December 30

I've been reading stories for the poor children in the public library. It seems that my warm and honey-like voice has a very calming effect on them.

December 28

Today I discovered the flee market at Waterlooplein. Everything is really cheap. Buy shirts, sweaters, boots, pants for prices around 2 euro.

December 27

Today I finished a painting I started over a year ago. It's a painting of Joanna Newsom and I'm really happy with the result!
I spent many hours on this one...

December 22

Today I followed the exchange student from Estonia to his high school and pretended to be a exchange-student as well. It was so much fun. Many people were very enthusiastic to talk to this 'Markus Olausson' from Sweden. I had to watch myself, because I could of course understand the dutch even though I pretended not to. A few times I laughed about the dutch jokes they made, and I even forget my foreign name at some point. But nobody seemed to notice anything, and I've had the most interesting talks with people which I wouldn't have had otherwise.

I even took pictures as if I were a tourist

December 20

IKEA today. Normally I'm not such a big fan of mass-orientated places, but the IKEA is perfect for a student like me. Good things for cheap prices. Still I try not to show too much that I am a slave of the IKEA! As I took the train home I thought of a little rhyme:

Take the products of your liking,
Choose a kitchen with your wife
Yet the difference is striking,
When you're back into your life.

December 19

There's this amazing construction in the library: a mouse-mansion. You can walk around it and see inside how the mice live, the details are incredible.

December 17

For a long time I have been wanting to visit the evensong in the Saint Nicholas church. Today I had the opportunity, and it was really amazing. Almost as good as the King's Choir! They sang a lot of christmas carols, like Ding Dong, Merrily On High. The church itself delivered a massive and beautiful echo through the whole building.

December 16

I made a cover of Ane Brun's 'Words'. I really like this song, and recently it has gotten some extra meaning for me. One of my best friends has lost her mother, and in this song Ane sings:

'Words, take her with you.
Let her rest in your rhyme.'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iPsHhbM3OU

December 14

As I posted a few days ago, the College of King's Choir is in town. Previously the tickets were to expensive, but as I walked into the library today I noticed they were selling last-minutes to this concert. I bought one and got really excited as I took the bus there. The concert venue was incredible and so was the concert. After the break there was a song by Giles Swayne that made me cry. I know that I'm stating the obvious, but the voices of those boys are like angels. The clearest of light.

December 6

A poster showed that the Choir of king's college of Cambridge is about to perform in Amsterdam. I looked them up, but tickets were between 40 and 70 euro...
There was one good thing: their setlist was online and I learned about an amazing song by John Tavener. It's called The Lamb, and the verses are written in 2 different tonalities, giving a very dissonant feeling. The chorus on the other hand feels very romantic. So in the end this song pleases me on both intellectual and emotional side =)

December 5

Actually, TODAY it's Sinterklaas. Not only the children that look forward to this, the shops can't wait either. Below are some commercials I've seen over the past week:

December 4

Today's Sinterklaas :)     lot's of presents... We all really enjoyed it.
Sadly enough there was an awful message for me in the evening. My current landlord, which I really like, told me his son had drowned during one of the floods in Thailand. I'm very sad about this, and the contrast between my happy evening and his miserable message is unbelievable.

December 3

Saturdays are for making fun, so I made music. All day I played Coldplay's 'Paradise'. I feel bad for playing such mainstream music, but this one is really nice. I recorded my version, have a listen below. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGhVjASviJ0

December 1

The second Taizé-service was today. It was so nice, I had a great time. I was worried at first, because I hadn't practiced the piano as much as I would've liked. But the people that came were wonderful, and the singing was great.