Zwarte schuur by Oek de Jong

I won't easily forget reading 'Cirkeltje in het gras' (Circle in the grass) by Oek de Jong the summer before secondary school. It must have been a random find in the bookshelves of a campsite or rented house that appealed to me. Oek de Jong has his own sensual style, not shying away from writing about sex, and it opened my eyes to a grown up world that was yet new to me.
The first week in secondary school, our first Dutch lesson: the teacher asks all of us to share the title of our favourite novel with the class. Most mention teenage novels and authors that must be very familiar to him. When it's my turn I bluntly state 'Cirkeltje in het gras', half-knowing that it will shock the teacher. It does.
I have set the bar for the rest of my six years at secondary school to read, re-read and write essays about everything that is new, different, Literature with a capital and without.

Facing quarantaine and no work to do from home other than home schooling, I kindly ask someone to bring around some books. What a surprise to find Zwarte Schuur (Black Barn) by Oek de Jong in the stack! It was first published in 2019, which escaped my attention completely. From page 1 I set off on a new adventure, almost holiday like feeling of reading such a well written, well composed novel. The sensuality and sex are less prominent, or maybe I am less new to it. The characters are so well wrought, and real, and something else is new to me this time: their age, and the stage of their relationship. The story is so vivid that I automatically start picturing myself in that fase of life and relationship of the protagonists who are in their 60's.

Let's hope Zwarte Schuur isn't Oek de Jong's last great novel. I definitely hope to be carried away one more time by his great storytelling. Be it during quarantaine or after.

Oek de Jong by Vrij Nederland 

Grand Hotel Europa by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer

Home

From the day that we landed, I have been working on creating a home for myself here. Perhaps even more true: re-creating my home. I have been scanning the neighborhood for familiar places: a shop for groceries, the gym, the library. I've been scanning the shelves in the supermarket for familiar brands, or if not there: familiar alphabet at least. (I prefer Dove over 巧克力) This all to the point that if I want my Shanghai life can be quite similar to my Amsterdam life. Café latte at Starbucks, pizza extra cheese at Papa John's, hot yoga at the gym, organic body lotion. It's all there.

What else is it that a home consists of? Greeting my neighbors in the elevator, joking with the watchman at the gate, a smile of recognition from my favorite noodle stand guy at lunch time. Those are all important. A girlfriend to discuss the little things of life, the gossip, the burden of motherhood, the different ways of swimming front stroke. A girlfriend who helps with the tackling of incomprehensible Chinese things, like visiting the hospital, changing my phone subscription. They make life easy and warm.

Some things are not so clear. How important is cheese? Is it worth 8 euro for a tiny little piece? Do I want to stick to my buttered brown bread (imported from Germany and New Zealand, you may guess the price) or do I settle for the trendy local bread, made brown with malt syrup and decorated with pork floss? Or rather still buy my lunch in the street for 55 cents?

What makes home home for me is a door to lock when you come home, the freedom to eat pancakes with chopsticks, or noodles with a fork. To come home from the store with something strange, and secretly try if it is meant to be a desert, a drink, a spread, a sauce, or if it doesn't taste good at all. That freedom and safety is what has made our apartment at 588 Tian Bao Lu a homely home so far.

The art of being a housewife, or: how Benjamin Franklin would have done it better

(4) "Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve."

At the age of 20, Benjamin Franklin made a list of 13 virtues that he would strive to stick to for the rest of his life. Just a few keywords about how he lived: ate vegetarian to save money to buy books, no beer, only water to work harder, swam everyday when fitness wasn't even invented yet. He lived up to one of his 13 virtues every week, wrote an evaluation on Sunday and went on to the next. Although he never claimed to be perfect, his holistic approach to self improvement definitely paid off as he became one of the greatest people of his time. Respect!

