The year 2006 - a review

The year has passed with a speed, so fast, I can hardly recall what I all did. A short overview and review from my side.

During New Year, I was in Reykjavik, Iceland with Christina and I have never seen such a deserted, but beautiful country. End of January, I went to France to organise the Dutch Student Skiing Championships and it was a blast. Imagine: 850 students packed in a small french village, drinking every night till late, making the slopes unsafe and having superb competitions. It was a blast and I hope the new board will do a terrific job this year too. In February and March, I went to Moldova for 2 seminars and it was a blast too. I combined March with a election observer mission in Odessa, Ukraine. You can watch the movie here. Kiev, Ukraine was my next destination in May and I had a blast there with my superb guide Irina. July/August meant coaching in the USA again and I want to go again!!! I am really looking forward to this summer to visit my kids and coach again. My parents invited me and my brother for a 4 week trip to Namibia in August for their 30th Anniversary. The magnificent pictures of that trip and those from the USA, can be found here. After August, I haven't been abroad anymore and I am craving to go somewhere again.
Besides all the trips, Christina broke up with me, met a gorgeous other girl, worked my butt off, stopped with coaching hockey in the Netherlands, setup a new institute regarding democracy in eastern Europe, drove the Finnish president on her visit to Groningen to open a new exposition of the Groninger Museum, still haven't bought a car, still didn't graduate, applied to the military (the national reserve), missed a couple of birthdays (happily no weddings this year) and in general some amazing experiences.
The prospects for 2007 are fairly OK. Financially I am getting on the better side, university is progressing rather well, possible trips/EOMs coming up to Armenia and Russia, going for sure to the USA again in July/August, a wedding to attend in Albania in summer, HAVE to visit Ukraine and hopefully Georgia and am thinking of buying a car and finding a good paying job. All in all, not so bad, I would say. Anyone who would love to come over, or have me over: just let me know.

Looking back, I can't really say that my life has been that bad. Actually, I has been a blast and I have had the opportunity to visit a lot of new countries and have gained a lot of new friends. I thank you all for that and hope that more and better things will come this year.

Elections / Tolerance

You probably heard all about the devastating elections in the Netherlands last November. Far left and far right won and the center parties lost. We now have cows in parliament (the animal party), have socialists who had theories of Marx in their programme just 10 years ago (socialist party) and a party who wants to kick out all Muslims (party for freedom...).

I don’t have a clue what is wrong with my lovely and once so tolerant country. The last 4 years we had to come out of an economic depression, but everyone gained and all is fine. Unemployment is at an all time low, social security is one of the best in the world, we have a stable currency, are respected all over the world and have liberties some people in other countries would love to have. No clue why our country so suddenly polarized. I fear that our budget deficit will increase, due to extra expenditure from the government and we will turn (even more) away from the EU, and may become the outcast of Europe.

Perhaps the time has come to thing about moving... Read the links if you are interested.

http://cafebabel.com/en/article.asp?T=A&Id=2160

http://cafebabel.com/en/article.asp?T=A&Id=2161

http://cafebabel.com/en/article.asp?T=A&Id=2156

New Year's Eve

My life is strange. This year, for the first time in 4 years, I will be in Holland with New Year's Eve. Lack of money causes my obligatory stay at home, although I have invitations from friends to come to Barcelona, Munich and other places. What is even worse, is that I have to work in the 1st of January at 8am (!!), so I will watch some fireworks and go to bed. Can it get worse?
In 2003 I celebrated NYE in Rome/Italy, in 2004 Cape Town/South Africa and in 2005 Reykjavik/Iceland... Looking back I have to say that I had rather exciting places and days there and it was marvellous. Thanks Christina for accompanying me there.
Next year I will have to find an original destination to go to and I will make sure that I am able to go abroad. Not only do I find NYE here a bit boring, but being abroad makes it extra special and thrilling for me. Any suggestions? :-)

Söhne Mannheims

On Saturday the 13th of January the Söhne Mannheims will have a concert in the Melkweg, Amsterdam. I have 2 tickets and will go there. Anyone wanna join me to enjoy some superb (German) music?

For more info check their site.

Merry Christmas

First of all: merry Christmas to you all and may it be a happy event with your family and loved ones. I, myself, had to work today and will have to work tomorrow as well, so I had my family gathering yesterday already. Good thing is that they pay 200%, else I probably would have declined.

