Hank is FAMOUS!

I caught up with Kelly today (we were making a plan to ship the rest of my stuff over from Cape Town to Amsterdam). Don't worry guys, no drama this side. Heh.

But the more exciting news is: HANK IS FAMOUS IN SOUTH AFRICA!!!

Basically - a whacky, quirky budget airline in S.Africa got into trouble with F I F A for running ads with the headline "Unofficial National Carrier of the You-Know-What". Essentially, if you're not an offical WC sponsor, you can't say those 2 words or allude to it.

F I F A now wants to sue them, and they ran another ad apologizing and offering free flights for life to F I F A president, Sepp Blatter.

There was no response from them.

So... guess what? Hank "changed his name" to Sepp Blatter and claimed the free flights.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

You can read the article here. And a blog post here.

A PR stunt, no less, but "Sepp the dog" is now allegedly more famous than the official WC mascot. The airline has been flying him all over S.Africa, snapping pix of him at all the various games and stadiums. He's like the travelling gnome in the movie, Amelie. HAHAHA!


Seriously, this little puppy has his own seat on all flights, a Facebook page, his own Twitter account... and check out these DARLING photos of him all over S.Africa!







You can check out more of his Facebook photos here.

It is TOO FUNNY! He is soooooooo gorgeous, it was bound to happen... (and especially when you know too many people in advertising. Ha.)

And now I can say: You saw him here first, before his pre-diva Lights! Camera! Action! days.

Hup, Holland Hup!

Holland beat BRAZIL in the quarter-finals?!????

As you can imagine, all the Dutch were ecstatic! Our office has been playing the World Cup on the telly in our kitchen every single day a game is on. And because it's such an international company (something like 100 out of 120 people working here are foreigners)... every single country playing in the game is practically represented by someone in the office (except N.Korea of course).

The big quarter-final game of Netherlands vs. Brazil was on today and the kitchen was awash in orange. Sorry, that should be "oranje".



We beat Brazil?! (Yes, I am honorary Dutch now).

The party vibe continued after the match (Oranje Fest! aka Orange Party. I think), with people planning to go to various pubs and bars. A workmate and I were one of the last to leave the office, with no clue which party to head to. As we stepped out the front door, we saw some familiar faces on a boat passing by the canal in front of our office. We practically screamed down the whole canal "STOP THE BOAT!!!!" (kinda like how people wolf-whistle taxis down in NYC in the movies. HAHAHA.)

There were probably 15 people on the boat, they stopped off for us and we hopped on.

VIRGIN BOAT RIDE DOWN THE AMSTERDAM CANALS!
(Sorry, the touristy "canal bus" boat ride I took doesn't count. This was a real, proper Amsterdam boat.)

It was freaking AWESOME!! Completely spur-of-the-moment, good vibes and meeting new people. There were some familiar faces from work, some new faces, and some people visiting Amsterdam on holiday.



It is simply GLORIOUS here in the summer. The whole city comes alive, and the best place to be is *really* on a boat.

The workmate who owns this boat did a great job of steering. We went through a NO ENTRY zone because of construction, but somehow managed to squeeze through. With teamwork and lots of ducking, we managed to raise the bar that was blocking the entrance through the cordoned off area. (Look how close the edges of our boat was!)


We made it down the Amstel river.


(Check out the lone canoeist!)

We passed by LOADS of other boats along the way. Every single one of them was also party zone, with people dressed in the national orange colour. We waved and shouted at them and they waved and shouted back.


We even passed a boat of Brazilians who daringly put their country flag in front of their boat. Of course there was lots of fronting between boats, with the Brazilian contingent bowing and kow-towing to us!



Did I forget to mention we had a sound system on our boat? Yeah, we were the noise pollutants of the canal today! This little baby pumps out big phat beats!



We passed by people who put out tables and chairs, enjoying the beautiful day. They waved and shouted at us, we waved and shouted back at them. (Yeah, someone on our boat had a loudhailer).



Every time we passed under a bridge, where sound echoes underneath, the boys of course had to start howling and creating a ruckus that echoed back.


We passed by lots of nice boats berthed along the canals too.


And our editor pointed out his new purchase of a little boat berthed next to the grey tank in the above picture. I didn't get a good shot. Haha.


It seemed like everyone who had a boat was out on the canals today.


Jiving on the boat.


We stopped off to pick up supplies and gas. Here are more shots of what the boat looks like.


