Archive for the 'frustrations' Category

Cultural ignorance

Just before I was going to sleep, I was reading my daily news sources and stumbled apon a small article about Gordon, a famous Dutch singer, who's competing in the Euro Vision Song contest, saying he's not going to sing at the EVS if some gay people in Moscow can't have a gay pride there during the song contest. Now I think this is such a stupid action that I had to sit behind my computer and write something about this.

First of all, don't get me wrong here. I'm totally cool with gay people. I have gay friends and I'm absolutely tolerant on the way people are (I'm not even going to defend myself on this one). But what bothers me is that some gay singer from a tiny country called the Netherlands thinks he's somebody internationally and trying to make a statement by not performing at the EVS. As if the Russians would care. This really shows that Gordon has absolutely no sense of the (in this case) Russian culture. Now, I've been to Russia a couple of times, and I'm no expert on Russian culture, but I have tasted a bit of Russian culture in general and from what I have experienced, I can say that it's so very different from Dutch culture. Here, people would be shocked if a celebrity would cancel a gig for an idealistic reason, but I'm afraid that Russia doesn't work that way. Of course there are gay people everywhere, even in Russia (although most straight Russians would disagree with me), but the general mentality isn't as tolerant and progressive as we have here in the Netherlands. I think we live in one of the most progressive and tolerant countries in the world (or at least I love to think I do), but that doesn't mean that the rest of the world works in the same way and that we should expect that people react the same way as we are used to. (I have the same feeling about forcing democracy on people that are not used to this, but that's something for a different post, I guess). Russians are proud people that have a strong opinion that they don't change for nothing, so why would they care if some gay singer from a tiny country is not going to sing at an already very gay contest? Of course I understand that Gordon wants to make a statement and that he wants to fight for gay emancipation worldwide, but as with many things I think that every culture needs its own way of dealing with issues. If you really want to change peoples views, use the right way. In my opinion, Gordon should perform and use the moment he's performing to make a statement. Do a speech in Russian and tell all Russian viewers what you want them to know. That will at least make the headlines.

Published at May 11, 2009 in frustrations. 0 Comments

iPhone

Today, I got an iPhone 3g! And yes, it's very very very sexy. I hadn't played a lot with iPhones from friends, but I must say that it rocks. The interface is so nice and snappy. The only thing I don't like it that it seems that Apple doesn't really care about integrating with other systems than with their own platform. I happen to own an iMac, but even then, I had to jump through hoops to get my stuff migrated from my 'old' Nokia n61i.

I happen to use Zyb.com as an online backup for my contacts and calendars. My Nokia played nice with it and synced things with SyncML, but Apple decided not to support this. 3rd party apps aren't really that great or don't support syncing calendars. What I finally did was using the "Funambol" application to sync my contacts with Zyb, but because Apple closed the format of the iCal database, Funambol only does the contacts (same for Synthesis SyncML2iPhone). Then I exported my calendars from the Zyb site to vcalendars and imported them in Apple's desktop iCal application. From there, I could sync my calendar with iTunes.

The problem I'm facing is that I now can sync my contacts from my phone to Zyb, but not my calendar, which kind of sucks. I'm still trying to figure out a way to (except from installing an Exchange server) sync all my things (calendar, notes, etc).

Published at September 11, 2008 in boys toys, frustrations and techno stuff. 0 Comments

Birthday in Russia

Last week was a busy, but great one. Friday morning, Jur and I took the train from Utrecht CS to Schiphol airport. There we first had to pick up our tickets, since Rossiya Air doesn't do the nifty e-ticketing yet. After the woman behind the counter finally found our tickets, it was check-in time. All went smoothly and after jumping the queue at the passport control by waving our Privium passes, we had some time to buy stuff at the duty free shops. Since Jur didn't have a present for Elena yet and we needed some extra orange stuff for the upcoming match we spent some money in one of the many souvenir shops that are at the Schiphol terminals. The rest was pretty standard; walking to the gate and finally boarding the plane.

