I think the Americans celebrate too much being normal

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De Verscholentuin
Antwerp, Belgium
Thursday, July 2 2009

Today has been an emotional rollercoaster, so bear with me on this one. I thought I should chronicle what I did on my first day, just to keep you up to date on the difference between the farms. First of all, it looks like I'll have some company here shortly. There are a few otehr WWOOFers who want to show up here soon, so I might be moving out of the caravan and into a van that they've converted into a room. Works for me. Just so long as they don't try to put me in the treehouse (yes, a literal one room house in the trees...but the ladder is a bit frightening). I told 'em I'd stay for around 3 weeks, which is about the median for WWOOFers here.

We started the day a bit later than the folks in Ireland, but definitely a bit more abrupt. Like I said, the folks around here are a lot more direct and let you know what they think. They both were a bit tentative about me, and even asked me why I was overweight. Classic. I showed them a picture of me from a few years back, they said I was heading in the right direction. Pretty funny. Anyway, I got a showaround by Lous, who was in a better mood but still pissed from having to deal with the dutch authorities. I did a lot of hauling of sticks to a mulching pile, turned a lot of the compost heap and hauled water around to the replanted holly and roses. Got a better idea of the renovations that they're doing here, it sounds pretty cool. In addition to the sunroom and second kitchen area, they're looking to install a 10k litre rain water cistern and collection system. For this, they have a massive pump running to clear out some of the ground water from the area where the cistern will go. Luc then took me to the Thursday market, which he said was "mainly where the foreigners shop". Foreigners != Americans, but more the folks from Eastern Europe and Northern Africa who have immigrated here. He showed me the way so that I could go do the shopping next Thursday when he's working with the mason. Nice.

Not much else going on today. It looks like I'll be alone here on Saturday evening, as they're going to Bruges for Luc's mother's birthday. I told them that's fine with me, I would probably just go into Antwerp that evening or something. There's also an ampitheater nearby where they are supposed to have free concerts on Fridays. I know that their Saturday lineups look good, as the lineup includes Macy Grey, Explosions in the Sky and UB40. Not sure if they're free, though. Might go to check out the Friday concert if the rain isn't too bad tomorrow. It would be funny to have traveled all the way here just to see Explosions in the Sky.

Lessons learned:
Dutch is an angry-sounding language. No matter what is being said, it sounds angry. Or urgent.
Don't expect people who speak another language first to try and speak English all the time when they're around you. It's just not going to happen. I thought it was kind of rude at first that they were speaking Dutch for each other, only every now and again stopping to speak to me in English. But I suppose that's to be expected.

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Comments

[kelly]

UB40
You have to go. For can't help falling in love. And be really loud.