This weekend a Japanese friend who's now currently living in Duesseldorf came to visit.
This meant having to find out how well my Japanese has kept up after 2,5 years, going on three, of being out of Japan and not having had any significant Japanese language interaction aside from an occasional afternoon. Well, not as well as I had hoped, but also not as badly as I had feared. So it's a mixed positive, I guess.
As a ticket to Japan is nowhere in sight, I'll have to make do with a weekend in Duesseldorf sometime in the coming months for some shopping and what is supposedly the best ramen in Europe. Yumm!
It also reminded me of some of the peculiarities of Japan - constant apologizing for things that cannot be helped, very conservative ideas about relationships, work, travel etc. A reminder of why I don't want to live there long-term. And a reminder that I need to install Japanese language software on my computer again (long long overdue) so I can communicate with friends in Japan again.
But it's always fun to see your own town through someone else's eyes again - the pretty canals, the mostly smiling people, the relaxedness of Dutch cities (well, at least these last two compare favourably to Germany apparently!).
Showing posts with label weekend. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weekend. Show all posts
April 13, 2008
April 05, 2008
Weekend
While usually having my weekends filled with travelling all over the Randstad, busy with meeting people and so on, this one contains nothing. And for once, this is very very good.
Apart from meeting one friend for coffee/wine this afternoon, and lunch tomorrow with cookie, I am spending my time on (lots of) sleeping, reading the paper and books, (a little bit of) studying, writing some things down which I can't seem to say, sorting out photo's from two years of travel, slowly preparing next week's presentation, cooking, etc etc.
Perfect.
Apart from meeting one friend for coffee/wine this afternoon, and lunch tomorrow with cookie, I am spending my time on (lots of) sleeping, reading the paper and books, (a little bit of) studying, writing some things down which I can't seem to say, sorting out photo's from two years of travel, slowly preparing next week's presentation, cooking, etc etc.
Perfect.
February 08, 2008
Weekend fun
This weekend is again one of those which is filled with lots of fun and interesting stuff. I'm trying to be quite the intellectual though with, instead of parties and concerts, lots of lectures and debates.
My afternoon plans for tomorrow will be a new experience.
My university celebrates its establishment on February 8 (433 years today) and tomorrow I will be attending some of the events organized for alumni. It should be fairly interesting and I'm quite curious what it will be like. At least it's an interesting programme with a lecture on 'The mythes on the influence of Europe' and later on a workshop on 'Presenting with conviction'. Fits right in with some other stuff I've been doing.
More alumnistuff that evening when I have to put some people back on track. Not really looking forward to that though.
But! Sunday is looking great:
* 60 years of Magnum Photos at SMCS
* sushi, or something similar. yummm.
* Putin, Gorbatsjov and anything Russian in between at the Rode Hoed
My university celebrates its establishment on February 8 (433 years today) and tomorrow I will be attending some of the events organized for alumni. It should be fairly interesting and I'm quite curious what it will be like. At least it's an interesting programme with a lecture on 'The mythes on the influence of Europe' and later on a workshop on 'Presenting with conviction'. Fits right in with some other stuff I've been doing.
More alumnistuff that evening when I have to put some people back on track. Not really looking forward to that though.
But! Sunday is looking great:
* 60 years of Magnum Photos at SMCS
* sushi, or something similar. yummm.
* Putin, Gorbatsjov and anything Russian in between at the Rode Hoed
November 04, 2007
Saturday
My Saturday night:
1) seeing and hearing a trio breathtakingly play a piece by Novak on piano, cello and violin at the Pianola museum. Absolutely stunning.
2) frustratingly watch a group of friends try to find eachother in different parts of the city by frantically calling and texting. Sigh.
3) playing with all the cool kiddie science gadgets at NEMO. Whee!
4) cheering for the architects competing Idols-style to win a prestigious building project at ARCAM.
5) loving the chocolate letters at El Hema.
6) being bored while lounging between the Rembrandts at the Rijksmuseum (although I did love the chocolate fountain!).
