10 avril 2008
Insomnia in the midst of spring...
As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.
Henry David Thoreau
I have satiated myself on dozens websites today. Nothing to do at work except tranlating the official website of the company from Dutch to English, the office is empty of sound, a sleepless space where strive a gentle hum of keyboard notes, taptitaptitaptitapti.... I am in the process of defining what the 3 main composant of this mental path should be. The first is obvious, sailing, yachts, tying knots, welding, repairing steel, grinding, knowing where the wind comes from, studying for my RYA exam. The second involves cameras, programming, script writing, filming, editing, music and the media. For the rest I oscillate bravely between utter abandonment to entertainment's joyful depravity or raising my awareness level to it's highest potential. When sitting under the roof of this 13th century farmhouse, awareness wins but as soon as the darkness of my own house surrounders my deprived soul, I fall for the entertainment. I have won one battle though. I have been for the past 5 weeks on a no wheat, potato, corn, sugar, dairy or white processed food diet. I can say I feel a lot healthier then before. I can also say refusing birthday cakes and explaining to people why has been the hardest part on my part and I get comments on you're soooo skinny why would you be on a diet anyway. My aim is to keep at it for another 3 months and swap it for a partial raw diet. 80% raw, 20% cooked, kinda like the japanese diet. I have orderd 3 cookbooks : Grain-Free Gourmet: Delicious Recipes for Healthy Living, Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine, Living Cuisine: The Art and Spirit of Raw Foods and I can't wait as most of my old favorite recipes include wheat, sugar,butter or cream. I have failed at going to the gym or exercising 2 to 3 times a week. Changing towards an Athlete mindset is what I am thriving for ATM and it applies to all goals I will set for myself. I must make sure what those goals are truly what I must focus on first. Simple enough...guess I am back making lists, should kill the last 15 minutes before I head home:)
04 août 2007
The summer night is like a perfection of thought.
06:30 AM,Windmills, Red bricks, edged roofs, black and white shaved sheep's shadows printed over the sky who seem to worship the sunrise in a city of angel like manner; their heads turned toward the big disk, or lamas too to my dismay, as I drive to work in the mornings.
The setting is lovely, the hotels are comfortable and I am adjusting relatively fast to this new stage. The small village where I am based is lying on the West side of the Ijsselmer, the biggest artificial lake of Holland. At night I go walking along the waterfront or the marina, it is a sailor town, hundreds of sailing boats, new and old, barges or typical tall ships are resting for the summer, lying in the varied marinas. I can't help but be fascinated by them while I am working. I stare outside the window of the boat, escaping my computer screen and dreaming of sailing soon, joining them.
The work in itself is simple, measure depth and update computers of 2 to 3 boats. I had 5 days to learn the software ad my teachers were not the best but then who is. Human nature and behavioural pattern is fascinating and I have to get used to the small bickering and soap opera of large corporations. I work on a boat allday, swaying back and forth while processing and editing data, it is stangely a perfect fit. I love it even if it is a man's world, a builder's world and no girls are part of this except one and myself. So I suffer silently the under the belt jokes and wear baggy clothes. On my way back to the office, on land, I sing out loud in the car and around 18-19, I walk to the small gym where my work manager goes too, a cheap 80's looking tin roof building, bodybuilders and boxers hide out, no females again. A simple life but that I started to like, as I got to go home every friday night for the week-end.
I even took the time to drive to the beach Callant soog ,35 minutes away, a small village with sand dunes contrasting with the flat surrounding landscape, my heart rushed and pounded as I layed eyes on those fleating shapes, I could feel a hapinness unknown simply because of those hills imprinted on my retina. I walked for 2 hours, wind rushing in my hair, clouds hovering menacing, an accalmy of sun after the downpours of the last few days. As the sun set, I simply wished I could live here for ever, get a house behind the dunes and come back from work to fly a kite high in the air, be mindless as a child for a few hours. For now I will move from one hotel to another every week for the next month. An adventure of it's own.
