So there hasn't been too much going on recently. Business as usual. I had holding patterns at home and I'm discovering the new ones I've created for m'self here I suppose.
I got to see The desolation of Smaug for the second time last weekend, which was awesome! The Dutch subtitles were fun, particularly for the lines spoken in Orcish or Elven, 'cause you had to guess what they were saying. Highly entertaining actually. I also got to try out the bagel and coffee shop. It's a Dutch cafe chain called Bagels & Beans and it's not bad. The coffee is good and there's a good selection of bagel sandwiches including (of course!) tostis.
I'm at the five month point now with five and a half more months of work and then about a month, month and a half to travel around before going home. It's kind a weird place to be. It feels like a long time and not much time at the same time, so it's almost like a sensation of limbo at the moment. The other thing that's odd for me right now is watching the kids. I've felt old before seeing some of my sibs friends back home when they hit their growth spurts. The oldest boy in my host family is twelve, almost thirteen, and I swear the top of his head has gone up a fair bit since the last time I looked. Bah!
The next trip on the agenda (that I need to start planning) is Italy at the end of February. I've got a week, and it's still Wintry so I figured Italy was a good choice.
Oh, my special frustration this week is books. I'm heading in to a reading phase and I've been trying to find some fantasy or historical fiction and non-fiction books that I haven't read, and the lack of a library I can haunt is getting to me. My usual pattern is head to the library, browse the sections I'm interested in at the time and take out a fair sized pile to sample. When they're due, return and repeat. But I can't do that here. It's a different country so the books are all in a different language in the library (duh!) and I don't have that much disposable income so I'm not buying books. Not that I'd want to anyway. I read just about anything, but I'm more picky about which books I own. I only buy books if I've already read them at least twice as that's a good indication I'll keep re-reading them which makes them (in my mind) a good investment. And when I'm on these reading stints I generally go for things I haven't read before so I don't want to buy those. So yeah. It's making me antsy. Very antsy.
Done for now. Peace out
Sunday, 26 January 2014
Wednesday, 8 January 2014
After Christmas
I went to Munich for two weeks over the Christmas and New Years holidays to stay with family. I am very glad I did so. Firstly because I got to hang out and reconnect with cousins I only get to see occasionally which was awesome! Secondly because I got to meet a bunch of their friends who were all a lot of fun. Thirdly because, y'know, Munich. One thing I'm missing already is the company of other geeks. As far as I can tell, I'm the only geek in the circle of people I hang out with in the Netherlands, and living with a couple of fellow geeks for two weeks really brought home how lonely I'd been feeling and how much I'd missed geeking out with people.
The first several days after I arrived were devoted to exploring Munich proper and seeing the Christmas markets. It's very interesting to see the differences in some of them. There's the generic, I suppose, and then the themed, like the medieval market and the artisan market. It was pretty cool. Then it was Christmas, so we had to get everything put up properly. Cy had made everyone personalised Tardis stockings, and Alel mad a cardboard fireplace outline for the tv so we hung the stockings off that. At least until we filled them.
The first several days after I arrived were devoted to exploring Munich proper and seeing the Christmas markets. It's very interesting to see the differences in some of them. There's the generic, I suppose, and then the themed, like the medieval market and the artisan market. It was pretty cool. Then it was Christmas, so we had to get everything put up properly. Cy had made everyone personalised Tardis stockings, and Alel mad a cardboard fireplace outline for the tv so we hung the stockings off that. At least until we filled them.
