Japunzel

I'm picking up where I left off yesterday, and I updated that post with images. So now you can read it again!


When I finally got on the plane, everything went smoothly. I sat next to two women, one around 35, the other maybe 55. They were pleasant company, but like with the danish journalist I never learned their names. I realized I liked those conversations were the identity is not important, just the conversation itself. Old readers might remember my guide in the Freemason museum in Brussels.


I arrived at San Francisco at around 09.30 local time.


I went to the bathroom and then went to pick up my luggage. Before I had time to find the right luggage belt, I heard my name. My aunt came up and gave me a big hug. Her husband was there as well.
I took my luggage and we drove to Pacifica, the little (village? suburb? collection of houses?) place south of SF where they live.
I was a bit "out of it" due to lack of sleep and too many hours on an airplane, and jetlagged on top of that. But I arrived safe and almost sound. I was more hyper than tired (it happens when I get too little sleep but my body hasn't fully realized it yet), so I pursuaded my dear aunt that I was more than fit to go to the local market, and then continue into SF to meet up with my oldest cousin here.


The local market was a collection of stands on a parking lot outside a shopping centre, with fresh fruit and vegetables, most of it was locally grown, and I think all of it was organic. We bought some stuff and then drove to the old hippie area in SF, referred to as Ashbury Heights. The area had a cool young spirit to it and it reminded me of Europe. Like Camden Market in London, Christiania in Copenhagen or Möllan in Malmö.
I went into a few second hand shops, and bought a dress that probably wasn't second hand. But it was really cute.


Then we found a cozy café with a few vegetarian dishes. They boasted about their veggie burger as a speciality, but it was mainly made out of spinach. After having eaten many delicious vegetarian burgers in my life, I was disappointed. Oh and when my cousin turned up at our table I got so excited that I spilled a glass of ice tea on my aunt's sister in law.

Then we drove home to Pacifica again. I had a nap, and then they woke me up for dinner. Homemade pizza, everyone made their own. Verrrry tasty. For dessert we had fruit and chocolate fondue.

So I had some rough days.

I was supposed to take a flight on friday, Copenhagen to Chicago. In Chicago I was supposed to change to a flight going to San Francisco.
I was half successful. My first plane was 2 hours late, and I was almost certain I would miss my second one. I was told about the delay long before I went to the airport, but I was told to check in at the original time. So after an hour of entertainment at the gate (thank you Angry Birds!), I was bored. My laptop batteries were dead. Finally I was let on the plane and I had a nice flight, in the company of a danish journalist whose name I never learned.
I couldnt sleep because there was constant sunshine outside. I had plenty of red wine and read some, and watched some movies.

As we flew closer to Chicago it became obvious I wouldn't make it. When I arrived, and went through the security check and grabbed my bag, I went to the helpdesk, and they said the earliest flight would be 07.00 the morning after. It was only about 20.00 so they gave me a hotel voucher, and told me where to wait for a bus shuttle.
It was a bumpy ride but we made it. The very friendly guy in the lobby (that looked like a young Tom Cruise) gave me a room on the 9th floor, with a lovely view and a kingsize bed. I was pleased.


A free eveningmeal was included in the voucher and according to three different polls, I ate at the "Best steakhouse in Chicago", Harry Caray's italian steakhouse and bar.
But I had pasta with pesto and mushrooms and bell pepper, vegetarian these days. I drank a local beer, named Goose Island, it wasn't very good.
Since it was like 22.00 already, I was eating at the bar. It felt like I was in a movie. The bar was mostly decorated with wooden panels, and photos of celebrities that might have or might not have eaten there. Three huge flat tv's were displaying baseball, and a documentary about the case of Dominique Strauss Kahn on NBC. But mostly it was commercials.

Afterwards I realized I wouldn't get far on my computer without a powerplug converter (the building had free wifi), and used the hotel's computer to email my aunt that was supposed to pick me up. I was hoping she knew about my delay already, I texted mom and dad earlier.
I got back to my room, and took a shower. Then I crept down in my humongous bed and watched some tv before falling asleep. I left the tv on, because the room was to quiet, to clinical. The sounds of Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum fighting aliens in the background was almost soothing.
I asked for a wakeupcall at 04.00, but I woke up stressed at around 03.00. I had most of my stuff packed, and just needed to gather it and get dressed. My shuttle back to the airport left at 05.00, and I got on it in time.


