Greetings from Limp Ninja and Lemon

Note to non-demosceners: You probably won't get this.

Facet is in the country for a couple of days to seal some business deals here. It's been a while since the lovable Amiga graphician made me feel like I'm the least funny person on the planet. Moreover, it's good to see a familiar face. Who knows, I might catch him so piss-drunk that he can be persuaded to pixel a naked woman on a serpent. With a volcano in the background.

Sunday was pretty much uneventful

I spent most of the day preparing food, doing laundry and idly checking the last bits of the trainees' last assignment... I had some rice and beans from the fridge, played a bit of the regular HL2 (since yes, the rest is now updating like no tomorrow).

The weather was decidedly random. This is killing my intentions to tan up a bit more :(

Steam doesn't want me to play games anymore

While the Steam distribution system looks pretty good on paper and hasn't been a cause for concern previously, I'm having one hell of a time trying to convince it to stop locking down my games here in Surinam.

Before leaving the Netherlands I bought the Half-Life 2 Orange Box through Steam, installed the games and made sure they were activated so i could play in offline mode. All was well. During a boring, rainy day I played some Portal, was thoroughly pleased with the game and tried playing it again the next day.

The Steam client told me something along these lines: "No. I am updating your game. Go away." Apparently the Steam client had accidentally been online -there's a very shaky wireless connection with a 64kbps internet connection in the appartment complex. I saw that all games had an auto-update feature enabled, which is great in times of bandwidth, but Portal has been inactive for the last two weeks, apparently updating. It's that slow out here.

Not to be outdone by a piece of software, I disabled the update feature, made sure that Steam was offline (it was) and decided to play HL2 Episode 1 instead. This lasted until it was time for this game to get the wonderful "Updating: 0%" message rather than "Sure, go ahead and play me!".


And now HL2 Episode Two started too. I'm running out of games I have configured to not update at all. Quit this bullshit already!

You don't see things like this back home

This was the first time in Surinam to wake up after noon. I tend to wake up around
05:30 most of the time, but I guess that staying in the Krasnapolsky bar for the
weekly live gig really did me in for once.

After waking up, doing some laundry and menial work in the kitchen, I sent for a cab to check out the Hermitage Mall. I've been trying to find a reasonably priced set of computer speakers (and until recently, a powerstrip), so I might as well check out the fabled (single) mall that Paramaribo had. The cabby was sure to take the most ridiculous detour available and stiffed me with a bill that ensured I'd never step in his vehicle even again. Hope the few extra bucks he made off me for once were worth it :)

The mall was pointless. Carefully constructed, obviously very high-profile yet deserted. I guess not too many people here either care or can afford the premium mall experience. I passed a Blokker, forgot to make a snapshot of this throwback to home and found a computer store which managed to disappoint the hell out of me. It carried mediocre hardware for a damn steep price. Everything was marked in US dollars and promised bleak import inflation the size of a melon -the cheapest shit in the store you'd dare call speakers, carried a 39 USD tag. Not bad for speakers that net 10 euros in Europe!

Since the Hermitage was pretty close to the plot of the Backlot's Multiplex project, I decided to go on foot and take some snaps.



As you can see, the building's pretty much going to dominate the skyline in Paramaribo. I took some snaps and decided to walk back to the apartment. Unlike what the cabby tried to present, the location of the Hermitage Mall turned out to be pretty damn closeby.

Then I got across this:



I had a pretty hard time dealing with it. It spasmed it's way across the street towards me, as if it really was heading for me. I'm not sure what the most upsetting thing was; the fact that it looked like a headless snake with a pus-like boil where the head ought to be, or the fact that C'htulhu obviously lacked a tentacle …somewhere.

If somebody can identify this bizarre organism, I'd be grateful. At that point I'd be able to voice my displeasure at meeting whatever the hell it was.

The hardest thing about the course

"There is no such thing as just one solution."

It was like telling Apple salespeople I wanted the US International layout. The trainees were beyond batshit insane when it came to the very idea that they might just do things wrong -as if it wouldn't fit the pattern of the trainer.