Christmas Eve was a pork roast that one of the aforementioned friends came over and made, with lava cakes for desert. And the Christmas Eve tradition of new pjs. Christmas day was what Cy called the "big breakfast" so toast, bacon, eggs, potatoes, and loads of toppings for the toast. Dinner was turkey with all the appropriate additions, and very good vegetables with pumpkin pie and a cheese pie for after followed by the Doctor Who Christmas special. Boxing day we stayed in, if I remember rightly. Friday I went to Dachau concentration camp. It was a very intense experience. Two places I would recommend people visit if they think they're up for it are the Roman catacombs and Dachau. Those are the two places where I have walked in and immediately had all the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Saturday we made day trip to Salzburg. Sachertorte is reeeeally good! Sunday Cy and I spent the whole day in the Munich residenz and treasury, and ran out of time. It is spectacular. Highly recommended if you find yourself in Munich someday. And on Monday I got to go entirely game geek for a day 'cause Alel arranged a rpg session i could join in on! Yay! Oh, and we went for dinner to another of Cy's friends places where I met a cat who plays fetch and had really good chicken curry. Then it was New years and we went over to the friend who made the pork roast's place (from now on he's M) for dinner and to watch fireworks 'cause he has a great view. Dinner was, as usual, really good but the clouds dropped and we were completely fogged in for the fireworks. We could hear them though. Pretty much all of Munich was setting of fireworks from about 11:50 to 1:30 or so. It sounded like popcorn in the microwave when it's at it's fastest pop rate. Constantly. For close to two hours straight. It was pretty cool. New year's day was yummy chicken day and Sherlock! Sherlock is baaaaack!!!! Oh, and Cy cut my hair for me, which was awesome! It looks great! The 2nd Alel and I went to the Pompeii exhibit, we went to a medieval style restaurant for dinner, and then it was time to go home. That made me sad. All in all a fun, tasty, and friendly two weeks.
Oh, and me being me I managed to gimp my left foot when I got off the bus with my bag. It still hurts. Oh well. Be well y'all, and hope you had a good holiday! Rock on.
Sunday, 15 December 2013
Some day to day
Everything's been rather quiet for the past couple of weeks. Just the usual. I've been to some of the nearer towns and had a wander through a couple of markets. Last weekend was particularly chill, and hanging with S and A on Saturday was super fun and relaxing.
This weekend I tried to finish off my Christmas shopping as best I could so I was in Laren and Amsterdam. Amsterdam is all dolled up for the holidays, with lights strung all the way down and across all the main shopping streets and a Christmas market on the big main street from Centraal station to Dam Square. And all the malls are blinking happily.
One particularly frustrating problem I've bumped into though is the fact that no where seems to carry picture frames that are either more than single picture size or less than eight. I happen to need room for three. Bah.
There was a party at our place on Friday. Total meh. It was nice chatting with some of the people at the beginning but then everyone starts getting drunk and I get bored. Very bored. It's just not my style of party. Another result from that was I was feeling grumpy at humanity in general on Saturday, which was unfortunate as that was the day I went in to Amsterdam, and I usually enjoy the crowds but this time I was swearing at everyone under my breath. Oh well.
And now the toilet is beginning to back up, but that should be fixed tomorrow sometime, so yay!
I'm heading to Munich on Friday for two weeks. I'm so looking forward to not working! For two weeks! And visiting cousins!!!! Woohoo!!!!! And I keep forgetting how soon Friday is.... Whoops.
The ramble is over now. Peace out.
This weekend I tried to finish off my Christmas shopping as best I could so I was in Laren and Amsterdam. Amsterdam is all dolled up for the holidays, with lights strung all the way down and across all the main shopping streets and a Christmas market on the big main street from Centraal station to Dam Square. And all the malls are blinking happily.
One particularly frustrating problem I've bumped into though is the fact that no where seems to carry picture frames that are either more than single picture size or less than eight. I happen to need room for three. Bah.
There was a party at our place on Friday. Total meh. It was nice chatting with some of the people at the beginning but then everyone starts getting drunk and I get bored. Very bored. It's just not my style of party. Another result from that was I was feeling grumpy at humanity in general on Saturday, which was unfortunate as that was the day I went in to Amsterdam, and I usually enjoy the crowds but this time I was swearing at everyone under my breath. Oh well.
And now the toilet is beginning to back up, but that should be fixed tomorrow sometime, so yay!
I'm heading to Munich on Friday for two weeks. I'm so looking forward to not working! For two weeks! And visiting cousins!!!! Woohoo!!!!! And I keep forgetting how soon Friday is.... Whoops.
The ramble is over now. Peace out.
Sunday, 1 December 2013
Sinterklaas and other things
So there's this thing I've been bumping my head against recently. It's one of those cultural differences that may not have a truly right or wrong answer, or side, or anything like that. It may be varying shades of gray and it's something I can deal with in the long run but it's also something I've been bumping my head on.
