Wow time flies by! Seriously, just three weeks ago the Tour de France started and I had little spare time between a project and the last study exams of the year, and now it is suddenly past half of July! Wow! Today a recap of the month of May, tonight a recap of the month June. And what I will write from Thursday on for at least a week…. that is a surprise! But of course I hope you enjoy it and that it will be an inspiration for you! Or that it will bring up nice memories if you recognise it.
So how is it all going and what did I experience or enjoyed the past couple of weeks….
Lets start with the month of May!
In May the little spring holiday had ended so weeks of study lay ahead. But that’s in short the boring part. The nice part is all the things I visited in may!
If you follow my personal account on Instagram: @sophie.vda than you can see those photo’s, or now and then when my account is public. My public blog account on Instagram is @sophie.vda.blog
In May I have been to the following public events:
And of course it was Mothers Day as well! 🙂 And I have been to a dear friend her birthday party and a double family birthday party. Catching up stories about life with some dear friends was also part of the month of May. As soon as the exams and projectperiod of the previous trimester have ended it is catching up time with dear friends haha.
The IT related stuff: I have been working with PHP, JavaScript, SASS (and CSS & HTML recap), Python. I also worked with Statistics with R which I really like to analyse statistics in another way than with the common known SPSS analysis. All as part of a project and/or for selfstudy and the upcoming internship.
The Dutch Parliamentary Elections of 2017 | 28 Political Parties | 1114 Candidates | Rotterdam and Amsterdam. I voted! Greetings by Sophie
The results of the Dutch Parliamentary Elections of 2017
This is what I wrote ~kind of ~ on Facebook about the results of the Dutch Parliamentary Elections:
Also in Dutch known as: Tweede Kamer Verkiezingen 2017 or TKV2017
Rotterdam Dutch Parliamentary Elections Result 2017. The red bars are 2017 results!
Lots of media have probably written about it, and all the predictions and so on. I rarely write about politics, but I love to mention that I live as a student in a multicultural city named Rotterdam and together with Amsterdam, these are the two biggest and the two most multicultural cities of The Netherlands.
Yesterday we had the chance to vote on one of the
…. hold it….
28! political parties and after that decision…
we had to choose between one of the …
…hold it again…
one of the 1114! candidates. Yes that is over 1000 persons…
I made my decision and I voted!
In The Netherlands it is a jubilee because women’s suffrage exists this year for 100 years! Is it a coincidence that there are elections 100 years after those voting rights for women? After all what (politically) happened the past century? I am happy I have the right to vote! So I did!
Amsterdam Dutch Parliamentary Elections Result 2017. The red bars are 2017 results!
See the two big images: Rotterdam and Amsterdam
In Rotterdam the VVD is the greatest political party.
In Amsterdam GroenLinks is the greatest political party.
Two multicultural cities that will always remain multicultural.
And even though politics is not my thing, with such results, I find it ‘gezellig’, safe and challenging to continue to live during my studies in a multicultural city.
Diversity in cultures is nice. Nice to be part of it in the big city, nice to learn from it, nice to experience this diversity through f.e. little food festivals.
And diversity in politics, well it does not make it easier to govern, but sometimes diversity is considered and an inspiring brainstorming. I just think it is important to know about diversity, to respect diversity and trying to understand diversity. Not everything of the government will that way be viewed from the same angle, but highlighted by several angles and sides and they take in the design and implementation of the plans.
I am curious for the final outcome of ANP, the outcome of the electoral council on March 21st, which political formation will be formed and what will happen the next four years.
In general: The statistics we know now, are based on manual counts by the 388! municipalities. And gathered by our central press facts checker: ANP.
At this moment, not everything is count yet (I write this at 01:55 (CET, so UTC + 01:00)).
The official result and recognition will take place at March 21storganised by the ‘Kiesraad’ which is an independent organisation by the government to check for faults by these manual counts by the municipalities. But ANP is very reliable and you can assume that they will be right with their results because they do this already since 1938 and if there will be a difference with the ‘Kiesraad’, it will be only as much as half a chair…or to say half a place for a party so no major difference.
The different parties
The political landscape: Left versus Right and Progressive versus Conservative. Yes politics is not simple in this little complicated country. This images is from the previous election results of 2012.
