weekjenederland

Tja, welke verschillen dan zo opvallen als je zo'n 9 maanden bent weggeweest....

heel lieve familie & vrienden & Luna in Nederland!
& te weinig tijd om iedereen te zien; verheug me nu al op de volgende keer!

mist
oliebollenkraam
hoogbouw en liften
warm water uit de kraan en dat begint al in 't vliegtuig
zwartbonte en roodbonte koeien en schapen in de wei
met de auto harder rijden dan 80 km per uur (yoehoe)
zoeken naar een vuilnisbakje om je toiletpapier in te gooien
silhouet van een molen dat opduikt in de opkomende zon en lijkt te zweven in de mist (prachtplaatje)
zadelpijn & pijnlijke bovenbeenspieren! (na een half uurtje fietsen....)
verkoopster die niet achter je aanlopen in de winkel
zelf de boodschappen inpakken in de supermarkt
fietsers & trams op de rijbaan
zwanen in een weiland
bruincafe

Dia di Banda 'Bou

Awe tabata dia di Banda 'bou!


Feet in the sand



Today, was Banda 'bou day! Banda 'bou is the country side on the west side of the island. It's know for beautiful beaches, there are a lot of them: playa cas abou, playa lagun, playa seru pretu, playa santa cruz, playa grandi and many more. As the beaches, the country side is gorgeous.



On the way to Banda 'bou, there's a part which I call 'little Tuscany'. Although, I've never been to Tuscany, to me it looks a lot like Tuscany, you just need to imagine cypress trees instead of the cactuses you will see. Unfortunately, in a couple of years about 10.000 houses will replace this beautiful part of the country.

Banda 'bou is also on the way to Mount Christoffel. Once you leave the city and drive westward, it will become more and more hilly. As it's been raining a lot lately, the country side is very green and looks beautiful and healthy. Except for a couple of goats and lizzards, there wasn't a lot of traffic on the way to Banda 'bou. Which was surprising because today is Banda 'bou day.

Due to havy rain last weekend, the day was moved ahead one week. The idea is that at various place around Banda 'Bou you will find little stands selling jewelery, clothes and food (of course): Chicken with fries, sauses and hot saus (Galina ku batata tur kos), Sopi Mondungo (soup with intestines) and more. And let's not forget the music!

I took the road trip with my aunt. The first place where we went to was the market of Barber. We found a few stands even one with antiques and a whole area of food stands. The second place, we found on the way to Soto was a little bigger; less food, more stands selling stuff and a band singing Tambu. There was also a very Dutch 'Frietkraam' (fries trailer); I could not resist a 'patatje oorlog met ui'. Pretty good! 

After a day of driving, smelling food and listening to loud music, it is always very nice to drive to a beach. With my feet in the sand and walking in the water, seeing the sun go down and feeling the wind on my skin, I totally calm down. It's very relaxing. I can recommend it!!!! Today, we ended up at Playa Santa Cruz. It almost replaces Cas Abou as my favorite beach. Since this one is free, I guess it's my favorite free beach!

Playa Santa Cruz

Tropical Depression

August until November is hurricane season in this part of the world. Curacao, Bonaire and Aruba are part of ‘Islanan Abou’ the western islands (Benedenwindse eilanden). St. Martin, Saba and St. Eustatius are the Islariba, the eastern islands (Bovenwindse eilanden). The Islariba are more prone to actually getting hurricanes. Once in a while Curacao is hit, but here it’s more storms and tropical depressions. In August we saw some rain, but September is really something else. It’s like all the rain that falls in the Netherlands in a year, falls her in a couple of days. Of course, the soil can’t handle it, neither can the sewers. Streets are flooding, houses are flooding, the gorge behind my house that is normally dry turned into a river.