After 2.5 hours in the air, we arrived at St. Peterburg airport. Customs took some time, but finally I saw her again in the arrival hall! It had only been 2 weeks since we'd been apart again, but I was so glad to see her again. By bus and metro we went to the apartments we rented and there, we had to say goodbye to Elena, since she had snuk out of the office and had to finish some work until 21:00. This was OK, since there was some unfinished business I had to take care of. First we went to the bakery to pay for the birthday cake I ordered. Katja, a friend of Elena helped me with preparing earlier on and helped me communicating with the girls at the bakery, but only by phone. Finally I payed and understood that the cake (with Miffy/Nijntje on it) would be ready at 16:00 the next day.

Next stop was the restaurant. I called them before and already made a reservation for 15 to 20 people, but they asked me to come to the restaurant before Saturday to discuss the evening. Since we had about 3 hours to take care of this and the restaurant was 45 minute drive from the city center, we took the metro to a train station on the north side of the city from where we wanted to take a train. When we arrived at the metro station we discovered that we took a big detour and found out that we just missed the train by 5 minutes. The next train would go an hour later, so we decided to take a taxi to the restaurant. After about 30 minutes we arrived there and had a nice meeting with an English speaking waitress and the manager. We created a menu and talked about all things involved. At first, the manager didn't allow us to bring our own cake, but after giving her a very sweet look, she finally agreed. All set, we took a bus back to the city and picked up Elena from her work. Here we met some people I worked with in a previous project and finally went to have dinner.

After dinner, Elena showed us a part of the city, next to the Neva river, where all sorts of festivities were, since it was the day that a lot of high school kids graduated. There was a big concert next to the river and lots of people looking at boats on the river. The atmosphere was very good and all people were happy. During this time of year, the sun doesn't go down and I found it pretty awkward to be on the street at midnight without complete darkness. The sun is somewhere on the horizon at 2 o'clock in the morning and it never gets completely dark.

Somewhere at 1 AM, Elena had to go home, so I decided to bring her (we took a car) and went back to the apartment. Jur and I decided to go out for a beer and finally found a nice pub where we could sit outside. Then it was off to bed.

The next day, Jur and I went to get a car we rented, but we couldn't find the rental place so we decided to skip this because we didn't need a car anyway. After, I went to Elena's house to meet her parents for the first time. I'm not a hero when it comes to the meet-the-parents-thing, but now I was even more nervous, since I didn't know what to expect in terms of the language barrier and cultural differences, but finally everything turned out very well. I felt very welcome and after the tour around the house, I had nice conversations with both Elena's mom and dad. I felt at home very quickly.

After some time Elena had to go to the hairdresser to get a new haircut for the evening and I went with her. The girl at the salon did a great job and she looked stunning. After she changed clothes at home we were off to go to celebrate her birthday. First we took a taxi to the apartment, so I could change my clothes and met there Oleg, a friend of Elena. I quickly went to get the cake, which turned out great. Then we took a taxi to the restaurant.

The restaurant was about 40 minutes by taxi and we arrived secondly, just after Julia and her boyfriend Andrei. The table was made and the menu was printed and closed with a seal. The cake was put in to the fridge by the staff. In 30 minutes all guests were there and the party started. Elena got a load of gifts from her friends and lots of flowers. For starters, guests could choose from the menu and as a main course the restaurant prepared a big meat and fish dish, a couple of big plates on the table where people could take from. The food was really good and very tasty and also the service was super. Dirty cutlery was replaced instantly and our waitress was very friendly, but also nice to look at. Especially Jur found her very interesting. Somewhere during the evening, Elena whispered to me that she would get the girls phone number if Jur didn't ask himself. As far as I know, everybody had fun and enjoyed the food, drinks and talks. After dinner we went for a quick walk to the beach, just to look at the sun going down and get some fresh air.

When we got back after 30 minutes, the soccer match between the Netherlands and Russia was about to start. Before, we had decided to watch it at the restaurant, since they had put up a big screen. Even though Jur and I were the only Dutch guys there, we still were dressed in orange. The match was very exciting, but finally Russia turned out to be the stronger team. Too bad for my country, but I think we were lucky to be in Russia when they won and not back home, since the party then really started. People dancing, shouting, singing and going completely crazy. One random guy in the restaurant came to us to thank for the game and was shouting "My friends! My friends" all the time. After taking some pictures with him, I decided to give him my orange "Holland" cap. After some time, we decided to go, but not before Elena got the waitress' (called Maria) number for Jur.  We got a ride from Slava back to the apartment. Since I was completely exhausted, I decided to go to sleep, while Jur decided to go out. He wanted to go to the city center, but since all bridges open during the night, his ride there took him over an hour, but apparently he had a great time there, partying with people in the street.

