So much for a housewarming party, instead I had to go to India and work with my Indian colleagues a bit.

So far so good. I know now why they call this country "Incredible India". It has incredible extremes in wealth and poverty. People live together here in one city (Bangalore in this case), in a way that we Dutch people could never imagine. In one place you may see a nice villa, and 50 metres away from it is an entire family living in a hut made out of garbage. But there's no 2 metre high fence and guards in between the two, which would probably be the case in western 'civilization'. One can walk from one property to the other simply by stepping over a few 30 cm high walls and rocks, and even the cows don't seem to care where they eat their scarse amount of food from everyday. It appears people respect each other even though they have unimaginable differences in standards of living. It feels weird staring at this scenery, splashing around in the rooftop pool of my 5 star hotel...

Anyway, the colleagues here are really nice, everybody has been really nice so far. It's weird having someone pouring coffee for you, putting sugar in it, and even stirring it for you. I was happy the dude didn't try and pour the cup into my mouth as a service!

And then there's the notorious traffic. I was more surprised about the driving skills of these Indian drivers than I had expected from the stories! It's amazing cars are not all dented, bruised and scarred all over the place. Relatively few people die in traffic, only a bit over a 1,000 a day in India....

Anyway, all us westerners do is gaze at the incredible extremes around us, and ask our personal taxi driver to take us straight from the luxury shopping mall back to the even more luxurious hotel. Looking at it I don't feel we can make a difference anyway. Culture here is so different and can only be changed from the inside, not with the interfering of some dumb white-ass mf who does not comprehend or appreciate Indian cultural complexities. I know we're good at causing civil wars and stuff, so let's please take our good intentions away from any interference, and leave it at treating everybody with respect. That includes all classes and all skin colours.

So far for the testimony, I'm gonna put my lazy ass in a nice king size bed for a siesta before I indulge myself in another three course business-class lunch.

Finally!! I managed to find some space in my mind and time to write something on this poorly updated webbeh of mine. 

As most of you will know I'm moving in to an apartment in Amsterdam which I bought last december. I got the keys in January, and have been working on it non-stop eversince!

On the picture you see me with my father, walking over the first bits of floor. By now the floor is finished and it looks absolutely beautiful! I've been painting, and demolishing stuff and rebuilding it, and along the way I've really learned a great deal about all kinds of paint, wood and tools. I think I should make a documentaries for the Discovery channel: "a house is born"...

It's good to be living in Amsterdam. I've been in Veenendaal since I got back from Australia, but now I can finally create my own space again. I'm happy I got to stay with my parents for a bit more, and we had a good time, but it's time for this little birdy to spread his wings and jump out of the nest... I'm 25 ffs ;)

Anyways, work has been challenging and has demanded a fair effort of me, but I think I've been managing well and people are happy with what I do. Once my house is done I can start focusing on other things again next to work and apart from refurbishing this apartment. I might even start thinking about a next trip to who-knows-where!

Hopefully I'll also be able to update my webbeh a bit more with the stuff I do in Amsterdam. Party pics coming up I hope! :)

Hurray! I've finally been able to visit Allan and Triinu in Estonia! It was a very interesting weekend, full of airport-stress, smooth wodka, great food and of course lots of fun! 

After a lot of hassle at the airport to get on the plane, I took off with some good old kroketten and frikandellen with wonderful fritessaus for Al and Triin. Once I got there Al picked me up from the airport and we went to check out the city of Tallinn, capitol of Estonia. It's a really nice place, and probably much more sophisticated than many people may think. The shopping is great in the shopping centres and the old town is really worth a visit or two.

After lots of Saaremaa wodka and lots of sightseeing, driving over a cat and strolling through the dark alleys of Tallinn at night, it was time for me to head back to the Airport. But not before Al and I had a jam session on the sofa, and I did some productive shopping! 

Once on the airport I found out 20 minutes before departure time that the plane was cancelled ... so I had to go into another hotel close by, but not before standing in a queue for 4 hours to get a new ticket. Fortunately Jaanika was standing next to me in line and we managed to make the best of it! So after a night of comforting wodka in a really nice hotel, the next day my plane would finally take me back to Holland, only two days later than expected. 

It's sunday evening, half past eight and the rain is ticking against my window. I've just watched the news after walking around with a headache all day and therefore missing a great gig by Hans Dulfer! Next to my bed is an IKEA catalogue on a page with furtniture that I can't afford, and my 'foetsie' racket to kill all the mozzies that attempt an attack on my precious pink skin in the middle of each and every night. How is that for a life? :)

It's actually not that bad. "I'm still alive" as one of my volleyball friends from Melbourne would always say. Well, life is just getting better with a permanent contract from my employer, and that comes with a new cool car (still have to pick one!). Also, I'm actively looking for an appartment in Amsterdam. I've given up on the house idea, since I want to stay mobile and be able to go travelling for longer periods at a time. But don't worry, I'll still get a nice extra bed for friends to come and visit!

Anyway, so big changes ahead. That would be nice actually, since I've been in this 'transition' period for over 3 months now, and I'd like to settle in somewhere for a little bit. Once things calm down I can start stirring again and plan a next trip :)

Anyway, the picture is a rising sun, describing the dawn of a new day! I get up really early each morning to avoid the horrific Dutch traffic jams.

Also, today is October the 1st (thanks Yann) 

Well, today was my first day at work! And I must say it wasn't dissapointing. Instead, it was actually rather neat and I think I'm gonna be having a really good time there! 

Of course it was only my first day, but there were very promising opportunities and I'm looking forward to a bit of a challenge.

Nevertheless, they shoved a nice VW Golf 1.9 TDi under my ass and that already feels quite good (see picture).