Dear friend travelling in South Africa,

Hup Hup Jongen!

Fantastic to hear you are having a good time - can the same be said for the refugee kids you are supposedly entertaining? I did, indeed, notice your fb statement about suffering from the curse of the travelling journalist - too much leisure with intent to document, and not enough crafting of the words to create a solid article. (NB: Writing your hostel address on a serviette and putting it in your back pocket early in the evening to anticipate remembering where you are staying after 9 drinks does not count as "documenting." By the way, neither is updating your facebook status sporadically; microblogging is not "reporting".)

I should be typing my little fingers off, creating literary masterpieces about the esteemed cultural agenda that Amsterdam offers, but it's late and I am recovering from spontaneous mountain climb in the pre-alps yesterday. (I DID NOT sign up to climb a mountain 1400mts above sea level in tennis shoes one size too large for me, yet somehow that is what I found myself doing yesterday, BEFORE breakfast.)

Summer is indeed making my little heart sing with glee, it was a GORGEOUS day today, I wanted to run up and down the streets and hug strangers and sing corny broadway show tunes from 1965 ( this had nothing to do with the 3 beers I had while I watched Netherlands slot a couple of balls into the back of a net in South Africa this afternoon when I should have been working, nor the other beer I had while sitting on the beach today at Scheveningen after the game ...)

Writing is not going too well, I forgot how to use that side of my brain, whatever side it is that controls the "write something other than emails telling people to get off their ass and do work/make appointments to do pointless shit and talk about things not getting done." I am hoping that the journalistic masterpiece I've had hidden in my subconcious for the past 20 years wants to make an appearance between now and 7pm tomorrow evening before my last class. Don't waste your 3 Euros buying Time out Amsterdam to see my byline anywhere in black and white. I recommend buying another 8 beers in the township, then using the change to log onto the internet and reporting all about it. Would be far more interesting ( and worthy of publishing) than the crap that is spilling out onto my screen at the moment.

I still haven't bought any dumplings from Chinatown, but have been experimenting with a wok lately, good news is that the asian genetics somehow are proving useful for something, and the wok creations are pleasing my flatmate and anyone else that happens to be in the immediate vicinity.

Safe travels Ouwe, and keep up with the writing. Anyway that you can combine your 3 current favoured activities of refugee babysitting, pool sharking and beverage sinking into one fantastically imaginative article for the masses???

Ciao for now!