Blogpagation

Ps

2009-05-24T23:21:00.001-06:00

There is free wifi signal on the hostal room- yeah !!

The puma city that is at 3400+m above sea level.

2009-05-24T23:06:00.001-06:00

It's the end of our second day here in Cuzco and it's been a pretty chilled tried so far.

2 nights ago i ran into my travel buddy Kelly at starbucks in lima's airport at about one am. Then qe were both waiting for our vey early morning flights, hers at 5:30 and mine at 5:55. after getting about 2hours sleep in Lima's airport I was a plane to Cuzco! The plane ride was ultra fast because I passed out but even that was only another hour's sleep. Next thing I know we land and we deplane the cool way without the gates like how it was in some European cities.

Grabbed my bag and then going outside I ran into Kelly again! She was suppose to have an airport transfer arranged but instead it didn't show. So we both grabbed a cab to our hostel knowing we were probably paying more then we should.

After checking in we decided to head out and do a visit to some archeological sites that won'tbe covered in our little intrepid package. The funny part was when we were trying to find the damn bus and we probably walked around the atop foe about an hour and a half until we finally discovered it was this place we initially passed where a guy was hanging out of a bus screaming "pisac! Pisac !" we thought he wanted to sell us pizza cause the place was right beside a restaurant . The bus ride was 2.4 soles for about 20 minutes and we went to the highest of the four sites "tambomachay". This was our first exposure to the altitude as the site was 3700m above sea level . No matter how slow I went and how deep I was breathing my heart was racing to compensate for the lack of oxygen.

Later on we walked to another site about 10 minutes down the road to some ruins. There we negotiated with a personal guide to take us to the rest of the sites for 25 soles (we later find we missed one of the sites)- this was better as it would be a shame to just walk around and see ruins bug have no context. The most interesting fact was that Cuzco was built in the shape of a puma (one of the three natural gods; the other a condor and a lama). And the last site, sacsayhuaman , I'd the head and thx city the body (we find out the next day that the "sun church" our hostel was behind ( the " qorikancha" of great religious, ceremonial and royal sig) was the testicles and the main square (plaza de armas) is the stomach).

After he sites we hiked it down and then found ourselves in a local restaurant trying the local food (ginea pig!). The skin was super tough but the meat was somewhere between chicken and porc.

By about 5:30 pm we were beat (considering we only had two hours of sleep) and crashed at the hostel for a good .... 13 hours haha!!

Day 2 in Cuzco

Woke up to a simple breakfast and there we met the other intrepid travelers whom most flew in that morning. We met our guide armando and then we started our walking tour of the city.

The square was much more livlier on a Sunday as apparently every Sunday there is a parade -hard core!!

We then headed to a market in the center and you can probably by all you produce from here. We the group separated ANC were to meet back at the hostel at six in the evening.

Thx best part was the first section of like fifty different fresh fruit smoothie ladies trying to get you to sit down and try their drinks. We settled with a lady that had a bunch of locals at her station.

Funny thing is we initially thought "leche" meant peaches but it means milk ... Our mistake . I ordered the special which costed six soles and had almost everything in it (including maca ,raw unpasteurized honey, and a sketchy cough syrup). The thing I'd she made so much that she refilled my glass three times!

Afterwards we walked the rest of the market and picked up some fruit and nuts.

We then headed to the museo de arts ore-colombio. Which basically covered hitorical sculptures and art from various regions.

After we headed offvfor some more local food and found a restaurant that Served prarically a four course meal for 10 soles-amazing!!

After a late lunch we wandered the streets and headed back to meet with the group. Here we met our trek guides and they helped us set expectations. Three of us were doing the lares trek and the rest the inca trail. Our travel buddy joining Us on the lares trek is Adam -a dude from Australia that now lives in Florida.

They gave us a duffel to pack about 6kg of stuff for the porters to carry.

Afterwards Kelly and I went to search for some dinner and settled in this pizza restaurant full of kids (which we later found was a birthday party) and we sat at the parents table. There was live music and good food and tried the inca cols but the meal came out to forty soles which we felt we were ripped off cause ghrg charged us for the wrong sized pizza .

After dinner, wandered again came back to the hostel to rest (10 pm)

Jet planes and sleepovers in airports. It's like the euro days all over again!

2009-05-22T23:16:00.001-06:00

Back on with the back pack but this time it's only for the standard north American two weeks and the first half of the trip is a trek in Cuzco peru and the second is a tourist trek in brazil. Lots of airplanes,airports and scenery but this time I've got the iPod handy to stay in touch and thank goodness for free wifi that has been an amazing access to info and handy with calls with the skype application.

It's such a nice and memorable feeling when you hear other languages other than English around you and I think if I tried to learn Spanish I could pick it up pretty fast as the French and Italian is coming in handy to recognize the grammatical and word similarities. Too bad next week I'll have to try to have my crack at portuguese!

Anyways 5 more hours till my next flight into cuzco and finally I can go explore!

Anniversary

2008-12-02T01:10:00.002-07:00

Dec 1, (well technically it's now the 2nd) - and it marks exactly one year since I have been back in Canada. It was one of the most depressing / nostalgic / exciting moments in my life; it was such a huge cycle of emtions that I've never experienced before - but ultimately it has led me to a new life and a new home - one that I very much enjoy. I won't lie when I say I miss Europe, but when I leave vancouver I too miss it here. It's odd as my life has changed so much even from last year, and yet my living situation and the way I live my life is quite similar to before; new friends (european friends hee hee), all bicycle and just chillin' - the only difference is that I feel that I am healthier and more active than ever... and never have I experienced so many sports injuries in one year... i guess it either means I'm getting old... or I'm just putting myself more at risk - probably both. But that's it - just wanted to write that... man I am now a year and a few months behind on my euro blogging (yes there's tons more to put up). End of the year - that's my goal!

Damn it - not again!

2008-04-24T00:14:00.002-06:00

The Flames' season came to an end Tuesday night after a hard-fought 5-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks in Game 7 of their Western Conference Quarterfinal Series. Jarome Iginla set a personal record with nine points in a single round. |

Aside from a great w/e back in c-town...

2008-04-14T01:40:00.002-06:00

Calgary stumbled out of the gate, giving up three goals in the first four minutes of Game 3 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals, but the Flames showed true playoff grit and battled back to win the contest 4-3 over the Sharks Sunday in Calgary.

I've never enjoyed it so much to be at a gate at the Calgary Airport as there were TVs playing the last period of this intense game at every gate and crowds gathered around the 24 or so inchers. It was intense but Nolan capped it off nicely and the team fought off another questionable delay of game penalty in the last 3 mins... when the buzzer hit zero - I high-fived several people and at the exact moment Westjet announced pre-boarding - and since I was at an exit row (always try to get these!) I was able to get on to the plane first!

What else I did the past three days - well landed on Friday night - the day after calgary received it's greatest snowfall in 20 years (yet when I got there, there was not sight of it to be seen)... went boarding in EXTREME spring conditions with Marc at louise, picked up another paycheck at MM lulu and my Staff bonus card (yeah!), hung out with the cousins and gorged on some GREAT Pho in the NE, visited grandpa at the cemetary to pay for respects and ask for luck in getting Caren's house sold, went for diiiiim sum in Chinese town and had a little catch up with Clara, went home, packed, then went out to meet ALL the cousins again for a goodbye dinner for Eldonitos, gorged on some desert at Cheesecake and discussing the 3-0 dificit of calgary (boo)... then went home, grabbed stuff and was sent off by Germie, Mom and Caren as patrons in the airport Kelsey's celebrate a comeback of 3-3! and the airport announces the good news.... and then at the gate waiting to get back to van.... yea!

GO FLAMES!

Oh Edmonton.... you WOULD drag the Canucks down with you.

2008-04-04T00:40:00.002-06:00

Alex Burrows scored a power play goal with 6:57 remaining in the game to cut the deficit to one, but the Canucks lost a heartbreaker to the Oilers, 2-1, Thursday at GM Place, eliminating Vancouver from the playoff race

Sorry Edmonton but this ain't no April fools :D

2008-04-02T00:34:00.001-06:00

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - Owen Nolan scored the winning goal with 3:44 left in regulation, lifting the Calgary Flames to a 3-2 victory over Edmonton and eliminating the Oilers from the Western Conference playoff race.

2008-03-15T18:11:00.001-06:00

Calabria, Part Due (Augusto 2007)

2008-03-03T01:08:00.034-07:00

LARGE POST of amazing Italian adventure part 2: setting: from the beaches of Schilla, Bagnara, Palmi to the countryside of Sant Eufemia D'Aspromonte to the mountain resort of Gambarie to the Miami-like city scapes of Reggio Calabria.The next seven days is now a three-some as my Vancouver born , fellow Amsterdamer friend Ching-Yin Foo joins us for our Italian and Canadian adventures. The first day, Domenico takes us back into the capital city of Reggio Calabria, located on the boot toe of Italy, across from the island of Sicily. It is situated at the base of the Aspromonte to take us for a tour and explore the sites - pointing out each of the important buildings - this guy really knows his stuff since Domi was elected to take on the responsibility of promoting foreign investment in the area.
The main attraction though was The National Museum of Greater Greece, housing the two famous Bronze di Riace statues. The museum was quite extensive and floor after floor with local architectural grecian findings.
No pictures allowed! but the asianess takes over and I tell CY to pose for a quick shot! yea.From wiki: During the Roman Empire it was called Rhegium Julium as a noble Roman city. Later Reggio di Calabria became a Byzantine city, and in the 12th century, it became part of the Kingdom of Sicily, and then in the 13th century, it became part of the Kingdom of Naples.

Reggio Calabria is known as the location of the first dated Hebrew book, a Rashi commentary on the Pentateuch, printed in 1475; ^[1] however, scholars consider Rome as the city where Hebrew printing began.

For Reggio di Calabria, the worst earthquakes came in 1783 and on December 28, 1908. The latter quake was the most devastating. Some 80 percent of all buildings in Reggio collapsed and many thousands were killed. Damage was even worse in Messina across the straits. That quake remains the worst on record in modern western European history. It took Reggio a generation to fully recover.

later on we met up with Diego and his brother Antonio who were in the city. We joined the guys for a quick drink and local appies / snacks and then after an hour later were off on their own to do some business.
the Fiat 500, what was then a new model.mmmm.. Gawd... it would be tragedy to not have the daily Granita with a brioche (pastry). This is gooooooooood stuff!
we stroll along the seaside to take in the windy, sunny and hot weather.RTL, a national radio station speically chose Regio Calabria as a promotion and broadcasting from the city with lots of festivities following. It is a very good radio station to get an idea was is currently popular in italy.

this place I just wanted to take a pic on their deck, but when we asked, the owner unfortunately was not as warm to the idea... darn missed the shot.. but maybe next time!

After a tiring day, we headed back to the house in Sant Eufemia D'Aspromonte, packed up our stuff , loaded it up in the car and then UP the mountain to Gambarie we went to stay in ... Domenico's family's cabin... yes these Italians are baller. The drive up the mountain was insane as the lane was enough for 1.5 cars. Everytime cars pass each other.. there's some system for one car to yield to the next.. I believe the people going uphill yield to those guys going down.. buses and trucks are a little more tricky though.

Stepping out into the mountain air was quite the difference from teh seaside... and it definitely reminded me of the air we have back at home in Calgary.
The cabin was NICE with four levels : Kitchen on the first, living on teh second, bedrooms on the third and bedroom and attic on the top - four beds all together. It felt like something in a movie and the whole place was just so cozy... totally something I did not expect on my litle Italian trip - this dude really know's how to impress.
Rocco's homemade red vino!plenty of meats and fresco pasta sauce in Pina's kitchen.
once settled in, we finnaly chill out after a day of movin' and watch the Da Vinci Code! Man satellite as well.
Every morning, the sun wakes me up and Domenico's mom is already hardcore at work cleaning the house like mad. I go for a run to explore the forest area and take in the paths.
Later in the day, once the rest of teh crew wakes up, we head back down the mountain to Saint'Eufemia Aspromonte and back to bagnara (where the fashion show was) but this time we pay a visit to the beaches on this 35 some degree day.

We arrive and find Domenico's Aunt (zia) has already set up camp with her children Yolanda, Giuseppe and visiting niece Franchesca (from venezia). Giuseppe was fishin out a storm with his buddy and sister as by the time we got there there was already six catches in their little bucket.

