gepardine

2010-06-28T01:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, i guess that is it. The last post in that blog. It was a great time here and as some of my friends have said, it was like living in a paradise, where everything is the way it is supposed to be. We'll be missing it a lot. But let's look forward, new adventures are awaiting us and new areas to explore and new situations and people, world is waiting to be discovered.

Dear readers, i hope you liked to visit this blog every now and then. It was nice to see that you are from so diverse locations around the world. If some of you would like to write some comments on the whole thing or tell me a little about yourself, i'd be curious and happy to hear. You find my e-mail in the profile.

I hope you got maybe a little inspiration or some ideas from these posts. And i wish you all a great life. I'd like to end that with these quatations.

★ It always seems impossible until its done.

★ Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

★ You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?'

2010-06-27T15:03:00.000-07:00

The last weekend on the beach with the Saxenburgers. My skin is hot from the whole day in the sun and i'm posting this here in my empty room. This is the last day in this room, behind the table. Listening to Jamie Cullum as when i left Warsaw about two years ago, history is repeating itself in some aspects. There is a bitterness in these last days. All of us are looking in the same direction, yet in very different ones. Maybe some day, somewhere, we look in the same place in the same direction again. But until that day our directions will be Norway, Portugal, Vietnam, Cuba, New York, Amsterdam, Italy....

2010-06-24T04:10:00.000-07:00

The second farewell. This time, saying good-bye to all the school-erasmus-friends. I must say that the whole going away process is much easier then i expected. If Amsterdam was at some point my perfect lover, then now i think we are in a phase of breaking up. I still love the city and all it's qualities very much, but as our ways are going to part, i try to think and concentrate maybe on things i don't like about it, to make it easier for myself. And also i have tried to plan some small adventures for myself and thought about the interesting stuff i can do in the future and that probably there will be other citys like that in the world, and even better ones!

When it comes to people it has also been somehow simple. So far. i'm not saying that these people have not been important to me, but somehow i guess i have become immune to these good-byes during the years, as i have had quite many of them so far. Sadly the hardest ones are to come this weekend. But all these people have had some sort of influence on me and taught me something new, and i'm very grateful for that.

2010-06-21T04:09:00.000-07:00

A video from Marco's birthday party a month ago. It was probably the best party of the year. The end is especially nice.

2010-06-21T02:56:00.000-07:00

This weekend we took a trip to Texel island. Making a stop in the cheese capital Alkmaar and end of the world town Den Helder. All the three days we cycled about 50 km and the weather changed every minute as always. Most of time the temperature was around 9-13 degrees, strong head wind and flushes of pouring rain. The only thing i kept repeating myself, was that, there is no bad weather, only bad equipment. This time i was luckily equiped with a great bike and clothes, so no worries.

There were some surprisingly different landscapes on the way... dunes and dykes and loads of sheep. And again you had to realize, that no matter which direction you cycle, the wind is always against. But what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. At the moment i feel so addicted to the bike, that after 4 days of cycling with it, i feel like going on a spin with it again.

2010-06-17T13:17:00.000-07:00

I borrowed a very nice bike from Marco for a week or so. I'm extremely proud to be able to borrow this special bike.The bike is special, because in 2007 he wanted to break a world record in longest bike ride. He rode for 48 hours without sleeping or any other breaks, distance about 700 km and with rough weather conditions, from north to south Germany. And now i can ride this same bike, i'm proud. Well, and today i took it out for a small ride, decided to just see where the road takes me. Suddenly, when i looked at the watch i had already trained for about 1 hour and stood with the bike in the middle of some very beautiful nature reserve and felt that i just could keep on going. It gave me this very strong feeling and sense of freedom and yeah, the bike is perfect for exploring and training. Tomorrow i will go on a longer bike trip with it. I even gave name to the bike- Silver Fox. I will post a photo of my new love soon. Yes, it seems that i have not only given a finger, but myself to the devil, but this was the whole idea behind taking this bike. Not hard to guess what a next investment concerning sports will be.

To be honest, i don't like how women look on bicycles, fit men on bikes are just so much more gracious. I think i will just fuck the graciousness and do what i love.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, here is the photo of Silver Fox. Put close attention to the Brooks professional saddle :)

2010-06-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend i took a bike trip to Leiden with my couchsurfer Sofi and Marco. For her the longest way ever ridden on a bike was 3 km per day. So we broke the record by far, making 43 km per day, she counted all the kilometers very carefully, especially, when getting closer to Leiden. On the second day, arriving in Amsterdam, she was surprisingly energetic, compared to the last day and wanted to start cooking for us and do the groceries and dishes. It seems that we inspired her with cycling, but we also made her aware that it is higly addictive.

After returning her rented bike back to the shop, Marco played a taxi driver for us, carrying us on his trailer through the city and park, people watching in amazement. Good times...

2010-06-14T06:21:00.000-07:00

After the successful match, the city will probably become even more orange. The neighbourhood truly was silent during the game and when the two goals were hit, suddenly the silence was broken by people screaming, whistling and honking and the voice echoed through the streets. Amazing.

Listening to the reporter say the dutch names, i realized, that my dutch name could be Liis van der Sell - a joke for estonian readers.

2010-06-14T04:39:00.000-07:00

In the last week the city has become more and more orange. The BIG day is getting closer. If you want to rob a bank, then today is the day to do it! Everyone is working (read watching football) or watching football during the Denmark-Natherlands match. My supervisor told me that her teenage son got half of the day off from school, so that everyone could watch the match, the head master organized a big screen in the school for that... hup, Holland, hup!!!

2010-06-10T05:18:00.000-07:00

I have a crazy plan, let's see how it goes... This is a first hint ;)

2010-06-10T04:52:00.000-07:00

It's already a month ago, when we had here the Giro d'Italia. We went to check out the cyclists and later took a trip to Amsterdamse Bos for a picnic and monkey business. The first photo is done, using a very interesting tripod, as there was a big crowd at the finish, Marco took me on his shoulders, so i could take this photo. I think it's good enough...

Lately i have been into Diane Arbus. I somehow ran into the film: "Fur: An imaginary portrait of Diane Arbus" and it was surprisingly good. Very similar to the film "Secretary". And now i have a pile of books about her on my table..good stuff...

2010-06-08T09:40:00.000-07:00

In my yellow submarine :)

photo by Marco

2010-06-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

Here are quite some photos from Marco's birthday last weekend. We had 3 nice reggea musicians from Leiden playing and singing for us for the whole 8 hours. Good food and drinks. Weather conditions changing as always, so we had a possibility for sun bathing, but also for dancing in the rain. And for my joy, as always, beautiful and inspiring spanish models.

Today i had my last exam. I just have to do some work on my research, but basically it means that i can travel now in Netherlands and also a little bit in Belgium and simply enjoy my last month in Amsterdam with friends.

2010-05-29T02:56:00.000-07:00

So, today, after about 5 years of doing skating as training i finally had my first crash. I think i probably hit one skate with another and then lost balance (something similar happens to me often on longer distances of skiing, when i suddenly without a reason find myself lying on the snow). For few seconds i was in a position you can have when crossing the finish line, one leg straight first and the other under you, in my case the other one's knee was scratching the asphalt and finally happily landed on the soft grass. One thing i remember thinking was that Oh, do i finally can make use of wearing the helmet...but no, just a bleeding knee. Only thing i'm sad about now is that my new skates have scratches on them, otherwise i guess i can just think of that accident as a sign of becoming more professional :P Probably most of the training road cyclist would just laugh when they see my wound...

2010-05-28T07:48:00.000-07:00

We made a bike trip to the Zandvoort beach with friends last weekend. 60 km there and back, for me the longest this year, for one friend the longest in lifetime.

The way back to Amsterdam...

Followed by a very late cooking- lasagne and carrot cake- and midnight eating. Followed by sleeping on the roof terrace. In the morning i woke up at 6 to, in a half-sleep-mode, make these photos and fall asleep again in my misty sleeping bag, listening to starlings sing their crazy melodies...waking up turned into sunbathing and a nice long breakfast...

