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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Snowscenes, blogbug and other bugs and a Flashmob, not necessarily in that order...

Apparently the blogbug bit me and I'm infected again as I'm back already. This time to share with you something special that's currently going on in Groningen. The nearest city to the little village where we live. That something special is called 'Serious Request'. I haven't translated it into English, it really is called that. Serious Request is a project by Dutch radio station 3FM to collect as much money as possible for projects of the Red Cross. The radio station builds a square house, almost entirely made of glass, in which three DJs live for six days without anything to eat (apart from very healthy, but not always very tasty, fruit/vegetable drinks). Six years ago, the first house was located in Utrecht and since then the house has visited different cities in the Netherlands. This year.....drumrole......they are in Groningen! The DJs take shifts to play music 24 hrs a day. And if you want them to play the song of your choice, you have to donate some money. You can also donate by sending text messages that will be shown in the TV-broadcast of this radio show. You can of course also donate without asking for the song of your choice. Also lots of famous Dutch people visit the house, some even stay the night, and they give live concerts and donate stuff to be auctioned off. Our royal family have donated a day to be spend with them. Unfortunately you will not be spending it with them at their palace, but doing voluntary work that the Royals do for a day each year to bring volunteers and the good work they do to the attention of the rest of the country. So...you'll be donating money to do work, our Princess Royal said it herself: 'it is a bit stupid in fact', but still... I'm guessing it will bring a lot of money to the good cause. I will not be bidding by the way. Just so you know. As I mentioned, this radio show is also broadcasted on TV, every day for 24 hrs a day. Surprisingly it's great to watch. Real feel good TV. Crowds of people standing outside the House, in the snow, to donate money and to enjoy the atmosphere. Yesterday evening suddenly a flashmob (a group of people who seem to come out of nowhere and do the same thing at the same time - if you didn't know that) did a dance on 'Just say yes' by Snow Patrol and almost brought the DJs to tears. Very impressive for the relatively small town Groningen is. Or if you want to see it from the viewpoint of the square (the Grote Markt) itself, watch this one. If you have the time and the patience, watch it till they disappear into the crowd again. I'm proud of Groningen! This year all the money is going to 'Stop Malaria'. A great cause. And as my late brother suffered from malaria, he spent a lot of time in Africa, it is a cause near to my heart. Also I promised you some photos of the Winter Wonderland we are currently living in. Beginning with another one of the ice skating women (I have so many more, I'll have to do another post about that event).

9 comments:

  1. I love the way the flash mob gathered (all those white hats!) and the way more and more joined in. Must be a marvellous feeling to join in something like that and if it helped raise huge funds for a good cause, so much the better!

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  2. Great photos of the winter!

    Do you know, for some reason I had you pictured more to the east of the country. Don't know why...

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  3. I saw something similar in Central Station New York where this bunch started dancing among the crowd it was PHENOMENAL. What a wonderful idea. I wish they'd do it here. Have a fabulous Christmas, give all your boys a pat (and the girls) I have a labrador so you must give an ear tickle and a tummy scratch. Have a great Christmas. You do know we have a World Gold Medal winning speed skager. he won because everyone else fell over. Classic!

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  4. Just wanted to stop by and wish you a very Merry Christmas! Hope to be catching up on blogging and commenting in the next few weeks.

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  5. That's terrific! So was it choreographed by someone, and then some of the crowd joined in too? That's what it looks like. Good for them! We've had those dances at some of our railway stations. Looks SO much fun!

    Love the last of your photos. The shadows are just lovely.

    Merry Christmas!

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  6. A very merry Christmas to you and yours, especially to Willem....

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  7. You've a very good hearted lot in your town. I hope they collect lots of money for the worthy cause.

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  8. I love stuff like that. Spontaneous fun! The world is, indeed, a swell place when you join in!

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  9. We have a great flashmob vid taken at Grand Central Station in NYC. The mob stops and freezes at the same time, and then they start moving again at the same time.

    What a great cause. I hope your brother survived malaria.

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