Yikes, snow!

ofcourse, on the day we left the netherlands the weathergods decided to tell us goodbye with some snow... a few days before reporters already went crazy and on the news they were warning everyone of the upcoming chaos on the roads and the airport; everyone should just stay at home on friday to be safe! (even a little bit of snow in the netherlands is completely different from loads of snow in boston; the dutch are not used to it and/or equipped to remove it quickly and usually the entire country comes to a standstill when its covered in a layer of the white stuff).

we got up real early and there was no snow at all. but.... when i looked outside a little later, the streets were suddenly covered in a white layer, it went so fast! off we went to the airport with too much luggage (mostly dutch candy and other things "you cannot get in the us and a" in my suitcase). luckily it went smoothly (except that it was sooo slippery and i could only walk very very slowly); we even arrived too early; check-in was still closed. other travelers were less lucky; many flights going to destinations in europe were cancelled, resulting in very long rows and some upset and/or crying people. the messaging system was constantly announcing gate changes, delays and cancellations, but our flight was only slightly delayed. me? i was mostly worried that i couldnt do my blog... i wasted our free 2x 30 minutes of internet trying to upload the above photo; it did not work... :( i was so focused on that, and didnt even notice the snow had stopped, hahahahaha! at least the waiting went by quickly and off we went, to iceland from where we had a connecting flight to boston. no problems at the border here, luckily, nor at customs. they didnt find the kilo of cheese and the many packages of dutch candy... (i think half of my suitcase was filled with dutch things.. :D).

now i have time (and especially internet) to visit my fellow bloggers again!! see you soon!

Tonight's movie

i took this picture very long ago, somewhere in the very first months we arrived in boston. i found it funny and put it in my "to post" folder, but i never did, as i thought, well yes, i post it, and then what do i write....?

tonight we saw a french movie "the intouchables". it was impressive. sad. very funny. i really liked it. you just have to go and see it. i didnt really know where it was about when i went; i didnt want to watch the trailer as it sometimes reveals too much. and now all i can say; just go and see it!

and dont read the review in the new york times (i just did, its here for the curious...). its a stupid review, on many levels. yes, the movie is about a very rich handicapped guy who hires someone to take care of him. that someone turns out to be poor, and very different and despite, or probably because their differences they really get along, eventually. yes, the idea is cliche (but based on a true story!!), but i think its execution is more funny, and more touching than anything i saw in a while (also, i suggest the writer of this review should watch more south park, this episode in particular). anyways, i think the pic somehow fits the movie.... so i can finally post it!

and now its again very late and time for bed....

LA sunset

we enjoyed the sunset on venice beach in los angeles, on saturday......

now its monday and we spent the entire day getting back home again.... we had a great time and im not done with showing you pictures of it just yet.. :)

at the airport i could not take our spray bottle of deodorant. it was too big. aarrrghhhh!! at boston airport the officer was very nice. i had not even taken out the toiletries. he did that for me and deemed it all harmless. in san diego the lady did not like the bottle. it was too big. "oh, they allowed it in boston? they shouldnt have. its too big." "but we imported it from europe, and its a brand new bottle!!" (deodorant is one of the things i have not been able to find a good american subsitute. i think there is none and thus we get it from the netherlands, haha) "well, its too big". and there it went, into the trash.... :( had it been 2 smaller spray bottles; no problem. really. grrrr....

ever since a recent south park episode where they install "toilet security", which they call the TSA, i think of them like the toilet security administration (instead of transportation). my goodness, they can be so anal!! (pardon my language). once an officer complained because the plastic bag i had my toiletries in was double the allowed size; even though i had filled it only halfway and had folded it. "but im not taking too much, right?" "thats right, but the bag is too big". "i folded it, essentially its half a bag". "the bag is too big, next time bring the right size bag". problem ofcourse starts with the stupid airlines that ask for a fee for checking bags; ofcourse now most people only bring carry-on, leading to all this nonsense. then at the gate its always the same story: "this flight is fully booked, space is limited, we will not to check-in bags, it wont fit, but now its free of charge". blablablabla... flying is becoming more and more complicated...

enough ranting, we had a great time! :)