2010-05-27T14:11:00.000-07:00

serotonin...dopamine...epinephrine...endorphin

2010-05-17T11:46:00.000-07:00

Still no computer. It’s supposed to arrive within a week. I can almost feel my finger tips typing on the brand new smooth keyboard and see my photos appearing on the big screen and then I can work with them. And share them. Ohh, what a pleasure. To this point I have produced maybe around 700 photos. I feel a small pleasurable smile on my face already. And then of course I have to study for the exams at the same time.

There is a certain nostalgia or something romantic amount making sandwiches at home and packing them to the bag along with bananas and a drink and chocolate and some books and a notebook and cycling to library. And spending several hours there, studying. And watching people forming lines to use the computers and waiting in line yourself. Or just observing other people. There is exceptionally beautiful and stylish girl sitting next to me, admiration.

The hot topic of today’s library session is place cells. Quite often I discover myself today, imagining that I’m a white blackspotted rat, running around in black cylinder, place cells firing in a certain place, sniffing my surroundings. Sounds funny I think. I just love imagining that i'm an animal and how nice the world would look through my eyes...

Went again to the hippie-sauna, I wrote here about quite some time ago. The second time I went there was with Elina and after that I kind of promised myself, that it will be the last time, as one fat old guy was peaking at us often and it took away every pleasure of being there. This time, yesterday, I went there with two guy friends, acting as my safeguard, so no problems this time. Instead a very nice afternoon 3 hour sauna session in a very beautiful, relaxing and nature-like atmosphere. If possible, again, it would be nice to upload some mental pictures.

And the question of the month is: what is the best and most fool-proof way to make an appointment with Spaniard? How long before and using which kind of communication should be used to arrange it?

2010-05-10T03:23:00.001-07:00

It seems that the understanding of the book “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera comes with time and experience. Last night I was thinking about the “laws”, the main character had for life and intimate relationships and they suddenly applied to me, i had never thought they would.... It’s nice to learn about the complexity of ways one can think of oneself, world and the relationships.

2010-05-07T06:28:00.000-07:00

I went to a photo shop today with my “new” camera and got already many compliments about it. As I didn’t know much about the camera I had bought, I was rather surprised. It came out that the camera is most likely even older than the guy who sold me had told- approcimately 50 years old. And it looks very simple, yet stylish. And is in a very good condition. The nicest thing of course is that the camera was 5 euros and the film I bought in was 6,50. Here is a small overview of my Agfa Clack. Hopefully some interesting photos will come out :)

2010-05-06T07:08:00.000-07:00

Oh, it has been a long time since i have posted here. I’m starting to feel more and more disabled without my computer, without the music I could listen and mainly without my photos and a possibility to work with and publish them.

Well, I have some nice photos in my camera and even nicer photos of some moments in my head. I hope that I have a possibility to make the ones in my head come true. In the mean time, there was the famous Queensday in Amsterdam with loads of people in orange outfits and amazing street markets. I even bought a second-hand camera, which I hope to start using in next few days.

And I went to the even more famous and touristy Keukenhof flower garden with my parents and saw the huge tulip fields. The latter must have been even more impressive from the air.

There was also a manly thing I did. I wanted to send a classic Dutch bike home with my parents and decided to take it into pieces on my own (as it has to be rather small and compact for transporting with plane). Man, it felt good. All the small parts were of course rusty and really stuck, and of course first I made the mistake of turning the screws to the opposite direction of opening. I had to remove the wheels, the saddle and all the other parts that might intrude and later tape it all together and cover with several cardboard boxes. So now, I’m almost a bike mechanic, at least when it comes to taking the bikes apart and using several different tools :)

2010-04-23T05:37:00.001-07:00

As my computer broke down again, there will be no new photos in my blog for about next 2-3 weeks. And after that hopefully there will be loads of them, posting every day :)

Quite some time ago I met one guy through a common friend here. He is one of these people I admire a lot and who are even a little bit revolutionary you may say, and also stand up for their beliefs and through all that very inspiring. As he is going to start a new cycling expedition, as he calls it, from Portugal to Vietnam soon, he is training in conditions similar to the temperature in the southern Europe. He invited me to join him for one training - something called Bikram yoga. I must say I’m quite sceptical about yoga and pilates, maybe because they seem to be connected to religion, but still every now and then I decide to give them a second try. So, we went to this yoga…the room, where it takes place is heated to 40 degrees and really feels like in sauna. In this heat you have a 1,5 hour yoga class. I must say, I loved it. It was very purifying and also made my body feel soooo good. But also, the last 30 min of balancing and other exercises, I mainly was wandering, why am I here, in the middle of all these crazy people??? I can go one more time for free and believe it will be great, maybe I will even get addicted, luckily the price of the classes is rather high, so addiction will soon disappear…but if possible, it is a thing absolutely worth trying, you will get the best feeling ever, after the class!

2010-04-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

Today i took a first longer skating trip out of town with a friend. I believe, that previously I have given in this blog a link to my favorite short cycling movies , which I check now even more often as the Giromania gets closer and closer. When I watch these short clips, they simply give me this very good feeling. A sense of freedom, speed and power. I love the bodies of the male cyclists, how they make a real effort and how their body moves, when riding up the hill. And also their suntan lines. I have been longing for this feeling of freedom that open, empty highways and road bikes can give to you, he and his photosobviously put a start to it all and I couldn’t be more grateful for that influence.

I went back to the whole “loving cyclists and the freedom” subject as today I felt something similar with skating. Not going so fast, but being outside the city and seeing an empty highway in front of me is just amazing feeling. And also, I got my first real sun tan stripes from trousers and socks :)I somehow feel very proud for having these lines…

i tell you, some day i will apply for a job as a flower lady for Tour de France and these kisses on the cheeks will be the best ones in the world :D

2010-04-16T13:46:00.000-07:00

A brief report of another nice day with friends. We went to one abandoned circus, blew up the balloons and shot as much as everyone wished :)

2010-04-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

I bought myself a new helmet and got a book “Speed on Skates: A Complete Technique, Training and Racing Guide for In-Line and Ice Skaters” from library, so now I have no excuse whatsoever not to go skating. Even the bearings are water proof- which means that I can also skate on wet asphalt. Next week I’ll start :)

And yesterday I took another small trip with some Spaniard friends to north of Amsterdam, really surprising and amazing places are hidden all over the city. And later went to see a football match and to a house party. Spaniards really know how to dance. Looking at others dancing and trying salsa myself, reminded me of the quotation by Robert Lee Frost “Dancing is a vertical expression of a horizontal desire."

I’ve always loved to read quotations by famous writers. While searching for the author of the previous line I ended up reading further. And found some that I liked a lot (by George Bernard Shaw) :

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

“The secret of being miserable is to have the leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not. The cure is occupation.”

“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

“You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?'”

“Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people.”

“The only man who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew every time he sees me, while all the rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them.”

2010-04-07T02:01:00.000-07:00

It seems that my excitement about the skating course was short-lived. Mainly because there were simply too few participants and the class is postponed to summer. But also because all the others, as expected, were almost first time on skates. But in the first class I learned how to do a T-brake, turn with stepping over the other leg and of course falling was the worst. Normally you have the instinct to stay up and then you have to overcome it and slide yourself from a small speed on asphalt, but it was fun. I guess I should go and get a nice helmet, because these 100 mm wheels, they roll oh so fast…and surprisingly one girl was even interested in going skating with me some other time…which probably means that she will try to move forward and I have plenty of time to practice my turns and breaking :)

And briefly about a nice party I went to at the weekend. It was held in a very nice apartment by Vondelpark, I must say that I like house-parties a lot. It gives you a good opportunity to get to know some new people and find out that some of them are very nice and talented. For example one guy, who plans to start a cycling expedition to Vietnam and some other who are just very good musicians.

And once again it is time to go out and explore the open savannah, some usually use the expression of fish in the sea.

2010-04-05T08:54:00.000-07:00

Let me introduce my new love: K2 Radical Maze inline skates with Longmount Four Hundred Frame and 100mm wheels with ILQ-9 Classic (water and dust proof) bearings. I’m taking them out tomorrow, as I will participate in a 5 week inline skating course in the university sports center, to learn how to properly keep my posture, balance, fall, turn, break, roll and so on. Basically, how to control these devilish wheels….and I couldn’t be more excited :D

2010-04-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

So, already 3 films in 3 days and in 3 different cinemas. So far the Filmmuseum in Vondelpark seems to be the nicest, but I expect to visit some nicer and more old-fashioned filmtheaters, as the say here, in near future. Now I think I have to make a small pause, otherwise the whole marathon won’t have its charm anymore… As the foreign films are usually dubbed in Dutch, I have to choose the ones in English or old ones in Filmmuseum. “Up in the air” seems to be the best thus far, even though “An education” was also nice, about the best guarantee you can have in your life- good education. And today’s old French film was nice also, with Brigitte Bardot and very passionate kisses on doorways.