CY later dives into the crystal blue-green waters... she later learns there are real fish swimming around her.. which apparently grosses her out.
CY passes out here and there.

for lunch, Domi and I walk to a local bakery flooded with lots of other locals buying their lunch. Domenico eyes a few slices of pizza and also purchases a local snack called the arancino: They are fried or, less commonly, baked rice balls, having a diameter of 8-10 cm, filled usually with ragù (meat sauce), but also with tomato sauce, mozzarella, peas, and other things. On the outside they are simply breadcrumbs.unfortunately CY and I could only take one slice and a bit of the arancini as it was a little hard to eat something so hot in already scorching 36 degree heat - but the lunch was generously treated by Domi and only wanted us to taste the delicious local specialties , but bit by bit we ate as muhc as we could before the itis took over!

and like many European beaches, Domi insisted on taking a five minute video of this gorgeous girl taking a cool down in the local doccia . even CY thought she had a great body - and she did! those italians... so dirty - but so true haha!the umbrella was my only refuge from the cancer-inducing sun. Yes I have become that age already - omg I have become my mother.
After many hours on Bagnara's beach, we were about to head as the heat was starting to get too intense for even the three of us by midday. We headed up to the local Torre (tower) and took in more sites of the city and and the amazing views. After Bagnara - we headed back to the countryside in Sant Efumia where we saw many more of hte cougini as well as nonno and nonna (grandpa and grandma) - you couldn't have gotten anymore home-movie like than this! My goodness they were some of the cutest Italian grandparents I have ever come across.
Nonna's impressive giardino.

the blue table actually reminded me that they were teaching us a card game - darn it I forgot the name already but CY and I were getting our asses kicked by the little ones and the grandparents.

head of the clan. Domenico tried to get me to call him "padrino" (i think) haha.
Afterwards, we went to pick up Valentina from Palmi and then headed back up into the Gambarie to have another GREAT italian dinner. Domi's mom also knows how to impress. Seriously - I think all southern-italian women know how to cook very well - no wonder all of the men look so well fed ;P

mmm - eggplant.after stuffing ourselves with dinner - Rocco insisted we try dipping the fruit into wine and then eating it. like instant sangria haha.

After the dinner, we chilled out again in front of the TV to another movie and remember passing out about half -way (as usual haha).

Now I can't remember what we did the next day (i'm sure I got the order of the pictures wrong) but there was lots of chillin as I would go for a run every morning, and then hit the italian lessons that I printed for myself. After going through the first tutorial and referencing off of my french I was able to form broken sentences in Italian.

Later that evening, we all got ready for a dinner back at the country-side as Francesca's family was in town (from Venezia/Treviso) thus the entire family was here (I think).

stop on the way down form the mountain to get so shots at dusk.

domenico's zio owned a bakery that basically supplied the small city with it's baked goods - it was a hardcore setup connected to the house - beside it was the accounting office of his parents. talk about minimal comute - you literally roll out of bed and at work!

Giuseppe (pico) was firing some BB shots at a target posted on a tree and insisted CY and I try it out. His uncle was giving us lessons on how to properly fire the weapon - haha that's right mom. Sign me up for the next mafia!
I sorta hit the black parts.
Rocco and Pina.Now for me - THIS was the MOST memorable experience. It was a little dream of mine to experience an outdoor Italian dinner with an italian family. I don't know why - maybe blame all of that media (like the McCain commercials) but I also imagined it to be at a long table with loud Italian conversations going on and food being passed everywhere. Thanks Domi for unintentionally fulfilling this little dream of mine! An experience I could never forget.
I love how the Italians embrace the bbq stylz of cookin.

lots of fresh food to go around. there's nonno at the head of the table (of course)Rita's and Mario's padre, and this was one funny dude. The whole time he insisted on communicating with me / in Italian of course, which I loved but had trouble following along unless he used super simple words and talked really slow. I think he embarassed the hell out of Rita - which was even more fun!
they of course broke out the gelatini. bite-sized gelato in a rainbow of flavours.
The night ended too well by trying to take in the whole experience.

After many hours we headed back to the house and off to bed. I was usually last to go as I would stay up readin up on more Italian until I got tired and dragged myself back up into the attic.
We learn that there was a special festival going on in Gambarie, as they were also unveiling the opening of a renovated center square with a complete redone waterfall/fountain art piece.
at the break of the day, Domi took us to the local Dam which was about a 30-40 minute drive. I think he mentioned it was the largest dam in southern italy? (blast my horrid memory!)
We then drove a little further and hit one of the well known hiking trails in the area to a cascate (waterfall). Now this was my kind of vacation! plenty of nature, sun and activity! CY and I were all about it! Valentina not so much when it got too naturey...

domi figuring out the path.
trail markers.
weird pea/seed looking things from the trees.

gorgrous day for a hike - I swear there was yet to be a day without sunshine.

mountain and valley views. A little after this, Valentina was gettin a little tired and irritate and insisted they head back. So Domi accompanied her back while CY and I were destined to see the waterfall.water fall with 10x zoom! I think it would have taken another 2 hours to wind down the perilous mountain to get to it. yes it was a little anti-climatic.

some boulders at the edge of the cliff for some pristine yoga shots. look at that skinny asian!
hike back to tree lined trails.
wild cows?! nope, there was a farm nearby.. on the mountain! Omg is right CY!some more prestine yoga ops in the creeks. good thing CY well asian-experienced with the camera.

when we were back in Gambarie, we headed back into the ski town and took the chair lift (albeit the slow sloooow chair lift - but we made last chair!) to take in more breathless mountain views. Yes Domi did know how to spoil his guests haha.
After a full day of activities, we headed to the local grocer shop to pic up come sandwiches and also some gifts for our friends and family back at home. We brought back some Calabrian specialties.

via..gro? perperoncino - one of my favourite words.all the produce in here looked so good... but was getting pricey.. I think I spent about 75 euros here and my baggage was already full enough!

After lunch, Domi and Valentina took a little siesta while CY and I headed out to check out the new centre square and fountain and decided to people watch at a bench in the middle of the place. All eyes were on us.. what are those asians doing!? haha. man i thikn we sat there for like 1.5 hours.

oohh.. the fancy new fountain.

another amazing cena prepared by pina. Oh those egg thingys.. damn they were good. this time it was local beefsteak and sausages.Our last days in Calabria, I remember taking these shots as Sunday was a big market day as all the vendors (more so than usual) come out to sell fresh produce and almost any simple good imaginable. darn I whould ahve boughten some of those italian football jerseys... but couldn't bargain the guy down. at least CY got a good deal on some nice lookin' sunglasses!
my favourite "tree" in the middle of a field on teh drive between Gambarie and Sant Eufemia.

back at Sant Eufemia with our luggage. this was a cool shot when the household was getting a fresh delivery of firewood. now you don't see that everyday!

The next day we went to Valentina's city of Palmi to check out the local beach. One last time to take in the prestine blue waters and the Italian seaside before the fantasy was over.

haha this is what we all look like after doing a whole lotta nothing for many hours. the heat was taking its toll on us canadians.
parents were very cute and treated us to lunch... yes Italians are super generous - we tried to do the asian sneakiness of paying for the bill but they are too fast - yes I let my people down.

Last day and last meal with the family out in the sunny backyard of the Rositano house. Domi's sister's friend was also visiting from Treviso (Christina) and her vacation was just beginning as ours was ending.

Haha I remember one time, we went to grab a granita/cafe and one of the local 'bar' (or cafe) and CY and I met some people who we learned was a dude that was head of the mafia or something a rather... I just remember gettin really excited and we were both like damn which we had our camera... then again maybe not.also went to see a very famous landmark where Giuseppe Garibaldi, landed here with 3,000 volunteers in his march towards Rome, was defeated and captured in the Battle of Aspromonte. from wiki: Garibaldi is considered an Italian national hero as he personally led many of the military campaigns that brought about the formation of a unified Italy. He has been dubbed the "Hero of the Two Worlds" in tribute to his military expeditions in South America and Europe.

the entire Rositano family came with us to Reggio Calabria and we sat together and had one last Granita with them. After spending ten intimate days with Domi's family, they really opened up their arms to us and it's an experience I WILL NEVER forget. It has been engrained into my brain with fantastic memories and experiences I know I will find myself back in Calabria hopefully in the near future. Rocco, Pina, Domi, Sissi and the rest of the family really reminded me of the similarities between their family and my own and it was definitely something that was much needed after being away from home for 8 months. GRAZIE MILLE Domi e Famiglia Rositano - Ching-Yin and I cannot express our gratitude to you all with this amazing experience

right before taking us back into town, Domenico takes us for a tour around the city/town of Sant Eufemia and runs into an old school friend and catches up for a little bit.
After some goodbyes to Sissi, Rocco, Pina and Christina, Domi escorts us to the airport. When we arrive, we learn that the plane was an hour late getting here from Milan... no problem.. I palnned for up to a 2 hour delay to catch our connection to Amsterdam in Milan... that is until the delay was almost three hours delayed...

here is CY, not impressed with the tardiness of Italian transportation (haha what they are famous for too!) We both wish we got flight insurance (I thought my travel insurance covered this but when I called.. nope)...
nevertheless the plane makes it AND in my mind kept calculating over and over but the times were just too pressed and we would have missed our connection for sure... it would have been expensive to fly back to amsterdam if we missed it - I remember that day CY messaged Dennis for me to tell work I wasn't going to make it in for work the next day.
BUT..... LUCKILY our connection was ALSO 1.5 hours - 2 hours DELAYED (i think the flight actually left at 23:30)... omg I remember thinking "there is a god!" man were we lucky.
CY impressed that the stars were in our favour. haha I remember how we devised a plan after getting off the bus that transported us to the terminal. CY was going to go the agent with a sob story if need be to allow us to check in VERY LATE (usually it's a 45 min cut off) while I elbow my way to get our checked luggage. I remember every minute felt like an hour as it took them sooooooo long to get our luggage out (I think it was actually 15 minutes.. which was time we didn't really have). I remember almost hittin some little girl in teh head when I finally spotted CY suitcase. Once I was out the doors into the main hallways.. CY was waiting right around the corner going "HURRY UP!!!! I found someone to let us check in late but we have to hurry ... so just imagine TWO Asian Canadians SPRINTING down the hallways with our rolleys in the airport as Italians were jumping out of the way to let us through. Thank goodness the super nice (and cute) italian counterperson got us through despite us checking in an hour after the cutoff time. Oh mio Dio.We make it on our Transavia flight!! And it was an odd sensation to hear Dutch again.. right there and then was when it hit me that our little Italian adventure was over.

Here I post CY's note, a summary of our adventures that she put up on Facebook;

"Calabria - An alphabetical guide in chronological order

8:27am Thursday, Aug 30, 2007

*Much thanks to Carlson, who let me tag along on his invitation from Domenico. And of course, much gratitude to Domenico's family for taking such good care of their Canadian visitors. It was far and beyond anything I could have expected*

Vacation– (n) A period of time in which one does nothing whatsoever.

Reinforcements – (n) Restocking of supplies which almost made it into the luggage.
Deodorant: 4 Euros, sunscreen: 14 Euros.

Hot – (adj) All-enveloping oven of warmth; standard unit of Calabrian temperature. Ie: it is hot as hell; it is unbelievably hot; I think the hot has fried my brain. Accounts for siesta

Siesta – (n) Mandatory 20 minute nap after lunch

O Mio Dio – (adj) The most succinct description of Calabria. Usually enunciated in slow, awed tone. Applies to all parts of the following: the food, the weather, the salt content of the surrounding seas. Particularly applicable to: summer tomatoes.

Summer tomatoes – (n) tomatoes with zing, attributed by locals to natural sunlight exposure.
They taste so damn good, yes yes.

Internet – (n) notable only when used in question: Dove posse usare l’internet?

Niente – (n) Ni-en-teh Nothing. Usually indicated and accompanied by hand splaying motion in front of chest area, usually with a downward turned palm. Interchangeable with non capito.

Non Capito – (v) Expression of non-understanding. Sufficient indication with blank stare.

Lentemente – (adj) Slow; Slower. As in Ching-Yin, you speak English too fast. Lentemente, please. Usually accompanied by downward motioning of hand. Also applicable to walking pace.

Cantonese – (n) non native dialect of Calabria. Allows for discussion of otherwise sensitive topics, such as How do we pay?; Is this normal?; If she feeds me anymore, I am going to die

Rapido – Opposite of lentemente. Applicable to eating pace

Perverse – (n) Pervert. Ie: Domi spent a whole day documenting the activities of a gorgeous topless sunbather. Peverse!

Putana – (n) Bitch

Bastardo – (n) Bastard. Female form: Bastarda

Travel Insurance – (n) Necessary piece of travel package when traversing through Italy. Mitigates missed flight connections caused by flight delays. Much more civilised than begging at a check-in counter.

Peeling – (v) The effect of not waiting long enough after sunscreen application to hit the water. General duration: 1 week, followed by enormous sense of relief. Ie: Thank god i'm done peeling!"

by the time we landed back at Schipol it was about 1:30 am and when back in the city it was 2ish... the trains were only running one an hour so CY went baller stylz and got a taxi back to the centre. her treat! man wa sI spoiled.. I was def going to wait for a train.