And check it out. This boat even had a Weber barbeque on board!! Hamburgers for all! (and veggie sausages for me)


We spotted other party people diving into the canal and splashing around. HOW FRICKING GROSS?! The Americans on board were really grossed out and kept saying how filthy this water is. Even though they flush through fresh sea water 3 times a week from the North Sea through a series of locks/ dams, someone kept saying they read somewhere that if you fell into an Amsterdam canal, you need to go to the ER immediately for a tetanus shot. HAHAHA. (I dunno how true this is. And from observation, the Americans tend to be more germ-phobic. Just an observation!)


See those 2 guys on top of the bridge? They were dive-bombing into the canal from way up there. This is the Brouwersgracht - an extremely busy canal, with LOTS of boats passing through. Imagine the filthy petrol-filled water...? It looked like good fun though, and provided us with entertainment coz they kept doing it over and over again.


Barbequed hamburgers on board!


And with any good party, there had to be a speech. This guy made sure EVERYONE on the canal could hear his Thank You speech for the hosts and owners of the boat.


Today was a very good day. :)

Checking In With Joyful Surrender

Guys, it's the frickin' 1st of July?!

Since the second half of 2010 has officially begun, it's kinda nice to take stock of the year so far and see what I've been up to.

Umm... Quite a bit, I suppose! ...I don't believe in new year resolutions, but it did seem fitting at the start of this year to at least set an intention for mine, given the big unknown that would turn out to be 2010.

My New Year intention was: Joyful Surrender.

It has seen me through leaving Sydney and my beautiful teacher, shuttling between Singapore and Cape Town, settling into life in Amsterdam, through hotels and corporate apartments and yet more corporate apartments (aka Beige Heaven)... then having to turn back to Singapore again for visa issues. Let's not even talk about work stress for the most intense shoot of my life (now going through 3 months of post-production)... and then of course, my relationship meltdown.



All that in SIX MONTHS?!?

Time and again, Joyful Surrender has turned out to be a good reminder and point of focus whenever things got out of whack. And boy... did they get out of whack!

As it turns out, this New Year intention has been very, very apt. It's helped me stay grounded and just surrender to what the Universe has brought my way. And JOYFULLY too. Giving up and releasing old energy makes room for new energy, and this intention of Joyful Surrender has constantly reminded me of this.

And funny how things turn out when you just let go and roll with the punches life brings your way.

My gig here in Amsterdam was originally meant to be a 6-month freelance stint. As it turns out, the company has offered me a full-time position coz things have been working out well. I am in love with this city. I am loving the work I'm doing (freaking hard work as it is). I am also loving the quality people I work with and the calibre of work produced here. So... FULL-TIME JOB HERE?!?

HELL YEEEEEEAHHHHHHHH!!!

It was quiet on the blog the past couple weeks coz I was mulling over my options and living in my head a bit. I wasn't quite ready to write about it yet. Coz the catch with the job offer is: They need me to stay on from August after my freelance contract ends. This means: NO GOING TO MYSORE FOR TWO MONTHS THIS YEAR.

Bummer.

I was severely in a funk over this. But you know what? Joyful Surrender reminded me that well... Maybe now's not the right time to go to Mysore. Mysore will always be there. And at this point, I've got the chance of a lifetime at my dream job. I had to seriously practice non-attachment to my planned trip to India. (I'm now looking into Purple Valley retreats instead. HAHAHA!)

And things have just been falling into place since. I signed on for the job at the start of this week and started looking into apartments to move into after Beige Heaven's lease is up in August. (Sorry Beige Heaven, I can't live with you for more than 6 months!) I fell in love with the second apartment I saw this week, made an offer that was accepted and I've now got the rental contract in my hand. Wow. When things move easily, I'm convinced the Universe is telling me I'm on the right path.

The clincher was when I sneaked off at lunch break to get a much needed pedicure today, and the lovely Thai lady (whom I go to for both massages and pedicures, hehe) said to me "You are glowing today. Much happier than the last few times I've seen you." :) :) :)

I hadn't realized. Guess sometimes it takes someone else to bring about that awareness. And I'm ever so grateful for everything I've got in life.

So... At my half-year stock-take, I'm really looking forward to the new things coming my way. Letting go of stuff really just clears the pathway for new stuff. And I'm really excited to finally settle into a space that's "mine" (at least on a one-year lease!) ...Riding around town on my new bike, practising at the new shala from next week. What's next?

2010 has been most interesting so far. But wait, we're only halfway there?

Bring it on, Baby.