MoRe pictuRes

Hmm, quite a while since last update. I'm sometimes sooo active, sometimes it takes ages and ages to produce something. Well, basically I'm writing to entertain myself, so no big probelms because of that :D

I have updated two new photo galleries and share them with you now.

Bicycles of Amsterdam (as promised previously):
http://picasaweb.google.com/m.t.kulmala/BicyclesOfAmsterdamAugSep2009?feat=directlink#

And something, completely else, Broken Bicycle Lamps of Amsterdam (!):
http://picasaweb.google.com/m.t.kulmala/BrokenBicycleLampsOfAmsterdamAugSep2009?feat=directlink#

Enjoy! (?)

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I'm back and I've got cookies! Err, photos I mean...

Oh noes, it's been a while from my last entry. I've got all the good and bad excuses, but as you all know – they're just excuses. So enough with them already.

But I'm back.

Very sorry for that :-P

I've been shooting around in Amsterdam, because I want to share it's funny and interesting (and maybe not so interesting) sides to everybody else, too! Today's special is Boats of Amsterdam. Go and see the pictures in Picasa.

Coming up (among other plans):
• Bikes of Amsterdam (quite obvious I suppose)
• Buildings of Amsterdam (very interesting, actually)
• Elephants of Amsterdam (this you didn't expect, did you?)
• Something else, what? Gimme suggestions! And no. Forget the RDL :P

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Sunny day trip to Amstelveen

@home again! I just made an unnecessary trip to Amstelveen with a huge bag on my shoulder in very very warm weather. Took almost three hours including the walkings, rest of that is explained by the rush hour. Tourists you know, they're everywhere xD

But why it was unnecessary... I forgot my friend's keys at home!!! Darn. Nice to notice at the door... If my head wasn't attached on my shoulders I most propably would lose that, too :P

But honestly spoken that trip doesn't bother me too much, though. That's just life. Sometimes these things just happen, can't help it. What becomes out of them is just a matter of our own way of thinking. Let's worry only until there's something really serious to be worried about.

Now time for a bit chilling out...

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I can do Internets, me!

I've got me my Internet connection, finally! Oh joy! Happy happy joy joy!

But now I must run back to work. See yous!

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Animal Planet Morning

Animal Planet under my window! I wasn't woken up by my phone alarm today but by bunch of feathery bullies fighting over a treasure!

I've lived years and years on a shore and I'm more than used to the voice of seagulls. But this morning they were making also some very funny voices. I first thought there was somebody shouting to someone else, propably tried to wake up or sumfink. But no. Seagulls.

There were few seagulls, adults and nubiles. Then some pigeons, jackdaws (at least I think they were jackdaws...) and one crow. And the treasure, forgotten by the city workers day before.

A garbage bag.

Apparently there were food inside as birds were having a "discussion" who's allowed to open the chest (ie. rip open the bag for goodies). Nothing serious, just bullying and shouting without the need to get physical. Funny though, I didn't mind the birds waking me up.

I watched them for awhile from my window until somebody went by bicycle just nearby. Then I realised I should get dressed, too! x-D

And today... A smallish house warming party. Or should I say pre-heating? Dunno. Few colleagues coming over. I asked my neighbours (all two of them), too.

And tomorrow on Saturday, the Canal Carneval. Jei!

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Capa fake?!

I really got surprised now. Robert Capa's propably the most famous photo of death of a loyalist soldier is now under suspicion.

I have always like photography, both watching and shooting. And this photo I knew for a long time already – even before I knew who had taken it. So powerful and impressing. The last time I saw it on a big scale was last year in Stockholm where they had Robert Capa's exhibition. And it was stunning.

And now even more stunning when researchers claim that it's staged. :-O

BUT. It doesn't change the fact Robert Capa was a great photographer. It doesn't diminish the work he did to fight against cruelties of war. Even this suspiced staging of the photo could be seen as a pro-peace act.

I wanted to link the Associated Press news here, but I couldn't find it. So I'm linking the YLE news instead.

So nothing about NL today, see yous!!