2010-03-30T05:17:00.000-07:00

There is a great offer for film-lovers here in A'dam. For 17,5 euros you can visit unlimited number of films in 13 different cinemas for one month. I will buy this ticket today and see how many films i manage to go to. The first in line will be "Up in the air", hopefully today...

On Saturday market i bought 3 pots of narciss and was very skeptical whether they will ever bloom, but just the second morning one blossom had opened and now half of them have :) very nice start for the morning to see spring flowers by the bed.

2010-03-29T02:05:00.000-07:00

Lars was visiting me for brief few days. And we spent very nice time together again, now it is another 10 weeks to go, to meet again. The week after returning from Finland was spent mainly on studying, now I still have one essay to make. I still have to bring out, how amazing professors we have in here, all of them have been Germans, and they are truly organized and motivated in their teaching, but at the same time also very strict when it comes to grading, but at the same time give constructive feedback. Today I will go to gym again :), and soon it is time to take out skates and enjoy the spring air blowing, while is speed with my new inline skates :)

2010-03-21T12:36:00.000-07:00

I was on a 10 day ski trip to Suomu, Finland. This year I skied only 100 km, due to living in Amsterdam. 85 km was done in Finland in 5 days. On a 13 km track we measured an average speed, which was 8 km/h, the fastest km was covered with average speed of 20 km/h (the whole way was down the hill :) ). I guess I can be satisfied with this result, taking into account the possibilities. I wander what would have been the result if I had lived in Estonia this winter.. for the first time we had our skis waxed professionally also. There wasn’t much of a difference for my skis, but the ones for classic style were really amazing. There is a very big difference indeed, whether they are waxed or not, specially when one goes up the hill.

As always it was nice to see my cat again and some friends.

But above all it feels good to be at home, in Amsterdam. It is sad to think that our ways will part in June. I love the smell of the streets, the houses, the canals, everything. I will try to take maximum. Lars will be here soon to help with that :D

2010-03-06T05:14:00.000-08:00

The sun has been shining the whole week and Amsterdam has slowly sneaked back to my heart again. January and February with its cold and rainy weather already made me think that the city is not so nice after all, the first thrills of falling in love had disappeared. But today I took a long walk around the neighborhood to go to the market and you just can’t ignore the vibe of the place. The people smiling on the street, walking their dogs or strolling families and friends sitting in cafeterias, enjoying the sun. It feels so good that it almost hurts. I don’t want to know how it feels when the trees are green again and the summer is here…when I have to leave…time flies so fast, we have still about 3 months left…

2010-02-28T02:26:00.001-08:00

At some point last week i was telling Lars how much i love the trench coats by Burberry, going through this website over and over again. And then got to this webpage and almost went crazy about all of them, how beautiful they are and how well they fit. And then noticed the prize and understood the very bitter truth, that I will never ever be able to afford on of those. So it remained a dream, even to try one on. Yesterday I went to our local fruit market and I noticed a nice vintage shop and decided to have a quick look, even though they are very expensive here. And also to have a look whether they have some nice trenches there. Noticed about 10 beige trenches and started to have a look at them, and then I noticed the label. Time stopped. I couldn’t believe that, I was holding in my hands a Burberry vintage trench coat!!!! And I even tried one on. But I think they were all men’s trench coats or for big women and with funny look, so it looked on me like any other unfitting men’s coat. But it was Burberry! If I could try on one of the new ones, I would wrap around my body as tight as possible and run as fast as I could and as far as I could…

The studies are finally getting more busy, which is very good. I’m quite tired of not doing much here, now there will be a nice rhythm of working, training and working. And the spring is almost here!

From yesterday's summer party :)

2010-02-26T02:11:00.000-08:00

When i think of freedom, i think of summer and cycling

2010-02-19T13:47:00.000-08:00

Ohhhh, i can't believe it. It is too good to be true! Giro d'Italia will start in May here in Amsterdam. All these professional cyclists, the muscles, the strength :) i think i will have again the problem that i can't decide, whether to watch and admire or try to take photos and admire later...maybe i could get an autograph? Then i should maybe buy a cycling shirt beforehand...

2010-02-17T07:33:00.000-08:00

I love the books by Albert Ellis. They are very wise and inspire you to be rational and happy. I have read most of the books he has written, that I have had access to. From the UvA library I got this book and it is amazing. I think it is a real MUST for men in every age, despite the fact that it was written on 1969. The best guide I have seen so far on how to treat your girl in a best possible way, meaning then in a sexual way. It also had many funny American style approaches like the one added, but I guess you can get ideas from that also. I’m just sad that, as far as I know, he hasn’t written anything of this kind for women, on how to successfully seduce men. So I take it, that we, women, just have to lay back and be seduced…

You might enjoy watching this video with him also.

2010-02-13T03:01:00.000-08:00

I went to a very nice party yesterday and found this new cider from a local shop. It is produced in South-Africa and as you see is called Savanna Dry. I think if i would make my own brand of cider i couldn't design it better. Or maybe add to the title- recommended by the leading Gepardines!? Or is this all too much of an insider comment?

2010-02-11T13:00:00.000-08:00

The day started very superbly today. I woke up at ten, the sun was shining outside. I opened a window and crawled back under the warm blanket and let the fresh breeze go over my sleepy face. It was a nice day, full of sun. And I remembered a moment in the early autumn 2003 (?), standing in a bus station in Tallinn, waiting for a bus, being truly in love for the first time, he was there next to me and put his portable cassette player headphones to my ears and let me hear this song - so hippy, so free, so easy, so nice. Hope you also had a beautiful day today :)

2010-02-08T13:52:00.000-08:00

I decided to try something new today. I found a club in here, which is similar to the Genialistide Klubi in Tartu. Today they had a workshop of aerial tissue dancing. Check it out in youtube! As the teacher said, I was the only virgin today, all the others had already taken 4-6 classes and they were good! Really good. I have considered myself to be strong, but when it comes to lifting up your own body weight or to raising your hips and legs above your head, well, I’m truly weak. Now my hands are so tired that it is hard even to type. So in the future I will try to train my upper body more. And never underestimate the strength of the hippies, or at least of the ones, who are doing meditation and yoga every day…respect.

2010-02-02T12:11:00.000-08:00

It’s interesting to see how people close to me react to my thought (or rather a plan) to go back after this exchange year and finish my MA studies in Estonia. Usually they put it so, that they are very surprised, that I’m going back. Not just back, but you can rather interpret it as going backwards. I have made quite good and challenging plans for myself for the next two years and have convinced myself that this is the right thing to do at the moment and in favor of my very-long-term-goals. So maybe we sometimes have to go back, to go forward again and even stronger. And it’s not like I’m going back for real…the plans are for 2 years, right…

In a way it is of course sad that the idea of doing your MA in university of Tartu means going backwards or standing still, but I guess I have painted this picture to these people myself and have to repaint it now and use some brighter colors to show other possibilities.

I very much liked the idea from The Sartorialist last post: “It doesn't matter who you're lovin', it's how you're lovin'!” It definitely applies to people, but maybe also to a place you live in?

2010-01-31T04:06:00.000-08:00

Here is a new street fashion blog of people living in NL. And a great blog of black humor about the hipsters. It makes it much more easier not to envy them- . And some professional architecture photos of houses, which are basically over the canal from my home. It's so weird how fast i have gotten used to all the amazing aspects of the city and forget to notice and appreciate them.

2010-01-30T07:30:00.000-08:00

Yesterday evening I had a very nice opportunity to be in a very lux apartment close to Vondelpark. It was just full of different equipment that I had never seen before. It was so amusing. And I also had a possibility to cook there, they had two pro ovens and everything I might ever need for preparing food. The whole place was very stylish, yet simple, just how I like it.

