Kalmaņu vīns

Dažādu iemeslu dēļ pasen neko neesmu rakstījusi, bet vismaz šodien klusumu lauzīšu, pastāstot par kādu īpašu Ziemassvētku dāvanu.

Aizvadītajos Ziemassvētkos mani tuvākie ģimenes locekļi saņēma speciālu dāvanu - Kalmaņu vīnu, kas tagad man vienmēr atgādinās tēta pārsteigto reakciju un jautājumus visas nākamās pusstundas garumā.

Latvijā šī iespēja, šķiet, nav īpaši zināma, taču vismaz dažās ārvalstīs ir ierasta lieta dāvināt parastas mantas ar neparastu noformējumu - piemēram, baltvīnu ar unikālu etiķeti tikai dažos eksemplāros. :) Par to uzzināju, nejauši runājot ar vienu šādu meistaru, un ideja manai unikālajai Ziemassvētku dāvanai bija gatava! Ar meistara palīdzību tā tika arī realizēta, maniem vecvecākiem, tētim, mammai un māsai pasniedzot šādu dāvanu ar manis izdomātu tekstu gan pudeles priekšā, gan aizmugurē.

Lai gan šoreiz vīns bija parastais ungāru vīns, Ziemassvētkos par to aizdomājāmies, jo tieši tobrīd vectētiņš brūvēja mājas ābolu vīnu... Varbūt nākamreiz tas būs 100% Kalmaņu vīns ne tikai etiķetes, bet arī sastāva ziņā?!

Baltic Winter Drinks for Charity

Some of you might have already heard - some crazy Baltic people (+ our great Dutch team member) are organising a charity event here in Amsterdam on December 18!

It started as an idea "Let's do something good this Christmas and let's popularise Baltic countries" and it grew into this wonderful event. Baltic Winter Drinks for Charity is organised by youth from all 3 Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) to have a nice winter evening, to educate people here about our countries and to donate income to the charity (soup kitchens in Baltic states).

Able to join on Dec 18? Living nearby Amsterdam? From Baltic states or having an interesting about these countries? Just come!

Every day we are e-mailing each other, updating about news, supporters (today we got to know that not only the embassy of Latvia, but also the embassy of Lithuania is supporting us!), making sure the agenda, promotion and everything else is as good as possible. Feels like back in NGO times! :)

What exactly is voluntary work?

Yet another article to introduce you with.

It was still July (or maybe August) when for AEGEE's annual report "Key to Europe 2010/2011" I wrote two articles - one about voluntary work in general and one with quotes from several AEGEEans about their reasons to volunteer.

The annual report is published and my articles are published as well :) Go to your closest AEGEE office and read the magazine there, your board should have it!

Or do as I did - read it online here!

Hear me singing

As you might remember, I am singing in a Latvian choir here in the Netherlands. Although we have been rehearsing for less than two months, our first performance is going to be already this weekend when the Latvian community in the Netherlands is celebrating the Independence Day of Latvia (my country is getting 93 years old!).

Last weekend we had our rehearsal, where we also recorded the Latvian anthem as LNT (one of Latvian televisions) is collecting videos from Latvians abroad singing the hymn.

While it might not be the best singing ever, please, appreciate our efforts taking into consideration how young is the choir "Ziemeļjūra" (it means Nordic/North Sea)!

Spread the love

Yet another article - this time with the readers of Libertas Magazine I shared my opinion about love... No, not that kind of love as you might think - but my love to volunteer!

"We all know that (almost) all of us love our partners, parents, siblings, children and close friends. It is an unconditional love, which (almost) all of us have experienced in our lives and continue experiencing. But how about loving the world through volunteering?"

To read the rest of the article, please, click here!

1 out of 7 billion

I feel like an ant... How about you?

Caricature

What do you think about this version of Anita? :)

I got this caricature last week from my Dutch course mate who is a professional artist-caricaturist. Every lesson he is drawing some people just for fun (while studying Dutch), so finally I also got my picture.

Michael already gave his opinion - the straw symbolises me drinking capirinhas and the smile symbolises me making fun of Michael. :)

Other opinions?

Friends of/with beer

I have entered in a new photo contest, this time run by Van Gogh Museum.

Please, vote for my picture via Facebook and/or Twitter! :)

Many thanks!

Great food at "Moeders"

I am sorry for not writing so often here anymore, but somehow it doesn't feel the same... Maybe I am getting even more lazy than before? :)

Anyways, as I heard that today there is Blog Action Day 2011 and the topic is "Food", I decided to write about the great restaurant we went today - "Moeders".

