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Saturday, June 18, 2005
Wedding bells (Pictures are posted in the Photo
Album)
Angus, a Scottish guy and incidentally one
of my best friends (although I will never admit that in writing...
errr...  )
got married to his lovely girlfriend, Kirsty, on June 18.
I have talked to quite a lot of her friends and no one seems
really sure why she ever said yes, but she seemed sane enough,
so all we could do is just wish her strength and luck in the
years to come. She'll need it more than anyone else... 
But enough about that.
Marieke and I arrived on Thursday afternoon
at Edinburgh airport, where Angus picked us up and brought
us to the place where they had my Scottish tartan waist coat.
You see, Angus gave me the incredible honor of being his groomsman,
and I wanted to be dressed in style. For a short while I even
entertained the idea of wearing an orange kilt (orange being
the Dutch national color) but in the end I decided to stick
with a morning suit with tartan waist coat. Thursday night
we had a couple of drinks in All Bar One on George Street
(a nice place for a drink and a bite) with Ox, Angus' other
groomsman. His real name is Stuart but everyone calls him
Ox because of his sheer size - he's the kind of guy I want
to stay friendly with... 
We went back early as we were seriously jetlagged and tried
to get some sleep in our first B&B in Edinburgh. 
The next day we went off to the hotel near
the wedding site. Angus had arranged for 2 options, and we
decided to splurge and go for the more expensive one, a beautiful
old style castle called The
Atholl Palace:
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| Me in front
of the Atholl Palace Hotel |
I have to admit that the room was kinda small,
and the view of the parking lot wasn't the wide open view
on the highlands we had hoped for, but to stay in a place
like this was pretty magical nonetheless! 
For Friday night, Angus' brother had booked
a local whisky distillery - open bar all night, including
food (Shepherd's Pie: a winner!!!), whisky and a free tour
of the distillery. This was really an excellent move as many
people (certainly more than half of the 160-or-so guests)
came from abroad and didn't know the others, and by meeting
like this on an informal night with free alcohol (essential
if you invite Scots/Dutchmen!) everyone really got to know
each other already the day before the wedding. I also brought
a bottle of Sambuca - Angus, Shawn, Claudio and I started
a tradition of drinking flaming Sambucas, flaming not in the
glass but in the mouth, mind you! (Click
here to learn how to do it.) The tradition has stood the
test of time, despite the fact that none of us like the drink
(I think I detest it the most though - vile stuff!!!  ).
Of course Angus was coerced into showcasing the stunt, and
I'm proud to say that we had many followers. Even Angus' uncle
(I think) tried and succeeded magnificently, nearly igniting
the place by literally spewing fire! 
The wedding itself was in a place called
Blair Castle.
I think it's the same spot where Beckham married Posh Spice,
and it is unbelievable! Here's a picture of the place:
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| The wedding
scene: Blair Castle |
The ceremony was in a little old church before
the castle entrance. Everything was perfect, including a bagpiper
'piping in' (ja, zo zeggen ze dat in Schotland... )
the guests as they arrived. Even the sun came out, which in
Scotland is a pure coincidence as the sun only comes out like
2 times per year or so! It couldn't have been a better setting
for Kirsty to enter the church!
The minister taking the vows was a great
character. None of the solemn religious stuff, but loose and
full of humor. At one point, when he had to give the newlyweds
marital advice, he pulled out an email from an Australian
minister friend with the "secrets to a successful marriage".
I don't recall all points, but one of the secrest went as
follows: "My wife and I eat out in a restaurant at least
once a week. I go on Monday, my wife on Tuesday." 
And so on - really, really funny.
After church we went up to the castle for
dinner. The walkway up to the castle was incredible! A long
straight road flanked by huge lush green trees right in the
middle of the highlands. The sun was still shining making
it even more magical!
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| Marieke on the
way to the castle |
And then the castle... It's hard to describe
it. It is as beautiful as it looks on the picture above -
a big multi-layered pristine white castle in the middle of
the greenest hills. Again the piper was playing outside and
the entrance hall was a high room with all kinds of old fashioned
weaponry was fitted against the walls in artistic combinations,
like a rosary of shotguns with bajonets, swords, etc. The
corridor was lined with antlers (deer's skulls) and at each
one it stated the date it was killed (starting from 1842!)
and the age it was when killed. The banquet hall was filled
with antlers too - it may sound a bit lugubrious but it fit
the place perfectly!
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Weaponry at the castle's entrance |
The newly weds! (Does Angus look concerned
already? ;) )
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After champagne in the castle's garden with
stunning views of the highlands in the background, we went
to the banquet hall for dinner and a proper ceilidh
(pronounced kay-lee), which is basically Scottish for having
a good time, drinking beer and whisky and dancing all together
in a traditional way. Initially I feared the traditional dancing,
worrying it'd either be difficult or boring (or both) but
neither turned out to be true. Right on the first dance Angus
and Kirsty grabbed us and while dancing pulled us through
(Kirsty certainly did rescue me there!) and at every new dance,
the band would shortly explain the moves and then you just
go with the flow. It's really great!
Oh, and I finally ate haggis (click
here to see why that's a big deal) and I can only say...
it was delicious! I have been trying to put it off for ages
but couldn't refuse this time. And not regretting it!!! (P.S.
For any of my Filipino friends reading this: I still
won't try Balut!!!)
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Group photo in the garden :)
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True traditions: kilts and hats!
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After the party was pretty much over and
Angus and Kirsty drove off in their nicely decorated Mini
Cooper S, we went back to the hotel where I ended up with
a few die hards in the smoking room with a couple of bottles
of whisky, some cigars and excellent company. Ox' brother
David was hilarious - we'd been pulling each other's leg all
night and we ended up being just as silly there. All in all
a classic wedding that we'll never forget. (I just wish we,
the Dutch, had such great and rich traditions!)
The next day, we took the car from Angus
and Kirsty (and some car it was - Mini Cooper S convertible:
if you ever get the chance to drive one you'll know what I
mean!!!) and took off into the highlands for a couple of days.
The Scottish highlands are amazing. I had been there before
with Angus and Shawn and I know how green and lush they are
and what a delight it is to walk through them - especially
since there are no off-limit territories: you can go wherever
you want! We didn't go far as we didn't have any rain gear
(and it always rains in Scotland, especially
in the highlands!) but now Marieke is also convinced about
their beauty and we will spend a proper holiday there sometime.