Yep, I think those were the highlights of the night.
Where I still want to go to? The Museum of Bags and Purses!
1) seeing and hearing a trio breathtakingly play a piece by Novak on piano, cello and violin at the Pianola museum. Absolutely stunning.
2) frustratingly watch a group of friends try to find eachother in different parts of the city by frantically calling and texting. Sigh.
3) playing with all the cool kiddie science gadgets at NEMO. Whee!
4) cheering for the architects competing Idols-style to win a prestigious building project at ARCAM.
5) loving the chocolate letters at El Hema.
6) being bored while lounging between the Rembrandts at the Rijksmuseum (although I did love the chocolate fountain!).
Yep, I think those were the highlights of the night.
Where I still want to go to? The Museum of Bags and Purses!
October 21, 2007
*bounce bounce*
Ugh, I'm starting to bore myself with the bouncey-happy feeling of the last couple of weeks. Suppose I can't complain though, wouldn't want it to be any other way!
Anyway, the weekend was fab - as always:
I've been emailing with Julia about her upcoming move to the Netherlands... it's made me realize I wouldn't have a clue how to go about something huge like that myself. I haven't even been able to help much with her questions as moving here from abroad seems to require very different information than what I know of this country... or so it seems to me.
Another friend of mine has just done the same - but then moving from Tokyo to New York. Eek again!
I know I've lived abroad a fair bit myself, but then everything was perfectly arranged - whole organisations (in the case of Australia and the first time in Japan) or an instant social network (in the case of the last time in Japan) were there for me to set me up and keep me going. I'm not sure how I would handle something different if the opportunity came up... which is not totally unlikely in the future.
Anyway, the weekend was fab - as always:
- a repeat of the Japanology careerthing - again, a successful night but very stressful!
- Amsterdam Dance Event right after that - fun eventhough the main act Miss Kittin' was disappointing...
- champagne and oysters for MetOp
- lovely lunch with visiting foreigners
- etc.
I've been emailing with Julia about her upcoming move to the Netherlands... it's made me realize I wouldn't have a clue how to go about something huge like that myself. I haven't even been able to help much with her questions as moving here from abroad seems to require very different information than what I know of this country... or so it seems to me.
Another friend of mine has just done the same - but then moving from Tokyo to New York. Eek again!
I know I've lived abroad a fair bit myself, but then everything was perfectly arranged - whole organisations (in the case of Australia and the first time in Japan) or an instant social network (in the case of the last time in Japan) were there for me to set me up and keep me going. I'm not sure how I would handle something different if the opportunity came up... which is not totally unlikely in the future.
September 12, 2007
Update
Things are good. I think I'll like this job (and am scared I have expectations that are much too hight).
For now though, I'm being overwhelmed with lots of information and trainings and so on, but it's all good. Getting to know lots of new people but they seem fun.
But, there's good stuff ahead:
tomorrow - an event on Indonesian human rights
friday - great night out in Amsterdam. yay.
saturday - a taiko-gig! so cool, I'm going to be so homesick for Japan after that.
sunday - the homesickness will continue after meeting one of my friends from Osaka (if she'll confirm....!).
Yay ((*^-^*))
For now though, I'm being overwhelmed with lots of information and trainings and so on, but it's all good. Getting to know lots of new people but they seem fun.
But, there's good stuff ahead:
tomorrow - an event on Indonesian human rights
friday - great night out in Amsterdam. yay.
saturday - a taiko-gig! so cool, I'm going to be so homesick for Japan after that.
sunday - the homesickness will continue after meeting one of my friends from Osaka (if she'll confirm....!).
Yay ((*^-^*))
September 09, 2007
Coriander
Another highlight of the last weekend was Friday night - a delicious dinner with four good friends.
Originally, the plan was a pretty decadent night out. Well, okay. It still kind of was. We just had dinner at a restaurant with only one Michelin-star instead of three.
We walked into Koriander at 7:30pm. We walked out again at 1am. Great evening of amazing food (we had a surprise-menu: the best parts for me were the white bean soup with sole (I think?), the main course of duck breast (sp?), lots of cheese, and so on....), good conversation, lovely atmosphere - good stuff.