It's the Dutch holiday tradition of Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas, also known as St. Nicholas, is not unfamiliar to me. However his little helpers, who fill many of the same job descriptions as Santa's elves, were unfamiliar at least in this guise. I'd heard brief references to Black Peter in the stories I'd heard so I expected something similar, and it sort of is. He's called Zwarte Piet here, and there's more then one of him. Not a problem in and of itself really. When I started getting a tad uncomfortable was when I realised that Zwarte Piete is generally played by white actors in blackface. That's when the fact that there's more then one and they're the "little helpers" started to make me uncomfortable too.
None of the locals see any of this as a problem either. The fact that some people do find it racist is making the news here. Has been for several weeks in fact. And the locals get very upset when their tradition is called racist and protest that it isn't, it's just an old holiday tradition. I wasn't sure what to think for a little while, because it comes across as racist to me and I was having trouble seeing how the people here couldn't see that, so I took a bit of time to try and puzzle it out.
The first thing to realise is that this is the most Caucasian country I've ever been in. I'd never seen so many blond and blue eyed children in one place before I went to the school to pick up the kids, and most of the parents look much the same. There are two families that I've seen who aren't White. One is Black, the other Asian. This may not be as true in the bigger cities, but the Netherlands still strikes me as a predominantly White country. This is not a bad thing but it means that there are some perspectives that won't be heard simply because they aren't there. The other thing to keep in mind is that, while the Netherlands certainly participated in the slave trade it wasn't legal in the country itself, so my impression is they didn't do much of the re-shaping and re-working that other countries had to go through to reach a certain level of equality. They may not have needed to. The end result of that (from my perspective) is that they literally don't see the racist connotations in the imagery of Zwarte Piet. It doesn't occur to them that some people will look at the master/servant relationship between St. Nick and Zwarte Piet, note the skin colours, and also see a master/slave dynamic. And for someone who's grown up in a country still struggling with institutionalised racism and next door to another country dealing with much the same thing it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Maybe I'm being too sensitive (I won't think I am, obviously) and maybe I've got it all wrong. As I said before, this is something I can deal with. But I can see it from the perspective of those who think it is racist and when I try I can see it from the Dutch perspective too, and no matter which way I look at it I get a little twitchy.
It's the Dutch holiday tradition of Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas, also known as St. Nicholas, is not unfamiliar to me. However his little helpers, who fill many of the same job descriptions as Santa's elves, were unfamiliar at least in this guise. I'd heard brief references to Black Peter in the stories I'd heard so I expected something similar, and it sort of is. He's called Zwarte Piet here, and there's more then one of him. Not a problem in and of itself really. When I started getting a tad uncomfortable was when I realised that Zwarte Piete is generally played by white actors in blackface. That's when the fact that there's more then one and they're the "little helpers" started to make me uncomfortable too.
None of the locals see any of this as a problem either. The fact that some people do find it racist is making the news here. Has been for several weeks in fact. And the locals get very upset when their tradition is called racist and protest that it isn't, it's just an old holiday tradition. I wasn't sure what to think for a little while, because it comes across as racist to me and I was having trouble seeing how the people here couldn't see that, so I took a bit of time to try and puzzle it out.
The first thing to realise is that this is the most Caucasian country I've ever been in. I'd never seen so many blond and blue eyed children in one place before I went to the school to pick up the kids, and most of the parents look much the same. There are two families that I've seen who aren't White. One is Black, the other Asian. This may not be as true in the bigger cities, but the Netherlands still strikes me as a predominantly White country. This is not a bad thing but it means that there are some perspectives that won't be heard simply because they aren't there. The other thing to keep in mind is that, while the Netherlands certainly participated in the slave trade it wasn't legal in the country itself, so my impression is they didn't do much of the re-shaping and re-working that other countries had to go through to reach a certain level of equality. They may not have needed to. The end result of that (from my perspective) is that they literally don't see the racist connotations in the imagery of Zwarte Piet. It doesn't occur to them that some people will look at the master/servant relationship between St. Nick and Zwarte Piet, note the skin colours, and also see a master/slave dynamic. And for someone who's grown up in a country still struggling with institutionalised racism and next door to another country dealing with much the same thing it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Maybe I'm being too sensitive (I won't think I am, obviously) and maybe I've got it all wrong. As I said before, this is something I can deal with. But I can see it from the perspective of those who think it is racist and when I try I can see it from the Dutch perspective too, and no matter which way I look at it I get a little twitchy.
