1.
26 Dec 2025 at 20:38
Paul Krugerstraat 15, 2021XL, Haarlem
‘Christmas with the Calicher family’
Never in my memory have I attended such a long Christmas celebration. From three in the afternoon until three in the evening we sat together in each other’s company in the living room. The day before, we had celebrated Christmas with my family. We had baked an apple pie, but it turned out to be unnecessary because my mother—without our knowing—had passed responsibility for dessert on to my brother.
2.
24 Dec 2025 at 18:26
Wagenstraat 185, 2512AW, The Hague
‘Peeled apples’
The first time since no longer being a child that I baked an apple pie. I baked it through improvisation and blind trust in my memory. The pie then travelled from The Hague to Nijmegen, back towards Haarlem, where it eventually met its end in our stomachs.
Farabelle helped me with cutting the apples but slept through most of the baking process. I listened to the music of Sun Kil Moon, the album ‘Ghosts of the Great Highway’.
3.
17 Dec 2025 at 21:31
Wagenstraat 185, 2512AW, The Hague
‘Watching a film on Wagenstraat’
We watched ‘Landscape in the Mist’, directed by Theo Angelopoulos. Gwen and Rosa had both given it five stars, which led to our decision to give it a try. Halfway through we fell asleep and watched the rest the following morning at breakfast—oatmeal with blueberries.
4.
17 Dec 2025 at 21:26
Laakweg 136, 2521PZ, The Hague
‘Compressed cardboard’
As a child I watched Wall-E and was always fascinated by the way waste was compressed. Like when a car is crushed at a scrapyard. I imagined how that would happen to one of the cars from the film ‘Cars’, and I pictured what it would be like if I myself were compressed into a cube.
When I was older I worked at Albert Heijn, where such a press was present—albeit for cardboard waste. I was expected to stand on the pile to push the cardboard down. The childhood fantasy resurfaced and I found it a terrifying experience.
5.
17 Dec 2025 at 12:41
Van Musschenbroekstraat 3-c, 2522AH, The Hague
‘Yellow monochrome’
I first saw this monochrome several weeks ago. I was with Jelle and noticed that it looked like a painting he could have made. I took a photo of it, but at the time a shopping cart was parked in front of it. Because of that I deleted the photo and took it again.
Jelle and I crossed to the corner of Van Musschenbroekstraat, where Yade was waiting for us at the entrance of bakery De Molen. It was raining heavily that day and she had seen us taking the photo, and asked about it when we arrived. I showed it to Yade and we went inside to eat a sandwich.
6.
15 Dec 2025 at 10:54
Prins Clauslaan 60, 2595AJ, The Hague
‘Five chairs in courtroom, note reads “do not touch chairs”’
On 7 August 2023 at 00:30 I was stopped in Nijmegen due to a suspicion of which I myself had no knowledge. Apparently I resembled a fugitive suspect. I was asked to identify myself. I searched my bag for my ID, but the search was fruitless.
One of the two officers demanded my bag. I allowed him to search it without protest. In his search—which appeared to be more thorough than mine—he found my identification. I expressed my satisfaction with this discovery by saying that this meant I would not receive a fine. The officer responded curtly with “We’ll see about that!” and they continued their search by bicycle.
7.
6 Nov 2025 at 22:30
Van Musschenbroekstraat 221, 2522EA, The Hague
‘Registered letter’
The doorbell rings. I am not expecting anyone, but shortly after the bell rings at Jelle’s place as well and loud knocking follows. I move towards the front door and open it. I am face to face with a stern man in a Dutch government suit. In one hand he holds an A3 clipboard and in the other a large envelope.
“Are you Mr. Jan Jonker?” “Yes, that’s correct. What can I do for you?” “I have a registered letter for you.” “Pardon?” “You are summoned to appear in court as a suspect.” “My God, what am I suspected of?” “I am not allowed to open the letter, but you are a suspect… You should know what this is about.”
8.
9 Dec 2025 at 13:51
Prinsessegracht 4, 2514AN, The Hague
‘Letterpress and work by Malva & Jaeyun’
For a long time I had been fascinated by the letterpress workshop—typically something you want to start but never do. You can’t book a time slot on Asimut, and besides, there are always more important things to do.
Because of all these circumstances, a kind of threshold had formed to actually begin. Today Faar had received the keys to the workshop, so I went there with Victor to work and saw the work of Malva and Jaeyun lying around, who had printed hundreds of gradients with printing ink.
The colours are so beautiful—the ornaments, the craftsmanship, the calm in the space. I want to work here more often, and I felt the urge to quickly print something myself. Which I then did. I grabbed several large wooden letter stamps and recreated, in an analogue way, a poster I had made digitally earlier in the semester with Qif.
9.
9 Dec 2025 at 12:21
Spui 70, 2511CB, The Hague
‘Farabelle, Victor and the large Christmas tree in city hall’
Although it has been a mild winter—at least subjectively; I wouldn’t know whether it was statistically mild—snow is apparently expected at the beginning of the year. But up until now it had been mild? Changeable. Okay, not really mild then, but that wasn’t the point. It was cold. Cold!
That’s why we occasionally walked indoors where possible on our way to school. The most common options were De Bijenkorf—entrance Wagenstraat, exit Albert Heijn Spui—and city hall: entrance Spui, exit Wijnhaven—almost at school. In that way nearly the entire route was heated. Who wants to walk outside in this weather? Especially when the alternative can be a kind of consumption wonderland, or a building like city hall with the largest Christmas tree in The Hague.
10.
