Gldani Prison Absue

3:30 PM - 21 Sept 2012:

Bacho Akhalaia resigned yesterday as Minister of Interior. Today his arrest is planned in Saburtalo. However, according to student organization Iverielebi, Akhalaia has left the country. They are protesting in Saburtalo holding signs: Wanted Bacho. At the same time new minister of the Penitentiary System and former Ombudsman Giorgi Tugushi has visited Gldani prison with several local press. Footage from TV9 (opposition channel) shows inmates in Gldani prison shutting and opening windows to show their discontent. Some inmates are filmed shouting 'Bidzina Gaumarjos', which translate to 'Bless Bidzina'.


2:30 PM - 20 Sept 2012:

Minister of Interior Bacho Akhalaia resigns. The former Minister of the Penitentiary System when deadly riots took place in 2007, was now as Minister of Interior responsible for the atrocities recorded recently in the prison system. Student protests, the other protest, and a group of Civil Society organizations had called for, among, his resignation. This close ally of Saakashvili seemed to have been under the presidents protection, but the ruling party has realized these steps needed to be taken to not loose complete credibility.

Sandra

“Hollandia? Ah, Sandra, Sandra!” het is 42 graden, de zon staat hoog aan de hemel en de lokale markt bazroba voelt verlaten. Terwijl ik in mijn gebroken Georgisch een halve kilo mandarijnen bestel, wordt in een rap tempo het nieuws verspreidt: er is een Nederlandse bij Mari’s kraampje, en ze kan zelfs een beetje Georgisch! 

Elke Nederlander die in Georgië komt moet het wel mee gemaakt hebben: “Sandra, Sandra!”. Sinds Mikheil Saakashvili aan de macht is gekomen na de rozen revolutie in 2004, heb je als Nederlander een speciaal plekje in de Georgische samenleving. Sandra Roelofs, de vrouw van ‘Misha’ is wel bekend en zeer geliefd onder de Georgische bevolking. Hoewel de populariteit van Misha niet altijd op hetzelfde peil is, Sandra blijft altijd even populair. 

Vandaar de naam van deze blog: ‘Het Zusje van Sandra’. Er is geen andere manier hoe ik in vier woorden beter kan beschrijven hoe het is om als Nederlander in Georgië te verblijven. Hoewel Misha’s tweede termijn ten einde komt, het is zeer waarschijnlijk dat elke Nederlander nog steeds gelinkt zal worden aan Sandra.

De afgelopen vijf jaren heb ik mijn tijd verdeeld in Georgië, Oekraïne, Zweden en de Verenigde Staten. Ik heb me in mijn professionele en academische carrière gericht op de Kaukasus. Op deze blog zal je mijn Kaukasische verhalen terug kunnen lezen. Ik hoop dat ik ‘onze’ Sandra niet teleurstel. 

снег | snow | თოვლი | sneeuw | schnee | neige | сніг

The title of this posts gives away the content, namely: snow. Yes ladies and gentlemen, it has been snowing in Ukraine since mid-November, and now, mid-March, it still hasn't stopped.

In the beginning snow is nice, snow is very beautiful and it makes you feel all christmassy inside. After one month (or perhaps earlier) the downsides of snow begin to irritate you: the slipping and falling, the cold, the wet feet, your shoes beginning to fall apart, the constantly necessity of a hat and a scarf. All making you stay inside more and more, canceling dates with friends because the ten minute walk to the metro has gone up to a twenty minute walk.

However, yesterday I made a life-changing decision:

I made peace with the snow.



It is very easy, you just decide there is snow, it will be there, and you can better enjoy it than have it ruining your good mood.

And strangely enough: it has worked ;).

Back in Ukraine!

So I just came back to Ukraine from a three week leave in the Netherlands, and honestly, I started to miss Kiev and the Ukrainian culture. The melancholic Slavic atmosphere has something addictive to it, and being back here for less than one day, is already making me realize how much I like it here (that has something to do with my favorite cafe and with the fact people speak Russian here, and I can understand it! The latter sure feels like a new accomplishment, I guess having my mind at rest does benefit my language skills).
For now, I am waiting for a train to go to Donetsk, tomorrow presidential elections are being held, and I will go to Yanukovich' former city, in Eastern Ukraine, which was hit hard by the fall of the Soviet Union and the more recent economic crisis. I am really excited, because it will be my first time in Eastern Ukraine. I will stay with a friend, and I will visit an observation mission; more on this all you will be able to read on http://evolutsia.net on Monday!

I <3 Odessa

Gently snowflakes are falling down on Odessa's boulevards. When I walked out of the train this morning I already felt the incredible atmosphere this city has, however, I did not know how amazingly beautiful Odessa is. The streets, with enormous maple trees on each side, beautiful colorful houses, romantic balconies, make you fall in love instantly. Imagine butterflies in your stomach, a constant smile, and overly excited with every new treasure you find: that is how I feel about Odessa, and I only have been here for a couple of hours so far.
The best way to describe the town is by comparing it to Tbilisi and Batumi: it has the laid-back atmosphere of a seashore town like Batumi, and the architecture of Tbilisi. However, the city plan is incredible simple: you can not get lost. Normally, I am not so font of straight streets and square block city planning, but in this case, the houses are not so tall, and have a lot of decorations and colors, which instantly takes away the abstract 'well-thought-of-straight-roads'. The trees give the town an extra touch, and especially because they must be extremely old, since they are literally enormous.
Another great aspect of Odessa are its sweet little cafes, innovative bars an (I presume) nightclubs, though the latter I haven;t had the pleasure of enjoying yet.
I must admit, I do not think I will like it so much in high season, since I am a person who doesn't like masses of people and overly touristic places (which Odessa is in summer, as I have heard), however, it does not take away the beauty and the atmosphere outside the season. I already decided: I am going to do this more often, just go to Odessa. I will take the saturdaynight train after my saturday class, walk around all sunday, and go back sunday night arriving monday morning in time for my russian course again. Really, this town boosts me with positive energy.

