Where is Lotte?

Winter!

2012-02-22T17:18:00.012+01:00

Hautes-Alpes

2012-01-30T16:23:00.019+01:00

Beautiful home. Part two.

2011-12-31T17:29:00.008+01:00

Holland. My beautiful home.

2011-12-16T18:01:00.007+01:00

Vienna

2011-11-10T12:57:00.011+01:00

Beautifall

2011-11-03T09:48:00.006+01:00

Leiden.

2011-10-25T17:57:00.003+02:00

Far away.

2011-10-13T10:56:00.003+02:00

Sunday afternoon.

2011-09-26T18:26:00.006+02:00

Safari: Behind the scenes.

2011-09-15T13:49:00.009+02:00

Beautiful death.

2011-09-07T12:00:00.004+02:00

Zanzibar.

2011-08-26T10:19:00.003+02:00

It's time for Africa, wakawakka a eeehehee!!

2011-08-13T16:03:00.010+02:00

Viva la France volgens mij heb ik sjans

2011-08-06T21:35:00.001+02:00

Back home!

2011-07-19T10:03:00.007+02:00

Still in Rwanda (for 2 more hours..)

2011-07-12T09:21:00.004+02:00

Isa!

2011-07-06T11:30:00.002+02:00

Gorillas.

2011-06-25T08:00:00.007+02:00

Beanstake. Virungas. Bed.

2011-06-08T10:18:00.005+02:00

Kigali. Kigali. Rugarama.

2011-05-31T19:23:00.004+02:00

Musanze.

2011-05-26T17:22:00.008+02:00

Northern Rwanda

2011-05-06T12:35:00.006+02:00

Light.

2011-04-11T23:47:00.006+02:00

Eerste snipperdag '11

2011-03-09T22:11:00.007+01:00

Malawi.

2011-02-06T18:16:00.033+01:00

View from my bedroom-window in Nkatabay.

Zomba Plateau.

Mnt Mulanje, trying to hide.

Thyolian Tea (as in, tea from Thyolo).

Thyolo District Hospital.

With Christmas, we (my dad, our guide Peter and I) climbed Mnt Mulanje, which turned out to be quite slippery during the rainy season, and is a steep climb, year-round.

Departure from Chitakale (at the foot of Mulanje): Tuesday 8am

Arrival, with a big nightbus, Nkatabay: Wednesday 4.06 am

Woei! Uhu, this was our hut... :)

After a few lazy days, we were on the way to:

Nyika Plateau!

I know. I'm cheating. Because I'm not even close to Malawi at the moment; have been home for a little more than 4 weeks now. But I guessed at least some of you wanted to see a little of Malawi...

Cool things I can tick off my to-do list:

2011-01-27T22:37:00.007+01:00

See the African stars twinkle
Drink homemade -still bubbling- sorghum beer from a big clay-pot, at a local Rwandan wedding, sharing the few hollow drinking sticks with the other guests
Stand at the back of a pick-up truck while its driving through a national park, with one of the best singer-songwriters of this planet singing in my left ear
Go for a very sweaty run through a big tropical arboretum, during sunset, not seen by anybody, except a group of monkeys
Have tons of little friends, and be at home, in Umurera-village
Go for a hike in one of the largest remaining pieces of African mountain forest
Eat a piece of cow stomach (still feel like throwing up when I think about it...)
Be greeted by my own -quite difficult- name, by countless children, along my way to work, in rural Africa
Taste a mango, just seconds after it left the tree, because it was me, floating right there, in Lake Malawi, underneath a mango tree
Enjoy a beautiful purple, and orange, and pink, and red, sunset, while being surrounded by herds of quiet, very chill, elephants
Swim across a swollen mountain-stream, dressed, and packed, because it was the only possibility to reach a dry place during some very rainy moments of the rain season
Come home, after not being home for quite a few months

Zambia: South Luangwa NP.

2011-01-19T21:17:00.015+01:00

Tanzania.

2011-01-11T10:05:00.016+01:00

Rusumo-border.

Kahama. Church being build.

(Dirty) Dodoma

Voor zusje.

2010-12-19T12:17:00.002+01:00

Ok. These are the last.

2010-12-12T09:55:00.015+01:00

Last shots of Rwanda.

2010-12-07T11:55:00.007+01:00

So. A thousands words, eh?