On the left the (digital) Christmas card I sent to most of my friends (some I don't have an address of...) and I got quite some comments on it. It was never my intention to let you believe that the picture shows you Groningen. Not at all, as my province is one of the flattest in the whole country. It was more as an example of a nice winter scenery and with a little Christmas touch. The photo is actually made in Moldova last February, when I was there for a seminar. So to all those who told me: thanks, but I know. To all the others: just an explanation and some more blog-filling. Enjoy your dinners, enjoy your friends, family and lovers and don't get too fat and drunk. Yours truly from a lovely, grey, flat Groningen!

New Years Eve

The last 3 years I spend New Years Eve abroad in some of the most fantastic countries in the world: Rome/Italy, Cape Town/South Africa and Reykjavik/Iceland. Unfortunately, I don't have the money this year and am not together with Christina anymore, who was my travelpartner the last 3,5 years.

Anyway, I am not going to be abroad this year, so who would like to spend NYE in Groningen at my place? You are more than welcome!!

Wow

Medical Test

Went to the Naval Base in Amsterdam yesterday for a medical test. Yesterday evening the medical tests: ears, eyes, physio, complete health check, blood, urine, dental, etc. I'm still trying to get into the National Reserve, but the process takes a while. There appeared a glitch on my heart scan, so they weren't sure to let me participate in the sport test and I had to stay the night at the base and get up at 5.45 this morning... Then the doctor told me in a 2 minute chat (!!) that I have to go to the military hospital in Utrecht and be examined by a cardiologist first, before I am allowed to participate in the sport test! So another month passes, before I am finally in... You really have to be patriotic and crazy to want to join the army...

Work and my brother

My brother didn't get the job he was first told to get... They suddenly decided to hire someone with more experience, although my brother was first assured that he got the job. There was some miscommunication within the company it appeared. Big bummer, but I hope he will find something new soon.

Brother

My brother got himself a job in Amsterdam as a database manager/ office manager for a telecommunications/training company. It will be his first real job, so he is rather excited and he will need to search for a place in Amsterdam, where prices are not funny at all and where space is limited.

Redmer: good luck with both your new job and finding a place!

Money

I am rather furious right now, as my employer hasn't transferred any pay lately... To be honest: I am rather broke and have a pile of working days that still need to be paid! No clue how I am going to pay for my bills, as the company says they passed on the hours and the payment agency says they didn't received them. GRRRR

Meetings

Last Friday, I was supposed to have some meetings with 2 friends, but the first sent me an SMS, that she couldn't come for dubious reasons. The second friend I had to SMS myself as he was 30min late (which he usually is), to hear that he was still in a meeting, and that it would take another 4 hours. So I had a rather free afternoon. Crap...

Work (2)

Work is crap, not fun and boring. Not work in general, but what I am doing at the moment. Surrounded by nitwits and idiots I have to do the same job, listen to people's complaints, listen to my co-workers weekend stories and somehow survive it all. God, wish I was done with it all and had a good, decent job. A year of my life for that to happen anytime soon. However, guess it's my own fault, so I shouldn't really complain. Should have done more in the first years of my university-career, but not much to do about that now. Life goes on. If some day my braincells have died out of boredom and stupidity, you know why. This is my legacy.

The Winschoter Chamber Choir

Just creating some publicity for my mother's choir. :-)

Practice Match

On Tuesday, my team played against the 1st team of our club. Just a nice practice match, although no fun and pretty useless for us. First of all: we lost with somewhere between 7 till 10 to 0. Second: we don't have teams like our first men's in our competition, all the other teams have a totally different game, so for us this wasn't a good practice. I am glad though that I didn't join the first team. The atmosphere in our team is way better and I really dislike the coach. Good choice after all.

EIDP - the battle

As you might have read in an email or on my weblog: I started a new adventure with 2 other idiots. The three of us have a common interest in eastern Europe and combined a whole lot of experience in participating and organising projects, living and working, and travelling in eastern Europe and the Caucasus. My companions both worked for another organisation before; the one that I joined as a participant to Moldova, but due to miscommunications, or better the lack of communication, the dictatorial style of how the president was leading the organisation, and the kind of projects the organisation was organising they decided to leave the organisation and we got in touch and talked about a new, better one. :-)

Of course, it is always easier to say than to do, but we do want to do things different and we do have a clear vision and goal in our minds. We do communicate and we want to do the more difficult projects in regard to EU funds etc. Not only the week drinking and cultural exchange in Turkey or Hungary with 40 foreigners. Of course, this is also fun, but it doesn't provide us with the incentive to make a change and to stand for a challenge. We would like to do the Election Observer Missions, the TACIS-grant projects, the working-experience exchanges/study groups, and more. It may take some time, but we have a very wide network already and are all born (sorry to sound a bit posh) networkers. Besides that: we are highly motivated and ready to do some work.

