My flatmates may have been wondering why I was locking myself in my room the past few days, but I just couldn't say anything, since I was working on a top secret project. Last year I promised it would be the last time that I made a top 300 of my all-time favourite music, but I just couldn't resist the temptation in November this year. Since it's impossible to post the list in a clear and understandable manner on my weblog, I used a different website.
You can check out the list here.
Enjoy. :)
donderdag 30 december 2010
woensdag 22 december 2010
New place to live + a little experiment to make you feel better
Finally it's going to happen: I'm gonna move out of my cheap flat in Rajská Zahrada and into a great flat in a majestic building in the center of Prague. This will be my new home:
I will be living on the fifth floor, which is nice, because over there you won't hear much of the sounds of the city and we have a very luxorious elevator, in which you would just like to stay as long as possible. Maybe in the first week I will just play lift-boy for a few hours, just to go up and down in that wonderful elevator. :)
Anyway. I will move on 2 January 2011, and I will have 2 flatmates: a French expat and an American student. I already met both of them, and they're both very nice people, so I can't wait to move in. The room itself is also very large and I have a double bed, which means I will have no problems hosting any kind of guests. Which is a good thing, because it's always nice to have guests. :)
Something different now. I noticed that I am feeling really happy the past few days, seemingly for no reason. Of course it's nice that I am enjoying life here, but I'm wondering why I feel so good. Maybe it is all due to my strategy to avoid the Winter Blues. Want to know this strategy? It's very simple. Every morning when I'm on the subway, I close my eyes for a few minutes and stare into the light above me. So to find out more about this, I would like to encourage all of you who are living in a big city with a good subway system to try this out for one week and let me know the results. And for those of you who don't have the privilege to live in such a city: staring into a light bulb for five minutes each day will also do.
Just be sure to close your eyes first.
I will be living on the fifth floor, which is nice, because over there you won't hear much of the sounds of the city and we have a very luxorious elevator, in which you would just like to stay as long as possible. Maybe in the first week I will just play lift-boy for a few hours, just to go up and down in that wonderful elevator. :)
Anyway. I will move on 2 January 2011, and I will have 2 flatmates: a French expat and an American student. I already met both of them, and they're both very nice people, so I can't wait to move in. The room itself is also very large and I have a double bed, which means I will have no problems hosting any kind of guests. Which is a good thing, because it's always nice to have guests. :)
Something different now. I noticed that I am feeling really happy the past few days, seemingly for no reason. Of course it's nice that I am enjoying life here, but I'm wondering why I feel so good. Maybe it is all due to my strategy to avoid the Winter Blues. Want to know this strategy? It's very simple. Every morning when I'm on the subway, I close my eyes for a few minutes and stare into the light above me. So to find out more about this, I would like to encourage all of you who are living in a big city with a good subway system to try this out for one week and let me know the results. And for those of you who don't have the privilege to live in such a city: staring into a light bulb for five minutes each day will also do.
Just be sure to close your eyes first.
woensdag 15 december 2010
Back in Holland
Hi all!
So the long weekend in Holland went over quite quickly and now I'm back in Prague. And actually today is the first day that I would want to go back to Holland permanently. It was so good to see everybody again and to always have somebody around to talk to when you need to share something. But probably such a feeling is quite normal on the first evening after you leave your family and will not be home for the at least 6 months.
Of course the fact that I have this feeling a bit tonight means that I had a great time in Holland. It was so nice to see everybody again and to live my "old" life again for a few days. And of course my last night in Holland, the reason why I went back this early, was also great: the concert of Scouting For Girls at Tivoli. The whole evening was amazing! I was amazed by the support act called Handsome Poets. If you don't know them, you should really check out their song Dance (The war is over) on YouTube. And of course I really enjoyed the enthousiasm with which lead singer Roy of SFG played his keyboard (can't believe it wasn't broken at the end of the night) and the pure passion with which he sang his songs too. Seeing him perform again was almost like meeting an old friend and it gave all of the people that were there such a unique feeling. Unfortunately the feeling was ruined a bit at the end of the night by the Dutch railways, because there were no trains going to and from Utrecht. Again a problem with the Dutch railways. That was one of the things from home that I didn't miss the past three months. Maybe life in Czech Republic is not so bad after all.