THANKS CY! wouldn't have had as much fun without a fellow Canuk to balance it out!

Ciao a Tutti!

The big board at Prins Hendrikkade and Stationsplein

2008-03-03T00:58:00.005-07:00

click for bigger size.

Now that I have more time to post random stuff - this was a GIANT board over the renovations over at central station against the wall of one of the canals right buy the bus stop I used to take (the god ol' 22 or 48 to Schloterdijk) and I thought it was one of the most interesting photographs capturing so many different (sort of) kinds of people and expressions. haha. they all have that "what is he taking a picture of" look that I too often get.

It's odd when you're intent on looking for something specific and happens to be there. Method. It's sad but this is stuff I get excited about now.

2008-03-03T00:15:00.006-07:00

Method. All - natural body and home biodegradable products in sweet looking recycled packaging that will make you want to re-use it! check it out - they even have it at Shoppers.

"Sustainable is Good" is a ... hmm. good website!

2008-03-02T22:21:00.010-07:00

Check it out!

So today I went to make a trip to Shoppers Drug Mart at Broadway and Commercial to stock up on toiletries but this time the trip was a little different. After having being under the Jan's and Becky's roof and operatin under lulu's be more aware of what you are using and throwing away daily routines - I have become MUCH more aware of what I am buying in terms of products.

This time I found myself MORE so 1) looking for organic, natural products 2) in packaging that was attractive enough for me to want to re-use it and made out of recycled PET - and preferably biodegradable 3) and not rediculously premiumly priced (hey at the "Everything for a Dollar store" they had 2-ply toilet paper made from recycled, biodegrable paper, so it doesn't always have to break the bank).

This is sort of aligning of what I just decided to be a three month goal to completely phase out the plastic grocery and shopping bag. after watchin a documentary on cbc the other day about our friend the plastic bag and the devastating effects it has on the environment - and also noting in Amsterdam I was already livin without taking plastic bags at the grocer (I absolute hate the cupboard jammed with hundreds of bags) - I am convinced life can be lived easily without them just buy changing certain habits. now to figure out how to get fresh produce into something that's sustainable, re-usable and not so flimsy...

here's an interestin article I stumbled upon the other day from the site above:

January 24, 2008

Whole Foods Market to Eliminate Plastic Bags by Earth Day

Whole Foods Market announced this week it plans on eliminating all plastic grocery bags from its US, UK and Canadian stores with the goal to be plastic bag free by April 22, 2008 (Earth Day).

The leading natural and organic foods supermarket chain has been conducting tests eliminating plastic bags in its San Francisco, Austin and Toronto markets. The tests were well received by customers and paved the way for their chain wide plan to remove plastic shopping bags from their stores.

In order to help facilitate the plan the company is aggressively pushing reusable bags including their new "Better Bag" The Better Bag is made from 80% rPET fabric and is designed to be shopper friendly by being larger and easier to use than other reusable bags.

Whole Foods is the first US supermarket chain to commit to completely eliminating disposable plastic grocery bags. The company estimates the impact of its plan will be felt immediately keeping 100 million bags out of landfills in 2008 alone.

New place, new job, new life!

2008-03-02T02:06:00.007-07:00

So I did it... I actually reached my "5 year plan to move to vancouver" goal, working for a company I fully support (and vice versa), found a great gorgeous little place to live near work, yet in a cool little neighbourhood (Commerical Dr) and so far with some awesome roomies that share very similar views as moi - I mean these people take it further by eating as much organic as they can (but aren't vegetarians), are into almost every imaginable outdoor activity (that's hot), and is as much into recycling / re-using etc as I am (and more so - composting? sweet!) and I can totally joke around and pull the race card on these people and they would only take it with a grain of salt - man I could be their third wheel for the next few months. Today when I went to safeway though, I came back with 8 plastic grocery bags - they must hate me now... haha jk!

what else did I discover? the little "public transit" link on google maps! HOMG is right CY.

I found it it takes 22 minutes to WALK to work (about 2k), or jog... or run - let alone if I take public transit (17 minutes) or bike (tbd) - sweet MOTHER- maybe I can live without a car (for now) - just have to get up to those mountains somehow... that's what phil is for (wahoo!).

Lots of big and good changes!!

2008-02-19T17:29:00.004-07:00

Last night I was "surprised" that there was a cousins get together! It was nice as a going away and also to see the new beautiful baby boy that belongs to my cousin clem before my move to vancouver.
The party was lots of fun and it's crazy how many big changes are occurring such as new babies, new engagements, new jobs, new boyfriends, and new homes!

I'm sure next time we get together many things will be different again and Kalan and Kyan will be much much bigger! who knows... maybe there will be another baby! not mine hopefully though...

Schilla, Calabria, Italia (Augusto 2007) Part Uno

2008-01-30T23:37:00.001-07:00

Well it's about time I blogged about my travels to Calabria - I hope I didn't so my best Italian buddy Domenico disrespect by not being able to do it until now, but I will admit that the trip took a hell of ALOT of pitures and videos and the thought of attacking was too daunting until I came back home... so here goes -

I met Domenico back in Venezia, as he was the one that graciously picked Ana-Maria, Camilo and I up from teh airport in Treviso and drove us from and to the airport. He was also our personal guide to show us the best of Treviso, Venezia and for that I felt and still feel deeply indebted to my main Italian Man. With an open invitation to visit his home in the south of Italy I immediately started to look into booking my flights to a region that is not commonly accessed by tourists. After figuring out one of the most complicated routes using skyscanner.net (a god-send website!) I was able to book an amsterdam - lamezia, Reggio Calabria - amsterdam return for about 350 EUR. By far the most I have spent on airfare for a European trip, but well worth it! What's even funnier is that I will take FOUR different airplanes to and from Amsterdam. After telling some of my best AMS people that I will be making a trip out there, my good friend Ching-Yin booked a flight to come four days after me as her chosen sunny summer destination of the year.

Calabria, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian peninsula. It is bounded to the north by the region of Basilicata, to the south-west by the region of Sicily, to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the Ionian Sea (wikipedia, 2008). The region is a beautiful coastal paradise where many non-italiani tourisiti have yet to visit but is where many italians do flock down to on their own vacations. The little "inner" rivalry between northern and the southern italians exist as the accent, and dialiects differ quite dramatically (well for them at least) and that the south is well known for their food, sunny spots, and warm family-like welcoming atmosphere, but don't expect to find a huge amount of English speakers here as it comes no where near as close as you'll find in the northern , and what is deemed, the "richer" regions of italy.

More on the languages (from wiki):

Although the official national language of Calabria has been Standard Italian since unification (1861), as a consequence of its deep and colourful history, Calabrian dialects have developed that have been spoken in the region for centuries. The various dialects are divided into two different language groups. In the northern one-third of the region, the Calabrian dialects are considered a dialect of the Neapolitan language called Northern Calabrian. In the southern two-thirds of the region, the Calabrian dialects are considered part of the Sicilian language and are grouped as Southern Calabro.

Other historical languages have left an imprint on the region. In isolated pockets, as well as some quarters of Reggio Calabria (historical stronghold of the Greek language in Italy), a hybrid language that dates back to the 9th century, called Griko, is spoken. A variety of Franco-Provençal can also be found in certain communities and French has had an influence on many Calabrian words and phrases. In several villages, the Arbëresh dialect of the Albanian language has been spoken since a wave of refugees settled there in the 15th century. In addition, since Calabria (as well as other parts of southern Italy and Sicily) were once ruled by the Spanish, some Calabrian dialects clearly exhibit Spanish influences.

Sun sets, while waiting for our gate to Stansted at Schipol airport.

So my adventures begin flying form Amsterdam to Stansted at 9pm and overnighting it at the airport and taking a 5:55 am flight down to Lamezia Terme (below) - a city that is about an hour away from Reggio Calabria, where I was suppose to head. It was upon recommendation by Domenico to fly to Lamezia because Ryan Air flies there outside of Stansted - so I took his advice.
My way to Stansted was via Easyjet, and then landing there after about a 45 minute delay, I was planing to scope out a place to sleep early and wake - up at about 3am to check-in to my flight. Instead I stayed up and studied Italian using the free tutorials at www.ielanguages.com (highly recommend!) until about 4am. Also because all the good spots to sleep in were already taken up by people, I remember reading on a website that it was very common for people to overnight it there, but that it would be near freezing because they always turn off the heaters in the place (i remember the painfulness of overnighting it at Geneva). By the time I was ready to check in, I thought I would have been one of the first.. btu turning the corner at the Ryan Air check in desks, it was FILLED with people. Man, how do these people get here and wake up so early?! As there was about 11 desk, and about 11 flights, then there was only ONE check in desk for each flight - so of course it took forever. Finally gettin my bags in - head down, board the plane and after sitting on the runway knowing that we were about to take off - they announce delays to the flight because someone that checked in but didn't show up at the gate had to have had their bags removed; which in turn made us lose our take off point; which in turn cause a 1.5 hour dealy in the take off. All this time I tried to keep Domi up to date. on happenings through text messaging. After about two hours of delays, I finally made it! Picked up my bag, headed into the very small meeting area where Domenico and his girlfriend Valentina picked me up. From there we headead out into the searing 30-some degree heat into his pimpin Mercedes and gased it to his beach house in Scilla, a small, but well known by the Italians, beach town in the Calabria region.

(Scilla is a town in Calabria, Italy, administratively part of the Province of Reggio Calabria. It is the traditional site of the sea monster Scylla of Greek mythology.

Twenty-two kilometers from the city of Reggio Calabria, Scilla lies in front of the strait of Messina, and it is composed by two sides: the downtown, where the town offices and the patronal saint residence have place, and Marina di Scilla, the beach side, populated by tourists and thus heavily characterized by hotels and restaurants. Since its beach is the first place north of Reggio Calabria where the waters are not cooled down by the strait draughts, Scilla is very frequented during the summer period, including by people from neighbourhing towns and cities.

The beach is dominated by the Ruffo Castle, a fortress wished by the Dukes of Calabria.)

Domi ended up coasting along the scenic route, and what a route it was! The roads would pass through valleys and hills rowed with olive trees and wind about the mountain sides beside the shores of the gorgeous and turquoise Tyrrhenian Sea.

We soon arrived at his beachfront appartment that they were renting and I met his cousin Rita, and again his sister Sissi (may have spelled that wrong) and then off to the beach we ran! It was luckily I arrived the day I arrived (about July 27th or 28th) as I was able to enjoy the beach house for four nights and five days until we had to move it up to his house in teh country-side (and later to the mountains).

The video above shows the drive into town. the streets are so Narrow in Schilla that many times when cars are passing each other, one has to stop and move to the side (by where the cars are parked so the other one can pass... who has right of way? I have no idea.

The next few days were filled with sunny sunny days on the beach, volleyball with his older cousin giuseppe and his friends on occasion and lots and lots of good eatin' (how can you go wrong wiht hte food in italy?!)

Valentina just finished her accounting studies and has a job all lined up in Florence with KPMG. Rita is studying medicine at a University in Schilla and is a hell of a cutie especially with the language barrier between us - but her and her brother (giuseppe) who we played some v-ball with once in awhile are definiately my favourity of his cousins (which I soon learned that there are many just like us Chiense families!)

These guys were very impressive as they were able to carry around so much stuff to sell. I remember one time the word "Chino" slipped out of his mouth and Sissi got mad at teh guy. Of course I knew who he was referring to, not hard, but it was nice of her to defend. Domi's sister is a law student and I believe may be articling at this point if I remember.
These two would be on a rollercoaster of emotions, but I soon learn that it must be normal Italian behaviour.
I sorta find it arousing / overbearing with the Italian scolding but man was Valentina excellent at it! Kept that misbehavin' Domi in line I say. (The above was basically for me and translated as "why the hell are you taking pictures all the f'n time?!!") - perke sono Cinese!
Lido was our main beach where we hung out most of the time. You usually had to rend out an umbrella spot (with two loungers) for the day and for front row sea view, it was about 9 EURs or so which wasn't bad.Should see how these guys get ready.. man it is one of the funniest videos - but also very italian I guess.

Here's Domi's sister and her friend Sergio (although nobody knew what was going on with them - whether they were just friends, friends with benefits or more than that.)So the agenda for the next four days: wake up, cafe (domi would have a chocolate filled cornetto (croissant)), beach with newspaper, lie in the sun (for me in the shade on the most part), then a small, dip, sun to dry off, nap...lunch prepared by Sissi, (very good lunch at that!), beach, nap, beach, maybe some volleyball with his cougini Giuseppe, maybe a cafe or granita, some beach until dinner time, some kind of night time activity and then off to bed (man what a life!)On the second night, Domi's parents drove in from the country side and stayed at the beach house, we went out for pizza and where some of the family dynamics started to come out! Rocco was a big but warm guy and his mom Pina you can tell was a very strong woman and had definite authority in the household... I guess that would apply to many households in the world.Certain days I would try my best to learn Italian to try to communicate with his family and friends... well I tried my best.. I had to have the simple phrases down and by the fourth day I was able to form simple sentences by thinking what I had to say in French and somehoe italianizing it - i think it would have been easier if I knew Spanish.

