Rather than our own heartlands, our hearts always yearn for exotic new lands.
So we venture far and away in search of beauty, but sometimes it’s right outside the house.
Stop and smell the tulips.
As & while we wait (and wait and wait), the scenery at the windows strives to fill the empty craving.
Welcome to the warmest part of Europe this spring, and sunniest in history. We bask, we crave and we wait…
For the first time in the Netherlands, the largest collection of works by the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch (pronounced like ‘munk’), best known for his vivid expressionist doom & gloom pieces such as The Scream, Madonna and the Sick Child, was exhibited in the Kunsthal in Rotterdam. In typical student’s law, we procrastinated until the very last day of the months-long exhibition to visit it. And we were not the only ones… the queue for tickets stretched almost to the street. 
The popular masterpieces did not make its way here though, as for example The Scream now recovered after being stolen from Oslo, never leaves the city again. But Munch has a tendency to paint several versions of some works, so there were a few variations on display. The room was quite haphazard with the crowds, while we were far from being the tallest in the shed. The other storeys of the gallery with modern installations including art’s current best thing Tracey Emin, and a showcase of Dutch artist Wim Oepts with his colorful pastels of Provence, gave a bit more breathing and knuckles-on-the jaw pondering / posing space.
All art’ed out at the end of the afternoon, we found seats in the now in turn bustling café for proper stuffs to munch on. While waiting, I somehow felt the sense of being on a holiday in another country, since those are the common occasions where art galleries and museums are frequented. A sense of holiday 20 minutes away – not bad. Or maybe I just need a proper one. But not now, we’re excitedly and anxiously awaiting a new arrival in spring! Travels will commence in the summer with an enlarged entourage… 
Ho-ho-ho, or ha-ha-ha in our case. Shrimp or prawn in Cantonese is pronounced “ha”, also signifying the sound of laughter. We had a few mighty big ones last night, grilled and savored at home to usher in the brand new year.
Here’s wishing you a whole year full of hearty laughs ahead!
Sinterklaas is over and Christmas is in the air. Time for relaxation, reflections and renewed resolutions; while snow is falling and piling up like never before in decades. Time also for a short trip over the border to the land of weihnachtsmarkt, currywurst, gluehwein, schweinshaxe and bier, bier, bier – this time in the city of Beethoven: Bonn! Safe travels and joyous seasons tidings to all!
When more than twelve hours of each weekday are spent away from home and each other, leaving and coming back in the dark especially during these winter months, there is much greater need to make the most out of our weekends. 
So what constitutes a perfect weekend and how should it be savoured? How do we make sure we indeed make the most out of it, without taking more out of us? There’s no one answer as it’s probably different from one person to another. The basics of ours are simple: a long snooze before getting out of the cocoon of our bed; banana pancakes and Vietnamese filtered coffee on Saturday morning, some internet-facilitated socializing to get tuned back to the worlds we care about (think Skype, Facebook, blogs, email, news, etc.) – we would love physical human interaction but it’s the best we can get here when the people we miss are either across the Channel or 6,000 miles away; giving in to materialism and splurging on some shopping, a dinner out on one night and on the other, a homely & hearty one in; catching a movie or two; visiting the English pub we like for a pint of Guinness (but this is suspended at the moment due to great expectations), some cakes now and then, and that’s about it. Two days go by rather quickly when it’s spent this way, ‘chillaxing’ the way we like and have gotten accustomed to. Then the blues hit on Sunday evening and the week to come rears its ugly Monday head again. (Read on …)
