. We stayed the night at Pascal, quite conveneient we could sleep in his bed and he slept on a small matress on the floor.

silke hurtz yoga

I started to follow an Ashtanga Yoga Class in Dusseldorf. I was introduced to this class through Sara. I really like the kind of yoga, as it is a bit more intensive then I was used to. Following in german was first quite hard, but after a while I got familiar with the movements and it became a bit relaxing as well.

drinken en ontbijten in pieterburen

It is funny how this little industries maintain itself. Pieterburen is comepltely organized for the wet walking tours each day (next to the seal house). I arrived quite late on friday, had to come from Dusseldorf and picked up Maarten and Mark on the way. The group sat in a cafe and I had a drink and chat. We slept in an accommodation on the attic. Funny place, with one toilet and bathroom for 30 people. We had to get up really really early for the wet walking and to get some energy in it, Fleur and I started the day good with some energy in the group.
THen we had to have our breakfast just down the road, where as it appeared, many more peopel had to have their breakfast just before they were going for hte wet walking. A parade of cars then drove to the dike, where we were introduced to our own guide that showed us the ins and outs of wet walking.

medienhafen

Together with Annet I walked along the Rhein towards the media harbour where they have a lot of interesting buildings. I had been here also before during a study trip of ID, and wsa nice to see it again and in perspective of the whole city. Luckily the weather was just superb!!

wadlopen

Together with a group of colleagues we went to do some wet walking. Never did it before, which was a shame, because it was really nice and great fun. Although it was early, the fresh air kees you awake and the wet shoes and dirt, makes you play like a child. Our guide told us about wurms and the tides and showed us some places where to get completely wet and also which places were better to walk.



Wouter brought some chocolate, which us girls liked very much!

de kar

One of the dancing places in Groningen, which is marked as "fout" (as it is better people don't see you there). Now I wonder, when a dancing place is "goed" (meaning fashionable). When peopel mean goed, do they also mean that I have to act, do and talk about topics that actually don't interest me, and are only allowed to dance according to the latest movie clips on MTV? Then I don't like to go there and rather go to a place like de kar where I can amuse myself with my friends and a group of nice people I met in that weekend with wet walking.

allegria

We had some tapas in this restaurant on bolker strasse. OK food (they had the deeds with bacon), but with no particular character, as it was in the tourist zone.

noorderzon

This year only one evening Noorderzon for me, as I was travelling forth and back to Dusseldorf each week. We went to some (almost) free acts, among other things a three dimensional maze like thing which played with shadows, and a live theatre show/cartoon thing in a container. W had a coffee and a beer and listened to the free band around the lake, of which I can't remember the name. And due to a lack of chaird we created our own chairs by sitting in a circle (see picture)

atonement

I had read the book a few years ago in australia, but I couldn't remember that much of it (except that the book was good, though sometimes a bit hard to understand). The movie was good actually, nice story and well acted. About a girl that sees something from her window and interprets it all wrong, but causes therefore much trouble to two other people that were meant to be together.

lulu

Annet and I were really surprised to find this sweet little restaurant on the corner of kurze strasse in the tourist zone. It serves really nice food (starters, salads, flammkuchen, desserts) and we could sit outside.
A few weeks later I also went there with my mom and again we had a really good meal. And because our dessert lasted a bit too long the waiter gave us half a glass of red wine. As it turns out, downstairs is also a cafe.

babbel

Restaurant Babbel in The Hague. A regular restaurant with cheap food. Service wasn't too good. I had a chicken iwth some tomatotapenade inside, which sounded better than it actually was. But after the squashmatch I had just played with Pascal and Peter, it was nice to have some food.

Engelen van het duister

This follow up of knielen op ee nbed violen was as impresive and sad as the first one. I tend to stop halfway the book and take a lot fo time to get through the rest of the book. As also happened with this. But it was worth reading really. It is quite sober and painful at times. Doesn't make you happy, but well written and credible. Even more bizarre that the writer, Jan Siebelink, is my former french teacher. He was describing the death of a boy in the book, this boy was in my class and I attended the funeral. The school that is described, was the school I went for two years, then we had to move to another building. For only this, it was already worth reading.

de kleine moghul

Best indian restaurant in Groningen! Though the curryhuis is also really nice, the best thing about the kleine Moghul is that that it is also possible to take-away food. Call and in 30 minutes the food is ready and it is delicious and more than enough!. We did this quite a few times when we had a show the same night. I loved it!

de smederij

A lovely cosy restaurant with a terrace in a street that didn't seem very busy, but was actually quite often visited by posh cars with even drivers. The food was ok, although my salad was merely a compositon of the ingredients mentioned in the menu. But together with our friend rose, Fleur and I had a good time and even got some chocolate coffee beans with our teas.