So the long weekend in Holland went over quite quickly and now I'm back in Prague. And actually today is the first day that I would want to go back to Holland permanently. It was so good to see everybody again and to always have somebody around to talk to when you need to share something. But probably such a feeling is quite normal on the first evening after you leave your family and will not be home for the at least 6 months.
Of course the fact that I have this feeling a bit tonight means that I had a great time in Holland. It was so nice to see everybody again and to live my "old" life again for a few days. And of course my last night in Holland, the reason why I went back this early, was also great: the concert of Scouting For Girls at Tivoli. The whole evening was amazing! I was amazed by the support act called Handsome Poets. If you don't know them, you should really check out their song Dance (The war is over) on YouTube. And of course I really enjoyed the enthousiasm with which lead singer Roy of SFG played his keyboard (can't believe it wasn't broken at the end of the night) and the pure passion with which he sang his songs too. Seeing him perform again was almost like meeting an old friend and it gave all of the people that were there such a unique feeling. Unfortunately the feeling was ruined a bit at the end of the night by the Dutch railways, because there were no trains going to and from Utrecht. Again a problem with the Dutch railways. That was one of the things from home that I didn't miss the past three months. Maybe life in Czech Republic is not so bad after all.
zaterdag 4 december 2010
Winter in Prague
Winter has arrived in Prague. The city is covered by a thick layer of fresh white snow and the temperature is well below zero every day. And in fact I'm already getting used to the cold weather. Today I went outside and thought it was quite a lovely day, even though the temperature was -7 degrees. Which means I'm adapting pretty well to the climate in Czech Republic. :) Although I must admit that the prospect of having this kind of weather for the next 4 months still is a bit frightening. But well, there are ways to escape the cold of course. :D More about that will follow later.
Anyway. What I was going to write about. The Christmas atmosphere is taking over Prague. There are already lights everywhere, Christmas songs on the radio, Christmas trees in the city and also real Christmas markets. Today I visited one. The market was great, a lot of nice stuff is being sold there and in fact I also tried some kind of food that seems to be a Czech specialty. It tasted very good, but I don't know the name of it, so I will describe here how it is made, and hopefully somebody can tell me the name. :)
So. It is made out of dough, that is put in a fryer for around one minute. Then there is some red sauce on it, that seems to say: "sorry, sorry, sorry, I really didn't mean to, but I'm a bit spicy, can you please forgive me?" and finally there is some grated Czech cheese on top of it, that actually has no taste, but makes the snack complete.
I'm really curious what this was, so if you're Czech and know what I'm talking about, please enlighten me! Děkuji in advance.
Have a good weekend.
Anyway. What I was going to write about. The Christmas atmosphere is taking over Prague. There are already lights everywhere, Christmas songs on the radio, Christmas trees in the city and also real Christmas markets. Today I visited one. The market was great, a lot of nice stuff is being sold there and in fact I also tried some kind of food that seems to be a Czech specialty. It tasted very good, but I don't know the name of it, so I will describe here how it is made, and hopefully somebody can tell me the name. :)
So. It is made out of dough, that is put in a fryer for around one minute. Then there is some red sauce on it, that seems to say: "sorry, sorry, sorry, I really didn't mean to, but I'm a bit spicy, can you please forgive me?" and finally there is some grated Czech cheese on top of it, that actually has no taste, but makes the snack complete.
I'm really curious what this was, so if you're Czech and know what I'm talking about, please enlighten me! Děkuji in advance.
Have a good weekend.
maandag 29 november 2010
A tribute to Leslie Nielsen
The man who is in my opinion the funniest actor ever is no longer among us.
