Nimavenl - Nicole's Random Ramblings

I caved - Finally. Signed up for my very own Twitter account yesterday. As of right now I'm following 114 people and am being followed by 5 people. Random. Especially as I don't even know these 5 people. Still - it's kinda cool in a slightly strange way  :D I think I'll link my Twitter and my Blog, however still have to figure out how to do that exactly. While I do that - head on over to Youtube and enjoy this video showing how much we love OUR BOYS and how proud we are of them and their amazing achievement!!!! http://bit.ly/9b0Myf This is why I love being Dutch !!!

Went for a walk with a friend's daughter before the game on Sunday. We were gone for maybe an hour, taking photos of everything orange in the neighbourhood, of flowers and traffic signs, and of all the people dressed in orange. We were dressed in orange as well, singing football-related songs and running around happy as anything. It's been a long time since I spent time with my nephew, and haven't had much to do with children since then. My nephew's only 3, and while my friend's daughter is 9, she's as exuberant and joyful as my nephew is. It's easy to forget how much fun it is to spend time with children and how carefree it makes you. For a change, it doesn't matter what people think of you, it doesn't matter if you're running around acting silly and pulling faces - there's no pressure to behave a certain way or conform to social standards. It makes me wonder why we can't always feel that carefree and be that confident in...

Well, to say I'm disappointed would be the understatement of the century. Watched the game last night on a huge screen with friends and neighbours. The kids were all playing together, the grown-ups were all watching together, I talked to people I'd never met before and others I've known my whole life. It's amazing how football and the national pride we feel brings people together the way it does. For the duration of the World Cup, it didn't matter whether someone was a supporter of Ajax or Feyenoord or ADO Den Haag; things like race, religion and skin colour didn't matter. What did matter is that we all supported our boys, our team, our country. We all lived, breathed, and wore orange. Our dream to finally win the World Cup didn't come true. Spain won. We did not. We did, however, make it to the finals of the World Cup for the first time ever IN MY LIFETIME. For only the third time ever in football history, and for the very first time since 1978. We r...

Being female, people are often surprised that I'm a football fan. Some are still not quite convinced I actually enjoy the game even after asking about my favourite team and favourite players. They seem to think I only watch because apparently, football players are all "hot" and "sexy". Right... While I agree that some of the players do look good in shorts, is it really that hard for people to accept that "OH EMM GEE they're so cute" is not why I watch the game? Now that that's out of my system, on to today's random ramble... The Germany - Uruguay game for third place was held tonight (and daaaaamn I really was hoping that Forlan would strike gold... instead of the crossbar...), which leaves only one match to be played. The Netherlands vs Spain. And oh by the way - When it comes to football / soccer, I am definitely Dutch and I really really really hope we'll win. We've played in the finals twice before - in '74 and in '...