2010-11-27T11:02:00.006+01:00

Burning hot sun. White teeth. Rice and beans. Eucalyptus. Birds of prey. Kigali. Brochettes of salted goat-meat. Pink baby-feet. Mandazi with cold Coca Cola. Les soeur catholic de Simbi. Two avocados per day. Lava rocks. Grenzeloos enthusiasm. Papaya. Soil erosion. Sunbirds. Round children’s bellies. Maximum levels of curiosity. Grey-cheeked mangabey. Horrible smelling breathes. Jacaranda. Cold food. Stones stuck in my sandals. Bright twinkling stars. Non-scared birds, all around. School uniforms. Very dirty feet. Beautiful boys. Stinky crowded minibuses. Tufted eagle. Big smiles. Genocide. Beans with rice. Walk, walk, walk, walk, and yes, lets walk a little more. Magical marshland, at night; the sounds of (bull-) frogs, crickets, the numerous fireflies and stars... Pineapple juice. Sweetest shakes of the smallest hands. Moto taxis. Red feet. Cute smiles. Ruhengeri. Yelling pastors. Cassava. Kingfishers. Shorts, flip flops, short sleeves. Good coffee. Mighty thunder storms. Horrible acting in African television soaps. Mountain gorillas. Salty peanuts and beer (Primus, Skol, Mutzig, Amstel). Friendly smiles. Getting soaked to the bone by pouring tropical rains. White NGO Toyota pick-ups. Lantana montana. Lake Kivu. Hundreds of black kites. Lac Bulela. Broken toilet. Kinyarwanda. Cold bucket showers. Blue monkeys. Longest church services in the world. Mango…! Thousands, and thousands of suicidal termites. Blackest eyes. Sweat. Creating your own toys. Paper bags. Internet cafes. Two names, for each town or city. Kestrels. Volcanoes. MTN airtime. Long, winding, climbing, and falling roads. Uncomplicated breast-feeding. Rice with beans. A continuously pink nose. Thousands of Rwandan Francs. White bread with salty margarine. Staring guys. Black and white crows. Premier League. Safari ants. Bike taxis. Married flirting man. Beautiful and impressive cloud formations. “We’re gonna dance for the Lord!” Doing laundry by hand. Steep, breath-taking, hillsides. Brown legs. Non-scared birds everywhere. French. Tree tomato. Unbelievable good (male) dancers. Butare. Beans. Landrovers with white people. Sweetest children. Passion fruits. Hand-woven baskets. Endemics. Blond arm-hear. Fufu with beans. 1994. African Harrier Hawk. Huge moths. Loads of time. “Komera mzungu!”. Beans, rice. Mosquito nets. Tiny paths leading everywhere. Litres of hot milk with some tea and a lot of sugar. Dirty dust. HIV Aids. A quite dry rain season. No toilet paper. Bananas. Moto taxis. 500-year old trees. Malaria. Utter darkness. Ibis. Power cuts (‘No fire’). Gisenyi. Quartz. Huge hospitality. Welcome to the land of a thousand hills!

Blijft leuk..

Kigali by night.

Beans + volcano.

Sakina.

Some portrets.

2010-11-12T14:04:00.006+01:00

Alive, and screaming :)

Research subject

2010-11-07T19:37:00.002+01:00

With only one-third of my fieldwork left, I still need to explain the scientific reason for my trip to Africa; most of you must be curious. Well, in short, I am here to assess the availability of livestock feed resources in Umurera village. There are three categories of farmers – poor, poorer, poorest – and my research focuses on 3 households for each of the categories. Main activities are: 1. To measure the feed amount (per plant species) for livestock (which means a goat for the poorest, cattle for the other farmers), and 2. To measure the total land size of each of the farmers. The latter to be able to estimate the possible production numbers in case field edges are used for fodder production. The main idea is to figure out whether it is, or will, be possible for the poorest farmers to keep a cow, which would improve their situation through the production of milk and manure.

Umurera village, and Lac Bulela

2010-11-05T07:24:00.009+01:00

O happy day!

2010-10-31T00:20:00.005+02:00

An interesting way of spending a school day...

Lac Bulela!

Just one...

2010-10-29T21:36:00.005+02:00

Sorry, my bucket of patience got emptied completely, this will be it for tonight. Hope you'll like it.

.

2010-10-20T18:12:00.000+02:00

Why do you listen, when nobody's talking?