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Straight but otherwise ok

Gay pride!!! Well, actually I wrote that there just to attract readers :P

Gay pride in Amsterdam started yesterday on Sunday 26th July and will continue until next Sunday 2nd August. The canal parade will take place very near to my home. It's following Prinsengracht which is adjacent to my home street (or should I say my home canal?-) Keizersgracht. Too bad I can't follow it from my home window, but hey – we all need to do some sacrificions! x-D

It's going to be interesting as I've never seen one; not a gay parade nor a gay canal parade. With my earlier experiences with gay bars (and gay people in overall) I'd expect it to be loads of fun – even for us straight people, too!

The subject "Straigth but otherwise ok" is actually a double sided joke. Not only for confessing that there's something really wrong with me (ie. not being a gay, not even a bisexual) but also laughing at prejudicies some people have towards gays.

...actually I could even wear a T-shirt with that slogan at the gay pride. On the other hand, how many people would actually get the joke there and think that I was a homophobic? Propably other straight people, I'd guess.

Any case, back to work (no more lunch hour...)

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PS: See you by the canal next weekend!

EDIT: Changed the link to the official one.

Sweet weekend...

This morning I got me a surprise. When leaving from home to work I checked the window. No rain, but lots of sunshine! I went downstairs, opened the door and – as you might already guess – it started raining! So there was I, locking the door locks in the heavy rain with my suit and all :D

After recovering my umbrella it was a nice walk in the rain AND in the sunshine!

Day at the work was pretty typical (hmm, what's typical after two very first weeks in the new company anyways...). So there was a lot of different tasks to do, lots of new things to learn, lots of new everything! And am I happy or what! (Answer to that rethorical question is yes, actually.)

And now it's time for the weekend. Today I'll propably just relax at home by moving furnitures around the apartment and having a beer or three.

Sadly though I still don't have my internet connection, it's available only until 6th August! Darn...

But weekend, here we come!!!

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Lekkere koffitje

Hmmm, not too many blog markings from me. The lack of internet in the evenings and the lack of free time during working hours is really reducing this. But as soon as I get my internet connection installed things will change. Beware. Or not. Or whatever :-P

But to the point. Today, after living my first full week in my new apartment, I got my first cup of morning coffee in my very own kitchen. How nice!

Few days ago I bought me a Senseo coffee maker. It is soooooo nice! And it got even better, when I finally bought some coffee pads, too ;-)

Nothing more special at the moment. Things are cooking and when I have both time and 'net, I will get back to them.

Until then haudu!
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Weekend in Brabant

Hola! That was a fun weekend in Tilburg, in the very heart of Brabant. And you Dutchmen, please don't laugh out too loudly – I even used to live in there ;-)

Friday, right after the work, was a day for Kermis. According to my understanding it is the biggest funfair (or traveling carnival or tivoli or faire or whatever you wish to call it) in Europe. Hmm. At least biggest in Benelux countries, then!

I met an old friend J from 10 years ago. There were plenty of us (8 Finns and 2 Dutch) going out together. Nice it was! Later we split, some of going home and some us staying. We went and partied through the night in Café Extase. It hadn't changed a bit in the past 8 years – and for this kind of a place it's really a plus, MAJOR plus point!

Saturday it was J's birthday party. Loads of meat to BBQ, loads of beers and other drinks to swallow, loads of ppl to meet. I tried to remember names of all of the people over there, which proved to be next to impossible. That how it goes: everybody know the monkey but the monkey doesn't know anybody :-P

Oh, and I have to add this: J's mother does the best sate kip in the whole world. Period. Nothing even close to match that. BIG period. :)

We spent the whole night out in the garden under the tents, talking, eating, drinking, having phun. Really nice!

Sunday was some kind of a family day. This time I met more J's relatives. Good practice for my almost-non-excisting Dutch... And we visited the Kermis again, this time with few adults and kids together. Nice kids – they weren't afraid of me, the horrible foreigner :-D And I visited the 5G monster De Booster *insert mile wide grin here*

Now, off to home I should go. Haudu!

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Round and round and round in Amsterdam

Today we've been going around the Amsterdam. A Finnish couple N & M came to NL yesterday, so there was four of us all together.