I have passed by the place quite a few times and always been amazed by the great interior (as much as you can see without going in), but never had time/opportunity to check it out. Today with a few friends-visitors we finally did it!

At first I thought that it's a bar, so it was a surprise to go in and find out that actually it's a restaurant. As the name implies ("Mothers"), it has a particular design, all full of different mums' pictures, really cute. Also the plates and glasses, and all other cutlery is very diverse as it all has been donated by visitors when they opened the restaurant.

The restaurant is not very big, around 10-15 tables, so we were lucky to get a free table without a reservation. It seemed that usually it is completely full and there were still people coming in and being turned down (as there were no free seats anymore). Good to know and make a reservation for the next time!

The food was very good, and the dessert - cheesecake - was simply the culmination. Michael already said that we should bring his mum next time she comes for a visit. So if you are in Amsterdam with your mum - bring her as well!

Latvian Choir

Yesterday I attended my first Latvian Choir rehearsal in the Netherlands!

Seems that there are two choirs - one in Tilburg and one in The Hague, so twice a month I will be taking train to The Hague and singing together real Latvian songs with real Latvians :)

In the first rehearsal we were practising four songs - "Pūt, vējiņi", "Saule, Pērkons, Daugava", "Bēdu manu lielu bēdu" and, of course, the hymn "Dievs, svētī Latviju."

I have never sang those songs in alto, always only in soprano, but now I am an alto, so it was a bit hard to get used to a different melody to follow. Will do my best!

Will keep you updated how it goes!

Ik spreek Nederlands

For those who did not know yet - a couple of weeks ago I finally started my Dutch language classes, which are paid by the city council. Thanks, gemeente! :)

How did I get them? Well, the long to free Dutch courses was not so easy...

1) Register as living in the Netherlands

2) Find information about these courses. Not so easy, because it is (almost) nowhere written that also EU citizens can take them voluntarily, so you need to know about them in advance.

3) Send an e-mail to make an appointment with the city council regarding the courses

4) Go to an appointment and answer to questions like "why do you want to study Dutch?", "what will you do with the skills?", "how much time do you have?" etc.

5) Have another appointment where they test how fast can you learn aka "stupidity/IQ test" :) No language skills necessary.

6) Have yet another appointment with their chosen language school for you where for 1 hour they test your writing, speaking, listening and reading (15 min each) - all in Dutch, of course!

7) Wait results about your current language level. I got A2 for reading and A1 for everything else with a note "uses a lot of German words".

8) Start your classes for one year!

Next time I will tell you my opinion about my classes, which are twice a week for 3 hours each time (+ homework).

Vīrieši par sievietēm

Pirms kāda pusotra gada manā rīcībā nokļuva aizraujoša lasāmviela, kas bija (gandrīz) autobiogrāfisks stāsts par kādu puisi-vīrieti, kurš no vairāk-vai-mazāk jefiņa kļuva par vienu no sieviešu iekārojamākajiem objektiem, kurš zināja, kā jebkuru sievieti dabūt sevi. Angliski šo mākslu un specus sauc par "pick-up artist", latviski tiem nosaukums man nav zināms.

Ar lielu interesi izlasīju šo grāmatu tāpat kā citas neparastas grāmatas, kas ir balstītas uz patiesiem stāstiem. Atzīšos, ka līdz tam nezināju, ka ir tāda "suga" (ja tā var teikt) un ka tā ir gan māksla (viņu uztverē), gan arī labs naudas pelnīšanas bizness, mācot to citiem.

Pirms dažām nedēļām veiksmīgi dabūju arī realitātes šova ar tādu pašu nosaukumu sērijas, kur astoņi neveiksminieki (kā viņi tiek pasniegti), tostarp arī 45 gadus vecs un vēl nevainīgs vīrietis, tiek apmācīti trīs šādu "pick-up artists" pavadībā. Kā jau katrā šovā, katrā sērijā kāds tiek izbalsots, ir balvas un visi pārējie pribambasi.

Diemžēl vismaz pirmās divas sērijas nebija tik interesantas, kā es to biju cerējusi. Pārāk daudz šova elementu un atkārtošanās... Grāmatai ne klāt nestāv. Tomēr kā izklaides līdzeklis vakarā - droši! Ar vīna vai kādu citu glāzi un labu kompāniju, ar ko kopā pasmieties :)

Calendar with my photo

I am rocking again!

