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! :)

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)!

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!

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 :)

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!

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!

Loģika

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

5

4

4

5

5

4

7

6

6

...

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.

Maltese wedding

So it has happened. I was a guest at my first international wedding! :)

Yesterday my dear friends Alistair and Anna got married in a Maltese/Polish/international wedding, full of people from different parts of the world. It was interesting to observe and discuss the differences between wedding in various countries.

I guess that it was a quite typical Maltese wedding, which leads me to a conclusion that apart from the church and the white dress there are no similarities between Latvian and Maltese wedding. Amazing to be a part of so different wedding!

I am not sure how correct will I be comparing both of them, but let me give you my observations about the main differences:

Time: ~5 hours (Malta) vs ~24/36 hours (2 days) (Latvia)

Procedure: Church + standing reception (Malta) vs church + seated dinner/breakfast with a lot of traditions (Latvia)

Speeches: 0 (Malta) vs a lot (Latvia)

Flowers as presents: 0 (Malta) vs from every guest (Latvia)

Presents: usually money (Malta) vs anything (Latvia)

Nevertheless, it was an important moment for Alistair and Anna as well as all their friends and relatives. Some of us were present the first time both of them met, so it is a nice memory to keep with us - being proud to be a part of their family history.

Congratulations, my dears!

Ķīniešu valoda

Pirms vairākām nedēļām es apmeklēju kādu pasākumu, kas bija paredzēts šeit dzīvojošiem ārzemniekiem. Vairākas valodu skolas iepazīstināja ar savu piedāvājumu, tostarp bija arī īss ķīniešu (mandarīnu) valodas demonstrējums.

Ar hieroglifiem nemāku rakstīt, bet ķīniešu val. skolotāja šādi rakstīja ar latīņu burtiem:

Sveiki - nī hāo (izrunā kā nī hāo).

Nī = Tu

Hāo = labi

Es esmu - wo shi (izrunā kā vo ši).

Mani sauc - wo jiao (izrunā kā vo tjau).

Kā Tevi sauc? - nī jiao shenme? (izrunā kā nī tjau šemmē)

Paldies - izrunā kā sje sje.

I want a bank card!

So... The story about my "integration" and settling down in the Netherlands continues.

After I got my Dutch bank card to pay in the shops and to withdraw money, I found out that with this card it is not possible to pay online. I never had such a card before in Latvia (although I do have a similar Belgian card), so it was new to me.

Whatever - I went to my bank and applied for a credit card (MasterCard). After waiting more than one hour in the queue and filling out the form, last weekend I got to know that... my request has been denied! And in the bank they even couldn't give me a reason why.

What? Denied? For what? I didn't do anything, why wouldn't you give me a simply card so I can shop online (flight tickets, Amazon etc.)

As one Dutchie wrote - "It is probably because you don't have any credit registry in the Netherlands as foreigner. Often they demand Dutch citizenship with a proper creditrecord (no debts!) or explicit proof of high income and/or capital as non Dutch citizen."

Well, let' s try plan B then - apply for visa card as suggested in the bank. The lady just told me to go online on visa.nl and said I could fill the form in English.

Turns out not to be true. At first, the form is only in Dutch. At second, there are so many different visa cards, that I didn't know which one to choose and what is the difference.

Nevertheless - I applied for one of them and let' s hope they will accept at least that! Otherwise my boyfriend will need to continue buying my stuff online...

Viesskolnieki

Tikko izlasīju Calis.lv forumā (ko šad tad laika pakavēšanai lasu) par kādas ģimenes jauko pieredzi, uz gadu AFS apmaiņas programmā uzņemot meiteni no Jamaikas.

Par šīm programmām pēdējo gadu laikā esmu dzirdējusi diezgan daudz un vienmēr nožēlojusi, ka nebija informācijas par tām tad, kad es mācījos skolā. Aizbraukt pašai apmaiņā man nebūtu bijis līdzekļu un gan jau arī tobrīd vēl interese, bet es domāju, ka tajā laikā gan es būtu gribējusi uzņemt kādu viesskolēnu. Piemēram, cik gan forši būtu bijis iegūt brāli uz gadu! :)

Nezinu, kāda citiem latviešiem ir bijusi pieredze, bet zinu vienu beļģu meiteni, kas gadu pavadīja AFS programmā Latvijā un lieliski iemācījās runāt latviski. Tas vien ir kā vēŗts! :)

Banks

Some years ago in Latvia Hansabanka (yes, a bank, which is now called Swedbank) had a very nice idea - if you were waiting in the queue for longer than 20 minutes, you received a free voucher for a cup of coffee/tea/hot drink in a coffee shop (not the Dutch coffeeshop). I remember sometimes waiting in the queue and thinking that I could wait 20min - just to receive a free voucher :)

Today when I was waiting in ABN, I thought about passing this idea to the banks here in the Netherlands. It was not very crowded branch and after hearing the reason why did I come to the bank (not for suggesting the voucher idea) the lady said that I can sit down and wait, adding that there are three people before me.

It took exactly one hour before I got what I wanted! After 50min of waiting the lady said that there are three people working with customers and that I am the next in the queue. So did everybody really need 1 hour for discussing their issue with the bank or did they all (by accident) wanted something very complicated like a loan?! For me it took 10 minutes...

Vēžošana

Nedēļas nogalē es pirmo reizi dzīvē izdarīju vēl kaut ko, ne tikai to, kas ir minēts iepriekšejā rakstā. Pirmo reizi dzīvē es arīdzan... vēžoju!

