TT#8 Countries I like

Thirteen Things about countries I like 1. The Netherlands, because my family lives there. And the best cheese comes from the Netherlands, as everybody knows (besides the French). 2. Australia, because of the wide open spaces, the many hours of sun and the awesome wildlife. 3. Spain, because of the flamenco (I love to dance the flamenco), the tapas, the beautiful cities and the Sierra the Gredos. 4. Costa Rica, because of the fantastic wonders of nature and the friendly people. Not for the food, which is mainly rice, black beans and egg or chicken. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. But who cares, when there are vulcano's to visit, canopy walks to make and slots to find? 5. Ireland, because the Irish are the friendliest people in Europe and the country is all lush green hills and rocky cliffs, surrounded by wild sea. Did I mention the Irish pubs and the catchy music? 6. Scotland, because of the awe inspiring mountains to hike in, Edinburgh and Inverness, the great Aberlour whisky, blokes in kilts, bagpipes and the best English accent. I must have been Scottish in a former life. 7. Norway, because of the vast emptiness, the fjords, the best hikes and Knivskjelodden. 8. Finland, because of the sauna's, the snow and the hot lunches. 9. Slovakia, because of the Male Fatra and the High Tatra and all the other mountains to hike. Nice people, not a great kitchen, unless you like schnitzel and cabbage every day. 10. Zimbabwe, because of the enormous amount of wildlife and the most beautiful jacaranda's I have ever seen anywhere. 11. Fiji, because of the guys in sulu's, the gorgeous food, the colourful corals and fish and the lush rainforests. And the seasnakes can't bite, or so they tell you (I have my doubts on this). 12. Belgium, because of the 24 screen cinema in Antwerp, the Belgian fries with tartare sauce and the nice language. 13. Canada, because of the Rocky Mountains, Vancouver Island and the fabulous hot springs. Can we do 26 instead of 13??? Could easily go on for a bit here. :-) Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Tink 2. ancsweetnsassygal

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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TT#7 To TT or not to TT

Thirteen Things about not TT-ing Yes, I have not been TT-ing for a few weeks and here are the reasons why, in green of course cause it is almost St Paddy's Day. 1. The last time I tried, I was working for over an hour listing my 13 biggest frustrations, when after no. 10 I apparently pushed a wrong buttong, so the whole thing was gone. Talk about frustration: that totally did it for me. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!! &*^%$(!!! So, no 13 then. Only later it occurred to me I could have only done the last 3 and explain why there were no first 10. More frustration in retrospect! This time I save this post as a draft every 10 minutes. 2. The week after I was still cross with myself, the computer, blogging in general and TT-ing in particular, so no TT. 3. Then I was way to busy starting up the new semester at uni. Even lectures I have given before still take a surprising amount of time to prepare, due to my stupid inhibition to always try and make it better than it was the first time. Years ago I was taking a course in 'teaching for higher education' and one of my fellow students proudly mentioned that he had been teaching the exact same course for 10 years now, same material, books, jokes and all. Needless to say this left me stunned for a minute. After which I just had to ask why he thought this was something to be proud of. After which followed a heated discussion. Why can I never keep my mouth shut at appropriate times? (maybe a good topic for another TT?) 4. Let me think what my next excuse was, ah, being away for the weekend. In my time zone I cannot get started on the TT until Friday, because during my Thursday it is not opened up yet. And Friday is almost weekend, so when going away. (Bit weak, isn't it?) 5. I had spend so much time online for work and study, that just the thought of getting behind the computer to do some blogging made me feel tired and totally not in the mood. And then I thought: well, nobody is reading it anyway, so why bother? I know, I know: write and thou shall be read (and at least the opposite is true). 6. Gee, when I started this one I thought I had lots of great excuses for not being here doing this, but it turns out te be a rather meagre lot. Hm, I felt out of touch for a few weeks and had a hard time getting back in. But hey, here I am. :-) 7. I am reading this great book by Adam Williams, The Palace of Heavenly Pleasure, that I wanted to finish first. And no, I haven't yet, but this weekend will be the moment that I know how the British will end up in China (probably dead). 8. Friday last when we came home we found my cousin from the Netherlands on our driveway, sleeping in his car after driving for 25 hours. Lots of catching up to do and we had to show him the good side of Canberra/Australia. That was great by the way, cause we felt like we were on a holiday too, at least until Monday morning when we had to get to work, while he was lazing around, reading books and soaking up the sun. But again, no TT-ing time anywhere to be found. He is packing up as I am typing this, headed for the Snowy Mountains. 9. I just did not have any inspiration. Every week I'm totally amazed by people who come up with these really original TT's. Love Tinkerbell's this week: 13 things in my purse. I've seen it in a magazine once, photo's of what women carry (read: drag) around in their handbags. Unbelievable and yet familiar at the same time. I wonder how many women do also carry around their hubby's stuff (because he doesn't want to be found dead with a purse or handbag): keys, wallet, phone, etc. "Hey hon, could you put this in your bag???" Big sigh, because you know it is no use to ask why he cannot just get his own bag and carry his own stuff around. 10. Uh, maybe we can shrink this to a Thursday Ten?? You could still keep the TT going ..... 11. Seriously though, I think the 'feeling out of the loop' thing does count for a lot of not TT-ing on my part. I don't feel I belong to the incrowd yet and I am sensitive about that. As a kid I was often an outsider and it doesn't take a lot for me to feel like that again, as I realise now. But it is all in my own mind, right? NLP and all that. Just keep on going and see it as an exercise in expressing myself on the web. 12. I spend lots of time going to the physio, then a sportsphysician, then the physio again, for 2 unrelated injuries that just drag on forever. One since April and one since October. Take it from me: if people tell you to be patient, go to a physiotherapist instead and start getting better earlier and faster! 13. The main reason I do sit down now, although I should be preparing my lecture for next week and could easily defend not having the time, is that I love the way the TT-thing is forcing me to write in English and stretch my brain a bit. Make that a lot. So there you have it. Links to other Thursday Thirteens!1. Selena Kitt 2.Kathy 3. Cutie Some people did not leave a link, so I have no clue how to add them??