Ukrainian doctors might be the most stupid in the world

My hart was pounding and I tried not to cry in the middle of the street; trying to get a taxi, but they were ripping me off, so I decided to walk 20 minutes to the nearest metro. While being on the metro I had to take some tissues, and it might have been the most depressing metro-ride I have have taking. I just had left the poli-clinic where they had done an extra x-ray, after they found a suspicious spot on the roentgen from friday. And there it was again: a strange square spot, but it had move a bit.... They couldn;t tell me what it was, and I needed to make another appointment, but they told me, it could as well be a tumor. I already saw myself flying back to holland.

(as you can see in the picture, there is a square object on a rib on my left chest)

I needed to get back to the clinic later in the afternoon, so I decided to go home and make some phone-calls, asking my parents to call my doctor for some help, calling my health insurance, if I needed to be operated etc. My parents assured me they would arrange everything, and while doing so, I just randomly googled: 'x-ray chest object", and got all these images shown of people swalloing coins etc, but also an explanation on how to prepare before going into an x-ray:

Before the test begins, you will be asked to remove your clothing--usually just from the waist up--and put on a hospital gown. You also will be asked to remove all jewelry and any other objects containing metal (such as eyeglasses and hair pins). This is done because metal can block the image and interfere with the test results.

And when I read 'hairpin'..... I mean, you guys all know how I wear my hear,



and the stupid doctor forget THREE times to ask me to get my hairpin out, nor did all the doctors I have spoken so far did not think it was MY HAIRPIN which is the square object.... sigh. So luckily I don't have any strange object in my body ;)

Kiev, here I am

So I finally arrived in Kiev! Well, this wont be a long post, since I am tired, but most of all just very lazy today. So I arrived a couple of days ago in Kiev and I'll write down some of my first impressions etc.

I am studying russian and ukranian language at kiev economic state university for two semesters and I'll live for one year in a dorm. I was a bit afraid what to expect for 450 euro's rent for one year, but to be honest, the place is great! It's modern, new, clean and most of all, has a nice atmosphere.

Further, my classmates rock! They are all guys (that's a bit unfortunate, though positvely, due to ukranian bureaucracy, I am not allowed to live with a guy - can get that - or a ukranian in my room (?) - which means I have the 2 beds' room for myself for now :) ); my fellow students are from various countries: a chinese with american citizenship since he lived in Atlanta (georgia) for 8 years and studied politcal science undergrate, who still has a very much chinese accent, but is very sweet and looks very american :); a flamish (belgium) from Leuven, young guy, who just graduated in engeneering; a swedish lad, doing bachelors long-distance in programming, in love with the balkans (he knows serbian, I mean, he really does, he studied it in sweden, not kidding); an english economic, graduated in january, who got bored with working, and decided to come here and study russian; a turkish boy, just turned 22, wanting to work in ukraine in the tourist industry, like he did in anatalya, his hometown (he speaks good russian already); a strange indian guy with a ukrainian girlfriend who already lived here one year and is the only one not living in the dorm (he has to travel every day 1 hour to get at uni, while we all live at 1 minute from it); and that's about it: a funny combination, but all very good people i think.

So the dorm is literally ONE minute from our classroom at university, and that's the closest I have ever lived next to work/studies in my entire live. So far, I really enjoy roling out of my bed, into the classes :).

The lessons are really nice btw, our teacher Jelena is a darling and very patient, she also has one philosophy: you are not babies, you study because you want to, I can not force you, it's your responsibility; which makes me really want to work hard and study a lot (I mean, it IS my responsibility, and she is totally right, I want to study, so I should work).

And then Kiev: well, as far as I have been able to walk around the city centre a bit: it is absolutely GORGEOUS! Old trees, while we are entering fall, imaging the colors; old architecture, balconies (it is like Tbilisi, but than think of Tbilisi as a provincial city and Kiev as a World capital).

I hope to see more of Kiev soon, this weekend I'll have time; and I def hope to get some Ukrainian friends. That sure is my next goal, after getting my medical clearance (ukrainian bureaucracy....)

