Dear Blog,
 
Yesterday, just two seconds after my big, tough brother (who's really afraid of nothing...) succesfully chased me out of his room, he came running after me with a rather frightened look on his face. 'There's a scorpion in my bedroom!'
So, what's the big deal, tough guy, just chase it away or something...
But he clearly had no intention of doing anything of the sort and made it very clear to me that i was supposed to kill the poor thing, so i caught it and threw it out of the window.

This morning I told my dad about it during breakfast and asked him 'so, exactly how dangerous are these little beasts?', and he rather casually answered that if you get stung, you're pretty sure to be unconciouss after half an hour and if someone doesn't get you to the hospital really fast, you're probably dead after an hour or so.
Interesting....
 
After that I went to the souk, which was nice. Lots of typically Moroccan sounds and smells, I just love those big heaps of colourful spices and got myself a few kilos of figs and dates, three beautiful Touareg scarfs (not really, there's no Touaregs anywhere in Morocco...), drank the most delicious glass of orange juice ever and ate lots of cactus fruit. I spent the rest of the day strolling down little medina alleyways, trying to take pictures of women (and being quite unsuccesful at it) and making friends with shop owners (which is quite a lot easier than escaping from them later on, after lots of mint tea, without buying yet another tapis...), which was followed by my favourite part of the Azrou experience: the grand taxi back home.

Now I have to admit that being squeezed between three men in the back seat of a ridiculously old Mercedes is not exactly appealing to me, so I was quite happy to find three women there for a change... but after about five seconds I found out that being squeezed against men might not be big fun, but at least it's slightly more comfy...cause their hip dimensions are slighty more modest... so much for breathing.... well at least women sit still and don't whisper slimy marriage proposals in your ear....
 
But the funniest part was the fact that the taxi was going incredibly slowly, really seriously slowly, whereas normally they don't... after a few minutes I found out why... the police were standing around some corner, trying to inconspicuously take pictures of speeding cars...manually... it was really the funniest thing! And of course, just a split second after passing the policemen, the driver hitted the accelerator so hard that breathing really became very very difficult....i mean, he did not even wait until he was out of sight or anything.... the police of course kept minding their own business, pretending not to notice... and I was having so much fun!    

Going out to dinner now in Ifrane, the place everyone in the region is sooo proud of... actually it's a skiing resort (yes, it is) so there's signs saying 'barriere de neige' all over the place, and the town is packed with new, big, shiny hotels and restaurants.... it even has its own airport (used approximately once a year -  when the king decides to pay the place a visit).... sounds like a perfect place for a nice evening out!
 
Salama, 
- Else 

Ain Leuh, still
 
 
Dear Blog,
 
Despite my promise to a certain someone i'm not really updating this Blog thing every day... sorry...
It's not that there's nothing to tell, it's just that I'm sort of depending on my dad to get this computer going every time i want to chekc my mail and all (cause he won't tell me the password...) and he's quite a busy man, soooo... and of course i'm also to busy sitting outside on the porch enjoying the sunshine on my face....
 
My brother Umit (the Turkish one) discovered a nice little swimming pool, right here on the Children's Home premises... such luxury! Actually it's the orchard's water reservoir, but i don't think the apple trees really mind me using their water to keep cool... today during the afternoon break (everyone here except for me works really hard...) some of the more courageous people (men, indeed) came up with a new game: two of them hold a very tall ladder while the third one climbs it and throws himself off once he's reached the top... so much for my peaceful reading.
 
I'm re-reading Alice in Wonderland at the moment. 'Pigs may fly, but it's not likely', I learned today. I wish I had come up with that.
 
Tomorrow i'll be going to Azrou again, the place I went a couple of days ago to do some souvernir shopping (retail therapy, as Kaja would say!) and some sitting on terraces by myself (secretly smiling about all the shocked expressions on the faces of all those men.. not used to seeing a woman sitting on a terrace, before they continue their Italian-style conversations). Tomorrow's souk day, market day, and i'm looking forward to seeing some chickens butchered and some other friendly folklore....  
 
Have many more things to write but my brother's chasing me out of his room... and rightly so... will write more tomorrow i hope!
 
Salama,
- Else
 

Ain Leuh, Morocco

Hey there,

It's pretty hot outside so i'm hiding in the coolness of my parents' house, a truly big, new, lovely, welcoming place where -i have to shamefully admit- i had not yet been before...right now i have no clue where my folks are, but the house is filled with people from all kinds of places doing all kinds of things: Emma's doing the dishes, Christine and Nadia are making a cake, some American guy i don't know is talking to my brother Umit...
Always plenty of things to do here.