The parties and their translation:
VVD = People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy –> the most Right
CDA = Christian Democratic Appeal
CU = Christian Union
SGP = Reformed Political Party –> the most conservative
PVV = Party for Freedom
50+ = 50Plus
D66 = Democratic Appeal –> the only combination Progressive and Right
GL = GreenLeft –> the most progressive
PvdA = Labour Party
PvdD = Party for the Animals –> Yes I love that the animals have a kind of voice too.
SP = Socialists Party
This year we could vote at special locations too. For example a view looking over Amsterdam, voting on one of the little uninhabited islands. And you could vote in the public libraries and on several train stations. I discovered even two voting areas in the central library in Rotterdam, wow I have never seen that before. And ques, ques and ques. Especially during rush hour when lots of people were done working for the day. And more than 80% of the people with voting rights, voted! I think we all encouraged each other to use your right to vote!
What did you hear about the Dutch Parliamentary Elections of 2017?
These are my inspirations for today, it all starts with awareness, gender equality:
YouTube: HeForShe Arts Week 2017 Press Launch
This is a video where you see in the first few minutes how it all started with the HeForShe Campaign and everything that has been done the past 2,5 years. A wonderful inspiration and it creates awareness widely.(68:40 min)
Are you #HeForShe? Make the commitment: HeForShe.org
“Stand Together. What we share is more powerful than what divides us. Take action now to create a gender equal world.”
In september most studies start with the new study year. In september most people are back to work again after being on holiday. And september is also the month with lots of festivals. It is not the end of the festival season yet. On tuesday I already started with my year of study but besides study I have during the weekends now and then time left to do something cultural or social with my family and friends. For example going to a festival or cultural event.
If you are visiting The Netherlands or Rotterdam this month, maybe you would like to see (one or some of) the events listed below. I am inspired by all the invitations on Facebook, the festival calendar ‘festivalinfo’ and the Rotterdam Festivals because those events are always nearby. In this post are only listed the festivals in Rotterdam. If you want to know which festivals are in other cities: Festival Info
Rotterdam:
Every weekend:
@ Grotekerkplein: dance workshops and live performances of music
Dates:
fri 02 – sun 09 sept:
World Port Days Rotterdam: lots of activities, ships, history, tours and so on… @Parkkade, @Katendrecht, @Erasmusbridge @Wilhelminapier @Harbour areas.
International Shanty Festival: music @Leuvehaven, @Plein 1940, @Wijnhaven, @Oude Haven areas
‘Nacht van de Kaap’ [Night of the Kaap]: music@Katendrecht acts: 24
sat 03 sept 12:00 – 21:00 : ‘BeSouk Delfshaven’: live music performances, little marketplace, food and drinks, take a picture with a camel haha @Park 1943
thu 08 – sun 11 sept: Gergiev Festival 2016: music performances by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the conductor Valery Gergiev @De Doelen
sat 10 sept 12:00 – 22:15: Baroeg Open Air: free music festival with styles as metal, punk, industrial, rock and underground music. @Zuiderpark, acts: 16
Last friday I have been on a short trip to Delft, an old city nearby Rotterdam. College had finished early that day so I decided to travel a bit. Go out of town and do something cultural. I had not seen the new renovated/builded train station of Delft Centraal yet so this was a nice combination too.
This is the municipality of Delft located at the market square
When I arrived in Delft I walked from the central station to the city center. I loved walking again along the canals. Something you barely have in Rotterdam, but in cities I love too such as Gouda my hometown, you find those everywhere in the old town center.
Today it is the 5th of the 5th month in the Chinese lunar calendar. This means that today for all Chinese is a special day of celebration. The day of the Dragon Boat Festival that is one of China’s cultural highlights.
History
This festival exists already for more than 2000 years and with this celebration day they honor Qu Yuan who was a famous Chinese poet and even a minister in ancient China. The period he lived in is also known as the Warring States Period. No history lesson about that in this blog post, but about a special kind of food they eat during this festival.
Rice Dumplings in Bamboo leaves. Copyright to Stephen Jack for the photo. Published on eatingchina.com
Today is a very sunny sunday in The Netherlands ánd it is Mother’s Day. So treat you’re mum as a special person today because today we all stand still by our appreciation for our mother who gave birth to us, helps us in life and so on. I like that Mother’s Day is worldwide and not religious bound.