zomers

We had dinner in this summer-restaurant after a day full of strategic blabla in the Martinikerk. It was good food, but a bit too much. I had some fish, whcih was ok, but not perfect. Desert was overwhelming with 6 differnt plates to be divided among the 20 people that were left.
I have had several coffees in the garden terrace, which is actually much better than the interior... in summer it is best at zomers.

koninginnedag

At queens day I went to Franeker with Tjitske, Jelmer and Ymkje. A nice little town in Friesland. But like every other queens day, there is not much to it, except actualy that the royal familty was visiting Franeker this year. Finally I have seen them all in real; willem, maxima en bea and all the others of the family.

grillerije

After a long day of walking through Franeker, we went to this sweet restaurant. After the meal we sat in the lounge chairs and had a nice irish coffee.

nynke laverman

Nynke did a performance for the royal family in Franeker as she does frysian songs. Nice to see this and I like her music.

kaap doorn

I stayed here for a few nights because I had a course there, workshop kind of thing. Persoonlijke Effectiviteit, where we had to think about what we are and what we want to be. What keeps us from doing certain things and what our own principles are and where they come from. Interesting and exhausting.

zomerhitte

A nice dutch movie, based on the book of Jan Wolkers. Just simple and feel good.

voorhuis

Kitty and Maarten got married and had their party in this theatre in Delft. I had performed there once with de pit lela lela. Some dancing going on and the viavias did a small act of course.

angels in america, toneelgroep amsterdam

This is by far the best play I have seen in ages. It was a four hour play, long that is, but there was not any moment it was boring or in any other way not good to look at. The story is about the gay scene in New York when aids was first discovered and spread among a lot of them. Not a very happy theme, but the way the characters changed from healthy to ill was just very well acted.

de heeren van Delft

A really good restaurant on the beestenmarkt in Delft. We had dinner there at the bachelor party of Kitty. Good portions, sophisticated and well decorated.

het festival.nu

Some dance workshops, a buffet and swing night on one afternoon and evening. I did a workshop tango, as I am determined to dance tango again from september on. And a workshop Egypt belly dancing, which was really really hard!! I thought I was quite flexible but it appeared not to be for belly dancing. I have to practice a lot!
The swingnight was with bare feet, I had to go early, to much bare feet for me.

club kalashnikov in het pakhuis

A dance night with balkan tunes and hindi music. I danced like a maniac, completely stupid. Was nice to talk to sebastiaan again and made me forget the busy week and thingd to do.

viva la focus

On the first Mobile Film Festival Liliane and I went to do some networking activities with people that can help us in a project. It appeared to be a fruitful and entertaining afternoon-evening and we could make appointments with some infleuntial people. THe best thing was I didn't even know I was talking to the wethouder, after I told him what our project was about. Nice way of introducing yourself!

the holiday

But I liked this movie better, because I just like Jude Law. ANd it was romantic, maybe a bit too much. But also sweet and makes me happy.

Volver

This is one of those movies everyone says you have to watch. My mom recorded it from canal+ and on a good afternoon at Renate and Erwin we watched it. Good movie, nice, eh, spanish, and also a bit weird. But nice.

doppio

I alwasy passed this coffee bar as it looked to posh and sophisticated. But it turns out they have really good coffee. The weekend we had to do some more rehearsels I first went to the doppio for a takeaway capuchino and then went to the theatre. A good apotion also for the early mornigs when I have to go to Delft

kaap hoorn

A fancy cafe near het hoornse meer. First afternoon the sun was so bright you could sit outside without the need of three coats and with the need of sunglasses. Sjoerd showed me his car and we dorve around to do some promotion for our play.

Volksvernietiging - universiteitstheater

Three times we played in het Universiteitstheater last week. It was a very busy and intensive week, as I had to work in the morning and went to the theatre around 2 or 4 pm. All three shows went well, though each of them was different. It was nice some people I knew came and watch me, always nice to do it for them. It wasn't even that bad...

het paard van troje

A new cafe in Groningen, right across the pintelier. Also nice to have a beer and chat. It was the last night we played in het universiteitstheater and it was nearly big enough to fit all the people in there.

Uitspanning boslust

And the morning after we had a capuchino and apple pie in boslust in the centre of Utrecht. Where parents go with their kids, an elderly couple, two girls drinking tea and having a cosy lunch. Back in the real world my head is still slow, my mouth is dry and then I have to go to a concert that same night.

derrick

Apparently you better not end up in this dancing, but we did. And we misbehaved. It was very late when we came home, and I don't know how we dealt with the time and beers and guys, but I had to wake up, because hanneke's mom was coming for a visit.

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.