Sometime, when we're back in Europe. 
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| Angus and the
Mini Cooper S Convertable |
Unfortunately my camera died the day after
the wedding. We bought a disposable camera but the pictures
aren't great. Perhaps I'll scan 'em, perhaps not. The other
(wedding) pictures are posted here.
Food for thought - The people in Edinburgh
are the friendliest I've ever met. So friendly that I'd gladly
live there for a year or 2 despite the horrible weather: it
rains 9 out of 10 days. Now imagine a city that is nearly
always overcast and where it nearly always rains, generation
after generation after generation. Wouldn't you expect the
town folk to be a depressed, gloomy, moody lot dressed in
black with bags under their eyes? I know I'd be! So how does
one explain the fact that these people are so overly friendly?
Go to a clothes store and the attendants will tell you their
life story if you let them. They show genuine interest in
you and what you're doing. They are open and chatty. Really
inexplicable... but great! Hurray for Scots! 
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Sunday, May 29, 2005
Certified!!!
Finally it happened! After our first 'discovery'
dive back in January with Chester, we finally got our Open
Water Diver certification end of May!!!
Long time eh? Well, better late than never! I'm really happy
all those boring pool sessions (I can't begin to count the
times I've flooded and cleared my mask by now), theory sessions
and salt water sessions (where the mask flooding equals snorting
salt water for me!) are finally over. Pong, our diving instructor
who looks like the spitting image of Buddha (I'm convinced
100% he's related somehow, he even inspires calm like Buddha
would have!), brought us to a place called Cathedral on our
last dive. Cathedral is the name of a large underwater rock
with a cross placed on top of it (purposefully sunken decades
ago) that from the bottom appartently looks like a real cathedral.
Since the bottom is deeper than we're allowed to go, I'll
take his word for it... for now.
At the cross, which is surrounded by hundreds of fish, he
made us kneel and read a little inscription on a slate he
brought along. Here are the words we read 18m below the surface:
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| Pong's proclamation of our
certification! |
The diving weekend was great. We went down
with Debbie and Dino who joined us on 3 of the 4 dives we
did. The dives were excellent too, at one of them, there was
such a strong current on our way back that I didn't even have
to fin! Just taking on a Buddha position (no intended reference
to our instructor!) I could just float in the water while
watching the coral slowly move beneath me. The closest you
can get to weightlessness, I'm sure - absolutely fantastic!!!
We also did fish feeding: Pong gave us some bread under water
and all the fish would come up to us and eat from our hands.
The small fish were fine, but I have to say some of the bigger
ones had quite a bite! All in all it was really great, I had
less problems equalizing than before and I took some sea sickness
medicine which kept me alive on the boat. Now that we're certified
we'll definitely go on more weekend trips! Oh, and anyone
that visits... if you want to learn to dive, let us know:
we'll get you started before you come here so that you can
take your classes & certification here and come diving
with us! How cool does that sound eh?! 
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Week of Monday, May 9, 2005
After all this time, where to start?
Back in business after a long, long break.
First a business trip to Mexico, then 2 weeks holiday in Holland,
a few days business in Geneva, some more holidays and then
a week of team building back in the Philippines. So, a lot
has happened!
I guess I'll just write whatever comes to mind or whatever
I feel like. Chronology has left the building.
Team up!
Instead of doing the expected after coming
back from a 4 week business trip/holiday (i.e. go to the office
to face email hell), I lunged straight into a week of team
building galore, starting May 9 with a region wide IT offsite
in a resort in Tagaytay, an hour and a half drive south from
Manila. By the way, IT is now called IDS in P&G: "Information
& Decision Solutions". While I kinda get what they're
trying to get at, that IT has evolved into a decision driver,
but honestly I get the feeling we change names more often
than the French change underwear and I wonder what's wrong
with just leaving the name IT but only update the organization's
charter.
Anyway, enough side tracking. The IDS event was pretty cool.
We had all kinds of activities in which our team did actually
pretty well:
- We had to build a device with paper sheets, tape and a plastic
bag that will prevent a raw egg from breaking as you throw
it out as far as you can. There were 3 eggs out of 10 or so
that survived, ours being one. Admittedly it was the nearest
one, but still not bad. I have to say that the winning egg
was actually broke but it didn't leak. I say breaking is breaking
so they should have been disqualified, but I think the jury
was bribed somehow!
- We also had to make a still life (with our bodies) of a
scene that the organizers would call out. You get 1 minute
to do so. Again we did well, got a couple of firsts and seconds,
and especially our zoo still life, complete with Ramesh as
gorilla behind bars, was impressive...
(Alas, no pictures!)
- We did a mini Amazing Race which took most of the afternoon.
Again we did excellent, ending 3rd, and avoiding the fate
of one of the blue teams who got stuck in a cable car that
was struck by lightning! Strangest thing this was: just one
single, LOUD BOOM and a crack of lightning. 
That was it. Straight into the cable car. I don't know who
was in there but someone may have pissed off some god...
All in all a fun day, but not half as fun
as what would follow next...
Boracay revisited, again, part 3!
Wednesday, before the crack of dawn, hell
even before the crack of dusk, at 5:00 AM, a taxi picked me
up from my doorstep to bring me to a small airport in Manila
to board a small propeller plane to a small island of huge
fame: Boracay! The trip there was uneventful, Sandeep kept
it together in the small plane, even when the smoke came out
of the walls (weird airconditioning system, don't ask me!)
But arriving on the beaches of Boracay is
always something special. It's a truly tropical paradise,
no high rises in sight, just stretches of white sand as far
as the eye can see, blue water (with green algae here and
there but that just adds to the beauty if you ask me) and
beach restaurants and cafes right behind the (palm) tree line.
I love it.
The offsite's schedule was perfect. Just
a few morning activities, and for the rest lots (and I mean
LOTS) of free time. 
Which was perfect for me, because it gave me the opportunity
to finally really get to know some of my team mates that I
don't really do any work with. We started off doing something
called a Life Map, where you plot out the most important moments
in your life, both happy and sad, that really made you the
person you are today. It was an eye opener for me to see how
focused a lot of the Filipino life maps were on education
and graduating with honors (something that's not so important
in Holland: for it's more what you do besides studying),
and how many people are involved in either family businesses
or their own! Really impressive... It's also a great way to
get to know each other better, somehow it immediately gives
a person 'character', I don't know how to explain it better...