The dismay in V's eyes when I confessed I never had expected anybody to come up with a solution like hers was tangible enough to tether wile horses with. I had to explain that the approach was unconventional, but a great way to resolve the problem. It was also one hell of a time to get through to R that this solution was sound in theory, but that Internet Explorer demands certain stupidity only reserved for the experienced.

I hope that all of the trainees will come out of this ordeal with the ingrained reflex to question the norm and try to improve on the challenges at hand. They certainly know that they need to ask "why?!" but they fail to open their mouths far too often.

Work slow, food great, music too. Must sleep.

Slow day at work. I was supposed to be discussing the results from yesterday's assignment, but one of the absentees from yesterday (medical reasons) was doing the same material and it felt wrong to discuss thethingl while she was slaving over it.

Instead, the others also got the table-less "revenge of the coloured boxes" practice to deal with and I got delightful results -one of the wallflowers in CSS did an awesome job using only negative margins to get everything to fit into place. She only asked help when IE6 was being an utter retard, and she fixed that on her own after being told where to look. People more busy with floating tripped over what I'd hoped for -the retared IE float bugs. I had to intervene with one of the great ones from the training, and he diligently started thrawling the Web for more scenarios concerning hasLayout and IE being nothing short of a bad joke.

It doesn't go without saying that the straggler was not just late with a lame excuse, but also needed help to finish the practice. Where help means copying things verbatim from one of the newcomers how to solve the puzzle. One of the people who is technically supposed to be at least 4 weeks behind straggler's experience. You know where I'm going with this. Straggler will utterly fail the test at this rate.

VK opted out of the fire-and-brimstone speech about the trainees getting very lax with attendance, bandwidth discipline, phone calls and what not. Next week, maybe. I did feel somewhat left in the snow when I was vehemently trying to bansish the students' youtube usage (we're using a shitty 256k line with a 1/20 upsell ratio for 18 people) whe the next thing I get is a mesage from VK with an amusing youtube video.

Sent to all.

Extended stay

Yes.

Today I got the word from AJ that she could postpone my stay until the 29th, which is awesome. I need to check out my possibilities to travel inlands and get eaten by some underwhelming-looking predator or catch malaria. I'm pretty pleased with this development, since it means I get to witness Independence Day here in Paramaribo too boot.

Today I gave the trainees the whole day to do an assignment, though I warned them I'd expect them to finish sooner. Four out of fourteen pulled it off after six hours. Unfortunately I had to become a serious hard-ass with one of the less-motivated trainees and I am not exactly expecting a lot from this one. It's especially troubling because the potential is definitely there, but a lack of discipline, concentration and maybe even interest make it impossible to focus on the project at hand.

On one hand it is extremely frustrating to see someone fall behind like that. On the other hand it's been made perfectly clear that you can't keep dragging people over the finish line just because they won't run for themselves. It's a pretty unpleasant realization, but we have to remember that only half the crew will pass the whole ordeal…

PWNED!!11!1 :)

So yeah, this is a day to remember: I screwed up a practice for the trainees :)


A stupid, innocent little mistake, really: In order to make them play with CSS filter hacks, I made a practice XHTML file that they needed to style in certain ways in certain browsers. I mixed up the conditions a little to get a fresh test case for them, and made the following mistake:

"I want my text to blink in Internet Explorer 6 and Opera. In the rest of the browsers it will be nice and quiet"

…and that's not possible. IE6 doesn't support text-decoration: blink;. I should have noticed that slip-up while rearranging the conditions in the page, but I didn't. The trainees found it staring at them like a bleeding carcass.

That was a damning moment right there :)

Probation!

The Eldar of project management gave the green light -I can stay to spend some leisure time in Surinam after my time slot in the training ends. Good times. I've come to appreciate the country, it's people and the things I can do here.

Now to see what my plane ticket might afford in terms of flexibility.

All your base are belong to Firefox

One of the more beautiful early consequences of bad planning in CSS is that trainees make beginners' mistakes. Like trying to amend for default margins with absolute positioning and negative margins for child elements of those that cause the margin to begin with.

