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?
1 comment:
Hey there. Amsterdam... hmmmm... talk about a love/hate thing, eh? That's funny what you said about not getting into a cool hostel. Once, on my first trip there, I was forced to stay at a Christian Youth Hostel as all others in the city were full. It was just outside the Red Light District. I always felt odd going back there after a day of coffee shops and being leered at. The giant Jesus murals sort of freaked me out at the time, it seemed like he was glaring at me with disapproving acrylic eyes. Ahhhhh Amsterdam. It's an odd place. But truly beautiful.
Miss you Arndis, hope you're feeling better!
Barb
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