World of Jop

Hallo from Holland!

The last days have been very hectically…Hours of driving classes (it turned out my former instructor was after my current instructor, to continue the soap as described in my last postings) making me almost dizzy in the end, some quite serious phonecalls, preparations for my new job starting Monday and my theoretical exam on the same day…And a meeting with a very nice girl from Indonesia…who leaves far too fast from Holland :-(.

And, I met up with Grace, my friend from Malaysia, and her boyfriend Richard in Amsterdam. It would be quite an adventurous meeting…

I was supposed to meet them during day, but could not…At the last moment, I had to go for driving classes the whole day. So, instead we met up from some hours in the quite chilly evening. It was very nice to see Grace again; she smiled lovely as always ;-). Richard turned out to be a very nice guy, and the two made a very romantic and sweet couple. I must admit I felt a little bit jealous, that things did not go with Sanju and I as they went with Richard and Grace…But, such is life and what else to do than to continue…

We started with a meal in the Macdonalds, because I was really hungry, and after that went for a channel tour. The channels are typical for Amsterdam, and go all through the city center. I did the same tour earlier, but still Grace and Richard discovered someting I did not see that time. Many of the traditional channel houses are bending over, like the tower of Pisa..It must have something to do with the wooden sticks on which Amsterdam is build (swampy area). Keep an eye on Grace’s friendster, I guess she will place pictures there…

After a while, suddenly a drama appeared to happen in the boath. In a corned in the back of the boath some British were sitting, and a lady was fainting. Strangely enough they did not ask for help; they tried to bring her to the back of the boath so that she would get fresh air. All other passegners were just watching passively, and suddenly I realised that I probaly was the only local so that I had to take some responsibility here. So I asked them if I should call an ambulance…They said it would not be needed, but asked if I could ask the captain if we could go to shore so that they could get out. They did, still refussing any kind of help…It appeared to me they tried a little bit of the softdrugs! Common error among many of the tourists…

After our trip, we went to the Red-light district. It comes really alive in the evening…Prostitutes were openly offering themselves before their windows, and groups of tourists were everywhere, looking for people who would not resist the advances of the ladies…Well, there were quite some who could not, I must admit. Indeed, I can not deny some were quite charming…

We concluded the evening with a glass of Bavaria, a Dutch beer quite popular in many pubs. Richard had a lot of interesting things to tell about Dublin and Ireland, and Grace had some interesting observations about Holland. It was definitely good to hang out with them, and I was sad when I had to leave back to Arnhem. It is really great to receive friends from other countries…I love it.

If things goes well, my former Indian boss will come 13-15th May, that will be the next international guest…I hope I can give him some Indian hosptality like he gave me when I was in India in my humble appartment. Anyways it should be fun…

Wishing you all a nice weekend! Tommorrow is Queen’s Day, a national festival in Holland. Everyone (but me, I don’t like to be like the big mass) will be dressed in orange and quite drunk…Always brings some hilarious situations!

Take care,

Jop

Hallo from Holland!

These days, the wheater gets nicer and nicer…It is spring, one of the best seasons. Temperature is good, people get happy, new life is coming up..A good season for my new start I would say!

Last days I dedicated mostly to my driving license, besides of the part-time job at my fathers archive. Slowly, things begin to get the character of some cheap soap….With all kind of hidden intriges and unexpected developments.

It all started when I had to change to a new driving license company as my current driving school could not offer me a short time course as required by Yacht, my new company. That was sad, because I liked their style; and not very easy, because most driving schools could not offer such a course on the short term. Finally, after calling for hours, I found one, in a small village close to Arnhem called Driel. The company was not really a multinational one could say; it was formed by one lady who owned one car, an old black Alpha Romeo.