However, one of the guys managed to present me with a wonderful challenge I've yet to replicate: he managed to use the following element:

<base href="/" />

Yet he managed to make this work on a mini-site while navigating on his local filesystem and only found out he was in trouble when he looked in IE6. It's nice to be subjected to insanity like this. Trainers really should be more fallible :)

Why yes, there are cats here.

Surinam is a veritable desert when it comes to cats. Dogs, in all degrees of manginess , are all over the place but cats are nowhwere to be seen. As one cabby said "Us surinams don't take well to cats".

Granted, dogs are a practical asset here. They bark at interlopers, eat leftovers and are principally just left around the courtyard. The idea to pet a dog is a bit akward here.

However, here is irrefutable proof:



They're extremely shy and run off the moment they see you, but they're there. This one only came out to the stairs in order to hide from the rain, so consider this a rare shot.

My ticket for hell is booked

This morning, I started out with giving the trainees a practice lesson in unusual box shapes. People familiar with Eric Meyer would probably recognize the experiment, except I didn't give them one example layout -I gave them three.

This is the "intermediate" box they have to deal with:



Right now, the over-courageous trainees easily finished the first and are now in one hell of a quagmire. One of them is almost done, but only pulling in by the skin of his teeth.

I am such a jerk.

Saint Laurent and Galibi

…I just noticed I failed to complete last weekend's report.

Saint Laurent

Saint Laurent is a bordertown of French Guyana, marketed as "the Paris of South America". Lies. There are signs here and there that the place used to be pretty, but this place has been peeling and wearing away for a while. It did have a certain charm to it that you could buy a baguette at the bakery around the corner though. The famous saturday market was nice, but not impressive. There were a lot of kids trying to pawn off cigarettes or god-knows-what (my French is terrible). It was pretty clear that whatever wellfare attributed to this city in the guidebooks, it had left here in a hurry. Ferrymen would run to meet you half a mile away in order to offer their services for the St. Laurent -> Albina trip, and those that waited, offered it while you passed.

On the other side of the water, the trip to Galibi was planned. This village is not reachable by road, by water only. The guide occasionally stopped the boat to explain some plant life or type of bird, and we arrived about one and a half hours later on a small inlet with a view of the Atlantic Ocean. Galibi is an ideal outreach for the beaches where Turtles lay their eggs, but I arrived out of season, so the place was understandably deserted. The place was pretty clean for Surinam's standards, though litter on the beach was aplenty. We took up for the night in a resort, and slung hammocks up for the night. Food was arranged for us (brown beans, rice and chicken, a staple dish here) and I hit the sack pretty early.

I got woken up by a stray dog who decided to sniff my face. Good times were had, mostly me screaming himself awake. The dog took this in good stride, decided I was awesome and curled up for a nap under my hammock.

I left in the morning, arrived in Albina around 11:30 and had a quick trip back to Paramaribo with a cousin of my previous taxi driver. When I return to this country, Galibi is definitely on my list of places to stay longer -preferably in the season of Turtle activity.

Power!

Closing doors in this country has it's benefits. You tend to avoid visitations of bats in your living room around dusk.

About three weeks into this trip, I finally managed to get my hands on the most vital thing during my stay: a powerstrip! I was naive enough to think I'd just find some hardware store over here that carried anything of the sort, and that was certainly never the case. Most electronics stores would be happy to sell me bluetooth headsets, pirated PSP games for a mere €5,- but extension cords were a complete mystery. Everywhere.

It didn't help that the apartment has a single power outlet every 5 odd meters -it was a circus act to keep my laptop and hard disk powered and in use at the same time. But now -oh glorious day, I can connect my laptop, harddisk, usb hub camera charger thanks to this wonderful little gadget I found in the supermarket down the street:



I love the Fischer Price look of it. Not bad for something cheaper than a pirated PSP game..

Why would you want to have a US keyboard? - Part 2

...so yes. Apple decided to relaunch their approach to a keyboard, got rid of the "let's make an antfarm display out of your dust, skin cells and spilled beer" design and got all sleek, sexy and made the keys all weird like the regular Macbook. After some cautious browsing, it turned out that Apple dropped the ball on the wireless front -no full-sized keyboard and I had to stick to the wired version. No problem there, I had used a wired Logitech keyboard since I got my Macbook, and I was pretty much comfortable with the risk of tripping over a wire and potentially using my Macbook as a very expensive projectile at that point.

