Ready for valentine?

How are you going to celebrate valentine? Like this

or:

 or:

The best carnaval yet…

Was when I was 19 and living in St. Maarten, Dutch Antilles.

I stayed up all night with my BFF Jen, and the next morning at 4.30 we went in the crowd doing the “jump up”.

I have no pictures or videos of that period (I cannot even remember the greatest carnaval song) but it might have been something like in this video.

Mind you, I did not wear the bikinis, just some shorts and tshirt. Oh, all sizes are welcome in this video (which gave me confidence in that time, and still, for having a large booty) 

 

9 things I would say to my younger self…(10 years ago)

1. You had so much fun in Barcelona, but do not expect that your American boyfriend will keep contact with you. You will feel sad about this, but remember that there are more suitable persons for you, and you will find your match…                                                                                     
2. Please, do not befriend that boy in the Dutch discotheque…he, and his friends, will ruin 4 years of your precious life… And do not spend your photographs on them: you will burn them anyway.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
3.                                                                                                                                                              Change from Leiden University to another University, change subjects if you like, but do not leave Uni, because you are still smart (just a bit confused right now)…
4. Enjoy your beautiful skin for the couple of years it takes.                                                                    
5. USE SUNBLOCK, even though the people around you say that tanned people are more beautiful.                                                                                                                                                        
6. Yes, he might be (so much) more beautiful than you, but if he is interested…go ahead. He will value your intellect and personality…(and think your eyes are gorgeous)                                                 
7. TRAVEL TRAVEL TRAVEL, even if you think you are travelling a lot, you can travel so much more…                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
8. Be kind with your mother and enjoy being with her…she will have just a couple of years left to live… (or go and see several doctors with her who can detect the cancer in an early stage)           
9. Enjoy being innocent and naive…your intuition will keep you from doing really stupid things (and your older self knows)                                                                                                                        

How to…concer a crappy feeling (point 1)

Mmm, some self-help from overcoming the crappy feeling I had yesterday. I think I post something

1. Learn something unusual, even though you might not need it (yet) for a purpose.

I really like the site http://community.livejournal.com/dailycharacter/ , although it is not updated anymore. They show you a daily Chinese Character. Is the character for outstanding.It is a wonderful way to overcome the limitations of your daily thinking, and daily routine, and gives you a source of development…something humans need (every now and then).(I will try to post some more things later this week…)Edited 28-01-08: I feel slightly crappy again, because Galadarling has so much more tips for concurring a crappy day: here 

crap

I feel totally crap and worthless today, as I have been feeling the last couple of days.

I really want to write a ‘how to/how not to’ column, but I cannot even find examples of how not to be such a zero like me.

Visual Images of Red Light Fashion

Amsterdam Fashion week 2008: a new way of displaying the fashion designers in the Red Light District merges the notorious part of Holland with the more sophisticated and lesser known part of the Netherlands (our fashion industry).

I love the hybridity of two binaries, who seem to be completely oppositite, but share some equal points (sexuality, power, attractiveness-both in fashion as prostitution).Enjoy the videos, and do not mind my “norms and values” comments, I was a bit scared in that neigbourhood, LOL.
   

Lame Sunday

This is one of these sundays that can be uberboring…So, I am going to post some lame pictures with even lamer text (my own)…enjoy  

How to…be as cheap as the Dutch

Finally, I have the inspiration to write down something about one of the strange Dutch stereotypes that we are the Cheapskates of Europe. We are not the only to share this ‘wonderful’ title: in Spain, the Catalan are supposed to be cheap, and in Great Britain, it is the Scottish who hold their title. However, we are a full nation (and not a part of a nation) that is known for this habit…

First I want to accentuate that the next points will be stereotypes, which may be partly true and sometimes still applicable in some parts of the country, however, the city districts are becoming less cheap and adopting a more generous lifestyle. Nevertheless, it is still fun to read some of our ‘tips’ of being cheap.