Seši cilvēki - seši noķerti vēzīši. Kā to dara?

1. "Iegādājas" māsu, kas visu izplāno, lai pārējiem nav nekas jādara. :)

2. Atrod ezeru, kurā mīt vēži, un sarunā tur aizbraukt.

3. Atrod divus stiprus puišus, kuri airēs un uz kuru vārda būs vēžošanas atļaujas (Lādes ezerā - 2 Ls no deguna).

4. Sarunā ar superīgo saimnieku, ka var lietot viņa murdus un no viņa var nopirkt arī vēžu ēsmu. Parasti ēsmā esot vardes (tikko nobeigtas), bet mēs vēžojām ar vistu kakliņiem.

5. Paņem murdus un brauc ar sešiem cilvēkiem (no kuriem viens vēžoja bērnībā un otrs pāris reizes kaut kad, bet pārējie nekad) divās laivās.

6. Izmet un iztin murdiņus zigzagā kaut kur ezerā. Gaida aptuveni 20min un tad ceļ vienu pēc otra ārā.

7. Sūrstojas, ka lielākajā daļā murdu nekā nav, un met atkal.

8. Priecājas, kad ir, un spēlējas ar vēžiem.

9. Brauc krastā, runā par viena vēža likšanu akvārijā un pārējo piecu vārīšanu.

10. Plāno nākamo vēžošanu uz ilgāku laiku un nopietnāku sagatavošanos. :)

Learning Latvian

Now not only me, but also Michael has a blog - he has decided to blog about his attempt to learn Latvian language, so you are welcomed to follow his blog as well! Unfortunately there is no possibility to comment on his blog yet, but you can do it on his Facebook :)

Part of his first article:

"In the beginning I tried to learn some random Latvian words (basically the usual stuff like "thanks", "good morning", etc.). But mixing everything together to some kind of Engerlatutch (ENGlish - GERman - LATvian - dUTCH) does not sound nice if used in the long term. Furthermore, I like learning languages, so I want to challenge myself and learn proper Latvian."

Missing Latvian language?

If by any chance you have a need for Latvian keyboard (read: characters) on your laptop, but you do not have it, here is an easy solution - download it for free!

I have downloaded it for myself already a few years ago and very happy about that.

Get it and do not complain that you can't write in proper Latvian because you do not have the necessary letters!

Dienvidslāvija

Tikko pabeidzu angliski lasīt ļoti interesantu un viegli lasāmu grāmatu.

Horvātietes Slavenkas Drakulič grāmata "They Would Never Hurt a Fly: War Criminals on Trial in The Hague" stāsta par tiem augstākā mēroga kara noziedzniekiem, kuri bija iesaistīti 90. gadu Dienvidslāvijas karos, nogalinot vairākus tūkstošus horvātu, serbu, musulmaņu u. c.

Lai gan tā nav pirmā reize, kad iegūstu jaunu informāciju par šo laika periodu Dienvidslāvijā, es joprojām cenšos atcerēties, vai skolas laikā mums par to vēstures stundās mācīja? Savu atmiņu neuzskatu par sliktu, bet absolūti, absolūti (!) neko par to neatceros.

Latvijas vēsture - skaidra lieta. Krievijas, Francijas, Lielbritānijas, pat ASV Pilsoņu kara un citi notikumi ir spilgtā atmiņā no vēstures stundām. Neatceros neko daudz par Āfriku, it īpaši tās kolonizēšanu, un Āziju.

Tomēr bijušās Dienvidslāvijas teritorija ir kas cits, tā ir tepat Eiropā, pavisam netālu no mums. Un 90. gadu vidus bija tieši tas laiks, kad es sāku iet skolā. Ja vēl ne pamatskolā, tad varbūt vidusskolā par to vajadzēja runāt?

Tagad pēc gadiem par to uzzinu vien no saviem ārzemju draugiem, kuri paši nav dienvidslāvi (jo zinu, ka ar viņiem par to labāk nerunāt) - bet kuriem par to ir vairāk informācijas. Skatos (dokumentālās) filmas un lasu dažas grāmatas, lai gūtu kaut aptuvenu priekšstatu.

Tomēr jautājums paliek... Vai varbūt citās skolās ne tikai par Dienvidslāvijas karu/-iem, bet par to teritoriju vispār tika vairāk mācīts? Un vai šobrīd par to māca?

Discounts with Groupon

As far as I know, Groupon discounted deals exist not only in the Netherlands, but also other countries. Not long time ago also in Latvia appeared several similar websites (although not Groupon), all offering great discounted deals.

I know that my sister is a huge fan of them and using them regularly. Here in the Netherlands I have used them and a couple of other websites a few times as most of the offers do not attract me. I do not want to get any beauty treatments, book a hotel (which anyways sounds quite expensive), go out for dinner on a regular basis or subscribe for a fitness club.

However, sometimes there are interesting deals we have used:

• House of Bols experience with cocktails - bought, but haven't used the deal yet
• Nepalese menu in "Mt. Everest" restaurant - tasty, expensive and slow service
• Skiing in "Snow Planet" - terrible

It is true that we wouldn't have been going to these places otherwise (except "Mt. Everest" which was in our plan anyway), but as the prices were not too expensive, it was interesting to try something new. And I think that it is worth it as long as you do not pay too much.

I have also used a couple of websites for presents, but can't reveal which deals - as those who got the presents might be reading my blog :)

How about your experience?