Working girl at the end of the corridor

Guess who that girl is! :)

Pocho and the seagull

:) in the terrace of the library

Euro 2008

Second photo of how the european soccer championship affects the streets in Rotterdam. This is not even seen in xmas

Other visitors at home

This is the father or mother of a family that is lodging lately in our house... They are a family of "meesjes" and they made their nest in a tiny hole above my study. The hole is originally used for ventilation for the double wall that surrounds the house.

We know there are little ones inside, because papa en mama bring food often, and little noises come out of the corner. Also, we found a little dead bird once, who seems to have fallen from the nest. :(

Here: standing for the photo and flying out of home.

About blogging

There is a cartoon I found in comics.com, and it's super funny...
check it out here: http://www.comics.com/comics/pearls/archive/images/pearls21467080080512.gif

European soccer championship ...

... in the streets of Rotterdam. This photo was taken near my working place.

Feline Guests at home

For three weeks we will be lodging the cats from the parents of Wouter at home.
They are lovely "beasts". One of them (King, white) is a bit old, and loves to be at home and to be pampered... although he also loves to be left alone when his mood is low. The other cat (Manus, red) seems to feel the responsibility to bring food home, and hunts birds, rabbits, mice, ducklets, etc. etc. etc. Not the nicest sight in the early morning.

I just got a link for a super video, that shows you how life with a cat is... Check it here.
I also uploaded some photos of the cats. Check them here.

My home in Colombia in Xmas time

I've been looking through some of my old photos, and there are some I would like to share.
These are the lights that we place out of my house during xmas time! :)

A safari in my coffee

Prediction made by Sarah long ago (21.04.2006)

Wouter talking by phone in spanish with my mom

:):)

Avocado

I feel nostalgic when I compare these avocados with these...
Would not you?

The happy phantom

I just listened to a super song from Tori Amos, the happy phantom. So to remember myself to hear it again, here I copy its lyrics...

Happy Phantom
And if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go chassin' the nuns out in the yard
And I'll run naked through the streets without my mask on
And I will never need umbrellas in the rain
I'll wake up in strawberry fields every day
And the atrocities of school I can forgive
The happy phantom has no right to bitch
oo who The time is getting closer
oo who
Time to be a ghost
oo who
Every day we're getting closer
The sun is geting dim
Will we pay for who we've been

So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
They'll be my ticket to the universal opera
There's Judy Garland taking Budda by the hand
And then these seven little men get up to dance
They say Confucius does his crossword with a pen
I'm still the angel to a girl who hates to sin

oo who
The time is getting closer
oo who
Time to be a ghost
oo who
Every day we're getting closer
The sun is geting dim
Will we pay for who we've been

Or will I see you dear and wish I could come back
You found a girl that you could truly love again
WIll you still call for me when she falls asleep
Or do we soond forget the things we cannot see

More pre-garden

:)

Inky hands

Yesterday night we prepared some calamari, very very tasty. :D

My part in the cooking business was to get it ready (clean it, take out the "bone", and peel it). In the process got an ink bag smashed on my hands... I noticed that the ink is really black and strong... so much that today I still have some blackish-dirty spots on my hands and nails. :)

Pre-garden in a sunny day

The garden in the back of the house :) full of wild flowers
In a sunny day! :)

Fish in the market

:)

This is in the market in Rotterdam South (Afrikander plein)

Vegetables and fruits

More fruits

And chesse

:)

Yellow flowers

:)

Rosas repollo

New discoveries on internet

Now that I'm working full time on a linux system, I had to find some alternative to keep on listening to music (Yahoo! launchcast and RCN cadena b´sica do not work anymore).

First I used Amarok to listen to my mp3s. The software is super, but after getting bored of repeating and repeating the same 123 songs, I looked for some radio-kind-of thing, and I listened to crappy shoutcast streams... never finding something that really suited me. And finally I found last.fm. There you can listen to lots of music from different artists. Although you don't have full control of what song to listen to (or at least I don't know how), you get +or- what you want! and you get to know new artists and groups...
I've been through old/new jazz, salsa, rock en espannol and more... and for free. (free as in free beer, not as in freedom).

After that I should check for more music from Madeleine Peyroux, Jack Johnson, Chet Baker and Regina Spektor...

Morning flowers

:-) because spring is finally here!

The shark on my machine

Ascii aquarium running on tutaina. :)

Blue Rotterdam

Yesterday night in the center.

Selective gray sky

In the way to work.

Back from Nepal

... with a cold and with energy! :)
I wrote a bit about the trip, on a "log book"... I'll copy it here later this week!
But first, let's see if unpacking my luggage will ever end! ;)

Later I'll post some photos...

hasta con olorcito a Medellin!

Me encontré con un blog genial!! con fotos de todos los días en Medellín que me hizo sentir en casa. Aquí va el link por si alguien lo quiere ver: Carlos Munera

I found a great blog, with many photos from Medellín (my hometown) that made me remember and feel at home... It's great to take a look to normal life in a city surrounded by montains.

:D

Sony Ericsson K810i

... is the chosen one ...

Feeling like an apartment plant

...

Vaccination

Typhoid fever / Fiebre tifoidea (??): check!
DTP / Difteria, tetanus & polio: check!
Hepatitis A: check!