The seven little ones that all the fuss is about, Hanane, Karim, Amir, Rafiq, Amel, Meryem and Adam, are at playschool right now, so the house is relatively quiet... you have no idea what it's like to live in a house with seven children aged between four and two years....
But they're all so adorable! So beautiful, sweet, energetic and happy, they're so clever, they actually speak four languages (Arabic, Dutch, French and a little English too) and believe it or not, they are perfectly capable of distinguising between all these languages, they use different ones for different people, it's truly miraculous! I'm utterly amazed every time they say something...

And they're all such characters too! There's the little sturdy fellow who loves animals and is afraid of nothing, there's the little quiet, intelligent boy who loves to sneak away into a corner and read a book, we have a little clown here who's 'manipulative' skills have developed to a considerable, almost scary level...thanks to his enormous dark eyes and cute, convincing smile... then there's the little girl who starts smiling when she wakes up and never stops, not even when so has to go to bed at night, which is pretty exceptional, i have never seen anything like her! And Meryem, the two-year-old, who is far too wise for her age, she really behaves like a grown-up, she reminds me of Mona Lisa with her wise, knowing smile, and Hanane, the beauty queen, mothering over the others, making sure no one does anything she does not approve of...

Otherwise this place is just soooo hot. I'm switching into siesta mode here, getting up at six in the morning and sleeping for a couple of hours during the afternoon, enjoying the long, warm, tropical evenings outside drinking the a la menthe and eating watermelon....

Tomorrow me and Christine, our French au pair, are going to the nearest proper city, called Azrou, for some souvenir shopping. A girls' day out! I badly, badly need that.

Will write more soon,
miss u all!
- Else
    

Somewhere between Málaga and Algeciras...
 
Buenos tardes, Blog!
 
I´m sitting at an internet place at some busstatio somewhere, waiting for the next bus to take me to the next stage of my trip to Morocco...
As I did not manage to get a ticket to Casablanca for today (€600 is a bit much...) I took a plane to Madrid, then another one to Málaga, then a bus to where I am now, and from here on it will be another bus, then the boat to Tanger, the train fo Fez and finally a typical Moroccan grand taxi to Ain Leuh... In the meantime i´ll have to fin a place to spend the night, so i guess it´s going to be Algeciras... cause my dad kinda freaked out a little when i said that i´d find myself a hotel room in Tanger...
 
Anyways, so far things are just wonderful! It´s so nice to exchange the Dutch never-ending rain for some Spanish sun, travelling as such is already a very very satisfying, enjoyable activity and despite the complaining above I really like the fact that this trip constists of so many different stages!! When we were flying above Madrids suburbs I noticed hundreds of little, bright blue squares, never realized that there were so many swimming pools in Spain! I´d love to take a dive in one of those right now.... but dusty, smokey, busy bus stations are fun too....  
 
Gonna find some food now, haven´t eaten all day... and then i´m gonna sit in the sun and just think of nothing but Spanish beaches for a while!  
 
Later!
Adios,
- Else
  
  
  
 

Dear Blog,
 
"Things are getting worse (please send more chocolate...)", the sign on Velina's door has been falling into my mind a few times lately.
Somehow, when I was in Natolin, my boyfriend managed to slip away from me... I was not paying attention and now he's gone. That sucks!
Voici the reason why I did not post anything for a while... but from now on I´ll have plenty to write about!!
 
I decided I badly need to get outta here!
Where do u go when u don't have any money?
Right, you go sit at your parents' place and pretend to be a kid again for a while.
And as my parents happen to live in Morocco... that's were i'll be for the next ten days.
I just booked my flight, i'll leave tomorrow morning at noon.
 
This means that I will be spending some time in the warm Middle Atlas mountain sun, just outside a tiny village called Ain Leuh, surrounded by Cedar hills, monkeys, donkeys and lots of Moroccan flavours... food.... music...
 
Just in case u don't have a busy schedule, and u'd like to taste a bit of 1001-Nights, please feel more than welcome to visit me there. Amsterdam's nice, but this place is a lot more adventurous, I can tell u that!
 
Big hug,
- Else
 
 
 

Dear Blog,

Oowwwww I haven't posted anything for suc a long time!
Very sorry... have to keep track of my life, should write more often, I know! Especially because so many things are happening and i'm afraid i'll forget about them soon.
Nothing really spectacular though, played cards with friends, played golf (for the first time! big fun...!) with my sisters and brother, found a temporary job as a junior researcher...unfortunately onl for 4 days, quite bizarre days too, and tomorrow's the last one... will provide more details soon!

Too tired to type another word now....

Big kiss,
- Else

Dear Blog,

One of the first things I found out after coming back to Amsterdam, was that I was no longer the proud owner of a bike. Of course it got stolen at some point during the 10 months I spent in Warsaw...in fact, I bet it was stolen more than once, cause I once read this statistic saying that annually, a bike in Amsterdam, on average, is stolen five times. It seems a little exaggerated, but two times per year should not be too hard to manage....
I guess at least that means that it was stolen from the person who stole it from me ;-))))

So everywhere I go, I go on foot. Which is not such a big deal 'cause Amsterdam is more like a reasonably large village than a city - like Warsaw... and in fact, I really really love my wandering / wondering around this place, it's so beautiful! I never realized... plus, during these walks I discover so many new things! Tiny, hidden restaurants ( my favourites!) in cute small streets with funny names I never heard of before, small churches and former monastries squeezed between office buildings and old storehouses, charming cafés... feel completely like a tourist in my own town!!