2010-10-10T14:53:00.002+02:00

First photo's of Rwanda

2010-09-24T16:55:00.006+02:00

Despite the fact that I’m in Africa at the moment, time flies by; the end of my third fieldwork-week is near. Its Thursday afternoon and I just got home from my one-hour walk from Umurera village, where I do my research.
Tomorrow afternoon it will be time to travel back to Butare, where I can upload these words. Here in the rural area, my home is a kind of parish, with a bunch of French speaking, very curious, and burping, catholic nuns. They say I have to stay, because I don’t have a fiancé anyway. We’ll see : )

Doing my fieldwork is more, means more, than I can ever explain with words; I’m combining the very best of many things. Being outside most of day, in rural Africa, while smelling cows, walking through the small steep fields with red earth, ready for planting, while enjoying the beautiful, friendly Rwandan people as well as the tropical biology; birds, plants, insects, reptiles. One of the best things is that I even get the time and opportunity to use my camera quite a bit…

It is literally true when I say that in the past few weeks I’ve already eaten more fruit, than I did during the first 8 months of this year. (Don’t know if that tells you more about my life at home, or about my life here ;) Avocado on my bread in the morning, a whole avocado for lunch, and some more avocado to flavour the rice at night; its my personal guess that currently it is avocado-season. Of course there are also tons of bananas, passion fruits, papaya and something called a tree tomato. Still need to try pineapple. What I like is that almost everything I consume does not travel very far. The fruit that some people in the village offer me travels about 100 m from the tree to my mouth, and yesterday the family-cow was milked just so Moussa (my translator) and me, could drink something…

Jeej!

2010-09-18T20:37:00.010+02:00

Some pictures from my travels; Kampala, Arusha, and one taken from the bus on the way back up to Nairobi. Sorry, but you guys have to get used to the small picture-size; to upload just these, the African internet took all my patience. Will travel to the field again tomorrow, so pictures from Rwanda will have to wait till next weekend.

Arrival.

2010-09-11T19:59:00.008+02:00

Wow. I have arrived at the place I will be calling home for the coming months; yesterday I arrived in Butare, Rwanda. Land of a thousand hills.

Left Arusha on Wednesday afternoon, my seat located exactly above one of the bus tires. Luvely. Had forgotten that bumpy roads can actually hurt your body from both the in- and outside. The night, while we drove through Kenya, was very cold. Speed differences were major. At some points, we crawled forward like some cripple caterpillar, because 3 bumps immediately after each other are not unusual here. And, when official speed bumps were absent, we still drove on African roads… During other moments, when the night outside could not possibly become any darker, and the road allowed us, we speeded like we were on a crazy rollercoaster ride. Kind of scary, especially for local people who use the road; it truly is a miracle not more accidents happen. At dusk, I found myself at the border of Uganda, which turned out to be a very green country, with a lot of small-scale agriculture. At the beginning of the afternoon I arrived in Kampala, where I had to wait 10 hours, for a next bus, to take me to Rwanda. Walked through a very crowded part of the city, to find toothpaste, see something, and to get myself some food. Mhmm, that hot chapatti from a street-cart tasted better than ever! When I had seen enough, I got on a motor-taxi, on which the driver took me back to the bus station, zig-zagging between the traffic of countless minibuses, pedestrians, motors, trucks, etc. I must have been smiling all the time.

After I had all the time in the world to finish my book, we left the city only 45 minutes late, on our way south. Again lots of dark hours without seeing much, but I was tired enough to sleep a little. And than, this morning, I walked into Rwanda! I wish you could see it yourself; it is beautiful and so very colourful. But it might be my perception, because I’ve been looking forward to it so much. I guess pictures will need to give an answer in the future. Today, the bus struggled to climb up the mountains, but dropped into a free fall each time after having reached the highest point. Even more scary for other people on the road this time, because of all the curves and bends.

Since I've been passing all those borders, my passport has become a lot more interesting, and if anyone ever wants to enrol in the course 'How to cross African borders', please let me know. Another new skill is that I can tell you my passport number, anytime you want. How useful.

Guess where I stranded..

2010-09-04T11:51:00.005+02:00

Mhm. Minibuses. Dust. Black people. Faith. Horrible roads.

Guess I must be in Africa..

B.udapest

2010-08-17T20:17:00.019+02:00

No, I don't want to talk about it....

The sky knows what the most beautiful colour of the world is!

The Bossen and Bergen of Slovakia.

2010-08-08T14:28:00.041+02:00

Surprisingly, we had to wait less than an hour.. :)

You see that castle, uphill? We ended up camping just behind it. At night, we hided (is that proper English?) most of our stuff in the forest, to be able to watch the semi-finals in town; Stara L'ubovna.

Just seconds later, the lady of the house showed up. She didn't look too happy, and it was just impossible to explain why we were hugging her orange house in the early morning...

A train took us to Spisska Nova Ves, which we left on foot, towards Slovensky Raj.

Lots of logging going on.

Just looking at these pictures makes me thirsty.