However, the question loomed again.

Before even daring to walk into the maws of the ignorant Macstore blackshirts, I triple-checked the website. Not only did the dutch Apple site advertise the new keyboard in the US International layout, the online store had a plethora of different international layouts available, shipping in 24 hours.

Needless to say, the Macstore had nothing but the Dutch layouts on display. I felt in a very familiar place, but not in the right one.

I queried one of the blackshirts. He frowned, and asked what a US International layout was. I explained this. He just stared at me as if I asked him to hand over his liver, just for giggles. He then argued I might want to try the "regular" keyboard instead. I explained that, coming from the PC world (i.e. the other 95% of the world), I was far more comfortable calling the US International keyboard a "regular". he looked at me as if I wanted to buy a Mac with Windows Satan preinstalled, and told me he'd ask about this. After conversing with his colleagues in front of me, they had decided on their alibi: I was not allowed to buy one.

Excuse me?

I asked why this was the case. Apparently, I was not a US citizen and therefore not entitled to a US International keyboard. I argued that this was probably a mistake, since PC vendors had no trouble selling me a keyboard like that. They argued that my nationality barred me from having a foreign bank account (I wonder how expats handle that in his chain of logic) and that I would not be able to get one. I conceded that maybe the retail stores might work like that, but surely this was a strange policy if they offered the keyboard on the Dutch online Apple store. This was waved away with the statement that I'd be asked for a US account upon ordering, so his story was , in his lovely unicorn world, solid.

I left the store, vowing never to deal with their batshit insane logic again and left for another Mac store across town. This was another piece of comedy gold in the wait.

Since this store was a bit more off centre, the three employees were all behind the same cashiers' iMac, obviously bored out of their skulls. When I asked whether they could get me a US International version of the Apple keyboard, I was asked what that meant. I explained this to three expectant, glowing faces as if it were a bloody Christmas carol. They conceded there was a difference between my story and what they had on display, but again I was confronted with the question why I would want this.

I began to wonder if they clone people and raise them isolated from the real world in order to fill the workfloor over at the Mac stores, because being so ignorant about a common keyboard layout is bordering on insanity. It's like working in a hospital and not know how to diagnose death because you happen to work in physiotherapy.

I then tried the online stores of Mac retailers. The one that advertised with US International keyboards in stock took 10 minutes on the phone to conclude that the site was not up to date, so the keyboards were not in stock after all. You'd think online stores do not work like that. Again, I was asked why on earth I wanted a US International layout. I was assured that the other person on the phone was totally a fan of the "regular" layout and that I should just get that one.

After several botched attempts to buy a sane Apple keyboard like this, I tried ordering through the Dutch Apple store, where the promised 24h shipping became "at least a week" upon checkout. This was several weeks later -not to mention a week before my trip to Surinam would ensue.

What the hell Apple? I want a keyboard that is happily advertised on your website -even the dutch version of that site. Yet everywhere I go, I get the same old question: why would I want the layout that is the de-facto layout that you can get anywhere else in the Netherlands? I would love to be able to do this without people wearing your polos looking at me like I'm asking for a Swahili manual for Windows XP printed in dog's blood on a young girl's skin.

I tried the tax-evasive way by having a US citizen ship me one to Surinam. Turned out even the shady way was not practical -the keyboard would probably arrive five weeks after I'd have left the country.

Fun fact: I can get a US International keyboard several minutes from here. It just won't be an Apple keyboard. Apple doesn't cover Surinam -both in sales and Applecare.

Why would you want to have a US keyboard?

I wish I was joking, but yes... this was asked more often than not at all. Apparently, as somebody who does not live in the United States, I am not allowed to get my hands on the US International layout if I want to type on an Apple keyboard.

I may seemed harsh on Macstore employees previously, so I'll start and elaborate on the last beef I had with the collective retail force of Apple. Maybe this may sound familar.