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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TT#6 Letting go

Thirteen Things about letting go Being able to let go is not my strong suit. 1. I have a really really good memory, so just forgetting is not an option. My earlies memories are from age 3, so there are a zillion of them by now. 2. If you believe in star signs, I can blame the fact that I'm a Cancer. According to the books they can never let anything just go, be it old theater tickets or old friends. I must say that sounds like me. I used to collect everything, bar my nail clippings, just to hold on. Explanation for that would be the fact that lots of things changed in my youth that I did not want to change, but over which I had no control what so ever (you know: moving all the time, parents divorcing, schools you attend, etc), so I sort of got attached to things instead of people. Before emigrating to Oz though, I had to get rid of loads of things, so I guess that worked rather therapeutic. ;-) 3. Although I do hold on to memories, friendships, etc, I definitely do not bear grudges. I'm not vindictive and can rather easily let go of misunderstandings and fights, as long as the other party says 'sorry' too. 4. As a kid and teenager I often felt like Remi, because I didn't fit in well. My parents were weirdish hippies and I was way to smart. That's probably why I wanted to keep all the friends I had for ever and went way too far in order to keep them. 5. I'm quite protective of the people I love and rather keep them safe, so I don't want to let them go out and face the scary world. 6. If I really want something, I'll keep on going until I get the result I planned. Letting go of the dream is just not an option. That is how I managed to finally get work here in Oz: kept on 'harrassing' people until they hired me. :-) 7. As you might imagine, I'm a really good money saver. I'm not very stingy though, I just decide carefully on what to spend the money. Good causes are travelling, doing something with family or friends, studying and good dance classes. 8. After a semester, I want to keep in touch with all the students, because I got really interested in them and what they want from life and how they are going to get it. I know that is impossible, so I have to let go. Whenever I come across one accidentally, e.g. when I stumble on an ex students blog or meet them in a pub somewhere, I really like to find out how they are doing. 9. Books that I read and liked used to be kept. So I ended up with thousands of them, cause I'm an avid reader. The migration, as mentioned, forced me to get rid of lots of stuff. Also books, because it wasn't quite fair to stuff up other peoples houses with my things. About 20 moving boxes had to go. I gave away all my children's books to friends with kids and sold the rest. Heartbreaking! Now I mostly borrow books in the library, saves the trouble. 10. I love the internet, because it enables me to keep in touch with lots of friends, old colleagues, old teachers, family, new friends, etc. Love it! Won't let go of my laptop as of yet. 11. As to other things, I get attached to certain brands for certain things and I really hate it when, once again, I seem to be the only one that likes it, so it goes of the market. Favourite deodorant: gone! Favourite shampoo: gone! Favourite bra: not for sale in Oz, only in Europe. And so on. Very irritating to be made to let go of preferred niceties. I would be one of those 'loyal till death' customers, if only marketeers would give me the chance! 12. I still cannot really let go of weight. Weirdly enough I loose weight as long as I don't pay attention to it at all. As soon as I realise that I lost weight, something miswires in my brain, I start paying attention to what I eat, exercising, etc and bingo: I gain the weight back. I wish I could let go of my last bit of my eating disorder for ever. 13. Since I embraced the TT meme, I have to stick with it. Damn! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Skittles 2. Di 3. Bubba 4. Geggie 5. Sunflower 6. Gabrielle 7. Tink (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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TT#5 Korea