How Georgia wants me to stay

When I opened my eyes and realized it should not be so light outside at 6.30 am I think I got a heart-attack. I ran to my phone, discovered it was 9.20 am, shouted multiple times ‘Fuck’, tried to wake up my friend who was supposed to bring me to the airport (which didn’t work all so well, as it seemed he was in a coma), got dressed faster than the guinnes book of records has ever encountered, stuffed the last things in my bag, and discovered from my friend that the check-in already had closed.
However, missing my flight and therefore postponing it with one day wasn’t the only sign of proof Georgia was not going to let me go. Sitting at the airport now, so at least I made it till the boarding part (free wifi at the airport ROCKS btw).
I was supposed to fly on the 18th, and had a place reserved on the plane. According to the lady from my travel agency I could come in any day to pay for it, and so I did, a couple of days later. Unfortunately, due to miscommunication, or the lady of the travel agency being stupid (the latter I do belief is somehow true, but that had more to do with the fact my last name is spelled wrongly on the ticket; how is it possible to write a four letter name wrong, Snip isn’t that difficult, but somehow, she came up with Spn.... oh, and not to forget my ticket says Mr Spn.... not even Mrs Spn), anyway, she laughed at me and told me my reservation was gone, since ‘everybody’ knows, you have to pay for it 4 days ahead max. When I told her, she did not inform me about it, she looked at me and said: ‘But it’s logical!’. Very logical indeed.
Nevertheless, I decided to swallow it and change the flight to another date, a more expensive one. First she told me the ticket would be only 20 Lari more if I would go on the 21st. I thought that was an oke price. I had to wait for some sort of confirmation while being at the agency’s office. And I waited, for 40 minutes, I waited for 40 minutes for her to tell me she was wrong and the ticket would be 80 Lari more. You can understand my frustration, so I asked her if she could check the price of the 20th; she did, at least I thought that she did so, however, after another ten minutes, she returned to me and said with a big happy smile she booked my ticket. Of course I told her that I needed to know the price before agreeing upon booking, and she said: ‘80 Lari more’, with again, a face: but-that-is-logical. I told her that normally when I book a ticket (which I always do online, now I realize again why), the price is different per day, and that is why I wanted to check, and I preferred the flight on monday. She stressed out, told me it didn’t work like that in Georgia (like Georgia is on another planet, right), and that she already booked it. I swallowed it, again, and left her office one and a half hour later, with a more expensive ticket on a date I didn’t want (I am such a pushover.....).
Anyway, I was supposed to fly on the 20th, but when after a crazy night of partying for my goodbye, I got home at six, and decided I could sleep for just 20 minutes. Just 20 minutes...

Karlo the Cowboy; and the story of a Chechen boy

http://evolutsia.net/?p=175


When we got stuck in High Tusheti, Omalo, because Karlo’s car stopped working, I thought I would be writing a semi-funny article on the collapsed roads, the freezing clouds on top of the mountain and Karlo’s quotes, such as ‘You don’t like weapons????’; however, that evening after a couple of chacha’s, Karlo told his story. Whereas we thought he was a Georgian from lower Tusheti, he turned out to be half Chechen, living in Grozny with his mom in 1993 at the age of 15 to pursue a career as professional judoka. Karlo, a big man, with the posture of a grizzly bear, told us how he and his mom locked themselves up in their basement, hiding for the bombings on Grozny, with no food for ten days; how he fled Grozny by foot, over the Caucasus mountains to Georgia where his father lived; and how he witnessed a young girl, walking in front of him, being hit by a bomb, how the cries of her mother still hunt him in the night.

The last couple of weeks the Northern Caucasus has again been in the spotlight of media attention due to an intensified spree of murders, suicide bombings and chaos. Although Grozny has been relatively quiet recent years, after Putin’s ‘restoration of constitutional order’ in 1999, currently the Northern Caucasus remains a bandit uncontrolled area, where the law of the mountainous people prevails any other law framework. Kremlin stating they are dealing with Muslim terrorist, however, when asking a regular villager in the Caucasus dealing with the mountainous people, they will all tell you the Chechens, Ingushetians and Dagestani are mountain people, and their mountain laws have been applied for centuries in the mountains.

Just before we got stuck in High Tusheti, I was in Almaty, 17 kilometers from the Dagestani border. We could see the top of the mountain pass, with a castle securing the border.


I wanted to go there, and watch over Dagestan and Chechnya. The villagers we were with arranged everything for us, and told us how beautiful it was up there, however, the evening before we would go, our guide got nervous. He said he would walk up with us, but we would have to walk the last 2 kilometers to the border ourselves, he didn’t want to be kidnapped by chechen rebels or being put in jail by Russian border guards. Apparently, the natural mountain border had been pushed since last year down in to georgian territory, and the mountain laws of the chechen and dagestani rebels applied on that region. Before last august war the people of Almaty would have frequent contact with the Dagestani and Chechens trading goods, but the attitude changed since the Russian guards secure the border more intensely and pushed it southern, after August 2008.

After our guide got nervous, we decided not to go, as it would be a to big risk, and being kidnapped as a foreigner wouldn’t be good for diplomatic relations (and as my french friend said: why would Sarkozy care about some stupid french tourist). Therefore we decided to go to High Tusheti, and our friend in Achmeta introduced us to Karlo. Pointing at his Kolkhozniki, Karlo said clear and simple: ‘No car, Tank!’. That evening, stuck in Omalo (we were not nervous, Soviet cars tend to break easily, but are fixed just as simple), drinking chacha, eating meat dumplings, khinkali, listening to Karlo’s stories in the mountains and his Chechen history, the night falling. Karlo is no longer welcome in his hometown Grozny, he played a small role in the first independent Chechen movie, and has been denied excess to it by the Russians.

When in the beginning of the 90’s the Soviet Union collapsed, multiple regions seceded and became independent States. One of those regions which also called for independence was Chechnya. Immediately following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the new elected president of Chechnya – Dudaev – declared the ‘pursuit of freedom from the colonial oppressor’. The Kremlin did not accept Dudaev’s declaration and sent in troops, their attempt failed. President Yeltsin first encouraged the developments towards independence in the Chechen-Ingush republic, he later passed the State of Emergency Degree in Chechnya to delegitimize the ruling authorities. Furthermore, he tried to replace the president Dudaev. In the passing years since then several wars have occurred taken place on Chechen territory. And a few years later after gaining the de facto independence and creating a lawless bandit state, Putin decided in 1999 to invade the territory again and to restore the constitutional order once and for all.