Yesterday we visited the Boom Chicago which was really nice and lots of fun. I must go there again, too! I will recommend that place for everybody who comes to Amsterdam and can understand at least some English.

Yesterday evening was continued with a visit to Jazz Café Alto where they have live music all night long. That was interesting and nice as well.

Today after the work we met nearby Rijksmuseum and walked around from there to Rembrantsplein. And we saw my homestreet-to-come, too! (That's tomorrow when I move there, ou jeah!)

Oh – N (over 30 years old guy) has never been in metro. So you might guess what we did. Went to Amsterdam Centraal and jumped on the metro. Rode one stop and back. Fun! :-P

Now we're going to go through the approx 200 pics our friends took today...

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EDIT: Fixed the links.

Painty Sunday

Friends apartment looks now like a home. :-)

Painted walls, cleaned floors, vacuumed windows... Yep, I vacuum cleaned the kitchen windows as they were covered in dust created during the renovation!

Lots of small things still left to do. And the kitchen of course. But in my eyes this is a clear and great improvement for my friend already. Happyhappyjoyjoy!

Tomorrow back to work so I can rest there :-P

A couple is also coming from Finland for a visit. The guy used to be my room mate back in Tilburg exactly 10 years ago. We haven't seen each other for ages so it's about a time!

Now off to bed. Dui!

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Renovation

Sandpaper, paint, primer, putty, even more sandpaper, even more paint.

Friend's apartment here in Amstelveen has now gotten few walls painted and two walls primed. And the door, too! Painted, I mean. Friend's parents were here, too – they helped a lot!

Tomorrow we'll paint the rest. Now just chillin with internet and beer. We're sitting next to each other netting around. How nerdy is that?! Oh, we DO have also sports in our minds. Looking for Formula One tickets xD

Next week moving to my own apartment. How nice... Almost can't wait for that. IN Amsterdam, I just can't believe that.

I'll just eat another Mozart Kügel and fetch me another beer. Have a nice evening, there too!

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PS: Cat seems to enjoy the plastic covers that we've put everywhere to prevent paint spots...

Bloody Moby

Today my friend said at work: "I'm pretty tired. We should get home." Yep, I can understand, okay, let's go. It was also 17.00 so no wonder - time to go anyways.

But then. We should go to Media Markt. To see some of the stuff you wanted to get to your new apartment next week. But weren't you a bit tired or sumfink, I asked? One's never too tired to see some electronics! :D

EDIT: There can't be too much engineer porn, can't there?-)

I don't exactly know what to compare Media Markt for in other countries. For Nordic countries I'd say it's like Gigantti – a place where you can buy all the electronic things, gadgets etc etc you need at home. Not your regular light bulbs, though.

We spent some two hours there. Looking at that, wondering at this, wooooowing at the third etc. And having a blast meanwhile.

But then. He showed me The Machines With Headphones And Freakin-lasers-attached-to-their-heads! (Mind Mike Myers movies and you'll understand). There be no dragons but there be red boxes with headsets and bar code scanners. Take any cd in the shop and scan it to the red machine of devils's own – you could listen samples of the songs on the cd!

EDIT: Explanation: machine that lets you scan almost any cd and listen to samples of that. REALLY nice piece of equipment!


So simple! So nice! So obvious! So attracting and eeeeexpensive ('cause you want to buy allll the cd's you're listened to...)

So. Moby. F**k you, big time. Stop making such a nice music. It really hurts. I goddamn have to buy your 'Wait for me' cd. My friend bought it. Playing it now. GotverdommeAndAllOfThatThing – I need to buy it, too. Yes, agreed, it's not your fastest party music, but it's NICE!

And with these words I'll close up my Friday report here. See youres somewheres some times!

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I See Candle Balloons

What the topic says is actually true. I'm now in Amstelveen in the 8th floor sitting on my friend's couch internetting around (laptop on my lap and wine glass on the table - one has to wait for the beer to cool off a bit, of course ;-) And there it floats. Red paper balloon flying in the air with a candle underneath it. Nice. And it's going nicely besides the harsh wind outside. Never seen such a thing in real life.

