Switisweti

A photograph of me and my sock puppet HAJARS.

Me at my place of work, between the carpets that I want to forget about altogether when I'm off duty.

Me with the book I'm currently reading: Nieuw Amsterdam by Russell Shorto about the Dutch origins of New York City. It's a Dutch translation of The Island at the Center of the World.

Wikipedia:Babel

nlDeze gebruiker heeft het Nederlands als moedertaal.

en-3This user can contribute with an advanced level of English.

de-1Dieser Benutzer hat grundlegende Deutschkenntnisse.

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I'm a very nice person. Even my sweat is sweet — and I tend to sweat a lot! That's why my friends call me Switisweti (pronounced like "sweety-swaty") — meaning "sweet sweating one". It's an expression from Sranan, first used by a Surinam colleague of mine.

Just like many Wikipedians, I have a sock puppet. Mine is called HAJARS.

Switisweti in short

My real name is Adam Vogelaar. I live in Amsterdam Zuidoost, Netherlands.

To practise my skills in English I choose to visit and edit the English Wikipedia rather than the Dutch one. After a day of work at a nearby carpet retailer I like to read about all kinds of things in books or on the Internet, especially about current events, politics and historic people. I'm a self-taught historian and I spend many hours studying in the local library or watching the Discovery Channel.

My father was Chinese, but I know almost nothing about the country, its language or its culture, as he died when I was still a baby and I was raised by my Dutch mother. She lives with me in my flat and currently I take care of her.

Some people say I look like Pavarotti, but I don't regard them as my friends. Still, my colleagues often ask me to sing for them, which I refuse.

Switisweti's Internet hotspots

Some of my favourite places on the Internet (apart from Wikipedia of course!):

• Geen Stijl ("Disgraceful"), a Dutch weblog that covers news items in a cynical and humorous way.
• Micheal Moore, my true American hero.
• Open Directory Project, all kinds of previewed, categorized weblinks.
• Internet History Sourcebooks Project, a comprehensive set of historical texts.
• Hyper History Online, a great synchronoptic representation of world history, including timelines of events and lifelines of important persons.
• Reportret, a gallery of reconstructed portraits of key figures from world history.
• The Brick Testament, the Bible in Lego bricks.

Switisweti's Wikipedia initiatives

Articles that I started:

• Synchronoptic view
• Russell Shorto
• Lange Frans & Baas B
• Het land van (song)
• Fietsvierdaagse

Switisweti's Wikipedia favorites

Some of the articles I liked reading:

• 9/11 conspiracy theories
• Fantastic Four
• Neuro-linguistic programming
• The Incredible Hulk (TV Series)
• The Simpsons

Switisweti's contact info

You can contact me by posting at my talk page.