Reading a new book

Sometimes you have those days when nothing seems to be good, when the philosophy "it can always be worse" and "find a sunlight in the black cloud" doesn't help. And sometimes even I have those days...

So this will not be a long blogpost, I will simply share with you a new book I am reading.

I found Ayaan Hirsi Ali's book "Nomad" in the English bookshop on Sunday evening when we went out for a walk and I felt like buying a new book to read. It was the only non-celebrity autobigraphy I could find in this bookshop (the cheapest one in Amsterdam), so I took it.

Turns out that Ayaan, born in Somalia, moved to the Netherlands and was even in Dutch Parliament. Now she is living in the US and speaks about the contradictions of Islam and Western cultures - basically saying how bad is Islam...

I haven't finished the book yet, so can't comment on it fully, but I can see that it is full of feelings how good is the Western society and its values and how bad is Islam... White vs black... A bit too radical, I think - even though she has islamic background herself.

Run, Forest (or Michael), run!

Yesterday Michael took part in Zuidas Run - annual run around Amsterdam Zuid, where there are three disciplines, the longest one being 16km and the smallest one just 1km (Kids Run).

Obviously, Michael chose the longest one and set two aims - first, be faster than last year (1:13:33h), second, be faster than his colleagues.

I am proud that both aims were achieved - his time was approximately 1:09h (waiting for exact information) and one of his colleagues arrived approximately 10-20 seconds later, others even more later (as far as we could observe).

Congratulations, darling! :) Next time - marathon with 42km? :)

TALIA birthday

Last Saturday Italian deli place "Talia" celebrated its first birthday, so we used the opportunity to congratulate Nicola & Michele for their hard work.

Michael was there also exactly a year ago for their opening party as he used to study Dutch together with Nicola. Later on, we passed by there several times to get pizza or just say "hi" to the guys. I also had my Dutch classes there and several times I have been suggesting the place to my CouchSurfing guests for leaving their luggage there.

Last Saturday we went there for the beginning of the party at 2.22pm for a glass of champagne, followed by a small photo session and tasting new pizzas (mm, the one with Gorgonzola cheese and nuts was wonderful).

We came back a few hours later to discover that "Talia" was crowded with people listening to a nice Brazilian musician trio and waiting for a big pot of tiramisu. On the "tre, due, uno" everybody jumped around the tiramisu with their spoons, trying to eat as much as possible and dig as deep as possible. There was a hidden piece of lemon, and the lucky finder got a special present from "Talia".

Of course, we did not forget a birthday present - some funny colorful crackers, two Dutch SIM cards (for CSers who pass by) and a special guest book for "Talia" visitors.

As we are going there today again, I am curios to see how many entries does the guest book have by now!

Darbs vs prakse

Vakar man bija ļoti laba ideja, par ko uzrakstīt, bet līdz šodienai jau paspēju to aizmirst...

Lai nu kā, atkal esmu darba meklējumos, jo mana prakses vieta nav nemirstīga un vasaras beigās tā beigsies. Esmu bijusi jau uz pāris darba intervijām un šoreiz cieši apņēmusies atrast pilna laika darbu uz pastāvīgu laiku ar attiecīgu algu, nevis tikai prakses vietu.

Pēc intervijas nedārgā budžeta viesnīcā "Princess" par viesnīcas reģistratori (bija vēl viena intervija labākā vietā, ceru uz to!) sāku domāt, kas ir labāk - strādāt pastāvīgu ne īpaši kvalificētu darbu vietā, kas tevi nesaista, bet kur maksā, vai būt par knapi apmaksātu īslaicīgu praktikantu tieši tavā sfērā? Jautājums ne tikai par mani, bet par jauniešu situāciju kopumā.

Protams, vislabākais būtu atrast pastāvīgu un normāli atalgotu darbu tieši tavā sfērā, bet, ja jautājums ir - A vai B, tad ko darīt?

Ultra Social

Another stolen text - this time from The Urban Art and Media Organisation, read it on their leaflet.

ULTRA SOCIAL

Help children,
separate your waste,
buy organic:
collect points.

Donate online,
add a comment,
save friends:
collect points.

Sit back,
consume,
be affected,
collect points.

Correct.
Nice.
Beautiful.

ULTRA SOCIAL

Kad ir jau par daudz

Domāju, vismaz daži no jums vēl atceras manus iepriekšējos ierakstus par "slepeno pielūdzēju"... Līdz šim par to visu tikai pasmaidīju un neņēmu pie sirds, bet šodienas "piedzīvojums" lika pārdomāt esošo situāciju.