I also briefly met a guy, who very much impressed me. It happens rarely to me, when I think back, there have been approximately 4 people so far, who have made me feel that way, and they have all been men. They are this kind of people, who allow themselves to dream and set very high goals, and then they go and achieve them. That the world doesn’t end here, but goes beyond. It’s this feeling that you can’t believe that this kind of people exist among us and that you had a chance to meet him in person, and shake his hand. Quite often it has had to do with sports, which I love a lot. To train and achieve better results and to combine sports with visiting new places, maybe the feeling you might get when cycling on an empty road. Ohh, it’s complicated to explain this warm and good feeling that I have when I meet this kind of people, but it definitely inspires me to think bigger and set new goals and dream, dream, dream. I should definitely dream more…And it gives this very big wish to be like them and that at some point there would be someone looking at me with eyes full of respect and wish to be just like me, as I was looking at him yesterday. Maybe I should seriously think about taking up road cycling at some point?

2010-01-29T04:38:00.000-08:00

I don’t have any new photos to share at the moment as the weather is not really inviting you to stay outside for longer and snow and rain is not so good for camera. But some recent changes and happenings have made me think about something, I’d like to share.

After living here in this marvelous city among other 170 nations for half a year I decided to start learning Dutch. Firstly, I have to pay myself for that and also for the book and it will take 6 hours of work every week. And probably I will not need it in the future, but what made me go and make this decision was another small enlightenment, if you can say so. While living in Estonia and also when visiting now during Christmas I noticed myself making complaints about the immigrants not learning Estonian and quite many of them expecting to get a service in Russian for example, which I don’t like so much, as the official language is Estonian and foreigners living there should at least try to speak the local language. It took me more than 5 months to realize that I’m behaving exactly the same way. I’m living here for a year and so long I have always expected people to speak English to me, mainly because they speak it so well and there are so many tourists and foreigners here, but still, I live in a country, where the official language is Dutch and I haven’t made a smallest effort to learn it. It culminated with Elina asking me how is good-bye in Dutch and it took me 3 hours to remember that! So, herein I admit that I have behaved as a hypocrite and will improve my language skills, starting next week. And will put more effort in talking in Dutch. And the other thing is that you can’t feel really at home in some other country, when you don’t speak the local language. And you notice it in every step, in school, when I’m doing my research here. I might be smart, but in some way I feel very disabled in these situations, where I don’t understand much.

Also after some calculations I have decided to go back to Estonia after the year of studies here. I’m very much afraid that I will be bored and disappointed, but I’m trying to plan it so, that it will be as exciting for me as possible, and I have found a way to finance going to some conferences, which will be like connections to the real world :)

So, that’s for my plans now. I still hope to visit Copenhagen and Belgium during my stay here, to really take a maximum of being in the middle of all these amazing countries.

2010-01-24T09:42:00.001-08:00

Some kind of funny installation-performance thing that took place in Amsterdam...probably the fins were behind that...
http://headlines.nos.nl/forum.php/list_messages/18638
http://www.at5.nl/artikelen/30601/saunaganger-zorgt-voor-paniek

2010-01-24T07:21:00.000-08:00

This week’s highlight is probably that I hosted two girls from Couchsurfing. They were both dancers, living in Switzerland, originally from Italy and Japan. Amazing bodies, the gracious movements, yet you can see the muscles and strength, I have always admired them. And now I had them living in my kitchen :) The Italian girl cooked for us, and truly, there is a difference in a way you make a salat and pasta. The most important inside tip I learned from her is that you shouldn’t make tiramisu or whip eggs when you have your period, because the result is said to be not so good then. So we had chocolate ice-cream instead.

And tonight I dreamed about being close friends with George van Something. His amazingly cut gray hair and sophisticated looks! He was much older than me and very famous, and when we went to a trip together, then I was very afraid if I could be openly friends with him, as I’m just a lay person compared to him. As I’m very bad in remembering names, but very good in faces, I remembered his face very well and vaguely his first name in dream. So just after waking up I googled- golden globe awards 2009 and immediately found him! I was so happy, just felt like seeing a good friend again after a long time. George Clooney! My new friend. I will watch all the biggest films he has played in, but I think he will still be my second favorite actor after Adrien Brody.

2010-01-18T13:47:00.000-08:00

Lars gave me a Lensbaby lenses as a Christmas present. I must say it has been quite a challenge so far to use it and get good results. Some of the fireworks photos from NYE are taken with it. Today i finally searched internet for good tips and more knowledge. I have learned much already and I'm starting to feel the lenses better. Using it slows down the whole process of taking a photo and makes you put much more effort in it. And as i usually don't use manual focus, it truly is a whole new world. I found this very nice video: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrjoro/3145330566/. Hope my practicing will bring me to better results soon :)

2010-01-18T09:34:00.000-08:00

I remember looking at these houses and telling Elina: well, i wouldn't mind living in one of these.... here is a nice video on the mentality of the Dutch when it comes to architecture and living environment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUgjaf1d8Fw. i guess i should start taking more risks to get an apartment in one of these :)

2010-01-15T03:58:00.001-08:00

It seems that I have no sense of time when it comes to taking photos with pinhole camera. All the photos I had ‘made’ were overexposed and I got exactly 0 photos from 24, just for 4 Euros! Urrrr. Well I can attribute it to the extremely bright light of Spain and maybe the camera wasn’t properly closed, so light came in all the time. After all, this kind of camera was supposed to be used 1 time anyway. I will buy a proper film camera now, one that measures light for me and I don’t have to guess whether the right exposure time is 10, 20, 25 sec..but it was fun experience still :)

2010-01-14T09:37:00.000-08:00

When i was in Estonia i could scan some of my old films from 2003? With Lars’s super multifunctional scanner. And finally see the first photo in line, which was never printed, as they probably thought it is not good enough. I still vividly remember taking this photo- I was lying on my belly in the middle of tall wet grass and tried to focus my Zeniit camera on these insects having sex, and hope they won’t stop :) And then they didn’t print it! But now I can finally publish it. Today I took the film from my pinhole camera for developing, so tomorrow hopefully i can share them, i really hope so :p

and the spring seems to be approaching.

2010-01-11T10:28:00.000-08:00

I’m very happy that I have a new favorite model to take photos of. In Estonia it is still only Mariliis, who always challenges me with new environments and situations. Yesterday I had a possibility to take photos of a wonderful Spanish girl, of whom I had wanted to take photos of for quite some time. Now, finally, there was a reason to ask her pose for me, as another friend in Estonia wanted to have some pictures for her dance performance. So I was more than happy to say yes to this task. Here are the results. And I truly hope that you will see her on my photos in the future also…

2010-01-06T12:03:00.000-08:00

My friend Elina is soon back at home. It was the most wonderful time spent together. And it is always nice to meet her after a long time and feel that she is even better and closer friend that I knew. Here are some photos from our bike trip the beach in Amsterdam. I practiced taking photos of Dutch architecture (living environment). Please notice the modern boat houses in the last photo.

2010-01-01T13:20:00.000-08:00

This year came rather calmly. I went to an Indian restaurant with Elina, and had a great meal. After that we went to see the fireworks. Actually you could hear the fireworks from the early morning, and I was hoping to see a proper one in the evening. But there was none, or if this, what we saw was the official one, it was rather crappy compared to the ones I’m used to. And Dutch are really crazy about the fireworks. The whole city was like a minefield. Especially when we were cycling home, kids found it amusing to through small fireworks in the middle of the street and they exploded just before us. Elina also got sad because of the swans in the city center and the pigs in the children zoo by my house, so we just went to bed early. Soon I’ll post some photos of our 1.january trip. The weather here is really cold. It’s different coldness compared to the one in Estonia. It is kind of wet and windy coldness here that really gets into you.

2010-01-01T12:55:00.000-08:00

I spent two very nice weeks in Estonia. The weather was extremely cold. The amount of time was almost enough to meet all the people I wanted to meet. We made gingerbread with Maris and Iisak.