It was fantastic. We hiked upstream, without our bags, in a kind of gorge, for hours and hours. It was exciting, a little scary sometimes, and always very, very, beautiful.

Back home after a long day (at a real campsite!)

Spisska Nova Ves.

Taken from the train, on the way back to Poprad.

The Bossen and Bergen of Poland.

2010-07-29T21:44:00.037+02:00

Taken at the railway station of Warsaw, on our way east, towards the ancient forests of Poland.

Mosquitoes; each of us had a private swarm... And grey hands at the end of the day, from all the dead bodies :)

We stood face to face with a European bison for a few seconds, before he took off, into the woods, breaking stuff, and causing the ground to tremble...

On our way to the southern Polish mountains , we stopped in Krakow.

Supporters, wherever we were..

Hihi.. These guys make me laugh. Always.

Best campsite ever. Also among the cheapest :)

We managed to reach Slovakia by foot! (Without telling you where exactly, in those southern Polish mountains, we started..)

B.erlin

2010-07-23T16:11:00.023+02:00

Where I was..?

2010-07-20T13:23:00.004+02:00

Well, I was away.

Busy with our big B-trip. We left within hours after the last study obligations. First to Berlin, than straight through to the virgin forests (forest = bos, in Dutch) of Poland, headed back West to visit -and use a shower in- Krakow, and then South again, to hike the forests and mountains (mountain = berg, in Dutch) of Poland and Slowakia, followed by a visit to Budapest, Bratislava and Vienna.

A visual story will be told soon.

Oostende, Belgium.

2010-06-12T14:59:00.007+02:00

Again, some flowers.

2010-05-17T21:22:00.006+02:00

I like.

2010-05-05T18:14:00.009+02:00

My room, seen through a fish-eye:

2010-04-29T17:55:00.008+02:00

Life is beautiful.

2010-04-08T21:06:00.010+02:00

Thursday-nights

2010-03-14T15:08:00.002+01:00

Guess: I take a ... course.

Requested.

2010-02-17T22:56:00.014+01:00

Home sweet home. Turning around, you'd find the edge of my running-forest.

Ysk retniw.

2010-02-10T20:51:00.003+01:00

Close-ups

2010-01-27T23:45:00.006+01:00

Studyweek in Italy.

2009-12-20T21:46:00.032+01:00

Our home-base was the tiny village of Sabbia, where people created miniature Christmas-scenes in every corner. That's where we came home to, at the end of each day, and where the food was always good, as long as Floor was near. Third picture shows the view, seen from the balcony. Most other pictures were taken in Varallo, with its beautiful Sacro Monte, or just somewhere beside the path, or road. All the way down you see Lago Maggiore, Stresa. The last two were shot in Vigevano. And yes, we went -zoefff-zoef-zoefff-, down from those mountains one of the days : )

In <12hrs.

2009-12-12T03:43:00.003+01:00

Destination: Sabbia, in the Italian mountains. Via Milan.

Excitement.

2009-12-07T13:23:00.003+01:00

Just 5 more nights..
Only one crazy-killing-studyweek left (will work Thursday during the day, will work 2 full nights at parties, while I should get the studyload for almost 2 full weeks done).
But then...
Then it will be time.

It will be time to fly away. From the 12th-18th December.

He's here again.

2009-11-23T18:14:00.010+01:00

Sinterklaas is back in the country again, together with all his helpers, 'Zwarte Pieten'. Most Dutch families will celebrate his birthday on the 5th of December. 't Heerlijk avondje komt dichterbij.

Tell me.

2009-11-06T16:44:00.009+01:00

Ok. Why did I just run 14km (big parts going uphill) while I still need to help out my team in Delft tomorrow? For at least 1 full match, probably 1.5, and maybe even 2 matches.
Sorry, dear legs: a -not only- heart-felt sorry, my calves.

Fall.

2009-10-22T14:06:00.009+02:00

Shizzle.

2009-10-05T16:16:00.000+02:00

Holiday by bike.

2009-09-21T23:35:00.012+02:00

The point with the green + red flag is home, which we left on Monday, and came back to on Saturday. Travelled North the first day, and biked all around. Have to admit that we skipped the part Den Helder-Haarlem, where we took a train, because of our 'Battle on the Afsluitdijk', the day before: a 33 km long dike, in combination with two student bikes, wind speed 7 (even 8 sometimes), no gears, and about one downpour every hour. It took us four full hours :) Luckely parents and sisters, with warm houses, showers, clotheslines, couches, etc., are living along the route..

Flo, doing the cooking.