Last night, I got home just in time to save my apartment from flooding. Though the consideration of staying at a beach hotel (I was there for happy hour ;-) was a pretty good one. The drive home was dangerous. My brakes didn’t work as well as they normally do and they made a terrible noise. Scary! I had to drive around to find streets that weren’t flooded which turned out to be impossible. The crossing Nacht by Schout Doormanweg and Cas Coraweg was totally flooded. A car wouldn’t drive anymore, so people were pushing. Two cars had bumped into one another. It looked spectacular, though it wasn’t. It kind of felt cool at some point as I was actually ‘driving on water’. Something like ‘walking on water’. Here’s the film.
Driving on Water

Finally I got to Gosieweg, the main street near my house. But the cars in front of me were not moving anymore. They looked like they were floating in the water. Luckily on my right there was a parking lot which lay a little higher. I took the exit and that way was able to pass over the other cars. I found a road that went up to my street. Since I live on a hill a lot of water was just coming at me. Luckily I was still able to drive up. When I got to my appartment I saw a little lake in front of my house. Seriously, it would have been easier to get to my house by rubber boat! It turned out that a stone was covering the hole that normally lets out the rain. We’d put it there because Vuvu would escape through it when she was still a tiny little puppy. So, a good thing I didn’t stay at a hotel!
Just to let you know: I got home safe, my house is fine and my car is still in good shape. As of now…I’m paying a little more attention to the weather forecast during hurricane season.

And what’s most beautiful, today the sun is shining brightly and we have a clear blue sky!

This post is a week late….because..i got a bad case of the cold…

Elections

Pink, orange, white, gold, light blue, yellow, red, blue, cream and green. Ten colors. Ten political parties. The first prime minister of our new to be formed country Curacao (by 10-10-2010) will be elected today. Wednesday was the last campaign day and  that evening I spend at the party house of FOL. Like every other party, FOL painted their party building in the party colors.

Orange party house - Frente Obrero Liberashon

There I decided that if by Friday, I still did not know what party to vote for, I could always vote for orange. The Dutch would certainly get that. Anyway, we were standing outside the orange builing. There were orange flags everywhere and two stages. On one stage the well-known band from Aruba 'Tsunami' was playing. On the other stage a well-know band from Curacao 'Simplemente Perfecta' was playing. And that was the main reason, I was  there. Of course to experience some culture, but also because my cousin was playing. And that was fun! 

Green party house - PNP Partido Nashonal di Pueblo

Cars were driving around and there were real traffic jams. Only a few parties celebrated the last day of their campaing that evening. The other parties already celebrated the evening before. So you actually had the chance to visit different parties....to get free drinks, free t-shirts, free poker cards...and some people went to sell their vote; in exchange for cash, or by having their electricity bill paid. Yes, this really happens here. Two radio DJs actually sold their votes on air to the highest bidding party! And apparently, that's legal....I should have tried to sell my vote for my car insurance or something. But honest as I am, I did not sell my vote.

Pink party house - Laboral

I went to the school  building today to vote. I brought my neighbor...how else was I going to find that place. Entering the voting hall, I saw tables that were covered by paper boxes, apparently to give the voters some privacy. I handed by voting card and my ID to the gentleman behind the desk. He called out my ID number. Another lady then called out my name, there were persons from different polical parties present to coordinate the process (to eliminate corruption). I received a voting sheet and went into one of he cubicles. With a red pencil I colored a dot on a voting sheet. After that, I entered my voting sheet into another paper box. It was certainly interesting. Not an easy task...since I don't know the history.

The streets have been decorated with flags in all party colors for weeks.

Voting is a big deal here. Some people don't like to vote because of how the politicians behave. Apparently, they tend to call eachoter morons instead of presenting their political program when they have air time and they make no progress. But what else is new in politics..... Since 2 pm today, everything is closed, supermarkets, gym, public offices, etc. Everyone get's time of to vote. Some call it that, others call it ' just another excuse not to work'.....

More flags: people are proud of the party they vote for
and put the party's flag on their car.
This flag on my car is just for demonstration purposes...I did not vote for FOL.

