The Byciclelands

We’re doing just fine

In Den Haag

So yesterday we were in the Hague – we wisited the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) hadsome sightseeing and just got lost. Again, again and again. Much pictures this time, less words than other time but you know the reson – one pic can show more than 382764926476326 words….

P.S. I managed to fall asleep during the case against gen. Ante Gotovina and the security guards had to wake me up. Funny, hugh?

Debating with a MEP

I was to Brussels a month ago, right at the European parliament. But even there we didn’t have the opportunity to have a real debate with a MEP. So it happened today – one of the rare good hits of our Dutch hosts was the organized meeting with Mrs. Els de Groen, MEP of the European Green Party. The lecture was to be about Bulgaria but in general it turned out to be about the memories of Mrs. De Groen of Bulgaria.

She has been a seriously important MEP responding about the Bulgarian EU accession together with Jeffrey van Orden. ‘He was always the good cop and I was the bad cop’, Mrs. De Groen said. And immediately started to speak about the present situation in Bulgaria. I have to admit that 95% ot the things she said were totally right – about corruption in Bulgaria, about the National Security legacy, about the new parties (she also admitted that the new Bulgarian green party ‘The Greens’ is a good way something good to be done for Bulgaria).

Here are some of her points:

* ‘When GERB was founded I relied on them to bring the change. Then I understood that their leader and present mayor of Sofia was one of those ‘vratove’. And he suddenly started to lose his mind and now he wants to push Turkish people in Bulgaria to use only bulgarian names. This Bojko Borisov, this ‘vratove’!!!’

* ‘And there is nobody t bring the change now because the opposition is deeply split.’

* ‘Why can’t we do anything against the corruption in Eastern Europe? Because suddenly EasternEuropeans found out that there is corruption in Western Europe as well. And they started using it.’

* ‘Karakachanov is now very close with your president Goce.’

* ‘168 Hours and Ataka Newspapers send paparazzi after me to investigate the secret relationship I used to have with my personal assistant.’

* ‘You can’t have free media when 60% of the newspapers in Bulgaria are governed by an ex-agent of National Security (Darzhavna sigurnost).’

* ‘Peter Dertliev would’ve been a good start for Bulgaria after 1989. And the most famous prisoner in BG Yanko Yankov as well.’

So after the speech all of the Dutch attendants were terrified and some of the Bulgarians were affected. In fact Mrs. De Groen was mostly right. So I really think that it’s high time for us to stop being closed and shauvinistic but to have a look ahead, to start listening to what outsiders tell – what might be bad and consider if we should change it.

Me on a bicycle

I rode a Dutch bicycle today. So I became a part of the crazy traffic of Utrecht. Benjamin lent me his bike and I had the opportunity to fly free through one of the biggest boulevards ’round the city. And that’s where hell began.

Cause everybody here prefers riding a bicycle than driving a car. That’s the reason they don’t have traffic jams here and no parking problems. In fact, they have parking problems – they don’t have enough place to park their bikes. If you walk arround you can easily see bikes all arround you – even in the canals.

And it feels like no biker here respects pedestrians – if you go on the bike alley, they just start beeping and don’t even decrease their speed. They are even worse than the car drivers. But nobody’s worse than the bus drivers. Let’s not talk about it however.

I’ll try it again tomorrow. Hope I’ll survive. If I don’t come back to Bulgaria you should know some bad bike had hit me.

Morning recharge – 10.XI.

Morning! Check up the schedule and have an awesome week!

‘Bout last night:

The group leader had an interesting conversation with the organizers about the conditions in the hostel. They promised to fix things up. And after the arguments all we went to bed really surprised that the room was full of Polish girls. (No, not that good – didn’t I mention the Polish Omas). We’re still alive – nobody was hurt or raped.

Before that we visited a pub arranged in ‘Havana’ style, met our Dutch hosts – cute girls, funny guys… We’ll see how’s it gonna work

Now everybody’s having breakfast. And we’re gonna be late again.

And now something in Bulgarian:

Да сте живи и здрави!

H a N D!

First thing to do after the first lunch: go to the cinema!