Chicago's airport is probably the nicest one I've been to. The main hall was made out of steel and glass in a way that reminded me of old trainstations. And they had a life sized replica of a Brachiosaurus skeleton. But my favourite was a corridor to the gates, that was completely the opposite of a boring corridor. Rainbow lights in the ceiling and curved walls made the floor the only straight thing in it. Took plenty of pictures.


I also managed to hustle my way into a a large McDonalds breakfast for 10.41 $ - for free. Hash brownies and pineapple-mango smoothie were my favourites. Shame they but bacon or ham on pretty much everything else on the menu. I guess that's the american way.


I'm off to bed now, it's past midnight here. More text will come tomorrow.

I thought I was finally feeling better, but after a few days in Malmö I almost feel worse. I am for the first time in my life having money issues.
I've always been good with money, not a big spender, keeping a buffert and so on. But due to issues in school, I don't know when I will recieve studying money again.
This is of course the worst time of all to spend money. But I am finished.
My head feels like it has been on a ship in storm. And I'd rather be washed up on a shore with nothing, than continue to swim in the cold water, hanging on to my last material assets.
So today, during a mild panic attack I bought a ticket to Amsterdam. Leaving on Saturday, I will be gone for perhaps a week. We have discussed to go to Belgium for a few days, me, Dida, and two of his friends.

I miss Belgium.
The beautiful architecture, the food..
The chocolate.. the clothes!
How they take care of everything old. How they embrace history instead of making everything modern. Instead of tearing down a 100 year old house and build a new one, they renovate it.
How you can buy clothes that look about 110 years old, without being ruined. Although considering my economy now, I would be ruined if I went shopping there... so many nice things to want!

Even though I felt bad occationally in Brussels because of my job there, I still love the town. Thinking about it makes me happier, which was slightly unexpected.

I present to you: other (material) stuff that would make me happy.

Sitting on the bus to Malmö right now and travelling always makes me ponder about things.
This is probably my longest post ever. I wish there was something I could do to make it easier to digest.

*All that I have written in swedish is translated by me into english at the bottom of the post. Don't hold me responsible for interpretations.
*I also want to warn about cruel actions and words described in the following text. Young people should only read on if the topic really appeals to them.


I don't have many causes, not because I am selfish, but because I don't believe I can care a 100% about everything. And having a cause where you just give away some coins occationally to please your guilt, is a rather pointless cause.

I have two main causes:

Environment (and the human affect on it, as well as how we can reverse it). I care more about the rainforest than about most people in general. Nature has no intent, it is never good or evil. It is a chaos where we humans have found a place to live and prosper.

Equality (mainly between the sexes). Easy word, complex meaning. And within this topic I have a few subcauses that always get to me. Perhaps someone noticed on my book list that two of the books are about rape.
I am currently reading one of them, which I got as a present from a friend.

Katarina Wennstam's "Flickan och skulden - En bok om samhällets syn på våldtäkt" is very painful reading.
I have the sequel; "En riktig våldtäktsman - En bok om samhällets syn på våldtäkt", and I was upset for weeks after finishing it.
The author digs through piles of court cases in Sweden, a country that like to think of itself as very equal and just. What she finds in these cases makes me sick.
They are full with a mindset as antique as the system of justice. Even though I had heard about the police asking girls to describe in detail what they were wearing, when they lost their virginity and so on, I become shocked and appalled. In the books are notes from interrogations and court cases that describes in painfully graphic detail what boys has done towards girls. Girls that did not deserve to get their genitals, and life destroyed, just because "she was wearing a short skirt" or had been "acting flirty".

