New music recommendations!

So now it's time for... some music! For today I set myself as a goal to inform you all about my music taste. As I got the feeling that just posting a list of music recommendations was not a very effective way to make you guys listen to my music, so this time I will do it in a different way. In this blog post I will discuss a few of my favourite artists, tell a little something about them to make you more curious and give some recommendations on what tracks you should listen to. Just read these descriptions and decide for yourself which bands/singers you want to give a try.

Scouting For Girls

What other band should I start with than my all-time favourite Scouting For Girls? Ok, I have talked about them before on this blog, but in my defense, they do have a new album. And what an album! They have a totally new sound, which should be appealing to a bigger audience. As a result, the first single of the album, "This ain't a love song", became a hit all over Europe. Also their second single "Famous" has the potential to become quite popular. These are not the only good tracks of the album however. Most songs sound a bit different from what the true SFG-fans are used to, but they are great songs and if you're into positive and danceable music, you should give them a try! I have not heard from a single person that they didn't like Scouting For Girls (although maybe they just say they like it because they don't want to break my enthusiasm), so really, try it.

You should listen to: "Little miss naughty", "1+1", "Gotta keep smiling" and to all other songs these wonderful guys have ever made.

Go:Audio

This band had been in my last.fm-recommendations for quite a long time before I actually started listening to their music. The first thing I noticed while listening to the first song was the (male) singer with earring in the video of "She left me". The intro was quite catchy though, so I kept on listening and I still don't regret doing that! Not all of their songs are as good as their best songs, but there are some more songs that are certainly worth listening. All of the songs below also have a great intro by the way, that seems to be their specialty.

You should listen to: "She left me", "Made up stories" and "Drive to the city".

Little Man Tate

I discovered this band while I was shopping in Tilburg. I heard a great song on the radio, and HAD TO know who it was. I asked the salesman, but he didn't know. So I stored part of the lyrics in my phone, and googled it right when I got home. About the music itself: I think these guys have a bit of a 60s-sound and you can also hear the British accent. Me like that very much. :D A pity the band split up already. Be sure to check out the videos too, they're pretty good in my humble opinion.
You should listen to: "This must be love", "Hey little sweetie" and "Sexy in Latin".

Alexander Rybak

I suppose most of you guys remember him only as that cute guy from Norway that won the Eurovision song contest with that happy song. I can hear you thinking. What happened to him? Well, I can tell you, he's still singing. And most songs have the typical Fairytale-sound, so if you liked that sound, check out his other songs!

You should listen to: "Funny little world", "Roll with the wind" and, for the curious people among you, "Fela igjen", a song in Norwegian made by Alexander together with hiphop formation Opptur. It's quite good, and you can find a subtitled version on YouTube.

All Time Low

I had been following this band on Youtube for a while, when suddenly a Dutch tv station surprised me by playing one of their songs and actually kept on playing it for quite some time. So for those of you that watch TMF a lot, these guys are a bit familiar. But even for you there must be some songs by them that you don't know yet. For those of you that have never heard of these guys, I can tell you that they're a four-piece pop-punk band from the USA that make quite good music. If you sometimes feel like a punk-rocker, check out these guys.

You should listen to: "Weightless", "Dear Maria, count me in" and "Damned if I do ya (damned if I don't)"

The Pigeon Detectives

This is certainly not a recommendation that everybody will like, but I had to mention them. The Pigeon Detectives is an indie-rockband from England that has a special sound that I can't really put into words. I guess the only way to find out what I mean is to listen to these guys. :)

You should listen to: "Take her back", "I'm not sorry", "Romantic type" and if you're the kind of person that is very self-confident you should also listen to "Everybody wants me".

That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed reading about (and listening to) these artists as much as I did writing about them. Let me know if you found some new music because of it, that's always nice to hear. :)

Have a good day!

Living the dream

I was very surprised when my old friend A. from the Dominican Republic wrote me an e-mail one month ago, inviting me over to his place in Santo Domingo. Of course I said yes immediately, and I was even more excited when he told me I could bring a friend if I wanted. So this morning I left for two weeks in the Caribbean sun, together with my good friend S., who I found willing to come with me to this tropical island. Who would say no to such a great opportunity?

