i finally got a room last night. the girl finally woke up and realized where she was. another cop showed up and asked to see everyone's id. except for mine. i felt a little left out.
wandered into a cafe this afternoon and soon found myself embroiled in conversation with drunk Ian the british composer, who called his friend Keith from Saskatoon to come meet us. Then there was another Canadian and a Belgian. I am supposed to go back to meet them in about an hour, and then do something with Keith tomorrow. Drunk Ian is on a bender but thinks he wants to go to Gdansk with me. But I am pretty sure I do not want to go to Gdansk with Ian! I have never seen one person drink so much vodka.
when i went to a pierogy place for dinner i ran into the same Serbian couple i had breakfasted with this morning so we had dinner together as well. Polish food is great so far. Cabbage with sausage and of course pierogies. Perogy perogy perogy. I could eat them all day. Probably will.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
christmas day as a backpacker?
carrie wants to know about backpacker christmas? as you know i am not the most christmasy of individuals so for me it wasn't especially exciting...normally in my family we celebrate on the 24th anyway so i can tell you about both action-packed days...
xmas eve - up pre-dawn to attend Catholic Mass. the point of this was to hear the Vienna Boy's Choir who perform at this particular mass every sunday. i was near the front of the standing room line which is free so i was basically standing in the middle of the chapel which was awesome. near the end the boys came down to sing a few carols. a couple were so tiny!
then...i went out for chocolate cake and hot chocolate with a couple of australian girls i met in line, then went back to the hostel to eat lunch. spent a couple of hours talking with an american guy who kept talking about how places like Spain didn't jibe with his 'culture'. Huh? After a while i figured out that he was some sort of evangelical christian. we went for a walk to the christmas market at the town hall where i tried to take photos of the very cool lights in the trees, mostly unsuccessfully. then i went back to the hostel and ate pasta and went to bed early (only 5 hours of sleep the night before).
xmas day - um...i don't know what i did actually. oh, i had breakfast and then went to the ballet. then went to a cafe for more hot chocolate and apple strudel, then called my parents, then went back to the hostel and...went to sleep.
exciting stuff!
xmas eve - up pre-dawn to attend Catholic Mass. the point of this was to hear the Vienna Boy's Choir who perform at this particular mass every sunday. i was near the front of the standing room line which is free so i was basically standing in the middle of the chapel which was awesome. near the end the boys came down to sing a few carols. a couple were so tiny!
then...i went out for chocolate cake and hot chocolate with a couple of australian girls i met in line, then went back to the hostel to eat lunch. spent a couple of hours talking with an american guy who kept talking about how places like Spain didn't jibe with his 'culture'. Huh? After a while i figured out that he was some sort of evangelical christian. we went for a walk to the christmas market at the town hall where i tried to take photos of the very cool lights in the trees, mostly unsuccessfully. then i went back to the hostel and ate pasta and went to bed early (only 5 hours of sleep the night before).
xmas day - um...i don't know what i did actually. oh, i had breakfast and then went to the ballet. then went to a cafe for more hot chocolate and apple strudel, then called my parents, then went back to the hostel and...went to sleep.
exciting stuff!
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
scene from the glamorous life of a backpacker
it is 4:30 a.m and i have just arrived in krakow after 7 hours on a bus. walked into the hostel to find a girl asleep on the couch and one guy passed out standing up at the reception counter. i woke up the guy but he doesn't seem to work here. then another drunk guy came in. then we found some sober people and they said the girl on the couch works here.
i shook her for a while but she only snored louder.
now both drunk guys are behind the reception counter raiding for goodies. i don't think they are even speaking the same language to each other.
this place is fucked. i will try again to wake the girl up now. stay tuned!
