Thursday, November 30, 2006

Morning Rush - Amsterdam.

Another early morning start in Amsterdam today. It was much harder to get up than usual as the "sun" is taking a lot longer to come up. Thank goodness the shortest day of the year is only 21 days away! This was the image that captured my attention today on the way to work.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Adeus Amiga!

Today a good friend of mine left work. We haven't spoken much lately. Not because we didn't want to. It's just I've been so busy. Busy with so many other things. It's not really a good excuse is it? We hugged today. I knew in that hug, that there was a genuine friendship. Our coming together on the verge of insanity while working in a boring, inane, dead end job ultimately probably kept us sane. She laughs about strange things. Things even I find amusing. That's great. It's nice to have a friend who makes you laugh. It's nice to have a friend you can make laugh. It's nice to have a friend to laugh with. Who will make me laugh tomorrow?

Read about Joana's departure from her point of view - CLICK HERE!

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

The jury is in...

Here is the comment that arrived in today's email about the test we did last night for Dutch class. "Jullie hebben de toets goed gemaakt. Dat betekent dat jullie hoofdstuk 9 goed beheersen. Ga zo door!" So it looks like it's good news after all. What was all that worrying for?!?

Monday, November 27, 2006

It's out of my control now.

Well I had my first Dutch test tonight for this course - Niveau 2. I'm not so confident that I have done so well, but only time will tell. Hopefully we should hear tomorrow how everything has gone. The biggest battle I'm finding with this course is that the whole lesson is in Dutch. Now you might think well you're trying to learn Dutch - isn't that a good thing? Not necessarily. Because of this I am also forced to learn grammatical rules in Dutch and I fear since my understanding is not 100% that I may be missing something important. Oh well - until tomorrow...

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Up, up and away!

Well it's been quite some time since we've taken a trip away. An adventure to new lands. Today however the tide has changed. We have booked a trip away at Christmas which is now my new motivation to get through the crap past couple of weeks and cope with the shitty job I have to face every day. I probably can't afford such a holiday right now, but what are credit cards for... Mind, thanks to Swiss Airlines, the flights will be happening for a mere €175.
On Tuesday 26th December I will depart early afternoon on a flight to Warsaw in Poland. After a few days there, I'll be taking an overnight train to Prague to see in the new year. I hear the beer is very cheap there so I can't wait! After that it will be a few days in Bratislava before heading to Budapest in Hungary for another three days. That means no work for a little over two weeks and I can't wait! Well away I go to clean my backpack and make a hostel reservation or two.
(Photo courtesy of aviaphoto.ru)

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Delivering bad news is never easy.

It's been difficult to get in contact with Andreas and Emmanuel while they have been travelling in Malaysia and to be perfectly honest, all week I've just had no idea how to tell them what happened. It's been a miserable week and the place still feels empty without Purnama. Anyway this morning I sent an email to Emmanuel and Andreas to let them know what's happened. Obviously it's not ideal to send an email, but I think they would want to know and well right now in this situation it's the easiest way to get in contact with them. There is no other way to describe sending that email than SHIT. It was quite hard doing that, so I have no idea how the police and doctors bring themselves to the point of informing families about the death of loved ones. I have a very healthy respect for their ability to be able to detach from the emotion of it. Now I'll wait to hear back from them - hopefully. I just hope they know we would never have intentionally hurt him.

Thursday, November 23, 2006

It feels so empty in the house.

I came home from work tonight and I sat down on the sofa. The place where Purnama used to stay just looked so bare and empty. I know he'd only been here for one week, but he had so much personality. It feels so strange him not hopping around the house, jumping up on the sofa for some attention or laying on the rug to get an ear massage. I really can feel his absence.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

When a nightmare becomes a reality.