Later on we did another Amazing Race type
challenge with 4 teams which was actually more fun than the
one on Monday (see above) except for the first task. Before
the start of each task, we got some cryptic description of
the challenge. Then you select a representative from your
team who will do the task. The first one was something to
do with laughing/joking. Easy pick: Jayan smiles even when
he thinks he doesn't and will make anyone laugh in a second
if asked! BAD MOVE!
Turns out each team is assigned a rep from one of the other
teams, and that team has to make the rep smile!!! None of
the reps laughed, except Jayan who caved in after an heroic
effort of 5 minutes. (He later admitted faking chewing so
that he could disguise his laughs - he actually laughed already
twice before! )
When he joined us trying desperately and embarrassingly to
make some new hire with a face of stone laugh (with as absolute
low point Sandeep trying to scare her into laughing with his
hairy armpits), our efforts got a bit better but it took the
referees to put the 3 remaining teams out of their misery.
We did well, ended second only 10 seconds or so after the
winning team.
The final activity (and I know a lot of people
have been waiting for this...) was dressing up the token expat
in each time (except Reg in the Filipino-only team) in a dress
made of newspapers... Kats kindly designed the lowest cut
dress she could possibly imagine and everyone got working
on getting me into it. 
We did a miss newspaper contest where we had to answer typical
and less typical (!) miss questions. I was well instructed
to subtly weave in 'world peace' in every answer which I managed,
very subtly too .
It all wasn't so bad, except that the organizers liked it
so much they just wouldn't stop asking us all kinds of questions.
Finally when the karaoke machine came out I begged them 'ENOUGH'
which they took to heart - we were spared more embarrassment
(and I can tell you, had I done karaoke, it would have been
BIIIG Embarrassment!) Anyway, we won the contest and to proof
how pretty I look in a dress, here are the pictures (that
will haunt me forever, I already know):
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Me-ann applying the make-up
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The 4 sexy Miss Newspaper contestants
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The Ultimate Team Building Experience: Flaming Sambuca!
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On Thursday night, we went to a place called
Cocomangas, famed for its "still standing after 15"
ordeal: drink 15 preselected (horrible!) shots and your name
will be forever remembered on a little metal plate on the
wall (or at least until they run out of space). I don't think
you actually have to be 'still standing after 15', just drinking
them (possibly just ordering!) will do the trick. But hey,
who can't handle a measly 15 shots, right?
Of course all my dear friends put me on the
spot right the moment we walked in. Before I knew it I had
agreed too, only to understand my stupidity when I saw the
shots - combined with my late realization that I hadn't really
eaten before, though I had been drinking, naturally. I thought
I was done for. People would see me crawling on all fours
to the bathroom, hear me puking my guts out and then would
have to carry me home, unconscious. I won't say I have a lot
of respect, but whatever I would have had, it'd be gone before
the night would be over. I couldn't have thought of any better
timing for a Eureka moment! My long lasting love-hate relationship
with Flaming Sambuca wrestled itself out of the deep and murky
caves of repressed memories and presented itself as the Savior,
the Messiah, the Knight In Shining Armor, etc. I ordered 7
Sambucas for who was left from our team and demonstrated the
coolest drink on earth to my wide eyed colleagues:
Flaming Sambuca
- Pour a shot of Sambuca in your mouth
- Light it with a lighter
- Keep the flame in your mouth, playing around with it a bit
with your tongue
- Close your mouth and swallow
After showing how it's done, each of them
repeated, successfully (after a second try for Sandeep)
and without any noticeable burning marks!! I can proudly say
that we were the coolest team on the island!
Unfortunately there were 2 persons missing (Andie had stomach
problems and Marc has a habit of leaving 5 minutes before
something really exciting happens) but there will be ample
opportunities in the future for them to prove their worthiness.
There is one more story to tell, a story
about soldiers and looming war, but that will be for next
time...
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Sunday,
May 1, 2005
Promotion!!!
Yep, it finally happened: I got my promotion
to Band III! It's really about a year late, a lot has gone
wrong between my previous Director who asked me to go to Manila
and who promised me a few months before the promotion (a few
months as of January 1, 2004!) and the person he handed over
to (or rather did not hand over to), my previous
boss. I told him the whole story somewhere in February 04,
but when I talked to him again in August 04, he didn't even
remember our conversation! I then escalated it to Tim, the
new Director of our group, who really took it upon himself
to set the wheels in motion for real. It still took longer
than I expected, but that's water under the bridge now. I
got it, finally! 
It's a really meaningful promotion too as
this the 'real' management level; the level where officially
managers manage managers. There are strict promotion prerequisites,
one of them being that you are considered to be consistently
in the top range of your P&G peers, exceeding expectations,
and have shown that you have management skills. Well but of
course! What else did you expect from moi, huh?
I also got a new role with the promotion,
I guess that's why they decided on this timing. We're going
through a reorganization at the moment of our group and it
was already known I was going to get this role... So this
Dilbert cartoon made me laugh...
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Saturday,
April 30, 2005
Queensday 2005
After missing it last year, we were fortunate
enough to be back in Holland this time for the most celebrated
day of the year: Queensday. Traditionally, hordes of Dutch
people, including myself and my friends, congregate in Amsterdam,
where everything is turned orange (our national color, after
our royal family whose last name has 'Van Oranje' in there,
or 'From Orange') and people have stalls on the street where
they sell stuff (mostly cheap, half broken, dusty stuff that
have spent years withering away on attic hell), organize activities
(like throwing eggs at people, or eating 5 of the dryest ever
biscuits in 1 minute) or play live music. We arrived in Amsterdam
at Eltjo's place the night before, called Queen's night, when
the party officially starts. We went to a place called Paradiso,
Eltjo had our names on the guest list (he's well connected
with the Dutch party scene ),
where a Queen's night party was scheduled. In fact it turned
out to be pretty much a normal dance party, nothing special
but a generally good time anyway.
The next day Emiel came by and we headed
for the Vondelpark as usual, which was swarming with people
as usual and we ended up on the terrace of the Filmmuseum
as usual. Of course, the sun was shining as it always is when
we are in Holland - no better way to spend the day in the
sun with a cold beer in your hand...