Sunday, 24 November 2013
My weekend in Brussels
On the morning of Friday the 8th I headed out to catch a train to Brussels where I planned to spend the rest of that weekend. The trip in to Amsterdam went as usual, and I got a ticket to Brussels with a change in Rotterdam. I rather like Rotterdam Centraal as a train station. The layout is nice, it's quite bright, and it's easy to navigate. Also, the Starbucks is really easy to find. On the train from Rotterdam to Brussels I had a lovely conversation with a Belgian man who was on his way home from what sounded like a lovely vacation in warmer climes who had a couple of very good suggestions for language learning aids, so that was fun.
Upon arriving in Brussels my first order of business was to find the tourist info center so I got directions to Grand Plac and headed over. The first thought through my mind on walking in to the Grand Plac was "My God. The Dutch have no romance in their souls, but the Belgians surely do!" It was gorgeous. Not just in Grand Plac, but all through the center of the city. Even the more recently built buildings (i.e. only a couple hundred years old) were beautiful. So after staring and taking a few pictures I wandered in to the tourist info center and said "Could you help me find a place to sleep for the next two nights?" and they found me a very nice hostel about ten to fifteen minutes walk away called the Sleep Well youth hostel. I quite liked it. After checking in I went for a bit of a wander, grabbed something to eat, and went to Le Cercueil to try a fruit beer. Le Cercueil is a bar who's decor is made up primarily of coffins, blacklights, and fake skeletons. It was cool, but I'd recommend going with friends otherwise you'll be bored out of your skull, like me. The beer wasn't bad though.
After the beer I went back to the hostel and did some research for the following day. The Herge museum was a bit further away then I thought it would be, so I decided that was going to have to wait for another trip, but I did discover the Belgian Comic Strip Center. That looked good. So, decision made, I went sleep and actually got some, much to my surprise.
Saturday i woke up about 9:30 and was out a half hour or so later. I decided breakfast was not a bad time to try waffles, so I picked one of the likelier looking waffle stands and got one with whipped cream and chocolate. It was really good. Also a lot of sweet. And it happened to be right next to Manneken Pis, so I got a couple of pictures of it in one of it's costumes. I decided to explore a bit before I went looking for the comic center so I did a half circuit of the streets around Grand Plac and then decided I needed something that was food that didn't have sugar in it as I was feeling a bit sick. One thing that pretty much all the restaurants in Brussels have is mussels, so I decided now was as good a time as any to give them a try. I got the appy size pot instead of the big meal size, and it was quite tasty.
At this point I decided I should probably head to the comic center so I pulled out the map and picked the most likely looking route. Turns out, the street I picked didn't go straight through like it did on the map. I had to detour up a few streets but as that got me up near the cathedral, which is as stunning as much of the rest of the city is, I didn't mind. It also took me past a couple of statues that I probably would have missed otherwise.
The Belgian Comic Strip Center is in a building that started life as the Waucquez Warehouse, an Art Nouveau building designed by Victor Horta, so not only is the stuff inside absolutely fascinating for me the building is as well. The first floor has a restaurant and the store, and a small gellery that I didn't end up going in to. I started with the store. I have come to the conclusion that I have to learn to read French, if not speak it, simply to have a chance to read the wealth of comics and graphic novels that come from Belgium that haven't been translated and likely won't be any time soon. I had to keep repeating "You can't read it, so don't buy it" while I was in there.
After torturing myself by browsing, I went up the stairs past the bust on Tintin to the main exhibit floor. The first section you go through is the history of the comic strip, starting with cave paintings and Egyptians, moving through Saxon and Japanese to the more modern and discussing the ones that were examples purely of art, the political cartoons, and the entertainment variety. The next section goes through how a comic is made, from the initial design concepts through the rough draft, final draft, inking, and printing process with about five or six exhibits which showcase a particular comic artists creative process in the area that's being explained at the time. Then you move into the section on genres. They have the panel explaining the particular genre and then six to ten single page examples from different comics in that genre. Fantasy, comedy, sci-fi, mystery, etc. It was all absolutely fascinating. The other side has a small gallery. The show that was there when I went was about a comic called Murena. here's the link. It was one of the ones I wished I could read. http://www.comicscenter.net/en/exhibitions/the-gallery/murena-jean-dufaux-and-philippe-delaby
The next floor up is the floor where they showcase particular cartoonists who were particularly well known and contributed a lot to the art of comics in Belgium. The first section is, of course, about Herge and his comics. Then you can wander through an area that talks about eight or so others from the recent history of Belgian comics. The top half floor is dedicated special exhibit space, with two going side by side. One half was a Will Eisner exhibit, and the other was an Olivier Grenson exhibit. Olivier Grenson is yet another author I'll have to learn French to read. Bah.