Insect-eating plant (Drosera).

See those trees bending? We had to bike the opposite direction. For long, long hours. Some parts it was just impossible to bike, so we had to walk a little.

Wadlopen, Groningen

2009-09-13T15:28:00.011+02:00

Wadlopen means something like 'walking the tidal flats'. To celebrate a 1st wedding anniversary, we traveled up North for a visit, some wadlopen and a bbq.

Crossing a gut.

Some of us slept in the barn, on top of the dusty straw bales. I climbed a little higher, to meet the whole barn owl family, and sleep under their watching eyes. They found me a very interesting thing, with their wobbling heads.

Close to home

2009-08-26T18:11:00.003+02:00

Montalivet, France.

2009-08-13T19:35:00.016+02:00

Bits and pieces

2009-07-15T13:39:00.022+02:00

One day before we'll leave for our 2.5 week holiday in France, Bretagne, some pictures of the last couple of months.

Queens-day in Leiden. Sell old junk on the streets, and use the money to buy new junk.

Flora excursion. Gelderland.

Flora excursion. Limburg.

The only part of the country where we have thing we call 'mountains' :)

Rented a rowing-boat on 2nd day of Easter, to wake up my older brother and his wife; they live along one of the canal's.

Flora excursion. North-Holland.

Groningen. One of the wadden islands on the horizon.

Visited Leonie, and Ruben, on their farm in Groningen.

Getting the girls inside for afternoon milking.

The queen visited the Forum, the main university building. She is somewhere in the crowd.

Just after a gigantic downpour on a warm day. Soaked to the bone.

Field course: Terschelling.

2009-07-02T17:19:00.015+02:00

Tides...

Trouble makers. Had to replace the traps 3 times.

Some days ended seated on a dune top, beer in the hand, friends on each side, and views like this.

Fixing a relevé; describing all plant spp + their coverage in the plot (1x1m).

Lucky me...

2009-05-28T22:24:00.015+02:00

Here's a little photographic report from a day of the Fauna-course I took. I know how lucky I am that this is called education... First we learned about arthropods from books and in the lab, looking at animals floating in alcohol. Later we took our bikes and went out, to seek and destroy...

The joys of a student fridge..

2009-05-25T16:44:00.005+02:00

The Dutch feeling

2009-04-29T20:31:00.016+02:00

Still feels very much like home, whenever I am there..

Short bikeride to the flower fields, after church.

People from India,

Italy,

and, of course, China. In just one field.

Easter. Everybody together again. Biking a little, laying in the sun a little, in the east of our country (where I live now).

Bingo!

2009-04-14T21:28:00.005+02:00

Second bike got stolen... It was my rattling-out-loud-bike in Leiden, on a Saturdaynight some weeks ago. Left it alone in an alley for just one night.
Gone. Even though it had a big red Bob the Builder-bell.

Time machine part II: A warm summer day, in the far, far north of the Netherlands

2009-03-23T21:44:00.021+01:00

Short report of a little trip from Belgium to the Dutch province Groningen, where my friend Leonie was getting married to her dairy farmer Ruben. My Belgian friends picked me up along the way so I could join them for the second half of the trip.

Emptying the camper.

De Afsluitdijk, 32 km long. On the left you see our (salt) Waddensea, part of the North Sea, to right a fresh water lake; IJsselmeer.

Veer :)

A Frisian village, hiding behind a dike.

Recovering seal.

Lazy recovering seals.

Arrived in Rottum, Groningen. Here you see some of Leonie's and Rubens cows.
When they were getting married in the church with all their family, we enjoyed ourselves at their place...

In Africa, we promised to be eachothers pink bride's mades on our weddings. Leonie decided to get her cute, five-year old niece for the job, but you don't believe that we would let ourselves be put aside that easily, do you..?

They seem a litte frightened...

See you in May, girls!

Verdun, France

2009-03-07T15:04:00.025+01:00

These pictures are a little outdated, they go back till last October, but I still want to show them to you. You might enjoy them.

Beautiful moo2, well most of its members, travelled to France for a weekend which was warmer and sunnier than could've ever been expected.

One of the bloodiest battles of WWI was fought around, and in, Verdun, in 1916. Around 230.000 men died on a battlefield smaller than twenty square kilometers. This is the Douaumont ossuary, a memorial containing the remains of approximately 130.000 soldiers.

'Mort pour la France.' 'Mort pour la France.' 'Mort pour la France.' 'Mort pour la France.' On each of the 15.000 crosses in front of the ossuary.

Delft' students, technical students, can never, ever, nót touch things like this.