Yesterday, Leslie Nielsen died at the age of 84. Let's take a minute to enjoy his best moments one more time.
R.I.P., Mr. Nielsen. You were not just a master in your genre. You actually WERE a genre yourself. We will miss you.
Yesterday, Leslie Nielsen died at the age of 84. Let's take a minute to enjoy his best moments one more time.
R.I.P., Mr. Nielsen. You were not just a master in your genre. You actually WERE a genre yourself. We will miss you.
zaterdag 27 november 2010
Day trip to Kutná Hora
Winter is rapidly approaching here in Czech Republic. That's why I decided I'd better go on another trip before it gets too cold to do that. The destination this time was Kutná Hora: a small town around 60 kilometers away from Prague. I got up early this morning so I could arrive there before noon. It had been snowing a bit the night before, which was promising for the quality of my pictures.
Kutná Hora must be a very touristic place in the summer, considering the fact that even at this time of year there were quite a few Americans (recognizable by their incredibly American accent while trying to pronounce Czech words) and Asians wandering around. And I must say, it is quite a nice place. The cathedral is amazing, although it's hard to capture it in all its glory on a photo taken from the ground. This is my sad attempt:
Also the square in the center is very beautiful:
This is the square where I had lunch in a pizzeria that was recommended to me by a friend who had been to the exact same place a few years ago. The pizza was quite ok, a bit too little tomato sauce for my taste, but the ingredients were very fresh. The hair that I found stuck in the cheese ruined it a bit though.
So early in the afternoon I had seen pretty much all I wanted to see, so I just started walking around a bit through the less poetic places of Kutná Hora. After concluding this was a bit boring, I remembered the so-called "bone church" one of my colleagues had told me about one day earlier. I was able to find it without much trouble and went inside. The entrance was already very unusual:
It turns out that the area around this church was very popular to be buried in a few centuries ago. The cemetary was over 3000m2. However, the town decided they needed more ground and removed most of the graves of the cemetary. They found it a bit irrespectful to just throw away all those bones, so therefore they hired an artist to make art with the bones. And the following two pictures show how creative you can be with old skeletons:
So after having walked some more through the suburbs of Kutná Hora, where I accidentally stumbled on a big Christmas market, it was time to go home. There was no direct connection for two hours though, so I just went on a train in the right direction and got off in Kolín. Instead of waiting 30 minutes at a boring train station, I went to explore this town. I found out that Kolín is not so special, but it has a nice shopping mall that is large enough to make one forget the time and miss the train to Prague. Luckily the connection between Kolín and Prague is, for Czech standards, excellent, so I got home safely in the end, after yet another great trip within Czech Republic. :)
Kutná Hora must be a very touristic place in the summer, considering the fact that even at this time of year there were quite a few Americans (recognizable by their incredibly American accent while trying to pronounce Czech words) and Asians wandering around. And I must say, it is quite a nice place. The cathedral is amazing, although it's hard to capture it in all its glory on a photo taken from the ground. This is my sad attempt:
Also the square in the center is very beautiful:
This is the square where I had lunch in a pizzeria that was recommended to me by a friend who had been to the exact same place a few years ago. The pizza was quite ok, a bit too little tomato sauce for my taste, but the ingredients were very fresh. The hair that I found stuck in the cheese ruined it a bit though.
So early in the afternoon I had seen pretty much all I wanted to see, so I just started walking around a bit through the less poetic places of Kutná Hora. After concluding this was a bit boring, I remembered the so-called "bone church" one of my colleagues had told me about one day earlier. I was able to find it without much trouble and went inside. The entrance was already very unusual:
It turns out that the area around this church was very popular to be buried in a few centuries ago. The cemetary was over 3000m2. However, the town decided they needed more ground and removed most of the graves of the cemetary. They found it a bit irrespectful to just throw away all those bones, so therefore they hired an artist to make art with the bones. And the following two pictures show how creative you can be with old skeletons:
So after having walked some more through the suburbs of Kutná Hora, where I accidentally stumbled on a big Christmas market, it was time to go home. There was no direct connection for two hours though, so I just went on a train in the right direction and got off in Kolín. Instead of waiting 30 minutes at a boring train station, I went to explore this town. I found out that Kolín is not so special, but it has a nice shopping mall that is large enough to make one forget the time and miss the train to Prague. Luckily the connection between Kolín and Prague is, for Czech standards, excellent, so I got home safely in the end, after yet another great trip within Czech Republic. :)
maandag 15 november 2010
Weekend in Olomouc!