Eltjo was a 'mietje' and claimed he too tired to be bothered
walking around, so he stayed home .
We pretty much spent the day walking all over town, until
in the late afternoon we were about to meet Eltjo at some
square which name I forgot. When we got there, the square
was packed with hardcore techno losers and a horribly loud
and piss poor beat blazed out of a tent with a DJ in it. We
couldn't find Eltjo and at this time of the day we didn't
get through the GSM network so we couldn't call him either.
We spent hours there, until we remembered that he had also
been talking about Loveland,
a dance party near the Stopera,
so we went there. The atmosphere was excellent, the music
was excellent (Michel
de Hey was playing) and we stayed there for quite a bit...
but still we couldn't find Eltjo anywhere. We finally returned
to the first square, again no Eltjo in sight, and Marieke
finally borrowed a working mobile from some guy. When she
told Eltjo the name of the square we were at, the guy immediately
reacted that we were on some other square, and that
the square where we were supposed to meet Eltjo was another
500m down the road. D'oh!
We ran down to the other square, where Eltjo was waiting for
us, all alone, the poor soul, with an empty shopping bag that
at the beginning of the day was filled with drinks to have
with us (gin, tonic and lemons!) - what a bummer!
But at least we were together again.
Not sure what we did immediately after, but
later on we ended up in the house of 2 very good friends of
Eltjo's and very nice people indeed: Tanno and Gerda. They
had a whole club over from Twente (where Marieke comes from)
that were (almost) all ready to party. However, by the time
we came to Panama (that they all had tickets for), the doormen
refused us entry, saying that the girls were too drunk!!!
And that was really total bullshit! Sure we'd all been drinking
but certainly no one was off their head, especially the girls.
OK, we were a bit loud when we came out of the taxi, but again,
not that loud. And don't forget, all of them (about
10 people) had bought tickets for 25 Euros each, so before
you have the nerve to refuse people like that the entry?!
Anyway, I don't like Panama as a club, nor the crowd that
comes there, so I wasn't devastated - I just felt sorry for
those who paid for nothing. The others were too upset to try
any other place, and in the end it was just the 4 of us again
(Emiel, Eltjo, Marieke and me) that continued to another,
much better place called Hotel
Arena, where we could still get tickets and where we spent
the rest of the night. All in all a good day, too bad about
Panama and our poor square judgement...
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Saturday,
April 23, 2005
Angus in Holland!
I told Angus that Marieke and I would be
in Holland these weeks and we agreed that it'd be great to
see each other in the weekend. However, Marieke and I didn't
have our schedule very well planned (as usual )
so we didn't really know yet if we'd be there in the weekend
or in Rome. Until the following one-way email chain took the
decision for us:
From: Angus
Sent: Monday, April 18, 2005 8:29
Been trying to call you over the past few days and not see
you on sametime… In short I would love to see you and
before boking flights would like to check that it is ok with
you re timings.
From: Angus
Sent: Monday, April 18, 2005 8:43
Dan & Marieke, <some flight details follow>. Shall
I book????? Let me know asap. If I dont hear from you....
I am coming anyway!!!! he he
From: Angus
Sent: Monday, April 18, 2005 15:40
Dan & Marieke, Tried to get hold of you guys this morning,
but lost all numbers for you and there are too many Derooij
& Stopels in Holland!! Anyway, to cut a long story short...
following on from dan's email, I will be in Amsterdam this
weekend! My flight details are as follows: <some flight
details follow>. To be honest I am not 100% sure what your
plans are and if this screws up your plans at all... but the
flights are on special and went up by 60 pounds in 30 mins..so..
I booked.
Of course I never checked my email during
the day so by the time I looked, the monologue had been completed
and Angus was coming!
Which was a good thing, 'cause the way Marieke and I were
planning things, it was bound to turn out a disaster anyway.
On Friday night I picked Angus up from the
airport. We dropped our stuff at my parents' and my mother
- the angel - drove us to Alkmaar, the place where I was born,
where I went to school and the only decent place in the area
to go out. We basically just went to a couple of bars there
and talked, talked, talked. An excellent night 2 of my best
friends: Angus and beer.
The next day, we took off to Amsterdam where
we met Marieke, Charlotte, Eltjo and Emiel on a terrace at
the Filmmuseum in
the Vondelpark (a highly recommended stop if you're in Amsterdam
and the sun is out!!!) And basically we didn't leave that
terrace for most of the day and when we did it was only to
exchange it for another terrace at Irish pub Aran, on the
Max Euweplein near the Leidseplein (a great little tucked-away
square, try Wagamama
for lunch!) After a long day of chatting and drinking we finally
ended up in the same restaurant we always end up:
't
Pakhuis (click
here for English) in the Voetboogsteeg. After a cheap
and cheerful dinner we took off towards Losser where we crashed
and the next morning, Angus left for Newcastle again, after
one hell of a short weekend with one of my best mates!!!
I've posted the pictures in the photo album. Click the photo
below to get there!
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Charlotte and Angus on the terrace
of Irish
pub Aran on the Max Euweplein, Amsterdam
(Click the photo for the full album)
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Oh yeah, I'm going to be groomsman on his
wedding day which I consider a great honor! He's getting married
to Kirsty mid June in just about the poshest place in Scotland,
Blair Castle,
where I think Posh and Beckham got married too! Be sure to
find the report + pics right here!
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Week of April 18 and April 25, 2005
Time off in the Netherlands...
Two weeks back home in the Netherlands...
Aaaahhh, we really, really needed that. We did have big plans
about going to Rome or so for a couple of days but in the
end we decided not to get stressed out by planning yet another
trip. Instead we just stayed back in Holland, with really
wonderful weather, did a day trip to Ootmarsum, a nice little
art village in the East of Holland, spent some time in Amsterdam
when Angus came over (see entry for Saturday
April 23 above) and in general just took easy.