Children seem to have the most fun: during the campaign parties they dress up in the colors of all the parties; the more colors you wear, the better. Imagine this: yellow pants, pink shirt, green belt, white cap, gold earrings, blue left shoe, dark blue right shoe, cream, red and orange bracelets.

I got to vote for the first time here and it makes me feel proud.

Here's an opportunity I couldn't miss;
in a picture with the party leader....
even though he was just
made out from paper.

The birthday party

Party Decorations

My grandmother and my aunt & uncle celebrated their birthdays in the same week. So, I got a new experience: the traditional family party. As my aunt and uncle turned fifty on the same day, they organized a big party. Already the day before, my - other - aunt backed some cakes and again another aunt helped to tidy up the house. My cousin also helped out a lot and once the party started she looked so tired that I dismissed her of her duties and told her to enjoy the party since it were her parents celebrating. Meanwhile, I got experience in waiting tables. By the end of the evening I was able to carry three plates and remember about 6 drinks!

Kala

Anyways, enough about me. The party preparations started with decorating the house and preparing snacks. My aunt (yet another) made kala and pika balls (spicy meatballs). There were also oysters in ham topped with cheese (delicious and spicy) and sausages wrapped in bacon.

BBQ-box

Already hours before the party my uncle started the barbeque. He’s my BBQ-King, he makes the best meat. So once everyone arrived, dinner was served. It came in a nice box (luckily for my cousin who came between his daytime job and his nighttime job - he plays in a band – so he could take some food w/ him). And then there was the cake. In the Netherlands we start serving cake when guests arrive. Of course that cake is accompanied by a nice cup of coffee. It’s a little different here. Once you arrive at the party, the cakes are presented on a table.

Presenation of Cakes

Sweet Take Home Candy

They stay there all evening. Once you are ready to go home, you take a piece of cake with you. It is tradition, so people at your home who were not at the party, can share the cake with you. In addition, you receive some kind of candy – I don’t know what it’s called – but it’s made of condensed milk and tastes very sweet. I tasted it ones...this time I put mine back in the basket without anyone seeing....I just wanted to make sure some enjoyed that piece of candy.

Oysers w/ Ham & Cheese

Sausage w/ Bacon

Pika Balls

B-day

Me at 39

OK....it's been almost a month that I turned 39 and celebrated my birthday, but it's never too late to tell you about it. Since my birthday was on my day off, I had the whole day to prepare for the party. It was a beautiful day, and I have lunch with a close friend at Zanzibar, on the beach of Jan Thiel. What a beautiful location for a birthday lunch. And my first present: a voucher for a massage at Beach Body. Wonderful. I've finally made an appointment for next Monday. Looking forward to that. Ok. Back to the party.

Ready to party

Since I have a small apartment and a small yard and only a few chairs, I decided to keep it small.

Some more family

Just family, some neighbors and a few close friends. Unfortunately, some could not make it due to car issues...the reoccuring problem of the island. I'm glad my car is great.

More family

So, in the evening about 22 people arrived at my doorstep. It was wonderful. We ended up putting my sofa bed outside to have more seating places.

My neighbor let me borrow a couple of chairs and my other neighbour brought some extra chairs. I invited a cousin whom i never met, but who was on vacation here at the moment. He brought his girlfriend and they are the most wonderful people.

After Party

Two days later we had an after party at Cinco's. A local discotheque. It was a wonderful day, it was the first time celebrating my birthday with my family on the island of Curacao.

More After Party

Grandma and aunt

My grandmother was amazed; she never expected to see so many people at the party since I've only been here a couple of months..but hey, what can i say, it's a really large and great family!

Presents

When the party was over, I had some time to unwrap my presents. Thank you everybody! By the way, I'm sitting on one of my presents, outdoor chairs from grandma.

Unwrapping presents

B-day presents

Salsa!