At this point I was getting a bit hungry so I decided food might be in order. I went to a little place just off Grand Plac and tried Vol au Vent, which was really good, but I couldn't finish it. Too much rich food.... But it's soooo good!!! After which I wandered back to the hostel. Turns out, the route to and from my hostel took me behind the Opera House and straight through the Plac des Martyrs. So I have both daytime and night time shots of both.
When I got back to the hostel and ensconced in my room, I heard a couple of the other girls talking about having to get up early and I was thinking "Ok, so there'll be some noise sometime around seven or eight. I can deal with that." Turns out, early meant three in the bloody am. So from about three in the morning to about quarter to five, there were two people clattering about packing, showering, and generally fussing. Needless to say, I did not get much sleep.
When I finally did decide to get up I got everything squared away and headed down for breakfast. Oh yes, did I mention that the hostel also provided breakfast? Very nice. At this point I realised I should head out if I wanted to make the free walking tour in time, so I checked out and made my way to Grand Plac. It had rained the night before, and the sun was out with force that morning, so the Plac was absolutely stunning. Just wow.
I was more than in time for the tour so I got on no problem. And the funny thing with me and Sandeman's? When I went on the tour in Amsterdam my tour guide was a Dutch Canadian originally from Ontario. In Brussels my guide had moved to Belgium ten months ago from Amsterdam. Go figure. The tour is well worth it. The history of Brussels is fascinating, and my guide was also a highly entertaining storyteller, so he could tell you the facts and then pull out one of the stories or urban myths as well, which made the whole thing even more enjoyable. Another funny thing was that there were at least three other Canadians on that tour. Again, go figure.
After the tour one of the other people, a very nice Aussie who'd been living in London for two years and had decided to go exploring, and myself decided that as we were both hungry we should go find dinner together. We had some good food and good conversation, and then I went off to get the the things I'd decided I couldn't leave Brussels without. That being some Tintin items and chocolate. And oh my word is the chocolate good. I've decided I'm going to have to back right before I go home just to stock up on truffles.
After grabbing my goods I headed to the train station to go home. The trip this time was longer as I ended up on two milkrun trains going through Belgium, and a slightly faster one through the South of the Netherlands. And I ended up with another Canadian. She's a teacher, also originally from Ontario, and she's teaching English in the Netherlands now. we had a nice chat and she helped me figure out a slightly faster way of getting home which was extremely helpful as I was getting tired and a bit grumpy at that point. After that, it was fairly standard the rest of the way home, where I set up my alarm and collapsed.
All in all, it was a very nice trip. That's all for now. Peace out.
Upon arriving in Brussels my first order of business was to find the tourist info center so I got directions to Grand Plac and headed over. The first thought through my mind on walking in to the Grand Plac was "My God. The Dutch have no romance in their souls, but the Belgians surely do!" It was gorgeous. Not just in Grand Plac, but all through the center of the city. Even the more recently built buildings (i.e. only a couple hundred years old) were beautiful. So after staring and taking a few pictures I wandered in to the tourist info center and said "Could you help me find a place to sleep for the next two nights?" and they found me a very nice hostel about ten to fifteen minutes walk away called the Sleep Well youth hostel. I quite liked it. After checking in I went for a bit of a wander, grabbed something to eat, and went to Le Cercueil to try a fruit beer. Le Cercueil is a bar who's decor is made up primarily of coffins, blacklights, and fake skeletons. It was cool, but I'd recommend going with friends otherwise you'll be bored out of your skull, like me. The beer wasn't bad though.
After the beer I went back to the hostel and did some research for the following day. The Herge museum was a bit further away then I thought it would be, so I decided that was going to have to wait for another trip, but I did discover the Belgian Comic Strip Center. That looked good. So, decision made, I went sleep and actually got some, much to my surprise.