Too close

biebkriebels placed this photo yesterday, so i thought to show you a similar one from san diego! when i arrived, i was, as always, looking down from my window (i prefer to have a window seat so that i can see whats going on), and the ground was approaching sooo fast! i couldnt see an airport, but i did see houses, streets, and it was all a little too close for me. it all went fine, and one of the first things sylvia asked me was how i liked the landing... as she knew ofcourse.... :)

later we were back there for the rental car, and i (also) had to be very quick to take a picture. now some wiki-facts about the airport; its the busiest single-runway commercial service airport in the us, but not in the world; thats london (and then comes san diego), with having approximately 600 arrivals and departures each day. august 16, 1928, exactly 83 years and 1 day ago, the airport was named San Diego Municipal Airport – Lindbergh Field, because San Diego was the city from which mister Lindbergh began the journey that would ultimately become the first solo transatlantic flight, in addition to being the place where his aircraft was designed, built, and tested.

besides, i am fascinated by the wall with the monkeys, no idea whether it was just decoration, or some sort of advertisement.

Deserted place

another desert photo from anza-borrego. it was so amazing there..! here we were high up and had a view down on seemingly nothing but emptiness. i could not believe it! one moment we were driving on the highway, and just a bit later... total nothingness. and soooo terribly hot! there are several hiking trails, but we remained close to the car and only went out to take some pictures, that was more than hot enough. and in fact, down there it was not as deserted as it seemed, there were some resorts (is that for people with marital problems? ;)), and also actual people were living there!! the previous photo is taken somewhere down here too. we think we saw a roadrunner; at least it was running across the road, but wasnt followed by a coyote :), and it was a little small....

certainly, im not yet done with the desert and will show you more pictures later.

i got abck to boston this morning after an overnight flight without any sleep. i did see water for elephants once again during the flight; that movie is even worse when watching it for the second time., but at least this airline didnt make you pay for watching television. i do think the ban on water bottles is enforced by all airport shops. thirsty as i get from flying, i thought this time to buy some water at the gate. the lady even asked  "only this water?" well yes, it was more than expensive enough! 3 dollar 50... grrrrrr!!

the apartment was deserted too; tim only comes back on sunday....

Flying back....

... to boston.... :( this week went by so fast! sylvia just dropped me off at the airport, and now waiting for my flight..... 

today we did a boat tour and we saw lots of sea lions (i only ever saw those in the zoo!), and some seals. then we went to the beach again, another one this time, but.... the sun was behind the clouds and it was quite cold. nevertheless we went into the water, but not that many waves... ah well.... 

have to say that taking pics here was rather difficult. often it was quite cloudy, and although the weather was great, for pics it was not that great. ofcourse i did take quite some, so certainly you will see more the coming days.

and sylvia; thank you! it was great! now back to normal life, or whatever thats supposed to be... buuughhh.

Me toooo!!!

this is at newark international airport.... the view from my window onto new york city, which was not my final destination... yup, i decided not to stay at home either and went somewhere... perhaps today you see where i went! ;)

Flying home

well... i dropped tim at the airport today; hes going home to the netherlands to visit his grandmother, and then on to france to visit his parents. im staying in the us, enjoying the weather!! but its weird to suddenly be alone, or rather, without tim, after more than a year always being together..

Bridge closed

if there is no bridge.... then apparently you need to fly..! 

above you see a hang glider being pulled into the air by a plane.... later the hang glider will be released and eventually will fly/float/whatever back to the ground. so tim went to do some of that. or rather, he was on a field with 2 instructors and had put on such fake wings and was running like crazy and sometimes he would get into the air a little. i just wondered; if we were meant to fly, wouldnt we have just gotten some wings?! but tim liked it a lot.....

here some pictures of him in action! :)

One year

one year ago we flew from amsterdam to boston. each with 2 packed suitcases (and quite some handluggage), and not quite knowing what to expect. how to do it all, where to live after the 3-month lease was over, where to get furniture... etc etc.

it all worked out well.... most of the times...! ;)

Self portrait

entirely indecisive on what pic to take. not yet another snow pic was all i could think. i did goto the gym this evening and there i saw the weather forecast (no tv or connection at home... a good reason togoto the gym?), and yet more snow is expected, maybe even another snow storm the coming week... ?

lets see... so expect more snow photos! 

a self portrait now since i didnt do one for a while... this pic is a little older... when "postdoccing" didnt tire me out yet (as i was not yet one), in the plane to boston...
ah and yes... im frustrated i dont get to photograph strangers as much as i want... :( but too cold, too much snow and too little time..!

