Sao Lao

I celebrated my first Thanksgiving with my boyfriend Johan at Zeezout (Sea Salt) Restaurant in Rotterdam. It is a Dutch Restaurant, specialized in seafood dishes. I explained to my boyfriend the reason why we celebrate Thanksgiving in the US.

Well, I didn’t get to eat turkey for Thanksgiving meal but I sure got to eat my favorite dishes.

Starter was Pumpkin Soup with Dutch shrimps.

Of course I could never say no to oysters.

Main course for me was Fruits de Mer.

I can’t wait to eat a big fat turkey next year.

Rotterdam is one of the world’s largest ports, located on the Nieuwe Maas, 30km or 19 miles from the North Sea. The city was almost completely destroyed during the Second World War. Rotterdam has been entirely rebuilt and has a great deal of important modern architecture.

The Erasmus Bridge (Erasmusbrug) was completed in 1996. It links the old and and new center of Rotterdam. The bridge also has a nickname of the Swan bridge and that’s how I tend to refer to it.

It’s quite a view at night time. You be the judge. I took these photos on August 25, 2006 at 21:13 hour. It’s not quite dark yet.

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Here are some vids from the circus as promised. The first three clips are balancing acts. It looks like a fun job to have. I would try doing this but I need a safety net first.

Jumping robe act.

Blindfold act.

More vids to come.

About three weekends ago a Russian Circus Company came to town. I have only seen a few circus acts at the county or state fair in Kansas and Missouri. I was curious to see what the fuss is all about. The price for general seating was 23 Euros. It was a bit expensive I thought. After some debating I decided the experience of seeing a Russian Circus performance for the first time was worth the cost. I took some photos but most of them didn’t turn out well since I was not allowed to use flash.

The kids love the horses, the cat lady, and of course the clowns.

I will post a video clip or two of the performance in the near future.

I was generous enough to my boyfriend and shared the flu virus with him. I did tell him to stay away from me but he said my germs are weak (hahaha). The poor man didn’t go to work for three days last week because he was at the high point of the sickness. The doctor did his best to help Johan to get more air in his system and gave him prescribed nasal spray. It must be really strong since I can’t buy that kind over the counter. Perhaps I should have gone and see the doctor too. Let’s hope Johan doesn’t give me back the flu virus again.

On a lighter note, I started to feel 75% better yesterday. As of today I can reach 80% by the end of the day. When I am 100% back I will start to do my daily stretch again and some light work out. I tried to do the ususal stretch and exercise on Friday but had to slow down a bit because I felt so weak. It’s a bit frustrating even doing something simple as washing dishes or cooking could make me so tired.

Why can’t we (human beings) be more resistance to simple germs. Wait germs are more complex and tougher than we are. Even when all of us are gone, they will still create more colonies and rule the universe.

When I get sick, I tend to think more and the more I think, the more headache I get. I feel glad though that I don’t have any children. When you have kids, being sick doesn’t give you an excuse from parental duties. When you are just a student or a typical worker, you can take a sick day.

I am ready for school tomorrow. I have a presentation to give and hope to be able to talk without coughing. Just two more weeks and it will be Finals time and then a few weeks of vacation (whoohooo). Thanksgiving is next Thursday. I will be here and will make the best of it.

What a frightening day I’ve had yesterday. Imagine how would react if your computer or laptop just stopped working. You are just sitting there doing your things and all of a sudden you get a black screen, as if someone has just pulled a plug from you. Your first instinct is to reboot and select the last known good configurations from the blue screen. Then you are back to your old settings and checking your email, then all of sudden, the screen went black again!

You started to reboot and reboot to the point where you stop counting how many times you have hit the power button but never get Windows XP to come up again. It would start to load and then went pitch black. Now you start to panic and wondering what the heck is going on. Then you realized all of your programs, all of your emails, all of the pictures and music files are gone. What would you do?

Well, lucky for me this is not the first time I’ve experienced the blue screen. The black screen is the first for me. I am not paranoid or anything but why is that when I have a blue screen or in this case a black screen, it is right after Windows Automatic Update has been installed on my laptop?

The last time I’ve had this problem was a few months ago so I was smart enough to back up all the essential files. The only regret that I have is not having my emails and pictures and video clips I’ve made since I came back from the US more than a month ago. I even made a plan to back up the pictures this weekend.

There I was starting to feel sorry for myself if not cranky. I’ve been sick for two weeks, coughing and grasping for air, and couldn’t hear much in my left ear. My head felt like it was going to explode. To add more discomfort, it is that time of the month and the cramp is back with a vengence.

Did I give up? Nope. Even though my dear boyfriend told me it was hopeless and I should just let it go. There is nothing he could do to help me unless I want to spend some money trying to recover the data. The Dell laptop that I have is a little over three years old. The three years on site service expired in August of this year.

I thought about the bright side of things. I got a hand down computer so I didn’t have to quit cold turkey with surfing the net. What a perfect timing I thought to have my laptop die all of a sudden (on the day I have a new computer). I said my prayer before dinner and thank the good Lord for everything that I have in life and asked for my laptop to just start once and go to the blue screen so I can select safe mode. I knew it was a selfish thing to ask. Well, guess what? The third time I pushed to power button, I didn’t get a blue screen but a black screen with white fonts with all the errors message. Where did the blue color go? I have no idea but was happy to see the setting selections. I selected “safe mode” and turn on the external hard drive and began to copy and paste folders. Then I started to eat my salmon salad for dinner and watched the news.

