June 26, 2006
World Cup Fever disrupts blogging shock!
Greetings and salutations good people - I’ve been AWOL lately due to fecking up my laptop trying to install Dutch ADSL - I need a native to help me out at home with it and I don’t know anyone yet and the neighbour is a little old woman. -
Anyways - I’m back in UK at mo for world cup week and sorting a few things here and there - turning 29 and going to see Death Cab For Cutie at the Brixton Academy - when I get back to Rotterdam I’ll finally get back on line again and get some sort of order to life - last few weeks have been pretty hectic, getting settled, finding my way, getting used to the job and enjoying the sights and sounds of Rotterdam (very cool place).
-
I also managed to get to Frankfurt, blag a ticket, saw England play and spent a classic weekend with world cup fever right in the centre of things - as you may have also deduced I am also AWOL due to watching a ridiculous amount of football at the moment.
I also managed to get to Frankfurt, blag a ticket, saw England play and spent a classic weekend with world cup fever right in the centre of things - as you may have also deduced I am also AWOL due to watching a ridiculous amount of football at the moment.
-quality way to waste time however......
Spo | June 26, 2006 | Comments
Blogging |
Daily Life - Holland
June 9, 2006
Feeling fine, like the hour is mine….
Life is good and I’m feeling like I’ve landed on my feet here - city is easy to get around and big enough to offer everything, yet small enough for you to get know it fairly quick - I feel like I’ve been here longer than just a week or so and have got my bearings for life’s essentials quick and easy enough - I’m kinda used to starting over every six months or so by now - Vietnam for a couple of years on and off, Indo for a year or so, back in the UK for 6 months and now here in Holland - but Rotterdam feels like settling material more than anywhere else I’ve been in recent memory.
.
.
Sure, I’m on my own and know nobody but me, myself - I but I don’t mind my own company and I’ve figured the place out fairly swiftly - there’s a swish supermarket for one day to the next shopping - a wine and whisky world round the corner - restaurant bar shindig within a few minutes walk - a place in which I’m already on my way to achieving local status - I know where the restaurants are, the main bar area, Sandwich shop for morning first thing, the place for English papers, best music shop in town, the gym and of course: the obligatory Irish pub.
.
.
I’m also getting to grips with the lingo - for the nitty gritty of everyday living I’m going to have to learn Dutch - it’s good to make the effort and the locals love that you try - especially when all around seem so fluent in English and it would be easy enough to not bother - but at the end of the day, when you live in a place that seems not too far a step out of the general existence of what you’re used to, you feel like a bit of an idiot when you suddenly can’t grasp the day to day - in Vietnam and Indonesia walking around feeling like a fish out of water was to be expected - it genuinely was a jump to the other end of the world - yet here in Holland, you feel like you’re playing catch up when all that looks, sounds and feels normal doesn’t add up when it comes to the breakdown of lingo.
.
There are the little differences as Jules and Vincent famously discussed - the bikes, the sense of humour, the multitude of snacks, the bikes, the mayo, the little beers, the bagel obsession, the bikes, the zebra crossings that aren’t really zebra crossings, the trams, the way it seems that there’s an attractive woman consistently within 5 metres of you and of course the bikes - lots and lots of bikes.
.
.
The work? getting there, getting there… it’s like there are so many directions to head in but no idea where to start - so I’m getting the basics sorted as far as email, phones and computers go first - finding out the A-Z before getting on to the tricky - one definite plus is that I’m working the Vietnam tea again - sort of the next step of what I started over there - bringing it to a wider audience of buyers - it’s good talking with the friends I made in various parts of the world again - in UK I was in the background and not in the mix of world wide trading - but now I’m involved with everything and everyone all over again and work doesn’t seem so bad anymore.
.
and the girl? ........
.