There's a section that makes me teary-eyed. It's about a case of rape performed by 3 men to a 17 year old girl. The names are made up by the author. I quote:

"En annan sak som var svår för Maria att förstå var varför Måns aldrig åtalades. Den enda aktiviteten som Måns erkände att han hade varit med på var att tafsa på Maria och trycka in hårda fingrar i hennes underliv. Men fram till en lagändring 1998 (övergreppet skedde 1997) var det inte våldtäkt om det inte var just en manlig penis som trycktes in i kvinnans underliv eller mun.
Lagen ändrades efter en uppmärksammad våldtäkt - som i lagens mening inte var våldtäkt. En ung flicka våldtogs av flera killar som använde en flaska - som gick sönder inne i hennes slida och förstörde hennes underliv för alltid."

That last line with the bottle hurts just by reading it. It reminds me alot of a scene in a swedish movie called "Säg att du älskar mig", where pretty much the same thing takes place. I cried while watching that.

In march last year, a 14 year old girl in north Sweden filed charges against a guy at her school, claiming he raped her in the school bathroom. What happened next was that the entire society she lives in, took the guy's side.

"He would never do that, he's a nice guy"
"She just wanted attention"
"She was taking revenge because she was actually in love with the guy and he didn't want to be with her"
"I mean, how do you even force anyone to ..blow somebody..?"

These are quotes from grown up people in the little town, that were all not in any way involved in the rape, but speculated wildly anyway. Speculactions became truths, because it was easier to say that the girl was lying than to consider someone they had known since he was a little kid, to be a rapist.

After the guy was convicted, the case was appealed in a higher court, where he was convicted once again. Still the guy was supported openly (by among others the local priest of the Swedish Church), but mostly on social forums online, like facebook. There the language was alot more aggressive. The girl's friends turned on her and her life there was pretty much destroyed.
It became a national issue as the hate and support (from both sides) reached rapidly outside the little town. Finally it made it to a national tvshow regarding issues in society. The episode was one of their most debated but finally it seemed like the girl got her story out in public. People had only heard the the guy's version, or the one told by his friends/supporters.
Little did they know that he at one point in an interrogation at the police department confessed raping her. That his story was identical to the girl's.

He later changed his mind and denied it. But the court ruled in favor of the victim, and even when he was charged again for raping another girl, he got support. But atleast now the first girl recieved support as well, thousands of people engaged themselves, by commenting, arguing, debating and creating support groups for her cause.
He was convicted for the second rape too.

I watched the show, an hour long, and I was captivated. I don't know what it is with rape that makes me feel this much. It is the ultimate and final degradation, the gravest humiliation.

If I was into law or anything like it I would probably become an attorney for rape victims. Instead I read these books and I get amazed at the cruelty, the disrespect that comes from these boys, some of them younger than 15 (and then can't be held legally responsable for their actions).
And how society does everything it can to push the responsability over to the girls.
This is the second rape, blaming the girls.
Saying they shouldn't wear lace underwear, that they shouldn't accept a ride from their neighbour, drink too much, or even dance too sexy. All implying that a man cannot take responsability for his sexuality, and that women have to do that instead. All implying that all men are possible rapists, and that women are stupid to trust them. So basically those who are most commonly agreeing with that expression "All men are rapists" are not your typical angry women rights-girls, but conservative women and men that thinks (and here I quote the allmighty Dr Phil): "Once testosterone hits a guy, he can't be stopped."

But rape is never about sex. It's about punishment. Many gang rapists can't even get it up. This usually angries the man, as this ruins his stud appeal in front of his friends, and so the "whore" he is abusing, is embarressing him, and must therefore be more punished. This is what usually leads to objects being used instead, and in a more brutal way than otherwise.
The punishment origins in hate, a hate for women. But I don't know where that hate comes from. It seems to be older than the skill of writing. Maybe it is reversed "penis envy" performed in a testosteron-packed manner?

I applaude you if you read all of this. I read through these books even though it hurts, and I know that most people won't read them. It is my hope that some will at least read through this, and agree with me or debate with me. Or best of all, to be aware of this tendency we have, to protect the men, the rapists, but not the victims.

I reward your patience with a sketch i did once.

I'm in Stockholm at the moment, visiting my grandma för a family gathering.