The third day was AMAZING. Domi arranged a private boat ride with one of his friends Diego. His father was an important man in the Italian government (I think head economist - if my memory serves, but don't quote me on that one). So by about mid afternoon when the sun was still high and sizzling, Sissi, Rita, Domi and I met up with Diego at the Marina and we set off on an unforgettable a boat ride on the Tyrrhenean and Ionian seas.
We toured around the edge of Sicilia and then we went around the other side of the island to find a secluded beach (that would have taken 3 hours by car from the city of Messina, but only 20 minutes by boat).

Messina
All in all if you look at the map above, looking at the "bird"-shaped head on the left, we went around that , back towards Schilla and up towards Bagnara. The shot above was taken about 100 meters from the shore near bagnara.. sort of.. but you can see how clear the waters are. I still have a fear of something coming up to eat me when I'm in the open sea so I stayed in the boat, but Domi tried his best to persuade me to go in. But before that, when we went to the secluded part on Sicilia, there was one point where Diego anchored his boat in the middle of the water and we ended up all jumping in the sea and swimming to the beach that was about 100 meters away.

When we got there, there were some families and what was funny was that there were these kids there all slimbing up this huge hill of sand and just tumbling down it out of control. So Domi dared me to do it... and at frst I said no, but then Diego said he would go with me... so we ran up the hill (and man did that tire me out fast). after counting three... I rolled all the way down) and after spinning our of control, I found out he didn't and they all just laughed and cheered.
That's right laugh at the gullible Canadian Chinese guy. Next thing we headed form the beach and swam back to the boat. For me I thought that was quite a neat experience in itself as I don't consider myself a water person but the experience was awesome. Thanks a million Domi and Diego!!!

The house of Diego (lower left)

View of Scilla on the walk back from the Marina

By the time we docked back at the marina - we thanked Diego and said we would see him later as there was a big Fish grill planned at one of the beaches and a gathering of the local professionals and politicians (insert the "oooh fancy" here).
On the walk back, there was again the most amazing lighting and sunset and had to use the chance to get some good yoga shots on the rocks and of the town.
Local Italiano packin' up after a hard day

So after gettin' back to the beach, we headed back home as the sun peeked behind the horizon and got ready for the big fish grill. The whole family dressed up for the affair and once we were all ready we walked down the wooden side walk past all teh vendors to the other side of the beach and finally found a place where they had a long table set up. As more and more people filed in Domi introduced me to many locals and also foreign Italian people that he too met for the first time. Everyone was mingling as I just stood there, took pictures and to just take in the atmosphere. the rest of teh night was enjoying the warm night air, the outdoor kareoke and the fantastic food that was set out in front of us.

they grilled the specialty fish from the region - pesce spada or swordfish

For me, I always found it to be a dream of somesort to be in the middle of an italian meal outdoors as you would see in the movies. you know, in that large backyard, everyone speakin loudly and passing around the food... this was what it was like, but at night and on a beach. It think I am thinking of some pizza commercial though.... probably something McCain's or Delicio conjured up in my memory. Anyway, my experience here was definiately way beyond expectations. Later that night after the dinner, Domi, Valentina and I set out to Bagnara, a nearby coastal city to check out a local fashion show and to end of the night with some of the areas famous Granita that Iw as getting addicted to. The night was filled with lots of festivities and just people out and about.

The next day, it was the last day at the beach house there was not as much beach time as we had to pack up all the belongings and move stuff out to Domi's house in the countryside of St. Eufemia D'Aspromonte, where Domenico's family is from.

The movie above show's the 1.5 minute walk from doorstep of the beach house to the lounger on the beach. Man now that's location! Ciao!

We packed everything we could in his parent's SUV and by the afternoon we dropped off Valentina back at home in her city, Palmi which was about 30-40 minutes away. However, on the way, we stopped by a new building where her and her family where building a new condo comlpex and it looked like one of those complexes you would see in the movies in holleywood just the way it was laid out and the fact it was jammed right into the side of the mountain. I think it's very Italian to go a little over the top, but these guys really know how to impress!

We then dropped off Valentina and met her parents. Her appartment was quite spacious as the outside does not do the inside the balconies from the kitchen and living rooms provide visibility of the mountains and the town. Her mom and dad were super cute and extrememly welcoming - but whenever they tried to talk to me, Domi had to translate most of it (as usual). By mid-afternoon, we headed to Domi's house in the countryside of St. Eufemia D'Aspromonte. the complex was quite cute as all of his aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents lived in the same building, but difference appartments / homes. It reminded me of the complex grandma used to own in Hong Kong at Leung Fai Toi.

We went into Domi's room to unwind and to my surprise I found my bags there in his room. Plastered all over the walls were framed documents of important achievements in the family's history. The room felt more like a study than a bedroom and impressed very much if not the very least. From one of the frames had an insription that the Rositano family name has a noble history - wow I'm being hosted by "blue-blood" as what Domi would re-iterate haha - Sweet!

By about early evening, there was an important meeting at on e of the community centres/churches in town (which explains teh gathering of important people at the fish grill the night before) as they were holding a discussion where the poster (below) roughly translates as

"The Youth of the South and Europe", a meeting/debate with Riccardo Ventre (European Parliament) and Luigi Fedele (Italian Parliament)"

So almost all the families and people last night show up today and it was another gathering. It was odd to be surrounded by so many people where Domi was the only one that could speak English, but I just stood there and listened to see if I could pick up words from their conversations.
Of course during the speech, I didni't really pick up what they were talking about and after about 30 minutes, Domi had to leave and took me along as it was Valentina's mom's birthday that night and she graciously invited me to the event as well which was very nice. We went directly back to Valentina's house by 8pm or so, picked her up (she looked liked Alicia Keys that night (which she appreciated the comment)) and drove into town to a restaurant at an outside patio. There waiting was her parents, her sister carla and her sister's boyfriend. we dined over pizza and a few dishes also prepared by her mom which again all the food was perfection - man I can still taste it now!
Some of Carla's friends joined us at night and the one guy on the right they called the "inglesino" because his English was also very good and they purposely seated him beside me as he was applying to medical school in the states.

Later after dinner, said a compleanno to her mom, and the three of us just went of to a nearby park to walk around as the two of the had some important things to discuss. At teh edge of the park, you can get some amazing views of Bagnara and just sorta slumped onto a bench in the park exhausted from the days activities.The next day Ching-Yin arrived in the city at about 1600. I remembered I just napped until about the afternoon and then we were on our way to Reggio Calabria (the capital of the region) to pick her up at the airport!
I took this pic at a gas station cause I was amazed to see asians in this region (it was a tour bus (of course)) as well as a machine that dispenses adult porn.

Driving through Reggio Calabria is what I would picture Miami to be like with the Palm trees and the views of the sea and the mountains in the distant.The airport was just a little bit migger than Lamezia's. the picture abov e is basically about 50% of the airport already. Of course CY's place was late (very Italian) as she did a transfer through Milano. but she made it!

We did a wuick little stop in Schilla to help his parent's pic up some other boxes and then we were on our way back to St.Eufemia D'Aspromonte (Domenico drilled the name of his town into us - but now at least we know it very well!).Thank you Schilla ! Definitely one of my FAVOURITE places to be and I will return here again one day. coming up are posts of our adventures with CY.

a year with friends from the boat.

2007-12-25T22:29:00.001-07:00

Travel Entry 30... the last is first.

2007-12-12T21:39:00.000-07:00

A posting from my travel journal I made a month ago...

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Waking to the wind and rain tapping against the window pane behind me, I open my eyes and just lie there staring at the white ceiling above me. Staring blankly, and thinking… today, is my LAST day of four weeks (six including Spain, Portugal and Scotland) of my European adventures. The feelings are very surreal right now as the last few weeks blew by like a whirlwind - however at the same time, I was also looking forward heading to my “home” in Amsterdam and no longer have to worry about where I will be sleeping, what to eat, or what sites to see next. Nevertheless, I will miss the visits, travels and meeting with some of my oldest and newest friends in Europe.

It seems like it was just yesterday I was with Erica browsin’ the latest street fashion at Pull and Bear and basking in two hours of fado over dinner in Lisbon;
sunbathing at the beach in Barcelona with Anne listening to the monotonous drink and massage vendors blend into the spanish seaside or mingling with locals and tourists at Taller de Tapas;
trotting down Mary King’s Close and throwing back Scottish malt with my honeys Ching-Yin, Maria, Hetal and Depal;
trashin it out at a trailor park in Pisa with two Taiwanese backpackers;
cutting through Florentine beefsteak with some old Italian friends Domenico and Valentina;
Chillin’ at Clara’s hostel with Derrick, Shiu, Shawnee, Derek, Bryan and Phyllis;
practicing my Italian with Marcena and Lucia in Poppi while learning Tuscan kitchen secrets with Grazia and Mario;
havin a pint while watchin an English/South African football match in an Irish pub full of Australians in Italy and lounging at the much famed Monte Carla with Grant, Drew, Trent, Adam and Haley;
overnighting it on a train from Firenze to Nice with Ruth, Stephanie (2 Newfies),Dan and Braden (2 fellow Calgarians);
biking through the vineyards of Provence tasting some of the world’s finest wines with my bud Lou and his girl France,
immersed in conversations with the Jacquel-Blancs and climbing the rocks at Rochefort with him and his bro Antoine;
running around Genova and trekking through the seaside hills of Cinque Terre with Jennifer;
helping my best German-Italian friend Markus with his never-ending quest for girls in Rome;
chillin’ it holy stylz with Mase and Yung in Vatican city
or taking a trip to heaven at Gioliti with Adriana and
having a beer or a glass of wine with Canio, Caroline and Beppe;
winding through old city streets during nippy Prague evenings for some Thai food with Alex and Blanka and
finally, bummin’ it out with Nicky during frosty mornings over Austrian soft-boiled eggs and standing at the Viennese opera house to take in the sweet symphony of Beethoven’s Fidelio - this is so until the curtain closes on a drawn out round of applause; an applause to a life changing experience…
thank you friends.

First week back.

2007-12-07T17:37:00.001-07:00

So coming back has been interesting. Many mixed feelings. I love being around the family, especially mom, dad, caren, steve, cuzs and aunts and uncles and it was nice to see my buddies this week, over sushi, beer and a disappointing hockey game. And what's best.. yup you probably guessed - Kyan - my now 15 and a half month old nephew - I swear he is one of the smartest babies out there - yes I might be biased but that is beside the point.

But at the same time - not sure if it's culture shock or my refusal to re-integrate but it feels like I don't belong here.. or at least in my current situtation as it is. Then again it is only the first week and with no car, no cell phone, and living under the parents roof (I love them to death, don't get me wrong) but it feels like I have changed in so many ways and Sandy had it right with what she said on facebook:

"Oh yeah - the reverse culture shock definitely packs a punch, more than people can understand. Actually, that's one of the worst parts - when it seems like no body really understands how it was like to live abroad, and that they don't really care. "

But then there's hope as she follows:

"...but you know, after awhile when you get used to things, then it feels really good to have your family nearby and you start appreciating how comfortable it is, more than you did before. "

But it's just so hard - I forgot how helpless you can feel without a car in this city which is making it hard for me to even go to yoga or commit to teach. Even going to the grocery store has been a daunting task with the -15 degree weather making it almost impossible to bike there (oh I miss biking in Ams!). and the gym... god my old one is so hard to get to without a car... by public transport you would require to go from the northwest to downtown and then take another bus back to the northwest (15 minute by car, but [probably a good hour by public transport). Shit I need a gym.

On monday, when I showed up to work my first shift I lulu, once I entered the mall the oddest but overwhelming feelings overcame me. I think it was the fact of being back into a mall, a mall that basically encompasses everything that is North American: big, sterile and everything indoors. So when my dad dropped me off for work an hour early - I just sat at one of the benches for 45 minutes, staring at people come and go and basically thinking about how much I missed the European lifestyle, the uniqueness of each country. And it's odd to walk around and suddenly know what complete strangers are talking about, no more dutch, french, italian, spanish conversations going on around me.

But now that it's Friday, i did my first shift back at lulu south, my old store I used to work with and saw many old faces - it's like nothings changed.. but I forgot how much fun work was, and how much fun luluSC was.

... it's an odd time based on my odd feelings - as it still feels like everything is still up in the air, but then again it is only my first week back - so we'll see.

Back to the great North! Thanks Europe!

2007-11-29T17:21:00.000-07:00

God damn... tonight I had my drinks at Werck, a trendy little club and saw many faces I met and the friends I have made in the past year... all from different aspects of my life. Friends from the boat, friends from work, friends from aiesec, friends from travelling and just friends met through other friends.