Saturday i woke up about 9:30 and was out a half hour or so later. I decided breakfast was not a bad time to try waffles, so I picked one of the likelier looking waffle stands and got one with whipped cream and chocolate. It was really good. Also a lot of sweet. And it happened to be right next to Manneken Pis, so I got a couple of pictures of it in one of it's costumes. I decided to explore a bit before I went looking for the comic center so I did a half circuit of the streets around Grand Plac and then decided I needed something that was food that didn't have sugar in it as I was feeling a bit sick. One thing that pretty much all the restaurants in Brussels have is mussels, so I decided now was as good a time as any to give them a try. I got the appy size pot instead of the big meal size, and it was quite tasty.
At this point I decided I should probably head to the comic center so I pulled out the map and picked the most likely looking route. Turns out, the street I picked didn't go straight through like it did on the map. I had to detour up a few streets but as that got me up near the cathedral, which is as stunning as much of the rest of the city is, I didn't mind. It also took me past a couple of statues that I probably would have missed otherwise.
The Belgian Comic Strip Center is in a building that started life as the Waucquez Warehouse, an Art Nouveau building designed by Victor Horta, so not only is the stuff inside absolutely fascinating for me the building is as well. The first floor has a restaurant and the store, and a small gellery that I didn't end up going in to. I started with the store. I have come to the conclusion that I have to learn to read French, if not speak it, simply to have a chance to read the wealth of comics and graphic novels that come from Belgium that haven't been translated and likely won't be any time soon. I had to keep repeating "You can't read it, so don't buy it" while I was in there.
After torturing myself by browsing, I went up the stairs past the bust on Tintin to the main exhibit floor. The first section you go through is the history of the comic strip, starting with cave paintings and Egyptians, moving through Saxon and Japanese to the more modern and discussing the ones that were examples purely of art, the political cartoons, and the entertainment variety. The next section goes through how a comic is made, from the initial design concepts through the rough draft, final draft, inking, and printing process with about five or six exhibits which showcase a particular comic artists creative process in the area that's being explained at the time. Then you move into the section on genres. They have the panel explaining the particular genre and then six to ten single page examples from different comics in that genre. Fantasy, comedy, sci-fi, mystery, etc. It was all absolutely fascinating. The other side has a small gallery. The show that was there when I went was about a comic called Murena. here's the link. It was one of the ones I wished I could read. http://www.comicscenter.net/en/exhibitions/the-gallery/murena-jean-dufaux-and-philippe-delaby
The next floor up is the floor where they showcase particular cartoonists who were particularly well known and contributed a lot to the art of comics in Belgium. The first section is, of course, about Herge and his comics. Then you can wander through an area that talks about eight or so others from the recent history of Belgian comics. The top half floor is dedicated special exhibit space, with two going side by side. One half was a Will Eisner exhibit, and the other was an Olivier Grenson exhibit. Olivier Grenson is yet another author I'll have to learn French to read. Bah.
At this point I was getting a bit hungry so I decided food might be in order. I went to a little place just off Grand Plac and tried Vol au Vent, which was really good, but I couldn't finish it. Too much rich food.... But it's soooo good!!! After which I wandered back to the hostel. Turns out, the route to and from my hostel took me behind the Opera House and straight through the Plac des Martyrs. So I have both daytime and night time shots of both.
When I got back to the hostel and ensconced in my room, I heard a couple of the other girls talking about having to get up early and I was thinking "Ok, so there'll be some noise sometime around seven or eight. I can deal with that." Turns out, early meant three in the bloody am. So from about three in the morning to about quarter to five, there were two people clattering about packing, showering, and generally fussing. Needless to say, I did not get much sleep.
When I finally did decide to get up I got everything squared away and headed down for breakfast. Oh yes, did I mention that the hostel also provided breakfast? Very nice. At this point I realised I should head out if I wanted to make the free walking tour in time, so I checked out and made my way to Grand Plac. It had rained the night before, and the sun was out with force that morning, so the Plac was absolutely stunning. Just wow.
I was more than in time for the tour so I got on no problem. And the funny thing with me and Sandeman's? When I went on the tour in Amsterdam my tour guide was a Dutch Canadian originally from Ontario. In Brussels my guide had moved to Belgium ten months ago from Amsterdam. Go figure. The tour is well worth it. The history of Brussels is fascinating, and my guide was also a highly entertaining storyteller, so he could tell you the facts and then pull out one of the stories or urban myths as well, which made the whole thing even more enjoyable. Another funny thing was that there were at least three other Canadians on that tour. Again, go figure.