But this is quite a funny neighbourhood otherwise, too. I've seen parrots (those green birdies that look just like you could see in your Donald Duck comics) and storks here. And there's lots and lots of trees – the view outside the window is very very green. Nice.

The heart attack I got this morning with my bank account has also passed now. There was no reason found why my card was blocked. Well - there has been a saldo of –6€ for some 8 years on my account (I've been living in Finland that time) but now there's waaaaaaay more money than that puny minus. I got very friendly treatment from the bank, though. Just out of a pure coinsidence the clerk lady had exactly birthday than I do.

And now I have my comission, my rental deposit and my first month paid beforehand. Excellent! Next week moving in, tatta-tatta-daa!

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"Your Card Has Been Blocked"

Continuation to the previous blog...

After celebrating everything I thought it'd be a nice idea to pay the agency fee, deposit and first rent. Off to the Internet bank. Aaaaand: my card has been blocked for Internet banking! (For those who don't know it, one's bank card is used for verification here in NL).

So I followed the instructions and called the helpdesk. No luck, can't unblock, very sorry. (The lady was actually really, really nice to me.) So to the office I must go...

Here I am. Everything fixed but now I can't touch my money. Grrr.

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PS: Swell, everything will eventually work out. It just these small unnecessary steps you need to crumble through... :P

On the Fast Lane (for a Change)

Jeh!!! Got me an apartment now, in the middle of freaking Amsterdam! *insert veeeery big smile here*

Everything went SO smoothly that I'm really shocked.
• Tuesday evening: I found apartment from the Internet, call to receiver.
• Wednesday morning: I made few calls before opening time, got the visiting time for the same day.
• Wednesday afternoon: I took some time off from the work and visited the apartment first (half an hour earlier I was there, so I guess that was a good idea).
• Same Wednesday: I was happy with the apartment and landlady was happy with me -> deal! Off to the agency to fill in preliminary papers.
• Later in Wednesday: Started fixing the financing stuff really fast with HR.
• Thursday morning: Meeting with HR. They promised to see if I can get my relocation package in advance (even though I've been asking about it for two months ;-)
• Thursday later: Money arranged, rent contract signed, moving in next week.
• Conclusion: within 40 hrs from c/o to my own central apartment, yes!!!

And besides the weather forecast sun is actually really really shining! :D

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PS: I wonder should I get me a small boat. Just for cruisin' the city, you know :-P

Down to the Keizersgracht!

There would be many, many, many, many ways to start up a new blog. I could just brag about my new apartment in Keizersgracht. Those who know Amsterdam, know it, too.

...

But I just shouldn't. I haven't signed anything yet.

But I was in the "kijkmiddag" which proved to be quite successfull. So for tomorrow Wednesday I should get me an niiiiiiiice (pronounced "naaaaaaaaaais") apartment in the Amsterdam Centrum. As my friend put it: "location, location, location". Or should I say "lokatie, lokatie, lokatie" :)

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PS: Until the signing the contract I'm not going to celebrate. Not too much.

PS2: I've been looking for an apartment over two months already, so no wonder I might be slightly, just very very veeeery slightly itsi-bitsi-biini-sliini-sligthly happy to finally find an apartment. If you get the idea :-P

And So We Change Our Lives...

Descriptive attempt (or attempting description?): Take your not-so-typical Finn (well at least I'm blond-ish). Take your shorty with a stupefying mouth (usually faster than the brains...). Take your 35-years old forever-childish fellow with a lots of life experience (but still waaay not enough). Take your man who doesn't know what he wants but knows how to get it (thx Sex Pistols!). Take your sushi, tex-mex, ice cream, shoarma, bitterballen, mustamakkara, chocolad, whatever and mix them together.

Whatever you get is completely (but not quite) different than me.

...I suppose.

And besides, that's not the point at all. The point is that I'm going to try to describe my second (!) move to Netherlands – exactly after 10 years of the first moving in here.

So these are my experiences in the expat point of view with a kwazi, kwazi (well at least not the most common) twist to it.

See you around. Maybe not. But that still doesn't stop me writing this :-P

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