Jul 20 2012

Lost ambitions

Don’t you ever get that weird feeling of ambition? The feeling that you want to do something cool, create something beautiful or achieve something new in your life? Well, I do. I’ve been free from work for the last two weaks and the feeling is getting stronger every day. Only I don’t exactly know what I want to do. I’ve been knitting (yes in summer, the weather is shitty in here anyway) but that doesn’t seem to do the trick. I want to learn how to create my own wordpress theme or build my very own website but I’ve got no clue on where to start so I’ve been putting that off…

Instead, I’ve decided I should start blogging again! While I’ve been enjoying all the extra time I have by not blogging, I do kinda miss it. So here it is, another one of my claims to start blogging again. Let’s hope this time I can keep it up :)

P.s. If you have any ideas on where to start with building a website, let me know. It is much appreciated!

Jan 23 2012

A~Z – B is for Bicicles

Bicycles, every Dutch person has at least one of them and probably can’t live without. At least I can’t. When mine breaks down the first thing I do is either try to fix it myself or bring it to a repair guy. How am I gonna get to work when I don’t have my bike? Public transport isn’t really a great option because it makes you dependent on time and having to wait outside in the cold. And since I don’t own a car, the bike kind of is my only way of transport for short distances. The downside: you have to actually do something to get somewhere as opposed to sitting in a car. The upside: it’s healthy! I know I should still exercise and all but riding my bike is also exercise, which means I do a little of it already without any extra effort.

Dutch children learn to ride a bike when they are very young, starting on a tricycle. After that they get a regular bike with two small wheels on the side to prevent them from falling. These are removed after a while, first one wheel and then the other one too. Congratulations, you now can ride a bike! Of course, most children are very proud and will ride their pretty pink (or blue or whatever color) bike up and down the street for hours.

That’s where the bike riding culture starts I guess ;)

We use our bikes for everything. Getting from one place to another, buying groceries, bringing our kids to school. As long as the distance isn’t too big you’re good.

I remember once being asked a, to me, silly question. “What do you do when it rains?” Well, you get wet. Either you wear a rain suit, bring an extra pair of clothes or you just wait until everything dried up again. That’s life people!

I know there might be some of you out there that don’t know how to ride a bike and for me that is kinda hard to grasp. Since it is so present in Dutch culture, to me it seems like something anyone can do without even thinking about it.

What about you? Do you know how to ride a bike? How often do you do it, and how did you learn?

P.s. do check My Global A – Z for A – Z’s about other countries.

 

Jan 18 2012

A~Z – A is for Amsterdam

A little predictable maybe but also an important, and probably the most well known place in the Netherlands. When I tell someone I’m from the Netherlands, most of them go “Oh, Amsterdam!”. As you might know I don’t live in Amsterdam so that’s the end of that conversation then.

Amsterdam is the capital city of the Netherlands, although the government is situated in The Hague. I have no idea why it is like that but I guess it grew that way a long time ago. The name of the city comes from a dam that was build in the Amstel river in the 13th century.

Many people visit Amsterdam, some to see the city, which I think is  beautiful, and others just go there for the coffeeshops and De Wallen. I have been to Amsterdam only a few times myself so I can´t really tell much about it other than what I find on the internet. Since I don’t think that will make a very interesting post I’ll leave it at this for now.

 

Jan 18 2012

My A ~ Z of the Netherlands

Piglet in Portugal recently wrote a post about her A ~ Z challenge of Portugal and encourages all of us to join her by doing an A ~ Z on our own country. She even made a seperate blog for it where you can find everyone who is joining in this challenge and read about their country.

As you all know I live in the Netherlands and I think there is plenty to tell about our little country at the sea so I decided to join in the challenge. If you have any suggestions for post topics of course they are welcome!

Jan 6 2012

Fresh start

Happy new year everyone! I thought I’d start the new year with some changes on my blog as you can see. I chose a new theme which I still have to tweak a bit obviously, starting with a nice header image. There are so many nice headers online that it makes me wonder how all these people make them, and why can’t I do that? I’m supposed to be a computer scientist, I should be the one being able to do that stuff!

