Cool people

When you're abroad, you tend to meet a lot of people you would never otherwise come across in your lifetime. Some of them you don't quite notice too much, but others have a bigger impact on you and your perception of the world and of people in general.

For example, before coming abroad on my traineeship, I had never met a 'real' Swede, Uruguayan, or Austrian (not to be confused with Australia). All I knew about Sweden was that they shipped their ice hockey players to our teams, about Uruguay - Homer Simpsons 'U R GAY', and Austria - Ahnold Schwarzeneggar, of course.

I find it so enriching (yes fancy wording) to meet people whom I know nothing about, who are from a place where I can't even really imagine what it's like to have a life there. You would think they are very different but the biggest realisation for me was how much the US has influenced the world, in terms of pop culture for instance.

My Swedish roommate is an avid viewer of "Nip Tuck" and "The OC", there is a German trainee claims to be a 'movie expert' and you can take that as truth becuz he just knows so damn many movies (out of Hollywood), my Hungarian roommate is big into brands like Puma and Diesel, and the now very famous Austrian coworker of mine probably knows more lyrics to 50cent's Candy Shop than I do (he definitely has the moves down).

Sometimes it's hard to make a connection with people who are from completely different backgrounds. If you happen to have nothing in common, that's one thing, but if it happens you do, sometimes it's a language barrier that makes one person have less of a personality. Then, you also need to overcome the 'superficial conversations' that are inevitable when you have too many acquaintances from all different parts of the world. The topics never stray far from: the weather, how long you've been here, when your contract ends, where you are from and what it's like there. Repeat 20x and see if you like meeting new people anymore.

That's why it's so nice to meet people that, despite coming from a totally different background and maybe mother tongue, you are able to connect with, on a deeper level of understanding and conversation. Surprisingly, I found this in a thin, willowy Austrian fellow. I've always been a fan of wise, intellectual (yet sickly funny) folk and I have to say that he is one of them.

So here's to you Chris, the guy who can:

• talk forever on philosophical topics, financial topics, relational topics, u name it, all the while interspersed w/ "Ja", "I mean" or "To be honest"..
• shake his butt like no man has ever (wanted to) seen
• squint to have smaller eyes than Asians themselves
• match his eye colour to his hair
• get the attention of everyone in the clubs with his swaying 'loose hips'

Take care, u'll be missed!

Beach boobies

"They have my size!!"

hehe. The last weekend has been crazy hot in Amsterdam and pretty much all of Holland, with temperatures in the low to mid 30's (celsius). Supposedly, this rarely happens in the mostly cloudy Netherlands, where it's said that you only need two seasons of clothing: winter and fall. Therefore, at the first glimpse of sunlight, you can expect to find a Dutchie in shorts.

So, on Sunday, me and Sofie went to Zandvoort, the same place as our beach party a few weeks back, but this time, to get some serious tanning done. I didn't bring any sunscreen, thinking that compared to the average fair person I had really strong skin that could stand up to the blistering sun, but was I ever wrong. I am SO burnt. Not only that, but I have the ugliest tanline on my back, cuz as I was lying on my stomach, the little string around my skirt had shifted itself to lie right across my back, so now I have a striped back. :P It hurts to move now owww, my shoulders!!

The view on the beach was quite interesting as well. There are lil tarps everywhere and beach chairs, and if you happen to take one of them, someone will come around to collect 8 euros from you for using them. There are also people who walk around asking you if you'd like any drinks, and they will deliver them to you after running back to their shops on the boardwalk. Aside from that, a LOT of women were *gasp* topless! Okay, so I AM in Europe.. but I guess I just didn't expect to see that really. The last time I was in Europe (in 1995 w/ my parents on a bus tour) I remember going to a pebbly beach and us all gawking at ONE woman with her top off. This time, they were everywhere!

You'd think it'd be some kinda heaven for guys wouldn't you, but let me tell you, I'd think again. There are women of all ages there, of all shades of tans, and some really should get out of the sun (they're nearly orange or black!!). Their 'assets' are of all shapes, triangular, round, droopy, wrinkly, you name it, its there. And the weirdest thing was, me and Sofie were saying, it'd be okay if they're just lying there, doing nothing but laying still, but these women were doing everything from walking, running, playing volleyball, and splashing around in the water. We weren't used to it at all. :P Oh, and the worst thing I saw has got to be this woman with huuuuuge breasts, and her nipples were like the size of my palms! (For anyone who's reading this who actually has nipples that size, I apologize in advance, please do not take any personal offense to this. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, it's just have never seen anything like that before.) :P

busted!

Today I arrived at the company gym to find a notification on my locker door. It said something like, "lockers are not for personal use, yada yada yada.." :P Yea, I have been keeping my shower stuff in there for months now, but I guess they finally noticed...

So before my workout, I removed the notice and stuck it onto the locker beside mine (hehe) and went on my way. However, after I returned from my workout, I was shocked to find that the notice was returned to MY locker once again!! So whoever did it probably knew I was in the gym, and pinpointed me (dammit!) Aiya.. Looks like I might have to keep moving around to different lockers, or finally remove my stuff :P


The gym lockers.

cookies are simple

THIS is a chocolate chip cookie. It is perfect, with its generous amount of chocolate chips poking thru the surface, the bronze clumps of cooked, crispy sugar, the buttery goodness wrapped inside the sugar shell...can u say Mmmmm????

It's rainy days like these when such a cookie makes me wish that life was just as easy as making a chocolate chip cookie. You put in the pre-determined measured amounts of each ingredient, bake it at the right temperature for the exact amount of time, and out pops just what you were expecting: sweet, perfect pieces of absolute heaven.

I guess I'm at that stage of my life where there's just so much to decide that I wish someone would just tell me what to do, and I could be happy with it. Right now, I really have no freakin clue. :P