The Bodies Exhibition

I was in Amsterdam today doing a bit of wandering when a friend pointed out this exhibit. I'd heard about it before and had wanted to go so here was my chance. It's an education exhibit of the human anatomy using displays of real human body parts. You'll see our bodies in ways you never seen before - maybe unless you've seen the movie Anatomy (2000) :P It's a cool exhibit so check it out if you don't know much about the human anatomy or are interested in stuff like this.

Btw, check out this video on Cameron Clapp, an inspiring story about a triple amputee.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I actually had an early Thanksgiving dinner last Saturday with my usual group of American friends since several of them were going to be away this week on a business trip. Of course we had to have a turkey, as well as all the usual trimmings - mashed potatoes, yams, stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, apple pie, pumpkin pie, etc. There was 11 or 12 of us, and just like back home, most of the boys had to stop and watch the (American) football game a bit. It was a very nice evening, and many thanks to Kathy, who for some reason decided to do all the cooking on her own.

As for today though, it wasn't a very traditional Thanksgiving. They didn't even have turkey at lunch :( It was a bit of a stressful and late day in the office, followed by a dinner at a Japanese restaurant with a fellow American. But today is a day to be thankful, which I don't do enough of. So it's time for me to start, even if it's just once a year. Here goes:

I am thankful this year for...

• my health and that of my family and all of my friends
• a job I actually like and a wonderful boss
• having been able to travel so much... again
• the secret luck I had in Greece
• the spices in my life
• my brother being able to sell his condo
• the same brother's first child being born
• my other nieces
• Skype, Instant Messaging, and e-mail
• my best friend's wedding
• passing my black belt test without dying
• skating through my Masters degree
• my new friends
• my mom's happiness
• a cozy and warm apartment (the best feeling is when I step into my house when it's cold out)
• my big bathroom
• the commissary and APO address
• Grey's Anatomy
• and all my wonderful friends who stay in touch and think of me even when I'm miles away

I'm sure I left a lot of things out, but it's my bed time so this will have to do for now.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Ju-Jitsu World Championships

When I first got here, I asked around to see if anyone knew of a jiu-jitsu school in the area. A coworker said he took jiu-jitsu lessons, but turns out the "ju-jitsu" that he does is slightly different from what I was looking for. I was looking for pure-ground fighting lessons - as in Gracie jiu-jitsu. There apparently is another form of ju-jitsu which incorporates stand-up karate like fighting and ground-fighting. Anyways, so the world championships were this weekend in Rotterdam so I joined my friend to go watch the last day of it on Sunday. There were 4 events that day: Men's 69 kilo and under, Men's heavy weight, Women's 62 and under, and Mixed duos. My favorite competitor for the day was Fedor Serov from Russia in the 69 and under category. He had very smooth techniques and pretty cool counters. No wasted movements. I was so disappointed when he lost his 4th match to Ferrie Hendriks of the Netherlands. I almost left until I found out he would be competing for the bronze, which he took in the end. My least favorite was the Italian. After his first win, he threw a kiss to the crowd and walked off with the helper girl in arm. Then in his match against Taiwan's Cheng-Chih Chi, his (multiple) injuries were so over-dramatized that it was like World Cup all over again.

The French had a really good day though. They took gold in 3 of the 4 categories, and a silver in the last. (I've never stood up for the French National Anthem so may times.) Even then, they lost to the Germans by only half a point (99.5 vs. 99). I guess they expected it, cuz they shipped over tons of supporters. All you could ever hear were the French cheering, even when it was French vs. Dutch. Where were the Dutch supporters?? The Dutch did pretty good that day too. A silver and couple of bronzes. I think they took 5 medals the day before so not bad.

Check out www.jbn.nl and www.jujitsu2006.nl for more on the championship.

Alyssa Pics

My brother finally sent me some pictures of my new niece:

Greece... again

I just got back from another trip to Greece for work - this time for a week. The trip was a bit more pleasant this time around than last with significantly less frustrations. Although, I did get stranded at the Athens airport by a co-worker on my way in. We are working at a site 3 hours away from the airport and a colleague who was already there was supposed to come get me but he was nowhere to be found upon my arrival. When I called him his reply was "I don't know anything about that." Excuse me?? Are you f***ing sh***ing me?!?!? I was furious. I had to hitch a ride with a group of people from UK who also happenned to be going to the same place. In the end though, they turned out to be really nice people and I ended up hanging out with them on my time off. It could've been pretty boring otherwise. So I guess in a way it was a blessing in disguise.

The plan really was for me to work all week, but because Wednesday was some sort of a day off for the people we were dealing with, I decided to take the day off too. Couple of those guys I met were going to Ancient Olympia for the afternoon, so I joined them on that trip. It's the site of the original Olympic games, and the lighting of the torch ceremony for the modern Olympics are still held there today. Olympia is also the site where the statue of Zeus, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, used to reside.

Aside from that, not much went on. I stayed in a nice 4 star resort since it was off-peak and seriously discounted. Much better than the dumps I stayed at on the last trip :P It had a nice gym (for a hotel) so I went almost everyday. The food was also awesome and included with the stay. It was one of those buffets with all sorts of choices. I also had a room with a ocean view and the place had really beautiful sunsets (the kind where the sky turns all red.) I love sunsets....

More on Dutch Life

The credit card hassle

Way back when, perhaps in July or so, I blogged about how my bank kept losing my credit card application. Well, after the last one, they never got back to me about my application. After calling them I found out that they had denied my credit card application. Gee, thanks for telling me guys. So naturally, I ask them why. They said they will send me something in the mail. After receiving nothing in the mail, I made couple more similar phone calls. Finally, I received something in the mail that told me I was denied a credit card, but with no explanation. I politely made my local branch's service rep aware of how mad I was and threatened to change banks (there was no reason that I could think of of why I should be denied a credit card, particularly when it's included in the service that I am paying for). Then I get a call later in the day saying that the credit card company thought I was working somewhere else (but that bank knew damn well where I was working) and I was indeed eligible for a credit card. A card arrived a week later. Idiots.

The closing gym

Last night a friend went to his usual gym - a very nice one with a relatively high membership fee. He had about 3-4 months left on it but yesterday he found out his gym was closing in about a week's time. So naturally he tried to find out how he could get his money back for the remaining time on his membership. They had no phone #s to where he could call, no address to which he could write, and no forms which he could fill out to make claim. He was fuming... and understandably so.

The trash pickers

Another friend was telling me last night how one day he put his trash next to the large trash receptacle because it was full. Apparently some time later, he received a fine from the city. In the fine, there were pictures of his trash and the contents of his trash. They had literally grabbed the trash bag, openned it up, and rummaged through it to find the owner!! You know, yesterday morning was trash day and I noticed one of my trash bags was missing. I had clearly put out 2 the night before and there was only 1 when I left for work the next morning. Perhaps they didn't like the fact that I use a white trash bag as opposed to the black one everyone else is using. Or maybe I am not allowed to put out trash the night before (though I've seen others do it). Whatever the case, I need to invest in a shredder.

Halloween Pictures are up

HERE