To learn a little bit of culture, I decided to take salsa lessons. The first thing I was told, was that salsa comes from Puerto Rico, so we would be learning Puerto Rican style salsa. So much for my attempt at learning about the Antillian culture... There are of course more salsa types, like the one from South America and of course Salsa Antiliana which one of my relatives came up with.
Nevertheless, I took the lessons and enjoy them to the fullest.

The best part of the class is basically being a woman! The man has to lead the lady, so he needs to remember al the moves and to learn how to give directions. Well, let me tell you, that must be really difficult. Of course, my salsa instructor is brilliant, with just one finger he makes me move around the dance floor. Afterwards, people start making compliments about how good of a dancer I am. I politely say thank you and hope that no one else asks me to dance. The truth is, when a dance partner is not so good at leading the lady, it's very hard to look good on the dance floor. There's toe stepping, spinning in the wrong direction, bumping into other couples. Right, embarrassing to say the least.

The interesting fact is however, is that some guys just use one finger (extremely advanced dancer), some use a hand (getting there) and others use two hands and even throw in their body to make the lady do what they would like them to do. As an extremely independent lady, I of course prefer the extremely advanced dancer. It's absolutely wonderful. With the last type, I can really get annoyed.Of course there is always the perogative to kindly reject the offer to dance.

And then there are of course men who can keep rhythem...and the once who can't. I could say that I find them courageous to go to dance class, but the truth is, they don't really have the slightest clue that they are dancing off beat and since they are really having a great time, I don't have the heart to tell them. Lucky me, there's always a dance teacher to give them a few suggestions. Which sound like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 1, 2 etc.

Next Tuesday is my last lesson for this season. Then there is summer break. I've followed basic level 1, level 2 and level 3. Afterwards, I even received a certificate. I'm now finishing up with intermediate level 1. During the summer there are practice nights every Thursday! Then of course there are all the salsa bars like De Heeren, Asia da Cuba and De Boot.

The very best part of salsa lessons is that it's a great way to meet new people and make friends. Yesterday, we watched the match Netherlands-Brasil together at the Zanzibar. We had a great time and are of course looking forward to next Tuesday's match.

Vuvu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

o, o, look what my neighbour found and what he would like to give to me..he's so cute.
soooo tiny.
ít's a very young puppie. he was walking alone down the road, so my neighbour brought him home.
I've been feeding him milk from a little feeding bottle. i'm not really sure what else to do. oh, i've been hugging him dearly. he likes that. and he also likes to be caressed on his ear lobe. so adorable.

But, i'm used to cats & babies! I have no clue whatsoever about dogs. I used to be afraid of dogs before i got Luna. Anyways, this little one needed a name so I called him Vuvu. it seems appropriate for the time of year! Right now i'm on feeding break. I'll give Vuvu another bottle in about two hours. Do I give another feeding in the middle of the night????

So please, Mieke, Pascal, tell me what to do. He's a little weak, so i need to get this little one up and running. I bought some small candy so i can train him to do whatever.....help.... Tomorrow I should probably buy a leash or something to take him walking. Although no one does  that around here, but it will be good for me ;-)

Petula-seeks-new-career-opportunity-Prudencia

oeps...i promised a new blog about salsa. but i was in bed most of the day. first with a headache than create a facebook fan page as a job seeker. now i'm alsmost of to salsa. i hope to do better tomorrow.

Here is the link to: My facebook fan page

So, sign up and become my fan!
You will be helping me to find a new job. Ain't that something. help me find a job sooner ;-)

THANKS

winter weather

Sometimes people say or write to me that the weather here is always the same. Apparently, it's rainy again in the Netherlands and reminiscing about the sunny beaches here is of course a great escape.

Well, you know we get some rain to once in a while. And when it's raining, it doesn't rain the whole day. It's just about 10 minutes, maybe half an hour. But in that short time a whole lot of water falls out of the sky.