And on the 24th had the classical Christmas dinner. One thing I truly have to admit I miss about Estonia is the food. The fridge full on mother’s jam and frozen berries. And the food she has made and the fact that you can just eat and eat and don’t have to cook yourself. And all that choice of food in the supermarkets. Mainly of course Kohuke, but also all the sausages and milk products. Mmmm. And herein I have to make a complaint, that probably due to the terrorist attack in America few days ago, two of the strawberry jams in my bag were confiscated in the security control in airport.
On 25th we went with a family on hike to a bog and forest, which we have done already 4 years. It‘s always a nice feeling to walk through a snowy forest, dressed warmly and in the end of the hike drink hot tea and eat cookies.

My cat even showed some signs of loyalty, even though we hadn’t met for few months. She has taken a full control over my parents and become quite much bigger, but we all explain it with the growth of the winter fur.

And the last day I could go cross-country skiing. It felt so good. But then again I recognized that I’m spoiled by the ski trips to Finland in the last years, so that I had a lot of complaints to make. I hope I will be able to go for a few days ski trip to Finland again in the second half of February.

2009-12-17T06:37:00.000-08:00

I'm n Estonia now. Spending few days in Tartu. The temperature is cold, when i walked out of the airport in Tallinn it was -15 degrees and at night probably around -20. And i love it, just like the winter is supposed to be and the sound of the snow under the boots and the red cheeks...mmmm and hopefully i can go 1-2 times cross country skiing :D

2009-12-13T08:59:00.000-08:00

The semester is closing up. First students are leaving and first tears are shred, as some will never see each other again. But still many will return after Christmas brake and continue partying bigger than ever :)

I will fly to Estonia on Wednesday. Can’t wait.

2009-12-07T07:03:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it is so difficult to understand the ones who have gone before you. Even when the age difference is only 20 or 40 years. Yesterday I was standing on a balcony of an apartment on Keizersgracht, one of the most expensive places to live in Amsterdam, mainly due to the view to the canal. And on the other side of the canal there were big spacious apartments with many balconies, and as the people rarely cover their windows you can easily see in and you see old people in their 60s and 70s living their lives there and suddenly you realize how different life is for these people. And the difference of mentalities, how the money saved throughout the life is used in the end of the life. But not only, also how the money seems to be used here throughout the life. Living abroad and seeing how people live in the “western” countries seems to make the gap between my worldview and the one of my ancestors even bigger. And probably not only in comparison with older people, but also with the ones of my age. And from far away it is easy to forget it. It reminds me when I came back from a semester in Warsaw and tried to explain others that there is actually life beyond the borders of Estonia and that actually one could live life in a better and more fulfilling way. As a response they looked at me with eyes saying: yes, yes, very good, try to adapt back to our society now. I think I will have a bigger culture shock when I go back to Estonia than when I came to live in Holland. Estonia, I love you, but I’m having an affair with Holland and it is more satisfying…

2009-12-07T03:00:00.000-08:00

I went to sauna yesterday!!! It sure felt good. It was a very well hidden hippy style sauna somewhere close to Vondelpark. It has been there for over 20 years and at least at the moment is run by volunteers. The sauna experience was very different from everything I have experienced so far. First of all, it was a nudist mixed sauna, meaning everybody went around almost or totally naked. It had one dressing room, washing room and two saunas- one dry sauna and one steam sauna. As it was more for hippy kind of people the facilities were used for meditation and no-one drank bear. Once, one hippy even got a little upset at me and my Finnish friend, because we were happily exchanging our sauna experiences and knowledge in the sauna, but his idea of sauna was probably to be quiet and enjoy the heat. And then there was also a bar, where you could buy all kinds of organic food for very low prices and read newspapers. And behind the counter there were naked men walking around and serving you tea and soup or chopping tomatoes for the sandwich. At the same time in the lounge people of very different age groups sit half naked as in their own home and read fresh newspapers. After the sauna one could jump into a cold bath or go out to a small terrace, which was surrounded by green bambus trees and had a very nice feeling. In overall the atmosphere was very different and nice and relaxing. I think there were at any moment approximately 30 people, of which 5 were female. So it was interesting in other ways also :)
I hope it will become a small routine from now on. It was nice to meet again some new people. And I'm sorry i don't have any photos of the place, but i think it was probably not allowed anyway. So i hope my description is good enough.

2009-11-29T06:26:00.001-08:00

I’m reading a book “Self-directed behavior, Self-modification for personal adjustment”. This is supposed to help you change yourself, by putting reasonable goals and then moving slowly and firmly towards them. I was thinking the other day what has made me train 3 times per week now for 4 years. Maybe one of the main reasons is to try to be as good for your body as possible, as we have to live with this body for the whole life, so better be good to it. And another thing is also a satisfaction you get from seeing your body change and fat turning into muscles, not that I was very overweight before, as you can see from the picture in the last post. But I guess there is difference between being slim and fit. One of the motivational strategies I use is this diary: http://ee.running.adidas.com/Default.aspx?page=test I fill it in after every training and have been using it for over a year now. And I must say that it’s quite reinforcing in its simplicity.

You can use it for running, but I have been using it more for roller skating, skiing or fitness. The main point is the diary system itself. You can put goals there for yourself and fill in the table every time. You can also plan your training and every now and then you can check the statistics and how close you are to your goal. Also the system congratulates you after small periods. It’s stupid, but it is just nice to fill in that you have trained for one hour and the day in the calendar turns green and then you can see all the green patches…and you can add a friend also! So if someone wants, we can be friends there and motivate each other in training :P

The link I gave is in Estonian. I’m not sure how to have the English version, but this seems to be something similar- http://www.adidas.com/nl/micoach/#Plan/Pick/modpl

2009-11-29T05:22:00.000-08:00

Just before I went to Barcelona I also visited Utrecht, but didn’t have time to make a post here about it. The nicest thing about the trip was probably that I was there when the Sinterklaas arrived to the city. So there was a very nice parade, showing a very different tradition. You can read more about the Sinterklaas from here: http://www.iamsterdam.com/en/visiting/things-to-do/annual-events-in-amsterdam/saintnicholas-sinterklaas.

These guys remind me of the saying from the Estonian comedy series Kreisiraadio: Sinu jaoks on see karneval, neeger.

In fact it wasn’t my first visit to Utrecht. Just after high school, august 2005, I made my first hitch-hiking trip with a friend from Estonia to Netherlands. And one of the places we stayed was Utrecht. I don’t remember much from that time, but I decided to publish a photo taken in Utrecht, just before leaving for Amsterdam?? Hitch-hiking trips are nice in a way and something I would suggest to try, but now I rather choose planes or trains for longer distances and maybe hitch-hike shorter distances. Or cycle.

2009-11-26T14:43:00.000-08:00

To continue the last post I would suggest the French film “Band of outsiders”. Maybe it wasn’t even so good. But for me it was worth to watch even just because of the trench coat and the hat of one of the main characters and the gracious movements of his. How stylish they are and how they touch the woman.

Trench coats are just soo chic (http://artofthetrench.com), one thing I would save up for. A black one, which just makes my mind wonder to ideas how to take photos of it. M mentioned that there is something missing in my blogs lately (the lingerie photos), we hope to solve this problem by the end of December.

Too bad, that all the weekends don’t feel like that- http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_abGRa1b0BJc/SRL4VimLOwI/AAAAAAAAO9c/n1UKt-71PDc/s1600-h/via+this+is+glamorous.jpg

2009-11-24T13:24:00.000-08:00

From Jaques Henry Lartigue: the invention of an artist by K.Moore

Gesture was a practice in transition, especially during the century’s first decade. The dissemination of automobiles, bicycles, telephones and other modern obstacles across the field of daily life posed a challenge for women attempting to maintain their composure as the “eternal feminine”. Certain gestures, like the retrousse, were choreographed early on. … Other movements were choreographed as the challenge arose, such as the proper method for getting in and out of automobile. The same was true for handling a telephone, that absurdly phallic device, which had to be held close to the face. If a woman let her attention wander, she ran the risk of letting down her guard and forgetting that, in such a compromising situation, grace was of the essence. Thankfully, magazines provided prototypes for how to present oneself in this novel, modern attitude.
For women wishing to express their modernity, the greatest threat to bodily propriety by far came in the form of sport. Tennis, popular among the haute bourgeois women, produced some of the more disagreeable and curious gestures. Ice-skating, potentially more humiliating than tennis, offered at least “trainers”, those hansom men who held their client by the waist to keep them from falling. For skaters who dared to take the ice on their own, Femina published a series of photographs demonstrating a range of tasteful moves. One photograph proves that even the most dreadful scenario (falling oneself seated on ice) might be righted with the help of gracious smile, a delicately offered a wrist, and the attentions of a trainer.