My first driving class was, to say the least, not the best one ever. The black Alpha was not in a very good condition; some of the features did not really work, she told me. That surprised me quite abit, as part of the theory is that your car functions 100% well…Of course that does not happen all the time in reality, but a teacher should give the right example one would accept. Besides of that, the needed chemistry between the teacher and me also was not exaxtely there. Allthough older ladies ussually somehow tend me to be charmed by me (guess because of that shy smile I ussually use to them ;-)), she definitely was not. From the first moment, I felt she considered me as some enemy, in spite of all my ice-breaking tricks. Maybe it had something to do with my strange look to her black painted nails, I guess…It just looked quite strange, allthough I realise now she maybe did that because of the match with her black car. Company colours or something (allthough the businesscard was red).

She was not extremely cool and relaxed as well. She almost panicked all the time when I would steer a little bit to the outside of the road; soon it started to work quite a bit on my nerves in the end and went at expense of my confidence. I mean, one would expect me to be a little nervous and she stable and firm, but it seemed rather the other way around… I was not driving that bad, by the way.

We drove a little bit around through the small village of Driel, and while she was telling me she hated that village and the wicked people who lived there, she was waving to all good Driel citizens she met at the same time. After our ride she showed me some slice of dirty paper with some expensive prices…Luckily she also was not proffesional enough to let my sign something, so that I could get away without any commitments. Good, because I was not planning to transfer my good money to this lady.

Luckily, my mother came with a good suggestion; I should try to call the guy where my olderst sis got her driving license, Mr. Eddy.

I called, and Eddy was full of enthousiasm right away. Of course he remembered my sister, and he also knew my previous teacher and heard all kind of strange stories about her. He made arrangements right away and managed to book my exam the second week of May, as some friend of him worked at the national driving licensce institute. When I cancelled the lady, she asked who was my new driving school…When I mentioned his name, she started smiling sarcastically, so obviously things have happened between the both of them in the past. Maybe to be continued, will ask Eddy about that for sure…:-)

The soap might get a nice new chapter, by the way…because that friend of my instructor will also take my driving exam and…I know the man. He lives in my parents street and I used to fight with his kids all the time when we were small. We really hated each other! Hopefully has has forgotten that…Maybe I should just smile to him too ;-).

So far from Holland,

Jop

Victory!

Yesterday we won an important game with our indoor football team: 5-4. We need to get our point to remain in the 4th class, which is important as we want to create a whole new team next year which should be able to promote to the 3th class. If we would relegate now, some good players probaly won’t join us…

Yesterday, we were lucky that most of the field-football players of our team, who miss indoor experience, had cancelled. Instead, some of the best players of our third team (we are the second team) joined us. These players are also the ones who would be part of our strong team next year.

Our opponent had some very skillful players, but there tactics and defence were not so good. They were quite predictable, but still dangerous because of the actions of their strikers. We had to battle quite hard, but got the three points in the end. Personally, I keeped quite well, having some good saves and being sharp like a razor knife whole match. I only was not very happy with their third goal, a free kick which I should have saved in my opinion. It always can be better…Afterwards we drank some beers to celibrate our victory, and had quite a good time ;-).

Otherwisely, things go steady these days. Still working in the dusty archive, which is getting more and more structured now; yesterday one more meeting at my new work with the HR-manager. She was quite nice, as all the people I met there so far. Also had one more driving class yesterday, which was quite fun again…allthough I don’t like my new instructor a lot. She seems not very concerned, is quite panicked and negative in her approach…But that is just a first impressions, let’s hope things go better in future. Moreover, it does not seem any other driving school can offer me the chance to get my driving licensce so fast as this one…Which will be needed for my new work.

well, that would be it for now…Tonight going to my favorite Turkish restaurant with my friend Michel, and after that going out. Has been quite a while since I did that…

Regards from Holland!

Hallo from rainy - like ussual- Holland.

Today, I started with my new job! Not the one at Yacht though, but the one I will have until the end of the month, at my fathers office. I will do some small task so that I won’t die of boredom, or lose my working discipline. That would come unhandy when my job at Yacht starts.