Some months ago a shop/food place Kitsch Kitchen made a photo competition, asking to submit pictures showing the intercultural diversity of Amsterdam. Of course, I took part and sent a few pictures from Indian festival "Diwali".

Just last week I heard back from them saying that my picture has been selected for the calendar of 2012, yehuu!

Prize - a copy of the calendar, which I got just yesterday. My picture is placed in the (in)famous last week of the year/first week of the next year and there is also my name in the list of all the photographers.

Wanna get a unique calendar with my photo in it? You can do it on their website.

Apzinīgs pilsonis

Labs darbiņš, kas padarīts! :)

Vakar ar četriem amsterdamiešiem, kam ir Latvijas pase, devāmies uz Hāgu balsot Saeimas ārkārtas vēlēšanās.

Ierodoties tur ap 12pm, uzzinājām, ka esam ~30-40ie balsotāji. Tie, kas nobalsoja pēcpusdienā, teica, ka esot nobalsojuši jau vairāk nekā 200 cilvēki. Interesanti zināk, cik tad bija beigās? Vēstniecība lēšot, ka oficiāli valstī dzīvo 2500 mūsējo (tie, kas to norādījuši PMLP), neoficiāli kopējais skaits varētu būt ap 4-5 tūkstoši.

Lai nu kā, diena pagāja zem Latvijas zvaigznes. Kopīgi ieēstas pusdienas, kopīgi iedzerti aliņi/vīni un iepazīti Hāgas bāri. Domāju, ka satiku ap 20 latviešus, no kuriem ar vismaz 12 sēdēju pie viena galda un spriedu par dzīvi šeit, par trīslitrīgajiem mašīnu motoriem, par valodu fetišu, par prezidentālu republiku, par Maltu un par kopējām paziņām.

Pēc tik daudzām kopīgi pavadītām stundām un secinājumiem, ka vajag tikties atkal, ir skaidrs, ka šie plāni tiks realizēti jau drīz - par to jau liecina jaunizveidotā grupa sociālajos tīklos. Latvieši iekaro Nīderlandi vēl vairāk!

Problems with the car

Seems that we are quite unlucky with the car. Within less than a year we have got already problems with it already four times... :(

1) Once we arrived in our car park (as parking there on a street is for free) in Amsterdam Zuid to find that somebody has stolen our car's windscreen wipers. I don't know who would need just them, but it took quite a lot of time and days to find new ones as apparently this specific car type (and therefore also wipers) is not so common in the Netherlands...

2) In February during the Maastricht Carnival some carnival car was apparently too big and wide. At night/evening it was passing through the street where our car was parked and completely broke our right window and another car's window! Luckily the guy was nice and left a note with his address to clear the insurance papers etc. Unfortunately the garage which can fix the problem is not so fast and even now (after half a year) we still do not have a fixed mirror as they are very slow with ordering the new one. Hopefully soon...

3) Another time Michael was driving the car and suddenly noticed that the breaks were not working! Luckily he was not to the garage, so could go (very slowly) and fix it, but it could have been very dangerous if he would be already on a motorway...

4) And last weekend - see yourselves! Somebody wanted to steal the car! Luckily he did not succeed, but now we can't open the right doors and the driver needs to crumble inside the car through the co-driver's seat. Not very convenient, but we hope to fix it already this week...

Conclusion: don't park in the Netherlands your car, it's dangerous!

Saeimas vēlēšanas

Šodien saņēmu e-pastu no Latvijas vēstniecības Nīderlandē, ko vienkārši nedrīkstu paturēt tikai sev. Izbaudiet arī jūs! :)

"Tautieši!

Mēs esam sena tauta – un mēs esam viņai parādā!

Ārzemēs dzīvo vairāk kā divi simti tūkstošu Latvijas pilsoņu. Mēs nevaram vēl tautu “savest mājās pie Daugavas krastiem” bet varam katrs tomēr piedalīties valsts attīstībā - 17. septembrī!

Varbūt arī Tu dzīvo starp divām saulēm ar kājām vienā zemē un sirdi Latvijā? Arī Tu vari palīdzēt Latvijai 17. septembrī, ejot balsot. Katra pilsoņa līdzdalība ir svarīga Latvijai, jo sliktus deputātus ievēl labi pilsoņi, kas nepiedalās vēlēšanās. To mūsu zeme vairs nevar atļauties."