Pēcpusdienā devāmies ārā, lai ar riteņiem dotos uz tepat netālu esošās ēstuves "Talia" pirmo dzimšanas dienu (to pirms gada atvēra divi itāļi, mūsu paziņas).

Vēlējāmies braukt ar riteņiem, bet... kāda sakritība - no visiem riteņu stāvvietā esošajiem divriteņiem tieši mūsu abiem (mana un Maikla) bija tukšas riepas.
Piebilde Nr. 1 - riteņu stāvvieta atrodas apakšstāvā, kur iekļūt var tikai mājas iemītnieki ar atslēgu. Tur parasti atrodas aptuveni 10 riteņi.
Piebilde Nr. 2 - riepas nebija pārsprāgušas, tāpēc iespēja, ka piektdien vakarā mēs nejauši varējām uz kaut kā uzdurties, ir izslēgta. Rūpīgāk apskatoties, tika atklāts, ka ir noskrūvēti melnie uzgaļi no riepām (tur, kur riepas tiek uzpumpētas).

Protams, var jau teikt, ka kādi mājas rezgaļi gribēja pajokot vai kādam ļoti vajadzīga tieši mūsu melnos uzgaļus, bet mūsu mājā (aptuveni 10 dzīvokļi) ir tikai pāris jaunieši, lielākā daļa ir cilvēki pusmūžā, un līdz šim nekas līdzīgas netika novērots.

Vēl pirms pāris nedēļām manam divritenim tika nolauzta taure - iepriekš domāju, ka vienkārši kāds piedzēries mājinieks nebūs redzējis, kur iet (jo divritenis bija blakus durvīm), bet nu...

Nē, nekādu pierādījumu par to, kurš ir vainīgais, man nav. Bet pašsajūtai nevajag pierādījumus...

Kas būs nākamais?

OF AMSTERDAM

Seems like a great film about Amsterdam, curious when I will have the chance to see it in full lenght. For now - enjoy the trailer!

Nabadzība

Šodien draugiem.lv izlasīju jauku domugradu - atļaušos pārpublicēt.

"Vienu dienu tētis un viņa bagātā ģimene aizveda savu dēlu uz laukiem ar mērķi parādīt, cik nabadzīgi cilvēki var būt.

Viņi pavadīja diennakti kādā fermā pie ļoti nabadzīgas ģimenes. Kad viņi devās mājup, tētis jautāja dēlam: „Nu, kā Tev patika šis brauciens?”
„Ļoti labi, tēt!”
„Vai redzēji, cik nabadzīgi cilvēki var būt?”
„O, jā!”
„Un, ko Tu iemācījies?”
Dēls atbildēja: „Es redzēju, ka mums ir mājās suns, bet viņiem ir četri. Mums ir baseins, kas stiepjas līdz pagalma vidum, viņiem ir upe, kurai nevar redzēt galu. Mums ir lampas dārzā, kas dod gaismu, viņiem ir zvaigznes. Mūsu iekšējais pagalms sniedzas līdz žogam, viņiem pieder viss horizonts.”

Kad mazais zēns bija beidzis, tētis bija sēdēja kā mēms.
Viņa dēls piebilda: „Paldies, tēt, ka parādīji, cik „nabadzīgi” mēs esam!”"

Supposedly the worst hotel in the world

Last weekend I passed by Foam Pop In, a new artspace/shop next to Museumplein. Last Thursday it was officially opened by Foam Amsterdam, a really nice photography museum, but I did not have chance to go before, so I did that two days later.

As the entrance is free, I suggest it to everybody who has a bit of time and wants to see various kind of (photography art).

The most interesting thing there was a book about "the worst hotel in world", which claims to be Hans Brinker Budget Hotel here in Amsterdam. I have never heard about it before, so I checked out the book which consists of history of the hotel, various travellers' experience and several promo campaigns of the hotel. They are very proud to advertise themselves as really the worst hotel, but all the pictures and info did not make me curios enough to pay 25 euro and more for a night there - it just looks too bad.

If anybody has been there, please, share your experience!

Disapointed about Keukenhof

I have so many things to tell and show you, that it is hard to decide what to start with... And often I simply do not write anything - as I can't choose what should it be...

However, yesterday we finally managed to visit Keukenhof, supposingly the biggest tulip garden and exhibition in the world. It is closing this Friday, so it was the last opportunity to see it.

Why "supposingly"? Because I saw everything in Keukenhof - except the tulips. 95% of all tulips outside were cut off, so they were not there. In all the pavillions they had a lot of other flowers and interesting exhibitions going on (e.g., the comparison between the Netherlands and Germany), but I wanted to see the famous tulips - and they were not there. Considering the fact that the entrance fee was the same as usually and it is not so small, I was very dissapointed.