I've sat here now for about 15 minutes just trying to think what I should write...
Last week we took on the responsibility babysitting the pet rabbit of some very good freinds of ours. Today that rabbit died. Right now I just feel at a loss about what to do. How do you tell someone that their beloved pethas died. Not to mention that Purnama was practically human. Rabbits don't usually craze such affection from people like this one did. He would follow you around the house, jump up and sit with you on the sofa and let you massage his ears for hours on end.
Yesterday was just like any other day Purnama was jumping around and being highly social and cheeky as always. Last night though he was a little on the quiet side. We also noticed that his pooh was a little more moist than usual. His owners had said before that he has had dihorrea if he ate too many vegetables. Yesterday he hadsome brocolli, so we thought it must have been that. This morning however Purnama was much more quiet than normal and he wasn't eating. He was still drinking however and od advice it appeared that although he may be feeling a little off, given a couple of days he would be good a new.
I asked Greg to go home and check on him at lunch time and if he wasn't looking better that we should take him to the vet. Greg did go home and check on him at lunchtime and decided there had been little change, so he made an appointment for 3pm today to see the vet. He went back to work for a couple of hours and then home again at 2.30pm - when he got there things had taken a turn for the worse and so he quickly rushed Purnama to the vet, but it was too late.
We've buried him in a nice spot - a place he would have liked.
Now however we're left with the guilt of feeling like we did something wrong, but I just can't think what. I've been around animals all my life and I've never had this happen. The worst thing is we'll just never know. Now we have the task of telling his owners what's happened. This is a task I can't even bare the thought of. All that is ringing through my head is Emmanuel saying "He's just like our child" - it's that thought that is making me feel sick. I just hope we don't lose our good friends over this and they know in their heart we would never have done anything to hurt their little boy.

Monday, November 20, 2006

An office with a view...

(Photo from Rijnmond.nl)
About 10am this morning their was a train accident here in Rotterdam, where a passenger train collided with a goods train. My office window over looks Rotterdam Central Station, so I was able to get a good view of the damage this had caused. As I wasn't feeling well, I came to work later today so I didn't see the actual accident happen, but I saw the chaos it had caused at central station. Fortunately it appears no one was badly hurt. To read more click here! It's in Dutch so maybe you'll need to translate it by typing the URL address on the following translation page - Free Translation.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

The Netherlands to ban the burqa.

As read here - "Dutch Muslims condemn burqa ban" (BBC), it is clearly obvious that this is a rather contentious issue. On one side it is seen as a violation of human rights not to be allowed to observe ones own customs and beliefs, but is it not a violation of my human rights not to feel safe where I live and know who I am in contact with? Anyone who knows me would know that I am not racist nor do I not accept people just for being who they are. However I do feel on this issue that in a time where public safety is put at risk every day by terrorists and extremists, that maybe the Dutch government does have a point. As stated, the new law will also mean that people will not be able to wear helmets with visors or hats or veils where the face can not be clearly seen, in public. I remember once being asked to take off my Nike cap when I walked in to a store as security said it would obscure my face from security cameras - at the time I was rather annoyed, but that's because the hat was covering up my bad hair that day. However, just like the longer waits at airport security and increased security checks at night clubs etc. it might be annoying at the time, but I'm happy at the end of the day that my safety and the well being of others is still a priority. It's unfortunate that it has come to this, but that is the way it has to be - the safety of the majority is more important than the beliefs of the minorities.
I do look forward to a day when we can all live without fear and accept with enthusiasm individual difference. I just don't think it's going to be in my life time.

Want to have your say? Click Here.

Cyclone Purnama Strikes Again.


This time the sofa was in his pathway. Needless to say we won't be getting top price for it at the second hand store anymore.

Friday, November 17, 2006

10 things you might not have known last week...

What could they be? Click here to find out...

Warning: Religiously minded people should look away!

Watch the picture - It's true - Jesus can pop up anywhere.
(source: Calarts Edu)

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Bunny devistation.