I'm so tired my head spins... And getting up really early tomorrow.
I can tell you that my book list in previous post wasn't completely useless. Actually I recieved 2 of the books in it, and got another 2 that wasn't on it, but should have been.

My should-have-been new books on the list:

Lewis Carroll - Alice in Wonderland (a classic, I know. My grandma recently translated it, for a more modern version.)
Lena Sundström - Känns det bra att få finnas en dag till? (She writes about modern life, how hypocritical we are, but she does it wuith humor.)

But the main thing today is how I feel so completely useless.
I've got two male friends that are currently going through some tough times, and I've tried my best to be there and support, without knowing how to best aid. My efforts aren't noted anyhow and it seems to me as if everyone would be better of if I just stayed away. Which I wouldn't mind doing, unless, you know, I didn't care.
But I care, I can't help it. I like you both, guys, but your depressions are tainting me.
Looking at you both, and the situations you're in, I start to look at my own life.
Not sure why I do this.

And what I feel then is a bit more than I can take.
I feel like I have lost so much, around me. Friends, family, material things that meant something.

I feel like those bimbos, those coldhearted women, that at the end of the movie realizes, all her hard work to get somewhere, has been in vain. All her efforts have been channeled in the wrong directon, and that no one regards ther. Nobdy loves her, except for perhaps those shallow fools that would make her utterly unhappy.
They are alone.

I know that this is not my part in the movie though. I am the heroine, that steps out from the dark cave with brass instruments playing in the background as I walk in to the sunlight.
Or maybe coldhearted women can be heroines too.

I don't know.

I just know that I'm extremely asocial right now and with a big mandatory party tomorrow I don't know what to do.
Goodnight.

I have, over the years, come to realize something. Christmas is not about the gifts. It's all about the food.
Yesterday we were gonna celebrate christmas like in Sweden. We had meatballs, small sausages and I even made my own caramel toffee. But it was on dutch terms of course, and it was to be honest pretty far from my usual julbord. However that was expected.
Afterwards we followed the classical routine with the guys, first having a few beers at Job's place, then head out for our oasis, the Waterhole. The really shady bar that only plays rock music. But not even there you can avoid the song "I gotta feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas. Felt good to be back though.
The christmas days here are so confusing. In Sweden we celebrate the 24th, with dinner and gifts. In Holland they get presents from Sinterklaas on the 5th, but celebrate some other christmas on the 25th, when it's tradition to have dinner with your family. This means that the extreme sale that takes place in Sweden between christmas and new year's is spread out on 25 days instead of 5, making it less extreme. But the store's are closed today, it being christmas, and tomorrow, being the 2nd day of christmas. And the day after is a sunday, meaning that the stores are usually closed, but there might be a few open ones in the centre.
Very confusing.
Well since today was the 25th, Diederik's family gathered up in his uncle's studio (he's a graphic artist) for massive amounts of food. There were aunts and children and friends and it was very scary at first. But as one could expect they turned out nice. There was red wine, white wine, cider, beer and Tia Maria. First we were served some spicy meat with rice but I avoided the main dish, garnelen met groente, shrimps with vegetables. I have always been of the opinion that shellfish are the insects of the sea and I dont enjoy the thought of eating them.
The dessert however... I have never been a fan of tiramisu, but having been heavily assured that D's mom makes excellent desserts (which I sort of knew already) I took a piece. Best tiramisu I've ever had. Sooo delicious.
The chaos of the many people around me and the stuffing of food made it a christmassy dinner even though I mostly ate salad and tiramisu.

I am still glad to have gotten away, getting a break really, even if I miss people at home.

Today's song:
Regina Spektor & Ben Folds - You don't know me

PS. Me and D took some nice pictures by his christmas tree (A real one!!! Not plastic! I forgot how nice they smell), and I will poste them later, like, maybe during daytime. Am off to sleep now.

PS 2.
Watched The Girl with the dragon tattoo today, it was really good. The book was partly better, but at times the movie won. Gotta see the other 2 movies as well.

Goodnight!

A small group of really great friends, all attending the same school. Cooking a really fine meal and dining together, sharing a bottle of wine and homemade sweets for desert. Discussing movies and finer points in life.
Then ending the wonderful evening by going to school.
All of them.