The other organisation has some problems with us, in regard to our existence, as it is not highly appreciated. Some background information to understand the matter. The other organisation, DiDEE, was formed out of 2 liberal youth organisations in the Netherlands, but operates independently. The liberal organisations (of one I am a member of) didn't have much to say and "lost" control over DiDEE. Not a problem, as long as the organisation works, but lately some bad publicity harmed the image of the organisation. A participant complained that the president didn't pay his bills, gave false information, and only goes on seminars to party instead of participate. Now I am not going to comment on that, but the complaints made it to 2 different university papers in the Netherlands, in which also the dubious financial reputation of the president was discussed. This all, coincidentally, came up at the same moment we were about to launch our organisation. Now the battle started about which organisation the 2 liberal organisations would support: the new, motivated one (EIDP), or their old, dictatorial, baby (DiDEE). Some sentiments play a role, in trying to rescue the old organisation and to revive it, but this weekend, 2 of the remaining 3 board members resigned, explained that some statements made by the board did not have their support, and the president stands now alone. I give him credit for being so optimistic and continuing his struggle, but it seems like a hopeless task. In my opinion he is still bluffing and trying to regain control, by making statements that this weekend a new, full board will be presented, they will have an office and a full time employee etc...

In the meantime, are we setting up our first projects, contacting our friends, professors and other acquaintances to start to build a new and great organisation. Wanna join? :-)

European Institute for Democratic Participation (EIDP)

Dear all,

A couple of months ago, the idea, and vision of an organisation that deals with east-west cooperation were formed in our minds. We have been involved in different organisations before and have gained a lot of experience with (running) projects in Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia. Now the time has come to do something with this knowledge and our common enthusiasm for working on these affairs.

It is this enthusiasm that gave birth to the European Institute for Democratic Participation. (Please visit the preliminary website at EIDP).

The goals of the EIDP are:

• To support young Europeans in democratic participation

• To serve as a platform where young Europeans can jointly develop and conduct projects that stimulate democratic participation

• To promote east-west cooperation

• To support and develop civil society

We have been writing our first project proposals and concurrently we are studying ways how best to organise ourselves, in a way that we could create an organisation that would be able to both inspire and retain enthusiastic people to work on issues of democratic participation and East-West cooperation.

The idea with the EIDP is to not only organise YOUTH projects, but also the more extensive, adult and difficult projects in regard to MATRA, TACIS grants and EU/EC tenders. Projects financed under the YOUTH programme often lack its intended impact and tend to be more of "trips" or "holidays." With the EIDP we want to have a more professional and experienced approach, covering all the topics and possibilities concerned.

The reason for writing to you is to inform you of this new organisation and perhaps to make you consider working with the EIDP as a participant in a project or even as a project leader for any of the (upcoming) projects.

We offer our cooperation to you. It is our belief that in good partnership we can make a difference in the countries of the Former Soviet Union, and generally Europe as a whole

If you would like to know more, just reach us personally (Leander, Luc, or Olaf) or send an e-mail to the newly established office.

By all means, we look forward on cooperating with you, and finding common ways to act as citizens in our ever-changing world!

With regards,

Leander van Delden
With Luc Vocks & Olaf Koens

Kid

My dear friend Sönke became a father a couple of months back and I usually don't post pictures of kids or babies here, but for him I will make an exception! :-) Here's the kiddo.

Sony Bravia Commercial

I simply love it. No other words...

Theory of International Relations

I have to follow the subject of Theory of International Relations and I simply hate it. I like International Relations, but I despise the fact that you have to break it all down to theories and schemes... Who cares if it is Realism or something else? This is something you will NEVER use again for the rest of your life and still they want you to learn it and, even worse, write about it. I now have to take a topic and write 7 pages about it. No problem, and I will happily do that, but what I don't like is that I have to incorporate a theory in it. I have to have a topic hat deals with a question including a theory. Now I came up with: "In which way does R. Gilpin's theory about the role of warfare in change, supports the (possible) use of Private Military Companies by the UN?" Exciting isn't it? I can say a lot about the UN, PMCs and the combination of both, but not a clue what I have to do with the theory. This is not going to be a nice couple of weeks. On a side-note: the guy who gives the course is younger than I am. How much should I take from him? :(