Blending into Paris

Participant observation.. It's the key method to any anthropological research. Because in order to research a culture you'll have to blend in, so you won't accidently affect local behaviour.
As an ex-wannabe-athropologist I sometimes still feel the need to invisibly blend into cultures and subcultures and observe them from within. It's interessting to detect the sublte diffrences in people, only caused by the place the were born and the people and culture they grew up with.

Having spent a lot of time in Paris, I tried absorb French culture like a sponge, just trying to become just as chique and sophisticated as a true Parisienne. Because let's be honest, walking through the city of love, you can spot the diffrence between the tourists and locals from miles away.

It's not just the way Parisians dress or what they eat, it's the whole air of belonging in Paris you'll have to capture if you want to blend in. So if you ever feel the need to become a Parisian, (or just walk through Paris without being harassed by tourist-targetting criminal gypsies) here are a few pointers:

1. Yes! it's obvious and predictable, but the first thing you'll have to learn is speaking French! It's not only the language of love, but also by most French people just considered as the superiour language. If you're trying to be French but fail to speak the language, you've allready lost major points!  

2. Disguise. An important thing if you want to blend in, is looking like you belong! But French style is not easy to copy. You would expect all haute couture and high heels, but in reality a true Parisian looks like it didn't take any effort to look flawlessly fashionable. Skinny jeans and timeless classic clothing are probably the basics. Red lipstick helps with the finishing touch (only for female wannabe-parisians though ;)) But the rest of your disguise probably has to come from your attitude.


3. Hurry and multitask
Speedwalk! never just stroll, you're allways in a hurry! Even when you're making your way through the crowded metro-labyrinth. At first it will probably be quite a challenge to avoid bumping into your fellow running Parisians, so for a good preparation you'll have to make sure you'll know where you're going. You wouldn't want to blow your cover by being caught looking at a map.

When you're in the metro, never make eyecontact with anyone, but immediately pull out your book! Reading a book is always a good way to look French, whether you're standing in the metro, walking speedwalking on the streets, or sitting in a café. So never ever forget your book!
Another musthave prop is a cigarette! Smoke on the streets, whenever you get the chance.
In the morning, when you're hurrying to work (while smoking of course) stop at least once at a café to order a coffee at the bar, take 5 minutes to drink your coffee, read the newspaper, put some money on the bar and hurry on! You probably didn't really enjoy your coffee or read much news, but remember you're not doing it because you really want to drink coffee or need to read the newspaper, you're merely making a point, your a local!

It's important to always keep up your air of French arrogance and keep your distance. Others are not really worth your attention, with the the ironic exception of 2 things:, kissing and fondling your lover wherever and whenever you can, and being a good citizen. That means allways helping strangers with babies and standing up for pregnant people, old people and people with small children. Everyone will immediately hate you if you failed to notice an oppportunity to stand up for someone in need. (Ironically this rule absolutely doesn't apply to the countless 'clochards,' the homeless people, begging for money on the streets. They are to be ignored.)

Once you've perfected your French act and managed to fool some locals, its time for the final test; inviting them over! Now you'll have to decorate your appartment like a true Parisian and luckily that's pretty easy.  Start by covering every inch of wall with decorations, posters, paintings, photographs, anything really.
If you can't see the colour of your wallpaper, It's allready looking pretty French, but it's not quite finished. Because the most important thing in a Parisian interior is..... Chairs!! In every corner or empty space of every Parisian appartment you'll find a chair (or more!) The more chairs, the more Parisian your apartment will look! Chairs Chairs Chairs

 Just count the chairs in the pictures above, I rest my case..

The final touch in your Parisian apartment is the fridge! First of all, put at least 8 pots of mustard in it! Different kinds of course. I don't know why but it seems to be a necessity. The only thing left to do now is decorating the outside of your fridge.  Because French people love to cover it with their collection of refridgerator-magnets. Preferably collected abroad, but you also have to have food-magnets, wine-magnets, holliday-magnets etc. Just an example:
 

I think we've covered the basics by now and all you amateur-anthroplogists and wannabe-Parisians will blend in perfectly.