The next day, I spent some time with Elena in the city center, before going to her parents house again for dinner. This time, Jur joined us also and we had great Middle Asian food, prepared by Elena's dad. After lots of nice stories from her parents, we went back to the city center to check St. Pete's night life. Finally we ended up in a place called Rossi's with lots of girls on the dance floor. After some time, Elena said goodbye, for she was very tired. Jur and I stayed until very late and drank too much.

The day after, we decided to go to Peterhof, the Russian Versaille, but first, Jur and I had to go to some office to get a registration for our visa. After we met with Elena to go to Peterhof. At first, Maria would join us, but since she had exams, she didn't have time. However, she told us that I had left my credit card at the restaurant, but that she woulld take it with her, so we could get it from her. By hydrofoil boat it took about 30 minutes to arrive at Peterhof, which is located on the south side of Spb. Peterhof is a lovely place with lots of fountains, golden statues and nice trees. After walking around for some time and taking pictures, we took a bus back to the city, where we had Sushi at a great restaurant and some cocktails at the 7SkyBar, a trendy bar located on the top floor of a big shopping mall. After this I went back and off to bed and Jur decided to go to the city again to party.

The following day there was news that the invitation for my Russian business visa was ready. Also, we had to get our registration. First Jur and I went to the registration office, only to find out that the registration wasn't finished, but should be picked up later that day. Jur would take care of this after his visit to the Hermitage museum. Me and Elena met in a different part of the city to get my invitation. After this, Maria called where we could meet her so she could give me back my credit card. We met her, but she didn't have much time to talk, because she was going to celebrate her holiday, but told us that we should really call her next time we were in Russia. Then Elena en I went to her parents place for dinner again. Jur was also invited, but spent 2 hours in the queue for the Hermitage, so he decided to get some dinner by himself after the museum. After lovely dinner and a nice conversation, we went to the theater to watch Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker. Elena got two tickets from her colleagues for this beautiful ballet. Since we were in a big traffic jam while driving there, we were about 10 minutes late. Our tickets said that we had places in a lodge somewhere, but since we were late, they put us in a very nice place, just in front of the stage!

After the ballet, I went back to the apartment again and said goodbye to Elena. On the way, I bought some beers to celebrate our great time in Spb with Jur. At the apartment we drank a bit, just until Jur got a text message from a girl he had met in a taxi, the night before, asking him to join her at a birthday party somewhere in the center. Even though it was going to be a short night (we had to get a taxi at 6 AM back to the airport), he decided to go there anyway. I packed my stuff and fell sound a sleep at 1 AM, for I was exhausted.

At 5:45, my alarm clock sounded and I got up, took a quick shower and waited for the taxi. Elena called that we should go downstairs, because she arrived. 30 minutes we were at the airport. After standing in a queue for security it was time to say goodbye. This part is always the hardest. After a long kiss, I finally went through security. Before check-in we had to wait again in a very big queue, but finally we checked in our stuff. Then through customs, security again and then to the airplane.

Some 2.5 hours later, I arrived on Dutch soil again. Completely exhausted, but it was all worth it. The hardest is the emptiness that sets in after saying goodbye, but I'm going back to Russia in 25 days. I decided to shorten my trip to NYC by one week and then go to see my girl again.

Published at June 29, 2008 in english, frustrations, fun, life, russia and travel. 0 Comments

Angry neighbor

Today, I'm at home, sweating out a fever that struck me 2 days ago. I was lying in bed when the doorbell rang. I quickly got dressed and went downstairs. An older man was at the door. He seemed angry. Without introducing himself he told me that if he saw my cat in his yard again, he would kill him. Totally flabbergasted (my mind going into wtf-mode), I asked him to explain. He told me that he has "very expensive" pigeons and that my cat was constantly in his yard looking at them. He told me that he didn't want my cat near his animals and that I should keep my cats inside. I told him that this was not an option and that I considered his statement a threat. I also told him that if my cat would kill a pigeon, I would pay for it, but he kept on telling me that he would kill my cat if he would see it again. This totally pissed me off. After 10 minutes of discussion, he left, still in anger.
Since I didn't know what my rights were, I called the police and they were very helpful. It turns out that this guys is responsible for securing his animals and if he wants to have a cat-free yard, he should take precautionary measures, but he's not allowed to do anything to my cats. The strange thing is that I never ever met the guy before. He lives somewhere on my block, but I don't know where exactly he lives. The police asked me to find out where he lives and try to talk to him and convey the message about him securing his animals. Cats are allowed to walk wherever they want.
I'll try to find out where he lives somewhere next week and try to talk to him, but I have the feeling that this story will have a sequel.