Ready to launch, direction Nepal...
:D

domestic spring

Flowers and plants from here and there!
And Sarah's grass! :D

At the end of a working day!

Prev. monday (18-02-2007)

:)

Friday and Monday

Viernes, Friday, Vrijdag 15-02-2007




Lunes, Monday, Maandag 18-02-2007

New cellphone

I'm looking for a new cellphone... a camera cellphone.
and the candidates are:

1. Sony Ericsson K850i
   (I currently have K750i, where most the photos from this blog come from).
2. LG KU990
3. Nokia N95 8Gb
4. Samsung G600

Any suggestion???

Spring is in the air! :)

-->

Every day we are walking from Sarah's house to the Daniel. It's about 25 min. walking in a good pace. In the way, I can not avoid looking at the changes that seasons bring into the landscape. Here are just three photos in a foggy day, taken today in the morning.

In this bush, only some flowers were out. Not a single leaf. Because of the changes in the temperature, most flowers are gone now, but there is still a little and beautiful pink flower around!

Cold and sunny day in Rotterdam

Just two photos I took yesterday coming to work!






And I want a new cellphone with a nice camera!!!
I've thought of one of the cybershot series from Sony Ericsson...
any suggestion?

First photo on the way!

Before the market!

Nice saturday in the way to the market in the south of Rotterdam. The trees are getting ready for the winter. I'm also getting ready by going back home (to Medellín!). ;)

Funeral Blues by W. H. Auden

Funeral Blues
W. H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West.
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever; I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

-----------------------------------------------------
Since long I have been thinking to place this poem here.
It is beautiful, touching and modern...
Poetry is not my favorite genre, but this poem is an exception.

Butter cookies!

After the success of the cookies yesterday at my dutch lesson, I decided to write the recipe in english here. It comes from a spanish site Tus Recetas de Cocina.

If someone makes it, just let me know how they tasted!

Ingredients: 125g butter, 50g [refined/bastard in dutch] sugar and 170 g. flour.
how to make it:

1. mix the flour, the sugar and the butter in a big bowl by hand till the mixture is soft and homogeneous.
2. divide the mixture (dough) and give shape to the cookies. The recommended thickness is about half a centimeter.
3. set the cookies on baking paper or in something with some flour (to avoid the cookies to stick)
4. put the cookies in the oven for 15min. in 180 oC (or 350 oF)
5. leave the cookies out of the oven for some time (to get them cold and crunchy!)
6. eat them! :) or take some and invite for coffee or thee!
   

The dough I got in step 2, I divided in two parts, and I mixed one of them with cacao (those are the dark brown cookies). It is also recommended to use cinnamon or nuts or raisins.

May be I can translate this into Dutch, for the exercise.
:---------------------------------------) <-- that's my growing nose.


EDIT: I got another link to a very delicious recipe for cookies.

Entre canibales...

Soda Stereo (long time ago) and their song "entre canibales" have been prowling around in my head the whole day, and I wonder why.

One image that keeps on coming is Roberto playing guitar, Jota playing clave, a girl --whose name I forgot-- and me "singing" entre canibales in Roberto's apartment some years ago in Karlshof. And then I realize that I miss going for coffee or chocolate with this friend of mine. Are you still around? how does it go with you?

Open Water Diver

Some weeks ago I got my open water diver lessons, and certification! :)

I'm pretty happy with it. :)
Diving seems to be a nice (although expensive) hobby... and it is the closest you can get to making my platonic dream true: To swim near to the bottom, surrounded by fishes and [here comes the platonic part] do not need air to keep going.

But diving proved itself to be more than I thought. It is not only to learn to breath from a tank (through your mouth), but also to get aware of water pressure, air density, nitrogen/oxygen and the way they affect you while underwater... and on top of that you need learn to float in mid-water (buoyancy) . It may sound simple, but kept me busy for most of my time underwater...

I learned here in Holland, to be more precise in Zeeland. The first dives were in the Bergsediepsluis (photo). The last 2 dives were in De Greveligen. It did not sound very appealing for me, at the beginning, to dive in this cold and muddy waters, but I was surprised to see so much life. Dicky (my instructor) dives very often in Zeeland, and she has very beautiful photos.

Anyway, I liked it! and liked it a lot!! :) and I'm looking forwards to go underwater again.

Musical instruments

This photo was taken long time ago. There are the instruments we brought from Colombia (patria querida) in our first trip together. Wouter was very impressed with the quality of the instr. you can buy, and he thought about creating an importing bussines. From that now the memory is the only thing left.

Esta foto fue tomada hace mucho tiempo. En la mesa se ven los instrumentos musicales que trajimos de Colombia en nuestro primer viaje juntos. Wouter quería montar una empresa para importar instrumentos, pues le impresionó la calidad que se puede obtener con precios mas que razonables. La idea se fue con el tiempo.

Photos

Evidence's shown that my writting skills are not my high point. Also my PhD is suffering for this. Nevertheless, to try and keep alive (if it ever was) this blog, I decided to post photos once in a while, with a little comment. So here I start.

Refrigerador 1A

Los meses del refrigerador están empezando...
la temperatura en las noches está empezando a tocar el cero,
el clima está como en una montaña rusa, pero solo yendo para abajo
y los abrazos de oso son necesarios con mayor frecuencia.