Ja. 2! Moo2 bravo. Helden!

No. Honestly. I don't know them.

We just hád to listen to the call of this giant ritmixer. These are 30 egg whites, combined with 1.5 kgs of sugar. Toó much to eat:

Possibilities are endless..

A sunny Sunday, after church. Some people even went swimming.

Yes. Of course. Also the tables need to describe a '2'.

One of the good (?) things about France, is the amount of little, beautiful and, most of all, empty churches. This was our Sunday afternoon-lets-finish-the-weekend-together-activity. Nice acoustics.

Dürler, Belgium

2009-02-21T12:40:00.021+01:00

Neighbour.

We rented an old house (dating from 1650, some parts older) in the German speaking part of Belgium, close to the border with Luxembourg. Friday night till Monday morning, whole family together.

Never mind.

Played some good old, and new, games.

Blew it so high, we had to open a window.

Some scary moments, and strange encounters.

Breakfast table, with two early parent-birds.

December 23rd: Paris

2009-01-26T09:46:00.032+01:00

Got on a bus in The Hague on Monday night; arrived in Paris at 6 am.
"Woke up" at the huge, very old, cemetery Père Lachaise.

Smelly cat. Oohh, smelly cat. What are they feeding you...?? (Song by Phoebe, in 2nd episode of Friends) He kept following me around, keeping me company in this suprisingly quiet place, in the midst of a buzzing city.

Think he was suffering a lack of attention.

He was interrupting my photography, for sure..

Paris, as seen from la Sacré Coeur, which is located at the highest point of the city.

School children coming off that merry go round. Sacré Coeur in the back.

Parts of Palais du Louvre, et la Tour de Eiffel.

After a night in the bus, I caught up some sleep in one of those chairs, in the warm sun.

He looks terrified, as if he could die any moment, just by biking there.. :)

Palais, ou Château, de Versailles.

After the sun went down, I took off towards Orly Airport. For another cheap night, waiting for a flight towards - pieieieiiep- at 6 am. (Some) pictures of - pieieieieieeep - will follow later.

I am. Where I should be.

2009-01-09T09:56:00.022+01:00

Bingo!
First bike got stolen. It was my bike in Wageningen, last Tuesdaynight. Welcome back in the Netherlands...

On the other hand, for the first time in many years, we were able to skate on the ice.
Enjoy the pictures. You wont get it much Dutcher.

Good ol' Delft

2008-12-01T20:47:00.012+01:00

Here's some pictures from Delft. One is the room at my old home, Perron 0 (= Platform Zero), where I still lay down my head to sleep, whenever I'm around. This room is no longer available to be rented out, so it's (kind of) empty. And there's lesson nr. 1 of the course "Dutch creativity and bikes".

Finally, a sad shot of the train station area (my old house is part of the area too); more and more houses are empty. Ready to fall apart, and make room for the construction of a train tunnel.

P.S. de B.S: Finally found a temporary room in Wageningen! Four months. It's small (2 by 6/7 meters), but also a small price. Tomorrow will be my first night; on a camping mattrass, in my sleeping bag. My days will be stretched, with four and a half extra hours (at least...) each day!

Tracy Chapman (solo)

2008-11-25T20:06:00.015+01:00

Thankfull to say that I was present at this concert. Sunday night. All alone. Snow falling, wind blowing. Amsterdam. Managed to get a spot at the front; could literally touch the stage. Nothing or nobody blocking my view. One of the best musicians ever. Solo. For a couple of hours, which I never wanted to come to an end. Just herself and a guitar, in a small circle of light. She seems to be such a benign person. Very friendly and honest. And her music is só good!!
Out of all the music on my iPod, she puts my thoughts and feelings into words like nobody else.

Feel like my head must be glowing like a light in the dark, out of pure happiness.

Culture in Sweden.

2008-11-19T19:51:00.005+01:00

Both were experienced in one night. Walked straight from the theatre, into an Irish pub.

I am home, but I was in Stockholm

2008-11-17T21:02:00.032+01:00

Not the best pictures I ever took, but they'll do. They'll have to, because it's all you'll ever see about this trip to Sweden.
We (a total of seven of us) took the 'surf-bus' to Germany, watching a movie on a laptop below. Three people hitch hiked there and one (100% Dutch) friend studying in Norway for a couple of months, came over as well. Shouldn't forget him, he was the reason we started travelling in the first place :)
We went to ballet, 2,5 hours, for just 4 euros. (I have to admit it wasn't with the whole group, just me and two of the guys.) We enjoyed the 'singing' language the friendly Swedish people were speaking. We drank expensive beer. We took the ferry to travel from one of Stockholms' islands to another. We've experienced the funniest church service I've ever visited. And of course we walked around in the city, visiting a library, döner kebab restaurants, a requiem and a museum.