I had been looking forward to my first real trip within Czech Republic for weeks already. This weekend the moment was finally there. The initial plan for the first day was to meet some guy from Couchsurfing on Saturday afternoon and to visit the city together and go out together afterwards. However, plans can change.
Friday late in the afternoon I received a message from him that unfortunately he could not host me this weekend and that he also had little time to show me around, because his floor was under water. That was kinda last minute. But as a Couchsurfer you need to be flexible. And so I was. I immediately went searching for other people I could meet on Saturday, and eventually I got in touch with a girl named Nela, who invited me to meet her in the city and I could also spend the night at her place. The only "problem" was that there were already two Polish Couchsurfers staying at her place as well. So on Saturday I went into the city with Nela, Anna and Tomek (the two Polish people) and we had a good time, visiting all places in the dark and drinking beer at something that was neither a restaurant nor a bar. And we spent the evening at home talking, making crazy pictures and eating Polish candy. :)
On Sunday I met my penpal Mája. She was a really nice and talkative girl and she showed me all the poetic and romantic places Olomouc had to offer. We went to visit the cathedral, the park, a tower with a marvellous view on the city and the surrounding countryside and we also ate in a cute traditional Moravian restaurant, where the menu was written in the local dialect. The food there was very good, and in fact was able to order my meal in Czech! Or at least I was able to say the number, name of the meal and "prosím" (please) after it. And we saw the magnificient fluteman too! He really exists! Anyway, as you can read I really had a great time on Sunday and at the end of the day I already started to feel at home in Olomouc and was a bit sad I had to go home to Prague again.
After a long travel of over 3 hours I finally got home, but I was still full of energy after such an amazing weekend. I really want to thank all the people who made my weekend so good, you guys are awesome!
So here are some photos of my trip:
The full selection of the pictures of weekend can be found on Facebook.
Friday late in the afternoon I received a message from him that unfortunately he could not host me this weekend and that he also had little time to show me around, because his floor was under water. That was kinda last minute. But as a Couchsurfer you need to be flexible. And so I was. I immediately went searching for other people I could meet on Saturday, and eventually I got in touch with a girl named Nela, who invited me to meet her in the city and I could also spend the night at her place. The only "problem" was that there were already two Polish Couchsurfers staying at her place as well. So on Saturday I went into the city with Nela, Anna and Tomek (the two Polish people) and we had a good time, visiting all places in the dark and drinking beer at something that was neither a restaurant nor a bar. And we spent the evening at home talking, making crazy pictures and eating Polish candy. :)
On Sunday I met my penpal Mája. She was a really nice and talkative girl and she showed me all the poetic and romantic places Olomouc had to offer. We went to visit the cathedral, the park, a tower with a marvellous view on the city and the surrounding countryside and we also ate in a cute traditional Moravian restaurant, where the menu was written in the local dialect. The food there was very good, and in fact was able to order my meal in Czech! Or at least I was able to say the number, name of the meal and "prosím" (please) after it. And we saw the magnificient fluteman too! He really exists! Anyway, as you can read I really had a great time on Sunday and at the end of the day I already started to feel at home in Olomouc and was a bit sad I had to go home to Prague again.
After a long travel of over 3 hours I finally got home, but I was still full of energy after such an amazing weekend. I really want to thank all the people who made my weekend so good, you guys are awesome!
So here are some photos of my trip:
The full selection of the pictures of weekend can be found on Facebook.
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