My first real outing


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Europe » Netherlands » North Brabant » Eindhoven
April 24th 2011
Published: April 24th 2011
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Thursday (14/04/2011)

Philipp and Fabian arrived in the afternoon, They rang the doorbell of number 1 Adriaen Poirterslaan by mistake, as I’d omitted the “9” in the sms I sent with the address. After giving me a call I went and fetched them at the end of the road on my earthwing. Smiles spread quickly and it was so good to see such a friendly face again! After a bit of lunch I had to start getting ready to work at PSV that evening. Fabian and Philipp were going to stay and watch a movie. Opa and Oma were away camping in Limburg so they said it was a really weird feeling being in my grandparent’s house, watching TV and waiting for me to come home.

PSV was intense. I was assigned to be one of the head-waiters in a fourth-floor box ( V.V.I.P’s). This involved me remembering the three-course menu and being able to describe the various dishes…in Dutch. It was an experience and it went very well. However, I’ve slowly started to see how the dynamics in a work-place operate. I’m a hard-worker by nature and other people are very quick to notice this and slack-off. I haven’t got the clout yet to pipe-up and comment, but I think the manger noticed and I was allowed to go home earlier than the rest. This gave me some quality-time back at home to share a couple beers with Phil and Fabi before leaving on our adventure the next day!

Friday (15/04/2011)

We left just after breakfast and caught the bus into Eindhoven. From Eindhoven we caught a train to Tilburg, stepping over and getting on a train to Roosendal. From there we boarded our final train to Goes. Once in Goes we found some much-needed lunch, and shed the layers of clothes we thought we’d need. The beaming sun was challenged only by the brightness of the smile the little Chinese lady that served us our lunchtime meal had. After stocking ourselves with the essentials we jumped on the bus to Bruinisse – our final destination. Click the link to see the village we stayed in (1) and the general area of Bruinisse. We stayed just behind the Aqua-Delta (Truman Town) in “de Tong” just off the “Hoogerwerfsweg”.

(1)

http://maps.google.nl/maps?hl=nl&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENZA293&q=Bruinisse&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Bruinisse&gl=nl&ei=d62yTZeYGsyUOoH8vfQI&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQ8gEwAA

(click ‘satellite’ to see a better view of the complex)

We arrived to be planted at a bus-stop 2km away from our destination. The walk was actually a welcome-relief to all the sitting we’d done that day. We finally arrived with a friendly €50 cleaning bill on top of the lodging expenses. We were also informed we only had one bike available to the three of us and that there was absolutely nothing the manager could do about this. This did not set the scene very well for the management behind the complex, but our spirits did not waver and we intrepidly set off in search of our humble abode within the jumble of semi-detached holiday homes.
It was a nice house of which I took no pictures of the inside. Apologies, Ha-ha (other photos to be found in photobucket). There was a small kitchen downstairs with an mini-oven, gas-stove and a bar-fridge. The lounge and dining room were the same thing, with a TV the size of a computer-screen…with all-German channels. We hooked up the PlayStation and iPod and settled-in to the sounds of The Strokes. I had a room upstairs and Phil and Fabi shared one downstairs.

Shopping for more food was the next task, and we strategically discussed the best possible way in which to use the solitary bike in our midst. It was decided that Fabi and I would go, as the lighter two of the three. I sat on the back with my back-pack which we’d use to put the shopping in. Fabi and I set off back into main-Bruinisse. We passed through a most extraordinary holiday-town which we decided was an old movie-set that had been converted into holiday-homes: hence calling it Truman-Town.

Fabi was very enthusiastic whilst shopping, and I did my best to constrain this excited German on a mission to purchase as much meat and pasta as possible. After reminding him several times I had to fit it all in my back-pack I managed to calm his inner Gerd Käfer. We still had too much and had to fit the leftovers in a box which we placed on the front of the bike. With my back-pack fully-laden with vitals such as beer, pudding (specifically requested by Phil), salad, mayo and more beer we set off. My rear-end has been permanently moulded into a grid-pattern from being pushed down both by the weight of the backpack and the G’s we pulled around corners. This new form of ‘behind’ is useful only for sitting in deck-chairs and on braai-grids. We made it home, miraculously. One-handed, grid-branded, baguettes flapping out the sides of my bag and exhausted. Immediately we treated ourselves to beers and Philipp had the braai lit as we entered our back garden. That evening sausages, baguette and Pulp Fiction were are equally enjoyed.