Like babies.

Temptation

2008-11-05T23:00:00.008+01:00

Picture this. Or, smell this.

One of those late afternoons, already dark as the night itself at this time of the year. Travelling home using public transport, after a long and tiring day. Last slices of bread were enjoyed hours ago. I'm busy trying to get the most out of my 2,5 hrs of travelling time; music in my ears, for sure, and, whenever I'm not on a bike, I read a book, mostly a study book, but sometimes (as a treat) a reading book.

And that's when it happens! After a first sniffle, I'm starting to be aware of a fat smell. And a bit salty. I hear the sound of a 0.5 L coke bottle, being opened for the first time. Somebody's eating 'fries with mayo' or one of the snacks the Turkisch immigrants introduced; döner, or a turkisch pizza. ... I bite my lip, or chew on my pencil (when I was studying math) and I try to concentrate and forget that watery taste in my mouth...

And this is my view, while I'm trying to remember where in the world I parked my bike that morning...

This period, I'm taking math (4 mornings filled with classes; 2 books in 6 weeks; they're nuts) and 'Soil and water I'. For the latter, the past two weeks, áll classes were about water. And it will still be the same subject next week... :)

Mathematics feels like an impossible task, because I miss a huge part of the basics that most students were learned during the years in highschool. The positive side is that I am improving every day. We'll find out if I learned quick enough during my exam on the 18th of December...

But I will be taking a short break this weekend! This coming Friday night I will be flying to Stockholm, Sweden, with a bunch of friends. Should be back Sunday night late. We're driving to Düsseldorf, Germany, first, because that's where the cheap plane will be leaving. Mhmmm. Have to make sure I don't forget to pack some warm stuff.

Wageningen University

2008-10-18T00:12:00.019+02:00

That doesn't sound too cool or anything like that at áll, does it?!
(Especially to my friends in Delft and maybe to more of the Dutch.)

But, I can tell you that it is!! For me, at least.

In the first weeks I didn’t want to write anything about it, because I felt as if I couldn't already have a fair view. My idea about it couldn’t be true yet, something like that. Still kind of feel that way, but here we go.
As far as I know, I love it and I feel like I'm at the right place, doing the right thing. Yes, I ám taking a MSc in Forest and Nature Conservation... :D
In so many ways it is what I was expecting it to be. Hard work. Lots of hard work. Many hours. But hard work is easy, when you want it. Finally some decent education. Not a single day is wasted and I'm learning every day. There's lots of people with lots of hair, especially of the male variety (because it is a really ‘green’ university). Beards. Tales. Fluffy hair. Dreads. Goaties. Everything.
And I lóve one of the subjects I was taking this period: Ecology I & II. It fits me, and I find it very interesting. Listen to this quote of my studybook: "The beauty of ecology is that it challenges us to develop an understanding of very basic and apparent problems - in a way that recognizes the uniqueness and complexity of all aspects of nature - but seeks patterns and predictions within this complexity rather than being swamped by it." Brilliant!
And another one: "One of the ways in which we try to make sense of the world around us is to search for repeated patterns. In doing so, we are not pretending that the world is simple and that all categories are watertight, but we can hope to move beyond a description tat is no more than a series of unique special cases."
Ok. Last one: "As ecologists, we try to describe and understand the distribution and abundance of organisms. We may do so because we wish to control a pest or conserve an endagered species, or simply because we are fascinated by the world around us and the forces that govern it." Yeah, baby, yeah!!

Seven weeks have passed already. Each of the five periods a year, consists of eight weeks; six filled with classes, practicals, studying and projects. Week seven is 'the white week': no classes, but only self study. 24/7 :)
Next week I'm already facing my first exam and the deadline of of an integrated essay. It will my chance to prove myself.

Studying math in the library. Mouse-still.

Some of my co-students doing measurements in the forest, which we reached all sweaty after 40 tiring minutes on the bike, trying to keep up with a fanatic teacher.

Took this shot on the way home one day. I 'have to' bike from Ede to Wageningen and back (can take the bus as well, but I enjoy biking, especially overthere). Twenty minutes is my personal record, but it takes thirty when doing things the easy way.

Another practical. The Dutch famous (?) river forelands. The trench in front was created for fish, to reproduce, and for birds. The Rhine is the other water on the top-left, we crossed it with the sweet little ferry.