My own proudest moment as a fake Parisian was when I was running the streets, smoking and looking French, when suddenly some lost Dutch tourists asked me for directions (in English.)  Unfortunately I was in a fake-hurry and I decided I coudn't risk blowing my cover by speaking English (I still have to practise my Frensh accent) or worse:  Dutch! So I explained them in French where they had to go. They didn't understand a word but I was really proud of myself for passing this important test ;)

The Hunger game

I haven't read the 'hunger games' book yet, neither have I seen the movie. But the last week I did find out what hunger is, during my own game, called 'Lemonjuice detox..'
Because I have to admit I don't allways have the healthiest lifestyle I chose to detox my body and reset my whole system, by fasting for a period of ten days.
Don't worry I didn't just stop eating. According to the internet and book I read about the socalled 'lemon juice fast' I had to drink 2 Liters of Lemon-maplesyrup-cayenne-water a day and add mysterious green powder to my diet to keep my system going without any food.
Though it might sound unnatural and hard, it promised me many benefits:

1. Feeling Healthier and more energetic than ever
2. Looking more beautiful than ever (better skin, hair, losing fat etc.)
3. Resetting my body to a new healthy way of living.
4. Reaching a state of Zen, a natural high in which I would feel totally in balance with myself and the world

... Reality went a bit different.
The first couple of days (which should be the hardest) went fine, I wasn't even hungry and didn't get a headache like I expected. I was positive, fasting even saved me a lot of time and money. No need to worry about dinner!
At work I had a harder time. Working in a restaurant gave me a lot of temptation. Food is everywhere and I realised that I normally eat all day! a piece of bread, a cookie, a french frie etc... I resisted all!  And no glass of wine for me either, at the end of a long hard day of work.



The fourth day I started to feel a bit high, but it wasn't unpleasant. I did start to long for some food. I guess I'm just  too much of a foodlover to be a good mind-over-matter-faster..
Unlike Buhdda, who apparently had the mental strength to fast for months, while meditating and reaching spiritual enlightment.

When people around me started declaring me insane and commenting on my look (not superbeautiful and shiny, but rather skinny and 'matte') I wondered If this programm might not be very suitable for someone who has a fulltime job at a restaurant for 10 hours a day..








De combination of hunger and natural high started to slowly change my world into a world of food. Food was everywhere, and where it wasn't, I still saw delicious edible everything!
I reminded myself I was like mind-over-matter-Buddha, strong enough to resist earthly temptations. After all I did it al for a good cause, getting rid of all build-up toxins in my body and coming out better and healthier.
Unfortunately the fifth day, I ran out of energy and had to wisely decide to eat something, or otherwise I wouldn't be able to work. So I ate some soup! and it never tasted better!

So, though I try to keep my diet and lifestyle healthy from now on and lay low on the alcohol and snacks, I will NEVER voluntarily stop eating again.

And because I want you all to know how it feels to play the actual hunger game in a world of food, without actually having to starve, I refer you to photographer Carl Warners series of 'foodscapes.' :)
(No photoshop, actual landscapes made entirely out of food)

 

Let's paint the town

When I first moved to Rotterdam I have to admit it wasn't love at first sight. Of course I appreciated the many obvious qualities Rotterdam had to offer as a big city ( for example a wide variety of shops and restaurants, which are even open on sundays!) But after I studied in the cosy little Leiden and payed many visits to Amsterdam with all its canals, tourists and coffeeshops, I didn't find Rotterdam very appealing.. at first!..
But like all relationships it took a little time to get to know the city, see its own unique character, and fall in love. And allthough I don't live in my city at the moment, I allways feel at home when I visit and Rotterdam shows me an insiders smile.