One of the few reasonable people in a black shirt was the one who ordered my MBP. At that point I already had expressed the preference for a US International keyboard layout. I had noticed that the store only displayed models with a modified Dutch layout that I had no desire for. This had caused all of the employees I spoke with to look at me like I had a tentacle growing where my mouth used to be, right before that oddball question I uttered.

People who wonder what an US International keyboard looks like, I present a promotional shot from the Apple Keyboard. For some minor alterations here and there, it's like any default keyboard you can get from any other computer vendor, even in the Netherlands.

However, Apple won't sell you one. Not without a pantomine of the trivia-challenged, at least.

Buying the Macbook Pro

So yes, the friendly Macstore guy did ask me why I even wanted a US layout on my laptop. I told him why, explained the difference (he didn't know there was any) and he looked up how much time that would take. Turns out it could be anywhere between two to five weeks. I had three (until my holidays in Finland), so I was somewhat taken aback by the rough estimate. He then did a pretty neat thing: he ordered my preferred model in both the Dutch and US layout. The Dutch version would arrive in mere days and could serve as a backup if the US wouldn't arrive in time. He suggested that at a small fee, they could replace the Dutch layout with a spare part US keyboard, making it possible to obtain the right layout -only the manual and box would be dutch, which quite frankly, I couln't care less about. That keyboard, as a spare part, would be arriving in a couple of days. He assured me he'd get rid of either model, or just ship it back. No trouble at all.

Humbled by the good-natured service, I asked what the markup would be for that keyboard swap. He then told me that tech support had shut down for the evening, so a precise estimate would be impossible. He hazarded they'd charge me for the part and 15 minutes of service, but encouraged me to call in the morning to get the right numbers.

The next morning, I called the store. I explained the scenario to the tech guy. He asked why I would want a US layout. I explained that I was used to the US International layout, to which he answered he never had any trouble with the Dutch layout. I told him I was happy he could get along with it, but I had no desire to do so.

He then needed to look up the price for this, which took seven minutes. He didn't have his computer turned on. Why this had to take five minutes was a mystery, but I'm not the one who installed the machines in a Macstore.

After some on-hold moments after the computer was booted up, he told me the part was €150. Okay, that's double the price of what Ebay sellers net for it, but I wanted this to stay in warranty, so I agreed and asked for a time estimate. "At least three weeks, I'm afraid".

I told him I would think about this. I could do this as an after-sales thing if the situation was dire, but I stuck to the hopes that the MBP with the US layout would arrive on time.

A week later a message arrived. The US version had arrived at the store. I was elated and called the store about picking it up. After a confused shuffle of orders I got the news: this was not, in fact, the US version. It was the Dutch version. Again, I got asked why I wanted a US International layout. I guess the tentacle was audible through the phone. After I explained my preference I was assured that the guy I was talking to had no problems with the Dutch version. He only failed to point out I was weird in so many words.

After the weekend I decided I'd just swallow my pride, get the Dutch version and try to get it amended later. At the store, there was minor confusion about the double order (the friendly guy apparently only worked evenings and weekends, so I was SOOL). It should come as no surprise that the guy processing my order had never heard of anybody wanting a US International layout, and he assured me he thought the Dutch layout was perfect. By this time I hoped that if these people ever got banished to Hell for any reason, that the Apple keyboards would all be Dvorak.

So I spent a lot of time using a Logitech UltraX keyboard for my typing duties, until the Apple Keyboard got a delicious, slim overhaul...

Being a switcher

A lot of Mac switchers who drank the Jobs Koolaid tend to have a several-months interval before reflecting on the before-after horseplay. I intended to do it after three months, meaning I'd have to sign on to the Magical Mystery Tour on octboer 10th, but at that point I lacked the spine to blog, plus I was busy.

So it goes: I've been a Switcher for nearly four months now, and the effects are disturbing.

It should go without no introduction that I have never been much of an Apple fanboy. I loathed the machines during my stay at the academy of arts, I stayed around for the funeral around, give or take, 1997 right before Steve jobs took control of the complicated clown car accident that was Apple Computer Inc. at the time. Then I kept a lopsided, skeptical eye at what it has become right now.

