First I went with Frida to her parents place on the countryside. We were there for over two weeks and also visited a friend at Gotland, a small island in front of the Swedish coast. Relaxing, reflecting, finally seeing this beautiful Swedish lake with a sunset.. And looking forward; where do we want to be together, and how, and what do we want to do? On Gotland I finally saw some real sea again! The Swedish coasts are nothing compared to the Netherlands, just rocky. Interesting to look at but not that much enjoyable as the Dutch ones. But at Gotland I got to experience it more. Gotland was strange, Sweden in small it is called. Flat in the south, cold in the north. And a lot of rocks :)

Then my brother Tijl came by and we went backpacking into the forests. As we both never did such a thing before we started carefully, but already within 24 hours we came back and repacked our backpacks :) Then it went better, but I now know I’m more a cyclist.. Canoing on the Swedish lakes with Tijl was fantastic. We went for a full day and slept on one of the islands. We also went to Stockholm, which was a bit strange.. and a lot of fun.

When Tijl went back to the Netherlands, the last week for me and Frida physically together started.. That was a lot harder one. With al the plans in our heads, it still wasn’t easy to cope with. I tried with a party on the last day, which helped a lot in making it a happy after-halfyear-party. Nonetheless, saying goodbye was almost horrible.

Then I traveled to Berlin. A nice trip on a train and ferry where I met a Japanese guy with which I later spent a day in Berlin with. Berlin was really nice. A good atmosphere, lots of bio shops and not such a busy center as for example Amsterdam.

After two days of Berlin I went on to France. There was a nice park in Lyon where I ate my lunch. And then the wonderful week in Rancy, France. I was there with a group from Mens en Spirit (Human and spirit) at La Ripe Blance. Also a lot of ‘down to earth’ stuff, which is really necessary for a spiritual heavy week :) I could reflect a lot on the last half year and life in general. I started a new company which I wanted to do already for some time, Frida helped me knowing that, and the France week helped me starting it. When I left there I knew I would just start. More on that later via the website and maybe the blog as well.

And then at last, the travel back to the Netherlands. Seeing the Eiffel tower in the distance as the train came past Paris and via a beautiful station of Antwerp. Having traveled a lot, I could finally write destination Alkmaar in my interrail log..

He wanted to see the museum für film und fernseher (movie and television). The exhibition was not that interesting to me, but the building was pretty interesting, and there were some other nice things.

Then we went to the museum of communication. It had some nice things, good interaction as well, but it was too bad that most descriptions and explanations were only in German. And a nice thought on diaries and blogs. Are the diaries of today (the weblogs) still as private as they were? And, is there a difference between how the writers and readers see that privacy?

In the evening we went to a vegetarian Japanese restaurant. I found one before, and, it seemed to be a very good choice. Masa said it was so good that they could easily open a shop in Japan as well :) And he was really happy reading some Japanese again (on the menu) after three weeks of Europe trip. The restaurant was called Susuru, which means slurping. It was advised to do that as, according to the menu, it made for a better taste. And, it was good anyway to be able to eat the udon, a special kind of noodles. And, really tasty it was! You should go there when you’re in Berlin!

I’ve been thinking about Frida all day.. Only three days ago now.

Next stop, Tournus. The train leaves in an hour. For a week with Mens en Spirit (human and spirit).

There can be no understanding between the hands and the brain unless the heart acts as mediator (Thea von Harbou)

And then I saw this, here in Berlin. Wikitravel calls this neighborhood one with students, artists and left-wing people. The streets are big, large apartments, people on the streets everywhere. In the shopping street there are all these small shops. Goods from all over the world, people from all cultures. Semi-old style buildings, open windows, music and talking coming through them. Whole gardens on the balconies. People smiling, even if they don’t know you. A very alive atmosphere.

Not houses with plants growing on the walls, but whole cars and bikes covered with plants! A student house, Chateau Manteuffel, named after the street, where the students had set up their own dream organization as well. Living, working, partying, together, in the same place.

The park and playground in the middle had a complete biological market. At first I thought “that is a waste of energy, two bio grocery stands opposite each other”. But then everything was bio. Three groceries, two cheese stands, a bakery, five clothing stands, a shoe stand, two with household stuff and an ice cream stand! Oh, ad one with flowers and one with juice and wine. I’ve probably forgot some more :)

At the playgrounds the mothers and some fathers were talking and watching their children. The women, about half of them, without bras. No limitations for the body anymore? When the children couldn’t make up who’s turn it was now, one of the mothers took care of it. In a perfect and calm way. As if every child was her child. No need for a “how to raise your child” reality tv show here, no “I only care about my own child” mentality.

In the evening I ate at the vegetarian restaurant next to the park. Really good food, nice juice (rhubarb!) and not expensive. In the whole neighborhood I found five bio shops, a vegetarian café and this vegetarian restaurant. And I’ve only spent half a day there. The closest bio shops in Eskilstuna were an hour and a half away by train.