2009-11-23T12:28:00.000-08:00

I’m back from Barcelona now. It was an amazing trip, one of the very best ones I’ve had. All these short trips are often intensively good and stay vividly in memory for long time. As B is only 1,5 h plane flight from here it seems even more surreal. It seems that it was like a very good dream, especially when I’m writing it here now, it seems like I have never physically been in Spain. Only the photos support the idea that I have really been there. Also the weather there was making me experience a different jet lag. The weather here is rainy and gradually I started wearing more and more winter clothes and then suddenly you are in Barcelona, where the weather is somewhere around 17-20 degrees, a classical Estonian summer, and it really is confusing. Makes you realize that the weather is not the same everywhere, as naïve as it may sound.

As I wrote in the last post, I hoped to find new light, different people and houses and trees. I got them all and it was very refreshing. I think I was the only one in the plane, who made a small Ooohh! when we passed the Pyrenees the first time. For some reason I didn’t expect to see mountains. In the future I hope to see more of the nature of Spain.

Here is a small selection of photos of the trip.

2009-11-17T09:56:00.000-08:00

Oh woman, why are you a woman and not a man???

I’m packing in my room for tomorrow and suddenly there is a door bell. A male voice tells me that there is a package for me. I go down and already assume from who it is.

I start opening it already on my way to my room. There are several layers of paper. Actually I already now what is in there. But still, I notice how my face starts smiling all over. I know that in there is my very own sheep skin :)

I love Mariliis. She notices every little thing. We pass a shop in Tartu, where there are sheep skins and I go Oooohh and again at another sauna party, I refuse to sit anywhere else, but on the couch on the furry skin. And now the present has reached me. She is the best. She buys me chocolate (and remembers which kind of chocolate I like) and gives compliments and is strong as a man, in every way. Why isn’t she a man?

2009-11-17T08:34:00.000-08:00

I’m off to Barcelona tomorrow morning. Hope to see different light there, and colors and houses and palm trees. And above all L.

Garance Dore told in her blog (http://www.garancedore.fr/en/), that she will accompany Scott in book signing in Barcelona. Can it get any better? And here is the question: What should i wear??? :)

2009-11-11T09:19:00.000-08:00

Alexei brought me as a gift from Antwerpen a 'make and shoot pinhole camera' kit. So today we took a time to put it together

First you have to take the peaces out. Fold the parts, glue and tape them.

Put in the film.

Add some more glue and tape to make it lightproof.

And you are ready to shoot. Constructing the camera took 3 hours instead of 2 hours as written on the box. And we didn’t make the “lenses” as the construction was too fragile anyways. The exposure time is only 10 seconds :)

i think if our water and windproof paper camera is still in a good condition i will try it out in Barcelona. At least it is loads of fun!

2009-11-09T06:44:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately M didn’t make it to the airport to fly here, as her car rolled over a roof few times (first snow). Luckily she is fine, though it is a real pity she isn’t here now. But to look at the bright side, maybe, if she can keep her neck support, somewhere in December I can try to shoot photos of her, going in the steps of Helmut Newton- http://www.artpages.org.ua/index.php?option=com_datsogallery&Itemid=104&func=detail&catid=3&id=148

2009-11-09T05:38:00.000-08:00

Vondelpark

2009-11-06T03:52:00.000-08:00

:)

http://www.garancedore.fr/en/2009/11/05/where-the-heart-is/

2009-11-05T10:52:00.000-08:00

I finally got this book from the public library. It was mentioned in one of the series of “The genius of photography”, which is a series about the history of photography. The photographer has taken so great photos. Knowing about him was maybe, what made think about the aforementioned idea, that if I had a child and I would live in Amsterdam and take he/she around in one of these boxes they put in front of the bicycle, then I’d give him/her a camera to capture the world from that point of view. Someone told me, that probably it would just take pointless photos, but if you don’t give it a try, then how do you know?

The other day I had to wait for someone and decided to spend my 1,5 hour in one book shop. It has 5 stairs and a small cafeteria, to where you can take as many books from the shop as you want and then I ran into the latest book by Joel Meyerowitz “Legacy” (http://www.joelmeyerowitz.com/index.html). I have always thought that it is really complicated to take good photos of nature and to catch its patterns and he has done it amazingly well. Also when watching his photos they make me feel, that they are similar to the way i have perceived world so far, that they make one feel as you have been there yourself.

I had a friend visiting from Estonia and I think she took me a step closer to heaven with the following treats :). Specially with mother’s strawberry jam. I spent today’s morning with her in another café, sipping coffee, to get my brain working for a meeting with a professor at 9, while listening to this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekQZPozjCX8 (thinking of graceful French men dancing so well is…). And got also a carrot cake with a big layer of cream cheese, added by a comment from a waitress that it is a wonderful way to start a day with a piece of cake. And it is. After the meeting I made a 1 hour cat nap. Now I’m off to burn these “calories” in a gym. M will be here tomorrow and most likely it means that there will be some sexy photos coming up soon ;)

2009-11-03T07:31:00.000-08:00

I can’t believe it!! I will be at the same time at the same place with this fashion/street photographer (http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com), whose page I have been checking every day for at least year. I will be in Barcelona at the same time with him!! Do I dare to go in and see him, when he is signing his books and maybe I even will buy his book as fashion bible for myself…ooh…and get it signed by him. And be one of the thousand people there saying- I love your work! :) :) :)

2009-11-02T08:55:00.001-08:00

Dear readers!

Today I went to my first and last Kick&shape aerobics. As a result my right hands small finger is swollen. I’m treating it with an ice cube. If there are no new posts here in next 7 days it probably means that my hand had to be cut off because of the serious injury and I’m waiting for a new artificial hand. So let’s keep unswollen fingers crossed that there will soon be more posts.

L

P.S. And i still don’t believe in a saying „no pain, no gain“, at least when it comes to doing sports. I think that when you experience pain during or after training it just shows that you still don’t understand/feel your body enough, and can’t make a difference when too much is too much. Here it actually happens quite often, even in aerobics, that you are made to go through different exercises or combinations without paying much attention on the technique. So quite often I would like to ask: “what muscle we are exactly training here now?”,while waving 2 kg dumbbells through the air. I miss the good bodybump classes with Imre Vähi and other fitness trainers in Fittest. The only gain from pain at the moment is that I try to use my left hand more for different things. Oh, and another thing is that maybe if at some point I’ll have to participate in an experiment, where self-control is measured by the duration one holds her hand in ice-cold water, I have an advantage, as I have practiced it before, voluntarily :)

Pain in your muscles after the training is good in this way that you become aware of actually having these muscles (even though it hurts to use them). But pain during or after a competition just tells you that you were pushing real hard and makes you even a little proud of yourself. All in all, maybe I’m just a sissy.

2009-10-31T09:48:00.000-07:00

Colorful Saturday in Amsterdam.

This week i had the last exam and today is an official start of 3 weeks vacation, which is cancelled by the fact that I got myself a supervisor for my MA thesis and also started working on the research project. Which is obviously great news!

And it’s only 17 days until my flight to Barcelona :)

2009-10-29T08:57:00.000-07:00

Studying in cafeteria for the stereotypes exam tomorrow.

Affordable rewards:

and not so affordable rewards (Chrysler 300)

yet...

2009-10-25T06:16:00.000-07:00

My own small balcony

2009-10-23T10:28:00.000-07:00

When cycling to school today, through a misty morning air, i understood, that this is the place, where i love to be. Amsterdam is like a perfect lover - even though we met just a month ago it seems that we have known each other forever, yet there is so much new to discover. We have a great relationship, which will last another 8,5 months...