Still, after about a week or so, always staying
at one of our parents' places, we did feel the need to really
'get outta there' and have some time to ourselves. On Tuesday
the 26th, we really sat down and tried to find a place to
go in Dutch tour guides (we've officially become tourists
in our own country now!!!) but no luck. So I started to browse
the internet a bit (such as uitburo.nl)
and I came across a show by Dolf
Jansen, a Dutch stand up comedian, radio show host and
talk show host, in IJmuiden - a nondescript village on the
North Sea with Holland's biggest steel factory. I called up,
knowing full well that they would never have tickets
on the day of the night of the show of such an immensely popular
star. "Hi this is Daniel, a random idiot that just wants
you to tell him that tonight's show is sold out flat already
for months and that there is no way in hell that I will ever
get a seat in a 5 mile radius from the theater." "Hmmm
I see. So what row would you like to be in sir, we have 6th
row on the floor and 4th on the balcony." *Gulp*
Turns out they keep some seats open for unexpected VIP guests
or so... Sometimes I wonder how lucky I can get or if my luck
will run out one day and the rest of my life will be lead
in misery...
Anyway, Dolf was very funny, although there
was a little bit too much singing going on for my liking.
Also, the guy talks like a machine gun and there was no break.
After the show I was more exhausted than he was! But then
again, he's one of Holland's top marathon runners so I'm excused.
Since IJmuiden was on the other side of the
country from where we were (a 2 hours drive) we also took
a nice little hotel in Haarlem,
a beautiful little city not far from Amsterdam, and the province
of Noord-Holland's capital. Actually it was just little, not
really nice, and incredibly overpriced, just like any other
hotel in Holland. Want to make money? Start a hotel in Holland!
Anyway, we arrived in Haarlem, walked around for a bit, ate
there, took the bus to IJmuiden for the show and finally back
to Haarlem for a few drinks. Unfortunately the center seemed
to die down a bit around midnight (!) but we did find a place
for a last drink. Too bad Marieke was attacked by the bar
cat (unprovoked attack too, the bastard) and the people inside
were totally uninteresting, so we didn't stay too long. The
next day we walked to town some more, tried to shop and failed
and ended up eating wonderful Falafel at a super small and
super friendly little place with pictures of consuming customers
all over the walls. All in all a short but very enjoyable
stay!
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Saturday,
April 2, 2005
How to get a 250 Mb mail box in Hotmail ... it works!!!
Maybe you've heard it already: with a simple
trick you can get a 250 Mb inbox on your hotmail email account!
The trick is that you have to have an American address - our
friends of Microsoft are not shy to discriminate and up to
now have only given this great upgrade to their fellow countrymen.
Hmpf.
The good news is that it's really easy to
become an American. On the internet at least... Below are
8 simple steps that will instantly boost your inbox from a
meagre 2 Mb to 25 Mb. Then a few days later, the 25 Mb will
be upgraded again to 250 Mb. In my case this happened on the
4th day after my changes.
Note that one of the steps involves closing
your account. This is needed so that you reactivate it - reactivation
is what triggers the inbox upgrade. Don't worry, no emails
will disappear. Just make sure you reactivate right away,
not 2 days later. So just follow the 8 steps below and enjoy
a cool big hotmail inbox... Nearly as good as Gmail!
1) Login to hotmail and go to Options >> Personal >>
My Profile
2) Change Country to "United States"
3) Change the state to "Florida" and zip code "33332"
4) Click "Update"
5) Click "Continue"
6) Paste this link in the same browser window: http://by17fd.bay17.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/Accountclose
7) Wait until it says your hotmail account is closed and ready
to be deleted. Click "Close Account". Don't worry:
you will not lose your emails!
8) Go back to the hotmail login page and login again. Reactivate
your account
Your account size is now 25Mb and will become 250Mb in a
few days. Cool eh?
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Friday, March 25, 2005
Gruesome Friday
Good Friday is the remembrance of Jezus'
crucifixion. I am not sure how it's celebrated around the
world, but I'm pretty positive it is not as extreme as what
we witnessed today in the Philippines. Oh My God.
Nicki and Alex, two British friends of ours,
invited us along with two other friends to a little place
an hour north of Manila, called San Fernando, to witness...
an ACTUAL CRUCIFIXION!!! It was incredible. After about
an hour's drive over deserted highways (everyone stays at
home at this time) we arrived at the town's church. Immediately
we were confronted with men walking bare chested, with cloths
covering their faces, flogging themselves with a whip made
of wooden handle and a rope with several loose pieces of wood
attached at the end. Where the pieces of wood hit the backs
of the men their skin was torn off and they were bleeding
profusely. Their pants were soaked in blood and as they whipped
themselves, drops of blood splattered around. I got some small
blood specks on my hand, phone and pants, Marieke had a nice
big drop on her arm. Hmmm... At the church, the men kneeled
down and kids (I'm talking 6-10 year olds) started to whip
them some more. It became a little too much for me to stomach
and I had to go sit down inside the church for a bit. I mean,
I have no problem watching horror movies where zombies eat
people's brains etc., but this was different. It was real.
Then, it was time for the re-enactment of
Jezus' crucifixion. A guy carrying a big wooden cross passed
on the streets, followed by Romans beating him and his cross.
Granted, they beat the cross more than the man, so it wasn't
as bad as we expected it to be. Immediately after we proceeded
to the site where the actual crucifixion was going to take
place. It was about an hour and half walk and all along the
way there were men flogging themselves and each time they
passed, everyone (also the Filipinos) jumped aside to avoid
being covered in blood. There was blood everywhere. On the
street, on the walls, on cars, on people, on kids - kids were
covered in blood, they somehow seemed to stay close to these
self chastizing men. Crazy. That has got to screw you up,
mentally.
When we got to the site, it was almost like
a rock festival in Europe. It was a big field, with maybe
up to a thousand people, and a little elevation at the far
end. There were people everywhere, young and old, a few foreigner
but mostly Filipinos, and food and drink stalls around the
edge. We walked up to the 'stage' and were there only for
a few minutes when it started. Three guys in loin cloths laid
down on three crosses. A guy in a Roman costume walked up
to them and bang! hammered a nail right through the hands
of the three 'Jezuses'! Then the crosses were erected. There
were little ledges for the Jezuses to stand upon so they weren't
actually hanging from the nails, but still! Once the crosses
were straight up, the Roman once more took the hammer and
also nailed both feet to the ledge. Three women in long dresses
kneeled down and wailed misery in Tagalog through the microphone
for a minute or 3. Once they were down, the crosses were taken
down again and that was it!!!
