We are out

As expected and feared: The Netherlands is out. Again another tournament with a deception and again no cup for us. We have a couple of the best players in the world, but as a team we simply can't make it. How strange it is...

Odessa

Thijs made a really cool movie about the Election Observer Mission (EOM) in Odessa, Ukraine last April. I'm not in it, but I was in the group and participated. :-) I liked the movie a lot and I hope you all will do as well. Enjoy watching and I hope you perhaps get a better idea of what I all do.

Networking

People say that I am a networker, not in the bad sense of the word, but more like I have a huge network and I know people everywhere. It is true, no doubt about that and I really don't want to brag, but it does take a lot of effort to maintain such a network. The amount of money I spend on calls, sms, emails, letters and postcards to foreign countries is probably way higher than what a normal person spends on these things. I do it with pleasure though, as I like my friends and I want to be a good friend to them. However I do not get the same back from them, but I don't expect that and don't blame them.

The reason why I got to this point was a chat with a friend in which he said the following: "but I or anyone can't beat you in regards to communication, the networking miracle". Yes, I do care about communication and networks. He mentioned an occassion where he talked about an election observer mission in Albania and some funding in regards to that. There was some misunderstanding about it all and after I sent one sms to Albania, I got a reply back within 10 minutes and the matter was cleared. Another friend mentioned the following when he referred me for a job: "The second is Mr. Leander van Delden. Rarely have I seen such a good and effective networker as Mr. van Delden. This man, although with 26 years still very young, has shown himself to be remarkably effective in my previous dealings with him." I admit: it is a bit over the top, but it is how people see me. I can't say I dislike it. :-)

Ironing

Is it normal that someone irons his or her shirts for about an hour and only manages to do three? I did that yesterday and within an hour I only succeeded to finish 3 shirts. I mean, the shirts look fabulous now, but only three: that should have been more...

Golf

My parents both bought 2 golfsets, so it will finally happen that my parents will start playing golf! As I don’t have a clue what I will do next year, sports wise I mean, I might also join them and start golfing as well as it is not as snobbish and boring as I thought it would be.

US Update

I will be leaving for the USA the 2nd of July and will return to NL the 22nd. I will first fly to NY, then take a train the 3rd to Stowe, Vermont, coach 2 field hockey camps there, go to Blairstown, New Jersey for another camp (no clue yet how to get there), stay 1 night in NY again and fly back.

Topics

I usually forget what I want to blog about, so I made a list the last 2 weeks about what to blog and he result is now visible. I have been typing this in Word first, as I am in the train, and within 30 minutes I have 2 pages full with all the rubbish I want to bore you with! Now just hope that someone actually reads it. Bad thing: it’s only in English so I also have to translate it to Dutch for my other blog…

Nerd

I am taking a resit in English as I am not satisfied with the 7 I got for my oral exam. It pulls my average mark below 7.5, which means that I don’t get an 8 on my list. I have worked rather hard on the assignments I had to hand in and got a 7.5 average now, so I will for sure try to do better on the resit debate. It is still possible for me to graduate Cum Laude, so why not? My friends were highly astonished that I could still make that, but although I might be not the fastest student, the courses I do pass are with good marks. Bert even hates me now for this and is really hoping I won’t make it CL. :-)

Library

It is said that people studying in the library are not really there to study, but more to watch and be watched. It is supposed to be the unofficial meatmarket of the students in Groningen. Although no one is watching me (sadly) and most of the girls I see are not worth watching, I can partially agree with that statement. I have overheard a conversation on the hallway or in the toilet between guys or girls chatting/gossiping about someone studying on the same floor they are or whom they have seen in the cantina. For sure there are flirts and people pick up others, but the whole scene is passing me by. The bad thing is that I am totally alone there: none of my friends studies in the library and the ones who did all already graduated… Sometimes it is rather boring if you have no one to talk to during the breaks.