I know at first sight Rotterdam seems a whole of concrete buildings, pumped out of the ground in no time after the city got bommed and totally destructed during the war.
But the uglyness of the buildings did trigger the creativity of the people of Rotterdam.
I allways liked some of the touches of art, you find if you keep your eyes open on a night on the town. It gives (especially drunken) conversation an interessting topic. I am for example sure I'm not the only one who ever had a nightlong discussion with friends about the philosophical meaning of this interessting line from a poem of Lucebert, which lights up the sky around the 'oude haven.'

(It translates to: Everything of worth is defenceless)

Or this at least interessting painting on a building next to the very popular 'Witte aap'bar. I can't find any information on it, though it has caught my attention many times over the last couple of years. Not only because of the blacknippled lady but even weirder is the text, which says: 'Suddenly, as I'm about to kiss my nipple, I see hundreds of men staring at me'   (???) 

I think the creativity of Rotterdam has always been hiding underneath the surface, but I love how the last couple of years it seems to slowly transform the city into one big beautiful museum.
Not only are architects building weird colourfull buildings all around town, but also are older concrete buildings slowly transforming into fantastic pieces of art.

Yesterday, after I took the train into town and was greeted by several pieces of wall art, I walked through the city and smiled at the sight of this arty wall.

Because I recognize this and several other styles from other walls around town I wondered who was responsible for the new face of my colourfull city.
I found out this piece and many other beautiful artwork is all part of the R.U.A. festival.

The organisation brings talented Brazilian street artist to Rotterdam to litterally paint the town. Their view is:

"In a city where graffiti is seen as vandalism and local authorities do everyting to keep the streets clean of any colour, line or form freely expressed in public space, the challenge is to break these ideas and show people that graffiti is a form of contemporary art, a positive intervention of public space with its own place and function in everyday life."










I LOVE it :) so here are a few of my favourites and let's keep painting the town, so when I finally find a new appartment, I can be surrounded by beautiful art.

Tattoo weather

Allthough it's allmost september, summer finally decided to show its face in Holland. The past weekend was even the first 'tropical' weekend in 12 years! With this weather, the sun wasn't the only thing revealed to me. While I was slaving away, serving refreshing drinks to the many guests on the terrace, I discovered a whole world of hidden tattoos, wich is usually covered by clothing.

I was surprised how many people have tattoos, and how many of them apparently didn't think for one second before they let someone permanently draw on their body.
It´s not that I don´t like body art, I really love tattoos. But I have to say I´m pretty disappointed to admit that, of all the tattoos I´ve seen in the past couple of days, I haven´t seen any beautiful ones.. Actually all tattoos I saw on people fell in one (or more) of these 5 categories:

1. Dark Black enormous tribals all over peoples bodies
2. Eternal dedications of love to either mommy or (much more disturbing..) local Football clubs..
3. Portraits of deceased pets. Off course complete with R.I.P, the dogs name and date of death
4. Multiple tattoos randomly scattered around the body, not paying any attantion to the whole or the shape of the body itself.
5. Standard tattoos, obviously picked from a book at the tattooshop, without any meaning or consideration.

Personally I can't imagine why anyone would put any one of these things on their body for the rest of their lives, but of course I hope they are all really happy with it. As far as my own body goes, I only consider tattoos if they are beautiful, have a special meaning to me, and fit with the shape of my body.

A few years ago I got my first (and so far only) tattoo in Thailand and I'm happy to say that I still don't regret it and am pretty sure I never will. Allthough by some people it might be considered a socalled 'trampstamp' because of its location, it is supposed to be a magical lucky charm. ' Yantra tattooing' or 'sak yant' is an ancient Buddhist form of body art, performed in south-east Asia. The tattoos involve the use of magic Yantras, scripts, geometric designs and the sacred ancient alphabet and are traditionally tattooed on the body using a bamboo rod.

