Night at the Atak

Europe » Netherlands
September 17th 2006

Published: September 17th 2006

Yesterday during the day, Janne and I went to the Saturday market and looked around. Wonderful fresh fruits, veggies, seafood, etc etc. We split the costs for juicy nectarines- 20 for 2 euros!

Later, I met up with Kristen and her friend to go swimming. The outdoor pool was closed for the season, so we went to the indoor pool and casually swam laps while chatting. It was a good way to get a bit more exercise in but also get to know them. I don't know if I have already talked about Kristen yet, but she's from Germany and studying Psychology here (70% of psych students here are german). She speaks great English because she spent a year as an au pair in Nashville, TN. I asked her why she chose...such a state and she said that her family chose her. Anyway, her friend Catarine is also from Germany, but she spent a year living all over Australia. We talked about a lot of things - especially traveling on your own. Catarine said she liked it, it was hard at first, but then she met people along the way. Kristen said that when she traveled around the US, she usually went with friends or knew people in that area. I'm just thinking about my travels here. I mean, my dream is to go to Paris, so I'm thinking I'll arrange something with Nina who also wants to go, but if her schedule is restricting, maybe I'll go a bit earlier and she can meet me there. Either way, I better buy my tickets soon. If I buy my tickets a few months in advance, I can get a ticket from Amsterdam to somewhere in Italy (maybe Milan) to Paris for less than 100 euros return.

Kristen took me back to her dorm on campus where I met a handful of her dormmates (sort of like a cluster environment). One of them was interested in talking to me and seeing if I was interested in playing the MAIN role in a film he wants to shoot. Yeah, ME, an actress?! hahahaha. I have no acting experience and I can't remember lines for the life of me. But nonetheless, this guy wants to shoot a horror film and wants it to be in English - but he doesn't want his characters to have a European accent when speaking English, thats why he thought I'd be perfect for the role. At first I thought that he was just wanting to make a funny horror home film or something, but then he talked about shooting days and hours and his filming crew, etc etc. I haven't given him an answer yet, but I'm seriously considering whether I will ruin his "vision" if I'm the main actor in this thing. Who knows, maybe you'll see me on the big screen. =)

After that, I rode home absolutely starving, went to the supermarket with Janne to buy some dinner ingredients, and then we were off to Atak - a club/small concert venue to see two bands play. Janne, her boyfriend and I met up with Kristen and a few other Germans - seriously, everybody is German here - paid 6 euros and played the waiting game before the bands started.

The first band was actually a one woman show. Her name is Elle Bandita, and if she ever comes to the states, watch out and don't stand in the front row. She was wearing tiny tight zebra shorts...or underwear...and a black something that resembled an early-teen training bra..or maybe it was a stretchy headband... She wore black hightop converse shoes and her shaggy hair was dyed black and all over her face. She started her music which played in the background (I assumed she mixed it beforehand) and then she started to sing in English. "Why are you such a L-O-S-E-R, don't you know, da-da-da-da-da." She then propped one of her thin legs onto a high platform and kept the other leg on the ground. Let's just say that her underwear shorts were a bit too short and I'm glad I we were standing towards the back of the place.

After Elle did that, Kristen leaned over to me and was like "Now don't make too many judgements about Europeans because of her...we're scared of her too" and laughed. Surprisingly enough, I've seen weirder bands play at the Seattle Bumbershoot festival last year - one particular one called 'The Locusts' where all the band members dressed up as locusts (antennas and all) and made "music." Elle would be normal in the Seattle music scene.

In between songs she'd run over and take a few sips of Grolsch beer (Enschede is the hometown of that beer) which she'd bump the bottle and then it would start to foam violently out of the top, spraying herself and the stage. Her music wasn't bad, but I think most of the people were not really listening to her music and more looking at her in awe as she paraded around stage swinging the microphone above her head and showing off all her tattoos that freckled her body. Every now and then towards the end of each song, she'd open her mouth really wide almost eating the mic, and do the deathly metal growl over her techno-poppy tunes dancing in the background. wow.

The other band, Feverdream, was more normal with a bassist, guitarist and drummer. Their music was heavier rock and they also sang in English. I can't remember a lot of their lyrics but I think one song went like this: "one, two, three, why not you and me.." Deep.

I think the best part was when Elle Bandita and Feverdream played two songs together. Besides Elle jumping around like crazy, the compilation songs were the best. After the bands played, we all hung around and chatted, waiting for more people to come. Then it was a normal dance club with the worst variety of music I've ever heard. The DJ literally played Nirvana's 'Smells like teen spirit' right after Daft Punk's "One More Time." Too much variety, once people started to get a beat going, the song would change into a completely other genre, everybody would pause and have to find their beat again. It was fun nonetheless, lots of laughing and protecting each other when a heavy metal song would come on - didn't want to get smacked by the long shaggy headbanger's hair. =)

In other news, the weather here is still a lovely 27*celcius (80*F). Perfect for fast drying laundry outside and a great motivator to drink lots of water. I'll be doing lots of reading today and that's probably it since everything closes on Sunday.

I may have jumped the gun on this, but I've been thinking about when I come back to Seattle in January. I can't believe I'll only have 2 more quarters of UW and then I'll be done in June. It's quite amazing to think I almost have my Bachelors degree. After June, I'm getting ready to go out and live in Israel with my grandma on Kibbutz Sa'ar. It's been my plan for a while. I of course will need a job there, so I looked online at the Achziv beach hostel that's near my grandma's place. I thought well what the heck, why not send an email asking if they hire non-Israelis for the summer season? I sent a brief email saying yadda yadda yadda I come from here, speak these languages, blah blah. I checked my email this morning and already got an email from the manager named Matan. He thanked me for my email and said that he'd be willing to help me in any way when I arrive there. He signed his name and even put is cellphone number there. Crazy how sometimes just a shot in the dark can unexpectedly light up a bunch of possibilities. Even if I don't work there, Israel is such a small country with so many connections that I might be able to find a job through Matan. We'll see, it's early, but no harm in doing so =)

Sorry no pictures today, but thanks for those who got through this long blog. Miss you all from back home and around the globe. xoxo

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