I've been telling people I'm going back to a place where the high is - 9 degrees celcius. I lied... it's -19 for saturday morning. It's interesting.. this screen shot has been what I have been using the past year to keep me updated on the places I was going... oh Europe... I'm really going to miss you...

No more Evil Tower!

2007-11-15T00:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my last day of work at ABN AMRO and I couldn't stop smiling, yet I was sorta sad to leave at the same time. After writing a 40 page turnover document, I think the new intern is adequately prepared. Here was some of an email that highlights my experience at the Oval tower to the family of interns that thankfully kept it real for me:

Here are ten personal tips about miscellaneous things while working at OT:

1) if you're bored, you can go to the spot on the 5th floor between GPM and
Legal (where I sat with three empty computers) and you can do great people
watching from there - sometimes you can see AJAX practising from afar.

2) if you're grossed out by the post afternoon toilets, I recommend the
handicap toilet or the toilets by the exit B stairs on the 12TH floor for
untouched ones - they are great and are still cleaned everyday! If the
cleaning lady gives you the evil eye or is cleaning the washrooms, then the
13th or 24th floors are excellent alternatives.

3) the toilets are a great place to sleep if you're hungover or too tired -
just be sure to turn on your computer, throw some printed emails and
project reports on your desk and pull out your chair and turn it 30 degrees
clockwise to make it look like you're at a meeting.

4) water on the 5th floor is terrible to drink, it always made my throat
scratchy.

5) if you want to save money on lunch like me and don't want to risk your
health on the Friday afternoon "fish and chips" - i do highly recommend the
bread,egg,salad combination to get all your essential vitamins (i
personally liked to remove the yolk of eggs).

6) If you want a snack and have no money on your chip and you have an
overdraft on your bankaccount because the bank forgot to pay you again -
the cookies/bread sticks in the cookie jar or the bowl beside the soup at
the place on ground floor is a nice alternative (but make it look like you
were interested in buying something ...and then last minute take a HANDFUL
and muffle a "dankye well" or "bedankt" while your at it - works like a
charm!). That or just get Dennis to "spot" you ... he has lots of money
hee hee.

7) If you're a non-dutch speaker in a department full of dutch speakers -
be sure to give a boastful laugh when everyone else is laughing and then
avoid the immediate eye contact with colleagues that imply "does he/she
even know what we are laughing about?" of course I do... maybe.

8) Albert Heijn To Go has great cheap breakfast - half a litre of yogurt
for 1 EUR. vs. 300 mls downstairs for 2.75 EUR

9) If you have surfed the internet too long, or INSITE is not returning
that query when you pull costs and aum at the same time and it's causing
blurry vision when you look 2 metres in front of you, refer to point number
1.

10) this one's for sustainability - if you tend to take waters from the
machine, save the plastic cups and bring them home for drink ragers! or
make castles out of them and pretend you're the big man.

there you go!

oh one more:

11) If you fall asleep at a meeting with four other people, don't fight it,
just give in until one of your colleagues gives you a swift kick under the
table... that should get the adrenaline rushin!!

I will still be here in the Netherlands until next Friday and in the
meantime I will do a bit of.... well tbd.

...

2007-11-12T15:58:00.000-07:00

So this morning as I got ready for work, I inadvertently slipped my camera into the pocket of my trousers. It's sad really...

Yes almost one month since I last posted...

2007-11-06T04:36:00.000-07:00

So instead of blogging every chance that I get - I have been keeping a journal of my daily adventures on the Mac and will post very soon!

Now headin out to do more site seein in Prague!

Ciao!

2007-10-10T01:18:00.000-06:00

The next three weeks I'll be in Italia: Pisa, Firenze, Poppi and Roma.
Then off to Prague and Austria then back home! I'll keep you posted.
Ciao!

A canal tour on Ronald's private boat.

2007-10-07T16:43:00.000-06:00

One of Ching-Yin's former roommates friends recently moved to Amsterdam for work and was able to privately book his company's boat. What was very nice was that Ronald invited us all out to the boat having only met us once at a Chinese dinner the week before! (mmm... taste of culture)... what is sort of odd but true is that you usually don't see the many visible minorities driving these boats as I guess the majority of the boats are owned by companies or wealthy locals... so at certain times I felt like a tourist attraction myself.. well especially the part where Ronal pulled an Austin Powers and blocked the whole canal while making a turn and having everyone on Harlemmerstraat see and with two canal boats waiting for us.... but that was all good as well! pics from that day follow...

Ronald picks me and CY up at Waterlooplein.
Meeting up with EC and C at Spui or Single more by Spui/Singel.
We found them!

just like driving a car.

Officially 3 months behind... shit!

2007-10-07T16:42:00.000-06:00

yup that's right... man at least my facebooking is up-to-date.. well sort of.

Tokidoki

2007-10-05T18:38:00.000-06:00

My new favourite brand is this Tokidoki! But apparently people back home already know about this Japanese-influenced italian designer. Saw some of their stuff in Barcelona and it's really neat! (and expensive).

Yoga... in Catalan!... finally a guided class

2007-10-04T15:51:00.000-06:00

Today went with Anne to do a guided class in Barcelona... I would say my first in the last four months and it was amazing. Was nice to be in a heated room and practice with others. highly recommend the Yoga Dinamico Mandiram studio just at the Catalunya station.

Finally all of Pamplona has been posted!

2007-10-03T18:09:00.000-06:00

Now I have calabria next... shit that's ten days worth.. and then berlin, paris, lisbon, barcelona, edinburgh, more italy later, prague and vienna... not to mentione the other things that go on in amsterdam...

aiya.

Spain Day 3: Markets, Fire Bull, Pobre de Mi, candle lighting and fireworks!

2007-10-03T17:32:00.000-06:00

Last Day and night in Pamplona and it has been one crazy ride... I think after partying all night and watching the bull fight.. we crashed at about 9am and didn't wake up until 6pm... so I missed the lunch.. the largest meal in Spain and Maria said her mom was wondering if I was okay... oh I just can't keep up! but still had amazing food when I woke up nevertheless!

Another scorcher of a day outside...

Nice to know under the wikitravel guide.. under the "sleep" section.. they recommend many people sleep in the parks or wherever there is space.. so true...

We decided to check out the stalls and until night and then attend the various festivals on the last day of San Fermin!

Various shops where you can find lots of hand crafts and other soveneirs for the festival.

Afterwards to went to the city hall square and waited for the "bull of fire"... more so comething for the kids.. but still impressive nevertheless.

Later ran into Vani and got to have one more shot with her before leaving!At midnight on the 14 th July the fiesta formally closes with the ceremony called the "Pobre de Mí." This takes place in front of the Town Hall, where the fiesta was opened 8½ days earlier.

The video below is of the major that closes the ceremonies and then people start singing the "Pobre de Mi" song.

Very nice tradition but still with an amazing amount of people and children out at that time... you actually have some people crying beacause it is an event that people build up for the whole year. Other than this time.. the city of Pamplona is very very quiet.

In the last years a new fad has come into fashion - so new that there is no official name yet for this rite - whereby the people, after having sung their sad farewell to the Fiesta, head for the church of San Lorenzo, where the statue of the Saint is kept, and they deposit their necktie and candles on the gates of the old church.

Lastly after picking up some boccatas and a large bottle of san miguel... Maria and Naria and I go to the park to watch the last fireworks f the festival.
By about 12:30 I headed back home to pack and crash for my early bus where as Maria was going to party all night... I wish I did because she got to see the "villavesa" which is when there are now no more bulls to run and people like to run in front of the first bus leaving the city or some guy goes on his bike and people run away from this one cyclist. read about it here. Haha.. too funny.After another 4.5 hour bus ride back to Madrid.. it was too hot to go anywhere (44 degrees) outside and plus it was siesta time when I got in so everything was closed and so I just headed to the airport and I ran into Lena and Juan... um... enjoying each other one last time before saying goodbye!.. we were on the same flight back to Amsterdam... craazy!
Thank Maria!!! I had an unforgettable and exhausting time in Pamplona and will definately return one day to do it right form the beginning.

Shop in the US! (well for Canadian's at least)

2007-09-21T08:21:00.000-06:00

TORONTO: Canada's dollar traded equal to the US currency for the first time in three decades, capping a five-year run on the back of booming demand for the nation's commodities.

The Canadian dollar rose 1.0002 US dollar, before retreating to 99.81 US cents in New York. It has soared 62 per cent from a record low of 61.76 US cents in 2002.

The US dollar fell as low as 99.98 Canadian cents today. The Canadian currency last closed above one US dollar on November 25, 1976, when Pierre Trudeau was Canada's prime minister.

The move to parity marks a milestone for a currency dubbed the loonie for the bird that adorns the nation's one-dollar coin. Parity also symbolizes Canada's emerging clout in a world economy increasingly short of the energy, grains and metals the country produces.

Canada, the world's eighth-biggest economy, has benefited from rising demand for copper, gold, wheat and oil from neighbouring US and emerging economies such as India and China.

The country is the world's largest producer of uranium, the second-biggest exporter of natural gas, and sits on the largest pool of oil reserves outside the Middle East.

Canada is also the world's second-largest exporter of wheat, which rose to a record this month.

- The Economic Times, Sept 21, 2007

if only it was one week later

2007-09-20T01:18:00.000-06:00

well yesterday it finally happened. my bike was stolen as when I returned to central station from work I found my chains all cut up! well it was a given as teh chains were not that good and I kept parking the brightest coloured bike at central station for 10 months... ah if they only did it like a few 8 days later i would have been fine with it. bastards.

Oh yes... some REAL food!!1

2007-09-16T10:10:00.000-06:00

Holy gawd.. it smells like home...and it smells GOOD. and this time I am taking note of what my dad is doing... hee hee... but I'm probably going to forget.. too many steps.

A quarter of a century...

2007-09-14T17:31:00.000-06:00

That is how old I turn today (or yesterday by the time I post)...

bday started at 12 am where my friends "tricked" me to come back to the boat and at 12am they got toether... sang the good ol b-day song and lit up a very nice cake!!! Dicked around after that like we usually do (see video below)

Got home by about 1:30am... talked to various people on skype and was off to bed and then to work in the morning.

And on the day of my birthday, I was suppose to bring in treats and cakes for everyone in teh office.. but since I was so late the night before I decided to keep quiet hee hee... ops. way to go with tradition carlson. And then by 8pm my parents were arriving on a confirmed flight from london to here!

All day at work like what my wise friend Chris says (you're not suppose to work on your birthday - so ok... I took his advice). just facebooked and thanked everyone for their wishes the whole day! Thanks people!

Spain Day 2: Bull fights and the party all night

2007-09-11T12:08:00.000-06:00

So the normal Spanish schedule during the party season/weekends is to literally party all night and then sleep in the morning and early afternoon - then wake up early afternoon, have lunch (the largest meal of the day.. it's like an early dinner), go out party, have dinner at 10-11pm which is usually a small snack a boccata or something, and then party all night.

Every morning the newspaper of Navarra has extensive coverage of the bull running of the previous day and the pictures are quick graphic but entertaining nevertheless!

So today the schedule is to try to get some last minute tickets for the bull fight, party with the penas all night and then watch the bull running of the next day at 8am.

the caption above is a lie.. this was actually like at about 4:30 pm so just the normal hot temperatures in pamplona...I thought it was morning in the picture but realized we probably slept until 2 to 3pm from the night before - but it was pretty damn hot for this canadian!
Cheap, and excellent cocktail that can be prepared in large volumes and served from a bucket is the good ol' spanish Sangria... and these penas make lots of it! We went to Pena Donibane where Maria's sister had many friends and basically asked members to see if there were extra tickets to be scored.. but none. We also met up with one of her friends from Balboa, Antonio as well as Vani and Naiara - the latter two girls went off to the centre to see if they could score some cheap tickets from scalpers!

left to right: Naiara, Antonio, Maria, Vanessa

After almost giving up after an hour of asking around... we were able to score some pretty cheap tickets - oh the benefits of hangin' with the locals! Score right in the sol!

Heat is still searing at 6pm.

Once it is time to enter the building, everyone goes in and fills up the stands with random seating. The sol side is where there is no shade and people here roast in the blazing sun.. but it is also where you will find the penas and the partiers! Where as in the shade side, there are more well behaved spectators that are actually there to watch the fight.