Russia states that Chechnya has become a free haven for terrorism. However, the so-called ‘terrorist-attacks’ by Chechen fighters should be seen as a result of the war, and not, as Russia argues, as its cause. A primary fact is that in terms of the human toll cost of the war, over half of the Chechen population has dealt with death, injury, or displacement. Not only did these cruelties wipe out the foundations of Chechen society, also is the Chechen economy and infrastructure been destroyed, typified exemplified by Grozny, which is has been leveled to its very foundations by years of conflict. As a result, a generation of Chechens is are growing up either in destroyed villages under the constant threat of zachistki, or in refugee camps without any reasonable hope for a normal life in the future. Therefore it can be expected that there will be a higher percentage proportion of citizens among this generation of Chechens, which will be attracted to the radical Islamic beliefs of the Chechen militants and pursuing their own mountainous rules. As long as the war continues, this spiral of violence will go on, which will eventually lead to an increasingly radicalized Chechen population. Therefore, a strong argument can be made that the so called ‘terrorist-attacks’ by Chechen freedom fighters are not the cause of the ongoing war just merely the a result of it.

According to Karlo, Chechens have their own rules, and they have three main principals in life: courage, love and war. He knocks on his head and says: ‘they are stupid people, they have no education, they only fight’. The tragedy of a lost population can be found in this. For decades the chechens have been denied any form of society, and hence, a bandit region will continue to develop where the laws of the mountainous people prevails any other.

evolutsia.net

Yes people, finally we are online! Our newly created Blogozine on Caucasus politics, main focuss on Georgia has seen the light www.evolutsia.net. Together with my two friends Michael Cecire and Remy Gwaramadze we've been working hard last month to make this happen, and seeing the result makes me proud and happy. From now on every day we'll be posting interesting articles we find, our own anaylzes, interviews, podcasts etc.
So please follow us on twitter: wwww.twitter.com/evolutsia and ofcourse stay tuned on our blogozine www.evolutsia.net !!!

tensions in SO one year after war

The last couple of months there have been several analysts switching over from 'there will def. be war in august again' to 'it is absolutely clear there wont be any conflict this summer'. I myself, also, made that switch, multiple times. However, arriving in Georgia in the end of July just took all my worries away. Life seemed great, only parties, sunny weather with an occasional rain, and most of all: happy people; and when I attended a summer seminar of the highly respected Alexander Rondeli on Russia-Georgia relations, stating it was absolutely without a doubt no conflict would erupt this summer, I wasn't worried myself at all. Unfortunately, Russia posted a comment on it's gov website saying tensions in the SO area had arisen due to shelling from Georgian side, and therefore they put their troops in battle-position; even though these allegations could not be found proven by the EU-monitors, who are ironically praised by Russia in another statement. Anyway, I got a bit scared after reading that statement, and decided to call yesterday my friend Soso, who always knows everything, everywhere, always. I was glad to hear he thought nothing would happen, but underlined we never can be sure. Lets just keep a close eye on Russia's moves, and hope it will all blow over.