Taxi

Today I got an sms again if I was driving on the taxi again or not. I find it rather frustrating and annoying that people still refer being a private driver to a cab driver. We are nothing alike. Cab drivers need an official exam, are allowed to drive on buslanes, get paid per km or ride, and have blue plates. Private drivers drive the car of the person you ride, there are no requirements for us, we get paid by the hour, and we have to be in suit and open doors for our clients. Don’t mix it!

Mo

Bert, Arnoud and I have made up a name for the Moroccan guy who threatened to kill me and it is “Mo”. We are making a lot of practical jokes about him and refer a lot of times to seeing Mo, a Mo-action or something else. How we got to Mo, I don’t know anymore, but it’s funny.

Update

I haven’t updated my blog for a while, because I was terribly busy with studying in the library and taking my exams. Now I am in the train on my way back from a ride to Zeeland and I have some time to make it up (in the meantime missing the 2nd match of the Netherlands playing against Ivory Coast) I really spend long hours studying European Law, Politics and International organizations. I am actually studying there, because I feel less tempted to turn on my TV or my computer and chat with people or play a game. I should have started studying in the library in my first year already…

Cheating

Last Monday I was able to look on the answer-paper of the girl in front of me. Now haven’t I cheated since high school, but I was tempted to look several times what she had for an answer (it was multiple choice, so I could see the answers crossed). But after comparing the first 5 answers, I stopped doing that as the answers she had didn’t make any sense at all. She was pretty, but her answers were rubbish, so I stopped looking and made it totally on my own!

Drinks

To round up our English course we were supposed to have drinks with all the 4 groups 2 weeks ago on Thursday. So right after training from Hoogeveen I went to the bar, but no one I saw looked familiar. It turned out that all the groups (or at least people from all the groups) were present except mine. I was the only one from group 4 showing up to have a free drink. Always thought we didn’t bond that well…

Clothes (2)

I forgot to mention: I have 15 (!!) ties...

Hospitality Club

Around 2 weeks ago I got an email from 4 girls from Germany if they could stay over at my place for a night. Friends who know me, would probably say: "ah, as usual", but that's not true. I joined the Hospitality Club a while ago and haven't used it yet. It is a platform for people offering a place to stay or showing others around town, in return for the same if they go somewhere. Since I am traveling quite a bit, I thought that it would be nice and come in handy, but I haven't had the chance to use it myself. When I got the email, I was rather surprised as I didn't think that Groningen would be very popular. I replied, but they already found another place in Groningen to stay, as they opted for more places to make sure, that they would have a place.

Clubbing in Amsterdam

Last Friday I went clubbing in Amsterdam. Not the thing I usually do (or to be more correct: ever do), but it was great fun. I drove with Bert and Arnoud to Edam where we would sleep at my grandfather's place, dropped our stuff, had a bite and went to Hotel Arena in Amsterdam, where we would meet Nelleke and Arian to go clubbing at the same place. Nelleke was over from Tirana and Arian visited her from Tirana for that, so it was 2 girls on a night out, being stalked by 3 guys. Of course I tried to couple Bert to Nelleke, but failed miserably. :-) Hotel Arena (ToNight) is a nice place to go clubbing and it has a good atmosphere. Unfortunately wasn't the music that nice, as they were playing some kind of jungle techno, which is not really my style and to my humble opinion contains too much beats and bass. I got rather sick around 1.30am as well, due to "who knows". I hadn't drunk a drop of alcohol and was only drinking juice, so no clue what got into me. Happily Nelleke wanted to home herself at 2.15, so I got saved by the bell. Arnoud was totally digging it all and was hyper-active. He wants to go again at the end of next month, so we might just do that. Three guys on the prowl!

Being checked out

Ok, well, not in the way I would like though, but someone showed interest in me. At least, that was what my sitemeter tells me: someone did a search on you with my name. Not much fun stuff to find though: my ELSA history (although the letter to the IB is still funny to read, as it totally pissed off the International Board), my embassy history, my blogs, and a fansite of Chris de Burgh when I was still living at home. All entries were made by me or directly involve me, so no criticism or bad comments what so ever. Would have been nice though, to get some reflection once in a while.