Unfortunately we were late so when I walked in.. I don't know if it's because I'm asian.. or if it's because I had on a red shirt but everyone one above was throwing shit at me (well actually all of us in general but I got extra pelting)! i think I had 5 oranges and one unidentifiable slop of mush smack me in the head - this is also why we are wearing hats to help shelter our eyes from the barrage of fruit, garbage, sangria coming our way.

bull fight was neat but sort of what was expected. The bull does various charing at the fighter but there's other stuff you don't usually see like the taunting and then the aftermath of the dragging of the body outside of the ring by the horses. And people can really get into the fight.. supposedly during san fermin in pamplona... the insane behaviour for the crowd in the sol at the festival is not the normal atmosphere. I can also see how some people might be disgusted by the event such as seeing a live animal killed for sport but at the same time it is a long lived tradition in spain and it all comes down to personal opinion! When you go on the main website, you can look at the program and they even schedule in the official protests in the festival program.
this is what you look like when your friends start to randomly sing happy birthday to gather the surrounding attention to fire away at the victims when the song is over. :P

At Intermission we all had a picnic, sat around and had some interesting conversations.
the crew at lunchMaria's cousin that kept calling me "Kung Fu!" Good name... good name.

The stadium was completely packed and was quite the sight of everyone in red and white.

When the bull fight is over.. the crowd goes down and storms the ring to get ready to parade out of the stadium with the penas. You basically have the majority of the city's attention the next few hours as the penas party and head back to their club quarters in the center.

This is me on a losing bet... so my pants paid for it.

Afterwards, in the main square there was some traditional basque dancing and since I was already full of sangria i was like - why not! Vani is the professional.
After the dancing, decided to rest and then meet up with Maria's sister at the Pena and find some fellow clubbers.

So hot that evening that Vani had to douse herself in the local water fountain.Later in the night we went for a quick spin at Pena Donibane and here there were LOTs of ana's friends. When then headed to various clubs around town and danced the whole night. The music is quite different as they like to play a lot of local music... but also what I hear is music that you would probably hear at the festival.. like cheesy, but easy-to-dance-to sing-a-long kind of music.

Inside the san fermin pena where i swear it was 15 degrees hotter than what it was outside.

it's amazing that even at 5-6 am in the morning.. these places are still so packed! and considering it was the second last night of the festival out of ten days - these locals must have a secret reserve of energy!Craaazy even at 6am the place is packed.

By seven most of the places close and people can go home.. or linup for the encierro!I tried to find a good place to set up station to record the run. But of course about 2 minutes before they release the bulls.. the police tell me to get off where I was and automatically I become a runner.

Next thing I hear is them yelling "vamos! vamos!" and a stampede of dudes are running around you as the bulls where coming.. so I basically started a jog at first and then when you can hear the cow bells coming and masses of people sprinting around you - then all you can do is all out sprint... or be trampled. However, the whole time I was looking for an exit, but next thing I know I see four of the bulls in front of me and two behindish and I realized.. oh... that's it. Damn those animals are fast.

After a long tiring day.. it was 9am before we headed home as it was time for bed!!!! yeah sleep!

Ahhh - la France et Paris est magnifique!

2007-09-06T16:39:00.000-06:00

Alors jusquà hier soir, mon cousin et moi ont arrivés a Paris. Aujourd'hui nous avons a marché partout et aussi faisons un visite par guide sur les vélos de travers les endroits qui sont pas a plupart touriste! La ville est magnifique et c'est aussi ma chance d'utiliser la langue français après la dernière fois en Nice. C'est mon deuxième fois de dix années et je me découvert qu'il y a beaucoup choses j'oublier la première j'etait ici.

La famille de mon bon ami du bateau en Amsterdam, Adrien, est vraiment, vraiment très jolie et la maison (qui est aussi un heur par metro du centre ville Paris) est magnifique! Il y en a aussi beaucoup animeaux qui habite dans residence aussi. A demain il y a beaucoup choses a voir est Eldon la besoin acheter des cadeaux pour ça famille (et son soeur la faire une petite demande pour quelque chose à Chanel!!! ouuuu.... c'est malade ça!

Alors après un journé La France a avancé sur mon liste des pays préferé!!!

A bientot est je vais retourné a Amsterdam sur Dimanche.

well that was an international

2007-08-31T05:33:00.000-06:00

wow just had a meeting with a dutch person, australian, swedish, scottish, english, and a luxembourg...ian haha.

craaazy. usually I'm the sole foreigner with all dutch people.

off to berlin tonight with the cuz!

Lul...

2007-08-29T01:33:00.000-06:00

The posts will slow down a little as I ahve visitors coming the next few weeks... I am already so behind on this but I do have my Italian pics posted on facebook if you want to have a gander!

This last night was the first time I got 7 hours of sleep... it was too good.

Today Eldon and Aisling (Sandy's best friend) will be hitting up Den Haag and Delft today - oooh exciting.. their first train trip (minus the one from Schipol).

3 days until Berlin! wahoo!

Boi are we FILTHY...

2007-08-24T01:29:00.000-06:00

Haha, It's 9:30 am and I just went to the washroom on our floor in our office building. Upon walking into the washroom there were signs posted on each stall door that cannot be missed:

"GENTLEMEN, please keep the toilets CLEAN!!! Please be more considerate and MATURE. Other people shouldn't have to clean up other people's mess before using it."

Hahahaha... and when you open the door to the urinal stall there's a majesctic computer printed sign of:

"AIM IN THE MIDDLE"

Ran into a co-worker in the washroom and we had a good laugh.

Hahahahhaa.... shit I forgot my camera today... I should take a pic with my phone...

2007-08-19T06:55:00.000-06:00

and I just burned my finger and dropped my lunch on the floor.... WHY ME?!?!

I HATE dutch processes

2007-08-19T06:22:00.000-06:00

So here I am trying to book two tickets to berlin taking advantage of a great deal on their site (75 euros one way for two people)... everything goes well until I put payment through and the system errors out and doesn't give me a confirmation. So I check my bank account and yes the funds were taken out.

So after, I head to the office in central station and they tell me they can't help me because the internet site is completely separate and I would have to call the number on their site (even though they have the EXACT same name).

So after picking up some groceries since I was already out I call when I get back and the help desk is closed - but the systems warns me in dutch that the call will cost me 70 euro cents per minute (35 for the help desk rate - YES THAT IS RIGHT... in holland they CHARGE YOU if they screw up and you need help) and vodafone charges my prepaid phone 35 euro cents per minute for the call (of course I try to call using skype but the number is "not allowed to be called" according to skype (damnit!!!).

Now it's sunday morning... after a good run and a good gym session I try again in the middle of the afternoon... I call.. it works.. but I don't understand the touch tone options so I get transferred to some lady who can't help me cause she doesn't deal with internet problems so she transfers me to the internet support team and of course they are busy and I get put on hold.. it's it now 10 minutes in and the call has already costed me 7 euros (11 bucks) .. and finally I get to a guy... he says he'll have to look to make sure that I have paid .... and then I ask if I can still get the tickets for the same price (as sunday being past the two week period the tickets are now more expensive) and he said no... all he can do is refund the money and I have to try again... but he would have to inquire to see if he can use the funds to a new ticket if I wanted.. so I said might as well (since ( already booked our return tickets from Germany) and btw.. I did ask at the counter (that first time after I had trouble) and asked how much tickets were (after waiting in line for 1.5 hours (they usually have good prices (but the round trip was going to cost 240 euros for two people through the counter))... so F that... so anyways while this guy checks if he can do this for me my phone lets me know I'm almost out of money (that means the call was at about 18 euros since I had about 20 euros prepaid). The guy said to give me my number and he'll call me back. F... so after this call I do check my credit and I ave 70 cents left!!!! he calls me back and makes arrangements (thank god I don't have to use the internet again .. so sketchy on their site) and I have to pay the difference of 36 euros when I pick up the tickets. and thinkin that the call was still costing me money when he called me I just said ok ok.. whatever... so after hanging up good thing no credit was taken.

so all in all this one way trip through the dutch website WOULD'VE costed me 75 euros for two people.. but now it costs 111 euros for two people and including the phone time 130 euros for two people... this was the most frustrating booking I have made here in europe so far as everything else has gone smoothly. and yes THAT's just one way.. good thing I found a deal through the german site for a sleeper train to come back and that booking was super easy.

so instead of the train costing about 65 euros person (so 90 bucks)... it now costs about 95 euros per person (140 bucks... all because of THEIR servers).

God... I can't believe they charge you for calling their help line... that just blows.

35 vids

2007-08-15T16:43:00.000-06:00

I just uploaded 35 videos onto video.google... holy crap.. that's just spain and italy... almost there!

Spain Day 1: Pamplona!

2007-08-14T16:43:00.000-06:00

From July 11 - 15th, I attended the festival of San Fermin in the city of Pamplona, Spain which is about a 5 hour bus ride north of Madrid. I also read somewhere that Pamplona has one of the best standards of living in Spain (bonus!). Anyways, the festival occurs every year and held annually form the 6th of July to midnight of the 14th of July (so over two weekends). Thus, having my good friend Anne over on the first weekend, I was able to take in the festivities at the end of the festival where as Inci, Remi, Ozkan, Anoi and Thomas from the boat (as well as Jenn and Blaire from lulu) were able to take in the crazy celebrations at the very beginning.

Every morning of the festival, there is the famous encierro , or the the running of the bulls along with other activities (so almost their version of the Calgary Stampede :P) From Wikipedia:

"It is known locally as Sanfermines and is held in honor of Saint Fermin, the patron saint of Pamplona and of Navarre. Its events were central to the plot of The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway, which brought it to the general attention of English-speaking peoples. It has become probably the most internationally renowned fiesta in Spain."

So it all started with my arrival from Madrid which the bus left Madrid at 1am and we arrived at 5:45am... my good friend Maria didn't expect me to be there that fast.. but I remember the small moments that when I wasn't passed out... the bus was going ultra fast (sorta reminded me of the Sunshine coach that one time to Banff..... crazy Europeans hee hee.) Thus Maria picked me up from the bus station (which was confusing because I was dropped off at the "new" one that was still under construction where as she was waiting for me at the "old" one. But after we were able to meet.. she was exhausted from the festivities and wanted to crash and I was up for more sleep too!

By the time we got up it was about 1 or 2 pm and I had the chance to meet Maria's mom Saria and Senior Raffa (I'm sure I spelled their names wrong (apologies!)) and her older sister Ana. Then I found out I had to wear only red and white (not a problem for this Canadian ;P) and luckily I brought white shorts and cheapy white pants and a bunch of white shirts and my Canada day shirt (man I was more prepared for that than what I expected).

We started off with typical Spanish lunch which happens to be their LARGEST meal of the day... we ate at about 3:30pm or 4pm and god her mom cooks FANTASTIC. I felt bad cause Maria was saying her mom was making more than what she normally does since I was there... oops*.

After lunch we were ready to browse the town now that it was about pm or so and the town is starting to cool down from the intense heat of the day. And after a gracious gift from her parents with a red handkerchief (the pañuelo) I was ready to rock!

We walked to the main square and met up with Maria's friend Fabienne from France who was also working in pamplona. And it so happens that Fabienne's parents were visiting as well.

The photo above is of Hotel La Perla where Hemingway stayed. From Wiki: "... a book about bullfighting, was published in 1932. Hemingway had become an aficionado after seeing the Pamplona fiesta of 1925, fictionalized in The Sun Also Rises. In Death in the Afternoon, Hemingway extensively discussed the metaphysics of bullfighting: the ritualized, almost religious practice. In his writings on Spain, he was influenced by the Spanish master Pío Baroja (when Hemingway won the Nobel Prize, he traveled to see Baroja, then on his death bed, specifically to tell him he thought Baroja deserved the prize more than he)."

From there Maria gave us a nice tour of the her beautiful little town through the route of the bull run to the bull ring to the bar-filled streets to the edge of town and the gorgeous parks *phew*!!!

Two dudes playin an instrument from the Region.

apparently according to Maria, the red and white costume was a fairly recent thing.

At 12:00 midday every 6 th July, the Square in front of the Town Hall is witness to the chaos when the San Fermin Fiesta literally takes off with a bang. This moment is marked by a rocket - the "Chupinazo" - which is set off to announce the start of the Fiesta. read more here at the San Fermin guide

Spoiled by a gorgeous day to take in the panoramic sites of the city.

I remember reading somewhere... though I don't remember where that Pamplona has one of the highest concentrations of bars in one area. Man is that a true fact.. you can walk down one street and have easily 20 bars albeit they aren't full fledged multiroom complexes and more like a bar and a dance floor... but that's besides the point.

Going into the small side streets the atmosphere is very serence compared to other parts of town. While passing a courtyard there are a bunch of local kids playing football just outside... for some reason this too me is one of those European experiences you see on TV at home; kids playing football in an old town of the courtyard with adults standing around and watching... pretty cool.

Ah the bull running...Wiki: "Each morning's event starts at 8 a.m... and the runners gather in an area at the beginning of the route called Cuesta de Santo Domingo, where they sing three times an ode before a statue of San Fermin placed in a niche in a wall there:

A San Fermín pedimos, por ser nuestro patrón, nos guíe en el encierro, dándonos su bendición. Viva San Fermín. Gora San Fermin. ("We ask San Fermín, because he is our Patron, to guide us through the Bull Run, giving us his blessing.") (video below was not taken by me... but by some dude on July 12, 2007)...