I woke up this morning with more energy and ready to finish moving the rest of the files and exporting the email client to my new computer. As soon as I started the computer I saw a notice to install the lastest Windows update. I was asking myself whether or not I should go ahead and install the updates and restart the computer. What if I get a blue screen? Well, guess what? I decided to take the chance and hope for the best.

Did I get a blue screen? You bet ya! I selected the last good known configurations and here I am typing away. Let’s hope this computer doesn’t give me a black screen in a few minutes or later, just like the laptop. Have a good day all.

It has been almost a year since my last major hair cut. I decided to get a really short cut, shorter than even two years ago. Today, I went to Cosmo again for the second time for the full work. I like this salon more than the other one that I also go to. At Cosmo, I can get a hair wash with a head massage and a cut for a reasonable price. It’s going to be a shock waking up tomorrow morning and having to wash my hair. The last time I can recall having hair style this short was when I was in the elementary school in Laos (first grade).

The first major hair cut I’ve had in the Netherlands was in August of 2003. My hair was so long (way past my behind) and I didn’t like having to sit on my hair all the time. I forgot to take the before picture but here is the after photo. I have had my hair cut at this lenght before so it was not a big deal for me.

Photo taken on August 24, 2003.

My hair grew quite fast. I decided to get a big chunk chop off a few days before Chef Vienne’s visit to the Netherlands around Christmas of 2004.

Before photo taken on December 18, 2004.

DJ’s hair cut in 2004

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I’ve been battling this cold/flu for a week now. It’s so like me to get sick not even a month after I came back. I made a list of things to blame myself, just to feel more miserable and think of the ways that I could have taken better care of myself. Then yesterday as I was sitting in the train (on the way to school) and feeling guilty for letting out a cough or two, I noticed the others around me were coughing as well. Later at school, I ran into a girl in the bathroom and we looked at each other because both of us got red spots right below our noses (from blowing our nose too much). After spotting more girls with the same red spot and red faces, at the cafeteria and the computer lab, I realized there is a cold or a flu (out break) going around the country.

How can I escape the flu season and not be another stat? Hmm…that is a good question. I can eat well and exercise and hope for the best. In the meantime I will be sleeping with another onion tonight. Yes, you got that right. I was told of a good remedy for a cold or a flu. You cut up a big fat onion in half pieces. Put one piece one one side of the bed (one a small plate) and the other one on the other side of the bed. Then go to sleep as normal and hope for the magic onion to do its trick.

I started to use the remedy on Saturday night because it was the worst night of the week. I was grasping for air and coughing like crazy. On Sunday I could breath a bit easier. Then by yesterday I woke up feeling more clear and today even much better. I don’t have any cold medicine to take. Going to the doctor here will only get me Paracetamol and an advice to go back in 14 days if I don’t feel better.

Tomorrow I have a date with my dentist. Let’s hope I don’t have a cavity. Time for another pot of green tea.

Another birthday has passed and I am a year older and hopefully wiser. This is the best year of my life so far. While I have less money (no savings) and more student loans piling up each month, I am truly happy. I have grown so much as a person (physically with more weight, lol) emotionally and spiritually. Two years ago I wouldn’t even touch Sushi or any type of fish that is not the ones I am used to eating as a kid. Now I have expanded my taste of food and even eating cheese, which is something I used to dislike, even smell of cheese made me sick a few years ago.

The best birthday gift of all is my Papa. He came into my life as a gift from heaven. I now have a father who is so much like me or I am more like him. I asked him a few days ago about a picture I found last year of a little todler. I thought it could be me because of those piercing eyes. But I also thought it could be a photo of my mother since I found of set of pictures with her and her siblings.

I sent Papa the photo and he confirmed that little todler is me with clothes he bought for me. He said the picture was taken not long after I had started to walk. Here is me ready to take on the world.

Little D taking taking her first few steps.

Who would ever thought that someday that little girl will be in Luxembourg as a tourist. That is a long way from Laos. Here is me a couple of weeks before my birthday in 2003.

Another birthday away from home in the Netherlands in 2004.

Celebrating a year older in Rotterdam 2005.

Finally in 2006, I was able to celebrate my birthday with my family. Here is me a year older and with more body fat, LOL.

Until the next birthday my faithful readers. Hugz.

The first time I ate at Delta Hotel Restaurant in Vlaardingen was on Thanksgiving of last year. I thought it would be a good idea to introduce some of my friends to Thanksgiving meal. While I was not able to go home and celebrate the festivity with my family, I can still make the best of it. I do miss the annual Thanksgiving meal with the big turkey, the football games, and setting up the Christmas tree a day or two after.

I didn’t take any photo the first time I was at Delta Hotel Restaurant. However, the second and third time I went there, I made sure to take plenty of pictures. I don’t know where I will be dining this Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for and will not forget this special holiday, no matter how commercialized it has become.

I like to try new things so I went with the “Nautique” menu.

Starting out with bread.

Salad with bake fish.

Fish soup.

Steak with terriyaki sauce.

Icecream with peach pie to finish the meal.

Here is what Delta Hotel looks like from a distance.

A view of the restaurant. You can catch water taxi to Rotterdam just a few steps outside the restaurant.