simsalabim and the story of the blue-eyed blond girl

For twenty six (twenty six!) hours I was in a train, a partly air conditioned trip. From Ankara till Erzurum the train stops only three times and the landscape stays the same: yellow hills, no houses, no people. For twenty six hours. However, it seemed that a small village had arisen in the train, people were sharing food, drinking raki, kids were playing in the hallway and a train compartment further you could enjoy the kitchen of a genuine restaurant. The first part of my trip I had the pleasure of the company of a turkish mother and her 4 year old boy who had broken his leg: Mohamed. And being on the train for 6 hours can be boring when you are 4 years old, but with broken leg even more, so he enjoyed the foreigner effect and was trying to get my attention non-stop :). But young boys get tired too and after we shared some food together (they gave my bread, I gave them grapes) he fell asleep, and so did I. When I woke up another girl and a young boy had joined, apparently it was the mothers niece and the niece's child. In the evening they all got off the train and I had the couchette for myself, until 10 o'clock when I got worried they did not get on the train to travel, but to move: the couchette was stuffed with huge plastic bags and after a while a young lady and her grandfather joined. The fact that a man joined a women couchette turned out to be somewhat of a problem when the conductor came to check the tickets. But when I make clear in my unbelievable good Turkish (I only know merhaba and found out that yolk problem means something as no problem) the trip continued. After the grandfathers evening prayers we decided to have some sleep and the next early morning the grandfather and young lady left the train, with all their stuff. For 8 more hours I was on the train and I decided to have some breakfast at the restaurant. To be a foreigner going to East-Turkey is already an interesting fact for most turkish travelers, but a blond girl might be even more. There were no people at the restaurant, just the waiter and the cook, who desperately tried to talk to me, but they didn't know english or german, and as I said before, my turkish consists of two words. When the guard came to join us for a turkish coffee and also the conductor thought it was a good idea to have a rest at the restaurant I had the time to enjoy my breakfast :). Though one comment has to be made here: why carrying a AK-56 as a guard in a train, how can that be a usefull weapon IN a train?
I got off the train in Erzurum where I hoped to get a minibus straight to Hopa, near the Georgian border, but when i got at the bus station they told me it would go at 6 o'clock in the evening, meaning I would have to spend 5 hours in Erzurum; with too much luggage and a twenty six hours traveling, Erzurum just is a place where you don't want to spend 5 hours. I got my map, showed the ticket salesmen I wanted to go to hopa, even if that meant transferring buses and he sold me a too expensive ticket to yusufeli. In a stuffed mini-bus we left for the Georgian valleys, as this region is called since Georgia ruled over it in the 10th century. Twirling roads, splendid views, waterfalls, giant rocky mountains and 3 hours later we arrived in Yusufeli where I transfered to Arstvin. A bit broken and definately tired I wanted to get as soon as possible to Georgia, which really didn't make any sense, since I had no plan whatsoever to be doing when crossing the border at Sarpi, especially not since I would arrive late in the evening so I would have to find a hotel in Batumi at twelve o'clock in the night. But I had decided it, and I am a stubborn girl, so I had to get to the border. However, arriving in Arstvin they told me no bus would go there anymore. It was the first time of my trip I was so frustrated that I almost started to cry (I still am a girl) and when they saw my moisty eyes and my desperately look they told me they could bring me for a louzy 50 euro's, which again was way too much, but I accepted it. Being stubborn...
They dropped me off at the border and I still had no plan. The trucks were waiting impatiently to cross the border, but a blue-eyed blond girl always gets first in line, and that's how it happened i noticed a mini-bus that said: Tiflis (Tbilisi). I just asked the first man I thought belonging to the mini-bus if it would really go to tbilisi. And when he said yes and that I could join I was incredibly relieved and happy, not realizing what kind of trip it would be. After one and a half hour everybody from the minibus had crossed the border and we left, finally, i thought. And even before the mini-bus drove away, they turned on their sound-system. And what a sound-system it was. I guess from that point on it was clear it would be one loud night, and so it was. Not to mention the amount of stops we made to drop things of, or to take stuff in. And ofcourse, as proper Georgians, when you travel you need to stop somewhere to eat. As I was hungry myself, I kind of liked the idea of eating, sitting at the table with the drivers eating my very first khatchapuri (unfortunately they didn't have the Adjaruli Khatchapuri, but the Imeruli was fine for the moment too).
Arriving early in the morning at Ian's, my British friend living in Georgia, I could only sleep, traveling non-stop for 45 hours sure makes a blue-eyed blond girl a bit tired.

Merhaba! and much more!

so I regularly tried to update my facebookstatus so everyone could be jealous of my marvelous trip, but I sort of failed in posting a blog now and then... But I finally found some spare time in Ankara where I arrived this morning and where from I'll leave in about an hour, unfortunately, because I came to realize walking through Ankara's streets the city is a city of my heart. Why everybody always says: don't go to Ankara it's boring, I have no idea at all! It's a fibrant alive city with a beautiful old town with a citadel and a modern hip student area in the southern part of the city. For me, in comparıson to Istanbul, I'd definately prefer Ankara over Istanbul, but that perhaps has something to do with the season, as Istanbul was flooded with tourist. Though I think in general it's just too big for me.
As stated in my prevıous blog I arrived in Zagreb, having my very first couchsurf experiıence at Ana' place, a Croatian girl. We laughed all evening, drank some beer, and laughed some more! Next morning she dropped me of at the trainstatıon and I headed for Zagreb, where a friend of mine, Uros, would pick me up. Appareantly the Zagreb-Belgrade traıltrack ıs a very popular one amongst backpackers, since half of the train was non-local (and I thought at that poınt that was a tourıst traın already... later from Sofia to Istanbul I realızed differently). Arriving in Belgrade something went a bit wrong: my friend thought I would come the day after, but luckıly it's the Balkans: so it's never a problem! Belgrade was absolutely super! First evening had traditional food with Uros and his girlfriend and afterwards we enjoyed some beers at the courtyard of the phılosophıcal department of the university together with some common friends: Petar and Dries :).
Next day I had all day to myself and a mountainbike! So you can guess: drove all over belgrade on a Bıke: super! Met with Uros gırlfriend Desa at Lake Ada around two where we had a swim and both headed back, she on skates and I on the bike, towards home with several stops along the river for some beers :).
Around 8 my traın was leaving for Sofia and I can assure you one thing: absolutely no tourıst train :). Shared my compartment with 3 gıpsy-men (according to my bulşgarıan frıend) and saw some bulgarians or serbs muggle cıgarettes in the rooftop of the train :).
In Sofia I stayed with Ivo and his wife Bobi, who have an adorable 6 month old baby named Bobo and a lovable dog Rea. Walked all over Sofia that day with Bobo, Rea and Bobi and in the evening enjoyed a wonderful home-cooked dinner and some delıcıous local drink (I forgot the name....).Next morning we got an early call because Bobo was hungry and that was Rea's signal to get on the couch where I was sleepıng :). But it was all fine :). Saw some interesting views from the mountains on Sofia that day and had some Bulgarian dish at a small restaurant when Bobo decıded it was clearly too hot and crıed and cried and cried. I surely felt bad for Ivo and Bobı, a young baby sure takes a lot of energy. Though ın general Bobo is BY FAR the most adorable, funny, happy, exploring baby I have ever seen :)))
In the evenıng I took the train to Istanbul, and you can say a lot, but I have never been in a train without any locals. I am serıous: only tourısts! The way to Istanbul was fine, just the bordercross takes too long and we had a 2 hour delay.
So yesterday I spend all day in Istanbul. I dıdn't plan anything, so when I strawled ınto town and seeded for a breakfast ofcourse a 45 year old Turkısh man who lıved ın the Netherlands and Germany thought I was rather interesting. He decided to show me the nice places all day and I just went a long with it: even got a free shower at his hostel, lol. But I got a message from a friend of mıne from couchsurfing if I stıll wanted to meet, so after a 43 degrees celcıus hot European-Istanbul I took the ferry with all my luggage to the Easternpart where I met with Erhan for tea, eating kebab, waiting for my train and arguing with train-conductors about my too much luggage ;)