UPDATE:
Paul the drunk Dutch guy and i managed to briefly wake the girl up, but when I asked her if she works here she said NO and went back to sleep.
then Paul gave me a beer.
then a cop came in. but he didn't speak any english or dutch or french. so he just looked around. then left.
now the girl has a phone call and Paul is trying again to wake her...
i shook her for a while but she only snored louder.
now both drunk guys are behind the reception counter raiding for goodies. i don't think they are even speaking the same language to each other.
this place is fucked. i will try again to wake the girl up now. stay tuned!
UPDATE:
Paul the drunk Dutch guy and i managed to briefly wake the girl up, but when I asked her if she works here she said NO and went back to sleep.
then Paul gave me a beer.
then a cop came in. but he didn't speak any english or dutch or french. so he just looked around. then left.
now the girl has a phone call and Paul is trying again to wake her...
Saturday, December 16, 2006
black peter (a bit late...)
so I must talk about Sinterklaas and Swarte Piet, although they have come and gone already this year. in Belgium and the Netherlands there is a tradition that Sinterklaas (and Sint is the real deal, the inspiration for our Santa Claus) comes to town sometime in November - he sails in from Spain - and then distributes presents on Dec. 5 or 6 (depending on the country). He is accompanied by his 'helpers', Swarte Pieten (Black Peters). See the wikipedia entry for more information.
Anyway, even before Sinterklaas arrived I was noticing these strange decorations and advertisements that featured what appeared to be people in blackface! Woah! I didn't know much about the tradition here and so someone had to explain it all to me. All right, I guess...but it was still really weird and not a little uncomfortable for this white north american to attend the Sinterklaas parade in Amsterdam and see armies of mostly white people running around painted black.
But at least I knew what was going on.
Back at the hostel I listened in as some very stoned young (white) Americans tried to figure out what the hell they had just witnessed and they tried to explain it to someone who hadn't seen it.
"...and it's like...these little kids are like, painted, like, black!"
"Oh my god!"
"yeah! and they're like, with their like parents and everything! and it's so..."
"oh, weird!"
"...and they're like wearing these like little outfits, and like hats and stuff. they're like Shakespearean or something..."
"wow...it's so like...weeeeeird...."
"um...what are you guys talking about? I wasn't listening..."
the conversation lasted for like, an hour.
Anyway, even before Sinterklaas arrived I was noticing these strange decorations and advertisements that featured what appeared to be people in blackface! Woah! I didn't know much about the tradition here and so someone had to explain it all to me. All right, I guess...but it was still really weird and not a little uncomfortable for this white north american to attend the Sinterklaas parade in Amsterdam and see armies of mostly white people running around painted black.
But at least I knew what was going on.
Back at the hostel I listened in as some very stoned young (white) Americans tried to figure out what the hell they had just witnessed and they tried to explain it to someone who hadn't seen it.
"...and it's like...these little kids are like, painted, like, black!"
"Oh my god!"
"yeah! and they're like, with their like parents and everything! and it's so..."
"oh, weird!"
"...and they're like wearing these like little outfits, and like hats and stuff. they're like Shakespearean or something..."
"wow...it's so like...weeeeeird...."
"um...what are you guys talking about? I wasn't listening..."
the conversation lasted for like, an hour.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
"red light" = very popular
hilariously (or pathetically), this photo which has been tagged and titled with the words "red light district" has been viewed more times in the past 5 days than most of my other photos combined.
I'm thinking of putting "hooker boobies" in the tags of all my photos from now on. Is that cheating?
I'm thinking of putting "hooker boobies" in the tags of all my photos from now on. Is that cheating?