And in a flash, after a phone call, this paradise will be taken away from me... I experienced a sense of utter freedom, accomplishment that I hadn't felt since Alaska. An old self who had been emprisonned and starved for 2 years was out again, hair flying in the wind, soul roaring. Now that he is out, he won't disappear but I will miss this place regardless. I have another 3 days there, time to train, take pics and release it all to the wind.
So where am I headed to now will you ask? Cameroon, Douala, West Africa for a month from the 13th. Auspicious date, not that I am superstitious but flying on a 13th is not necessarily what I would have chose. Will spend summer under heavy clouds, mud as it is moonsoon season, in a big city and I am not pleased, if I had had a choice I would have stayed where I was but ehhhh always dreamt of going to west africa so......things comes in the strangest ways, be careful what you wish for:) it might come true when you elast expect it!!!!!
P.S. Espen is alive and well....if you are worried for lack of news, pls send money, I will update then:)
10 juillet 2007
“To have another language is to posses a second soul.” Charlemagne
I admit I have a headache, my mouth hurts but I did read and translate the first two pages of the Ugly duckling or as they say around here, '' Het Kleine Lelijke Eendje'' pronounced in English/French phonetic '' Hét Kline Layleuke Heendhyeu''. Estelle 1 point!!!!!!!!
Farmhouse living
Our office is a shelter of green foliage, rose bushes ensnarling walls and fences, birds nesting everywhere and rooster and peacoks cokoodledoing and quirking allday long. An animal sanctuary lays 400 metres away composed of birds, goats and bambis, it is a pleasure for me to drive past it everyday. Occasionally I give up my lunch apple to feed the deers after work and love gazing into their dark eyes while they fearfully tear pieces of it away from my hand. Any occasion, passing an exam, having your birthday, getting a new boat is an excuse to eat. The person celebrating buy the cake(s) and then around 10 someone shout CAKE and everyone meet in the kitchen to share. Another interesting event is Fridays. On friday the company feeds you, at 12 you are gathered oncemore and served soup, so far I have tasted Asparagus and bacon soup, chinese cabbage soup and last week Pea soup; then at 16, you join your fellow co-workers to eat cheese and sausage with beer or soft drinks!!! The building reminds me of Gamle Ormelet. It is an old 17th century farmhouse. The office is the farm made out of red bricks and we work under the rooftop, hydrographers high in the air while the land surveyors live on the ground floor. The main building is the conference quarters whith dining rooms, bedrooms and fancy paintings hanged in the corridors. Cristals chandeliers, spiderwebs, creaking old planks, I walk in and am transported into another century. Of course it isn't that often I get to go into the main building and soon enough i will be send to live in hotel rooms far away but I enjoy the possibility while it is at hand to smell and appreciate those surroundings. In this century of corporate living my life would appear to you as an outstretched reality:) Guess it is.
Working for the Dutch has been so far, a rather interesting experience. There is a side to them I can't explain but they are most definitely on the verge of having scandinavian background of course you should never tell them that. Language wise ( how to butcher a perfectly normal word in 1000 ways) it's another matter. I am getting my first pronunciation lesson today and have mixed feelings about the potential outcome. I mean learning to speak like that, make those sounds....is scary to say the least. Any linguists would be in awe at learning italian or swedish but dutch..... Just kidding, after all it's only another language.
01 juillet 2007
Reality bites
Last night was yet another birthday, I felt like staying home, watching the stars come out but I took my car and drove in town to stay over in my friend's flat; her being away for the week-end and all. Met new people, will do the same tonight, coming out of my shell, first steps of my 29th year. I hope for this year as an under 30 to be like that film, my favorite of all times, Reality Bites, caustic, full of sarcastic philosophical questions and unridden truths, yet, simple and fair.