2009-10-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

We take a nice bicycle trip out of Amsterdam yesterday. And rode about 15 km against a strong wind. At least the people cycling against us and windsurfers seemed to have a great time :)

Here are just the photos, i'm too tired to add anything else...it's really great how just 20 km out from Amsterdam city center there is a totally different world. For more information come here and i'll show you ;)

2009-10-12T07:26:00.000-07:00

Time really flies here. I’m happy that I’m staying for a year, not just a semester. So last week was spent mainly for studies, but on Saturday I took Gazelle out for a trip to a forest. The biggest and closest one called Amsterdamse Bos. Which actually is just a very big park just outside the city :)

On the way we also crossed Vondelpark, which is the biggest one in the city and a perfect place for rollerskating, even though I didn’t see anyone doing it…

Even though we don't have 10 different kind of porridge here, i present a perfect porridge recipe here:
When making a porridge with milk, add half a banana to it, while boiling. Afterwards cover with peanutbutter, sugar coated peanuts and chocolate flakes :) and you have a perfect porridge a'la Amsterdam :)

And next week I’m happy to visit a physiotherapist for a first time in my life. I’m very exited, somehow I always get exited when I have to visit a doctor. I think I have to admit that I have overtrained and put too much pressure on my knees. So instead of making myself go to training, as most people do, I have to make myself stay home and give my knees some rest. It’s not easy, but then I can hopefully train normally again after some time…actually it seems to be a problem for quite many foreign students here. But for them it just the cycling. In the mean time, as professional cyclists who have overtrained, i have to cure my knees with some ice after training and it seems to help.

2009-10-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

Just a small overview of a trip to Den Haag and Delft.

The embassy was nice. Now I’m formally a citizen of the Netherlands. And also I know that every year 30-40 Estonian women get married in this country to a Dutchman.

My second destination, after just 3 hours in Den Haag, was Delft. A marvelous city, as much students as in Tartu, full of small shops and cafeterias and students live in houses by the canals. There is also one perfect cafeteria, where two parrots live in the back, and one of them is said to say “miau” and “lekker” from time to time. Fortunately, I found out that the city has only a technical university, so in the future I will be visiting only :)

Hanna is living in one of the most amazing student dorms, with this vibrant community atmosphere. Aah, what is good for me, is that we cooked, which I hadn’t done for 1,5 months now.

And just when I was leaving the town, I saw the most beautiful male Gazelle ever. Mmmm. And I know a perfect partner for it, my Gazelle.

2009-10-01T13:24:00.000-07:00

Taking photos is mmmmm.....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cadicunha/sets/72157604651186999/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22025251@N00/sets/72157609142140862/

I'll be off to Hague and Delft this weekend. And hopefully back with some new stuff :)

2009-09-30T11:30:00.001-07:00

There's always something waiting for me at home. I'll always have my articles, no problems with that. Today i measured that the average speed is 3 pages per hour. So yesterday one article took only 6 hours. What a joy. I read that self-control is like a muscle, the more you train it, the better (stronger) it gets.

2009-09-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

A small break between reading my articles...

2009-09-29T02:49:00.000-07:00

The days are becoming colder here also. The sky is gray. But there are funny things also :)

2009-09-27T09:14:00.000-07:00

Out of the home window. It seems to me that the way dogs live here is something that the dogs in Estonia don't even dream about :)

I have clear reasons for coming here, to Amsterdam, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. And I was thinking that the reasons are quite the same for other students also. But this isn’t so and it makes me think again why these people are here. One reason for coming here was to get away from the safe environment in Tartu, where everything is familiar, to see how other people live, what they value in other places, to experience the differences. And most of all to accept and tolerate these differences and try to take advantage of it and enjoy it. Like the studying, I think I have never studied so much and it’s a great way to improve your self-control. And the seminars are sometimes held by professors, who are gay, and truly, these guys think about their looks, when they come to give a lecture :) I think that experiencing these differences really makes one richer, but still there are quite some students, who think, that everything that is not as in their small country, is something that is terrible, abnormal and not understandable. It’s sad to hear that even though they are living now in one of the most tolerant cities in the world they are still very narrow-minded and their world still ends where the border of the home country is. So the environment might not change the way we think about things around us. I’m reading a book “A dialogue with Albert Ellis” where he says: There doesn’t seem to be any magic in the world. It’s mainly a question of work and practice. You don’t have any God or supernatural force to help you change you. You had better give up superstition and rely on your own creative abilities- your own thoughts, feelings and behaviors- to change yourself and unfortunate conditions.

Constant work and practice on your thoughts, feelings and behavior.

Today morning in gym.

2009-09-20T12:08:00.000-07:00

Give Amsterdammers techno music and skates and you have taken them to paradise!

Today i participated in the Friday Night Skate tour, which this time, for beginners and first timers, was held on Sunday afternoon. So i went and i must say it was one of the best things i have done here so far. My rollerskates had been unused since the marathon, so it felt nice to be on them again. But again i understood that small wheels are not in anymore, so day-by-day I'm thinking of getting new skates. Here is one very good example. I wouldn't be surprised if he uses these ones for ice-skateing in the winter...

All together there were about 100 participants. In front of us drove a car with a great sound system, so that constantly there was loud techo music in the air. And when we had to wait because of the cars, the locals started doing dancing movements and waved with their hands in the air, totally enjoying the combination of their favorite music and the feeling of skating.

Today was also a car-free day, meaning that from 10-17 there were no cars allowed on the streets in the city center. But still the taxies and trams were stopped, so that we could go. i love this feeling, like on marathon, the wide empty road...

The average speed was probably somewhere around 16 km/h and as we were riding on the car road it gave me a nice distance from the pedestrians. t was great to observe them from this distance, as they were standing there with their eyes full of surprise and cheering. And as i was in the crowd and in a distance about 1,5 meters from them it gave me a good chance to capture some of them, without them noticing.

in one of the earlier posts i also wrote that here are many people riding their bikes with a fluffy dog in the basket. Today thanks to the safe and fair distance from them i also could capture it, finally:

i already love the idea, the feeling and the possibilities it gives me. I'll be there as often as i can. Of course with my camera. I hope you also enjoy it :)

2009-09-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

It was a very nice day today. Starting with a good lecture and then spending two hours in Bagels&beans, which is very similar to my favorite cafeteria in Warsaw, but the book store, from which you can take books for reading, is on 5 floors :) So you have books about cooking, psychology, sports, photography and whatever else you are interested in and of course a big selection of them in English. While I was doing all that, Gazelle spent 6 hours in ‘hospital’, so now I have again two gears instead of one. And as the day was sunny we also had a marvelous sunset…enjoying time.

2009-09-15T10:09:00.001-07:00

I just came to an understanding why my bank in Estonia can’t even accept an application signed by me saying that I want to change my monthly limit. The reason is that all these limits are there to protect you from yourself. For example, when you’re abroad and suddenly get sick with mania and want to buy a company in one day you simply can’t do that, because of this wonderful monthly limit. One day when I’ll be suffering from mania I’ll thank my bank! Until that time I’d like my signature to prove my decision…

2009-09-14T07:18:00.000-07:00

You have to pay for everything here. One example from today. I went to a student office to collect my student card, after 3 weeks of waiting. So to collect it i had to wait about 20 minutes. In the end of August we had signed a paper saying that we want a Dutch bank account and they happily offered us that- getting an account 30 euros and another 28 euros per year just for having it. So luckily we found another bank and in 2 weeks i have free Dutch bank account. Now a new problem occurred - i can’t make payments with my Estonian account no more than 1000 euros per month, so they said that to change the limit i just have to go to a closest bank office here, ask them to make a copy of my passport and sign it and fax it to Estonia. Quite easy. So i did it today, but what came out is that in the bank they can’t do it, so i have to go to the city council and ask them. I went there, waited in line for one hour, they took my passport, made a copy and put two stamps on it and it is only 14 euros. For a copy and two stamps!!!! Just to prove that i was there and the passport is really mine. And afterwards i would have had to pay another few euros for having it faxed in the post office. Soon it will be cheaper for me to fly to estonia and do it all there…well, but it is my own fault, I should have started thinking about all that long before coming here, so maybe I should make a list now of all these things, in case I want to go living abroad a third time…

2009-09-13T00:50:00.000-07:00

Today is going to be a good day, as it already started
with extra hot kisses from M :) I didn't know that we have reached this level, but sounds good...