Traffic jams, flooded streets, getting late at work are often the result of these showers, which we actually have quite often lately. But that is also fun! My car gets cleaned, so I don't have to wash all the salt & sand of myself. Which is realy nice.It's also a great excuse for indoor activities: YEH, cinema time! By the way, go see Letters to Juliet. It's a beautiful movie. Of course it was filmed in Italy so I might be just a little prejudiced.

And then, since this if of course a Dutch country, we have Dutch stores with Dutch food. So on a rainy day, it's wonderful to eat something like 'erwtensoup'. It does taste a little different though. Maybe because although it's raining, it's not cold.

underwater world

Can you believe this me?

It's soooo cool!

I'm flying...

Can you tell I passed Peak Performance Buoyancy?

Of course I do great in front of camera's.

Where are we and where are we going????

This dive was at Porto Mari Curacao.
Buddies were Fenna & Suzanne.
Underwater Photographer of all images: Fenna van Zeijlen

Koninginnedag 2010

Tja, de blog van vandaag kan natuurlijk alleen in het Nederlands worden geschreven. Bijzonder om Koninginnedag niet in Amsterdam te vieren. Natuurlijk ben ik als doorgewinterde Nederlandse zeker van de partij op Koninginnedag en die begint natuurlijk de avond vooraf: Koninginnenach... 

Het is mij al heel snel duidelijk dat je daarvoor niet in Willemstad moet zijn maar echt in Den Haag. En ik had nog wel al mijn overtuigingskracht in de strijd gegooid om mijn collega's mee te krijgen. Iedereen was toch echt wel moe maar de zin 'maar het is Koninginnedag, dan moeten we toch echt iets gaan drinken' deed wonderen. Na wat taxieen en met een volle auto naar Punda gereden. Gelukkig zijn hier oerhollandse kroegen. Bij De Tijd hebben we ons prima vermaakt.

Koninginnedag ging er een stuk anders aan toe dan ik gewend ben. De traditie overdag - porch sales, marktkraampjes, etc. blijf ik je voorlopig schuldig want ik was aan 't werk. In mijn lunchpauze nog wel even een nieuwe bikiki (had ik echt nodig) gekocht en een oranje t-shirt...voor het geval dat. Na het werk even een paar baantjes gezwommen (zie je wel, handig zo'n extra bikini) bij Seaquarium Beach met de nieuwe zwemclub - met een paar collega's gaan we in elk geval drie keer per week een paar baantjes trekken.

Na de baantjes via de chinees naar huis gereden. Suzanne was mee zodat we even gezellig samen konden eten. Daarna snel douchen, ff wat kleding aan en naar Fenna gereden. William - onze Amerikaanse vriend die wij voor deze gelegenheid geen Bill mochten noemen zoals hij altijd wordt genoemd - was ook al snel aanwezig. De goede fles wijn die ik had meegenomen hebben we gezellig op het dakterras van het studentenhuis met 35 (!) kamers waar Fenna tijdelijk woont heerlijk opgedronken. En toen richting Punda. Op het Wilhelminaplein hebben wij ons heerlijk vermaakt.

Karen Maike kwam ook langs en ik kwam best veel bekenden tegen; nog een paar collega's, de zeilinstructeur, een paar hulpmannen van salsales.

Het gaat goed met het opbouwen van een vriendenkring. Leuk. Om 23.00 uur had ik het gevoel dat het 2 uur 's nachts was..tja werkweek en morgen weer aan de bak en die dag daarna weer en dan weer, zodat ik heerlijk een paar dagen vrij ben en die met Ineke en Ria kan doorbrengen. Volgende week om deze tijd zijn zij gezellig hier.

Tot slot enkele toetjes ter vermaak:

Vlog - Wilheminaplein Willemstad
Vlog - Willemstad 2

A (Sun)day in the life of...

My alarm goes off. It’s not an alarm clock like I’m still used to; it’s my cell phone. It’s got a nice tune, though it’s time I found an alarm clock; I trust them a little better than my cell phone...the battery might die. Then again, the power outages that occur here regularly might just make my cell phone more reliable than an alarm clock that runs on electricity.