Today I am traveling further towards the east. It will be a 24hour traintrip so that surely isn,t nothing. And absolutely the longest trip I have ever done by train!
Erzurum ıs where I wıll get of the train and it şs considered as rather conservative but very beautiful. Have to cover my arms and legs, for my own convenıence, since from there I wıll take a mınıbus even further the countrysıde on, and therefore a bıt more conservative. I wıll hopefully arrıve at the border with Georgıa around 7 o'clock: that is: if there will be a minşbus when I arrıve in Erzurum, otherwise I'll first go to trabzon, stay there for a night and go the next morning.

Hope to post on my trip, but am not sure how often I wıll be near internet, perhaps fisrt time will be in Batumi!

Big-trip update nr 2

Today I arrived in Zagreb, and tomorrow I’ll travel too Belgrade, but already I had some trip. The following I wrote when I thought it would be a nice quiet evening with two wonderful hungarian people, unfortunately afterwards a Dutch (why for g*&^ds sake a Dutch person, of all places!) entered our couch and clearly had too much to drink. Though adding I still love travelling by train :)
As I take my seat and make an attempt to put my way too heavy backpack on the above storage an older man approaches me and speaks a tongue i cannot place; it is obvious he offering his help, I feel guilty since he is approximately 60 years old, however, he insists. And that is how I came to meet István and Istvánné Kedvesi; the hungarian couple I share a couch with from Strasbourg till Vienna; as a later understand, they will go further by train to their city on the border of Hungary and Austria. They both do not speak a word of English (though some german), and in the beginning, especially Istvánné is rather unpleased with the company of some nitwit student with a noisy phone, until she understands it’s her phone that has been ringing instead of mine, and the ice is broken. With a little bit of German they are both quite capable of explaining all their life to me, starting with the fact Istvánné buys all her cosmetics in Austria, since it is so incredible cheap compared to their village, and resulting in an hour long ode to Rome, the city she loves with all her heart. Then István shows me the pictures of the trips they have taken. They tell me about their families, how Istváns sister born and raised in France is very distant in her feelings towards them, and how they believe families should be tight and friendly towards each other. Although I am already as tired as can be (and I am only starting my journey) I enjoy listening to their stories very much and practice my horrible german with them. It is unbelievable what people can tell with just a few words, and how close you can get that they start to talk about their private lives. Soon i understand they have been married since they were 18, new each other before that, childhood friends, and were separated during a period of 6 years, but found each other again. The romance of the story, Istvánné and István both
And that is why I love traveling by train and I absolutely enjoy traveling on my own: the people you meet, the friendliness, the stories. Looking forward to the following period :).

big-trip update 1

So here I am, last day as a PA to a member of the european parliament in Strasbourg, already on my way and more in holiday than working mood, which is fine ofcourse :). The trip yesterday to brussels, where I stayed at my collegue´splace, and this morning to strasbourg weren´t all that exciting since I have done it multiple times last year, though walking around with TOO MUCH and TOO HEAVY luggage is (why am I a girl...), at least it made me feel like a real tourist and I created that impression to with my fellow travelors who all wanted to know where I was going and all guessed it had to be Russia since I am reading Jonathan Dimbley´s `Russia, A journey to the heart of a land and its people´ (which I already highly recommend as travel-lecture). - note to self: keep your sentences shorte....-
Well, anyway, I am heading off for Zagreb tonight, taking the 20.37 train to Munchen, transfering there at around 6/7 am and going through slovenia. According tpo my Thomas Cook railmap it has to be a very beautiful track, looking forward to it. I`ll arrive around 13.30 so i`ll have time to explore the city before I meet my couchsurf host in the evening after her work.
The next morning 9 o´clock the train to Belgrade will leave, though I heard (and according to the railmap) the way isn`t that beautiful, so I`ll have a read, or work on my essay I still have to finish (shame on me, I know).
I´ll try to post every now and then, but am unsure how frequent it will be!
Btw, I am considering going from sofia to istanbul via thessaloniki for one day, since I also never have been to Greece, if you think I should or shouldn`t, let me know ;).