E-pastu papildināja daži tiešām labi video, tostarp šis:

Latvian cuisine

A few weeks ago in one event I met a lady from Philippines. We started talking and she asked me where am I from. "Latvia, but probably you don't know where is it," I replied as I don't expect non-Europeans know our small country.

What a surprise I had when she asked which is my hometown! Turns out just only a few weeks ago she visited in Latvia and felt in love with the country and food! Now she is telling to everybody how nice and beautiful it is, unofficially becoming a kind of Latvian Ambassador :)

That's not all. She really loved our cuisine, so kept telling me about a book about Latvian food she saw, but didn't buy - and regretted it. I even didn't know that there is a book in English about Latvian tasty food!

With my help and a few websites she managed to find the name of the book, so tomorrow I am going to meet her and give her the book (thanks to Agnese who bought and brought it from Latvia!). It will be funny to think that a women from Philippines is going to cook home Latvian food :)

For all of you who also want to know more about Latvian book - take a look at the book here!

Fulfilled dreams

In the latest issue of Libertas Magazine you can read my interview with Haris Mexas about the topic "achievements".

"I always envy those people who can speak several languages and change from one to another without any problem. My dear Greek friend Haris Mexas is one of those lucky people. He is a linguist, so one can expect him to be able to speak fluent Greek, English, Spanish, German and French and add some respectable knowledge of Italian, Turkish, Latin and even ancient Greek. That's not all – this September Haris is starting to fulfill his dream to be a master student in the Netherlands and catching up with his Dutch language skills!"

Full article you can read here.

Loģika

Kam ir ideja, kāds ir nākamais cipars un kāda ir loģikas secība? :) Pareizajai atbildei - pārsteiguma balva no manis!

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Latvians keep coming

I do not know if it's just my aura or all Latvians are really moving to the Netherlands, but I keep meeting more and more Latvians who have moved or are about to move here! The funny thing - almost all of them I have already met before!

Since 2,5 years ago when I moved here for the first time I have hanged out with:

1) Agnese Nr. 1 - my crazy party associate in my last and her first weeks in Amsterdam. The friendship with crazy memories and long-lasting impact on both of us. True, I didn't know her before - but CouchSurfing united us.

2) Sintija - the history dates back to 2003 when we got to know each other through my dad. One day I noticed on Facebook that now she is living in Amsterdam - what a surprise, me too! For almost a year she was my company to a lot of cultural events!

3) Lelde - the history dates back to God-knows-when. I think, both of us were still in the primary school when we became pen pals. Later on we found out that we used to study in the same university and she used to work with my course mate. Funny enough, for the first time we met more than 10 years after in Amsterdam...

Furthermore, there is a bunch of other Latvians living nearby whom I haven't met so much yet, but who are worth mentioning anyway.

4) Kristīne - so many e-mail exchanges, but still haven't met despite having quite a few common friends. One day...!

5) Mārtiņš - my cousin's cousin, yet not my cousin. One day I heard from my cousin that he has moved to the Netherlands as well... So far the only Latvian guy I am aware of in this country (apart from "I know X who knows Y who is living here")

6) Baiba - well, we were together in the primary school and, the same as Lelde, she was also studying in the same university. Then one day I saw on Facebook (as well) that she is in the Netherlands, although in the opposite side of the country. Will meet again for sure!

7) Agnese Nr. 2 - at first, ages ago I interviewed her grandma for some article. At second, her grandma then told me that her granddaughter Agnese was studying in the same high school where I did. At third, turns out that she used to work for the same company in Amsterdam I am working now!

8) Agnese Nr 3 - my Latvian colleague at work, seeing her every day and practising my Latvian not to forget it :)

9) Egita - well, Facebook says that we have 45 common friends and I am sure that draugiem.lv would add a few more. Knew about her since I joined AEGEE, but never really talked - until one day we met in Brussels in an event. And then again, here...

10) Agnese Nr. 4 - the youngest part of the non-existing-community. One day she wrote me on Facebook saying that we have met and spoken a few years ago in an information market in Sweden, where I was presenting AEGEE and she was doing Erasmus (I think so). Of course, we have common Latvian friends. Last week also this Agnese moved to Amsterdam. Welcome!

11) Tatjana - just remembered, another AEGEEan living in the country, although also not so close to me. Memories about co-organised events back in Latvia...

Did I forget anybody? :) Aija doesn't count, she was living here before I did - too bad.