Load of students on one of the dikes of the Rhine.

This is how the Dutch stay thin :) (Well, ok, most of them...)

Giving the river some space, to prevent flooding trouble in the future.

To the left; the Wageningse mountain :) I'm enjoying this part of my home country, it is really different compared to what I'm used to growing up near the coast, in the most urban area we have.

This is greener. Some forests. Beautiful beeches. Heather. Space. Nice smells.

But the travelling... The distance is close to 100 km, getting near the German border. Mostly it takes me about 5 hours a day. Fifteen minutes on my bike in Leiden. Than a train from Leiden to Utrecht (40 minutes), wait for 15 minutes, get on a train from Utrecht to Ede (30 minutes) and finally I bike the 20-30 minutes to Wageningen. My fastes time is 1 hr and 55 min, from the door of the lecture hall to home. Blessed to have an iPod!!

I have been trying to find some square meters that I can call my own again, but ‘my’ university has been the fastest growing university of this country, out of almost twenty. So here I am, still living in my parents'house again. It’s funny to live at home again and I am enjoying it. The company, the time together.

And one thing is just like the time I spend on farms in Canada; no worries about food or laundry :) And there's lots of space here, compared to a student room.

The main thing I want to change is me in combination with sport. Got some pretty serious running shoes for my birthday, so I go for a run when I have enough time, which is sweet and definitely gets me tired. But I miss my girls, I miss kicking a ball. And I’m eager to try new things at one of the many sport facilities at the university. Next period.

First I have to make some things happen. Get my first results. Good ones.

It's time for something new

2008-10-10T00:32:00.015+02:00

Well, well, well. It's been weeks. Got quite some stories and pictures piled up! But it's close to 01.00 am, so this is all you'll be getting today. Promise to be back soon with some more, especially about university.

We visited an attraction park (with very strong roots in fairytailes) two weeks ago, for a family outing and a late celebration of my birthday. Started with breakfast for the whole family at 7.30, on a Saturday morning... Full sun, clear sky, the whole day!

Boyfriend, my brother + wife, my sister, girlfriend + my little brother, mum + dad.

We had to wait at least 30 minutes for each attraction. Our maximum of the day was 70 minutes... At the end of the day, with fading waiting lines, some of us enjoyed some loops and corkscrews, while other enjoyed themselves in the 'Fairy Realm'.

Watching some fat geese following a lady. It all had something to do with an old fairytale.

My dear family.

Here's one shot I took at the train station here in Leiden, the other day. There's more to come, but I'll save them for later. It's both só hilarious, and annoying, at the same time.

Small-scale disaster

2008-09-09T20:08:00.012+02:00

Day 1. Ready to go...

First rainfall

Getting dryer, and happier, again :)

The dunes, with our bikes somewhere along the path

Remains of WWII

Day 2. 07.00 am

11.00 am

A characteristic still life

The train brough us back home, in Leiden, within an hour...

No more uncertainty. Finally.

2008-08-23T16:39:00.006+02:00

Date: 07 August 2008

"I regret to inform you that the Academic Committee has decided against admitting yout to the MSc Programme Forest and Nature Conservation, which is scheduled to start in September 2008.
We thank you for your application and wish you success in the future."

Date: 21 August 2008

"According to the Academic Committee you do not qualify for direct admission to this MSc-programme because there are deficiencies in your previous education. In first instance you will have to complete a linkage programme to 'repair' those deficiencies.
I am looking forward to meeting you and wish you every success at Wageningen University."

Last Canadian weeks

2008-08-10T10:23:00.014+02:00

Yep. Canada is a memory again. Home for two weeks already (24 hrs late, because I missed my plane, because the busride took over 30 hours, instead of 22), and here a my last pictures for you.

At grandma's.

Lake Huron.

Hope this corn is harvested by now...

My buddy Sam.

On my last night at the Sparlings, a neighbour popped up to ask if I would like to join him for a little flight. Dumb question... We just took off from a hayfield, and the view was beautiful. I felt like I could fly like this forever!

Ontario, and the coast of Lake Huron in the back.

Jaspar Jersey's!

And that's her!

The next day, on Sunday, Tammy dropped me off at the Garrett household, where it all started way back, early 2006 :) It was a short stay (had to leave on Friday), but Good, and I had a fantastic time. This is Leanne in grandma's pool, holding Ashlyn and baby Eden, while Gabriel is floating on his own.

No cooling down in the pool for Dwight, he had to do ALL the work :)

Gabriel's bike, parked at the house, with some of the cows in the back.

Leanne's vegetable garden.

And the kids.