travel: will we really go???

My boyfriend found himself being quite enthousiastic yesterday: he wanted to go to Costa Rica on holiday.

 I think I almost leaped out of my skin. I love tropical travels so much, but my love is a bit more careful. So, will we finally go to Costa Rica and dwell/basque in the pleasures of the sun and sea?

We have these bungalows in mind…please turn on the music when going to that site…it is reggaetastic: site

Lordy, it looks fantastic:

If we go, it would be in April…swoon. Will this come true???

Looong hair

and you thought my hair was long…. 

My childhood heroes

I am not the very commercial type…I am not a fan of Valentine, Christmas, and so on.
However, I love the commercialisation of my childhood heroes at one of the supermarkets in Holland:

Hee hee, I already have the female teddy one, which I love, and 5 of the small plastic ones.
So, I would like to add a more fashionably and definately prettier lady from my lovely country: Doutzen Kroes in a Teddy-like fashion shoot…
 

This one reminds me of the film Donnie Darko, with the psycho rabbit. This is more the scary teddy who is going to….(make your own version of this fairytale, but keep the happy and good ending)
 

Presentation

Yesterday I had my first presentation of the trimester: Gender and Ethnicity in Europe
I am not unhappy about my preformance: my English has improved a lot since my stay in Liverpool.
Not that it is perfect, gosh…far from that, but I am able to express myself quicker than I used to do, and feel more free to express myself in English.
So, in that extend the intended stay in Liverpool (to improve my English) has been effective… 
The weather has been a bit better, lately, although it is still cold. At least, there has been some sun. So, I was inspired to put this sunny lady in my blog to celebrate the coming of spring (and summer). Isn’t she cute?

happy valentinesday

Missing little ol’ Britain

Today I heared some Brits asking the way in our little village. It was really lovely to hear some genuine English again.

Moreover, I learned more from the Liverpool Hope University as I first thought. In the lecture ‘Gender and Ethnicity in Europe’ I was quite aware about the Scottish situation to the English mindset, something I learned in Zoë Kinsley lovely course “Travel and Adventure in English Literatue”.

Plus, having to meet such a wonderful variety of Europeans during my Aigburth time gave me lots of information about various countries: for example, Bulgaria, the lovely Kathia told me about Bulgaria being enslaved by the Turkish for 500 years!!! That was something I hadn’t learned in history class in primary and secondary school.

Or, how the Catalans (Joan and Laila) live in a Castalian society, which gave funny (but serious underneath) conversations of what is Spanish or not with the Castilians (Jose and Fran).

From Philip I heard something about the Sovjet experience of the Tjech Republic (he lived under Sovjet rule for the first 10 years of his life), and how he could be somewhat nostalgic for the peaceful period without much capitalism that was prevalent during that time.

Yeh, I am really thankful for this experience and stories, which I could not have learned in such a way when reading a history book. Thank you for giving the history such a wonderful face…

weekly read: Make the most of your time on earth

Two weeks ago I bought this book, it was in the middle of January…the weather was gloomy, and the fun times seemed to be far far away.

The best thing I could think to do, was travelling to an highly exotic place. The second best thing, therefore the best thing for my creditcard and budget, was to become a ‘couch-tourist’, aka to travel from your couch by books, pictures and tv shows about travelling.

You have to admit, the title is really catching: How to “Make the most of your time on Earth”. Who would not want to make the most of his/her time on earth? And the front-cover picture…it is a visual orgasm for the winter starved eye: Look at the water and that island, pure bliss.

But, I am not fully a person who judges the book by its cover, and I really liked the content…It gives you 1000 destinations that are ultimate travel experiences…me likey.

So, this week, apart from starting a new trimester again (happy about that), I will be indulging in some “couchtourism” myself. You can find me on page 476, drinking a cocktail.

Cheers.

CSI Holland, or Sherlock de Vries

One of the hottest topics this week, are the ‘discoveries’ that the private ‘Sherlock Holmes’ of the Netherlands has found on the murder case of Natalee Holloway.



 

Next sunday he will disclose some important information on the Natalee Holloway dissapearance, if you are not aware of the story, you can find some info over here (it is Wiki, but you can google on)My vision is somewhat more biased.

As I mentioned two posts ago, I lived in the Antilles for a while. I discovered that there was a certain group of boys, that ’specialised’ in picking up tourist girls.  

Actually, it was not that hard to pick up these girls, because they were in the ultimate holiday spirit, and probably quite ‘approachable’.

Natalee was probably charmed by the main suspect, Joran, who was a white boy from European descendance, and looked quite reliable (not to be discriminating, but he looked like a sheep in wolfs-clothing).

Research showed that he was quite the player I mentioned and observed before…Natalee was with a couple of girls on a girly holiday, without the parents…she probably drank alcohol, and she might have taken some drugs. From this point…

I have no idea what happened, but I am quite sure that the main suspect Joran lacked the respect to care for her..so,

1. he might have left her on the beach as he claimed, and she died from other causes, combined with her intake on alcohol (drugs, or combination),

or, 2. he might have harmed her. Maybe she did not want to have full ’sexual relations’ (to mention a Clintonian remark) and he might have become angry.

I probably watched too much CSI Miami and CSI las Vegas, not to mention Bones, Cold Case and NCSI







However, I will probably watch the show sunday, and see how the national Sherlock thinks what has happened, and how the case is supposed to be solved.