Student delight and a Saturday night

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Wednesday 25/05/2011

I had booked a work slot at JMW for a change of scenery and the chance to see my JMW buddies again. The soccer-season is over, but there are still some functions held in the PSV stadium. I was positioned in one of the boxes to welcome a group having just listened to an inspirational talk about how to handle employees. They obviously couldn’t handle their liquor, as all I managed to get off my welcome-tray was orange juice and water.

A large tent/ marquee had been pitched in the right-hand goal mouth of the field, where the supporter’s club had their function. Tables had been set out on the field, as the marquee didn’t have an ounce of ventilation. Obviously sun is not a factor taken into account with the Dutch hospitality industry… N.F.F. was one of the lucky few who got to sweat off some extra kilo’s the whole day. I think he was the only one happy about it.

I was very glad not to have worked in the sweltering tent and chuckled as I lazily moved between guests with my juice, water and welcoming-smile. I could see the people working down on the field and the frowns were visible even from the third-floor. After my shift had ended I strolled down to the supporter’s party and helped to clear tables and see out the last guests. It was then our turn to tuck into the leftover food/ desert and sample the wines. Some of us stayed on a little later than others and N.F.F. and I got the chance to smash a soccer ball a few times into the goals at the other end. Not content with having stood-on, played on and worked on the PSV field, I decided to strip and give each of the four sides of the stadium a good moon from the centre of the field. Camp Nou’s next…

Thursday 26/05/2011

Sweltering heat and plenty of work at De-V.

Friday 27/05/2011

Daniel decided to pop in for a visit in the evening. He surprised me at De-V and I was lucky to have had the day-shift. I went and sat with him on terrace and we had a good laugh and chat about what we were going to do for Pink-Pop (the festival he’d organized us to work at; giving us free entrance).

Saturday 28/05/2011

I had work during the day, and was fortunate enough to be able to witness the amazing match between two of the best soccer teams in the world that evening. I got to watch it on the big-screen at De-V with Weizzner flowing in and out of my Hertog Jan glass (which I kept!) That evening I went out on town with colleagues from De-V and as usual did my own thing amongst the group-politics. I am that guy who dances, who randomly wanders off, who finds a free beer (or three), who smiles and nods when talked to in a club (because fast-talking excited sober Dutch people weren’t difficult-enough to understand) and who randomly appears again with chicken wrap in hand. The night ended with a fight. I hadn’t witnessed it as I have an amazing knack for never being near one when my friends are involved. I headed back to De-V with a colleague who was fairly over the evening. I’d been sitting outside of the club we were at, as the music was far too intense for my liking and managed to catch him as he stormed out in a flurry of feet and Dutch swear words.

Sunday 29/05/2011

I travelled with O&O to Helmond to see the castles they have there. Unlucky for us, there was some sort of market and we found it far too busy to trouble ourselves with a visit. So plan B was to take a short detour to Neunen and see where Van Gogh lived and was inspired for some time. The museum was very interesting, although all the information in Dutch was a bit difficult and tiresome towards the end! The tour ended with a cappuccino in the museum café and a short walk around town to see some of the places mentioned.

Monday 30/05/2011

I had the day-shift at De-V and that evening some of the new workforce were sent on a F.I.S.H. course (the motivation behind the goals of the company).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_Place_Fish_Market

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or more about the philosophy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FISH!_philosophy

It was an interesting evening, with many of the suggestions affirming what I already do; which was nice to know. A lot of logic and idealistic principles I felt, but it was good to bolster my actions and keep me ‘FISH-ing’ when at work!

Tuesday 31/05/2011

Wout came around after work that evening and we went and had beers on a bench in the nearby park. It was a beautiful evening and we chilled by the lake well into the night.

Wednesday 01/06/2011

What was a lekker sunny day turned out the be a very, very, busy work evening. Under-staffed and the terrace fully-seated made for one of the most intensive work-evenings I have ever had. We ran out of glasses behind the bar for certain drinks, and for such a large establishment that was certainly an eye-opener as to how busy the summer can get. I asked myself – how big of a terrace is too big. Serving became very impersonal, rushed and impatient (from the waiter’s side). You can hardly have a greeting/ chat to the customer, as taking an order is already taking too long a nip of your time spent outside. We’ll see how the rest of the summer goes, but I’m pretty confident in the future I’d prefer the ability to have a far more intimate experience with the customers. The sun has made the Dutch terrace-crazed and people walking around asking others if they’ve ordered the bill is not uncommon.

Thursday 02/06/2011

My free day spurred me on to do something and I made a trip to Amsterdam to stay with a contact I’d made during carnaval. I got some couch-space and the opportunity to tour Amsterdam the next morning before it got too busy. I cooked supper for the flat, and I think they were happy to receive a meal with more than one food group!