It’s 7.00 am. I get out of bed and walk to the living room. I turn off the exterior lights. Then, I check the box where it states how much electricity I still have. It says 40.38 that’s not much, it might last for about three to four days. I should remember to buy electricity when I come home from work. I go to the kitchen area of my studio apartment and get some oranges from the fridge. I go to the bathroom with my water boiler and fill it with water; the water from the tap in the bathroom runs three times faster than the water from the tap in the kitchen... Back in the kitchen, I turn on the water boiler and start pressing oranges. SHT..this is the third orange pressing machine I’ve bought, it’s a Princess and this one isn’t working either. I press the oranges manually and start thinking weather to buy a tranformator for 100 guilders to see if the appliances run better on a 220V or maybe I should just give up on electronic appliances and by a manual press. ... After pressing three oranges, the next one seems to be frozen. I guess I need to adjust my fridge... I drink the orange juice that I was able to press from a glass that I bought at the supermarket; they really had the nicest ones!


At 5 pm the store is closed, I’ve changed my shirt in my office – i’m the only one out of 6 present today - and my colleagues gather at picknick tables. We go to Hemingway’s the beach bar next door and have drinks. I have a frozen awa lamounchi; it’s delicious. I feel like I haven’t had a drink all day. I meet some new people and I get offered another frozen awa lamounchi. At 6 pm I leave. I’m meeting some friends that are visiting from the Netherlands at Wet & Wild. I walk along the beach and see them sitting in beach stairs. We have a few drinks and catch up. After they leave for dinner, I walk through the crowd and see someone I know from salsa class. We talk for a while and then I see a colleague. I catch up with him till I see the colleagues I had drinks with earlier. I sit with them for a while and we have another drink. At 8.45 pm, I call it a night. I go the ATM machine and withdraw some money, go to the restroom and walk back to Lions Dive & Beach Resort. I exit the hotel and walk to my car.

I drive to the gas station. It’s busy; tomorrow the gas prices go up so everybody is filling up their tank. I go to the counter. I give my bank card to the lady and tell her to keep it so I can fill up my tank. I’m at pump 20. She asks me how much I want to put in. I tell her again that I want to fill it up. I’ve been there before and it’s never been an issue. She tells me to go to my car and get gas. The machine isn’t working; another customer tells me that the woman in the window wants me to come back and see her. Then see tells me that it’s how they work, I first need to pay and then I can get gas. I tell her that I don’t know how much gas I need. So I tell her to give me back my card and that I will just get gas somewhere else.

But first I go next door. I leave my car at the gas station. I don’t care that a line of people is waiting to get gas. I get to the little store and go to the second counter. I give my pagatinu card and give 100 guilders. She charges my electricity card and I walk back to my car. I drive to Biesheuvel. Another gas station. I’m the only customer. I give the gentlemen at the counter my card and tell him that I want to fill up my tank. Go ahead he says. I fill up my tank and when I ‘m done, he swipes my card and I pay. Right...how difficult can it be. Guess where I’ll be getting gas for the rest of my life on Curacao?
I drive towards my house and see a store that’s still open. It’s Sunday and almost ten o’clock. Good to know. I buy a few things and then I go next door. It’s a little bar type place where they also sell food; they always do.

I tell the women that I’d like a meal but I don’t know what she has on the menu. She starts talking to me in Spanish ( I spoke to her in Dutch) and then she starts yelling. She keeps smiling so it can’t be bad. Here colleague is coming, I guess she was yelling for him. Oh, he speaks Dutch and after a I repeat my question I get a long list of food; white rice, brown rice, rice with beans, fries, beans, chicken, pork chops...I end up with sate chicken hasa pinda saus sla tomati.

