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.