When our plane arrived we were amazed by the beauty of the country. Also Santo Domingo is an amazing place: it has a very nice beach and also a beautiful inner city. But we had little time to see that now. We had our suitcases and wanted to get to A.'s place as soon as possible. We took a taxi to the address that I had written down. You wouldn't believe what happened next. We were taken to a very rich neighbourhood and when the taxi stopped, I was absolutely stunned. This house was not just a house, it was more like a mansion! A white mansion at the sea-side, with a very green garden surrounding it. I asked the driver one more time whether this was the right address, but he insisted it was. Could my friend really afford to live here? We walked his drive-way and rang the doorbell. After one minute the door was opened by my old friend, who welcomed me to his country with a big hug. I told him how amazed we were by his mansion. He just laughed, and said "Life is good my friend, life is good." He took me straight through his living room to the balcony, where we had the most amazing seaview. He told us to sit down on the loungers and went away. We were quite tired from the long travel and lay down. It felt so good, laying down in the sun and we closed our eyes.

We had almost fallen asleep when A. came back. He had made us cocktails! What a nice gesture! Unfortunately he had to go now, but he told us to make ourselves comfortable, so we lay down again. It was already quite late now and the sun was already going down, so we watched the sunset together, sipping from our cocktails. It was a truly astonishing view: the palmtrees, the ocean, the orange sky above it, a lonely couple taking a romantic walk on the beach... I wished this moment would last forever.

I looked at S., who was sitting next to me. She hadn't said a single word for almost 10 minutes now. She must have been really amazed by the beauty of this sunset. She looked back at me. The orange light, shining on her face, made her more beautiful than ever. I asked if she wanted to sit closer to me, and she immediately jumped up to come sit on my lounger. We were sitting really close to eachother now. I put my arm around her while watching the sunset together, which made the moment feel even better. She looked me in the eyes now. I'm not sure about it, but I think I saw her blushing. This moment felt so right, and slowly our faces came closer to eachother. When our lips first met, it was a bit of an awkward moment, but soon we got the spirit of the moment again and we kissed.

This was another moment that never should have ended, but unfortunately for me it was time to wake up, and my alarm clock disturbed this wonderful dream... Right now I can only hope that one day this dream will come true. My first thought of the day: I should really contact my old friend in Santo Domingo again.

The final days

Day 13

The work for today consisted of cleaning a dirty wooden floor. Not such interesting work, but the day got more interesting in the evening because it was Italian night. This meant that Italian girl Anna was going to make us all some delicious fresh pizzas! They tasted really good and I was a very happy boy. The only problem was that I always wanted more pizza, but felt a certain shame when I would reach for that last piece of pizza. So I made up a plan. I was going to do all the dishes, all alone. First I did all empty plates, then the cutlery and after that I sneaked back into the dining room to get the plate with the last piece of pizza on it, took it with me to the kitchen when nobody was watching and then... heaven in the kitchen. Hmm, what was that pizza delicious! Anna, if you read this, know that you are always welcome to come visit me in Holland if you make me some more of those pizzas. :)

Day 14

Today was the last working day, but the work itself was not that interesting. First we had to carry some tables to a barn outside and after that we had to clean a large hall. But again, in the evening it got more interesting. It was Spanish-Latvian night, which consisted of a video about Latvia, two quizzes and some Spanish music. It was really nice.
After that we went outside to sit in the hot tub, which was heated by the burning of some wood. The water was really hot, but it was a really good experience. In the end we sat there, with small breaks of running into the cold river to cool down, till just before 4 in the morning. At that time Anna, Ieva and I decided it was a great moment to walk to the cold lake and swim. Another really great experience! It certainly was a special night.

Day 15

In the morning of today we didn't do much, because a lot of people wanted to sleep late. But during the day we went on a bicycle trip and we went to a lake in the forest to have a nice BBQ. After that we went to another lake to swim in.
In the evening it was time for Spanish carnaval. The photos will follow later, but I can tell you now that it was great to see everybody being dressed up in a funny way. At midnight also Kadi came by to bring a homemade strawberry cake, which was really nice. Then we did a small game, in which everybody had to write down on a piece of paper a personal message to all other participants. Thanks to everybody for the nice comments. :)
The night ended at half past three with an amazing play, performed by Elena and Ondine. Another great night!