So, now we'll have to start thinking of what restaurant to try out next year....
Originally, the plan was a pretty decadent night out. Well, okay. It still kind of was. We just had dinner at a restaurant with only one Michelin-star instead of three.
We walked into Koriander at 7:30pm. We walked out again at 1am. Great evening of amazing food (we had a surprise-menu: the best parts for me were the white bean soup with sole (I think?), the main course of duck breast (sp?), lots of cheese, and so on....), good conversation, lovely atmosphere - good stuff.
So, now we'll have to start thinking of what restaurant to try out next year....
St Nyk
de grote kerk van Sint Nicolaasga, 13u, 08-09-2007!
Originally uploaded by macchi.
One of the highlights of the past weekend: the church in Sint Nicolaasga.
July 15, 2007
Weekendstories
It feels as if this weekend was a proper one after a long time:
* dinner with best friends, drinking wine and chatting the night away on a summery night
* good beer and company in my favourite cafe where I hadn't been for ages
* of course something cultural: Japanese calligraphy
* a picknick in the park, unfortunately with a sun that disappeared much too often
* music, dancing and beer and much unexpectedness at a party organized for charity (although am not sure what charity exactly)
* a Sunday-afternoon with wine, sunshine, fun company
What more could I want?
Good stuff. And no thinking about jobhunting crap. Even better! I'll start worrying about that again tomorrow.
* dinner with best friends, drinking wine and chatting the night away on a summery night
* good beer and company in my favourite cafe where I hadn't been for ages
* of course something cultural: Japanese calligraphy
* a picknick in the park, unfortunately with a sun that disappeared much too often
* music, dancing and beer and much unexpectedness at a party organized for charity (although am not sure what charity exactly)
* a Sunday-afternoon with wine, sunshine, fun company
What more could I want?
Good stuff. And no thinking about jobhunting crap. Even better! I'll start worrying about that again tomorrow.
June 05, 2007
Uhm, right.
Best (or just, plain dumbest) quote during the past weekend:
Him: "I wasn't here [shiatsu massage seminar] yesterday as I was at a workshop on Tibetan Buddhism. But well, it's pretty much in the same league, isn't it?"
Me: "Huh?"
Him: "Well, Shinto is the Japanese version of Buddhism, right? So it's pretty much the same thing."
Right. Sure. Bye.
Him: "I wasn't here [shiatsu massage seminar] yesterday as I was at a workshop on Tibetan Buddhism. But well, it's pretty much in the same league, isn't it?"
Me: "Huh?"
Him: "Well, Shinto is the Japanese version of Buddhism, right? So it's pretty much the same thing."
Right. Sure. Bye.
April 16, 2007
Spring is in the air...
... and I'm loving it!
I think the sun is supposed to leave tomorrow, but somehow I don't think it's going to matter.
A quick review of the weekend:
listened to - !!! and Zita Swoon on Friday (review in Dutch is here)
disappointed with - the workshops I attended on the Afrikadag on Saturday
very pleasantly surprised by - good food and company on Saturday night (to be continued hopefully)
And spent Sunday catching up with friends, getting some new energy from the sun, and celebrating a friend's birthday at the bowling center. The last bit was very geeky, but very fun.
Also, looking forward to - spending time in Antwerp and Leuven at the end of the month. Yay for international friends.
I think the sun is supposed to leave tomorrow, but somehow I don't think it's going to matter.
A quick review of the weekend:
listened to - !!! and Zita Swoon on Friday (review in Dutch is here)
disappointed with - the workshops I attended on the Afrikadag on Saturday
very pleasantly surprised by - good food and company on Saturday night (to be continued hopefully)
And spent Sunday catching up with friends, getting some new energy from the sun, and celebrating a friend's birthday at the bowling center. The last bit was very geeky, but very fun.
Also, looking forward to - spending time in Antwerp and Leuven at the end of the month. Yay for international friends.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)