So we checked-in at the hostel, went for a walk and then decided to go to the movies. There is a South-Eastern Europe Movie Festival at Utrecht – Eastern Neighbours.

We went to Louis Hartlooper Complex to watch some non-commercial Balkan movies. And we watched… Corridor #8. Yep, the first thing the organizers did when they understood we were Bulgarians was to invite us to a free movie. Then we met that to pretty albanian girls and the Serbian who’d ‘had two girls from Bulgaria – one from Sofia and one from Varna’. And we had two more free movies.

The first one was a bosnian motion picture imitating a reality show – the last days of an old man living with his old wife. ‘Mama i Tata – Reality Show‘ was a cute way to show what happens when old people live together without anyone to take care of them. All the real stuff, all the real situations, all the suspens, all the ads (in a comic way, of course).

The second movie was a romanian attempt to reflect the problems of a boy with poor parents and a black&white TV set. A lot of mud, lots of bad moods.

Here is how it looks to watch a bulgarian movie in a cinema theatre in the Netherlands:

Here we are at last

We succeeded to arrive alive to Uthecht. Neither the unconfident landing of the plane, nor the cold time at the Netherlands scared us. So here we are – Dutchmen form Bulgaria

The girls from the youth organization here are very cute and careful. But I can’t say the same about the way the ground handling workers were treating our luggage. We just caught one of them. Have a look:

Where are we… flying

Good morning. The Terminal 2 of Sofia Airport is full of smiling people. Feels just like all of them are going to a better blace. (A black sense of humour ) The group is already here so we’re just going to check-in.

Where are we going? Just take a look of the official information about the Netherlands and Utrecht.

About the Netherlands (From Europe.eu)

Member State of the EU Netherlands Year of EU entry: Founding member Political system: Constitutional monarchy Capital city: Amsterdam Total area: 41 864 km² Population: 16.3 million Currency: euro Listen to the EU official language:  Dutch

The Netherlands, as the name indicates, is low-lying territory, with one third of the country at or below sea level. Many areas are protected from flooding by dykes and sea walls. Much land has been reclaimed from the sea, the Flevoland polder being the most recent example. The Dutch Parliament (or Staten Generaal) consists of two chambers. The first with 75 members is indirectly elected and has limited powers. The second chamber, or lower house, is directly elected and controls the government. Members of both houses serve a four-year term. Given the balance among Dutch political parties, all governments are coalitions. Industrial activity is predominantly in food processing, chemicals, petroleum refining, electrical and electronic machinery. It has a dynamic agricultural sector. The port of Rotterdam is the busiest in Europe, serving a vast hinterland which stretches into Germany and central Europe. The Netherlands has a history of great painters. The 17th century was the age of the Dutch Masters, such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer and Jan Steen. The 19th and 20th centuries are no less remarkable for their high-calibre artists like Vincent van Gogh and Piet Mondriaan. Well-known Dutch specialities include raw herring, smoked eel and pea soup, not forgetting Dutch cheeses such as Edam or Gouda.

About Utrecht (From Utrecht.nl):

Utrecht is a sparkling city. 
You can attend a festival or event. Culture lovers find their way in museums, the City-theatre and Vredenburg. Going out in Utrecht is always sociable.

Utrecht is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands,
with a population over 0.25 million. Utrecht’s central location in the Netherlands makes it an attractive city to live in and a favourite enterprise location.

Utrecht has a rich history that goes back to the beginning of our calendar. The old inner-city, with its canals and cellars by the wharves, ancient churches, and of course the Dom tower, give the city a distinctive character.

Utrecht is a centre of learning. 
Utrecht profiles itself as a centre of talent and knowledge. The city is home to many highly educated people. Around 65,000 students are enrolled in higher education in Utrecht. Thanks to the many educational institutes in Utrecht, the population is young and highly-qualified. Utrecht has the highest educated labour force in the Netherlands.

Yep! It’s me again.

So, it would be in English this time. Just me in the Dutch jungle.

No battery – which means I’d have to use the Macbook as an iMac.

No camera – I lost it at Brussels, as you probably remember.

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