I planned to jumped ship after the switch to Intel architecture, which gradually gave us Boot Camp, better bangs per buck and the promise of one hell of a hardware & software combo. I waited a while, since ATI hardware has lost my fancy after tanking 9700 Pro cards (right outside the warranty), weird X1600 performance and the fact that Linux and ATI never really managed to play in a non-volatile way.

Because yes, I went into that Mac store with black-shirted morons for a laptop that had enough GPU horsepower to suit me, and run three different Operating Systems -including Linux. I could get a laptop with a more dinky feel with two out of three for a fraction of the price, but I really wanted the unholy trinity and a laptop that looked like the designers actually gave a damn about how their product would turn out to be.

Take note that I do call the Store employees morons because honestly, when you talk to the regular Macstore employee, it would appear that the most important asset to the job is being able to fit your ham-sized neck through an L-sized Apple shirt. I've never heard such horseshit about such a limited line of hardware. One would think they could memorize at least a few facts about the few types of keyboards, mice and computers in the goddamn store. No such luck. I was baffled at the utter lack of information they could sling at me.

The first knee-jerk reaction was to install the Boot Camp beta and make sure Windows was there. Two weeks later, save for Corel Draw X3, I had all but dropped Windows. Most of the stuff can be done through Parallels and only for demos I tend to drop back to Boot Camp. It's astonishing how much I enjoy the OS X part of my laptop.

A stern object lesson in how much Windows lacks elegance you take for granted in OS X was the switching between being on the road (just the laptop) and returning home. I have a desk with a Dell 24" display and a bunch of devices, including a simple usb hub, mouse and keyboard. OS X just goes on to business and introduces me with the display and the added usb mayhem as if it's yesterday evening. Windows lets me do the "I'm installing stuff" dance again and forces me to spend time to reconfigure my displays to operate properly. Just because I was naive enough to use my laptop on the road. I can think of better things to do when coming home.

A lot of the other stuff pleases me too, but this sticks out like a sore thumb. Linux and OSX have absolutely no trouble with my dynamic setup. The only things that stop me from using Windows are my unholy love for Corel Draw, Picasa not being OSX native yet and the bizarre joy I get from using Jeskola Buzz.

Other than that, this is a platform I thoroughly enjoy handing a kidney, arm and limb for. Let's see if the novelty wears off.

Die Fahrbahn ist ein graues band...

Last weekend I took a cab to the border with French Guyana, to a place called Albina. The place is a famous crossover to Saint Laurent, just across the water. There's a busy illegitimate ferry industry which brings people to either side of the border without any such thing as pesky customs officials or visa problems. Needless to say, I had to have a gander at that.

The cab driver turned out to be a local of the Marowijne province, specifically from the area where the inland wars of Surninam took a very ugly turn, razing several towns to the ground and actually destroying the city of Albina completely. There were still some pretty obvious signs that a major skirmish had ensued here, from burned husks to potholes in the road you could bury a rather large dog in. The driver, obviously seasoned by many rides to and fro' Albina, knew exactly where to swerve, slow down or speed like a maniac. I've seen shitty roads in Belgium before, but these took a really impressive cake, and he still drove 120kmph on the worst of spots.

The trip itself was pretty awe inspiring. The road was a grey band through lush green wilderness that expanded the more you left the city behind. Soon after leaving the suburbs, it was jungle time. The white stripes were missing, but yes: "Weisser streiffe, gruener rand" would be somewhat appropiate.

As I said, the driver was from the war-struck area of Marowije, and at a certain point we passed his home town. He decided on a detour and took a drive past his old town, showing the several sights of the place -including the war-torn ruins that still pocked the area. It would appear that Ronnie Brunswijk, the former rebel leader, had taken residence in several towns in the area, and this was one of them. The (in)famous restistance man had been making sure the area was somewhat taken care of, and it showed here and there. I also managed to witness the football stadium he had built for the town. All in all, pretty weird to take in.

After the detour, we went on our way to Albina. By that time the cabby had already managed to arrange for an accountable ferry man who took me to the other side so I could witness the famous market they had in St. Laurent...