Published at March 6, 2008 in frustrations and life. 0 Comments

The end of an era

A couple of weeks ago, Amber and I decided to break up (again). This time for real. Nothing particular happened, but it just didn't work out and we really grew apart too much for a relationship to sustain. I waited with this public announcement until it was absolutely clear that this was the end. I must say that I feel very good. I guess this time I'm just being realistic and really see that this wasn't the way I wanted to live my life. Anyway, I stay to live here with our cats, Amber already moved out. We had a good 6.5 years together, but apparently all good things end. Time for the next phase!

Published at February 8, 2008 in english, frustrations and life. 0 Comments

*zucht*

1984 was wat vroeg, misschien 30 jaar te vroeg?

http://www.sargasso.nl/archief/2007/11/05/kstn-exit-privacy

Published at November 6, 2007 in frustrations and politics. 1 Comment

Postbank–

Eigenlijk had ik niet anders verwacht. Amber heeft net voor dat ze naar Ecuador vertrok Internet Bankieren van de Postbank aangevraagd. Niet echt op tijd, want alle gegevens moesten nog binnenkomen. Daarom vroeg ze mij of ik, wanneer die gegevens binnen kwamen ze wilde doorsturen. Tuurlijk. Vorige week lag er een brief met de gebruikersnaam voor haar account, maar het wachtwoord moest opgehaald worden op het postkantoor. Logisch. Het feit is echter dat Amber aan de andere van deze aardkloot zit en dus niet zelf kan tekenen voor het ophalen van haar wachtwoord. Algehele volmacht to the rescue, zou je denken. Niet dus.. Blijkbaar kun je wel een huis kopen (incl. het lenen van een hele hoop geld) met zo'n papiertje, maar het ophalen van een wachtwoord blijkt (niet geheel onverwacht) niet te kunnen.

Bij het postkantoor vertelde de (mijns inziens laag geschoolde) baliemedewerker dat het echt persoonlijk opgehaald moest worden, terwijl ik heftig met de volmacht stond te wapperen. "De notaris kan wel meer vertellen", was zijn antwoord op het feit dat ik meerdere malen op las uit de volmacht: ".. bankrekeningenen te openen en te voeren, bedragen te storeten, cheques uit te schrijven, te kwiteren…". Ik werd doorgestuurd naar het Postbank Advies loket. Na weer 30 minuten wachten was in eerste instantie het antwoord hetzelfde. De notaris gaat volgens de Postbank niet over dit soort dingen, maar het hoofdkantoor in Leeuwarden. "Dat is uw beleving", zei de man over mijn opmerking dat ik wel een huis kon kopen, maar het ophalen van een wachtwoord dus blijkbaar wat anders was. Na lang overleggen en de luttele ".. vind ik wel erg vervelend..", ".. waar heb ik dan zo'n papiertje voor?" en ".. heb ik dan voor niets zoveel geld uitgegeven bij de notaris?", bleek de man toch zijn gezonde verstand te gebruiken en kreeg ik het wachtwoord mee. Wel met de opmerking dat dit volledig onder zijn verantwoordelijkheid viel (wat een service!) en dat dit echt een hele "bijzondere uitzondering" was. De volgende keer kon ik deze gebeurtenis niet aanhalen om andere zaken voor elkaar te krijgen. Op mijn verzoek heeft hij de volmacht ook maar even naar Leeuwarden gestuurd, zodat ze van de situatie afweten. Wel zei de man dat hij waarschijnlijk terug zou komen en dat er een dubbele tenaamstelling van de rekening zou moeten komen. Leuk hoor, maar wat voor nut heeft het om Ambers rekening op mijn naam te zetten voor een week of 6?