Saturday (16/04/2011)

A lie-in was followed by a lengthily jog along the beachside-path. We ran a bit through the golf-course and the nearby golf-estate. It was the definition of rich-European with the most fancy cars and wondrous houses. On the way home we did plenty of push-ups and exercises under the guidance of Philipp-san. His love of jiu jitsu spurred us on to aching muscles on the Sunday. We also went for another cycle to the shops (me and Phil this time) with my grid-iron backside notching into the rear of the bike again. The rest of the afternoon was spent playing football in the park and making small challenges for us to conquer (such as guessing how many jumps it would take us to get from the back to the front door). That night we feasted on spaghetti-bolognaise and Heineken.

Sunday (17/04/2011)

Sunday was a lovely lazy day, which we spent going for a walk, exploring the “beach” (transformed into a disgusting yacht-club side-amusement), and relaxing in the garden. Since we were all out of beer, we decided to mission into town to try and find a local place that would be able to satisfy our alcoholic needs. After combing the streets we settled on a small family restaurant that was able to plant 3 half-litre jugs onto the table. The walk home was far more fun than the walk into town. We also managed to find milkshakes and beer-cans from a small take-away shop when we were halfway home. The night ended with Fifa, milkshakes, beers and the sad thought of it being our last day in Bruinisse.

Monday (18/04/2011)

The day was spent travelling back to Eindhoven where Phil and Fabi got to meet my grandparents. We made it as far as the bus-stop in Bruinisse before plonking ourselves under a shady tree in a nearby park. We just couldn’t stand the thought of going back to the hustle-bustle of the real-world.

When we did arrive back in Adriaen Poirterslaan we went for a run through the forest in the afternoon and later traded tales over dinner with O&O of our adventures. Then the three (youngest) boys headed out to have a night on the Eindhoven boulevard.

We bought a six-pack of Heineken and Hertog Jan as well as some chocolate and seated ourselves on a bench in the forest before going in to town. It was nice for the three of us to have a last quiet drink together. It’s a rare thing to put three guys together for a weekend and get along as well as we did. I taught the Germans cricket with a stick and the leftover cans. They didn’t understand until I applied a strict scoring system and definitive means of winning. Then they got it and played with gusto. After crumpling all the cans, loading them into the bicycle-bags and working our way through and over the bushes in the forest trails we emerged on the outskirts of Eindhoven. Here we once again succumbed to the allure of a quiet bench in a park under willow trees next to a river where we finished the last two beers. We then finally made it to De-V where (to my surprise) we didn’t pay a cent except for the bitterballen. Schweet. I’m still trying to figure out who, when and how the free-drinks system works. I think best not to question it and just be pleasantly surprised!

The way home was quite an epic mission, with the three of us cleverly choosing to take a ‘shortcut’ back through the forest. We didn’t get lost, but it was an interesting journey to say the least. I couldn’t think of a more fitting end to one of the most amazing weekends I’ve ever had.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday (19, 20, 21, 22, 23 & 24/04/2011)

Tues = wake up, send Fabi and Phil off to the bus-stop. De-V at 5pm until +- 2am.

Wed = wake up late and De-V at 4pm until close (+- 4am)

Thurs = work for JMW at De Zwarte Doos (the Technical University’s campus café). It was run by a Doos with a crap system and I ‘enjoyed’ a rather amusing afternoon of mishaps and admiring a flawed scheme.

Fri = freedom. Writing of my blog and watching movies.

Sat = De-V at 6pm until 5am. Mentally scarred due to an image ingrained of a Grandpa and Grandma, who’d met in Eindhoven that day, having a huge (and I mean for hours) make-out session on the terrace. I never knew a tongue could go so awry.

Sun= De-V at 6pm until….

Sorrry for any spelling or obvious errors, thought I'd just post it as I've been a bit behind!

Cheers,
Disco


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27th April 2011
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Cool name for the restaurant. I can see it was the right place to go for a couple of friends! Looks like a good time was had.

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