I knew it can be like this. In Alkmaar we also had three bio shops. I’ve seen such streets and atmosphere in The Hague before. In Eskilstuna there were also always people talking and children playing in front of the apartment.

But somewhere, I forgot this longing. To have all this, all around you. I forgot, while knowing it unconsciously, that I wish to live in such a place.

—

Update: I’ve uploaded some photos

This post will be in Dutch, look at the bottom for an English translation of the introduction. Swedes can read parts of the Dutch text also.

Gisteren is het Nederlandse woordenboek binnengekomen, voor Zweden wel te verstaan; Nederländska fickordbok. Zodat Frida de Nederlandse grammatica achterin in het Zweeds kan leren, wel zo makkelijk.

En achterin hebben ze ook heel handig een lijst voor in een restaurant of voor de ingrediëntenlijst geplaatst. Van Nederlands naar Zweeds, zodat je op een pak de ingrediënten in het Nederlands kunt lezen en dan weet wat dat eigenlijk betekent. Het leuke.. al die typische Nederlandse recepten die geen directe vertaling hebben, worden hier netjes uitgelegt :)

• Haagse hopjes: hårda karameller med kaffesmak
• hagelslag: (choklad)strössel som äts på smörgås som pålägg
• Hollandse nieuwe: holländsk matjessill (jämför maatjesharing nedan)
• hutspot: maträtt bestående av kokt potatis, morötter, lök och kött
• krentenbol: litet runt matbröd med korinter i
• kroepoek: indonesiska chipsliknande tilltugg av fisk, kött eller frukt
• maatjesharing (vervolg van Hollandse nieuwe): matjessill (med skarpare fisksmak och mindre kryddsmak än den svenska motsvarigheten); köps ofta i stånd utomhus
• moorkop: chokladtäckt petit-chou med gräddfyllning
• oliebol: friterar bakverk i form av en boll, pudrat med florsocker, som främst äts vid nyår
• pepernoot: kryddad sötsak som främst äts i början av december i samband med S:t Nikolausfesten
• stroopwafel: dubbel, hård våffla med sirapsfyllning
• taaitaai: mjuk, seg pepparkaka
• vla: kräm som äts till efterrätt

Gelukkig is het andersom nog veel ‘erger’. De lijst van Zweedse recepten met de Nederlandse uitleg is veel langer, omdat bijna elk product een flinke uitleg nodig heeft om in het Nederlands begrijpelijk te zijn. Heeft Zweden een rijkere culinaire cultuur?

En dan de standaardzinnetjes natuurlijk. Hoe zeg ik x in het Nederlands (iks). Wat de mensen van dit woordenboek die arme Zweden allemaal aandoen..

• Uit eten; Wat wilt u drinken? “Een pils, alstublieft.”
• Op reis; “Wilt u me bij de volgende halte laten uitstappen?”
• Apoteek/Ziekenhuis; “Kunt u mij iets tegen hoesten/keelpijn/zonnebrand aanbevelen?”

Dat wordt nog wat..

—–

Yesterday, the Dutch dictionary came in. The one for Swedes. So Frida can learn the Dutch grammar in Swedish. The dictionary included a list of typical Dutch food and recipies, with their explanation in Swedish. Quite funny to see how some of those typical Dutch things are translated :) And also the default sentences that these kind of books give you, like “Can you tell me where the trainstation is?”. Only some of them are a bit strange/old, or just wrong. Lets hope that all goes well..

Official now, or at least, Frida can receive mail here :)

It is becoming a real ‘house’ now. Now practically every box is unpacked, things have their place. And the reward for that is definitely there, a nice place to be :) Even the guinea pigs start to feal at home.

But also the dishes (after eating tomato pies) start to pile up also. How to deal with that? The shadow side of decisions?

Be careful of what you wish for, you might get it all.

Luckily, I’m still very happy. It helps me a lot with the things I find hard in life. Growing everyday. That’s why we did this.

Eldflugor och Odågor (picture from eldflugor.se)

There was a concert last Sunday were I went with Frida. It was from 6 girls, Google Translate said they called themselves Firefox and Waster (Eldflugor och Odågor), singing songs, mostly a cappella, some with addition of drums.

Most of the songs were in Swedish so I didn’t understand the words, but I could understand the feeling sometimes. A bit like Evelyn Glennie showed on TED.

It also was a great place there, good atmosphere. I think it was a living and working community (is that a correct term in English?). And there was a ecological shop in this building, finally with really good goods. Too bad it is in Uppsala which costs about €30,- to travel to..

It was great to travel this whole day. Although not as far as Nikki is traveling, I finally see some other places then only Eskilstuna and Västerås. And also that the good day is more than the goal your going to (the concert), it is also the travel, the things you see, the talks you have, what you think about..

On the way back there was this flyer on the streets of Uppsala. Some flyer from the International Womans Day. On the front it had a quote:

“Det är tur att vi finns, men det är en skam att vi behövs!”