2009-09-11T08:49:00.000-07:00

I've had a bad day, which started with bad things even before i oped my eyes- meaning i had bad dreams, which i remembered when i woke up. After that i rushed to a course on stereotypes. There are many great things about studying here. First of all the lectures or usually seminars are very interesting and make you think and understand things around you better. I'm now taking three courses, two of them are given by German guys. One of them is gay and i just love it. To see well dressed and good looking lecturers doing a thing they are good at, what else would you like?? Here at least i feel that the amount of money that i pay for the studies is really worth it.
And after the lecture i had to go through some bureaucracy, which reminded me of her post here: http://lusciniana.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/bureaucratic-labyrinth/.
And then after that i went home to read that my bike in Estonia was stolen.

I'll go and treat myself with some chocolate and ice-cream and dive into the articles and then go out to a jazz club. Tomorrow i can maybe take Bosse out for a ride...

2009-09-08T03:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a home-made-shushi evening with Spaniards and few English. I thought that it’s a good idea to participate and prove myself that i can eat vegetarian shushi. First time I tried a shushi was about 3 years ago in one fancy restaurant in Tartu, where I cut my shushi (with tuna fish filling) into 4 pieces and flushed them down with an incredibly good champagne. The second time was yesterday. In the beginning it was promising, avocados and cucumbers, no problemos. But when they brought about the leafs made of sea cabbage, I sensed a problem. In front of my eyes there was a moment from this July, standing with L by the seaside in Hiiumaa and smelling the algae. This is not for eating, and now on the table in front of me is food, smelling exactly the same. Will I make it?? I take the smallest piece, I dip it into the sauce and bring it closer to my mouth. My nose sends my brain a message-algae is not for eating, it’s terrible. I take a small piece, two people are looking at me. I throw the rest to the garbage bin and this time flush the piece in my mouth down with Heineken. And continue dreaming about a big bar of white chocolate with hazelnuts waiting for me at home…

2009-09-04T02:23:00.000-07:00

Now i'm a member of Amsterdam public library. This gives me an access to a book "Cape Light" color photographs by Joel Meyerowitz and another books with his photos. The library looks like a Mac factory, it's all white and light and all the computers you can use are by Mac also. As stylish as it gets. I hope to put here some photos of it in near future.

The last time i went through this book was in the library of Konstanz and these sentences have been in my mind since.

2009-09-02T09:11:00.000-07:00

Today i went to aerobics the first time, the one i was talking about one of the last posts. So it was in Dutch :) and so hard that I was dying most of the time. Oh, the training was BBB, which is training for the three B's: belly (abdomen), buttocks and legs (in Dutch 'benen'). There is only one thing I can tell after these 3 letters: if you train, train regularly and don’t miss for example 3 weeks, even though sometimes it’s too complicated (impossible) to follow. So now I have 3 month ticket and I think I’ll be able to train 4 times a week. At least 3.

And I had the first lecture here also. I just loved it. Loads of homework and gymnastics for the brain from the first minute. Mmmm.

And i miss Shosha sooo…

2009-09-01T01:59:00.000-07:00

Amsterdam, september'09

Tartu, august'09

mäu

2009-08-30T08:12:00.000-07:00

First about my super-string-engineering. I adopted this plant, which was lying behind our house and bought it this nice pot from Ikea and also got few meters of free string from there :) so I truly hope the plant feels better now and will show signs of satisfaction soon. Notice the string system!

We also visited the zoo in Amsterdam- thing i had been waiting for some time, because lonely planet says: Artis Zoo is the world's largest zoo and the oldest in mainland Europe. My favorite attractions are always different kinds of monkeys and cats and bears. The territory of the zoo was so small and also the amount of animals. They were totally packed there. I would say that the zoo in Tallinn is bigger and most of the animals have a lot of room. So I was a little disappointed. They didn’t even have bears, but maybe it’s even good.

Another night I made a little stroll in the neighborhood and noticed this person painting. Just a day before I had finished watching the BBC series of impressionists (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+impressionists+episode+1&search_type=&aq=5&oq=the+impressionists) and he just so much reminded me of them, doing the painting of spots at night. So I decided to share. And below it is a nice car by the corner of my house.

2009-08-28T15:46:00.000-07:00

Inimeste riietumisest nii palju, et stiilsemad, kes silma jäävad, on alles 40ndates eluaastates edukad äriinimesed. See maitsekus ja need suurepäraselt istuvad riided. Peamiselt jäävad silma muidugi mehed. Näiteks see pilt siin, kahjuks ei ole siin näha nägu, aga see sirge hoiak ja maitsekas ja läbimõeldud välimus ja selle juurde veel klassikaline hollandi ratas ja see kergus, kuidas ta sellega sõitis. See iseeneslik maitsekus. Nooremast põlvkonnast jääb harva isendeid meelde. Naised kannavad valdavalt retuuse ja selle peal avarat ja lohvakat pluusi. Mehed jälle geelitavad iga nurga taga oma juukseid.

Pildile tahaksin püüda just need eelkirjeldatud inimesed, kuid julgusest jääb puudu. Senikaua võib vaadata thesartorialist.blogspot.com ja http://www.garancedore.fr/

2009-08-24T08:28:00.000-07:00

We visited a photo exhibition. The favorite ones by Carl Wooley- http://www.carlwooley.com/amsterdamnacht/

Things I'm also still amazed about - http://www.ski-epic.com/amsterdam_bicycles/. These fluffy dogs in the baskets, hair flowing in the air :) and imagine yourself being a child and being ridden in a basket in the front of the bike, going through Amsterdam. I would give my child a camera for sure to capture it!

2009-08-24T05:06:00.000-07:00

The three month ticket to the university sports center is 58 euros (1 month=290 EEK). This is the most expensive one, giving you the possibility to choose whichever fitness you want to do and on what time and how often. The first training is already on this Saturday :) can't wait :)

2009-08-23T06:21:00.000-07:00

Nagu korralikud hollandlased kunagi, viisin Gazelle'i täna linna lähedale karjamaale sõitma. Tegime korraliku 30 km ringi. Neil on asfaldist siledad rattateed ka lehmakarjamaa vahel ja kõik väiksed külad on mõnusalt omavahel ühendatud ning inimesed ketravad nagu sõgedad. Need, kes ei sõida rattaga, tuuritavad oma paadiga mööda kanaleid ringi. Selline elu siis.

2009-08-22T09:32:00.000-07:00

I’m staying at one woman’s place in north of Amsterdam, which means that every time I want to go to central station I have to take a free ferry over the Ij, quite nice change. In the apartment also lives a cat, whose meowing is with a very strong Dutch accent, sounds like someone had gotten stuck between a door.
Dutch cat’s bowl :)

2009-08-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

So now I’m finally in Amsterdam. For few days already. Interesting things that have happened so far: one day when I was riding my bike and standing by the red light there was one black guy next to me and I understood that it is probably the closest I have been to a black skinned person. I also saw two guys kissing in a restaurant. It was just really cute. Yesterday I walked with my host through the red light district. It was smaller than I was expecting, full of male tourists, mouths open. Also gained some knowledge where to go to get a striptease show for affordable price, guess I have to go there at least once during my stay here :) also learned that people kiss here as a greeting. So three times on cheeks when you know the person a little, then two, when you know more and one where you are quite close and finally a kiss to the lips, when you are very good friends - the last one might be a problem for me…
Also the apartment I’ll move into next Tuesday is said to be in a new and very expensive region of the town. Well all of the houses have huge balconies and have a view to a harbor full of yachts and boats. This will probably be one of my favorite places to be and drink a French cider, only few meters from my house.
Oh, and I love my bicycle Gazelle. I thought of naming it Jacque Bosse van Schleck, but I guess it will be just Gazelle. It takes quite a time to park a bicycle here, especially when every local tells me that it is too beautiful and I should paint it over to avoid it being stolen. So instead of painting my beauty I lock it usually with three locks. Today I had a dream that it was already stolen.
Riding a bike is just a thing to do here. Even though for cycling from point A to B I have to stop several times, take out my map and the moment I have put it back to my bag I have already forgotten the way. All the canals and houses and bridges look the same at the moment and I can’t really tell if I have been here already or not.

2009-08-21T09:22:00.000-07:00

Halle...tore koht. Tudengid hängivad tagaaedades ja katustel. Ehh, siia tuleb vist ikka vähem juttu. Räägin läbi piltide, loodetatavasti ütleb rohkem kui 1000 sõna.