I drive home; I stop the car, open the gate, drive the car through the gate, park my car, close the gate, get the food from my car, lock the car, open the door to my house and close the door to my house and lock it. I charge the electricity machine. I now have 193.38 power units left. That will last a while. I crash on the couch and eat the food. It’s very tasteful. I unlock the door to my bedroom. I turn on the air conditioning. I take a shower – another cold shower - and brush my teeth . I brush my feet as well. They’re black and full of sand. After my shower I go back to my bedroom, I wonder what the neighbour hood dogs (15+) are barking about this time, start up my computer, sit on my bed and write a story....The water is done boiling and I make instant coffee. While my coffee cools off, I get into the shower. The water is cold. There is no hot water in my shower. If I want a hot shower, then I need to take a shower between 2 and 4 pm. So after a morning shower I’m definitely awake. I use soap from a travel bottle, it’s the last one of my travel bottles; not that I still had the feeling that I was on vacation but it’s a change to go buy bottles of shampoo, conditioner and soap. After I’ve fixed my hair, I sit down on my sofa bed and drink my coffee. It’s Sunday and that means less traffic; I get to get up half an hour later than usual. Though today I’m a little slow. I go to my bedroom, put some anti repellent on (cream against mosquitoes) my body and I get dressed ( a shirt from work, a jeans skirt and flip flops). I find a tank top in my closet and put it in a plastic bag. I turn of the air conditioning in my bedroom, close the door and lock the dead bolt. I get my bags (swim bag, lunch bag, happy hour t-shirt bag) and I open the door – I unlock both locks and close the door again. I walk passed my car and open the gate. I drive my car through the gate , get out of my car and lock the gate again; I get into my car and check the clock. It’s 15 minutes to 8. I’m going to be late for work! I need to be there in 5 minutes and it’s a 15 minute drive. It’s Sunday so at the traffic light I can’t buy a newspaper from the lady in the blue shirt that sells newspapers on the street every day. I get to work at exactly 8 pm...

Classes, classes, classes.....

my discipline is slacking....

I was going to write as much as possible on this Blog. That changed to at least once a week. Then every week...and today I see that almost two weeks have passed. And what have I been doing in those two weeks? 
Good question.

I started  on Monday with the Advanced Open Water Diver course. Unfortunately after the first day, I fell ill so I couldn't finish it. Next chance is May 5th. Let's hope I can make the deep dive then and the two electives, preferably Fish Identification and Underwater Photography.

I'm also taking a course for work: the Emergency First Responder Course. I've had the first class last week and next week Tuesday evening and Wednesday evening I'll have the second and third session. After that I can do CPR and what not! 

I'm also taking Salsa classes. I started with one dance school at beginner's level, but wasn't really satisfied by how it was organised (A bad case of culture shock didn't help). So after the third lesson (at which I walked out off the class), I started with another dance school. And  I could start with level 2 already! Brilliant. Of course, as a good Dutch person, I'm still going to the first dance school; I paid for 7 lessons! Which is good because last Thurday evening it was a really nice class!!!! FINALLY! So I'm dancing every Monday & Thursday;

I'm diving on Tuesday or Thursday (my day off from work).....and w/ a few courses from work, the weeks are flying by!!!  Of course there's having drinks with colleagues & listening to singing colleagues at Mundo Bizarro every other Friday evening (for those visiting and staying at Pietermaai Small, it's around the corner ;-)

• most surprising event: the project manager from Holland Heineken House Vancouver showed up at my work this week with a special delivery from the Netherlands. I got beautiful presents: the official Holland Heineken House Vancouver 2010 sweater and a postcard. Special thanks to Renate & Monica! It came at the right time, it's been raining and getting a little cold on the boat!
• # of dives to date: 19
• most interesting dive event: underwater navigation; i found my way home ;-))))
• nice gesture of the week: i got an orange press machine for free from an appliance store ; the sales men said 'it so bad, i can't sell it to you, take it for free'. i did, i already bought one that didn't work, this one was actually a lot better, but still a piece of crap, like the salesperson said.... today i got another one. well three is a charm and so far it looks very promissing
• best taste: soato soup with egg from Warung Jawa