Welcome back

"welcome back" thats what the officer said to me, after he checked my visa, passport, all forms that had to be filled out, stamped all those documents, took my fingerprints (all fingers) and a photo (would they have an internal blog or something where they display the most horrible pics of people arriving after long long flights...?). i have to admit; i liked that he said that... am i now one of them!?! but then i immediately thought "doe effe normaal zeg" (cannot translate that.. but literally; please, act normal..).

so, we were lucky, the blizzard yesterday/sunday cancelled many flights, yet our flights were not delayed. the only shitty thing is that tim's snowboard did not arrive with us in boston, resulting in waiting in yet another line... 

as we almost doubled our luggage, im now waiting for tim to get the car. great that allmost all airports have free internet nowadays so that i can update my blog! :) above a picture of a real dutch flower; the tulip. i was so amazed by the snow on this poor flower that only after 4 pics i realized these were fake.. its at the airport, so i guess they want to always be able to show visitors dutch flowers. although everyone ofcourse knows that tulips were originally from turkey are were imported about 400 years ago to the netherlands. but look here; in the US they even have a tulip festival! difference might be that in the netherlands you can buy 40 or sometimes even 60 tulips for just 5 euros (~7 dollars), while here, back home (!!), it will cost you probably a lot more...

Snowy suitcase

i am now awake for more than 36 hours.... beeeegghhh. first work yesterday morning, then the supermarket (icelandair makes you pay for your meal in the plane and we are dutch, after all, even after 9 months US (or even more so?)), then cleanup of the apartment, then airport with a too heavy suitcase and 3 transfers; ah no, our perfect apartment is not located optimally considering airport access :) seeing boston in the dark from above was real cool, but i didnt recognize anything... 

i was a little worried as there was quite some snow again in the netherlands and the news had stories that it was a total chaos on the roads and many flights delayed or cancelled. but we left snowless boston without problems, landed into iceland that surely looked icy but snowless as well, and then approached an entirely white netherlands; beautiful from above as well. scary during landing (at least for me), wouldnt that be slippery?! but it all went smooth (except me sleeping; didnt happen). luggage was kind of a mess, so many people and it lasted forever; then we discovered many people that were waiting there for their luggage had in fact just checked in in amsterdam, but due to cancelled flights, had to pick it right up again.... i guess we were very lucky as many many flights got cancelled (also an earlier direct flight from boston).

the combination suitcase and snow turned out to be less fun.... pictured above... buuugh. i like that in the background another couple was posing, and i just saw that the building on the left has the word "oren" (i.e. ears) on it, most likely the T got just cut off (ie toren; tower).

now finally time for bed... although a little early in this timezone....

agree disagree

flying is boring. we had screens to watch movies or whatever, but i was bored of that as well. so i wanted to do a survey, as it is always nice to give your opinion and/or answer stupid questions. at that moment there were no surveys... the only question i was allowed to answer was whether i agreed with the fact there were no surveys or not. ofcourse i disagreed.... will there be one next time?
(checked for cameras today... but have no clue what to take.... :( only know i miss mine and i continuously see things i want to picture...... buuuuuuuhhh!)

Amsterdam - Boston

i am ofcourse regularly checking nu.nl . there i saw this: http://www.nu.nl/buitenland/2226168/evacuaties-uitbarsting-vulkaan-ijsland.html
we flew through iceland when coming to boston; it was cheaper than KLM, allowed to take 2 suitcases instead of 1 (very important to me), and.... it was much much more relaxed than flying through Paris as we did last time.. iceland airport was very quiet. and we saw a little bit of iceland! it was very sunny and it looked like it would be hot outside (it was however only 4 degrees). from what we saw from the country.. it looked like the moon.... so colourless and flat empty (but maybe the moon looks very different). now i actually would like to see more of Iceland. maybe next time when flying home!