Benjamin's approach highly appealed to me when I first heard about it. It was during my first months at university, and because I hardly knew anyone there, this was my chance to start afresh and create a new and better identity. (or so I thought at that time)

These days I'm in a similar situation. A new city (Shanghai), a new house, a new occupation (housewife & mother), no friends and family around (yet). Again I have all these great plans about what I'll be doing with my time here. A short evaluation of my self-improvement so far:

• Lot's of sport. I downloaded some pilates routines, ab crunchers and 'get rid of that baby belly' instructions. I do them. Sometimes. Half an hour of sit ups leaves me with a stomach ache for two days. I've checked out the swimming pool, haven't gone inside. I guess carrying Nelson around hours on end does something... (+/-)
• Lot's of routine in breastfeeding. Well. It's better than before. But. Every time I feed him hours before I had planned to, I resolve that this is really the last time. Only to do it again an hour later when he starts sucking on my arm again. (+/-)
• A clean house. Very effective. Only that it's Godert who does most of it before work when I go back to sleep again. A housewife that doesn't clean, feels wrong. (-)
• Meet inspiring people. Working on it. I am meeting up with some people from the KaosPilots network, my Ashoka network has proved helpful here as well. And what about all the Chinese Nelson admirers that I meet by the dozens every day? I'm sure they're nice people only that (+)
• Learning Chinese has fallen off the list. Even answering the most common question: boy or girl? Is out of my reach. We're meeting our teacher tomorrow for the first time. He might have some old Chinese didactic methods that help me out here. (thinking ruler, donkey ears...) (-)
• Read and Write lots. Yes! (+)
• Less computer, more fresh air. This is not the place to discuss air quality in Shanghai, but we have a lovely garden downstairs and I found the perfect spot between bamboo bushes, rhododendrons and other greens where Nelson can sleep in the shade, I can tan my legs and we're a little hidden from the admirers. Going there as we're speaking. (+)

By Inga Auðbjörg - my mascot

Not sure if Mr Franklin did long-term evaluations as well. Definitely my first attempt ten years ago failed awfully. Thinking of virtue number 4 about resolving, perhaps I forgot to take that one serious back then. I'll keep you posted on my progress this time. And as I'm not planning to be one of the greatest people of my time, but only aiming to have a great time, it might just be enough...

Summer love

Social? Social!

Monday 7 pm, Utrechtsestraat.

Three men in expensive suits walk down the street in search for a good restaurant. They are discussing their company's social endeavors and are in high spirits: this is what they really like to spend their time on. A beggar dominates the first street corner: cold, homeless, need 70 cents. Pockets are willingly emptied and coins change owners. A woman on crutches has defined her territory on the second street corner: magazine, foundation, drugs. Empty pockets are a lame excuse, aren't the men waring suits? Her time is expensive, what are they still standing there? When the men make their way further down she yells: at least we are working for a good cause! The third street corner comes into view, with yet another bum ruling there. After surviving another argument the three men settle for Thai and choose their starter and wine: the appropriate foundation for corporate social talk.

Marketing - Hans Erdman

Just before christmas we had a week of working for one of our flightfacilitators, Hans Erdman, an architect. It was in the module of marketing but we got a carte blanche to work on what we liked. He introduced us to the topic of bypass marketing, using humor, intelligence and simplicity to reach your goals without bureaucracy, budgets and the like that complicate the matter.
Our idea was to develop a vision for KaosPilots within the future plans of Rotterdam, mainly its plans for the harbour.

We start of with a million plans before we decide to follow the strategy that we were taught by Kaspar Arenthoft: different types of brainstorming. We come to two plans: one for the school building itself, with all our wishes for it, and one for the environment, the companies that we want to work with, and the positive vibe that will radiate from the school into society.

While other groups around us have a hard time delivering to their clients we enjoy our total freedom and spent many late hours at the school drawing buildings, reading vision plans for the city of Rotterdam and thinking the idea of bypass marketing through to a concrete concept.

Halfway the week we visit Hans in Amsterdam at his workplace to get inspired by his enthousiasm, all the books and drawings around him and his passion for boats. Our basic idea for the school building is a combination of boat - plane - lighthouse and Hans urges us to make it into something more abstract, with just hints of the original idea. We take a walk to his neighbour the shipbuilder and admire the energy neutral sailships that they develop for Greenpeace and others.