Day 16

Today is already my last day in Sänna. We said goodbye to all the people that were staying in Sänna and the "temps" went together to Tartu. We were given a ride by the mother of one of the local volunteers, which was very nice. I went into Tartu for a few hours with my friends, but at half past 2 it was time to say goodbye to everyone. Now the camp has really ended. On the bus ride to Tallinn, I thought of all the good memories. Here's a list of all the things I will never forget:

- The incredible amount of mosquitos in Sänna
- All the great fresh food
- Having porets for breakfast
- The fact that Estonian people eat cold pink soup
- Ondine's unconditional love for cute little cat Pesu
- Cute little cat Pesu
- Elena's great imitation of a drunk David Copperfield
- Pekka's stories about the army
- Pekka's great working shirt of the second week
- The taste of dried meat
- Waking up with the song "On the road again"
- The squeaking sound Ieva made while saying "Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God"
- The nice conversations with Anna
- Kadi's positive energy
- Watching soccer games together with the guys
- My working shirt of handball club Örebro
- The sound of the letter õ

One more thing I will never forget is the beauty of Tallinn. Going back there felt like going home. I had not booked a hostel yet, but I had a list of hostels. However, I forgot to draw a map, because I knew how to find the street where I wanted to be. But after having walked in the hot sun for one hour, I found out that there would have also been a shortcut, that would have taken me to my first hostel in about 15 minutes... Anyway, I found myself a hostel, took a hot shower, which gave a really weird special feeling on the mosquito bites on my legs, and got ready for the night. The big night. The night in which Holland could become World Champion for the first time. I watched the game, under the pleasure of a nice Dutch beer, at a big screen on the main square of Tallinn. It was so nice to hear the crowd cheer for Holland so much! I even stood next to a group of girls with Dutch flags painted on their cheeks the first half! The game was really exciting, and went into extra time. Since I saw some people leave, I decided to move forward a bit to go sit closer to the screen. This lead to me almost getting into a fight with some Russian guy, who thought I was sitting on his place. In the end his girlfriend had to drag him away.
Then another memorable moment. In the 107th minute of the game, the transmission on the big screen ended. For two minutes everybody was waiting for the images to come back, but it didn't. So together with a big group, we ran to the city center. It must have been really funny to see for the people that were sitting in a park that was on the way between the square and the city center. In the end I missed 8 minutes of the final, including the red card for Heitinga, but was just in time to see the winning goal by Iniesta. Of course it wasn't a good moment, but I could live with the result. Holland didn't deserve to win this final.

Day 17: a day full of setbacks

After another short night because of a snorring guy opposite to me who got up at 5 in the morning to spend some time packing his bag I woke up in Estonia for the last time. I had breakfast at a bakery close to my hostel and after that I went souvenir-hunting. After that I went to the closest tram stop and got on the tram in the direction of the airport.
I knew I had to either stop at the stop Autobussijaam, or one of the stops after that. But when I got close to that stop, suddenly everybody started to help me in Estonian. I understood the word "järgmine" (next), so I thought they meant I had to get out at the tram stop there. I said "airport" to them, and then they started talking about a bus I should take, but I didn't understand much of that. So in the end I got off at the main bus station and decided to walk to the airport. That went ok, but it turned out that I could have stayed on the tram for at least one more stop... Anyway, I got to the airport, exchanged my money while being screwed by a bad exchange rate. Also I was 1 EEK (=6 eurocent) short to exchange all my money, so I was left with 6.90 EEK. I wanted to go to the kiosk at the airport to get some refreshment, but the cheapest ice-cream was 7 EEK, and the woman behind the counter refused to sell me that product for 6.90 EEK, which is less than 1 eurocent too little. So I was 1 eurocent short of a refreshment. But when I set myself a goal, I become unstoppable. So I decided to drop off my luggage at the airport and started walking again to the nearest supermarket, where it would be possible to buy some icecream with the money I had left. But when I arrived at the supermarket, I couldn't find my Estonian money any more! I must have left it somewhere at the airport. I got very angry with myself, but of course that didn't help. I never found the money back. I just hope that I didn't leave it at the store of that lady that wouldn't sell me that nice icecream. Conclusion: no refreshment for Laurens at the airport. The few coins I had left, I gave to charity.