Anyway, the header image will follow when I find something awesome. Or maybe, just maybe, I’ll create something myself! Who knows what the future will bring.

Another thing that’s new here is a page called cookery where I will upload some recipes every now and then. For now the page is empty but I hope I’ll cook some nice things to share with you once my new kitchen is done. That’s right, I’m getting a new kitchen! At this moment there’s not much fun to it seeing as I don’t have a kitchen at all at the moment. Which means I can’t cook dinner and am dependent of others for some food. Hopefully in two weeks the new kitchen will be done and I can start cooking some amazing stuff to share with you!

That’s it for now I guess, I’m gonna continue my search for a nice header image.

Dec 6 2011

Little printer

I saw the cutest thing on the internet today. It’s called little printer and it’s kind of useless but hey, it’s totally cute! Here’s a picture, or better even, here’s a video!

Isn’t this thing totally cute?

 

I want it. Probably it’s crazily expensive, and not to forget, quite useless but still… I want it!

Nov 20 2011

Moving!

Hi there it’s me again! Remember me? The girl that used to write a post a week to inform you on the ups and downs in my life? Well, I’m here again, for now at least. The reason for my absense is that I’ve been moving. I bought my own appartment in the city! It’s a great place and I’m really happy to finaly have a real home, all to myself! Pictures will follow of course.  First I need to get this place finished.

Today will be all about putting together my furniture. My parents will be here soon with all of it and then I can put my ikea skills to a good use again. I better get going and make sure the living room (yes I’ve got a living room, oh my god!) is empty so there is actually space to put my new furniture!

Disclaimer: the real reason for my absense is just plain laziness… Sorry guys!

Oct 12 2011

Male interest

I got hit on by a random stranger yesterday. Seriously people, what’s happening to this world?

I was on my way home, walking, minding my own business when someone called after me. One of the people working at the construction site next to my place. He asked if he could know my name, so I asked him why? What whould he do with that random information? He said he just wanted to know, and he also wanted my phone number. At this point my alarm bells began to ring, I don’t give out my phone number to random strangers on the street! So again I asked why he could possibly want that. He said just for texting and maybe giving me a  call, just for fun. At that point I told him I already have a boyfriend, that should scare the guy off right? Right?

Well, not this one it wouldn’t! He wanted to give me his phone number so I could call him when I broke up with my boyfriend. I mean, seriously? What is this guy thinking?

What’s going on in the world? I really don’t think I’m that attractive. Even so, cars slow down in the streets to look at me every now and then, maybe open a window to whistle or shout out the nasty stuff to me. Why are men humiliating themselves like this? Can anyone please tell me?

Aug 25 2011

The nothing box

A few days ago the daily post at wordpress inspired us to think about nothing and describe what happens. I’ve got to tell you, I didn’t try, because there’s no way in hell I’m gonna be able to do that. I’m a girl, I can’t possibly think of nothing!

Here’s why:

Aug 10 2011

It’s all in the stars

Yesterday I found an old ELLE magazine which featured the horoscopes for 2011. Horoscopes are the biggest nonsense in the world, I know that but still. I thought it might be fun to read it and “see whether it came true”, or at least part of it since the year is only halfway through.

 

What a load of crap! Now, I don’t quite remember all of what it said and I don’t have the magazine anymore to check but I do remember it’s all a big pile of nonsense. For instance, it suggested I would have an affair this year. That’s one thing that’s never gonna happen!

Now, I know I’m irresistible to man (yeah right) but no one of them in his right mind would try to start an affair with me. Even if it’s just because everyone either knows I have the best boyfriend in the world or will find out about him before he could even think about making a move. I may look good in my beautiful skirts (I mean seriously, it seems like all men above 25 are looking at me when I walk around town. Different story though, I’ll tell you about it another time) but I’m not about to lose my boyfriend over any one of you!