UNOMIG's mandate in Abkhazia, Georgia

Just a quick blog about the UN’s mission to Abkhazia (Georgia) UNOMIG. As you might’ve heard, there is a deadlock in the extension: the UN has, so far, failed to adopt a resolution which had been adopted without any problems previously (1808, 1839 & 1866). The mission was mandated till june 15: yesterday.
The media has been reporting about it the last few days; however, I found it rather interesting to see a real devision in bringing the news: who was the bad guy who blocked the resolution. According to chinese, Kazakhs and russian media seem to imply Russia is fighting hard to keep the mission in Abkhazia; on the other hand is Russia being seen as the bad guy by for example BBC, the washington post, and other western media (according to RussiaToday a main problem: US media never brings unbiased news about Russia).
The reason for the deadlock has to do with the august war in 2008 and the recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent States by Russia. With regards to the extension of the mandate for UNOMIG Russia does not want Abkhazia to be reffered to as Abkhazia, Georgia; while for Georgia, and the rest of the world except Nicaragua, this is unacceptable since it would deny the sovereignty of Georgia and could lead to the interpretation of Russia that the independence is also recognized by the UN.
I have no idea where this will lead and the news report of the UN itself hasn't been rather positive about it either. Diplomatic talks and giving in on other issues (for say: let's not talk about the grave violations of human rights in russia) might have Russia agree; however, I doubt it happening. Russia might be pretending to want to have UNOMIG there, but as far as I can tell it is more beneficial for them to be the only 'peace-keeping'force there without international intereference.
I've heard rumours of a new war in October, let's hope it are just rumours...

traveling towards titillating treasures

When I'll set my foot on georgian soil again august 1st, I'll already have made a trip of a life-time. I decided, since I have the opportunity to do so, to travel over land, by train, and take my time exploring the Balkan's and Turkey a little bit and meeting my friends overthere (I mean, 16 days for Balkans/Turkey isn't far enough time, don't worry, I realize it). In Europe we have this amazing deal with all the train-companies all over Europe, that allows you to travel all over Europe, with almost each train you want (some exceptions in France/England)with 10 traveling days within 22 days in total.
I'll start in the netherlands, from my parents little village(I am leaving my appartment in The Hague already next week...) around the 15th of July. From there I'll go by night-train to Munich (Germany I have seen before, so I decided to 'skip' that part ;).). from there I'll take the day-train to Zagreb, leaving in the morning and arriving in the early evening.

I haven't planned my stay in Zagreb, perhaps I'll see if I'm able to crash a couch somewhere, I will see, I do not worry it will not work out. Two nights or so I'll stay in Zagreb, I have never been to Croatia (I know, barbaric of me...) and unfortunately I do not have the time to visit the beautiful coast of which I've heard. At least I'll have a good excuse to go back sometime soon.

Then, I'll be heading to Serbia, to Belgrade, a great city I have visited once before. I'll meet up with some friends I haven't seen in ages and I am really looking forward to it! I liked Belgrade a lot when I visited it the previous time, though unfortunately it was a seminar which I had organised, so I was more stressed with organizing, than able to enjoy it to the max.



Well, it will be great anyway, I love the people from the Balkan, they got the same (black) humor like the Dutch :).

After two nights I'll be heading towards Sofia, Bulgaria. Bulgaria has also got a special place in my hart and memories, since it was the first eastern European country I'd ever visited by myself (ok, I had been to Prague twice, but that doesn't count, also because I was with my parents and just about 14 years old....). I believe it was 2004 (or perhaps early 2005) and I was asked to go on the first political youth seminar of my 'career' *cough* in youth politics :).
A world opened to me. Ofcourse post-soviet countries always had my interest; however, it was an experience that fueled my love/passion for them. Yes guys: it is YOUR fault I see myself totally obsest with the post-soviet region...



Anyway, I already know my time in Sofia will be unforgettable! I'll stay with some sweet friends of mine, who've invited me numerous times, which i'd every time had to decline, unfortunately. But finally: the day has come that I'll be back: Nosdarovje! (The first slavic word I've learned; and I learned it in Sofia: how surprising).
However, after being in these somewhat familiar countries to me; I'll be taking the train to Istanbul.
I have been once in turkey: but it doesn't count. It doesn't count because I was on Turkish soil for less than half an hour; and I was on Turkish soil for less than half an hour because I had succceded my three months term without visa in Georgia and I needed to cross the border, but because I was a poor volunteer, I did not have the money to explore turkey, so I just crossed, and went back in, where I laid on the beach of Sarpi and wondering if it would be that different on the otherside.
So yes, Turkey, I am very excited about it, because I've heard many times about the transition you see if you go from west to east turkey, where Istanbul is regarded as very western and in eastern turkey it is regarded as more asian. I am wondering how I will encounter it.



So after three days of Istanbul I'll head to Ankara, where I'll stay one night I think, traveling from there to kars and stopping allong the way. just have to figure out exactly what I want to see and where I can stay on a couch, or very cheap (I am still a 'poor' student...).
And then, Finally I'll be back in my 'home'country (I know I'm dutch, but everybody who has been in georgia knows exactly what I mean: it's a place to call your home). I think I'll enjoy some days on the beach in Batumi; I just love the green bay:



After lovely Batumi I'll be going back to my hometown Tbilisi, where I'll stay in a cosy appartment in old tbilisi one and a half month for the rest of the summer; with ocasional trips to the seaside, kakheti, svaneti, borjormi, kazbegi and whatelse comes my way!
At least I'll be ready and relaxed before I start studying Russian in Kiev for one year (oh btw: I decided to go from Poti, georgia by boat to Odessa in Ukraine, and take the train from there to kiev....)

