Archive for May, 2006

The last week has been an amazing combination of beauty, love, friendship in Goa and gigantic piles of shit concerning my work. I have been in Mangalore for two days now and have only quickly at night seen where Leo and Inge live, for the rest I have been fulltiming to hopefully still get my working permit before friday for Tokyo. Ah yes, I still don’t have that. At the moment, I am without my passport (on its way to an embassy) and no one knows if it will be back on time for my flights. In-cre-di-ble. If anyone still believes the modelling industry is nothing but glamour, please buy a ticket to Mangalore and I will patiently explain to you why this is not quite the case. And I think my brother might slap you.

Without my passport and with a grudge, I will sign off.

Thank you Ridzie for amazing days (before all this shit that is )

I have to say, it feels good just to bum on a beach for a while. But first of all, LIVENEWS IS DIFFERENT AGAIN! Waahaa always fun and strange to watch these changes. Thanks Ewout.

 Life here now is amazing, it’s sun, beach, waves and family. One hell of a combination. Leo and Inge are recovering, but not quite fully there yet. I’m happy we made this decision, they really need their time right now.

 There might be some very good news from Paris considering my work. Even though I can’t say what, let’s all hope I get it. Mysterious…:)

 Going back to the beach. My shoulders are burnt. Sympathy, anyone?

I could tell you so many details about the last days. About puke, diarrhea, hospitals and so much more. But it might be better not to. After the last post I got very sick that night, and felt better the day after. Inge and Leo however got worse and worse, so bad even that we cancelled our ORBIS plans and returned to Jodhpur to find a decent hospital. The two of them are doing better now, although especially Leo took quite a beating over the last week.

We’re now looking for flights to Goa, so we can bum on a beach for about a week, also to get Leo and Inge into decent rested shape before their school starts again.

My vacation to India turned out different than I thought. Especially missing the chance to visit ORBIS India hurts me, also considering all the efforts they have been through to arange a beautiful trip for us.

The first days were amazing, the last six days quite a disaster (although we were laughing about it most of the time), I can only hope that the next week and a half will be okay. No more toilet runs. Please? I cannot wait to get to a beautiful beach, and have a healthy brother and sis in law with me.

I am now officially 23. Thanks for all the birthday messages We are now in Jodhpur, which might be the most beautiful city I have ever seen. This desert city has an insane amount of light blue houses and a fort on top of a mountain overviewing the city that is just beyond breathtaking.

My birthday was amazing. After relaxing and playing chess under palmtrees we decided to head to Taj Mahal. Sometimes there are amazing landmarks we all know, and when you see them, they are not all that cool, right? Taj mahal is not one of those. The sheer size, brightness and detail of this tomb is so incredibly beautiful. I actualy was not expecting much, but just watching the Taj and all the Indian tourists was an amazing experience.

Then yesterday was something else. Taking the train from Agra to Jaipur, and then 6 hours in Jaipur before hopping on the next 6 hour train ride to Jodhpur. We arrived at 6am yesterday to catch our 6:15 train. Delayed by an hour and a half. Two and a half. Hey, there it is! Why did it stop? emergency break? Awesome. Around 9 we were underway, all three of us fantasizing about the extra hours we could have slept. The ride to Jaipur was perfect. We only had time in Jaipur for an extensive lunch before we hopped on the next train. Enter the ‘something else’ part. After managing to get our seats, the insane train ride began. My brother was on a different bench, so after about two hours I decided to switch with him. I just didn’t know that on this three seater, the two others were rather oversized Indians, which is a rather rare sight. And I found two. On my bench. Wow. The game of Buttshuffle began. The two had a vested interest in removing my scrawny ass from the seat. I fought, even when my left cheek lost contact with the bench, I continued the battle. I won some territory at some points, but in general, I was going down fighting. I ended up talking to a man I was getting closer and closer with, since he was sitting on a suitcase in the isle, and I found out that his wife and child were sitting on the ground. I decided to give my seat to his wife and child. How nice of me. That’s just the type of guy I am. It had nothing to do with the fact that my push-opponent could no longer shove, since he would shove off a mother and her new-born child. Hahaha revenge!

Later that ride, when I got to the point where I was very tired, I found my space. Traindoors dont close here, and you can sit in an exit, legs outside the train. There I sat. Looking at a one-day-after-full moon and the silhouets of desert and trees zipping by. That day I sweated a bucket or three, waited, saw gigantic amounts of human poop and smelt it too, got slapped with a baby-foot, played Buttshuffle, and I found perfection. The hot wind hitting my face, the moon hazy, the desert sweeping by and two familymembers not even 20 meters away. This country is crazy. The good thing is, so am I.

Sigh. My brother seemed to think that this title is more catchy. It is in no way related to the fact that it might be seen as, however untrue, a compliment. Boy, how I missed his logic.

Haha enough nonsense, I AM IN INDIA! After an excellent flight (I had approx. 47 seats to myself) it was the most exciting and strangest thing to see my now skinnyskinny bro and my sis in law at the airport. So much fun! After eight months, there is a lot to say. Happily, we have three and a half weeks for that. We went straight to a tour of the Indian Federation of the Blind, a beautiful organization ran for and by blind people, who are also the founders of Leo and Inge’s school in Mangalore. I think this is the story

After sleeping tonight for at least twohundred hours, we wil tomorrow go to the ORBIS India headquarters and get details on one of their projects which we are invited to visit along the way of our travels. Ah the travels, how amazing they will be! It’s gonna be a long trip, but all I know now and need to know now is that this Saturday on my 23rd birthday we will be sitting at the Taj Mahal. With family around me. How did I get so lucky. Gratitude is all I feel. That, and a sweaty feeling: it’s over 40 Celcius here.

Holland seems far away. Reading a gossipy article in a Dutch glossy magazine about yours truly even further

Time to hit the streets, it’s been at least fifteen minutes since we last got the ‘oh look at the tall white foreigners’ look.

I love it and hate it. It’s incredible. Holland, my home. It can be so strange here. The anger and aggression in the streets, the dressing up in orange purely because it is Queens Day, the fun with friends, the feeling behind knowing that I’ll see them a few times and then leaving them again.

People are changing. People my age are settling in. Or settling down. Or just settling. I’ve been asking myself this week a lot, what would have happened if I hadn’t had this weird job I have. I mean, since I was around 18 I have had a rather big mouth about always being and staying free and not getting bitchslapped by everyday life (this website being massive proof of that) , but what would have happened if I wasn’t such a lucky bum? Let’s face it, it’s kinda easy for me to scream freeeeeedooooom! Braveheart-style, since I have an easy job. Would I have still been screaming if it hadn’t gone this easy? Would I have settled by now? And what’s wrong with settling anyways? Ha! Maybe I should listen to the stereotypes: as a model I shouldn’t think too much

ShouldaWouldaCoulda I suppose. I know. But it’s fun to think about. Where would I have been? No one knows. Probably for the best.

One more week of Holland. I love it.