Advertisement
Published: September 11th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Matthijs, My Dutch B-F-F-F-F-M
(that is, Best-Friend-Forever-For-Four-Months) Today I had my first negative experience with my bike here in the Netherlands (well aside from having to bike a half-hour to get back from a party night before last, that was just excruciating). My bike tried to eat my skirt... I was all great in the morning, yeah, I was wearing a longer skirt, but it was working fine. Then I get into the city center, (where everyone can see me) and as soon as I come out of a cafe (with coffee, not to be confused with a 'coffeeshop' with pot) hopped on my bike, pedaled twice and then all of a sudden slowed way down as my skirt was being pulled down, threatening to rip right off (boy, that would be a long bike-ride home, huh?). I drowned my sorrows in some beer (well only 3 beers, so I wasn't quite drowning as much as moistening my sorrows) with my friends, and we decided I should just grease-stain the other side of the skirt and it would look like I bought it like that. Sounds good to me. I'm a little sad, tho, it was one of my fav skirts (the long tan raggy looking one -
Room with a view...
You can't see from here, but to the right, a few miles out, you can see giant (modern) windmills. Yay wind power! I know, sounds pretty huh? - but I love it)
I officially now only have class on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, which is incredible to me. 4 day weekends for travel, holler! I think me and a few other Americans are gonna travel up and explore Amsterdam in a week or two, I'm excited. It is pretty much the place most everyone my age wants to be in Holland (many of my Dutch friends plan on going to school there in the next few years). The night life is supposed to be awesome (but by 'night life' I'm not talking Red-Light...) There are actually 2 or 3 Red-Light districts here in Groningen, (although each is just about 2 or 3 blocks of the street) we went past one the other night. It was... interesting... most of the girls, yea, not so pretty... Julia Roberts is apparently the only really attractive hooker... I've heard the "employees" don't like other girls walking down the street (they feel mocked, or competition, perhaps) but these women couldn't even be bothered to glance at us, OR the even the guys in our little group of 6. All watching tv, reading, doing their nails in their lingere. Funny thing is, these girls were universally wearing more than (or at least just as much as) Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera usually do... Now THOSE are real prostitutes. ;-)
People here haven't been tough on me because I'm American, as I feared they might given the political climate. Oh for sure, they all hate Bush, but they learn very quickly that I'm no fan, either, so I win some points in that regard. Although I did have kind of a shock when my friend from the UK was talking about how his dad sometimes wants conformation from him that the left is correct, often by asking something like 'Russia isn't actually better under capitalism, is it?' And at this point, I realized that the left goes so much further here than we ever consider at home. Most of the "left" at home is easily center left, or even right-ish left, because true left is socialism and communism, and we all know those get NO respect at home... Michael Moore is quite a hero to many here. The French even have a movie that is more harsh than Moore's, called (in french) "The World The Way Bush Wants It," though I haven't seen it, yet.
It is really incredible how American culture is everywhere. Most people even here (primarily when speaking English) use almost entirely phrases common in movies, music and TV. I walked out of the grocery store and a Dutch guy in a cable-knit sweater and khakis was saying to a group of guys "whats up my " and I laughed out loud because the Dutch "G" has a very clearing-your-throat sound and he sounded ridiculous! (it turned out ok, tho, cause he didn't hear me)
Speaking of things that are everywhere, I'm going to IKEA tomorrow!!! Its right up the road, I'm so excited. How I'm getting my purchases home on my bike remains to be seen, tho... (boy, blogs are great for ADD, huh? I can just jump all over the place and all you have to just try to keep up...)
Well it is late now (though still early by Dutch standards, bars close around 6 or 7am here) and I need to rest up for my Ikea trip. I'll write more soon. Thanks for reading!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.124s; Tpl: 0.021s; cc: 9; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0749s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Leah
non-member comment
what's up my nigchgakcher?
How's that for the "clearing your throat sound"? Sounds like you're having a great time! I'm going to send this link to everyone here so they can keep up, they always ask about you!! I'll email you soon... cuz I know you're soooooooooooooooooo busy. (jerk). Have fun! Leah