Back from the meeting with the couch surfing and hospitality club in a Parc next to a lake, barbequing and sitting in front of a fire, drums and guitar, 12 people were left from the 40 gathered . Rain stopped and weather cleared small miracle after a week of downpours. Meeting new people without other half always amases me, the main reason is that people behaviour often evolve throughout the evening when they realise you are married, and I am not talking about men I am meaning litteraly in the most general way you can, it is as if they put you in that little box, categorised as married, boring, children, house and stability. Being married doesn't mean you are not you or have lost yourself in someone. It means sharing a life while retaining your integrity and purpose, being free of thoughts and moves but sharing the everyday with someone you trust and carefor.
I met some great people, a few of them live in the biggest residential squat of Holland that became legalised in the late 80's . A wonderful community, Artwork painted everywhere, cinema, bar and pub, plus roof terrace and bicycles lining up against every piece of wall available.It is a mini city in the city....next time I will take pictures and show you. For now, time to sleep.
16 avril 2007
Twins
Reminder of 2 girls, one german the other french, 2 videos involving heavy subtitles, a difficult dutch audio system and a long long night....
16 mars 2007
An inconvenient truth
Saw THE AlGore film last night. The film is basically free at the main cinema in Groningen. The reason behind a generous act coming out of knowhere from the city is that the dutch prime themselves in making a difference and desire as many citizen as possible to be aware of the problem. I reckon that would never have happened in France...the free ticket I mean, the growing environmental awareness might be there hidden.
Anyway, I was a little disappointed, I am not sure what I expected, grandeur, more flashing images maybe showing you what was happening worldwide. Half of the film is a reconstruction of conferences he gave and some of the animation used are, to say the least, very basic even a bit retarded. I mean a frog in a boiling pot of water that you rescue because she won't help herself, come on....I know the metaphore if you jump in boiling water you will feel the pain and jump right out but if you slowly simmer in luke warm water you will stay until you are cooked alive and willing, and then you're dead....but did he really need crappy animation to get the point across????
Otherwise it states the obvious, reinforce what we ALL know and show it not artistically but simply. I would recommand it for 2 reasons, the first is that it is good for you to be reminded that you have a choice, YOU can make a difference on a small scale but nevertheless so get going, the second reason is if you plan to have children, have nieces or friends with kids then you have a responsibility for the future generation, and if you don't have any dwarves in your close surroundings, welll think about all those gorgeous kittens, puppies, baby snakes, whatever strikes a vibrant emotionnal upheaval in your humanly mind.
So keep going...
06 février 2007
Claudi
Met a wonderwoman, well girl and went along for a crazy week-end where stripes were obligatory to celebrate her b'day. At last the pics to memorate a long evening of beer, wine, food, dance and mxi of dutch/german/english....
13 mars 2006
Snowy week-end
So what happened on saturday???
We simply went to the restaurant fujiyama, and I recommand it, delicious fish platters fried in front of you, fresh tasty sashimi and tempuras, mouth watering miso soup with tofu and sea lettuce, lobster, cod, sea bass, squid, we had it all...
Well we didn't manage half of what was planned, typical of us but for a valid reason this time. We spent, exactly, watch in hands, 4 and half hours eating at the japanese restaurant which lead to us missing our movie and strolling around town in a snow blizzard on a full belly, so we gave up finding cool bars and simply headed home. Groningen is quite nice, cobbled pavement, pedestrian streets, art stores, a definite heart winner in our flatlanscape. I will come back when the sun rises and winter disappears in a puff of smoke to report more...
10 mars 2006
Groningen
Tomorrow I have planned us a little tour to the closest city: Groningen in Holland. So far we should head after lunchtime, have a small walk in the center looking for a decent microphone for my videocamera, stroll, relax, sit in the sun (if we are lucky), windowshop for all those bits we can't find here in Weener and then go to eat Japanese, a real japanese!!! and go to the cinema, to see a dark SF movie, based on an anime TV serie from the 90's:AEON FLUX, starring Charlize Theron in VO yeah, not dubbed like all german films. Long ~Live the Dutch!!!!