Besides that, it was interesting to see seven different gardens in seven different styles, take a look at the royal family pedigree tree (did you know that three previous generations all married a German?) and see in how many different ways can you use flowers.

My Mum visited the garden some time ago as well and said that one needs four hours to see everything. For me it took a bit less than two hours - maybe because the tulips were not there...

If you were thinking about going this week - save the money for the next year and avoid it this year!

My name in the newspaper

Last week I got an a short message in draugiem.lv (Latvian equivalent for Facebook) from a journalist from Latvian newspaper "Sestdiena" - he was doing an article about Eurovision and wanted to know my opinion about Eurovision & Latvian entry as he was interviewing several Latvians living abroad.

For those who can read Latvian - see the article below!

Three catchy Eurovision songs

I know that it is not "cool" to watch and follow Eurovision Song Contest, but this year I felt like doing it and watched both semi-finals (well, most of the 2nd semi-final as I missed the first songs).

Three songs I found especially good - catchy, both enough original and enough Eurovision-style, so I hope that one of them will be the winner of this year's contest! Good luck to Denmark, Azerbaijan and Estonia!

Thinking about Dutch language

Yesterday I had a chance to participate in a workshop "Finding Dutch Flow", where for three hours 11 foreigners shared their thoughts and experience with Dutch language.

It was very interesting to hear why both those who are fresh in the Netherlands (only for three months or so) and those who have been living here for several years (even more than five) find it difficult to learn Dutch.

It made me realise that I am not the only one who has trouble learning Dutch - not because it is hard, but because in my case the student (read: me) is rather lazy and not very good in languages. Other participants had their own stories, fears and problems, but all together we had the same aim - try to learn Dutch in a near future.

The workshop leader Albert also gave us some insight into the Dutch mentality, making us realise why Dutch might want to be so open to Turkish and Moroccans learning Dutch, but do not really care if Latvian, British or other Europeans do. I had thought about it quite a few times myself, but only yesterday I realised that it might be also another way to keep the country and culture "safe" from neighbours. If they do not speak Dutch, they will not understand the secret signals... Even if the youngest generations do not realise and think so, some thoughts and feelings are "encoded" in blood from the previous generations.

I also got to know a few funny Dutch expressions and words I was not aware of.

• Olifantenhuid - thick skin
• Ik heb schijt aan... - I do not give a shit about...
• Muisje - not only a small mouse, but also a sandwich topping
  

Par angļu valodu

Vakar sapratu, ka dzīvošanai ārzemēs ir ne tikai savi daudzie plusi un nedaudzie mīnusi, bet arī viens ļoti liels mīnuss - vismaz man vēl nav izdevies pārvaldīt angļu valodu (nemaz nerunājot par vietējo valodu) tādā līmenī, lai varētu tajā strādāt tikpat labi kā tie, kam angļu valoda ir dzimtā valoda.

Teiksiet -tā nav problēma? Lielākoties nav gan, bet žurnālistiem tā ir liela problēma. Lai spētu rakstīt kādā svešvalodā tādā līmenī, lai to varētu publicēt, šī valoda ir jāparvalda perfekti - vai vismaz tik labi, lai redaktori un korektori nelabotu katru teikumu. Un izskatās, ka mans ceļš vēl nav galā...

Runāju par to ar pāris draugiem šeit, kuri bija pārsteigti: "Kā, bet Tava angļu valoda taču ir tik tekoša un laba?!" Jā, tekoša un laba - bet runāt nav tas pats, kas rakstīt, kur katra pieturzīme, katra gramatikas kļūda un katra nepareiza teikumu konstrukcija ir uz delnas.

Diemžēl jāsaka, ka mana rakstiskā angļu valoda pēdējos gados nav uzlabojusies. Ikdienā komunicējot ar n-tajiem cilvēkiem, kuriem angļu valoda arī nav dzimtā valoda, to uzlabot un kaut vai uzturēt esošajā līmenī ir grūti, jo nemanot laika gaitā tiek pārņemtas viņu kļūdas, teikumi vienkāršoti un paraugi, kā tas būtu pareizi, tiek aizmirsti.

Jau pirms vairākiem mēnešiem kādā citā sarunā ar citiem draugiem konstatējām, ka vismaz Eiropas jauniešu vidū tagad ir populāra cita valoda - ne angļu, bet eiropiešu angļu valoda. "Eiropiešu angļu valodu" saprast var gan itālis un turks, gan arī ukrainis un norvēģis, lai gan īsti nezinu, ko par šo vienkāršoto angļu valodu teiktu briti.