I wish this was fiction.
I wish it did not apply to me.
But here I am.
But it sure was a really fine potato gratin. Damn fine.

Going home now though.
I promise.
^_^

So Christmas is around the corner.

I hate wishing for things, and I hate trying to desperatly find something funny and functional to everyone. I usually get the things I need myself, and it's hard to come up with things I just want for the hell of it. Maybe I'm weird, most people don't seem to have trouble wishing. But I managed at last to wish for things that I can't be arsed buying myself. Slight feeling of pride. Shopping for other people is only fun when you finally find that perfect gift for a certain person, but that takes incredible amounts of time. You usually only have the time to find that special something for about two people. The rest is just a guilt trip.

Christmas is the holiday you're supposed to spend with the people you love, friends and family. Despite a considerable amount of admirers, friends and family in Malmö, I have decided this year to break the tradition of celebrating in the countryside house with my mom, my sister and my mom's friends (and their kids), to celebrate both christmas and new years in Amsterdam.
Yes, I know, me and D broke up. But still friends. I need to get away from this town for a little while.

In other news, it's been snowing like mad here. There's a cover of up to 40 cm snow spread over Malmö. Like Laleh says: "Det är som moln över allt", it's like clouds covering everything. Even the canals are frozen.
Oh and school ended last friday. But I was sick, had a severe cold the night before. Felt better in the evening and managed to get myself to the finishing party in Lund, if however a bit late.

Essentially I'm just glad people put up with me, despite me being so bad at answering texts, mails and other forms of indirect communications.

Today's songs:
Laleh - Snö
Kings of Leon - Revelry

Today's lyrics (not from today's songs):
"And even though it's moving forward
There's just the right amount of awkward
And today you accidentally called me baby"

"Plant my lips where your necklace is closed."

The view from my room a few days ago, before a lot of snow had fallen. Still not used to it this far south in Sweden.

I just don't know a better way
to start the day:

Led Zeppelin - The Immigrant song
Björk - Earth intruders


Such a cute church, near my school. There was sun this morning but it's a rare thing nowadays.

Hi again.
I have been thinking for some time that I should update here. But I rarely have the time. So when I return with to this page it's with a hint of guilt.

What's new? Me and Diederik broke up last night.
Why? Mainly the distance (yes, again). But school is demanding so much from me, and I really want to be good. I want to be more than good, I wanna be pretty damn awesome. And this takes oceans of time.
I dont have any time off from school except during summer (no breaks in spring/autumn), so I couldn't travel to Amsterdam until my only week around christmas and new year's. And I have barely enough time as it is for myself. I would have little to no time for my dear Dida if he was to come here (which was under discussion).
This put a lot of strain and pain on both of us, and me being under the stress from school it was a burden too heavy to carry.

How I feel?
Not so surprisingly, a bit hollow/empty. Slightly relieved as well.
What saddens me is that it feels like I still have parts of a life in Amsterdam. Another set of thoughts, another set of friends, habits, words... Another possible life, I guess. I kind of miss that life a little.
I am still considering visiting Amsterdam during christmas. I know exactly what I'd give him. Been thinking about it for months.
But I don't regret this. I needed this freedom. Besides, never say never when there's the internet, as someone said.


Digital scetch I did before we had any classes, before the project, when I was "free"..

Today's songs:
Simian Mobile Disco - I believe
London Elektricity - Just One Second (Apex Remix)

I know I've already had Echo and the Bunnymen - Killing Moon as a "Today's song", so I'll just paste the lyrics. I like the song so much.

Under blue moon I saw you
So soon you'll take me
Up in your arms
Too late to beg you or cancel it
Though I know it must be the killing time
Unwillingly mine

Fate
Up against your will
Through the thick and thin
He will wait until
You give yourself to him

In starlit nights I saw you
So cruelly you kissed me
Your lips a magic world
Your sky all hung with jewels
The killing moon
Will come too soon

Long since I updated, and that is of course mainly due to my project and also Diederik's stay here.
The project is going smoothly (or at least as smoothly as possible with the group I'm in). Think we will do fine and maybe make it to the deadline, in 5 weeks.