From the San Fermin Guide: All through the Festival 16 "Penas" or 'clubs' seem to be the epitime of pure anarchy, but even pure chaos needs some basic organization. These clubs have been gradually founded throughout the history of the Sanfermin Festival for the purpose of providing a basic structure for its members during these wild days of the fiesta.

The penas have a key part to play on the terraces of the bullring during the bull-fights where their presence is fundamental. Here, the different clubs, each with their distinctive dress, and seated under their distinctive banners, are gathered together in a loud raucous crowd which totally dominates the atmosphere during the afternoon bull-fights (like a football game sort of).

They also mark the difference in the street with the continuous din of their brass-bands reverberating round the streets of Pamplona day and night.

Even though there are other, more professional bands which are paid by the Town Hall to play music in the streets, there is nothing to compare with the colour and joy that the "Peñas" create. The Fiesta would not be the same without the musical parades of the Peñas as they lead the crowds singing and dancing through the streets (below);

Maria and Vanessa

After the tour we took a little break and ran into some more friends of Maria's. This couple had this cool little dude and I was hoping when I go back to Can that Kyan had better not be jumping and walking around yet.... or I would be severely depressed for missing so much.. but boi this kid had a lot of character!

After we split up from Maria's friend and her parents as Maria was going to meet some close friends Amalia and Nerea at one of the Pena's where her sister or her sister's friend is a member (Pena - Donibane).

Here is where I met Vani (Vanessa) and a friend at a bar and we were suppose to meet others but they were already somewhere else so we headed to a Pena that some of her friends and sister were partying with.

The band of the pena was playing outside all night long and with people of all ages taking it to town! (below)

where were there until about 12 to 1am before we headed off to find some eats (boccatas! (aka sandwiches and drinks) and then off to another bar!

Vani (see spoke next to no english.. but we were able to connect on the "Woooooaaaah" level)

PS these people have hidden reserves of energy.. I don't know how they could do this for 10 days in a row.

We dropped into about 2 or 3 more bars before calling it a night by about 2 or 3... I can't remember... all in all a GREAT FIRST DAY.

some sexy sunglasses Maria found.
on the way back to Maria place..pizza and sandwiches out of a machine! Almost like febo in Amsterdam.

ps. this post took me three hours.

sore...

2007-08-13T17:41:00.000-06:00

Man, went to Bikram yoga yesterday and boy is my body sore... means I am totally not practicing enough 0 i knew that though; my review of Bikram Yoga Amsterdam: good teaching, nice facilitiy, but it did smell like feet at the end of the class - I miss Bodhi Tree.

RTL 102.5

2007-08-07T17:15:00.001-06:00

RTL, have a listen of one of Italy's great national radio stations; broadcasting live from Reggio Calabria which is/will do great things for tourism in the area. Kudos Domi!

yoga lessons.

2007-08-07T15:37:00.000-06:00

i have an urge to teach.. so thus I will be teaching karma yoga for my friends here in our spacious (for Amsterdam student standards), yet quaint apartment which conveniently the previous roommate took all of her stuff last weekend while I was away which included the couches.. the bonus... it really does look like a space for yoga now. and I will be doing this for august. damn.. what was that pose called again?... oh whatever I'll just make it up.

New vids - LP, M5, and other artists.

2007-08-07T14:47:00.000-06:00

LP and Maroon 5 (Maroon cinque > 'cheenqweh' as they say in italy hee hee), and other misc media.

Elisa is an Italian artist that sings both in English and Italian.

M5 vid

haha a good commercial for "Very Victoria" for a show on MTV.it, an italian girl lip singing mandarin with an obviously cheesy dance... hot... not up on you tube yet...

new LP "bleed it out" not on you tube yet as it premiered in north america yesterday.

Oh mio f*ing Dio... BEST VACANZA ever!

2007-08-07T14:33:00.000-06:00

Despite the experience of Italian commuting - Calabria was F-ing Awesome!!!!!!... I kept saying to myself: "holy shit we are spoiled - spoiled spoiled spoiled spoiled" - and were we EVER. Thanks to my bud Domenico and his family it totally blew all expectations out of the water as we experienced sud d'Italia from sea to land to sky; and I like to say my Italian went from near non existent to attempts to forming simple phrases. I'll miss the life of breakfast, beach, lunch, beach/sleep, beach, dinner, sleep.

I now have a month of vacation from my vacations (yes just work) in the A'dam but that will have to be used for blogging spain and calabria as I have LOTS of pics to go through. In the mean time I will try to throw in random posts to try to keep it interesting.

Next big thing... my cuz is droppin by for almost two weeks! wahoo!!! I get to send home some crap with him hee hee.

Kyan at the Stampede!

2007-07-22T15:57:00.001-06:00

Spain post one: Madrid in passing.

2007-07-22T15:26:00.000-06:00

Well here comes the Spain post and I better do this before my trip to Italy this week though I highly doubt it as I have to sort through about 600 pics. But at least I can post the Madrid portion! God damn I take too many pictures.. I have to be more conscious of that this coming trip cause taking 2GB of pics every time I come back from somewhere is RIDONCULOUS (as how Sandy would say it).

So my Spain trip consisted of flying out Amsterdam Wednesday night, arrive in Madrid for about 4 hours and then bus out early EARLY Thursday morning and arrive in Pamplona at 6am to meet my amiga Maria who lived on the boat!

Madrid was a very nice city but very modern and with an INSANE metro system. Taken from Wiki's site: Serving the city's population of some six million, the Madrid Metro is one of the most extensive and fastest-growing metro networks in the world.^[20] With the addition of a loop serving suburbs to Madrid's south-west "Metrosur", it is now the second largest metro system in Western Europe, second only to London's Underground. In May 2007, Madrid's metro system will be expanded and it will have more than 280 kilometres (175 mi). Craazy...

anyways when I got it the temperature was bearable as it was only mid twenties which was perfect. And being only four hours in Spain only got a taste of what the city would be like. Although already coming into a city where hardly anyone speaks English, I had to keep reading guides on "how to speak Spanish" and simple phrases - thank God for Jeannie's phrase book!

GPM Team

2007-07-22T04:26:00.000-06:00

Finally had an opportunity to take a pic of my co-workers of the Global Product Management Team. from left to right: Alexander von Muhlen, Jan Jaap Hazenberg (big dude of the team), John Vartjes, Natalie van Tulcu and Koos Meier (missing: Saskia Rademaker (my supervisor), Robin Verduin, Elizabeth Bragonier (the Big cheese of GPM).

It was Alexander's last weekend in Amsterdam as he got a transfer to London (good move I think with the takeover stuff and all) - he was also the one that phone interviewed me while I was in Whistler. It would have been cool to have him as my manager as he was the one for the last two trainees as he's constantly sarcastic (sometimes hard for me to figure out) and sort of has a witty american/british/dutch sense of humor. But Jan Jaap thought Saskia should have a turn since she's like the senior vice president of GPM (also very nice too). All in all a group of very supportive people and I always feel bad when I'm the only non-dutch speaker in a meeting and they do it in English just so I would understand what they are talking about.

Louis-sébastien Jacquel-blanc's last day

2007-07-21T12:24:00.000-06:00

God that's a long name.. but it was lou lou's last day last thursday .. and I think it's thanks to him that we had our little family on the boat! it's been a while since the keukenhoff and Lisa/Holly days. I'm gonna miss this scruffy gong show of a Frenchie. Here's his itin from facebook:

"I leave from Brussels by bike, to Burgundy (Beaune) [700km] , staying two three days there, then by train to avignon, and leaving again from avignon on the 13th to Warsaw, and going across Belarus from the 15th of August to the 6th September, and going back to avignon.
What do you think ?

....

yes, I considered at first coming back, but it's not really on the way, and ma foi, I guess it's gonna be both hard and expensive.
I am looking at Warsaw : I will be there the 13 and 14 of august, and probably stay three days around the 6th of september then. yes I'll be in Avignon then (if not anywhere else you never know), looking for work. Hope to see you again, half Canadian half Chinese dude."

Yeay - MAIL! (that's not a bank statement or a notice you're getting kicked out of the country)

2007-07-21T12:13:00.001-06:00

YEAY!!! about two weeks ago my most favouritest cousins sent me a care package from canada and what better way to send anti-stink lulu stuff... perfect for a stinky sweaty guy like me... shirt, underwear, socks and allergy medication! I have the BEST cousins in the world!!!

On top of that, last week, my mom sent me a brochure regarding Alberta Health care insurance...
not as exciting, but she did get me an ipod and maple syrup and gave me their camera... but despite that I luv my parents nevertheless.

My new Diesel buddy

2007-07-21T12:10:00.000-06:00

Although I don't think I would be able to find my old watch... a new one was calling to me. and here he is... wasn't sure about the gold at first but Anne approved.

2007-07-21T11:24:00.001-06:00

ps this thing puts rust stains on clothes.

Konichiwa Bitches party!

2007-07-21T11:09:00.000-06:00

on 7-7-07 was my roomies party and she's all about the themes! Konichiwa bitches!

After lots of alcohol and going dry, Sandy kicked everyone out of our place to head to the club just down the street.

Keane - Live at Westerpark

2007-07-21T10:19:00.000-06:00

"A Bad Dream (Live)" - Fav Keane song.

Despite the rain, the concert was amazing! the guys are really good live... too bad for Anne she was standing in an outdoor concert amongs a crowd rated the tallest people on the planet - that and being 45 minutes late didn't help either.

The old commute to work, from boat to central

2007-07-21T10:13:00.000-06:00

Back at the boat I loved the commute to central station on bike everyday as it was a good way to wake up. from the quiet suburbs to the business of Harlemmerstraat there's already lots that I miss. Now the streets I bike on in the morning are much busier with many more cars, but it still is all good cause I can cut through the big streets taking the smaller canal ones. These video's are for my sake as you probably won't find them very interesting.. but watch away if you have nothing else to do!

Anne's Visit

2007-07-21T09:20:00.001-06:00

My excellent friend from HS came to visit and it was about a year since we last physically saw each other (skype not included). Anne was stopping by the A'dam for about five days before she heads off to vienna for her music festival for about a month, comes back for a day and then fires back to canada and then fires back out to spain for about eight months for more lessons with a world renowned cellist.

Anne conveniently arrives when I had lived in the new digs for 2 days... I think the boat would have been just as good for her ;P

anne makes out the trip to biljmer (work) to join us for drinks... too bad I couldn't really join them cause the guy that interviewed me over the phone (not my manager) invited our department for drinks as he was transferring to london.Anne borrowed my bike during the day and at first she was scared to use it cause she was afraid that she forgot how to ride it but she got on and successful navigated the city! and then I come home and she tells me she slowly fell off the bike and had a little scrape... haha.. SUCH A TOURIST. After the drinks we headed to the KEANE concert which was outdoors and it was raining hardcore that day! woohoo (pics to come)

Headed to the RLD after dinner and I think we walked for about 30 mins before Anne wanted to get out... she was all quiet and awkward ha ha... by teh time we got back we were beat and headed off to bed.
Saturday we have a first breakfast together and we spend the day to navigate the noordmarkt and hang around the jordaan area.

Cheap ass flowers from holland. She said her mom would be there everyday.. I said my parents would overload on the 5 euro orchids. the noordmarkt has an organic section with over priced fruits and vegetables.

Market also sells everyday things and antiques as well.. definitely my favourite in the city in such a chilled out neighbourhood.
after the market we head to Singel 404 for some sweet open-faced sandwiches and lounge out side along a canal. The lady we were sitting with kept talking dutch to me cause I was using simple dutch words to converse with her - I guess I could take it as a compliment for her to think I was a native speaker.
After lunch we head to the Jordaan area to walk around, look for a gift for my room and possibly find something to wear to the konichiwa bitches birthday party that night.

found some free ads at the episode store so we went with the Yakuza gang - 80,000 members and growing!
Konichiwa bitches party happens here (pics next post) - we party till 3am.minutes after this photo was taken she realized she left her cell phone at my place. so then I had to mail it to her... aiya so MA FAN.

Anne gets up at 9am to go pack and catch her 12pm flight to austria. When we get to Schipol and she takes Luthansa to Austria, the women asks if she's checking in her suitcase AND her cello and Anne says of course. We then place both luggage things on the weight thing and then the woman says "you know you're over 20 kgs", and I say "well that's because you still have the suitcase on there" and the woman says "that's because it's 2o kg max each person." and that's when it hits me... european to european flights you get MUCH less luggage.. I thought maybe with the bigger airline is better but nope. so anne had to pay 10 euros each kg she was over. so Anne was freaking out but there wasn't anything she could do. So the woman writes up a slip to pay at another counter and notices she only write 15kgs over... and when we get to the counter, the woman has a double take and goes "15 kgs?!!" and Anne confirms... I think the attendant felt bad and noticed only charge Anne 110euros at the with the 10 euro processing fee so all in all still paid a lot but only half of what she was suppose to.