Apparently men are on waiting lists to become
a 'Jezus'. It's a great honor to be nailed to the cross. I
think it's sick. Filipinos have a tendency to focus on the
pain and suffering more than the celebrations of Christianity,
or so I have been told by my Filipino colleagues. I don't
know why that is - they are generally a very happy, positive
people. But anyhow, I detest any form of extremism, not in
the least religious. And to me, this is clearly a form of
extremism. Having yourself crucified or whipping yourself
until you bleed is extreme. Anyone able and willing to do
that for a god they believe in is able and can be made willing
to do terrible things to others as well.
I am 'glad' I went to see it as it was very
interesting and impressive and a part of Filipino culture,
but I would never want to see it again. Nor would I recommend
it to anyone to go see it. It's gruesome and it feels wrong.
Especially the kids running around covered in blood, actually
being part of it, and the people who live there who don't
seem to think much of it, it all seems wrong.
Phil, one of the guys that went along, took
quite some pictures. I'll ask him to send me some and I'll
post them here to give you an idea of what it was like. If
you even care to see it.
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Wednesday, March 9, 2005
Donorship registration and religious polarization
God forbid you find yourself in a hospital
one day listening to a doctor telling you you need a new kidney,
hart, liver or any other organ. Apart from the misery you'll
be suffering from your disease, there is another, extremely
worrying fact: the time you'll have to wait to get the replacement
organ may very well be much longer than the doctors say you'll
live.
There are several causes for the shortage
of donor organs. One is that a lot of people simply don't
want to be donors. They don't want to be 'cut up' when they
pass away, mostly out of religious reasons: their belief forbids
it or they think they need it in the next life. Another cause
of the shortage however is the fact that many people simply
don't bother (out of laziness, carelessness or forgetfulness)
to sign the piece of paper giving permission to donate their
organs. Unfortunately, I am one of those people. But at least
my family and girlfriend know that they can use my organs
after I pass away, so it's OK for me.
The reason I started this topic is an article
I read in a Dutch newspaper (De Volkskrant) yesterday. The
government is proposing to make donorship registration mandatory.
Note: it's mandatory to register whether you want to be a
donor or not. You still have the choice to say no. Registration
is mandatory, donorship is not. The only catch is that you
will automatically become an organ donor, unless you officially
register that you don't want this.
I think this initiative is an excellent one
that can save many lives. The only watchout is that the government
must make sure that they clearly inform the people, especially
those that may want to object. This won't be easy as a lot
of objectors come from immigrant minority groups that don't
read Dutch newspapers or watch Dutch television. This doesn't
mean that they are unreachable, but the government has the
responsibility to make sure they get through to this group.
Then there is another initiative that's under
discussion today. That is the notion that you will get priority
for a donor organ if you are a donor yourself. This is of
course a bit more controversial because it creates a system
of favoritism and could potentially be expanded to deprioritize
unhealthy people (smokers, overweight, etc.) I'm not so sure
about this initiative. I understand the logic but I am not
convinced that this line of thinking should exist in the medical
world.
So we have 2 initiatives. In my eyes, one
obvious win-win initiative and one more controversial, definitely
not win-win initiative. Enter our minister of health, Mr.
Hoogervorst. This idiot supports the priority initiative,
but NOT the mandatory registration one! According to him,
the registration will be too costly to implement while not
providing significantly more donors. How dumb can you be?
Then his main argument for supporting the priority proposal
is because, in his word, someone needs to stop the muslims
in Holland to profit from our health system: they do accept
donor organs but they won't donate themselves on religious
grounds! Now, I don't think that this attitude to take and
not give is a right one, but no one, especially a politician,
should point at one specific minority religious group to support
a discriminating initiative like this. His argument should
be a general one, and a general one only, without mention
of in this case muslims.
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Tuesday, March 8, 2005
Winter wonderland
But not in Manila, unfortunately!!! Unbelievable,
just when we're out of easy reach of home, it starts snowing
like never before. That's right, they had 50cm snow on 1 day
in Holland - or something like that, I don't know the exact
number. But the point is that Marieke and I LOVE snow, especially
now that we're living in Manila where the temperature never
drops below 20 degrees. Celcius! We were talking to my grandmother
last night and she was telling us how beautiful it looked
- all the trees covered with snow, the streets, the buildings,
everything. Sigh. What I wouldn't give to be back in Holland
right now... Below are some fotos from one of the leading
Dutch newspapers, De Volkskrant. Aaaarrrrgggghhhh - why now??!??
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Sunday, February 27, 2005
Can't buy me looove...
"Money can't by me love" The Beatles
sang in 1964. Well that may be true, but here in the Philippines
money can buy pretty much everything else. For instance, everybody
has a so-called color coding day. Curiously enough, this has
nothing to do with colors but with the last digit of your
license plate number. If it ends on a 1 or a 2, you can't
drive between 7:00 and 19:00 on Mondays, 3 or 4 ban you on
Tuesday, 5 and 6 are for Wednesday and so on. Everybody can
drive happily in the weekend because of course we have to
keep the 24/7 consumer economy going full throttle.
My color coding day is Wednesday. Unfortunately
my brain is unable to register that fact properly. 
I have made it my work-from-home day so I won't need my car
but of course I've taken Wednesdays off before and sometimes
I need to go somewhere before 19:00 so sure enough I've taken
the car around illegaly a few times. I was caught once and
I bribed the officer to get off the hook. This may sound weird
for the people who are used to European ways (and American
ways I assume), but here it's quite acceptable. The problem
with doing it the official way is that they make it really
hard for you. First of all, you cannot pay any fine to the
officer directly, or get a cheque in the mail and make a bank
transfer. That is way too advanced. (Bank transfers here are
anyway something else, but I'll write about that some other
time, together with my other banking frustrations of which
I have many!) No, they actually confiscate your license and
give you a temporary permit for 1 week. During that week you
have to go to the police station of the area where you got
caught, stand in line for half a day, then pay your fine and
get your license back. That is a MAJOR hassle and they know
it.
So what happens - at least in my case - is that after the
officer explains you all of that, you innocently ask him "but
officer, isn't there a simpler way? Can't I just pay the fine
to you instead of having to go all the way to the station?"
After which the officer asked me to discreetly fold the money
into the papers he handed to me... and that was it. By the
way, this all happened the first week of the new year, with
my parents with me in the car. Nice start of 2005 eh??