Full Circle

Yet another short post, but my parents tend to have that deadpan observation skill people seem to confuse with British comedy. Both have been teachers by profession for decades (my mother is retired, my father has been given such a grand opportunity that he recently decided to postpone his retirement), the likelyhood of me treading in their tracks has always been estimated next to unlikely.

As to my first findings, musings and confusion about training 17 web developers to be, my father simply sent an e-mail reply that stated: "Welcome to the club"

Thanks :)

CSS Paradox

This post will only tickle web developers with the kind of interest in cross-browser Cascading Stylesheet hacks that I tend to exhibit, so people who have no idea what CSS means, go away now and wait for a new post.

During work today, one of my trainees managed to do something that actually delighted me: he made a quirky mistake that was so logical and weird at the same time that I really needed to share this with the rest of the group to see if people understood the contradiction in terms. I then shared it with my colleagues, peers and friends. I might as well post it on my Blag and share it with the world:

* html>body { margin: 0; }

This is a wonderful combination of hacks and theoretically solid logic that will never, ever work, unless somebody will deliberately introduce a bug into an opensource browser to "get" this.

The poor guy seemed embarrassed when I showed this to people, but I honestly love this utterly logical, yet impossible declaration in CSS. He made my day with this one. I ought to name the paradox after him.

Annyong Haseo!

After work today I arranged to meet up with my mother, who has been spending an euforic few days in the centre of Paramaribo. She had always intended to go to Surinam, and the overlap of me being there and her was something of a not-too-large coincidence to say the least. We're not in each other's hair though -she has her own arrangements, trips and plans, and occasionally they overlap. In this case, during dinner time.

It's an arrangement not too remote from what I had with my family when we all visited Korea in 2001. While the six of us were all there at the same time, people took their own business elsewhere, and occasionally we met in linchpin places. We all had our own stuff to do, yet we did always manage to meet up at the crossroads.

The crossroads was a quiet, rustic bar at the Waterkant, right across the presidential palace. We had some drinks, enjoyed the view (students of an Art school were doing a realistic study of a ramshackle house next to the bar. I was taken aback by the sheer lack of decent material (their only tool being a crummy HB school pencil, eraser on the butt and all), but this seems to be one of those things Surinam excels at -they make do with the most spartan means, and that's not the oiled-man-torso-&-cgi-bloodbaths kind I'm talking about.

After a drink we ambled on to Mr. Lee's, which was considered a reputable Korean restaurant in Surinam. We had tried on Sunday to get there, but after a rather uncomfortable walk through unlit, unsavory neighborhoods, we discovered the place to be closed at Sunday. Taking note of the opening times, we gave it another shot today.

The facade was truely Korean. Upon entering, we had to walk over a quaint little bridge. All of it looked more promising than ever.

Upstairs, a Hindu lady offered us a table. Okay, Italian restaurants in Amsterdam tend to be served by any other nationality than Italian, but I had to admit it was a bit of a difference ;)

Turned out most of the card was the Surinam approach to Chinese food. We ordered a bottle of Soju, which blissfully was the the good old Jinro Soju you could get from any South Korean evening store you walked into, and we cheered blissfully while waiting for our Bulgogi. We were pretty much alone except for a single other guest, who curiously eyed our little ritual. We cordially invited him to drink along and had conversation with him.

He too came to this place with the idea that Korean food would be a treat, but picked a dish that definitely wasn't. We offered him a seat at our table to eat some of what we knew would be somewhat closer to Korean cuisine, and struck up conversation during dinner. Turned out Jerry was originally a teacher in the Netherlands who had moved to Surinam for a while to recover in the more agreeable climate after a surgery. We had an amicable dinner conversation, compared some notes (he also teached in Amsterdam, so was familiar-ish with the place) and left him with some tips on what to eat at this place for a more true korean food experience.

The Bulgogi was good, and it came with Kimchi, of which I had to order another portion just because it had been too bloody long since the last time I had some decent Kimchi. When we were ready to leave, the "true" Korean in the place came from the kitchen, a young guy who was born in Busan, had stayed in Delft and now lived here. He revealed that the Korean community in Surinam totals about 50 people. I think there's more active dutch demosceners than that.

I smell of garlic now, and I really can't give a toss. Good food does that to people.