1. Stamps are not only for postcards:

actually, we sample “zegeltjes” on any occasion to save money or to save for goods, such as coffeecups (Douwe Egberts coffee), discounts, and other products. Some saving methods are so intricate that you have to keep a whole accounting department in order to make sense of all the saving you have to do and calculate all the stamps you need for a coffeemug that would have cost you 2 euro in the store. It will bind the client to a certain shop, in order to get the stamps the consumer wants. I am not sure if it is really a money saving tool, but it sure makes the Dutch look cheap, LOL. More information on http://www.scholieren.com/werkstukken/6811 and here and translation on http://www.worldlingo.com/en/products_services/worldlingo_translator.html

2. Scrape everything together:

This fantastic tool is typically Dutch: “de flessenlikker” or a “jar licker”, which is used to help you get every last scrap from the bottle of a long jar or a pack of yogurt or “vla”. More cute info over here

3. Compare, compare, compare…

I does not matter if you are doing groceries or shopping for a car…the Dutch compare different prices, turn to consumer’s test magazines, and browse through tons of flyers in order to find the best deal…It makes a great conversation item to say that you saved a lot on your apple Ipod, when you bought it on X instead of Y. It is also a side of competition…if you could find a cheaper deal than your friend, you are the man (or the woman).

4a. Staying in, instead of eating and going out…

Unlike our mediterranean friends, and the rest of the world, we still save on food…we do not go to restaurants a lot, we still cook a lot at home, and…shock, some even bring their own sandwiches to school or work.

 What we save on food and staying in a lot, we splurge on making our home as “gezellig” as possible (which means displaying a lot of stuff).

4b. If eating out…

(Sorry for the cursing man for the people who can understand Dutch, not my video)

Yup, you can take some cheap fried food out of the wall…Other options are eating more fried food in the snackbar, or taking out chinese food (about 10 euro for a big meal)

5. Cycling again, and other forms of transport. We even have bikes to carry all your children, groceries and so on:

and the double decker bike:

6. Markets!!! They are not typically Dutch, but they still matter on saving money. Even the smallest town have a weekly market…

Personally, I am not sure if it is really cheaper, but their slogan used to be “op de markt is uw gulden een daalder waard”, which means “at the market your 1 euro coin is worth 2 euros” or “you get more value for your money at the market”

So, that was my impression of how to save money-or be as cheap- as the Dutch. You can find some more information about our strange habits from an ‘outsider’s’ view in the wonderful book The Undutchables

Scarves and glasses

In Holland we have an expression which sounds like “Clothes make the man” (actually, this is a literal translation).

 

(disclaimer: not my kitty and I would never dress up animals like humans)

Looking around, it seems that the Dutch dress up to be very tedious (boring), because there is a lack of expression and colours on our streets comparing to countries like Italy, Spain, the UK, Morocco, Russia, etc.

So, here is the dose of quirky, expressive assessories I found on the net, and would love to have:

space glasses in gold:

Dare to be square-glasses:

These would look cool on my boyfriend: white space glasses

Not many people in Holland would dare to walk around with these glasses (except in a gaybar):

Ohh, I love fashion like this:

Also scarves:

and more scarves:

+

Colour, that is what we need!!!

Check for yourself if the Dutch designers are going in the right direction: Amsterdam fashion Week is up this week:

Andy Warhol party (very gaybar dragqueen-esque):

(from: http://360fashion.typepad.com/aifw/)

And, to keep in touch with our National Identity: some designers will exhibit their fashion in the Red Light District (seriously). Designers like Bas Kosters, Jan Taminiau, Daryl van Wouw, Edwin Oudshoorn, Roswitha van Rijn and Mada  Gaans will exhibit something the regular visitor of the red light district shun away from: CLOTHES.

More info on : http://www.redlightfashionamsterdam.com/

I want to ride my bicycle

I cannot believe that there is something more Dutch than people riding their bicycle.

 

In Liverpool, I was an active biker as well…Most people feared the English traffic and the lack of proper bicycle paths (there are some, which is really positive). Anyway, I loved climbing the slopes and managing myself on the roads. Moreover, the reaction of some English blokes were lovely (swoon).

 

This bicycle is something that reflects the zeitgeist of our environmentally concious, body consious era. But, it is still Chanel and it will set you back about $9000… 

 

Lovely, and typically NOT Dutch (because who would park this bike in the busy city of Amsterdam, where they would steal a 5 euro bike if they can, let alone a Chanel bike).