Japantag 2009

One week left until having to endure an entire week of exams, so what does lil’ Aki do? Nope, he’s not studying…he had some off-the-hook fun at the Japantag 2009 in Düsseldorf, Germany!

The Japantag (english: Japan Day) is an annual festival organized by the city of Düsseldorf to celebrate the unique relationship between Germany and Japan (which is about more than just covering each others back in some World War almost 70 years a go). All along the Rhine, you’ll find stands and shows, and to go out with a bang, the day is concluded by an awesome fireworks show.

My personal reason for going to the Japantag, however, is not just my interest in Japanese society and culture, but also my fascination for the strangests hobbies around: Cosplay and Japanese fashion. Now, don’t be scared: I will probably never dress up as some Anime character myself, but I love to so people investing their spare time in creating brilliant and beautiful outfits. I had the chance to marvel at some truly masterful outfits this year, but sadly, my eyes also had to endure terrible pain and agony caused by chubby little girls who felt like dressing up in mini-skirts and far too tight tanktops. I hope that the memory will fade some day…

Anyway, I had a damn good time this year. I had the chance to see people that I hadn’t seen for ages (still, Laura, we still have to meet up again!), laugh about silly jokes, eat gross food and fall asleep at 4 AM this morning with a feeling of pure satisfaction and delight.

Unfortunately, I haven’t received much photos yet, but I can give you this one:

Can’t you see, posing is my specialty!

I’ll update this blog as soon as I have some new pictures, so stay tuned!

Signed,

Aki

Raiding Maastricht

Hey, it has been a while since I posted something here, right? Ahh well, good stuff needs time to get even better, so here I am again!

First of all, to all the happy couples in love around the world: Happy Valentine’s Day! Have fun celebrating a cheesy and extremely commercial kind of holiday, kept alive by the flower and chocolate industry. I know you want to!

Last night was totally awesome! Since some of our fellow WoW-players from Sweden are in Holland right now, we decided to meet with them in Maastricht to have dinner together, and a few pints / drinks afterwards. Of course, we were quite anxious: we never met these people in real life, and only knew what they were like while slaying big zombie dogs and fat poison-injecting abominations. Fortunately, our Swedish companions (and their Dutch driver) turned out to be as funny in real life as they are in the digital cosmos.

First stop was “D’n Ingel” at the Vrijthof in Maastricht, where we had some delicious food (even though a few of us did not finish their plate…bad, bad Firlia!) And again, foreigners were surprised how tiny our glasses of beer are around here, but how “cheap” alcohol is in the Netherlands (it seems to be expensive in Sweden. I guess Scandinavian governments just don’t like their citizens to be drunk). My sister Julia had “Choco Lasagna” after her main dish, and we all hoped to see something really disgusting including chocolate sause, cheese and meat. Unfortunately, it turned out to be just normal chocolate icecream with some whipped cream. What a letdown…

From left to right: Firlia looking away, Kraune closing his eyes, and Calix just looking like...Calix!

After that disappointment, we paid for our food and hit the streets in search of a little bar to have some drinks (we heard Swedish people have a natural alcohol resistance). Our first stop was the Shamrock, but we didn’t know they broadcasted a rugby match that night, so the place was crowded like hell. So, we did a 180°-turn, and moved out. In the end, we ended up in a place right NEXT to D’n Ingel…the irony!

We enjoyed a few pints and some drinks (memo to me: “Frangellico” is quite nice), and discussed some very strange topics (I didn’t know that the Northern Swedish “hate” Southern Swedish until last night. Stuff like that is vital information for every well-educated person!) After having our last round, we asked the nice bartender to take a little group picture. Usually, we do this in WoW after we killed a boss, standing on its corpse. We tried hard to find a suitable corpse, but it seems that Kel’Thuzad isn’t in Maastricht on a Friday night. Well, it still turned out quite cool:

From left to right: Firlia, Kraune (they do have black-haired people in Scandinavia!), Akinya (right behind the dark-haired healer), Kibina (what a big grin), Yxan (okay, you're grin is even stranger!), Nason (don't look so tired, dude), Calix (hope you survived the 3-hour drive back to Rotterdam) and Hroan

To sum it up, we all had a fantastic night, and I hope our guests enjoyed it as much as we did! I hope it was not the last time we had some real-life fun together. Yxan, enjoy your semester in Rotterdam, and you other Swedish guys, enjoy the rest of your stay here. Oh, and Calix: next time you drive us all up to Sweden 😉

Signed,

Aki

P.S.: Everyone who has some other pictures of the night, please contact me on WoW / MSN / whatever. I would love to have them all!