But the project takes a lot of time and I've had little time for other things, and other people. A lot of friends have been put aside for the past week. Even Diederik, with whom I live with at the moment, has been suffering for this.
The project and having him here has been too much me to handle. But he leaves on monday, and before that I will try to make the most of the last days.
Tomorrow we're going to the main rehersal of a new show at the Malmö Opera. It's called Black Silk and involves Bach, Nightwish, water and a lot of Vietnamese dancers. Sounded really interesting, and I've been looking forward to it for a long time. Then by a coincidence my friend Cornelia texted and said she had free tickets!
But before we go, it's Paddy's bar with my school of course. Every friday.
I like the idea, and we are really becoming a team in the class, and as a school. I have friends in every class, and it feels sort of awesome.


Me and Darth Vader. Old picture, 2007 perhaps. I am by the way a redhead now!

Today's songs:
This morning started out really cloudy and dark, so these are a bit mellow tunes.
Radiohead - 15 step
The Knife - The Captain

Now we started our first game project in school. I guess I don't have to tell you that I'm excited...
I am a little nervous but we got some pretty good ideas.

It's such a weird experience, going to school and be apart of a project. To sit in meetings where people listen and value your opinion. I honestly didn't expect to be treated like that, as an equal. It is a profession and a working place where men dominate. I didn't expect to be considered such an asset, to my classmates (and possibly future colleagues).
The small amounts of people attending the school also affects the environment. No trash on the floor. No one is drawing or writing stuff on the walls. Only on whiteboards and in notebooks. Bottles and cans are in a separate container. Everyone dish their dishes.

6 days until Diederik is here and I'm lonelier than ever, despite good efforts from my beloved friends.

Longer post some other day, just wanted to update and share these awesome songs that lifted my day (and yes, it's my policy not to have the same "Today's songs" song twice, ever. I listen to way too much music for that to happen).

Today's songs:
Queens of the Stone Age - Make it witchu
Regina Spektor - Chemo Limo

Friday at last. Been a somewhat eventful week despite me being in school between 10 and 5 almost every day. Been meeting up with alot of old friends too, but I am liking my classmates more and more. Intelligent, funny and gifted people.
Diederik is coming to me in 10 days and I really needed that. After being together for 3 months, and then apart, even for one month is painful. And I just need that person, the one who makes me calm when worried, the shoulder to cry on and some funny words to cheer me up when I'm down. The one always there, no matter how many kilometres away.

And I am sort of looking after a new place to stay since there are better places than my current room. But for now it'll do.



Today's songs:
Placebo - One of a kind
Basement Jaxx feat. Sam Sparro - Feelings gone

After two weeks in routines I can say that I am very content with my situation.
I live in a big room that is - no matter what people say - very cheap and central. I dont think I could handle living far from everything. People pay alot more for alot less.

One thing I'm not content with is my hair. It's blond. It's long. It's summery.
And Malmö is turning more and more gray for each day. I think I want to keep the length, just to see how long it gets. But the blonde color is fading like the chlorophyll in the trees. My hair always gets darker during winter, and so it has over the years become a tradition to make it darker chemically. The question is whether to go for more brown, or more red. Someone suggested black, but that would make me awfully pale.
Personally I'm leaning towards red but not sure what shade.

 

Jessica in True Blood. I was thinking maybe this hair colour, or slightly redder.

Today's songs:
Echo and The Bunnymen - Killing Moon
Shivaree - Goodnight Moon

Lately, life has been about few things:

School
People
Room
True Blood.


We get little homeworks in school, to draw objects that we see around us, in particular statues. Everyone is nice, but already I can sort of feel which ones I'll be hanging with in a year. Some extremely nice and sympathetic.
Many of my friends are busy atm. I can't shake the feeling that some of them are getting so far out, that I might not get them back again. It won't be the same really, when they do. Some people that were close, I have hardly seen in months. It's nothing planned, I guess, just prioritizations.