I had to spend more than 1 hour waiting for my plane to leave, but I made myself useful with my laptop and the free wifi at the airport. I applied for another internship in Prague from the airport, in 10 days I will know whether I will get it or not. Let's hope for the best. My battery died quite soon however, and then I had to wait. The plane to Helsinki left 30 minutes late, which caused me some stress since I didn't have much time in Helsinki to catch my flight to Amsterdam. When I arrived in Helsinki, I was in such a hurry that I left my book (from the library) in the plane. "Luckily" the plane to Amsterdam had a delay, so I had the time to ask the personnel at the airport about what to do about it and got some instructions. I hope I will get it back.
The plane to Amsterdam also had a delay of around 30 minutes. At around 6 I arrived in Amsterdam, just to find out that my luggage decided to extend its holiday by another night in Helsinki... Apparently the delay of my flight from Tallinn to Helsinki meant that there was no time to get my luggage into the plane to Amsterdam, because there was another girl at the airport who also came from Tallinn and didn't find her luggage. So we filled in a form and hoped for the best.

So the last day of my travel was not really a good one, but I did enjoy my stay in Estonia so much. So I would like to say one word to everybody that contributed to making my stay so good:

Aitäh!

The blog goes on...

Hi guys! I'm sorry it took me so long to write another update, but I just didn't feel like writing the past few days. :) So I left you at the weekend. Let's start there.

Day 8
Today it's Saturday so we don't have to work. Instead, we will use some of the bicycles to cycle to Rõuge, where there was going to be some kind of festival. Rõuge itself is only a very small place (less than 500 inhabitants), but it was still quite crowded when the first activity started: a boat race with all kinds of home-made boats:


Really crazy. So before and after that we had swum in the lake and at the end of the afternoon we were joined by some drunk locals, who wanted to share their Estonian vodka and longdrinks with us. Probably just to get Ieva drunk, because one of those guys (the ugliest one) kept on yelling "I love you", probably the only line he knew in English. Anyway, we had a good time there and some of us may have gotten a bit drunk, which made the cycle home more fun. But not for me, since I had left my sweater at home. It was quite cold (but still quite ok actually), but I was very happy that Elena was willing to cycle home a bit faster than the rest of the group.

Day 9

Today we did not do so much. We went for a swim in a lake nearby, talked a bit and that would be about it. Only in the evening we did a quiz about Estonia and watched a movie about the singing revolution in Estonia. This is hard to explain in a few lines to a non-Estonian, so I won't even try, but at least now I understand the culture and traditions of Estonia better.

Day 10

Today we had to work again, and Pekka and me were going to the treehouses to cover the empty spaces next to the wooden floor. So we were busy all day with the saws and hammers. Really hard work, considering the fact that the weather was still good today and it may well have been the hottest day so far. But it was very satisfying to see the difference afterwards: the treehouses were really ready to use now. Here's a picture of the view out of one of the treehouses:

Amazing, isn't it? A really inspirational place!

When we came back to the manor, a new volunteer had arrived. Her name was Anna and she was from Italy. She worked as a long term volunteer in another part of Estonia and was invited by the organisation to come help us for this week, to replace the two Spanish girls. Always nice to have extra help and more people to talk to.
So in the evening we watched a movie called Paha maa. As you may see from the title, the movie was Finnish. It was a really great movie. Also we decided that after today's Finnish night, it would be Dutch night the next day. Very convenient, because that day was also the day was also the day of the semi-final of Holland against Uruguay.

Day 11

So today we worked in the carpentry workshop again, where the guys had to paint the ceiling of two smaller rooms. This was quite complicated, since one of the rooms was far from empty. But like a true athlete I used every muscle in my body to make sure every bit of the ceiling got painted without having to remove too much objects from the room. Camp leader Kadi took a picture of me doing that, but I don't have that picture yet, so maybe you will see it later.

In the evening I did a quiz about Holland, which was fun. After the quiz, I played some Dutch music (including Wij houden van oranje and Viva Hollandia) to get in the mood for the soccer game. So we continued the Dutch night watching the first half of the soccer, and this time even some of the girls stayed to watch, which lead to some interesting questions like how they would make sure the grass looked the way it looked, with those stripes. None of us knew the answer, so if you do, please make a comment here and enlighten us. The second half it was only Hendrik, Pekka and me again, but we really enjoyed the great game of soccer! And I enjoyed the great result of course, I still cannot believe we are in the final. And I also can't wait to watch the final in a crowded bar in Tallinn next Sunday. Or maybe I will go to the main square. We'll see how it goes.