After that she's was on her way!! Oh my little Anne.. all grown up!

snacky snacky

2007-07-21T09:18:00.001-06:00

Munich Day 3: Walking in the sun

2007-07-17T17:15:00.001-06:00

Day three was CANADA DAY! and consisted of Markus taking us for a tour in the hot hot sun to the Bavarian Hall of Fame and the field where they hold the oktoberfest

and then took the U-Bahn near the University and hit a yuppie area to have lunch outside.

Markus then dropped us off at the Englischer Garten as he had to head to work for a few hours which contains Germany's second largest Beer Garden. The park itself is LARGER than New York's central park but smaller than Dublin's Phoenix Park.
I looovvve the drinking culture... outdoors, no fighting for chairs, gigantic beers at decent prices.
Sam is right, it is one of the best tasting beers out there.
After we met back up with Markus and headed back to the centre on foot.

We also had the chance to check out the famous brewery Hofbräuhaus which is also tourist central and is the "liquid" symbol of Munich.

Then headed back to Markus' place where he insisted on cooking us pasta German / Italian stylz.

Later in the night we met up with his old friend for some drinks.

The night ended off with us catching our train at 10 pm which we thought was at 8pm with thundershowers just rolling in.
The freakiest thing happened at the end of the trip were right as I get on to the U-Bahn to get to central station, some hobo sticks his arm through the door and grabs my forearm. Markus thought we wanted to take my stuff, but then he let go as the doors closed and then held up some big red sign in the shape of a circle and placed it against the window and stared at me; some tourist on the train then said "I think he just cursed you"... it was a little traumatizing.
other than that I have to thank my buddy Markus and my travel buddy Olinda for making my first exposure to Germany unforgettable!!!! Prost! and Fehr Danke for readin'!

Munich Day 2: Neushwanstein and Bavarian food night

2007-07-17T16:06:00.000-06:00

Day two had us waking up at 7:30 to make "mike's Bike tours" to the Alps and Neuschwanstein castle. The tour was pretty cool with bus out to the mountains, bike rental and guided tour to the lake, and the waterfall hike up to the castle. What was gross was the company which was all North Americans, and then all of a sudden I became one of those people I hate that swarm Amsterdam in flocks. I don't know, there was something about tourists, American tourists usually (not all) that have this sense that they are the greatest people in the world and the way they talk and portray themselves completely encompasses that; there was actually a young Canadian couple as well so can't say all Canadians are model as well. Never again will I join those tours out here in Europe. but the scenery and everything else was breath taking.

After the lake, headed back to the base and had lunch. We packed a lunch with tuna salad and some other tuna in some olive oil... it tasted great and smelled like shit and the oil got through the bread and inside the bag and got on some of our clothes... I will never forget that smell along with the heat in the bus... bleh.

costs of castle tour was not included in tour, but I promised myself no more castle tours as long as I am in Europe. Too many from London, Dublin, Belgium and I haven't even touched Luxembourg yet. After, we got dropped off at 7pm and met up with Markus who got us some Butter Bretzel (complicated process in the movie below) then we went out for some beers at an outdoor garden to enjoy the weather and then had a late night dinner!

We ordered one gigantic beer and a water for the lady. We split the beer, but I have to say the German had a greater share than I did.

"... two balls and a carrot?!?!?...."

Later on Markus's ex came to join us for dinner - she reminds me of a German version of Ali Beks that I used to work with at work.

and that's day 2!

Out of Office

2007-07-17T07:53:00.000-06:00

I just emailed 9 people in Scandanavia and I got 7 "Out of Office" replies. Even people referred by the "Out of Office" people are "Out of Office". I don't think anyone at the moment is working in Norway, Sweden and Finland now they are basking in 20 some hours of sunlight. Then again I'm blogging at work so I'm not really working either. Let's go up and steal their women.

Just scratching my nose...

2007-07-17T07:44:00.000-06:00

I was just scratching my nose on the side and can see my manager looking in my direction at the corner of my eye. She did a double take and then I realize from the angle she's looking at she probably thought I was picking my nose. I didn't say anything cause it's more fun that way.

Munich Day 1: A Bavarian Party and reunion with an ol' pal.

2007-07-16T17:07:00.000-06:00

So Munich in a Nutshell: Great beer, great food, gorgeous city, nice people and awesome company! We met up with Markus who I met in Venezia back in February as he graciously invited me to Munich; so if he offers then I am happy to take advantage! This time tagged along was Olinda Rodas, my Paraguayan American friend who lived in the boat and wanted to do some travelling before returning to the US at the end of the month. She was in Germany about a day before me due to ticket complications and then I arranged for them two to meet up before I got there.

When Olinda Asked me how long I have known Markus before coming to Munich, I had to think about it and responded "Only a few hours!" which was true cause we only hung out the one day during Carnival in Venice.

Here are the pics of Day 1 in Munchen

First time that I have taken a sleeper train to somewhere. Paid 79 Euros for a return trip to Munich (Munchen) in a "couchette" which is basically an airplane seat - belh and the ride's ten and some hours. Trip starts at 8pm at night and arrive the next morning at 7:15am.

By the time I arrived, Markus met me at the Hauptbahnhof main station - this station is quite big and the first thing I notice - STARBUCKS! but I didn't buy any - I may have kicked the Chai dependency. Met up with Markus and felt like Venice all over again - this guy's got one of the craziest laughs - and people thought mine was loud!Two U-Bahn's and 15 minutes laters Markus's place was nice and cozy explains his room is quite "spartan" since he only moved in a few weeks before we arrived and many things were still in boxes - but let's you know how busy this guy is since he's always in Italy working!

Olinda lost her voice for the first days so we do most of the talking for her! When I got there sleepy head was still in bed.

Since Markus still has to work during the day, Olinda and I took it on ourselves to find out what to see, and with Wiki travel guides and Markus in hand we were albe to venture around no problem - plan was to walk around and then meet Markus back at 5pm to change and head out to the Chili Peppers!
Marienplatz is the main square is the area is considered city center - it is tourist central
we then climbed to the upper stairwell of an old church to get a great view of the city.Amazing view from the rop
hit up the market to see what there was after all of that stair climbing.

After strolling in the area of the University, decided to go check out the Olympic Park and possibly have lunch there.
We finally found ourselves looking for the BMW museum, celebritries and see what the fuss was about in the we
too bad the new museum is not open until Oct. - darn! What would be Germany without the German cars? supposedly the BMW building was built from top to bottom
After ,the weather turns from overcast to nicely sunny, it also immediately felt too hot.

after, we walked up a hill over looking the Olympic centrum- you can see that directly behind us there are kids that have already staked their place to get good spots to get a free hearing fo the concert later that evening.

took this picture because Germans are supposedly on the forefront of environmentalism... then again they do have the autobahn.Took the train to see the Allianz Arena - I completely forgot that FIFA was hosted here. This building was massive and so majestic.. it looked like one big bubble!

There were already kids ligning up for some good spots at teh concert. We still had a full day's activities but by the time we did them, we had to meet Markus at home and then change into clothes that were more appropriate.Markus excited to go to the concert!

we walked around, then where we were and then moved back towards home.

no cameras? that was the policy for entering but, then again so many people have them - though I was going to the point where I was going to hie my camera in my underwear.. I tried byut it slipped out.

One of the best live acts I have ever seen, but there salutation is very different as it it was litterally "thank you and goodbye" and then they walked off of the stage.

By the time we danced and sag our way to oblivion, Oli decided to stay and rest, we as we would go to meet Sam! at Marientplaz to have a drink or two.

Met up with Sam who happened to be on
And then after the bretzels and Weißwürste

Lots of posts coming (I hope)

2007-07-16T17:01:00.000-06:00

Because of the fantasmic new camera my mums sent me with Sam, the Canon Powershot S6 trillion, the 2GB card, mixed with ultimate focusing speed allows me to take TOO many pictures... starting with Munich.

Posts are coming up but is taking me much longer than before as I am compiling pics for the blog and albums on facebook.

Coming up: Munich, Anne's visit, the Konichiwa Bitches party, Pamplona.

Man that's like 4 GBs worth of photos and I've had this camera LESS than a month. gawd. This and I'm trying to keep this interesting by bloggin non sense but it's hard enough keeping up with the pics... sorry dudes and dudettes but trying my best!

San Fermin here I come!!!

2007-07-11T05:19:00.000-06:00

Well the time is here and this year's Stampede for is going to be spent in front of a stampede of people or a stampede of Spanish Bulls (probably both). It's going to be an INSANE 4 days. If you want to know what San Fermin, Pamplona is all about there is a great guide on the site here.

Fly into Madrid at 17h, get there at 19, take the bus at 1:30 and arrive in San Fermin at 6:15
Return will be leaving Pamplona at 10m det into Madrid at 15:30, have about 3.5h in Madrid to see the main sites and then fly back to Adam at 20, get into Adam at 22 and then Patty's last night in Asmterdam will be held at the Mesquitalaan house where I hear JL is making some lasagna from scratchy.

Yes... I feel so accomplished.

2007-07-09T09:41:00.000-06:00

It's been a few months but after been given some real responsibility and having the stress to meet a deadline I feel like I have actually contributed something and learned a hell of a lot in the interim. I can say I'm starting to get the lingo on seed capital.

Current Weather Outside in the Bijlmer Area of the Oval Tower:

2007-07-09T09:30:00.000-06:00

Pure sunshine and thundershowers.

So people without umbrellas are running out of the office to catch the break.

Last pics of the boat...

2007-07-08T18:00:00.000-06:00

Life on the boat at first was a bitch.. the rental agency is so hard to deal with and facilities just aren't that great. But the company is something else... everyday could be a party on the boat and it was where I found my second family. With late night dinners, and conversations it interesting how much you can learn about other cultures just with these casual, but frequent meetings. Along with the aiesec family, the boat people to me will always be remembered. At first I was counting down to how many days before I go home, then when I was approaching the big move, I was counting how many days I had left.

Here are pics of various memorabilia on the boat...

But my new place now - Wowza!! It's way way way bigger than the boat cabin, more "central", huge windows, and has a microwave! wahoo! pics soon to come...

Barcelona and Edinburgh booked!

2007-07-08T16:36:00.000-06:00

Well Barcelona was a given.. now that Anne is going to be there and countless recommendations I was definately looking.. and since CY said she booked Edinburgh with Maria beg oct.. might as well combine the two!!! And going on skycanner found a AMS - BCE - EDI - AMS route with three different airlines all for 95 euros!! (I can't believe spain to scotland only costs 20 euros... how the hell do these companies make money?) oh well! anyone wants to join - please do!

Back from Munich! and low and behold... there's no work to do at work... so..

2007-07-02T03:55:00.001-06:00

Munich was awesome!!! Will post pics soon, and then it's off to Spain in exactly nine days.... now I just have to survive these nine days (well I guess seven work days). But reflecting on the past week, it does seem like a whirlwind with the Munchen trip, moving out of the boat and moving in to the new digs, aiesec activities, birthdays and people leaving the boat and such... but I will blog later.. it's almost time for lunch!

but besides that, I found a sweet ass blog to pass the time about some guy that bitches about random stuff. He basically writes what I think.. well what most of us (well most of us Canadians) think anyways. The site:

http://www.kieranslattery.blogspot.com/

Here's a little snippet about his rant about AE, Abercrombie, and Hollister clothes:....

"Secret: AE, AF And H clothes, are secretely Old Navy Clothes with the Old Navy tag ripped off and a stupid bird is ironed on to the front.

I'm sorry i had to tell you this, but that is about it! Thats how they get half of their clothes. th e other half of their clothes, are old gap shirts that they threw into the wash, dried them, and never ironed them again.

Thats about it. Im sorry i had to be the one to tell you this, but now you can create your own clothes at home. What you do is take the old gap clothes that you had when gap was popular, throw them into the dryer, attatch them to the muffler of your car so they scrape on the ground so they create holes in trendy areas, and throw some stupid bird on them. May i suggest a Pterodactyl? oh! and the Pterodactyl can have like vampire fangs, with wolverine-like claws, and it could have something cool in its talons like a guys arm that was holding a gun. That way you know that the Pterodactyl is not f'ing around. Man, i really want that shirt now....

PS if i developed a clothing line with a flying dinosaur on it, i would call it Pterrycloths, which i would think is both funny, and witty. "

sweet.

Konichiwa, Bitches!

2007-06-27T06:18:00.001-06:00

Be there or else have Chuck Norris throw ninja stars at you. You will be dishonoured.