And my room is still full of spiders. I found a spider among my underwear. Not funny. But I keep killing them. It's a war.

The main thing lately however has been True blood. Preferably 12 episodes in a row. Incredible, with awesome characters, but not a single bright one. But now I have to wait until sunday, when next episode is released.

Lack of both computer and internet has kept me from updating, and I've been really busy on top of that.

Two days ago I started school. It's called The Game Assembly nowadays due to a copyright complaint from a german school. There I have been assigned a stationary computer with two (2!) screens. And all the awesome creative programs I could ever wish for.
So monday was first day in school. But there was alot of other firsts that day.

I moved away from my home, the room that has been my home for the past 12 years. But maybe that isn't really a first considering that I moved to Brussels before, even though that was not a permanent move.
The first night was horrible.
I detected two large spiders, hiding under my bed. I managed to kill one, but not the other. I suspected there were more (and I was right), but I couldn't do much, it was late in the evening. And it was so quiet. I could hear myself breath, move and all the little sounds that an old building full of apartments make.

I slept with the lights on for the first time in over 12 years. It was a nervous sleep and when Diederik called me in the middle of the night (to calm me down) I woke up sweaty as from a nightmare.
Morning after I had my first breakfast at my new home. And then went to school.
Last night I had my first friend over, Cornelia. She helped me get rid off some dead insects and spiders. Since the entire day had passed without a (live) spider sighting, I assumed that maybe the room wasn't loaded with spiders, maybe there was just one left, and it was dying?
This morning, after a peaceful sleep in my very comfortable bed, I withdrew the curtain and a longlegged spider fell almost down on me.
I will get the vacuumcleaner as soon as I get an opportunity.

Final hours in Amsterdam. The weather is cloudy for the first time in two weeks.
I guess I'm still in denial, a little bit.
I've been with Diederik nonstop since early June now. It's almost 3 months.
3 months of being together, with only my few working hours and bathroomvisits apart.
And now I might not see him for another 2 months.

But still I think we spend more time together than other couples (unless they live together), considering we've only been a real couple for 10 months.

We went swimming a few days ago, in what I think was the ocean. I didn't expect it but it was really warm in the water. In Sweden very little of the warm current from the south reaches our shores (the Danish take most of it, as with many other things).
I can't wait to go there again. We probably spent an hour in the water, all 4 of us, before getting up again.
Only thing is that the beach is very far away and to that particular area it takes longer with public transportation than walking. About an hour in both cases. But after walking you feel soooo much better when you finally reach the water.

Diederik lives (like most people in the outskirts of Amsterdam) in a not very tall darkred brick townhouse building. They don't have ventilation originally, the buildings are more than a 100 years old. This causes the top floors in each house to have a temperature a lot higher than the bottom ones. Diederik's room is at the very top and so it gets very warm here. But after eating breakfast downstairs this morning I grabbed a cardigan when we were going out.
Huge mistake. Outside was sun, merciless sun, and air that stood completely still. Humidity made me feel like I was walking around in soup.

We were heading for a few presentations in physics, and when we met up with the other guys they informed us that later on we would have thunder, followed by snow. And as I typed that very sentence, just now, I heard the first sound of thunder.
I doubt the snow though. It's like 27 Celsius in the shadow.
Anyway I hope we'll manage, as soon as I'm done here, we're going to Job's place. With a barbeque and beer we were gonna celebrate that him and Stef both have reached their bachelor's degree in physics. But now, before I finished that sentence, a sudden and massive rain started pouring. Like in the Hollywood movies where I always think "It never really rains like that. They should adjust their rain machines." I see lightning now, it's not very far either.
I'll keep an eye out for snow, I guess.

Been watching alot of good movies lately.
Examples:
American Beauty
This is England
Ice Age 3

We also started watching District 9 but it was a poor version, so we shut it off. Downloading is legal in Holland, and I furiously abuse this fact. If someone wants to argue the moral of this, I'm welcoming a try.

Have some holiday pictures!

                   
D bought a glass             Bumbelbee in Lindeberg!       Me chilling with the Royal
bottle of Coke and                                                      Guards in Stockholm
enjoyed it massively!