I also realized a couple of other things. You can call them elusive, sentimental crap, which they probably are, but oh well... For example: when I moved to Amsterdam eight years ago, I especially loved the anonymity of the place. You see, it's just big enough for nobody to care about what anyone else does (as long as you don't bother anyone..) and everyone remains perfectly indifferent at all times as to who you are and what you're doing.
I used to love that.
Now, I think it's kinda frightening. Well, not really frightening, but weird at least. I got so used to living in this Natolin community where everyone (more or less...) knows who you are and what you're doing (more or less...).
I really have to get used to all these strange people around me.
It's almost like I would want them to know who I am.

Enough!

While I was daydreaming along the canals in the sun (anyone becoming enthusiastic about coming to see the place yet??) I realized that I had forgotten to pick up my pictures from the store...they'd been waiting to be admired for almost a week... so I went back to pick them up and well, here they are!!!!

Olsztyn!
olsztyn stacja
polska po polsku
buildings...sky...sun...
taking a nap
ready to go to Gdansk!

Gdansk!
quite far from.... anywhere!
question for the Dutchies...does this remind you of...?!
Hmmmm.. I love this place!
nice.......
another question for the Dutchies... who..??
view from The Homey Hostel
Eva & Simon... les vacances!

Sopot!
aren't they...irresistible?
What's so funny, Pawel?
Lei è Nancy!
Eva & Vanessa enjoying the view...
.... I can see why!
Moi & Pitto

More Gdansk!
ooooowwww this place is a miracle!
lovely lovely lovely view!
francesco (nice view again!)
Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk!
21xTak!
history standing still...
The Pen
empty stores...
zaprasza??!
i guess this kinda proves i was really there...!
Amsterdam Centraal/Gdansk Glowny/Amsterdam Centraal/Gdansk Glowny?
Bronislaw Geremek & his biggest fan....

Capoeira...
i most definitely miss capoeira...
Szymon...
the team...

Polish National Day!
Wojtek & Marcin & lots of kielbasa
talk..talk...talk...
Saxy Sven & Rocking Remo
dance till u drop....

Closing Ceremony!
Les Polonais
La Polonaise...
Sunshine Kaja
President Kwaszniewski & Vice-Pre.... eh, Rector PNK
Primus Pawel!
Mega Mini Magda
Flag ceremony...
Erik & Else
Emanuele C, Jan, Jarek, Natasa, Dejan!

Foooooddddd
Mikko, Simon, Katja & Johanna
On parle francais ici!
Erik in de zon
Else enjoying the sun...
nice view...again!
Life is beautiful....


Well folks, that's all for today........
getting in a pretty nostalgic mood!
- Else

Dear Blog....!

"Adesso credo nei miracoli....sei cosa sexy, such a sexy thing!"

Hello my dears,
As my Dutchie friends have all suddenly lost interest in my blog (cause they're already getting a little tired of hearing about how wonderfully special the Natolin experience was, i guess!), i've decided to continue writing...only in English (pszepraszam, ne n'écrirai pas en français, désolée...) from now on!

Maybe some of u guys will want to read about my Natolin Nostalgia... after all, we Natolinski could never get enough of that, could we??

Natolin Nostalgia...first of, i play the above mentioned song about five times a day, it brings back such vivid memories of the last two party nights on our swinging, sexy campus...and a funny feeling in my belly...
Secondly I think of all these great, funny, clever, interesting, special people (you) all the time, wondering what u guys are up to today, what the weather is like in Bucharest, how the preparations for the Ukrainian wedding are progressing, how many of us have already made it to BXL-heaven... how Pedro and Madalena are coping with the unfortunate defeat of their soccer team last night....and wondering who will be the first to pay me a little visit in charming-but-windy Amsterdam..??

Anyways, I am happy and proud to announce that all three of my heavy packages full of precious Craig & De Burca's and other unforgettable works have safely arrived in Zaandijk Street!! 35 kilos... in less than two weeks!

Otherwise nothing much is happening here. Haven't found a job yet, have finally shifted all my attention to Brussels (as i have no reason whatsoever to stay in this lovely town...that i know already... time to move on!)... so if any of you lucky ones out there have a spare job, please lemmeknow!!!

One of the bigger advantages of not having a job...and having a park right next to one's house, is that one can decide at any time to pick up a nice, happy book (The Clash of Civilisations...) and spend the rest of the afternoon in the sun.
Which is exactly what i'm gonna do right now!

Later!
Big kiss,
- Else