After the tour one of the other people, a very nice Aussie who'd been living in London for two years and had decided to go exploring, and myself decided that as we were both hungry we should go find dinner together. We had some good food and good conversation, and then I went off to get the the things I'd decided I couldn't leave Brussels without. That being some Tintin items and chocolate. And oh my word is the chocolate good. I've decided I'm going to have to back right before I go home just to stock up on truffles.
After grabbing my goods I headed to the train station to go home. The trip this time was longer as I ended up on two milkrun trains going through Belgium, and a slightly faster one through the South of the Netherlands. And I ended up with another Canadian. She's a teacher, also originally from Ontario, and she's teaching English in the Netherlands now. we had a nice chat and she helped me figure out a slightly faster way of getting home which was extremely helpful as I was getting tired and a bit grumpy at that point. After that, it was fairly standard the rest of the way home, where I set up my alarm and collapsed.
All in all, it was a very nice trip. That's all for now. Peace out.
Saturday, 23 November 2013
Sunday, 3 November 2013
The weekend update
For those of you wondering about me.
After two months I'm settling in. Things are feeling more like "normal" now, and I have a weekly pattern which is good for me. My housemates are nice and we seem to be settling in with each other, which is very good, and there's a couple of the other girls who are here that I'm enjoying. My host family is very nice. The kids are a great deal of fun and the parents are lovely people. I'm figuring things out with the dog too. I still crash in to some of the cultural differences sometimes, as the Dutch take some getting used to, and I'm still homesick occasionally. Although it's less what I think of as homesickness. Homesickness is when I'm miserable with missing things and people. Where I'm at now is not that. I get a bit sad sometimes, but not out and out miserable. And what I'm missing right now is landscapes. Things like mountains and forests, or evergreen forests anyway, and ocean. I'm getting two weeks free at Christmas and I'm really looking forward to that.
But on to my weekend. Or Saturday anyway. I headed out and everything went as usual until I got to the train station. Whereupon I discovered that there was track work being done between Hilversum (the station closest to where I'm living) and Weesp (about halfway to Amsterdam) so you had to catch one of the buses they were using to take people to the various stations. Ok, I can do that. Takes a bit longer but you get to see the places you usually speed by so that's fun. I finally get in to the city and head off on a ramble. I had originally planned to come in because there were about fifty museums staying open 'til two am, but with the trains being tricky I decided I probably wouldn't stay in too late. I'd been looking for a Winter coat for a while, and I decided I might as well get one now so I headed to one of the stores I'd been sussing out and discovered there was a sale on. I ended up getting a very nice coat for 20 euros less than the price. Huzzah!
On my last trip in I'd passed a store called Chimera on the way to the Halloween parade. It was closed at the time, but I'd made a mental note of where it was so I could go back during opening hours, so that was the next stop. And ooooh myyyyy! I loved it! For those of you familiar with the store Dragonspace on Granville Island it is very similar, but twice the floor space and two floors. I was hopping up and down and squeeing internally the whole time I was in there. The upper floor is entirely Asian, and has everything from incense to tableware and chopsticks. The bottom floor has clothes, statues, jewelry, and just about everything else fantasy oriented I could possibly hope for.
After that I decided I was going to just wander down some of the streets I was somewhat familiar with and let the city wash over me. I headed down on e of the shopping streets and ambled my way through the masses of people until I got to Spui square. I spent some time in one of the English bookstores, and then noticed people going in and out of the Begijnhof so I headed over. The Begijnhof is a beautiful little sheltered square just off Spui, but it's so much quieter. There's a little church in the middle of the square and a chapel across from it. The chapel has some beautiful wall murals and a little pipe organ inside. It was a breath of quiet in the middle of the bustle of the city and I loved it.