But no more. Like I said, money can buy you
pretty much everything here in the Philippines and I got myself
a special 'commemorative license plate.' Only a limited number
of them are handed out in the beginning of the year to ...
well to whoever comes first. I'm sure there is some thinking
behind it that only eligible people should get them, like
people from the media. But money talks and I got one too,
even though it does say Media actually. I asked if it wasn't
a problem that I am actually an IT geek, but Buboy (Debbie
& Dino's driver that got me the plate) said that that
didn't matter. All that mattered is that I paid. It cost about
35 Euros and is valid for the whole year, and I thought that
was a bargain for not having to worry anymore about trying
to outrun the policemen waving me down on Wednesdays...
Here is a photo of my new plate. Note the
Pinochet-like character on the right. I think that's the one
I'm 'commemorating'...
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| Media man |
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Sunday, January 30, 2005
Art
Yesterday we did what we usually do on Saturdays:
we went shopping. It's pretty sad, I know but there really
isn't much else to do in Manila... Sports and shopping, that's
pretty much our life at the moment! After our diving experience
of last week we do now feel that we should try and get out
of town more often, but to be honest, with Marieke's study
and our habit of staying up late drinking (and therefore waking
up late with a bad hangover) there isn't much time left to
get up early and drive for a couple of hours. So we went shopping.
The only thing we did to make it more exciting was going to
Megamall instead of Glorietta. So what's the big deal, one
mall or another? Well let me tell you, if shopping = your
life, it matters!
Anyway, as we were walking back we came past
an art gallery where they had a number of self portraits on
display. We went in to have a look and found this wonderful
painting of a woman called Jhoanna Resari. We saw 2 more of
her paintings - also really nice - and decided to check out
the prices. Turns out they were very affordable and we bought
one of her works, the one we saw initially. The painting is
a self portrait called "Adrift in the depths of my being".
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| Jhoanna Resari
- Adrift in the depths of my being |
It's about 30 by 30 cm - again we bought
something small where we really only want to buy big things,
but hey, what can you do? - and we have as yet no idea where
to hang it up. One idea we have is to gather a collection
of small paintings/works of art and hang them all together
as if they are part of a bigger thing. We also met a Japanese
guy on Friday (on Camille's birthday party) who is into photography
and perhaps we can get him to make somthing nice as well.
Then of course we have to get to it ourselves as well - unleashing
the creative artist in us!! (If it's not yet driven out by
all the stress... )
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Sunday, January 23, 2005
Underwater fun
Today we graduated to Level 1 Expats... We
did it all: we shopped for pearls at Greenhills, we partied
hard on Boracay, took golf lessons and this weekend, finally,
we have taken our first diving course!
That's right, even though we both dreaded the whole going-where-you-can't-breathe
concept, we did it - and loved it! Debbie and Dino took us
down to a diving resort in Anilao called Aquaventure. They've
been diving there a few times before and booked a dive master/instructor
for all of us. We left Friday evening (Buboy, their driver,
took us there - I guess they're still an expat level above
us: we have to drive ourselves...) and on Saturday Marieke
and I lay baking in the sun while they went for their morning
dives. We saw a Padi video first, which wasn't too reassuring.
I think it mentioned death and drowning about 7 times in the
first 10 minutes. 
It wasn't till the afternoon when Chester, our cool Filipino
instructor, came to teach us the ropes and after some theory
he took us down to shallow waters. We practiced what he teached
and honestly, it wasn't as bad as we both thought it would
be. Even taking out the regulator (breathing apparatus) under
water and replacing it wasn't as scary as it sounded on land.
Eventually we went down to 11 meters and even though I had
(have) problems equalizing (plopping your ears to equalize
the pressure of the air in your head (yes I have a lot of
that) with the water pressure) we were both fine. And super-excited!
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Marieke, me, Chester, Debbie and Dino
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View from the resort in the morning
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The next day we went out for more serious
diving together with Debbie and Dino and it was marvellous.
The first dive was to a site called Bubbles, famed for the
litte air bubbles that rise up from the sea bottom, caused
by volcanic activity. We saw some fish, but the real feast
for the eyes came in the second dive where we dove at a place
called Twin Rocks. We swam through a school of barracuda,
all kinds of brighly colored fish came to check us out - and
I mean literally, look you up and down (I swear I got some
approving looks from some of the female fish ),
and I held a giant starfish the size of a basketball (starfish
curl their 5 legs in for defense, turning them into a ball.)
Unfortunately I felt a bit sea sick the second dive so I wasn't
able to fully enjoy it - I think the problems I had with equalizing
the dive before made me a bit queasy. We went down both dives
to about 12 meters and according to our company, we were excellent
beginners, having the whole natural buoyancy down and all.
All in all, great fun and we're going to finish our
certification very, very soon. Great fun, but to be clear:
it is and will remain a relaxing activity. We'll
never be like the fanatics who get up at 6 in the morning
and squeeze in 5 dives a day. 1 or 2 dives will do fine, preferably
around or after lunch time. And it won't get in the way of
a good night of booze either. You have to get you priorities
right!!!
I'll post some more pictures, including underwater
ones, when I get them from Debbie and Dino...
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Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Genesis 1:3 - And God said: "Let there be light."
And there was light.
For ages we have been complaining about our
room, most notably me but by now, also Marieke is being bitten
by the live-like-a-bum bug. So what's our excuse for not getting
our butts to work on it? Not sure, but laziness is definitely
an element.
Anyway, today we couldn't take it any more.
Marieke bought some cool halogen lights from Ikea in Holland,
you know the ones, with 2 wires and the spots in the middle,
and we decided that we could no longer justify having them
boxed up while whining about our poor lighting. So at around
18:00 we got to work. First we detached the old lamp from
the ceiling only to discover it left a nice big round dirtmark
that no dishwashing liquid could dissolve. We decided the
only way to deal with it was to paint it over with something
a bit nicer and it just so happened that we bought a can of
gold spray paint earlier that day, so we cut a sun shape out
of a big piece of carton. We somehow taped it to the ceiling,
donned plastic bags over our heads and my spraying hand and
while Marieke held up the carton I sprayed the golden sun
onto the ceiling. Properly prepared? Nope. Undo-able? Not
really. Risky? Absolutely!
Despite the fact that we worked pretty much in the dark (remember
we took off the main light already!) the result was very acceptable.