Anyways - getting late and I’m up at the crack of dawn to catch a train to Frankfurt in the morning - as the sun rises I’ll be heading to Germany and trying to either blag my way into England vs. Paraguay or just hook up with some friends and soak up the football, the big screen, the alcohol and the atmosphere - sure there were a lot of logical reasons for wanting to move to Holland - quality of life, career, money and smiling in the morning - but being next door to the World Cup was definitely one of the main ones as well - COME ON ENGLAND! as really, we’ve all been hurting far too long now....
.
.
Sure, I’m on my own and know nobody but me, myself - I but I don’t mind my own company and I’ve figured the place out fairly swiftly - there’s a swish supermarket for one day to the next shopping - a wine and whisky world round the corner - restaurant bar shindig within a few minutes walk - a place in which I’m already on my way to achieving local status - I know where the restaurants are, the main bar area, Sandwich shop for morning first thing, the place for English papers, best music shop in town, the gym and of course: the obligatory Irish pub.
.
.
I’m also getting to grips with the lingo - for the nitty gritty of everyday living I’m going to have to learn Dutch - it’s good to make the effort and the locals love that you try - especially when all around seem so fluent in English and it would be easy enough to not bother - but at the end of the day, when you live in a place that seems not too far a step out of the general existence of what you’re used to, you feel like a bit of an idiot when you suddenly can’t grasp the day to day - in Vietnam and Indonesia walking around feeling like a fish out of water was to be expected - it genuinely was a jump to the other end of the world - yet here in Holland, you feel like you’re playing catch up when all that looks, sounds and feels normal doesn’t add up when it comes to the breakdown of lingo.
.
There are the little differences as Jules and Vincent famously discussed - the bikes, the sense of humour, the multitude of snacks, the bikes, the mayo, the little beers, the bagel obsession, the bikes, the zebra crossings that aren’t really zebra crossings, the trams, the way it seems that there’s an attractive woman consistently within 5 metres of you and of course the bikes - lots and lots of bikes.
.
.
The work? getting there, getting there… it’s like there are so many directions to head in but no idea where to start - so I’m getting the basics sorted as far as email, phones and computers go first - finding out the A-Z before getting on to the tricky - one definite plus is that I’m working the Vietnam tea again - sort of the next step of what I started over there - bringing it to a wider audience of buyers - it’s good talking with the friends I made in various parts of the world again - in UK I was in the background and not in the mix of world wide trading - but now I’m involved with everything and everyone all over again and work doesn’t seem so bad anymore.
.
and the girl? ........
.
Anyways - getting late and I’m up at the crack of dawn to catch a train to Frankfurt in the morning - as the sun rises I’ll be heading to Germany and trying to either blag my way into England vs. Paraguay or just hook up with some friends and soak up the football, the big screen, the alcohol and the atmosphere - sure there were a lot of logical reasons for wanting to move to Holland - quality of life, career, money and smiling in the morning - but being next door to the World Cup was definitely one of the main ones as well - COME ON ENGLAND! as really, we’ve all been hurting far too long now....
Spo | June 9, 2006 | Comments
Blogging |
Daily Life - Holland
June 3, 2006
Arrived Rotterdam…..
I’m in the weird and wonderful world of Holland and trying to get settled - which may take a week or so as I get my things trucked over from UK and get to grips with where I’m living, work and getting the odds and ends of everyday living organised.
I need to get set up with the net, get my laptop sorted out for connections and then I’ll be back posting and adding a few pics of the place.
First impressions? bikes everywhere! and liking the whole beautiful women of all nationalities in one place thing (166 apparently) and also that it’s very easy to get around the city what with trams, trains, underground and taxi’s everywhere.
Apartment is cool-ish - classy, spacious, easy walking from town, next to a few supermarkets and bars - needs a bit of work but it’s looking better now I’ve hidden all the freaky artistic strangeness the lady who owns the place had filled it with. Including a very personal calender which you’ll have to wait for pics of before it can be fully explained.
Two floors worth of narrow winding stairs are lethal as well - methinks drunken nights = couch.
So.... will be checking in later in the week once I’m able to use my computer again - using someone else’s feels like cheating.
Spo | June 3, 2006 | Comments
Blogging |
Daily Life - Holland