Saturday, December 09, 2006
quietness
december 9 already? how?
right now in antwerp, recovering from a week long bout of...something...food poisoning? flu? who knows, but it kept tricking me into thinking i was better and eating things and then making it worse. i think it was from eating a couple of unwashed grapes at a grocer's in the netherlands, the guy wanted me to try them so i could choose which kind i liked best. bad idea. anyway i am very familiar with my bed here in antwerp.
it's too bad too because Shannon introduced me to her friend Ken who introduced me to his friend Nathalie and they are both very cool, taking me out for a really nice dinner on my first night, which I couldn't really eat being already sick and all. I also got a tour of the antwerp red light district which is quite impressive.
it's been a quiet month. i read a massive and incredible book (Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West) which has inspired me to get down to the Balkans asap.
spent a total of two weeks crashing with Frederico in Eindhoven ("probably the least interesting city in the netherlands"...well I wouldn't agree with that, it's a nice livable place with a good museum), went to see Misia, a fado singer - too bad i can't understand Portuguese. i like fado a lot but i get the impression that it's about 50 times better if you know what they're saying. we went to see Babel one night and didn't realize till it started that the film was in Berber, Arabic, Spanish, Japanese and English with Dutch subtitles. perhaps an appropriate way to see that particular movie.
visited Rotterdam and hung out with the Saddest Australian in the World (dutch girl, heartbreak, you know the story)...the hague...
amsterdam was agonizingly and unexpectedly sordid and teeming with shitfaced losers. i arrived on the eve of a football match involving a british team which is never the best time to arrive in a city. walking down the Damrak in the middle of the day felt creepy and gross. maybe i'm just bitter because i couldn't get into any fun hostels (even in low season, you need to book ahead unless you want to stay someplace crappy in the red light district). wandered into the red light district once in the middle of the day and didn't feel comfortable - a man leered at me and said something dirty in dutch. funny how you don't have to be able to speak the language to understand that particular sentiment.
not to completely slam amsterdam, it was also very beautiful and i had some nice times there. just too bad about all the tourists.
in a used bookstore i finally found some books I have been searching for for months. i must have looked in every new and used bookstore and charity shop in the UK, only to find them in amsterdam. happy day.
that's about all. how are you?
right now in antwerp, recovering from a week long bout of...something...food poisoning? flu? who knows, but it kept tricking me into thinking i was better and eating things and then making it worse. i think it was from eating a couple of unwashed grapes at a grocer's in the netherlands, the guy wanted me to try them so i could choose which kind i liked best. bad idea. anyway i am very familiar with my bed here in antwerp.
it's too bad too because Shannon introduced me to her friend Ken who introduced me to his friend Nathalie and they are both very cool, taking me out for a really nice dinner on my first night, which I couldn't really eat being already sick and all. I also got a tour of the antwerp red light district which is quite impressive.
it's been a quiet month. i read a massive and incredible book (Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West) which has inspired me to get down to the Balkans asap.
spent a total of two weeks crashing with Frederico in Eindhoven ("probably the least interesting city in the netherlands"...well I wouldn't agree with that, it's a nice livable place with a good museum), went to see Misia, a fado singer - too bad i can't understand Portuguese. i like fado a lot but i get the impression that it's about 50 times better if you know what they're saying. we went to see Babel one night and didn't realize till it started that the film was in Berber, Arabic, Spanish, Japanese and English with Dutch subtitles. perhaps an appropriate way to see that particular movie.
visited Rotterdam and hung out with the Saddest Australian in the World (dutch girl, heartbreak, you know the story)...the hague...
amsterdam was agonizingly and unexpectedly sordid and teeming with shitfaced losers. i arrived on the eve of a football match involving a british team which is never the best time to arrive in a city. walking down the Damrak in the middle of the day felt creepy and gross. maybe i'm just bitter because i couldn't get into any fun hostels (even in low season, you need to book ahead unless you want to stay someplace crappy in the red light district). wandered into the red light district once in the middle of the day and didn't feel comfortable - a man leered at me and said something dirty in dutch. funny how you don't have to be able to speak the language to understand that particular sentiment.
not to completely slam amsterdam, it was also very beautiful and i had some nice times there. just too bad about all the tourists.
in a used bookstore i finally found some books I have been searching for for months. i must have looked in every new and used bookstore and charity shop in the UK, only to find them in amsterdam. happy day.
that's about all. how are you?
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