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Da Vinci in action! |
Next we drilled the holes in the walls for
the hooks. Some serious drilling there, but again it's the
result that counts. Of course I carefully measured the distance
between the holes in the spots to make sure that I placed
the hooks right. And for the 2 supports in the middle of the
ceiling we used our carpenter's eye to make sure it was straight
in line with the wall hooks. And you know, I think it really
was, but when we hung up the spots, I realized that while
my measuring skills are definitely up to par, my geometry
skills aren't quite there anymore. You see, we decided to
hang the spots diagonally over the room. Which means the hooks
weren't exactly placed as they should have been. Let me try
to illustrate:
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| How the manual explains it |
I should have calculated 'y' |
But instead used the manual's 18 |
So I should have put the wall hooks further
apart: 'y' cm rather than 18 cm, but didn't think of it and
as a result the wires now hang as in the third picture.
And as if that wasn't bad enough, when we turned on the lamp
for the very first time (some 7! hours later) - BZZZZZZZ!!!
It makes a buzzing noise!!! Dammit dammit dammit!!! The noise
gets worse as you dim the lights, so we just keep it on full
glare. Not what we want, but we'll have to learn to live with
it I guess...
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Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Guess who's back, back again...
Wow, it's been over 2 months since I last
wrote in this journal. A lot has happened, most of which is
too uninteresting to write down (certainly 2 months after
the fact! ),
some of it too interesting to write down already (something
happened last week that I'll make note of about a month from
now, but that I can't write down yet lest I get jailed or
something. )
That leaves all the rest that my memory managed not to lose
already - here goes...
December 24, 2004 - Christmas visit
coming soon! [update a year and a half later:
Coming never!!!]
December 5, 2004 - Dag Sinterklaasje
December 5 is a special day in Holland. It's
the day we celebrate the birthday of Saint Nicholas, or Sinterklaas
as well call him. It's hard to imagine this great tradition
if you didn't grow up with it but let me try to explain shortly
the story of Sinterklaas.
Sinterklaas is an old, but nice guy. He wears
a fashionable bishop's hat, a red dress and sports a long
white beard and gives presents to kids who have been good.
He rides a white horse and has lots and lots of black helpers
called Zwarte Piet. (Sound racist? Probablyit does, but in
Holland it isn't - when they proposed to introduce white,
yellow, red, etc. Zwarte Pieten, it was the Dutch black people
who objected saying we were being silly. At least that's what
I've been told and I'm ready to believe it. )
He arrives every year somewhere in November on a steam boat.
When he's in the country, kids put their shoes near the chimney
(or if none present, any other place in the house will do)
and sing traditional songs. Sometimes they'll put a carrot
in the shoe for Sinterklaas' horse. As if this all isn't bizarre
enough, Sinterklaas then rides the roofs of all houses in
Holland and wherever a kid has placed his shoe and sung nicely,
he will drop a little present through the chimney, mostly
candy. This all builds up to the evening of December 5, where
the whole family gathers and sings and then, always when you
least expect it, there will be a loud bang on the window.
This is Zwarte Piet, telling everyone that they should run
outside NOW. And lo and behold! There will stand in the dark
night a big basket chock-full of presents.
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Sinterklaas |
That's about the extent of the tradition,
and the best part is that once Sinterklaas enters the country,
everyone plays along: his arrival will be a big item on the
evening news, all newspapers will be printing articles and
interviews, he will be in famous talk shows, etc. It's as
if for a few weeks, everyone in Holland believes he's real
- it's great!
It all sounds a lot like Santa Claus, don't
you think? Well, surprise surprise, they are one and the same
guy! The Dutch took Sinterklaas to the US and over time he
melted into the Christmas tradition! For you sceptics, unbelievers
and those with general interest in history, here's the proof.
This year we celebrated Sinterklaas with
Marieke's family in Losser (as always.) Her father Harry didn't
know that I was coming so we surprised him on Saturday and
in the evening we started unpacking our presents. Previous
years we had been buying generic gifts and then started playing
some self-invented dice game to win presents. It was always
hilarious but this year for some reason we did it differently
and everyone bought specific gifts for others. While we all
did walk away with many more useful gifts (normally you don't
really know what to do with some of the things you 'win' ),
the unpacking itself was a lot less fun (except for Marieke
who got like 75% of all presents!!!) and I will strongly lobby
for another dice game next year...!
December 1, 2004 - A Sort Of Homecoming
You know that song? A Sort Of Homecoming,
by U2? If not, chances are you don't have The Unforgettable
Fire, their best album ever - in my not-even-close-to-humble
opinion that is. Get it, it's brilliant. If you don't like
it, let me know and I'll not care.
Anyway, I had a business meeting in Cincinnati
the week of Dec 6 and I thought it'd be a good idea to take
advantage of my moving west to have a stopover in Amsterdam
to say hi to the folks back home. Marieke had a flight planned
already on Dec 1 so I got myself on the same plane. I decided
not to tell my parents I was coming to Holland. I figured
the suprise outweighed the possiblity of a fatal heart attack.
And it did! We arrived scandalously early: 5:30 on Friday
morning, Emiel (the hero got up at 3:30 or so!) picked us
up and drove us to Heerhugowaard where we found my father
at home just getting ready to leave for work. Externally he
was very relaxed about it, only slightly surprised, but the
fact that he was flabbergasted was given away by the fact
that he couldn't tie his shoe laces properly anymore, the
fact that he forgot his keys and the fact that he drove off
in the dark without turning his headlights on...
Mom's school hadn't started yet and there
were only a few kids who looked at us surprised as we walked
in to the concierge area. She was behind glass, talking to
Pé, and as I moved behind the door, Mariek and Emiel
started banging on the window. Now you have to know that my
mom works in a school with kids that aren't your average straight
A college material. They can be quite, say, unsophisticated,
and as a result, it took my mom quite some time to finally
look up from whatever she was discussing with Pé to
get a complete shock and see Emiel and Marieke there. But
her face really dropped when she opened the door and ran into
me. She was in tears (to avoid misunderstanding: from happiness!)
and we spent the whole morning in the teacher's room talking
to her and all the colleagues that came to have a look at
the freak show (us). Finally we went to my grandmother with
bags full of fresh fish and spent the remainder of the day
there. All in all a homecoming to remember!
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To read on in the next archive, click
here
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