Purnama might be more social than any other bunny I've ever met, but everywhere he goes devastation follows. The devastation toll so far is, leaves nibbled and eaten of my large rubber plant, 1 hole bitten in the sofa, the internet cable is almost chewed through as is the telephone cord. Greg and I have both been poohed on, but lucky for me only Greg has been covered in pee (so far) - I'm sure it's only a matter of time.
(At least I know what the inside of an internet cable looks like now.)

Gym update...

Tonight I had my latest evaluation at the gym. It had been 8 weeks since my last. I must admit I was rather concerned that potentially the weight loss situation might not have gone to plan. I had been having a little too much fun the last few weekends and of course where there is fun there is beer. Knowing full well that one full pint of beer is about 15 minutes on the cross trainer, this meant that I would pretty much have to give up my job and starting going to the gym full time. Alas the outcome wasn't so bad. In the past 8 weeks I have lost 5 kilograms in weight and 5.1% of my body fat. Well the new program has been designed and I am eager to keep up the trend. That's a total of 8 kilograms now and about 7% of my body fat.
It appears the salads every night after the gym rather than some carb heavy pasta, more fruit, more (healthy) snacks during the day, a bigger breakfast and smaller meals is paying off.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Baby sitting...

While Emmanuel and Andreas are in Malaysia we're baby sitting Purnama (Pugi). He's very cute and well, very inquisitive. He doesn't really like to be picked up, but he likes to have a lot of human contact. He's taken to jumping up on the sofa and watching TV with us and it's only his first night. Can you imagine what he'll be like after living here for a month.
Anyway Emmanuel and Andreas - good luck with your quest... We really hope it works out for you and so does Pugi. See ya back soon.

Les 1.

Tonight I started Dutch lessons at the VolksUniversiteit. Classes run twice a week for 1.5hrs for the next 12 weeks. I'm feeling rather nervous though as the whole class was done in Dutch tonight. Oh well I guess it's sink or swim!
I even made it to the gym still before the class.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

All for shits and giggles...

Well after a mad week at work, it was time to let off some steam (again) this weekend. This meant lot's of drinking and being out until 6ish each morning. I had only planned on doing this Friday night when we were saying farewell to two of our friends who are heading off to Malaysia for bit, but alas it was not to be.
Most scary moment: Getting my hair cut and while the hairdresser was moving my head about getting the urge to vomit quite badly (I had a bad hangover). The only saving grace was the fact that I was wearing a big black plastic apron.
Funniest photo: The best part was Marjolein asking Miranda about 80 times if she'd started yet while Miranda was having her arse kicked in their arm wrestle. I tell you that girl has some strength in that arm.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Reaching for Perfection,

If only it was so easy to make ourselves over just like this.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

What a pain in the arse...

Well thankfully not! Although, there were a couple of walking wounded by the end of the day. That's right, today was Boys Day Out. Our good mate Pete will be heading back to the UK next week and well he thought it would be a good idea to have a final bonding session with all his pals here in Holland. After an early rise we took a 2 hr drive to Rheeze which is past Zwolle in the East of Holland. On arrival we suited up and for two and half hours we got to shoot at each other with with paint balls. It was great! I've never felt so powerful - then again, I've never held a gun of any type before - don't worry I'm not going to run wild with a real one. Despite having been preordained the underdog of the day, I actually proved that I could hold my own. I even won, one of the games and was always in the last two of the others. The most fun part of this game was when we got Pete dressed up in a bunny suit and we his friends were allowed to take target practice at the poor little bunny.
Once the shooting was over it was time to quad bike. We did this for another 1.5hrs. It was great, although I must admit after stepping off the bike I did feel like I had been riding a horse for 1.5 days. It's coming in to Winter so the sun is down fairly early these days and so 1730hrs brought with it the end of the day. Click here to see more Boys Day Out.
Just joking tonight is the infamous Baja Beach Club for some drinking and maybe even a bit of boogie!

(Injury Pics)

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Can you tell the difference?

Man Boobs (Moobs)
or
The Real Deal (Boobs)
Click Here