Day 12

Not that many special things have happened today. Maybe the fact that Pekka and I moved to another place to sleep is worth mentioning, but it's not really interesting to you guys as a reader. Why did we move? Well, tomorrow some more guests are coming to stay here, and we had to make room for those people. Not really interesting. So in the evening we had French night, which started with a quiz/game about France and ended with a French movie, which was stopped halfway because the subtitles stopped working. Maybe tomorrow we'll find a way to watch the ending. I wasn't that sorry for the subtitles going missing, because it allowed us to watch the last 15 minutes of the other semi-final between Germany and Spain. So now I know we will have to beat Spain in the final. It will be tough, but I think we have a chance of beating them. Will the 11th of July be one of the days in my life that I will never forget? It could be, it could be...

Part 2: The first days in Sänna

Day 4

My first morning in Sänna started off quite well, as Ieva and Elena made a delicious breakfast. After eating, we were supposed to do some games to get to know eachother, but since the camp leaders were still hoping that the two Spanish girls would show up, we moved these games to the afternoon and started working immediately. We were lead to a large room, which was looking quite old and ugly. We were supposed to paint the walls in some kind of beige.

This was what we did in the morning and after a delicious lunch (the food was very good all week!) we went outside to do those games in the high grass. The games were fun: telling eachother stories about one’s name, trying to recognize eachother’s hands with closed eyes and walking through the grass with your eyes closed, while being lead by a fellow group member. However, the bare legs in the high grass (we started with those games after we had a quick swim in the lake nearby) were not such a good idea. Especially with my eyes closed, I was a very easy prey for all the insects that were interested in my blood. I would feel that for sure the next day.

In the evening we played some volleyball with the locals, which was nice.

Day 5

The most important news of today was that I made a new best friend for life: four year-old Elisabeth, the daughter of one of the artists living at the manor. After I was finished with work, I was a little too nice to her and after that she decided to come bring me some fresh strawberries. I thanked her and lay down on my bed with my eyes closed, because I wanted to rest now. I was hoping she would leave now. I was wrong. She kept on bringing me toys, and if I didn’t open my eyes fast enough, she would push them into my face until I responded. We played for some time, until Ondine came by. I tried to convince the little kid that Ondine was much more fun to play with, but she wasn’t interested, she only wanted me. By then I knew I was never going to be able to rest in the hour before dinner, so I gave in. I ended up playing ball with her, on the large Estonian swing and was even introduced to her parents. At dinner time she also didn’t want to let me go. So I dragged her to the kitchen, while she kept screaming “ota” (=wait!) where I put her on the seat opposite to me and we enjoyed dinner together. What a lovely day.

In the evening Ernest, an American artist that clearly smoked too much marihuana in his younger years, gave us an art workshop. To me it was a bit disappointing, because Ernest looks like a really inspirational person, but the workshop was only so-so. However, I enjoyed myself for the two hours it took.

While I was in the shower that night, I counted how many mosquito bites I had. I found out I had at least 34 bites. Southern-Estonia is such a nice place…

Day 6

Not much to write about today. We painted, had a BBQ at Hendrik & Kadi’s place (the two camp leaders, a married couple that lives near the manor) and Pekka and I actively participated in the bicycle workshop in the evening, where we learned how to replace an inner tire of a bike. Very interesting

Day 7

Today was the first day we did something else than painting! In the morning we painted, but during lunch Hendrik asked Pekka and me whether we were tired of the painting yet and were interested in another small job. Of course we were! So the job existed of removing old stones from the theatre in the manor and throwing them out. Quite a tough job (it was the first time the work made me sweat), but it was nice to do something else than painting for a while.

In the late afternoon, I arranged with Hendrik that we would have a tv to watch the game of Holland against Brazil. We really enjoyed the great game, and I told the guys that were watching (the girls were still painting (A)) some facts about the Dutch national team.

After the game was finished, I ate the cake I made in the afternoon using Ieva’s instructions and was amazed. I could actually make a very well-tasting cake! I never knew I had such a talent! But maybe it was just the recipe that was very good. Anyway, I really enjoyed dinner today. :)