The work includes cleaning up the old dusty archive at the top floor, and that was where I worked this morning on. It is quite a funny thing to do; documents from the beginning of my parents property dealing company (it was founded by my grandfather in 1963) as well as machines of that time still were lying there. I think we could make some additional money by selling some to the local museum, as a matter of fact…;-)

Later on MSN, I had some interesting meetings too. I get some visitors from Asia! First of all, next week Gracey, a Malaysian girl which I first met in India in 2003 and her Irish boyfriend will come to Amsterdam. I have the honour to be their guide, and they consider to visit my home-town and family as well. I am hoping to give them the same hospitality as I found in India and Malaysia. Secondly, the 10th of May my former boss from India, Mr. Sudhir Bhatnagar will come. Allthough we had some tensions during the time I worked there (Indian working culture is VERY different from Dutch), we still are in good touch and he can not stop giving me some paternal advices now and than. Today he even adviced me about the thing with Sanju, haha.

I also made a plan to meet up with my Estonian pen-pal Alla in London in the quite near future (which I could combine with a visit to my fellows Hi5er Melanie), and invited my Chinese friend Cici to come over to my family this Sunday for Eastern-breakfast. That will be an interesting experience for her; she never experienced eastern in her life, and is not familiar with the tradition of hiding and seeking eggs. The fact I invited her is part of my ideal to be more Asian in terms of hospitalty. One of the things I enyoyed mostly in Asia was the chance to experience all kind of festivals in families, like Ramadan, Chinese New year and Deepavali (especially that I enyoyed..;-)); I want to give some visitors of Holland the same experience.

Well, that will be it for today…just came back from a good run and planning to watch the football now.

Take good care

Jop

Goodnight to anyone actually reading this blog (Today I found out that some people really are! Wow!)

Today was an easy day. From May there will be no more days like this for a while; than my new job starts. So,  I try to enyoy my easy days as long as I can…From tomorrow on, I will also work half days for my fathers office. Not too bad; doing nothing makes me extremely lazy and gives space to all kind of deep thoughts I prefer to stay away at this point of the time.

Most of the time today I spend working on a presentation about Malaysia. AIESEC Wageningen had told me about some event, and invited me to come over to tell about my experiences as a trainee in India and Malaysia. They always ask me and I never refuse; because thanks to AIESEC I had some of the most special moments of my life, and I am not the kind of person to forget such a thing. Moreover, it also gives me the chance to refresh my memories, and to tell people about cultural differences. The last thing more or less is my passion; one day, I hope to find a job in that.

I expected there would be around 30 potential trainees which I were supposed to ‘appetize’ for a traineeship, so i worked quite hard on a nice presentation. But, I was wrong, it turned out when I arrived in the AIESEC office of Wageningen. First of all, it was supposed to be a presentation for the newest recruited trainees. Secondly, there were only 3 of these trainees. However, still I noticed a bottle of wine which I expected to get after my presentation, so I decided it still was all worth it.

It was supposed to tell my story at 9:15, but the things before that took a long time so that I had no choice to wait and browse the internet. The brother of my good friend Heidi, who told me he was smoking a joint at the same time (allowed in Holland as we all know), suggested me just to go home. But I told him there was no way I would go without the bottle of wine and he agreed that would be a good reason to hang on for a while.

Finally, at 9:45 I could tell my story. It went very well; I improvised a little bit and told them a lot about the challenges they can expect during their traineeship, and gave a lot of examples of cultural differences during my time in Malaysia and India. They loved it, and I also showed them pictures of my time in Malaysia while giving them some background about the Malays, Chinese and Indian people there. They asked many questions, mostly about my relationship in India with Badar, which indeed was so surrealistic for western terms that I could write a whole book about it (Actually, an Indian friend who wants to become a write has asked me to write all down for her so that she could make a novel out of it, but that is a different story). One of the AIESECERS told me about her planned vacation with her parents for a month to Malaysia; definitely i will ask my Malaysian friends to guide her!

In the meanwhile, I saw the bottle of wine smiling tempting to me.

I kept on talking for 30 mins, which was quite too long in terms of the planning, but too short in terms what I wanted to tell. After I finished, some more question came and some others already left home. I waited patiently for my bottle of wine. In the end only Miriam was there, the person who invited me. In Japanese style I looked at the bottle of wine (asking directly seemed quite rude to me, even in ‘blunt Holland’), but nothing happened. Miriam closed down and I followed her, and brought me back to the buss-station….