I, apparently with my cultural background, read something like ‘man are scum and we behave’. Ohoh, don’t read that! Too late :) Not, it was more something like ‘it is good that we exist, but a shame that we are needed!’, about the womans organization behind this flyer.

At the end of the lecture I invited everyone to take one of the tomato pies I had been making. I told it was common in my culture to bring some snacks with when you’re celebrating your birthday (my actual birthday is tomorrow). So that got some talk going about celebrating your birthday in different cultures.

When I grabbed my coat and looked back at the group, I suddenly noticed everyone was just hanging around and having a nice chat while they were eating. Nothing weird, people hanging around for a while and enjoying a nice conversation, but I just didn’t expected it for some reason.

So I, not in any hurry, left my coat and joined the conversations. But as I later realized it probably was already too late. Grabbing my coat in the first place was enough non-verbal communication and the conversations soon stopped and everybody took its own way again :)

—

For tomorrow I invited some people for a housewarming. Some have replied they can’t come, but most haven’t replied yet. Now I’m wondering if this is common in this culture.. Will they now suddenly show up tomorrow?

Well, I think I’ll go out tomorrow and explore some of the forests around – I have a bike (cykel) now! After I got the bike I already ended up in the forest per accident :) The distances are very short here, or is it the map with a different scale to what I’m used to?

Added to the great feeling after decorating my apartment, came a good day for diner too! So, here is my recipe.

Ingredients:

• Full corn rice
• Snow peas (peultjes)
• Vegetarian balls
• other stuff in the kitchen as the ingredients change while cooking (building the car while driving it)
• other stuff in your home and outside, as inspiration and decoration

Step-by-step:

1. Put some the rice in a pan. Use more rice than you thing you’ll need, notice that you might eat rice tomorrow too.
2. Add twice the amount of water, it should cook for about 20 minutes.
3. Notice that you have to start to prepare the balls 10 minutes later.
4. Already prepare the snow peas.
5. Go and check your e-mail.
6. After 8 minutes, lo0k outside the window and see something nice you want to photograph.
7. Grab your camera, blow out the candles, put on your shoes and run outside.
8. Make the photo

Car tire love

1. You’ve spent 5 minutes, but thats ok.
2. Put some olive oil in a frying pan, put the vegetarian balls in it too and add a pinch (een snufje :)) of oregano to it.
3. Remember that you should add herb salt to the rice, and do so.
4. Add some water to the rice as it is low on water.
5. Also put on the snow peas with some water.
6. Look in the fridge.
7. Think of a nice Japanese bowl of rice with fried vegetables.
8. Take a carrot and the tomato sauce out.
9. Scrape the carrot and cut it into pieces.
10. Add the carrot to the snow peas (that is not fried, correct).
11. Turn around the vegetarian balls.
12. Turn up the heat for the snow peas and carrots as you remember that you’ve put them on way too late.
13. Put the tomato sauce in the largest pan – the only one left.
14. Get the balls from the heater as they are going too fast.
15. Try to manage everything.
16. Check if the rice, snow peas and carrots are getting soft enough.
17. Put on the vegetarian balls for a moment to make them warm again.
18. Pour of the rice and put them in a large bowl. As you took a lot of rice indeed it fills up nicely.
19. Add the balls and slice them into pieces.
20. Pour off the vegetables and add them too.
21. Add the tomato sauce and mix everything.
22. Serve with a wooden spoon from the Wagamama.

Almost done :)

1. Light on the candles again.
2. Put on some ambient music, like dolphins music.
3. Enjoy.
4. When you’ve had enough and there is still some left, continue. Enjoy the good diner and you won’t need anything else this evening.

But, they don’t have vegetarian products here :(

Even the expensive supermarket – comparable with Albert Heijn in size, service, looks, prices – only has óne vegetarian burger. Further, bio shops (or how do you call a ‘natuur(voedings)winkel’ in English?) don’t exist here. Today I came past some shop selling ‘natural’ shoes and some Weleda products. They had a few vegetarian product, but no full range either. And ecological products aren’t that recognizeble as in the Netherlands, there’s no rule of marking things green, you just have to read product listings, which is not that easy.

Also, bread seems not really to exist here. They have lots of knäckebröd, of course. But I thought normal bread wasn’t that rare. It is though.

So, thats Lode on a diet :)

Oh, one great thing is that the local supermarket is open until 22.00 and not that far away, most of the time getting there is spent in walking down the stairs of my flat – 6 in total.

Sidestep; yes, a temporary bed. The apartment I rent is without any furniture. So the plan is to buy all new stuff in the first week and sell it again in the last week. Luckily they have something called IKEA there :) Especially as I arrive there on Friday evening, I need something to sleep on the first night, and probably the first (few) week(s).

Today my new camera came in, I’ll make some pictures of the snow tomorrow. And tomorrow a t-shirt will be delivered, and I need to go back to the Bever to complain about my shoe which is already broken (bought it two weeks ago).. Very nice things to happens two days before departure.

I just finished the cake for my farewell party at Mediamatic, now, the bed calls.