where am i? wouter's house, tilburg, holland.

what have i been doing?
1: last night i saw more people dressed in orange then i have ever seen in my life. i saw more orange balloons and streamers and hats and general orangeness than you could imagine. why? last night was the big soccer game, in the eurocup 2004 competition, between holland and sweden. and last night i watched the game from a jam-packed bar on the main street in downtown tilburg. the tension, the excitment, and the roar of delight that came with plentiful jumping up and down in the air when the penalty shoot-out ended with holland winning was crazy. and you thought that we get hyped up with the rugby. soccer over here is a huger deal than can be possibly explained. am so pleased to have had a true european soccer experience. and of course i was all dressed up in my day-to-day orange clothes and a holland jester type hat. now my thoughts stay with holland as they play this wednesday... HUP HOLLAND.

2: today i ate new zealand royal gala apples in zeeland. that's right folks, the daddy of new zealand. such a beautiful area, much of it on reclaimed land due to the impressive dykes built out into the north sea. so another ocean has been witnessed by oneself, more beaches to be added to the list. i saw the old traditional style windmills that make me think of that cute children's book about that cow... errr, clarence? who falls in a canal. and then the new super alien style windmills now generating power for the region.

hurrah for me. as of 4 hours ago i finished my masters. but no time to chat. i have some celebrating to get on with.

in this past week the temperature has risen 10 degrees from 25 to 35. this has caused statements such as: 'i had to put water on my face and my pillow last night' (sandro), 'i couldn't sleep because the pillow was sticking to my head' (naomi) and 'i wish we had a little paddling pool' (me).

so two exams down this week. and they were fine. i got to talk about a lot of water related things. like greek fountains and roman fountains and arches being flooded and becoming fountains. and that the maccabees invented the swimming pool along with ritual baths. things i had studied a lot because of the heat. because it's hot!! and a little paddling pool would be quite nice.

i don't study at home anymore. my room is a sauna. literally with temperatures in the 40s. i promise. no exaggeration there. why? because there are 50,000 (perhaps slight exaggeration) mosquitos waiting outside my window. so my window stays firmly shut. no mosquitos but high temperatures that do not permit studying.

look whose back. dee dee dee. bex is back. dee dee dee.

ha, right, so wasn't gone for long eh? that is because i have an awesome flatmate who leaves her door unlocked when she leaves, and puts notes under my door saying her computer is all mine for the weekend! woohoo for elien.

not much fun stuff to say though. sadly. here is my routine. i get up at 9am. i eat some brekky. muesli these days. good for the mind. then i pack my bag and head up the street to morna's to study. such an arrangment is very beneficial to us both. i get her up in the morning, she stops me from falling asleep over my notes in the day and we both end up getting a lot of study done. hurrah! though obviously quite a boring 'hurrah' huh? sorry about that.

so until next time i am procrastinating...