Thirteen Things about Korea Back from the holidays and all ready to tell you why you really should go and visit South Korea: 1. It is a beautiful country. Lots of fantastic nature parks, in which you can stumble upon rock carved budha's, little monasteries or 'just' a big grey squirl or black and white woodpecker. 2. The Korean people are really proud of their country and go out of their way to help you and give you a great impression of Korea. Total strangers helped us found a place to stay (which took up to 1,5 hours at one point), took us to nice restaurants (and wanted to pay) and gave us guided tours of the city. Out of niceness, not for money or anything else. Can you believe that? It is true! 3. Seoul is like New York, only lots cheaper: vibrant, exciting and with lots of good shops, hip bars and good food. Even I, a notorious non-shopper, found an interesting store: a mega mega mega bookstore, which also had quite an English collection. 4. Public transport is great, maybe not as excellent as in Singapore, but still very good. In Seoul the trainstations are also mentioned in English, which is nice, because learning the Hangeul script properly takes a little longer than a week. There is a train station close to almost every place of interest, ranging from the Olympic stadium to the grand royal palace. If you take a wrong exit though, as we did a few times, it might still take you half an hour to get to the actual sight. :-) 5. There are, thanks to the Olympics, clean public toilets everywhere, for free. In the Netherlands you have to pay for every toilet, if there is any at all, and then they are mostly dirty. And don't ask if you can use the toilet from a shop or pub, because they will assertively say 'no'. 6. Did I mention the food? We really loved the food. Some people can't get charmed by the kimchi (peppered cabbage), but that is only a side dish and one of many at that. Mostly you end up with at least 4 different dishes on your table, to accompany your sticky rice or noodles and you can spice up the food to your liking with peppers, garlic and other interesting stuff. Lots of veggies and the right type of fat too. You won't get fat in Korea, as long as you don't go to Maccas. 7. Koreans are internet crazy: almost every hotelroom gives you free internet. In your room. 8. They are also mad about tv, judging on the size of the flat tv screens in the hotelrooms: mostly they are about the same size as the double bed. Compared to our 15 inch screen at home, that was shocking! 9. All hotels, restaurants, etc, serve clean drinking water, so no worries about getting travelers diarrhoea. Drink to your hearts content. 10. Korea boasts amazing teashops, with serve totally different teas from anywhere else. If there is no-one on the streets around 4 p.m., have a look in a teashop. That is where everybody relaxes with a big cup of spicy or relaxing tea, accompanied by little rice cakes. The cinnamon and jujube tea were especially tasty, but also the pear tea was yum. 11. The traditional Korean building style is still used in new buildings and it is very charming. The big skyscraper apartment building are not my cup of tea, but considering there are over 10 million people living in Seoul, they need them. If you go out into the country though, you'll see the traditional style everywhere. 12. Koreas has a lot of World Heritage sites to visit and enjoy. Bulguksa temple in Gyong-ju is recommended (4 hours by train south of Seoul). 13. If you would like, you can get the most peculiar things on markets to spice up your lovelife, get your brains to work properly or cure/prevent about any disease. We did not personally try the grounded snakes, but they looked impressive. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Guus was here

Guus Hidding, football coach, is a national hero in South Korea. If you have the same nationality as Guus, they like you on the spot. And it is easy to find the good restaurants in Seoul: those are, of course, the ones that Guus has frequented during his time in Korea. Easy peasy.