My tattoo isn't ment to help me fight evil when I go to war, but it symbolises the Lotus, which rises above muddy swamp water and produces a beautiful and fragrant lotus flower. So whenever life is giving me lemons (and I've made enough limoncello ;)) my tattoo reminds me of the beautiful things I will learn and gain form any misery that might come my way.

It's true what they say about getting a tattoo. Once you've got one, it's so much easier to get another and another and another.. So sometimes I think about what my next tattoo will be. I like feminine tattoos, consisting of thin lines and beautiful shapes. So while I think about it, some inspirational pictures of classy tattoos I do find beautiful:

 I especially love spine tattoos :)
  

Fallen Princesses

Life gets hectic and often everyone seems to be stressing and dealing with problems of modern society, like status, money and appearance, followed by burn-outs, nervous breakdowns and depression.
Sometimes it makes me wonder about how things used to be, not a few years ago, not even in this lifetime, but for example in the middle ages or 19th century.
I know the image I have in my head is probably blurred by my romantic ideas of a simple life, where people worked, had quality time with friends and family, danced ans sang all day (ok maybe I watched too many movies ;)) But I like the idea of a time where people still believed in love and fairytales.
And allthough the spirit of modern life has probably put most of our feet a little more on the ground, the succes of Disney proves how much people still want to believe in fairytales. Princesses who live in magical castles staying beautiful and pure, while evil is always out to get them and in the end find their princes and live happily ever after.

Recently I discovered a cool and inspiring photographer Dina Goldstein who put my thoughts above perfectly into a series of photographs, called Fallen Princesses. With her photographs she portraits the Disney princesses we all know and love in the way they might have ended up if they lived in a modern time. Some of the pictures are funny, some are a bit more confronting of tragic, but I like them, it makes you think..

 

Belle (beauty and the beast) is obessed with her beauty

      Red riding hood chose comfortfood to deal with her problems is now dealing with obesity

 Jasmine (Aladins girlfriend) lives in the Middle East and has to fight for her life

Little mermaid Ariël got fished up by a fisherman (probably with radar system) and now swims behind glass in the public Zoo.

And last but not least..Rapunzel got struck by cancer and lost her long blond hair. Let's pray she got better..

Check out the other fallen princesses Here.

And if you want to end reading this on a happier note, Or if you (like me) like a confrontation with reality every now and then but still prefer believing in fairytales, you should check out an other cool series of photographs by Dina Goldstein about the tragic make-believe life of Barbie & Ken (who is obviously Gay!) Poor barbie..

The best things in life are free

Love, Friendship, Health.. I know the best things in life are free! But sometimes it's just too tempting to spend your time wishing for the second-best things in life, which are ironically the incredibly unaffordably expensive things!
Therefore this blog will be dedicated to the two way too expensive fashion-classics I oneday plan to own...

A classic Chanel bag!

Silky solft lamb leather of course! I still have to think about the model, but I think this Jumbo XL Flap bag would probably be my perfect companion. And It has to be bought in Paris, because thats it's home, so that's where I'll adopt my Chanel baby. And of course I'll promiss to love and cherish it from that day on, in good and in bad times, untill death do us part.

The second thing on my wish have-to-have list will fit perfectly in the louboutin-shaped hole in my closet:
Christian Louboutin Pumps! (how did you guess? ;)

 

With their perfect red soles, they will just take my life literally to a higher level. And no matter how much my feet might start to kill me at the end of every day, I won't give up on them and just die-hard keep wearing them.

Allthough the fact that all celebrities (and probably all other rich people too) probably own both a Chanel handbag and Louboutin shoes would usually make me lose my interest (lack of originality) for these two I'll have to make an exception.

Actually buying them can even be seen as a proper investment. Because their special power to make any outfit look instantly classy, will make it unnecessary to ever buy anything again! As people like the the Olsen Twins often demonstrate It doesn't really matter if you dress like a crazy grandma, a homeless person or a scarecrow, as long as you have your Chanel bag it's all fine! 