Nepal, the land of contradictions

As we straw through the busy streets of Tampa, the city centre of Kathmandu, I suddenly feel like throwing up because of the horrific smell of some very young street children, their blankets, glue and their dogs. It is the last day of my stay in Nepal and I haven’t been able to get accustomed to it, neither to the smell, nor to the idea these children probably have been living on the streets of Kathmandu their whole life. The past few days I have been visiting my Dutch friend Wieteke who currently works here; and these days have made something utterly clear to me: Nepal really is a very poor, underdeveloped country.
However, (or maybe because?) the people of Nepal are the most sweet, shy and helpful people. Of course there are the ones who try to rip off tourists, but in general I was surprised with the kindness of the Nepalese. Not only Wieteke’s friends, whom I’ve met the very first day I arrived after being on a plane for almost 12 hours with approximately 2 hours of sleep, and who adopted me in their group of friends as if we known each other for years, and who exhausted me with drinks, food and partying in Narangot (an hour from Kathmandu). But also her colleagues, the other passengers on the busses we took (especially compared to the arrogant, improperly behaving tourists), the salespersons, the tourist guides, the boating people, the managers in the busses (or, as we liked to call them: our men), and random people helping us when we were looking to a map with confusion.
In addition, it must be noted that Nepal’s nature indeed is one of world’s treasures. Although I only had a good look at the roof of the world (or as some people would like to call it: Himalaya) when I was in the plane back to the Netherlands, since there was a hazy air the day we arrived in Phokara from which you ought to be able to have an astonishing view, which we, unfortunately, did not have…; I must say that even a little peak was exciting enough for me. And at least now I have a good excuses to come back.
After Pokhara we decided to travel down to Chituan, the region where Wieteke lives and which borders India. There is a large nature reserve park where we stayed for two nights. And to honestly say, the Himalaya is nice, but elephant bathing ROCKS! When we were on elephant safari the day before and saw wild rhino’s and there baby’s so incredible close that we could almost touch them, I really thought that was the most exciting I would ever encounter; and it sure was very special, but compared to the next day when we had the opportunity to sit on the back of an elephant in the river while he’s splashing you with water and falls in the river with you… oh my, that is just so much fun, and the elephants are the most sweet animals I know. Ok, I agree, these are in captivity and still are dangerous, don’t to want to have a foot of an elephant on mine, that’s for sure; but it was very magical.
Furthermore, the temples (Hindu) and stupa’s (Buddhist) I have seen were very impressive either. The second day in Nepal Wieteke, Rahesh, Manisha and Bikal took me to Baktapur, an old king’s town outside of Kathmandu which is on the list of world heritage (surprisingly enough you are allowed to drive through the tiny streets with cars and motocycles). And the last day of my stay in Kathmandu we visited one large stupa called Bauda which is located in a normal neighborhood and is surprisingly large; and the temple where the Hindu cremate their deceased; both being very impressive in a totally different way.
Nepal for sure is a country you have to have visited in your life-time and hopefully I will be able to return and do some trekking in the Himalaya, see the friends I made again and enjoy the delicious food!

For pics of my trip go to my flickr account

Nederland Opnieuw

www.nederlandopnieuw.nl

“Nederland Opnieuw” is een platform van de VVD om aandacht te vragen voor onze oplossingen voor diverse problemen in Nederland. Nederland is vastgelopen. Problemen blijven onopgelost. Nederland moet terug in de rails. Dat vraagt om een nieuwe visie hoe je deze problemen aanpakt. De VVD heeft een frisse blik op hoe het beter en eerlijker kan: Nederland Opnieuw.

“Nederland Opnieuw” geeft de richting aan die de VVD op wil met Nederland.

In Nederland zijn veel mensen teleurgesteld in de politiek. Voor de democratie in het land is het van groot belang dat de bevolking vertrouwen heeft in de goede bedoelingen en oprechtheid van degenen die namens hen het land besturen.

De VVD wil een eerlijke partij zijn. We hebben er vertrouwen in dat onze oplossingen goed zijn voor Nederland en willen daarover graag in debat. We willen ook laten zien dat politiek ánders kan. Geen nietszeggende slogans waarmee een politieke partij kiezers kan lokken alsof het over een wasmiddelenreclame gaat.

“Nederland Opnieuw” wil de discussie over echte problemen en eerlijke oplossingen in Nederland opgang brengen. We brengen onze standpunten tussen mensen, op straat. Duidelijk, prikkelend en bereid tot discussie. Geen loze kreten, maar inhoudelijke standpunten over problemen die we willen oplossen door er met een frisse blik naar te kijken. Dát is Nederland Opnieuw. De VVD wil met ondernemerschap en vastberadenheid ons land opnieuw sterk, veilig en vrij maken.

new war ahead of us?

So the last few days I am reading more and more blogs/newspaper-sites a new georgian war might be ahead of us. For example from the pro-russia bloggers Stanislav Mishin and Rick Docksai; ofcourse claiming it will be Saakashvili who will instigate it, since South Ossetia and Abkhazia still need to be under Georgian ruling and this time he might get help from NATO, as NATO is having excercises in Georgia. Also from friends of mine I understood the gossip in tbilisi tells Misha (saakashvili) is planning a new war: 1. because he wants SO and Abkazia back and 2. to gain more support. Ofcourse this gossip comes from friends who are pro-opposition, claiming that if Misha will not resign a new war will happen.
As you can understand, I am wondering who does what. As we all know, the relationship between Russia and Georgia hasn't been that good lately. A demonstration would be a perfect moment for Russia to destabalize the country and invade it, blaiming Misha for it; the reason I am saying this because I find it quite disturbing Nashi youth were discovered without visa on georgian territory allegedly to start some violant incidents at the demonstration and provoke forcible action by the police/military against opposition. Furthermore, because Russia has increased it's military in South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the past few days.
I am starting to get a bit worried by it all, let's hope it's just political macho behaviour from both sides and nothing serious will happen.