here there and everywhere
I am just so good with updates! Another week in A`dam..
Last weekend we went out with other interns to De Pijp, very Dutch area with nice places for drink or dance. Very very nice crowd, apart from the awesome intern gang, including some of the people whos presence was a pleasant surprise.
On Sunday I took a trip to Brussels, to see the Flower Carpet 2006 in Grand Place, meet some people, pick up some of my luggage, sort out my membership at
Fitness Passage, which is the service I am not happy about. One advice guys - check for terms and conditions before signing anything in Belgium. But it`s ok, you live you learn. I learned not to go to Fitness Passage anymore, it`s just too much trouble. Also it ws cool to catch up aith Rasa, the MC team, experiencing extreme rain conditions and Belgian sarcasm which makes me paranoid.
The whole past week went faster than lightning, IC is next week and there was just a lot to prepare, ship, communicate. It seems like most fo the stuff is ready though, yey!
By facing the distance from my place to teh centre of Amsterdam, I realized that bike is just necesarry to live here:) As in the evening when I get back home it`s so difficult to motivate myself to go somewhere :) Like now, I know there is a huge festival happening in the centre, but I am just too lazy :)
And I think it`s nothing wrong that I sleep a lot, don`t go out every night and just take it easy :) I like sleeping!! I love lazying around :) But I promise I will get involved into social life a bit more from now on.
BTW, last Friday we had a first go-out with my teammaes from ING. We went to one cool tapas bar, then continued chtatting over a glass of wine. I work with amazing people I tell you!
I am finally not living in a suitcase, my room is nice and cosy now, just missing some artistic touches. The room is only for two months, I am looking for a place to move in in October, but still nice to have a good living environment.
Today I met Rita for a coffee and ended up chatting about life and work for the whole afternoon. Nice to meet great people.
I realized that I haven`t been taking pictures of me in The Netherlands so far! I have to improve this!
The only thing that is bothering me now, is my wisdom teeth, they sometimes turn into nothing else but plain pain in my mouth. Not so good.
And to make this post one of the most random ones, I would recommend you to check out the
TO-DO list blog. You can submit your own to-do list which will be published in a book! Deadline is on Sept 15, I think I will submit something, as I have some sophisticated TO-DOs :)
Labels: Belgium, Brussels, Diary, Friends, Fun
Braderie
Three last days of June you see this word in all stores in Brussels (and beyond, I believe).
That means 'Neigbourhood fair' or 'Neigbourhood sale' if you translete it. In real life, it's just the way shops try to go around the Belgian law and start sales earlier*. The whole shopping street looks like a street market - all the stores have their stands out with goodies sold for half price.
This is what I call creativity :) We have the law - we know how to avoid it;)
* In Belgium, law determines that sales are allowed only twice a year, during months of July and January. This is also the only periods when stores are allowed to work on Sundays with no special licence.Labels: Belgium
Summer in Belgium
Yesterday i got to observe an annual Belgium's phenomenon, called 'Summer in Belgium'. The roots for this phenomenon start from the climate in Belgium and the surrounding areas, where the amount of sunny days with a temperature of 20 degrees and higher is no more than 15. Taking into account an average person's daily schedule, those 15 days get two weekends, most probably in June. As a natural conclusion, the big part of Belgian population on weekends tends to use every single ray of sunlight which is showing up. Therefore, in the weekends of June a huge increase of human migration is noticed to the Belgian (or not necessarilly) seaside.
It is easily seen by anyone, not necesarrily an expert - this phenomenon causes such (in)conveniences as:
- no places to sit in the trains, going towards the seaside
- huge traffic jams on highways, leading towards the seaside
- a dramatic increase of amount of people on the streets of all seaside towns
- same towns having all shops open on Sunday (!!!)
- almost no place to put your towel on the sand
- absolutely no place to play volleyball or any other gale without disturbing your beach-neigbours
- losing your property, friends and children in the crowd
- huge delays of the trains going back to big inland cities of Belgium
In order to make the most of your holidays, please take the above into account before going to the Belgian seaside, and explore the phenomenon with a great joy and relaxation!
There is another phenomenon, called 'FIFA World Cup 2006', but I believe someone else will write about it...
Labels: Belgium
The coldest May 1st in Belgium
This year's May 1st was officially announced the coldest May 1st in the history of Belgium.
Thank God! I knew it cannot be that bad every year - 8-11 degrees during the day!
Anyway, the weather has been very moody recently - sun and rain changing every 2 hours, same with temperature. Some friends I know have turned the heating back on :) Luckily, London this weekend is gonna have 20-24 degrees, and this is where I'm going to spend this weekend!
Labels: Belgium