Feeling like a christmas Tree

For a girl like me, who always has a hard time making decisions in life, this seems to be the time to florish! Fashionwise I was never a big fan of  'Less is more' because that means I'd have to choose... Choose only one ring to wear on my ringfinger, one necklace to wear around my neck etc.  It's just unfair to all the other pieces of jewelry, who are just lying there feeling like they have no purpose in life, while I have to decide which piece gets to be chosen to make me look fabulous.

Around december I just to get jeaulous of the one thing that can wear as many decorations as he or she could, the Christmastree! The more shiny jewelry, the better!
So the Christmastree is obviously a trendsetter as it comes to 'more is more.'  Because also in fashion the time has finally come for me to decorate myself with as many shiny things I can find and feel like the christmastree I always wanted to be! :)







So Cover yourself with Bling! Rings, necklaces, bracelets, in every shape or size, they can all come out of the closet and feel free to shine!

I love this trend of never having to make any decisions. As long as you keep your outfit simple you can wear as many decorations as you like! So here is some more inspiration, have fun decorating and Merry Christmas!

The Paris-New Zealand Diet

The last year, I've spent some time abroad; for two months I 'studied french' in Paris, and later I went to New Zealand for 3 months to work and travel around. Eventhough both places were so different, from what I'm used to at home and especially from eachother, they both inspired me to change my eating habits..

Paris
In Paris, the city I love so much, everything seems to be so cultured. I love the haute couture fashion, the language of love, all the stylish people, the countless museums with beautiful art and of course.. La Cuisine! The french kitchen is classic and so refined. The city is full of the best restaurants in the world and on every corner you can find a petit Pattiserie with delicacies which are actually to beautiful to eat, but even more delicious.

While I was In Paris I found out what the secret is of French women, who manage to keep a perfect figure in the middle of so many irresistable temptations..  Only eat whats worth eating! Only eat the most beautiful perfectly combined meals, prepared with love, because that tastes so much better then 10 times as much ugly manufactured, loveless, gross things. Off course this way of eating has a pricetag, but it's all about priorities. Like all french people I just chose to rather eat one piece of culinairy art and starve the rest of the day, than eating a lot of anything else, because it's just worth it!

New Zealand
On the other side of the world (literally) I went back to basic. The family I stayed at only ate organic and preferably home-grown foods. They were vegetarians, with the exception of animals they hunted themselves, because that would be a waste of good meat. As used-to-junkfood citygirls we called adapting to our new New Zealand lifestyle 'bootcamp,' and spent our time in the garden, nurturing our patatoes, cabbage and lettuce and eating it for dinner.

I have to admit that I did feel pretty healthy with my natural food, free of preservatives, chemicals and of course grown with love.

The revolutionairy Diet
So now the time has come to combine the best of both worlds into my revolutionairy Paris-New Zealand Diet! Because I know these rules will make me look like a Victoria's secret angel in no time!

1. Only eat, whats worth eating
2. Don't wast the joy of eating on food, which is processed in some factory, where instead of love, they put chemicals and preservatives in it.
3. Pay attention to eating my carefully selected food, because 'the chosen ones' deserve to be eaten with as much love as with wich they were prepared.

My devotion to this revolutionairy diet has allready resulted in me making myself this delicious and very healthy Salad for lunch:

Ingredients: 
Rocket salad
Little Gem salad
Cucumber
Chicory
Grapefruit
Smoked Salmon
Dressing











Bon appetit!

God is a Chocoholic

As I was roaming the streets of Antwerp yesterday, just innocently shopping (and looking for the giant cathedral, which seemed to have dissappeared..) I suddenly got drawn into the former royal palace of Antwerp. Not because it is such a beautiful building, or because Napoleon once lived there, but because Chocolatier Dominique Persoone opened a shop there and I was just not strong enough to resist the temptation of the the delicious chocolates inside.