Friday 03/06/2011

I toured Amsterdam in the morning, fetching myself a cappuccino at one café and a bagel and fresh orange juice at another. It was amazing skating around and looking at all the back-roads. Definitely need to go there again soon! I took a train back home just before lunch and told O&O of what I’d seen and done. I got ready for work that evening and it turned out that after the night of hell, the night of hell episode 2 was to ensure. Thankfully with enough personnel it was manageable and just a lot of hard work!

Saturday 04/06/2011

I woke up late after an early-morning finish with work. That evening I was invited to a house-warming at a student’s flat on the “Kleine Berg” road. I took the day to have a little shop in Eindhoven and then find out the details of the evening. After another delicious supper from Oma, I headed into town to have a few drinks at De-V with Wout. From there I moved on to the main-course of the evening and found myself in a dirty kitchen with approximately 10 crates of beer. Needless to say, I kept the few Bavaria’s I’d brought along safely tucked away. It was a typical flat, with two rooms and the lounge/ kitchen on the first-floor above the bar it was situated on. The second-floor was a bedroom and door to the roof outside. Here stood most of the crowd (when not fetching beer). A D.J. was situated at one end of the roof-terrace and a few couches could be found on a piece of neighbouring roof a little higher. It was very relaxed and with good music and a couple friends I found from De-V made for a great evening. Halfway through the night, the banging of the D.J.’s base was finally classed as a separate banging to that which was coming from the toilet. A drunken party-goer had managed to lock himself in. It fast became apparent that he wanted to be released from his odorous tomb. All that he had to do was replace the lock he’d accidentally pulled out and open the door. I managed to go find a chicken-wrap whilst this exciting situation took place and returned to see a rather large Nelly-looking black dude show his L.A.P.D skills on the door. Much to the surprise of the drunken prisoner, the door was broken down in one kick; two panels inspecting the head of the drunkard, who’d obviously been momentarily inspecting the door. All was well again.

However, ample party-goers had left the scene, as this debacle and the fact the police had turned up 4 times made for enough reason to bid adieu. I stayed a little while longer to finally grab a cold beer that had had the chance to sit in the fridge long enough. I also got to witness the Christmas lights being turned on in the tree growing along the rooftop from the street. The council had placed these lights in the tree during Christmas time and somehow the inhabitants of said party-location had cut the municipality’s wires and hooked it up to their own electricity source; thus having command over the displaying of the lights. It was an achievement (as it was the first time they’d been turned on) and a really cool sight at the end of an amazing evening/morning. A real student-night in Eindhoven.

I said goodbye as One-Eye ran around flipping open a beauty mirror (you know, those two-sided ones ladies carry in their hand bags) and whispering ‘police, police’ in Dutch. He’s called One-Eye due to his one eye closing when superbly passed-it. Well, One-Eye was in good form and he ran around making noises, much like I used to when on my small black motorbike at age 5/6, showing everybody his police identification.

Sunday 05/06/2011
As you might imagine it was a relaxed day. I helped Opa saw down a few branches from a tree and tried to help him with a computer-problem. Lunch was topped off with fresh strawberries, Opa and Oma choosing to eat theirs on slices of bread. Strawberries on bread, yup.

Monday 06/06/2011

My work was cut short at De-V due to the crap weather and lack of customers. I rang Wout and told him of my free evening on his birthday. He was, not surprisingly, very keen to have some fun and we bar-hopped along all the bars I’ve/he’d never been into. We chose the quiet back-streets and more suburban bars as opposed to the main strip. We found a really cool rock-bar with a pool table and superbly relaxed old man behind the bar; the find of the evening!

Tuesday 07/06/2011

The weather was again cloudy and rainy, so work was quiet once again. I’m not complaining. I make really good tips on ‘quiet’ days and get to have a good connection with the customers that are less serious. Big groups of nerds from the Philips campus and Technological University make it out on these days when the sun has a minimal chance of blemishing their perfectly white skin. They also give good tips; I think mainly due to fear of the customs of the outside world and the consequences of not pleasing the strange, foreign-speaking man who brings food and drink. I’m not complaining.

Wednesday 08/06/2011

Opa and Oma left on a camping trip and I’ve been left alone to finish this blog! The last day of work before my mini-holiday and trip with Daniel to the Pink Pop festival. Coldplay, Kings of Leon, Foo Fighters, Simple Plan, Wolfmother, Avenged Sevenfold, White Lies, Two Door Cinema Club, Plain White T’s, The Script and 30 Seconds to Mars are the bands I want to see. Let’s hope it’s not too busy. Yeah right!

Cheers,
Disco

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