Without a bottle of wine.

Wineless regards from Holland,

Jop

It is Sunday today, and Sunday ussually are quite boring in Holland. If you have a family, you would go walking in the forest with you wife and children, or go to visit some aunty or granny. As Dutch people are not so family-oriented as Asians in general, most hate it and irritated faces of especially the men are well-known. Luckily, the football can give them some attraction.

As I have no wife and children, ussually my Sunday means quite some freedom. Sometimes I go for a run in the forest, or meet up with some friends. Or, having diner with my family (for westerns, I am quite family-oriented these days. Maybe because I was away for such a long time). Sometimes I go to see a football match of Vitesse Arnhem, my favorite team, and sometimes I just take care of the many household things I have to do. Yes, that is the disadvantage when having your own appartment (cleaners are quite uncommon in Holland, too expensive).

This Sunday, I will do something good though. A friend asked me to help collecting money for some charity, and as I feel one should do anything good when he can, I give my commitment right away. We will ask the people going to the Vitesse F.C. Utrecht match today to donate some money for physical disabled children (I believe). Can be quite fun, and, also worth mentioning, we get a free ticket for the match. So yeah, any critical person might say there is some interest in it for me too. Hehe.

Yesterday, got my offer from Yagt. Not bad at all; they will pay half of my driving license and offer my a company car once I get it. Some of my Dutch friends reacted extremely jealous…Company cars often are associated with ‘patsers’, people keen on showing status and their money. In general, such people are not very much liked in Dutch culture…So, I need to be very humble about it and show I don’t care about such a car indeed. In fact I don’t really care about it, allthough I think it is a big compliment, but it is just too funny to tease some of my friends and show off with it now and than…;-).

Otherwisely, things go steady…played a game of indoor football last Friday and lost 1-3. Not bad, considering the situation of our team…We got hardly enough people and the atmosphere is very down. Some of our players play on the field and think they are Cruyff or something…the problem is that indoor football demands a different way of playing, and they simply don’t understand and won’t listen to the more experienced indoor players in our team. It results in a lot of irritations not to mention bad results…Next season we plan to start a new team with indoor players only. I hope we will manage..

All the best from Holland!

Jop

My dear mostly Asian friends,

It can go fast in live…Sometimes, in 1 day everything changes. Yesterday was such a day and I thought that would be a good moment to start a blog. Partly for the ones who would take the effort to read this, and mostly for myself; because we all know that writing blogs has a certain psychological added value in life.

Before going to the hectical developments of last days, it would be good to tell something more about my last months. After a splendid time in Malaysia, where I fell in love with this beautiful country and its beautiful people (especially one, as some of you know), I went to my ‘old love’ India. I stayed in India in 2003, and spend one month seeing my old friends and collegues again. My Dutch friend Michel also came, and we visited some new places together, like Jaipur in Rajachstan and Cochin in Kerala.

Being back from India, I started to look for a job in Holland. Main priorities were to increase my independence in terms of finance and transport. I want to work here for some years and earn a good amount of money, and get my driving license; in the longer term, it would be my dream to go to Asia again. Maybe to explore a new country again, or settle in one of the countries I fell in love with…The future will tell, I will see what crosses my path like I always did.

The job-hunting did not really go that well, to tell you the truth, but than suddenly yesterday there was THE DAY OF CHANGES. I went for an interview at Yacht, a company who places its people at other organisation on an interim basis. Quite interesting; it means when you work there, you work in all kind of profit and non-profit organisations on a project-basis. Interesting for a guy like me who loves to discover new environments…Anyways, the interview went superbly and they really wanted me…They even offered me to finance half of a fast course for my driving license so that I can get it in a month! Once I got it, they will give me a company-car…Hardly can believe it. A golden opportunity, which will allow me to reach my objectives for now much faster than ever dreamt…

Well, so far this posting… Best regards from Holland!!!!

Jop