Ko darīt? Jāsāk domāt par vienu no trīs iespējām:
A) Vairākus mēnešus ilgi angļu valodas kursi, uzsvarot liekot tieši uz rakstisko valodu;
B) Profesijas maiņa;
C) Atgriešanās Latvijā un rakstu veidošana tikai latviešu valodā.

Bike trip to Muiderslot

Yesterday we decided to have a short bike trip and visit Muiderslot, a nice castle around 15km away from Amsterdam. Previous two times when I was there, it was closed (wrong timing) and I learnt that parking a car is quite expensive, so a decision was made - it has to be by bike and during daytime!

It took around 90min to go there with our city bikes and against the wind - not very nice. However, Muiderslot turned out to be a very, very nice and cute castle. I can imagine kids feeling like in paradise there as there were so many activities they could do - exploring the castle, dressing up like princesses and knights, playing several games and going on a guided tour led by other kids (last year primary school).


I do not know if it's always, but yesterday there was also a falcon and his master, showing the falcong flying around and telling more about falcons in the country.

On the way back we decided to take a small detour and cycle via Weesp, which is just 3km away. Didn't spend so much time there, but it looked a small and nice town as well (bigger than Muiden).

A tip - all shops seem to be closed on Sundays in Muiden and the service in restaurants is quite slow, so bring your own water bottle!

Orange is cool!

Some impressions from my orange Queen's Day (April 30)!

Together with our two Couchsurfers from Taiwan we had a walk around the city, went to Vondelpark to see all the kids selling everything and understanding why Dutch are so good in business (since an early age), had a nice lunch downstairs in front of our house - watching all people passing by and asking "What do you sell?" and in the evening picking up some free stuff on the streets.

Nothing will stop him from travelling

"For 27 years old Hungarian Barnabás Nagy travelling is not the same as for most of us, young people. Mostly all we need to do is decide where we have not been yet, get a ticket and be on the way to our holiday place. It is not the same for Barnabás as he needs at least one month to prepare for any trip abroad, paying the utmost attention to accommodation and public transport. Being physically handicapped and walking with two sticks, Barnabás is exploring the world in his own way."

That is the beginning of an article I wrote for Libertas Magazine - my first article for them!

Full article you can read here.

Free books

Although I enjoyed Queen's Day (official holiday in the Netherlands, celebrating Queen's birthday - the biggest street party ever) a lot, there was also something sad about it.

In the evening we were walking back home, looking at all the mess on the streets and people still continuing to party. That was all bearable, and we even appreciated the free stuff left on the streets - especially several bags of clothes. Both me and my friend took some clothes and now after washing (as they smelled like champagne) I have a nice white summer jacket, a Chinese-style top and two orange tops, which will be perfect for the next year. Although it is pity that so many clothes are going to waste and people should be donating them to charity instead of leaving on the street, it was not the sadest thing.

Some streets later it hit me. There was a huge amount of boxes, full of books! It was like 5m long street, all full of boxes of books. Around ten people (and later even more) were looking for books they would like to keep and take home. Apparently somebody did not manage to sell them and left on the street.
Books! Why was that stupid person??? Imagine, it would start raining and all the books would get wet... Why couldn't this person simply donate them to the library, old people house, orphanage or any other place? I took around 10 books in English and thought that it is enough, I can't take more. But it makes me sad thinking that all the rest of books will end up in a garbage... People should be punished for leaving such amount of books on the street!

Mysterious lover - Italian neighbour

Those who have followed the story about my secret lover will be happy to hear that there is Part 2. :)

At first, a few weeks ago there was another chocolate bar at my doorstep, pretty taste. Thanks!

At second, my dad and his wife came to Amsterdam during Easter. As Michael and me were in Germany, we arranged that they can stay in our apartment while we are on holiday - so we did not really meet each other. After coming back I found his note, saying: "I took your bottle of Latvian black balsam. Will explain you later why..."

So here I was, back home in Amsterdam and wondering why did a Latvian (arriving from Latvia and going to Latvia) need to take Latvian black balsam from Amsterdam??? I did not have an answer until this morning when my dad finally wrote me an e-mail and explained.

Turns out that in his first day here he met our neighbour David from Italy, who is living downstairs (btw, he is playing really loud music in late evenings) and who owns a restaurant. They started to chat and in the next day there was a bottle of champagne in the front of the door and an invitation to join for dinner at his restaurant.

David was very interested to find out what chances does he have with me... My dad replied - 0%, but he is welcomed to come and visit Latvia. David's reply: "Will there be Anita?" Sorry, no chance... But there is Midsummer Night in Latvia!

I am sorry to tell you that I have no idea how does David look like, I have never seen him! But my dad says - he is 36 years old and he looks like Karlsson :)