8 Dec 2025 at 21:45
Nobelstraat 21, 2513BZ, The Hague
‘Clockwise: Pablo, Aki, Jakob, Keren, Ema, Pijus, Qif, Emilia. At the table on Nobelstraat’
Under the pretext of Pablo’s return from Barcelona, we organised a dinner at Nobelstraat, the home of Qif, Aki and Emilia. We talked a lot about Pablo’s exchange. He had to complete a series of random side quests for the programme and the whole thing often felt quite arbitrary.
For one of these side quests he had to climb a mountain with two separate groups of classmates, each on a different mountain, and then communicate with one another from the top.
11.
6 Dec 2025 at 14:30
Van Musschenbroekstraat 221, 2522EA, The Hague
‘Hungover breakfast in bed with Farabelle’
The following morning we spent almost the entire day in bed. For breakfast I made an omelette with bell pepper, leek, tomato, onion and mushrooms. Normally I start the day with something sweet, but given the hangover my fragile body couldn’t handle that.
It was the kind of hangover that makes you feel nauseous and giggly, so we decided to watch ‘Sex and the City’. Later that evening we went with Jelle and Raymond to ‘The Servers’ to take a look at the new exhibition that had opened two days earlier.
We spent quite some time there. Baroeg had a Dutch translation of ‘Exercises in Style’ by Raymond Queneau in his studio, translated by Rudy Kousbroek. Coincidentally, I had just been reading a text by Will Holder about the task of translating this very book—and shortly before that, ‘The Task of the Translator’ by Walter Benjamin.
We talked about this, but it was noticeable that our brains had suffered some damage the day before, and the silly, giggly atmosphere still lingered in the air. In the evening we celebrated Jelle’s birthday at a Chinese restaurant called ‘Winston & Wei Wei’ on Stationsweg. We talked for a long time about all kinds of things.
12.
6 Dec 2025 at 03:46
Lulofsstraat 59, 2521AL, The Hague
‘Job and Klaudia, Mushroom Radio, Laak. Just before Klaudia’s final set of all time’
On 6 December, in Laak, the final event of Mushroom Radio took place. The current team—consisting of Andre Kahveciyan, Klaudia Orczykowska, and Vlad Omelianenko—will graduate in the coming year and for that reason decided to say goodbye to the initiative and pass on the torch.
Who the next organisers will be is still unclear to me. What I do know is that Hunter and Lenny played the best set of all time that evening, and that I had never danced for so long. Klaudia played, according to her, her final set of all time, together with Job.
At the end of the night I contentedly smoked a cigarette and went home.
13.
5 Dec 2025 at 13:45
Huijgenspark 47, 2515BB, The Hague
‘A special drawing on a tree’
In Huijgenspark in The Hague, on Monday 5 December—Sinterklaas evening—I came across a special gift. This tree with a drawing of bricks. We found it a beautiful sight and decided to take a photo of it.
Later that day we went to several thrift stores to buy gifts and managed to find a number of beautiful books.
14.
1 Dec 2025 at 14:22
Van Musschenbroekstraat 221, 2522EA, The Hague
‘My favourite shirts (freshly washed)’
Given the past few months, during which I can comfortably reside in other people’s homes, I find myself only minimally present in my own. As a result, I sometimes don’t have enough time to do laundry, which means I occasionally go through life less fresh than one might be used to from me.
On moments when I am home, I do the laundry with the greatest pleasure in order to wear my favourite clothes again as soon as possible. When I saw the green Comme des Garçons shirt hanging next to my red T-shirt, I broke in two with happiness.
There is little special about the red T-shirt except that it fits very well. Otherwise it is simply red and has a somewhat unclear print on the side. From the label I gather that it was made in 2001, which attests to high quality. Otherwise, it is just a shirt.
I almost always wear the green shirt under a sweater.
15.
26 Nov 2025 at 12:12
Stationsweg 130, 2515BR, The Hague
‘Special encounter near Hollands Spoor on Keren’s birthday’
I was on my way to Hollands Spoor station to catch the tram towards Van Musschenbroekstraat, where a package had been waiting for me for several days. The sun was bright and the air sharp and crisp. My nose tingled and I sneezed. Many people were moving through the streets on foot, by bicycle, or by car.
I picked up the package—‘Merz to Émigré and Beyond’, a book about avant-garde magazines in the twentieth century. I plan to leave it on the bookshelf in my classroom. On the tram a large class boarded—probably two classes judging by the number of children.
The teacher sat down next to me and asked about the book. I told him what it was and spoke about my studies at the art academy.
“Are you also working in education?” “No, I’m a student.” “The KABK? Where is that?” “Here nearby, just to the right by the Hofvijver.” “Is it like the graphic lyceum in Rotterdam?” “Well, comparable, except this is a university of applied sciences.” “A university? You don’t need that for posters, do you?” “Ha! Don’t you?” “No, right?” “Where are you heading?”
16.
21 Nov 2025 at 13:00
Van Musschenbroekstraat 159, 2522AL, The Hague
‘Kringloop Zuid-Holland, Blind by The Sundays found’
The thrift store on Van Musschenbroekstraat is filled with worthless junk and remnants of many lives that have presumably passed not long ago. The last time I was there I saw a whole stack of incontinence diapers, which speak vividly to the imagination when it comes to the transience of life and the tragic, inevitable reality of growing old.
With effort and attention I went through all the CDs, in an awkward corner behind a cabinet on the floor. Eventually I found the CD ‘Blind’ by The Sundays. I also found ‘Blur’ by Blur, and the soundtrack of ‘Good Will Hunting’.
Satisfied, after my search, Yade sat outside waiting for me, bored, and my fingers were grey with dust.