Published at July 14, 2007 in frustrations. 1 Comment

Meer blauw op straat (2)

Gisteren ben ik voor het eerst in mijn leven in de auto aangehouden door de politie. Na een bezoek aan de IKEA reden Amber en ik binnendoor (over kanaaleiland) naar huis. Toen ik ergens een straat in reed liepen er 3 politieagenten, die zich klaarblijkelijk verveelden. Ik moest stoppen en de auto op een parkeerplekje neerzetten. Oom Agent (of was het meer Neef Agent? De diender was niet veel ouder dan ikzelf) vertelde me wat ongeinteresseerd dat ze (uitgerekend hier in een wijk waar weinig auto's rijden) bezig waren met een verkeerscontrole. De andere 2 agenten stonden wat ongeinteresseerd voor zich uit te staren. Er werd me gevraagd of ik mijn rijbewijs en autopapieren wilde laten zien en die had ik natuurlijk (zoals iedere goede burger) bij me. Na
ongeveer een minuut naar het papiertje dat het kentekenbewijs zou moeten zijn gestaard te hebben, vroeg Neef Agent zich af wat dat met balpen getekende kruis over het papier was. Ik had hem niet mijn kentekenbewijs, maar het overschrijvingbewijs van de vorige eigenaar gegeven, maar klaarblijkelijk had de agent geen idee waar hij naar stond te loeren.

Na zorgvuldig het kentekenbewijs bestudeerd te hebben werd mijn rijbewijs nogmaals onder de loep genomen. Iemand in een Honda CRX, daar moet wel IETS mis mee zijn, maar de agent kon het niet vinden. Daarom kreeg ik natuurlijk de strikvraag: "Is dit je huidige adres?", vroeg hij, wijzende op het adres dat in mijn rijbewijs staat. Waarom hij deze vraag stelde is mij een compleet raadsel; een rijbewijs is 10 jaar geldig en mijn oude adres in Boxtel staat daar natuurlijk nog in. Zowel "Ja" als "Nee" was een geldig antwoord op zijn vraag. Misschien was Neef Agent nog niet klaar met zijn diendersstudie en had hij het vak "ondervragingstechnieken" nog niet gehaald. Uiteindelijk mocht ik de boel weer inpakken en vertrekken. De agenten gingen door met hun "verkeerscontrole" en liepen verder richting het politiebureau, 2 straten verderop. Het rare was, net toen wanneer ik preventief betast
werd, dat Amber niets hoefde te laten zien. Zij had trouwens geen identiteitsbewijs bij zich, dus ze mag van gelukspreken dat de jonge agenten interactie met een blonde schone blijkbaar wat lastig vinden.

Published at April 21, 2005 in frustrations. 0 Comments

Nog meer bah..

Een tijd terug installeerde ik deze applicatie en die is lelijk, maar vandaag stuitte ik op iets nog lelijkers:

allerlelijkste.jpg

Published at April 2, 2005 in frustrations and techno stuff. 0 Comments

De 18e eeuw

Gisteren zapte ik toevallig langs de begrafenis van prins Bernhard, net op het moment dat de hele stoet aan kwam in Delft. Nu heb ik eigenlijk helemaal niets met het koningshuis en ik zou liever zien dat het geld dat onze koninklijke familie kost ergens anders en nuttiger besteed wordt, maar toch heb ik even naar dit "spektakel" zittten kijken.

Wat mij (en vooral Amber) opviel is dat alle soldaatjes en lakijen er uit zien of dat ze uit de 18e eeuw komen. Waarom is dit? Waarom is het zo dat, wanneer er iets "officieels" is, mensen in oude pakjes gaan lopen? Dit is me niet alleen opgevallen bij officiele gelegenheden van het koningshuis, maar ook menig pastoor loopt in een gewaad uit de middeleeuwen. Het zal wel iets met traditie te maken hebben, maar waarom kunnen dit soort dingen niet gewoon wat moderner? Waarom kan meneer pastoor op zondag niet gewoon in een spijkerbroek en een bloes de mis doen? Zouden ze 3 eeuwen geleden ook in kleren van 6 eeuwen geleden hebben gelopen?

Published at December 12, 2004 in frustrations and life. 0 Comments
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