At this point it was raining, and I was getting tired and starting to curse in my head at people getting in my way, so I decided I should grab some dinner and then head home. I found an Asian takeaway place and then headed to the train station. Oh my word the trip back. The train was literally stuffed to the gunnels with people. Standing room only, and then only if you squashed like sardines. I have never fainted, but I came very, very close on the short trip to Weesp. I was positively relieved to get on the shuttle bus. The bus trip went as expected, but I just missed my bus back to Blaricum, so I hung about for a half hour reading. Everyone was tired when I got back, so we just kind of sat doing our own things being tired together. Which was nice. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention we had a party on Friday and most of the others went in to Amsterdam around ten, so everyone was exhausted from partying. I'd just stayed up 'til stupid o'clock in the morning, spent all day walking, and then endured being stuffed in a tight airless space for a good thirty minutes (or more). Anyway, we all ended up going to bed earlier than usual for a weekend. And I still probably stayed up to late, but that was due to a book.
That's all for now. Peace out.
After two months I'm settling in. Things are feeling more like "normal" now, and I have a weekly pattern which is good for me. My housemates are nice and we seem to be settling in with each other, which is very good, and there's a couple of the other girls who are here that I'm enjoying. My host family is very nice. The kids are a great deal of fun and the parents are lovely people. I'm figuring things out with the dog too. I still crash in to some of the cultural differences sometimes, as the Dutch take some getting used to, and I'm still homesick occasionally. Although it's less what I think of as homesickness. Homesickness is when I'm miserable with missing things and people. Where I'm at now is not that. I get a bit sad sometimes, but not out and out miserable. And what I'm missing right now is landscapes. Things like mountains and forests, or evergreen forests anyway, and ocean. I'm getting two weeks free at Christmas and I'm really looking forward to that.
But on to my weekend. Or Saturday anyway. I headed out and everything went as usual until I got to the train station. Whereupon I discovered that there was track work being done between Hilversum (the station closest to where I'm living) and Weesp (about halfway to Amsterdam) so you had to catch one of the buses they were using to take people to the various stations. Ok, I can do that. Takes a bit longer but you get to see the places you usually speed by so that's fun. I finally get in to the city and head off on a ramble. I had originally planned to come in because there were about fifty museums staying open 'til two am, but with the trains being tricky I decided I probably wouldn't stay in too late. I'd been looking for a Winter coat for a while, and I decided I might as well get one now so I headed to one of the stores I'd been sussing out and discovered there was a sale on. I ended up getting a very nice coat for 20 euros less than the price. Huzzah!
On my last trip in I'd passed a store called Chimera on the way to the Halloween parade. It was closed at the time, but I'd made a mental note of where it was so I could go back during opening hours, so that was the next stop. And ooooh myyyyy! I loved it! For those of you familiar with the store Dragonspace on Granville Island it is very similar, but twice the floor space and two floors. I was hopping up and down and squeeing internally the whole time I was in there. The upper floor is entirely Asian, and has everything from incense to tableware and chopsticks. The bottom floor has clothes, statues, jewelry, and just about everything else fantasy oriented I could possibly hope for.
After that I decided I was going to just wander down some of the streets I was somewhat familiar with and let the city wash over me. I headed down on e of the shopping streets and ambled my way through the masses of people until I got to Spui square. I spent some time in one of the English bookstores, and then noticed people going in and out of the Begijnhof so I headed over. The Begijnhof is a beautiful little sheltered square just off Spui, but it's so much quieter. There's a little church in the middle of the square and a chapel across from it. The chapel has some beautiful wall murals and a little pipe organ inside. It was a breath of quiet in the middle of the bustle of the city and I loved it.
At this point it was raining, and I was getting tired and starting to curse in my head at people getting in my way, so I decided I should grab some dinner and then head home. I found an Asian takeaway place and then headed to the train station. Oh my word the trip back. The train was literally stuffed to the gunnels with people. Standing room only, and then only if you squashed like sardines. I have never fainted, but I came very, very close on the short trip to Weesp. I was positively relieved to get on the shuttle bus. The bus trip went as expected, but I just missed my bus back to Blaricum, so I hung about for a half hour reading. Everyone was tired when I got back, so we just kind of sat doing our own things being tired together. Which was nice. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention we had a party on Friday and most of the others went in to Amsterdam around ten, so everyone was exhausted from partying. I'd just stayed up 'til stupid o'clock in the morning, spent all day walking, and then endured being stuffed in a tight airless space for a good thirty minutes (or more). Anyway, we all ended up going to bed earlier than usual for a weekend. And I still probably stayed up to late, but that was due to a book.
That's all for now. Peace out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)