Once I stepped inside I had to face the challenge of keeping my wallet closed. Rather would I have bought a huge chocolate dog sculpture, chocolate lipstick, chocolate massage oil, chocolate books and even the chocolatebar-shaped counter. (Because that would look pretty cool in the kitchen of my future home) But I didn't and I'm pretty proud of that! :)








Apart from all the eatible chocolate, they also sold the chocolate shooter, once invented for a birthdayparty of the rolling stones but later presented as the socalled solution to the problem of every chocoholic.. Calories! With the shooter you can sniff chocolate to get the  taste of chocolate without eating it! It sounds fantastic, but I allready tried it once though.. Its funny and it does kinda work, but it definitely doesnt compare to eating it!

Off course I couldn't leave the shop without buying something so I had to try the really intriguing assortment of chocolates. My budget allowed me to choose 8 different flavours. And I allready regret not stretching my budget to buy more, because as crazy as these chocolates might sound, they were all DELICIOUS!

My top 5 chocolates: (within the flavours I tried off course)

5.Italian Javanais (White chocolate ganache with fresh basil, a chutney of sundried tomatoes, marzipan with black olives)
I have to admit I had my doubts about this one, but somehow it really worked
4.Espelette (bitter ganache, marzipan, slightly smoked chili pepper)
Because I like things spicy, even my chocolates
3. Carasel (Caramel ganache with fleur the sel)
Its just a classic combination of deliciousness
2. Bollywood (White chocolate ganache flavoured with saffron and a mild curry) sounds weird, but I like curry and appearantly I like it even more when its in a chocolate
....
1. BACON!
I know... but I promiss it's just the best combination ever!


So if you ever go to Antwerp, go to the chocolate line and try them all! Because I know that if anyone will ever ask me what my favourite chocolote flavour is, the answer will be: Bacon!

Pinterest

Ohhh Pinterest*, I've been spending so many nights on you, before my internet connection decided to cut me off... Suddenly I had to go cold turkey, leave all of my dreams behind, move out of my imaginairy home, stop wearing the fabolous clothes from my imaginairy walk-in closet, say goodbye to my imaginairy collection of cutest pets in the wold...  It was hard to come back to reality!

And that's exactly why I dont think the pinterest-trend will wear out any time soon. It just feeds the desire to dream away and forget about reality. And that's fine! Because who doesn't like the world of dreams, aspecially when you can colour it anyway you want! :)

My internet connection is back so I have to go! See you in my dreams! (Where I'm sure you will be totally jealous of my haute couture clothes that seem to be made for my superfit and healthy body, my appartment in Paris/New York/Bali full with a city-ocean view and my life full of perfect romance ;-) 

(My Pinterest Profile)

* Pinterest = A content sharing service that allows members to "pin" images, videos and other objects to their pinboard

Skullicious

Recently I seem to have developed a serious Skull fetish. In every shop in enter, my skullradar automatically gets activated and finds me every T-shirt, piece of jewelry with skulls on it.  Apart from the risk of looking like a depressed and death-obsessed gothic, I had my fetish under controll untill I found out that its contagious! Almost like the infamous 'Zalando-virus' the obsession of skulls has spread so fast, that within weeks, they're EVERYWHERE!
So its time for a new strategy towards collecting and wearing skulls; Just one skull at a time, stop buying them, and hope the trend blows over before I turn gothic again (Yes again! I get flashbacks to a 16-year old me).

PS: An official exception to the rule has to be made for my skull shamballa bracelet because:
1. My boyfriend gave it to me
2. I love it
3. It's supposed to be a lucky charm :)

And on the first day.. there was light

Light on trends before they're happening, foods before they're fashionable and fashion before its in style!
This blog will be about everything that makes my world spin, my love, culture, people, art, fashion and all beautiful things in life. Because life is to short to waste on the bad things and as a wise man in an imaginary world of magic once said: