I can't believe I'm leaving in three days. Nuts. Packing is slow-going (per usual) but I'll get it done. :) Ineke and Robbert took me and the kids out for Italian tonight for my Last Supper. Haha-- it was delicious (thanks again, Ineke!) but kind of sad. But I'll at least get to see them at the beginning of the year-- AND I'll get to see the new puppy! :)
Also-- I can now solve Rubik's cube. I feel like I leveled up my intelligence today times ten. I AM GENIUS!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Cynic and Chimp Spanner
Just got back from the show. Oh amazing! What a great show to end my Rotterdam experience with. :)
My second-ever show attended solo. It's kind of nice going by myself-- get to stand where I want, don't have to wait for anyone or save anyone a place in the crowd.
I arrived when the first band started. It was supposed to be a French experimental metal group called Hypno5e but a band called Eden before Dawn (or something like that) was playing instead. Didn't get the details on what happened with that. They were pretty blasé, which is standard for any and all opening bands.
Chimp Spanner came next. I had the opportunity during the opening band's set to talk to Paul Ortiz (Chimp Spanner's guitarist) in the smoking room but I'm awkward and weird sometimes and don't know how to start conversations randomly with people I don't know (who happen to be very talented musicians) for some reason but anyway.... [Note: Disclaimer: I am not a smoker... only at shows. It's a time killer and keeps me from standing around looking like a loser by myself :) ] They were pretty rad. They sound a lot like Animals as Leaders-- not as technical but they've been around longer. The crowd didn't move much at all, though, throughout the set. This was to be a common theme throughout the night.
Cynic was next. Gahhhhhh. They make me giddy. They started with the first two tracks from their newest album (or is it an EP?) So yea... some Amazonian tribal chant into the Carbon-based Anatomy title track. Then came Evolutionary Sleeper, which is always beautiful. Next was How Could I? which was (of course!) amazing. I was front row directly in front of Paul Masvidal the entire time (yes!) but from what I could tell, the only people dancing/headbanging/showing any signs of interest or engagement were me, the guy to my left, and some dude off to my 8:00. Idk what was up with the crowd, but it was like a sea of hipsters, minus the Burberry scarves and square-framed glasses.
I forget the order, but the also played Veil of Maya, Wheels within Wheels, Adam's Murmur, Elves Beam Out, Bag Up My Bones, another track off Focus (can't remember the name shame on me). And before they went into Integral Birth, Paul addressed the audience with something along the lines of :
My second-ever show attended solo. It's kind of nice going by myself-- get to stand where I want, don't have to wait for anyone or save anyone a place in the crowd.
I arrived when the first band started. It was supposed to be a French experimental metal group called Hypno5e but a band called Eden before Dawn (or something like that) was playing instead. Didn't get the details on what happened with that. They were pretty blasé, which is standard for any and all opening bands.
Chimp Spanner came next. I had the opportunity during the opening band's set to talk to Paul Ortiz (Chimp Spanner's guitarist) in the smoking room but I'm awkward and weird sometimes and don't know how to start conversations randomly with people I don't know (who happen to be very talented musicians) for some reason but anyway.... [Note: Disclaimer: I am not a smoker... only at shows. It's a time killer and keeps me from standing around looking like a loser by myself :) ] They were pretty rad. They sound a lot like Animals as Leaders-- not as technical but they've been around longer. The crowd didn't move much at all, though, throughout the set. This was to be a common theme throughout the night.
It's funny because you can't see anything.
Cynic was next. Gahhhhhh. They make me giddy. They started with the first two tracks from their newest album (or is it an EP?) So yea... some Amazonian tribal chant into the Carbon-based Anatomy title track. Then came Evolutionary Sleeper, which is always beautiful. Next was How Could I? which was (of course!) amazing. I was front row directly in front of Paul Masvidal the entire time (yes!) but from what I could tell, the only people dancing/headbanging/showing any signs of interest or engagement were me, the guy to my left, and some dude off to my 8:00. Idk what was up with the crowd, but it was like a sea of hipsters, minus the Burberry scarves and square-framed glasses.
I forget the order, but the also played Veil of Maya, Wheels within Wheels, Adam's Murmur, Elves Beam Out, Bag Up My Bones, another track off Focus (can't remember the name shame on me). And before they went into Integral Birth, Paul addressed the audience with something along the lines of :
This next song has kind of turned into something very important on this tour... especially to Sean and me. But I really want audience participation for this. I want each of you... to think of someone you haven't forgiven for something. And I want you all to... send them some kindness. Because you know, it's not their stuff. It's our stuff. And this really should be a daily thing, to forgive, but you know... you have to start somewhere.
That is in no way a direct quote but that was the gist of it... and it was really sweet. Then he started playing the Re-Traced version of Integral Birth, with just him and the guitar without any distortion but really stripped down. Then the rest of the band joined in at the second verse. Ahhhh it was so beautiful. :) They ended it with The Space for This, without any encore (lame.) But I did get a highfive from Mr. Masvidal.
Shame you can't see anything... their lights weren't very camera-friendly and I didn't want to blind the poor guy. :/
I wanted to chat with him after the show (as he always invites people to do) and tell him about the guy in Rotterdam who, every day, would get that megaphone out of the display case on Coolsingel and shout out "It's never too late to say you're sorry." But I couldn't bring myself to interrupt him with other people. I did, however, have a lovely encounter in the smoking room (stop judging me) after the show. I had just bought Andy a new Cynic hoodie (the zipper on his old one broke recently and boy do I win the award for best ex-girlfriend.) And I was in there with a guy that works at Baroeg. In walks Paul Ortiz from Chimp Spanner and asks for a lighter. I hand him mine and am like "Your name is Paul, right?" So we end up chatting for ten minutes about the tour, how it's like opening for Cynic, their vinyls catching on fire and not having any new EPs for the next few shows, different crowds in different cities, and other stuff. He was really easy to talk to, friendly, and very appreciative. Gained a lot of respect from me tonight. :)
So yea... wonderful evening. And... 7:00 is gonna come way too early. Night.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Two weeks left
Two weeks left til I fly back home to Alabama for the holidays. That is nuts. We're looking at flights on Tuesday, the 13th of December. Since I'll be using the buddy pass, I'm gonna have a better shot at getting to go stand-by if it's not too close to Christmas. With any luck I'll get bumped up to first class again ;) Oh I can't wait to see my family and get doted on the entire first week I'm back. Famjam chrimas party is that Saturday (or Sunday?) and those are always a delight.
Yesterday I talked with Ineke about my flight plans and my future job plans. Since there's still no guarantee that Robbert is getting this job he's been looking into, we both decided it'd probably be best for me to go with this family in Hannover, Germany that I've been in contact with. My main job will be to help the eldest son, Kilian (who is 8 or 9), to learn English. I'm feeling pretty positive about it all. They have offered to drive to Rotterdam to pick me up in Germany, so that I won't have to tote ALL my stuff (including the pc I bought here) to the States and back again. Very kind of them.
It's still weird knowing I'm not going to be living in the Netherlands much longer. Haha. Csilla, Asta, and I all thought we were definitely gonna be here for a whole year and all three of us are moving-- well, Asta's already moved back to Iceland.
That was strange, too. All last week I was in such a funk, a depression with all the symptoms I was so familiar with my sophomore year at Auburn. I was really afraid I'd be stuck like that permanently. I'm so glad that was just a temporary phase. But the timing was awkward in regards to my farewell to Asta. I felt so hollow and blasé for her last few days here. I was faking a smile all Tuesday and Wednesday and when we were at my house to give her back something I had borrowed, I came back outside with it and we had our farewell goodbye and she was crying and I felt no emotions. Yea... definitely glad I no longer feel like a robot.
I think it's somewhere between the 2:23 and 2:42 minute mark of The Unknown Guest that makes me realize just how much I love Cynic. Eight days til the show with Chimp Spanner (yes ma'am!) and Hypno5e (whoever they are). I have a feeling-- a good feeling-- that there's gonna be next to no one at the show. There was barely any crowd at Rotterdam Deathfest and that was an all day affair on a Saturday. Next week's show is on a Wednesday and... for some reason Cynic's not all that popular here. But ohhhhh! I can't wait. :) The new album was initially a bit of a disappointment-- they've lot almost any sense of "metal" and have gone in an almost-entirely progressive-space-rock direction. But whatever. Paul Masvidal will forever be my hero. <3
And I like this picture of Csilla:
Yesterday I talked with Ineke about my flight plans and my future job plans. Since there's still no guarantee that Robbert is getting this job he's been looking into, we both decided it'd probably be best for me to go with this family in Hannover, Germany that I've been in contact with. My main job will be to help the eldest son, Kilian (who is 8 or 9), to learn English. I'm feeling pretty positive about it all. They have offered to drive to Rotterdam to pick me up in Germany, so that I won't have to tote ALL my stuff (including the pc I bought here) to the States and back again. Very kind of them.
It's still weird knowing I'm not going to be living in the Netherlands much longer. Haha. Csilla, Asta, and I all thought we were definitely gonna be here for a whole year and all three of us are moving-- well, Asta's already moved back to Iceland.
That was strange, too. All last week I was in such a funk, a depression with all the symptoms I was so familiar with my sophomore year at Auburn. I was really afraid I'd be stuck like that permanently. I'm so glad that was just a temporary phase. But the timing was awkward in regards to my farewell to Asta. I felt so hollow and blasé for her last few days here. I was faking a smile all Tuesday and Wednesday and when we were at my house to give her back something I had borrowed, I came back outside with it and we had our farewell goodbye and she was crying and I felt no emotions. Yea... definitely glad I no longer feel like a robot.
Regardless, this is the Asta I will remember: the one eating ice cream in front of 9gag.
I think it's somewhere between the 2:23 and 2:42 minute mark of The Unknown Guest that makes me realize just how much I love Cynic. Eight days til the show with Chimp Spanner (yes ma'am!) and Hypno5e (whoever they are). I have a feeling-- a good feeling-- that there's gonna be next to no one at the show. There was barely any crowd at Rotterdam Deathfest and that was an all day affair on a Saturday. Next week's show is on a Wednesday and... for some reason Cynic's not all that popular here. But ohhhhh! I can't wait. :) The new album was initially a bit of a disappointment-- they've lot almost any sense of "metal" and have gone in an almost-entirely progressive-space-rock direction. But whatever. Paul Masvidal will forever be my hero. <3
And I like this picture of Csilla:
Csilla, writing a letter to my mother in BED, which is open as a cafe during the day.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Anddd at long last...
Just as expected, homesickness hits the week of Thanksgiving. Le sigh. This is perhaps partially due to a combination of my back being messed up the past week, me getting sick recently (tho it could be allergies?), and the inherent depression that comes a few days after a really fun show. Asta's going back to Iceland on Thursday, Csilla's moving somewhere soon, since she got the boot last week. :C
But that show really was pretty spectacular. Nothing's gonna beat the Cynic show, of course, but Fleshgod was quite theatrical, and the Canadian band Archspire was a very nice surprise. :) Alanson and Maarten made the trip here and met up with me and their friend Amira who lives in town. Since it was an afternoon-into-the-night show we started drinking around 4:30 and the party didn't stop until 9:00 the next morning. Apparently. Some hours are completely missing though I do definitely recall dancing in Amira's living room listening to Ace of Bass. Yep.
So to get me out of the funk, I went out and bought Skyrim. Because if there's anything that can cure homesickness, it's a completely immersive 9.5/10 role-playing game. Huzzah! And it's wayy more entertaining than Oblivion, for some reason. Go figure.
But that show really was pretty spectacular. Nothing's gonna beat the Cynic show, of course, but Fleshgod was quite theatrical, and the Canadian band Archspire was a very nice surprise. :) Alanson and Maarten made the trip here and met up with me and their friend Amira who lives in town. Since it was an afternoon-into-the-night show we started drinking around 4:30 and the party didn't stop until 9:00 the next morning. Apparently. Some hours are completely missing though I do definitely recall dancing in Amira's living room listening to Ace of Bass. Yep.
So to get me out of the funk, I went out and bought Skyrim. Because if there's anything that can cure homesickness, it's a completely immersive 9.5/10 role-playing game. Huzzah! And it's wayy more entertaining than Oblivion, for some reason. Go figure.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Weekend Activity: Minimal
There is definitely something to be said for do-nothing weekends. The girls were pre-disposed all weekend and frankly, I didn't much feel like leaving the house. (I knew this would happen as soon as I got internet for my desktop.) Yep, just spent practically the whole weekend reading (still on the 3rd installment of Song of Ice and fire series), playing Portal 2 with Dad, replaying Braid (stuck on the last door to World 4-- stupid "Fickle Companion" key), and watching the Big Bang Theory and Breaking Bad. I love getting into movies (and in this case, TV shows) where I know next to nothing about them and they turn out being amazing. Such is the case with Breaking Bad. Have heard a lot of people saying how awesome it is, but I had no clue what it was about. And now I'm officially addicted and am on the 5th episode of the 2nd season. Yeehaw.
So yea that's been fun. Oh well-- last weekend was rowdy enough to make up for this past one. In Amsterdam, Asta and I ended up at this improv comedy show where you supposedly get free shots any time one of the things you shout out to the actors gets used in the skit. Well, we were both quite vocal, and even tho many of my various suggestions ("Spaghetti", "Hogwarts', "'I haven't pooped in a week'", and something else I forgot) were used, no free shots were given that day. Figures.
Despite my extended staycation inside the house this weekend, I think I'm getting sick. Not cool-- my superfun metal week starts tomorrow and I need my energy . :C Been chugging green tea all day and just ate a mandarin orange. I need to invest in some vitamins.
The end.
So yea that's been fun. Oh well-- last weekend was rowdy enough to make up for this past one. In Amsterdam, Asta and I ended up at this improv comedy show where you supposedly get free shots any time one of the things you shout out to the actors gets used in the skit. Well, we were both quite vocal, and even tho many of my various suggestions ("Spaghetti", "Hogwarts', "'I haven't pooped in a week'", and something else I forgot) were used, no free shots were given that day. Figures.
Despite my extended staycation inside the house this weekend, I think I'm getting sick. Not cool-- my superfun metal week starts tomorrow and I need my energy . :C Been chugging green tea all day and just ate a mandarin orange. I need to invest in some vitamins.
The end.
Friday, November 11, 2011
B'awwwwww!
On the bike ride home from field hockey, Caroline was in front of me and points at the sky and yells, "Look! A star!"
"Haha yea, do you not see stars often?"
"No. Never."
It was cute and kinda sad at the same time. :3
In other news, my time in Rotterdam may be cut short due to Robbert still being in-between jobs. If he doesn't find one by January, they're gonna have to let me go. :/ I was really sad when I found out, naturally, but I bounce back quickly. I'm going ahead and putting feelers out for another family, just in case. And if worse comes to worst, I get to continue my European adventure somewhere else. :)
"Haha yea, do you not see stars often?"
"No. Never."
It was cute and kinda sad at the same time. :3
In other news, my time in Rotterdam may be cut short due to Robbert still being in-between jobs. If he doesn't find one by January, they're gonna have to let me go. :/ I was really sad when I found out, naturally, but I bounce back quickly. I'm going ahead and putting feelers out for another family, just in case. And if worse comes to worst, I get to continue my European adventure somewhere else. :)
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Amsterdam
I am in desperate need of sleep but wanted to update before I forgot everything.
So last night Csilla informs me that she ended up purchasing more beer than she had intended and then asked if I would be interested in partying in Utrecht. Being as I've been in Rotterdam for the past few weeks (and that I did absolutely NOTHING last weekend) I was all for it. Yet her friend in Utrecht was way behind on schoolwork, apparently, and wouldn't be able to host us. But I (yes, me) had the brilliant idea of going to Amsterdam instead, and just hanging there all night since Csilla needed to pick up her little bro from the airport at 9 this morning. Winner of Good Ideas Award goes to me.
We roll into A-dam like champs around 11 and have no clear plans on where to go (natuurlijk) but we ended up finding our boat that we adopted from our previous trip.
Then we ended up traversing to Leidseplein... took a lot longer than expected. Ran into a trio from South Africa who were very friendly and entertaining. Made friends with two Romanian fellows who also had no game plan and we ended up wandering around Amsterdam from like 3:30 to 5:00 looking for a bar, coffeeshop, or toilet that was open. Nothing. Apparently the entire city shuts down after 3:00. There were no WC's in the open McDonalds'and I was dying. I almost got denied at the Central Station because I didn't have a ticket but I ended up talking my way into using one anyway.
We continue a fruitless search for any warm place that was still open--nothing. So we climb atop a statue of a lion and go into what I remember being a halfway point between meditation and nap. It wasn't super cold or anything but there was definitely a chill to the stone. So we go back to Central (and by that time they're letting people in like normal). We find some couches that we're not supposed to occupy, really, because it wasn't a waiting room (but Csilla has such a way of endearing authority) and they agree to let us sit there--provided we didn't sleep--until the Centraal cops kicked us out. "Sure-- we just want to sit for a few minutes. Sure, no sleeping."
Around 7 Csilla and I left for Schiphol to wait on her brother to arrive. His plane didn't come until 9:15 and the couple of hours we were there were the longest. But we were in good company. Her brother made it safely and man... Hungarian is sooooo strange sounding. As is Icelandic. Oh speaking of Icelandic, and this is super sad, Ásta is having to go back to Iceland soon-- Nov 16 ish. :C Not nice. Something to do with custody battles and her host mom fleeing the country with her child. Shit's serious. But I'm superbummed about her leaving. But I'll end this on a positive note.
And Csilla's kinda amazing...
So last night Csilla informs me that she ended up purchasing more beer than she had intended and then asked if I would be interested in partying in Utrecht. Being as I've been in Rotterdam for the past few weeks (and that I did absolutely NOTHING last weekend) I was all for it. Yet her friend in Utrecht was way behind on schoolwork, apparently, and wouldn't be able to host us. But I (yes, me) had the brilliant idea of going to Amsterdam instead, and just hanging there all night since Csilla needed to pick up her little bro from the airport at 9 this morning. Winner of Good Ideas Award goes to me.
We roll into A-dam like champs around 11 and have no clear plans on where to go (natuurlijk) but we ended up finding our boat that we adopted from our previous trip.
See? We found it. It may not look much like a boat, but I assure you it is.
Then we ended up traversing to Leidseplein... took a lot longer than expected. Ran into a trio from South Africa who were very friendly and entertaining. Made friends with two Romanian fellows who also had no game plan and we ended up wandering around Amsterdam from like 3:30 to 5:00 looking for a bar, coffeeshop, or toilet that was open. Nothing. Apparently the entire city shuts down after 3:00. There were no WC's in the open McDonalds'and I was dying. I almost got denied at the Central Station because I didn't have a ticket but I ended up talking my way into using one anyway.
We continue a fruitless search for any warm place that was still open--nothing. So we climb atop a statue of a lion and go into what I remember being a halfway point between meditation and nap. It wasn't super cold or anything but there was definitely a chill to the stone. So we go back to Central (and by that time they're letting people in like normal). We find some couches that we're not supposed to occupy, really, because it wasn't a waiting room (but Csilla has such a way of endearing authority) and they agree to let us sit there--provided we didn't sleep--until the Centraal cops kicked us out. "Sure-- we just want to sit for a few minutes. Sure, no sleeping."
The no sleeping part was hard-- it was freaking 6:00 in the morning.
Around 7 Csilla and I left for Schiphol to wait on her brother to arrive. His plane didn't come until 9:15 and the couple of hours we were there were the longest. But we were in good company. Her brother made it safely and man... Hungarian is sooooo strange sounding. As is Icelandic. Oh speaking of Icelandic, and this is super sad, Ásta is having to go back to Iceland soon-- Nov 16 ish. :C Not nice. Something to do with custody battles and her host mom fleeing the country with her child. Shit's serious. But I'm superbummed about her leaving. But I'll end this on a positive note.
Adorable!
Cause that bag wasn't light... and her bro isn't either. :) Haha
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
I just need to post this before I forget
De Beer is Los. Yes. A week ago I went to my friend Tommy's house and I wanted to play a board game. He provided me with : DE BEER IS LOS. For those that know me, you probably (or not) know of my love for bears. The name of the game roughly translates into "The Bear is Out". Some Dutch expression that kinda means everything is going to chaos (am I making this up? Idk...) But yea it was grand. And I love the picture of it.
Let's see... not a lot going on right now. Everyone (including friends AND the fam jam) was out of town last weekend so it was verr, verr chill. Too chill. This coming weekend should make up for it-- Csilla's bro is coming into town Saturday and we will all prolly be attending Andrea's birthday fiesta. Then some more of Csilla's friends'll be arrive early next week or something. Ou and lots of things (shows) going on November:
-Nov 14 mandaag 3 Melo Death bands from Finland (Insomnium, Before the Dawn, My Grain)
-Nov 18 vrijdaag brings in 2 blackmetal and 2 deathmetal bands (Gorgoroth, Vader, Valkyrja, Toxocara)
-Nov 19 sat is the Fleshgod Apocalypse show (with Decapitated, Cyanide Serenity, other bands I don't know)
That Saturday show is destined to be superfun. But I checked out the other bands for earlier in the week and they seem fun enough :) Why not? Will be a busy week.
Tra la laaaa. Went to the Boijman Museum today. Free admission on Wednesdays but I think I did it wrong... seemed way too small and way too many like... plates and ceramic vases and stuff. Hm... still cool from what I did see.
Today's Mission: Finish A Clash of Kings. Book 2 of the Song and Ice series... soooo gooooooood.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Europe is awesome.
But bringing technology to Europe is not so awesome. Things you might want to bear in mind if you plan on moving to the Netherlands for a year:
These probably wouldn't even be problems to like 90% of people being an au pair or something, but I guess I'm just more technologically dependent than most. I BLAME SOCIETY AND MY UPBRINGING. ;) Just kidding-- I don't apologize. I love how I am. Haha.
May I reiterate the region lock sucks? Because it does. It's dumb and mean and unfair to a lot of people (namely Europeans because America and Asian regions get more [and better usually] games). Luckily, Andy is supposed to be shipping Shin Megame Tensei to me soonish. By soonish I mean hopefully by Christmas and hopefully right after I finish Ocarina of Time. Which is awesome.
- Obviously, appliances from the States will not work in European sockets. But even if you have an adapter, it's a bitch trying to find a power converter (I gave up.) I ended up buying a new charger for my 3DS and my camera. Neither were that cheap.
- Computers. It is very expensive to ship them. Most people have laptops so this isn't really an issue but for people that love pc games, heh, have fun. Oh and wifi makes things all the more difficult with desktops.
- Don't even THINK about keeping a Netflix account if you plan on living in Europe. And forget Hulu, too. If you want shows, you're gonna have to either buy them (if you can find them) or torrent them. /shrug
- Nintendo 3DS's can access the internet here but if it's an American console, apparently you can't get into the Nintendo eShop. Which means no downloading the free games that you are entitled to for buying the 3DS before the price drop. Lame. Also, you have to get American 3DS games shipped to you because, for no good reason, Nintendo 3DS's are region locked. Yep.
- Wacom Tablet users-- hope you have a laptop. Because if you plan on using a computer that doesn't already have the software installed, there's no way to download the Autodesk Sketchbook and Photoshop software that comes bundled with your Intuos4.
These probably wouldn't even be problems to like 90% of people being an au pair or something, but I guess I'm just more technologically dependent than most. I BLAME SOCIETY AND MY UPBRINGING. ;) Just kidding-- I don't apologize. I love how I am. Haha.
May I reiterate the region lock sucks? Because it does. It's dumb and mean and unfair to a lot of people (namely Europeans because America and Asian regions get more [and better usually] games). Luckily, Andy is supposed to be shipping Shin Megame Tensei to me soonish. By soonish I mean hopefully by Christmas and hopefully right after I finish Ocarina of Time. Which is awesome.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
So I thought it'd be a good idea to play with the curling iron...
I was wrong. Turns out I fail at being a girl. While my hair looked pretty cute all night last night (and you know how important it is to look cute at death metal shows...) I reeked of burnt hair smell. Luckily the place was full of sweaty metal dudes who apparently don't believe in deodorant (did I say "luckily"?), so no one could really tell. Except today after I shower the smell STILL lingers and WHOA what's that? Oh yea... just my hair breaking and falling off. No big deal. It's hot. I will be getting all the boys and fashion awards. FML. :)
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Caroline's birthday is coming up...
And she was celebrating with her friends yesterday. I didn't know if the fam was celebrating yesterday too so I went out and got her something. Had to spruce up the blue wrapping paper, though.
One thing my mother taught me well: wrapping persents, and the importance of.
Also, sometime last week I stumbled upon this incredible drawing of a girl and a rainbow creature atop a wheel. With a gridded sky. Never have seem anything quite like it.
Untitled (as far as I know), Caroline Haas. 2011.
I asked her what it was and she was like, an elephant and a girl. This description wasn't nearly good enough for me. I asked her what the girl was holding (it looks like a remote control thingy) and why the sky was gridded and why the elephant was multicolored with jigzaw pieces covering it. She was annoyed by my interrogations (and honestly, who enjoys explaining their art?) and i got some half-ass shrug and a few impatient part Dutch/ part English answers. I may never know. But I asked her if I could have it and she said yes. So it's hanging on my mirror. And though it definitely did add some character to my bedchamber, the wall over my bed was a little lacking so I asked Ineke if I could dry out her roses when she was about to throw them away.
And now when I'm laying on my bed, I look up to this :)
Yay. Got another show tomorrow night. And next week a mini-staycation. No trip to Belgium, but there will be plenty of other occasions. Huzzah!
Monday, October 10, 2011
Oh what a weekend.
Friday was pretty nice. Went out for drinks and dancing, per usual. Nothing too crazy, though. Saturday was when the magick started. Csilla and I were more than ready for the witches and wizards party.
The bike ride to the party was an adventure, as it is most certain to be when you're adventuring to southern Rotterdam. But crossing the Erasmus bridge is freaking awesome at night. I mean, when you get to the top and take a moment to catch your breath, it's really beautiful.
So we get to there and it's a squat party. Which is fabulous. Takes forever for anyone to come and let us in because the "doorbell" is actually one of those honky horns that you generally associate with clown noises. And it was kinda hard to hear over the DJ's inside. But luckily for us, Csilla is an experienced whistler and her loud ass got the attention of a girl inside on the second story. Also, some random old guy kinda wandered in with us from off the street. I hope he didn't steal anything but he seemed harmless enough and had mad dancing skills so I think it's ok. There were lots of cool magic hats and a ton of Wizard Staves. Success.
Yesterday was Heidenfest in Tilburg and we rode there with Alanson and were pretty much hangover-free by the time we got there. Most of the bands were pretty terrible but Trollfest made me laugh a lot. They ordered the audience to "bark the alarm" for the next song in which there were a lot of "woof woof woof"s. Very silly. There was one band (can't remember the name) that had a violinist and it had so much potential but they didn't really do anything with it. Pretty boring. But naturally Wintersun blew everyone away. Was incredible. :) Heh heh heh. But what I thought was most hilarious was how the different the crowd was from what I'm used to. Back home, the crowd consists of people that look more or less like this:
But really, that pretty much sums it up. Dorky guy in black band shirt. Easy mode. Heidenfest brought on the stereotype hardcore. Lots of long hair, and studded belts for the girls (who wears that stuff, seriously?) And like... combat boots. Idk... silly business. Granted it was a folk metal festival. But still-- LOL I saw some guy wearing a Linkin Park shirt bahaha. AND oh! There was a guy just wearing a chain link vest as a shirt. That was kinda cool. But by the end of the night Csilla and I just couldn't keep our hands off this one guy's Mufasa-like mane standing in front of us and that turned into us touching everyone's hair that was past their shoulders as we made out way out of the venue, which I think was half amusing, half very embarrassing for Alanson and Maarten (his friend that met us there). But seriously-- why grow long hair unless your intention is to have it be petted? :)
Not pictured: Csilla's long, warty witch's nose. It was awesome. Got a lot of "Hey Hex"'s on the bike ride there.
Stole this picture, but yea Erasmus bridge is pretty cool.
So we get to there and it's a squat party. Which is fabulous. Takes forever for anyone to come and let us in because the "doorbell" is actually one of those honky horns that you generally associate with clown noises. And it was kinda hard to hear over the DJ's inside. But luckily for us, Csilla is an experienced whistler and her loud ass got the attention of a girl inside on the second story. Also, some random old guy kinda wandered in with us from off the street. I hope he didn't steal anything but he seemed harmless enough and had mad dancing skills so I think it's ok. There were lots of cool magic hats and a ton of Wizard Staves. Success.
Yesterday was Heidenfest in Tilburg and we rode there with Alanson and were pretty much hangover-free by the time we got there. Most of the bands were pretty terrible but Trollfest made me laugh a lot. They ordered the audience to "bark the alarm" for the next song in which there were a lot of "woof woof woof"s. Very silly. There was one band (can't remember the name) that had a violinist and it had so much potential but they didn't really do anything with it. Pretty boring. But naturally Wintersun blew everyone away. Was incredible. :) Heh heh heh. But what I thought was most hilarious was how the different the crowd was from what I'm used to. Back home, the crowd consists of people that look more or less like this:
Bahaha thank you Google image search for "metal fan."
But really, that pretty much sums it up. Dorky guy in black band shirt. Easy mode. Heidenfest brought on the stereotype hardcore. Lots of long hair, and studded belts for the girls (who wears that stuff, seriously?) And like... combat boots. Idk... silly business. Granted it was a folk metal festival. But still-- LOL I saw some guy wearing a Linkin Park shirt bahaha. AND oh! There was a guy just wearing a chain link vest as a shirt. That was kinda cool. But by the end of the night Csilla and I just couldn't keep our hands off this one guy's Mufasa-like mane standing in front of us and that turned into us touching everyone's hair that was past their shoulders as we made out way out of the venue, which I think was half amusing, half very embarrassing for Alanson and Maarten (his friend that met us there). But seriously-- why grow long hair unless your intention is to have it be petted? :)
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
So I started my Dutch classes last week...
And I pretty much know everything we have gone over and will go over. But that's OK-- cause at least it gives me a chance to speak it, and my new-found friend from New Zealand is kind of on the same page as far as vocabulary goes. And so then after class last night, this lady from Wales was chatting with us and and somehow World of Warcraft got brought up. I don't know how WoW ever should casually get brough up in conversations but happens more often than you'd think. So I blurt out "Oh my God, you play WOW?" Because this is a lady in her like... late thirties early forties. And she's like "yea, that's how I met my husband." And she was a femtaur! It was kind of hilarious.
Speakingggg of video games. I finally got my pc. Got it last Wednesday. Went to pick it up from Leiden, and the trek back to Leiden Centraal carrying a rather large (and after a while, disturbingly heavy) box was quite an ordeal. I had a 30 min resting period on the train back to R'dam but hot DAMN... carrying that thing from Central back to the house left my arms, neck, and back sore for 4 days. But it's so awesome.... at least I think. I still don't have internets for it yet... we're still waiting to hear back from Ineke's computer guy. I'm about ready to offer bribes. It's cruel having a new computer and not being able to use it :C Haha.
Anyway, the weather is back to overcast and drizzly after a 5 day spell of ideal, beautiful, cloudless skies. Csilla and I spent a lovely Sunday afternoon at Museumpark with a guy we met from Couchsurfing. He's a juggler so we had all the toys-- hula, diabolos, pois, and ridiculous amount of juggling balls as well as some for contact juggling... which if you're not familiar with it... looks like David Bowie's tricks from the labyrinth.
Anddd so this weekend should be fun. Got a Witches and Wizards themed party on Saturday (courtesy of Jay the New Zealander from my Dutch course) which should be fun. Everyone has to bring a six pack of canned bear and construct a wizard's staff from the empty cans as he/she drinks them. I'll look for some tallboys. Har har har. Wicked. And then Sunday is Heidenfest in Tilburg. Which should be amazing. Como se dice.... WINTERSUN? Oh right-- WINTERSUN.
Speakingggg of video games. I finally got my pc. Got it last Wednesday. Went to pick it up from Leiden, and the trek back to Leiden Centraal carrying a rather large (and after a while, disturbingly heavy) box was quite an ordeal. I had a 30 min resting period on the train back to R'dam but hot DAMN... carrying that thing from Central back to the house left my arms, neck, and back sore for 4 days. But it's so awesome.... at least I think. I still don't have internets for it yet... we're still waiting to hear back from Ineke's computer guy. I'm about ready to offer bribes. It's cruel having a new computer and not being able to use it :C Haha.
Anyway, the weather is back to overcast and drizzly after a 5 day spell of ideal, beautiful, cloudless skies. Csilla and I spent a lovely Sunday afternoon at Museumpark with a guy we met from Couchsurfing. He's a juggler so we had all the toys-- hula, diabolos, pois, and ridiculous amount of juggling balls as well as some for contact juggling... which if you're not familiar with it... looks like David Bowie's tricks from the labyrinth.
I was looking for actual pictures of Bowie contact juggling and couldn't... now I just wanna watch the Labyrinth and/or listen to the soundtrack.
Anddd so this weekend should be fun. Got a Witches and Wizards themed party on Saturday (courtesy of Jay the New Zealander from my Dutch course) which should be fun. Everyone has to bring a six pack of canned bear and construct a wizard's staff from the empty cans as he/she drinks them. I'll look for some tallboys. Har har har. Wicked. And then Sunday is Heidenfest in Tilburg. Which should be amazing. Como se dice.... WINTERSUN? Oh right-- WINTERSUN.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Crazzzy weekend.
Oh I am le tired. And achey. Oh yea but a week or so ago, I went with Caroline to the Blijdorp zoo. Which was AWESOME, by the way. I had been wanting to go to the diergaarde since I arrived here (love zoos). I won't bore you, Dear Readers, with boring pictures of animals we've all already seen (though I took tons of just-animal pictures :D), unless you count the seldom-seen Carolinus mimickus
And their playground was huge! I wish I had had access to castles when I was eight.
Stayed in Leiden that night at Alanson´s place and saw the bits of what will soon be my computer! Very very exciting. He started working on it but didn´t have it together in time but I should be getting it within the next couple of days. Yay!!
HAH. And then last night was supposed to be the Mexican dinner at Andrea's house. Ásta had spoken to Andrea and apparently where she lived was right near where Ásta lived back when she was little and living in Rotterdam. So Csilla and I blindly follow our fearless leader on what was my first (and probably longest-ever) Rotterdam metro ride. It takes quite a while to get to the stop. And I am famished from not eating anything that day but half a sandwich... dinner's supposed to start at 7:00 and I was gonna have to leave by 9:00 to make it to the Baroeg Open Air fest to see Korpiklaani. So we're walking around and not seeing where we're supposed to go. Ask a few people where this street is-- some shrug. Others are like, oh it's across the river. Apparently we took the entirely wrong line? We kept getting different answers from different people, though, and Andrea didn't seem to know exactly what station to get off at...???! So we make it back to the station and talk to a driver who said we could take the B line to get there... We finally figure out which stop we're supposed to be at (by this time it's after 8:00) and it's gonna take at least 30 minutes to get there. After switching trains we make it there. But it's 8:40 and they were gonna pick us up from the metro and take us there and then I would only have like a minute to hang out before having to head back which would be quite pointless so Csilla and I hop back on the train to just go back to Beurs to switch lines and grab some food and then head to the show.
Yet before we make it to Beurs we have to switch trains yet again, and then at the next stop the metro cops come and inspect the ov chipkaart things to make sure people are paying or whatever. The lady gets to me and just kinda looks at me (I was using what I thought was a one day pass) and asks how old I am. I tell her. She says that the card I have is only for children under 12 or senior citizens. ... Oh. She asks me to come off the train with her. Csilla follows, of course. Exit stage right.
Oh shit please don´t fine me. She and a couple of other officers ask me what I´m doing here, how long I´ve been here, blah blah blah. I tell them I´m new. I´ve been here a month and it´s my first metro ride and I thought that the card was good. They look a bit skeptical (and I thought for sure they weren´t gonna let me slide.. stupid American girl) but they were very sweet and just explained that usually there is a 38 euro fee and then another one for 75. But they weren´t gonna hit me with those. (Must be my winning smile). I told them I was sooo embarrassed (which I was) so they gave me a handwritten card saying it was good for an hour so I could get to where I was going... which was sooo nice of them. But by then we were running pretty late and so we had to skip getting food (which made me die a little inside) and instead just grabbed a Snickers from a vending machine and headed to Baroeg Open Air. Made it JUST in time to find Alanson with his friend Jaap before Korpiklaani came on. They were hilarious! And awesome!
They put on a great show and we didn´t stop dancing. But now I am le tired. And that´s why we have Sundays.
She is trying her hardest to be a flamingo.
And their playground was huge! I wish I had had access to castles when I was eight.
Seriously-- I went in. It was insane.
But yea... so last Friday I went to that metal show. No big deal. No mosh pit. Kinda strange but whatever. This past Friday I went back to the Melkweg to see Shapeshifter which was like a drum and bass band that used two keyboards, a bassist, a saxophonist, a drummer, and vocalist. It was super fun and then the people I were with thought it'd be fun to start a mosh pit. It was pretty weak, but kinda hilarious. Then the after show (which was free if you just stayed in there and lingered for a bit) was a DJ playing dubstep (which has its own time and place). And everyone was going NUTS. I had never been to an electro show of any sort where there was a mosh pit. And this was like the entire floor almost of people pushing and shoving and actin' a fool. SO much fun-- but SO DANGEROUS.
Granted, I bruise really easily, but STILL. Seriously?? From dubstep?
HAH. And then last night was supposed to be the Mexican dinner at Andrea's house. Ásta had spoken to Andrea and apparently where she lived was right near where Ásta lived back when she was little and living in Rotterdam. So Csilla and I blindly follow our fearless leader on what was my first (and probably longest-ever) Rotterdam metro ride. It takes quite a while to get to the stop. And I am famished from not eating anything that day but half a sandwich... dinner's supposed to start at 7:00 and I was gonna have to leave by 9:00 to make it to the Baroeg Open Air fest to see Korpiklaani. So we're walking around and not seeing where we're supposed to go. Ask a few people where this street is-- some shrug. Others are like, oh it's across the river. Apparently we took the entirely wrong line? We kept getting different answers from different people, though, and Andrea didn't seem to know exactly what station to get off at...???! So we make it back to the station and talk to a driver who said we could take the B line to get there... We finally figure out which stop we're supposed to be at (by this time it's after 8:00) and it's gonna take at least 30 minutes to get there. After switching trains we make it there. But it's 8:40 and they were gonna pick us up from the metro and take us there and then I would only have like a minute to hang out before having to head back which would be quite pointless so Csilla and I hop back on the train to just go back to Beurs to switch lines and grab some food and then head to the show.
Yet before we make it to Beurs we have to switch trains yet again, and then at the next stop the metro cops come and inspect the ov chipkaart things to make sure people are paying or whatever. The lady gets to me and just kinda looks at me (I was using what I thought was a one day pass) and asks how old I am. I tell her. She says that the card I have is only for children under 12 or senior citizens. ... Oh. She asks me to come off the train with her. Csilla follows, of course. Exit stage right.
Oh shit please don´t fine me. She and a couple of other officers ask me what I´m doing here, how long I´ve been here, blah blah blah. I tell them I´m new. I´ve been here a month and it´s my first metro ride and I thought that the card was good. They look a bit skeptical (and I thought for sure they weren´t gonna let me slide.. stupid American girl) but they were very sweet and just explained that usually there is a 38 euro fee and then another one for 75. But they weren´t gonna hit me with those. (Must be my winning smile). I told them I was sooo embarrassed (which I was) so they gave me a handwritten card saying it was good for an hour so I could get to where I was going... which was sooo nice of them. But by then we were running pretty late and so we had to skip getting food (which made me die a little inside) and instead just grabbed a Snickers from a vending machine and headed to Baroeg Open Air. Made it JUST in time to find Alanson with his friend Jaap before Korpiklaani came on. They were hilarious! And awesome!
The violinist was my favorite, of course.
They put on a great show and we didn´t stop dancing. But now I am le tired. And that´s why we have Sundays.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
My life is complete now.
I just saw Animals as Leaders last night in Amsterdam. They opened for Between the Buried and Me. And they were just as rad as I was expecting.
Summary (and this post is probably gonna bore the pants off everyone but me):
Although I love the friends I've made here so far dearly, none of them are into metal. And I'm not completely opposed to going to shows alone but having someone to geek out with is way funner than geeking out alone (at least I think...). But I ended up meeting a new friend--Alanson-- at the station and we made our way to the Melkweg. I'm amazed it wasn't sold out. BTBAM brings in a huge crowd and AAL is gaining a lot of momentum. Oh well. Ran into Bas from Couchsurfing-- he was there for BTBAM but Animals definitely won him over--duh! Tosin Abasi is freaking insane. And the entire night I just lucked out with awesome spots... always had a clear view of Tosin and a clear view of Dan Briggs when BTBAM was playing.
Let's see-- AAL started with Point to Point... went into a new song... they played On Impulse, Thoroughly at Home, Tempting Time, the last song whatever that is. Um.... forgot what else but it was RADDDD. God it was so good. I thought BTBAM was pretty lacklustre in comparison. I still had an awesome time but I liked their set way better back in May. Last night they played the first two songs off their new EP (like last time), a few songs off Great Misdirect. Ouu... the majority of White Walls (loved it.) But they encore'd Selkies again. They were like "how bout an old song?" and I was reallly hoping for Mordecai. Disappointment. Meh whatever. Was still awesome.
Afterward, got a couple of drinks with Alanson. He works at a pc store so hopefully can help me assemble or find a cheap gaming pc. Mom said that it would cost like 415 dollars to ship mine here (geezzz). That's like the saddest news I've received since being here. The laptop I'm using is perfect for Internets but won't play any games... anddd Dad just started playing Portal 2 and I wanna co-op... (and perhaps start up an MMO? Mayhap Rift?) Just for nights that I don't feel like going out... Haha I'm starting to sound like I'm trying to convince myself that I'm not a complete dork.
The ride home turned out being a bit of an adventure. Alanson got off at Leiden where he lives and warned me not to sleep through my stop. WHICH I TOTALLY DID. /facepalm. Ended up at Dordrecht (which isn't that far away at all but it did add another hour to my travel time.) And then this creepy guy started talking to me, drunk off his ass, at the Dordrecht station. 3: But I made it home... finally... at 5:30.
BUT IT GETS BETTER-- Cynic is totally playing in Rotterdam on December 7. It's a Wednesday. OMGOMGOMGOMGMGsoooexcited. Life is too good. <3 :))
BTW back home we don't have the luxury of leaving coats/purses with someone at the door at a show. They do that stuff here so I didn't have to carry around my purse... but also I didn't have my camera on me so that's why there aren't any pictures. :C
Summary (and this post is probably gonna bore the pants off everyone but me):
Although I love the friends I've made here so far dearly, none of them are into metal. And I'm not completely opposed to going to shows alone but having someone to geek out with is way funner than geeking out alone (at least I think...). But I ended up meeting a new friend--Alanson-- at the station and we made our way to the Melkweg. I'm amazed it wasn't sold out. BTBAM brings in a huge crowd and AAL is gaining a lot of momentum. Oh well. Ran into Bas from Couchsurfing-- he was there for BTBAM but Animals definitely won him over--duh! Tosin Abasi is freaking insane. And the entire night I just lucked out with awesome spots... always had a clear view of Tosin and a clear view of Dan Briggs when BTBAM was playing.
Let's see-- AAL started with Point to Point... went into a new song... they played On Impulse, Thoroughly at Home, Tempting Time, the last song whatever that is. Um.... forgot what else but it was RADDDD. God it was so good. I thought BTBAM was pretty lacklustre in comparison. I still had an awesome time but I liked their set way better back in May. Last night they played the first two songs off their new EP (like last time), a few songs off Great Misdirect. Ouu... the majority of White Walls (loved it.) But they encore'd Selkies again. They were like "how bout an old song?" and I was reallly hoping for Mordecai. Disappointment. Meh whatever. Was still awesome.
Afterward, got a couple of drinks with Alanson. He works at a pc store so hopefully can help me assemble or find a cheap gaming pc. Mom said that it would cost like 415 dollars to ship mine here (geezzz). That's like the saddest news I've received since being here. The laptop I'm using is perfect for Internets but won't play any games... anddd Dad just started playing Portal 2 and I wanna co-op... (and perhaps start up an MMO? Mayhap Rift?) Just for nights that I don't feel like going out... Haha I'm starting to sound like I'm trying to convince myself that I'm not a complete dork.
The ride home turned out being a bit of an adventure. Alanson got off at Leiden where he lives and warned me not to sleep through my stop. WHICH I TOTALLY DID. /facepalm. Ended up at Dordrecht (which isn't that far away at all but it did add another hour to my travel time.) And then this creepy guy started talking to me, drunk off his ass, at the Dordrecht station. 3: But I made it home... finally... at 5:30.
BUT IT GETS BETTER-- Cynic is totally playing in Rotterdam on December 7. It's a Wednesday. OMGOMGOMGOMGMGsoooexcited. Life is too good. <3 :))
BTW back home we don't have the luxury of leaving coats/purses with someone at the door at a show. They do that stuff here so I didn't have to carry around my purse... but also I didn't have my camera on me so that's why there aren't any pictures. :C
Sunday, September 4, 2011
My Camera Works!
No really it does! Also-- I haven't been kidnapped and sold into the sex slavery here. Just been too busy to update.
Oh my gosh I love it here. The weather's been so wonderful (though I'm told that won't last very long) and the food is amazing and the people are all so friendly my family bought me a freaking
diabolo set! Uh YEA! So exciting. Except I'm so terrible and already the kids are showing me up. :( Haha. But I'm super excited-- because Csilla (an au pair from Hungary) and I have gone out to Vroesenpark near where I live with my hula hoop and her diabolos, juggling balls, and pois and having a blast in the sunshine that's manifested Rotterdam this past week.
Ermmm-- but yea let's see. My second week here Csilla, Marianna (Mexican au pair) and I made a trip to Amsterdam. It was our first time trying to figure out the trains and I think we purchased discount tickets when we shouldn't have but no one checked us on either the ride there or back so we'll never know. :) But we met up with a couple of other au pairs from Mexico and then they were meeting up with like 7 other friends from Mexico so it turned into a very large group that was speaking exclusively Spanish. Which was ok at first and then got a bit exasperating as I love contributing to conversation but was unable to. :( Boo hoo.
Haha Amsterdam was a lot of fun. But it's hard to get anywhere very quickly with a large group because you walk like 50 feet then stop. Walk then stop. Sigh. I wanna go back with a much smaller group (3 max) and do a bit more exploring. And go back earlier in the day.
Umm... let's see. Went to a Dance Vibezzz (sp? idk) festival yesterday. That was fun. I was a bit hesitant to go at first... I had agreed to go a couple of weeks ago then kind of forgot about it until Maarten (my first Dutch friend I'd made) reminded me. But he, Ewoud (his bff), Csilla, and I went around 4:30 to it (it was a little over an hour away from R-dam) and had a blast. There were a bunch of DJ's playing (of course) house and the like on an unnecessarily large stage. And that's one thing I love about Holland-- you don't walk in a bar or club and hear country or Nickelback. Ever. Even if the electro is generic or cheesey you can at least dance to it. But yea the festival was super fun. Except that they expected you to pay €2.50 to go to the bathroom. And there were strict signs outside the festival that...
And I leave you, dear readers, with this:
An image of the vacuum with which I clean Ineke's office. I don't know what it is about this vacuum but I think if Stephen King ever saw it he'd definitely have inspiration for a new book. There is something inexplicably creepy about Skippy (yes for some reason the name kept popping in my head as I was vacuuming. This dustsucker is definitely named Skippy and it scares me.) If I turn up missing over the next few weeks, be sure to disembowel this smiling red death chamber, just to make sure.
Oh my gosh I love it here. The weather's been so wonderful (though I'm told that won't last very long) and the food is amazing and the people are all so friendly my family bought me a freaking
Ermmm-- but yea let's see. My second week here Csilla, Marianna (Mexican au pair) and I made a trip to Amsterdam. It was our first time trying to figure out the trains and I think we purchased discount tickets when we shouldn't have but no one checked us on either the ride there or back so we'll never know. :) But we met up with a couple of other au pairs from Mexico and then they were meeting up with like 7 other friends from Mexico so it turned into a very large group that was speaking exclusively Spanish. Which was ok at first and then got a bit exasperating as I love contributing to conversation but was unable to. :( Boo hoo.
girls: Marianna, Maria, Andrea boys: no idea
Umm... let's see. Went to a Dance Vibezzz (sp? idk) festival yesterday. That was fun. I was a bit hesitant to go at first... I had agreed to go a couple of weeks ago then kind of forgot about it until Maarten (my first Dutch friend I'd made) reminded me. But he, Ewoud (his bff), Csilla, and I went around 4:30 to it (it was a little over an hour away from R-dam) and had a blast. There were a bunch of DJ's playing (of course) house and the like on an unnecessarily large stage. And that's one thing I love about Holland-- you don't walk in a bar or club and hear country or Nickelback. Ever. Even if the electro is generic or cheesey you can at least dance to it. But yea the festival was super fun. Except that they expected you to pay €2.50 to go to the bathroom. And there were strict signs outside the festival that...
Me, Ewoud, Csilla
...I think were saying you shouldn't pee on the streets. O well. Had a blast regardless.
And I leave you, dear readers, with this:
'Ole Skippy wants to eat your children
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Made it!
So I got bumped up to first class on my way over, for free, just sayin'. I was welcomed onto Delta 238 with champagne (which I needed desperately because I kinda was freaking out while boarding b/c I forgot that ATL is an hour ahead and so it snuck up on me and my goodbye to my mother was kinda rushed). Had a four course meal... got a huge chair that reclined practically all the way and you could adjust it to conform to just about every part of your back and legs. Despite all that, I didn't get but like an hour of sleep. Something about sleeping while travelling... quite hard to do. I think it's because I woke up during a car trip in the backseat screaming after the guy driving had fallen asleep and hit the siderail and ran off the road. Since then I've never been quite successful at sleeping in a moving vehicle.
Anyway, Ineke and the daughter Caroline were there to pick me up from the airport. Quick drive from Schiphol to Rotterdam, had breakfast, and then got a biking tour of some places I needed to know how to get to. Also immediately received some BFF bracelets from Caroline kekeke. :)
We live on one of the bigger roads and its only like a five minute bike ride (if that) to downtown and central station. Haven't really had time to take a lot of pictures but I'll upload some soon. Also, I've made plans to meet up with some other au pairs this weekend, and with one tomorrow. Huzzah!
Anyway, Ineke and the daughter Caroline were there to pick me up from the airport. Quick drive from Schiphol to Rotterdam, had breakfast, and then got a biking tour of some places I needed to know how to get to. Also immediately received some BFF bracelets from Caroline kekeke. :)
We live on one of the bigger roads and its only like a five minute bike ride (if that) to downtown and central station. Haven't really had time to take a lot of pictures but I'll upload some soon. Also, I've made plans to meet up with some other au pairs this weekend, and with one tomorrow. Huzzah!
Monday, July 18, 2011
Gee Whilikers! It's getting close..
So it's about three weeks until I move to Rotterdam. Hard to believe. I'm cramming as much friend/family time in as I can before I leave all my loved ones for a year. But hot DAMN I can't wait... I've been reading the blogs of my host parents' former au pairs and the more I read, the more excited I get.
I'm trying to tie up all my loose ends... I have ordered like a year's worth of contacts (even though the kind I usually get stopped making my prescription... which is a -15.00 in both eyes... terrible) but whatever. And I was worried about my back messing up (stupid boobs) like it usually does once a year but Ineke and her most recent au pair both said that it's nearly impossible to get any kind of decent pain killer. Like, they will not prescribe hydrocodone or vicodin or anything and when my back is spasmed and I can barely move there is no way I can get by on tylenol. Seriously. And apprently they don't have anything even close to Excedrin or Nyquil. I'm glad I learned this b/c I went to the doctor and got all the scripts I needed... I'm gonna be bring like an entire pharmacy with me. Haha... my mother did this to me. We believe in modern medicine.
Got my luggage... three pieces which don't match at ALL... just how I like them.
OMFG THREE WEEKS WHATTT?!
I gotta get an ipod before I leave, as well. :))))))))))
I'm trying to tie up all my loose ends... I have ordered like a year's worth of contacts (even though the kind I usually get stopped making my prescription... which is a -15.00 in both eyes... terrible) but whatever. And I was worried about my back messing up (stupid boobs) like it usually does once a year but Ineke and her most recent au pair both said that it's nearly impossible to get any kind of decent pain killer. Like, they will not prescribe hydrocodone or vicodin or anything and when my back is spasmed and I can barely move there is no way I can get by on tylenol. Seriously. And apprently they don't have anything even close to Excedrin or Nyquil. I'm glad I learned this b/c I went to the doctor and got all the scripts I needed... I'm gonna be bring like an entire pharmacy with me. Haha... my mother did this to me. We believe in modern medicine.
Got my luggage... three pieces which don't match at ALL... just how I like them.
OMFG THREE WEEKS WHATTT?!
I gotta get an ipod before I leave, as well. :))))))))))
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Weird.
Don't let anyone fool you. Dutch is weird. It has similar sentence structure to English, which is good. Lots of the words sound (or are) the same but there are a lot of false cognates. And they can start sentences with " 's ". WHO DOES THAT?!?!?
I will never be able to say the word for shoes (schoenen) or ask someone how they're doing (Hoe gaat het met jou/u?)
Whatever
I will never be able to say the word for shoes (schoenen) or ask someone how they're doing (Hoe gaat het met jou/u?)
Whatever
Monday, March 28, 2011
Rosetta Stone= My new BFF
Well, I ordered the Rosetta Stone for Dutch last Tuesday and was super excited about the prospect of getting a head start on the language before throwing myself into another country. Supposedly practically everyone over there speaks English anyway, but I'd like to impress a few folks with my rad language skills (*cough*yearight *cough*), plus I wouldn't mind being pseudo-trilingual. AND if everything is written in Dutch it won't freak me out as bad... hopefully.
So yea I ordered it and was tracking it through UPS and was super DUPER excited to see that it was to be delivered Thursday. So I was lounging around the house all day waiting for it-- there was nothing else for me to do since my back was still hurting like hell-- and I checked the tracking page to see that OH ITS ALREADY BEEN DELIVERED WHEE.
So I think to myself, that's kinda weird since I've been here all day and never heard a knock or a doorbell ring. But I hobble to the door to see that, alas, there is nothing there. So I start to freak out. That's a $200 package that has magically disappeared. So I call up UPS to see if there's any way they could have gotten over excited and marked it as delivered while it was still in transit but no.... "that's all the information we have right now." Ok, great, that's helpful. "You should call Rosetta Stone to start a retracing thing blah blah blah. "
Long story short no one's very helpful and I'm super pissed off. I go drive slowly and creepily up and down my street on the offchance that the UPS driver with my package happened to be dyslexic and misread the address. OMG I spot a package on the front stoop of a house a block down from me. I try to talk my roommate into letting me borrow his bird-watching binoculars to see if the address on the package has my name on it but he gives me a disappointed look, shakes his head, and leaves to go get Zaxby's. So I nonchalantly take a stroll down the road-- I'd feel so much better about walking down the street if I had a dog-- and I try and plan out what I'd say if the people at the house caught me on their front door looking at their package. Have you heard the message of the Church of Latter Day Saints? Have you seen my lost labradoodle, Sparky? But no one comes to the door and I see that it is, in fact, for a Mr. William Dawdle or something.
DAMN. Oh well... Rosetta said they'll send me a replacement if it can't be re-traced. Sigh....
Next day after work it's on my doorstep. No note. No explanation. None needed.
I now know how to tell you that someone or some people are sleeping, walking, running, eating, drinking, women, men, white, blue, green, red, black, or yellow. I can assure you that something is, indeed, a bicycle or a car. And lots of other things. Whoohoo! But the pronunciation is very strange. A little bit of rolled "r"s after "g"s. Some guttural noises. Some nasal noises. But I like it and I'm pumped to learn more.
Also, Ineke called my mother last week. My mom's a big fan and agrees that the Dutch accent is possibly the cutest and most endearing thing ever. And she's relieved to know that she appears to be sweet and sensible. I forgot what else they talked about but it was all good. :))
Tot ziens! ;)
So yea I ordered it and was tracking it through UPS and was super DUPER excited to see that it was to be delivered Thursday. So I was lounging around the house all day waiting for it-- there was nothing else for me to do since my back was still hurting like hell-- and I checked the tracking page to see that OH ITS ALREADY BEEN DELIVERED WHEE.
So I think to myself, that's kinda weird since I've been here all day and never heard a knock or a doorbell ring. But I hobble to the door to see that, alas, there is nothing there. So I start to freak out. That's a $200 package that has magically disappeared. So I call up UPS to see if there's any way they could have gotten over excited and marked it as delivered while it was still in transit but no.... "that's all the information we have right now." Ok, great, that's helpful. "You should call Rosetta Stone to start a retracing thing blah blah blah. "
Long story short no one's very helpful and I'm super pissed off. I go drive slowly and creepily up and down my street on the offchance that the UPS driver with my package happened to be dyslexic and misread the address. OMG I spot a package on the front stoop of a house a block down from me. I try to talk my roommate into letting me borrow his bird-watching binoculars to see if the address on the package has my name on it but he gives me a disappointed look, shakes his head, and leaves to go get Zaxby's. So I nonchalantly take a stroll down the road-- I'd feel so much better about walking down the street if I had a dog-- and I try and plan out what I'd say if the people at the house caught me on their front door looking at their package. Have you heard the message of the Church of Latter Day Saints? Have you seen my lost labradoodle, Sparky? But no one comes to the door and I see that it is, in fact, for a Mr. William Dawdle or something.
DAMN. Oh well... Rosetta said they'll send me a replacement if it can't be re-traced. Sigh....
Next day after work it's on my doorstep. No note. No explanation. None needed.
I now know how to tell you that someone or some people are sleeping, walking, running, eating, drinking, women, men, white, blue, green, red, black, or yellow. I can assure you that something is, indeed, a bicycle or a car. And lots of other things. Whoohoo! But the pronunciation is very strange. A little bit of rolled "r"s after "g"s. Some guttural noises. Some nasal noises. But I like it and I'm pumped to learn more.
Also, Ineke called my mother last week. My mom's a big fan and agrees that the Dutch accent is possibly the cutest and most endearing thing ever. And she's relieved to know that she appears to be sweet and sensible. I forgot what else they talked about but it was all good. :))
Tot ziens! ;)
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Omg yess!!
Today, Ineke called to chat on the phone. After a few minutes talking to her and Caroline (who was--supposedly-- uncharacterstically quiet) she offered the job.
YES PLEASE!
So I have about five months left before I head on over to Rotterdam for a year and I couldn't be more excited about it!
YES PLEASE!
So I have about five months left before I head on over to Rotterdam for a year and I couldn't be more excited about it!
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