Week 2 + Amsterdam!
Teaching is getting progressively better. Plus, the weather was beautiful so there was a lot of playing outside, collecting flowers, and playing soccer! Water balloons... great concept, disaster in reality. Kids...
Here's a link to pictures: http://community.webshots.com/user/melsato
I finally put them up! More to come, once I figure out how to recharge my batteries and NOT blow up the electrical outlet. Stupid Europeans and their weird outlets. Last time I tried to charge them, there was white smoke and a burnt battery acid smell in my room. Delicious.
I still don't know my Polish roommate's name (it sounds like Masdfkjiowehewiamndfs) but she's really nice, plus she bought toilet paper so she's pretty much at the top of my list right now. She's writing a thesis about German Politics in the 19th Century, and studying poli sci/sociology so we had a lot to talk about the other night. Dang that George Bush, he gets brought up in every political conversation. I saw a "Vote John Kerry" bumper sticker on a car in Amsterdam... I couldn't help but laugh.
This week we went out to a Tapas Bar, which was delicious. I can't get over the fact that restaurants here charge more for a glass of water than for a soda! It's almost worth it just to get beer... (read: Chimay Blue!). Thursday night Angelina and I cooked spaghetti for dinner and then deciphered the signs at the laundromat. This is before she put the detergent and money into the washing machine NEXT to the one her clothes were in :) So now my room smells like delicious, fresh, clean clothes! A nice, refreshing change from all the cigarette smoke.
I was on the Metro one night and saw an argument between these 2 older guys, but of course they're yelling at each other in French. Everyone else around me is snickering, because apparently it's a ridiculous thing to be upset about, but I still don't get it, but I laugh anyways. Turns out, this guy was mad that the other guy put his feet up on one of the other chairs, and he was yelling about respecting your elders and something like "come to my house". I dont know, it was weird.
Friday night, one of the other teachers at Woluwe and a native Belgian, Cindy, threw a dinner party! We tried everything from dip/salad with fromage blanc (yogurt-like consistency white cheese) with radish, to peach halves with tuna, to tomatoes filled with shrimp! Oh and the wine and cheese... I know! Me? Cheese? I decided to be fully Belgian, and it wasn't that bad. Except for the goat cheese. We had the best ice cream EVER, it was cookie with cinnamon flavor. We went out to somewhere near the Grand Place, the streets were full of bars and people! We danced a bit at a salsa place, and sought refuge in a building you'd never suspect to be a bar from the outside, but on the inside was full of comfy chairs and sofas to lounge on.
Saturday morning Alisa, Angelina and I showed up at the train station and 3 hours later wound up in Amsterdam! We had no clue what we were doing or where we were going, but that was the fun of it! The houses there were seriously crooked, because they were so old they started to lean a little bit. Which is curious, considering they're all stuck together! We stayed at a hotel by the Royal palace and a couple streets down from the Red Light District, which was the most glorified porn neighborhood I've ever seen. We wandered around, and ended up at a place called Rookies - a famous "coffeeshop". The bar had a marijuana menu, just like a dessert menu at TGI Fridays! So we made a new friend from Florida named Jim who rolled a joint for us, and pretty much hung out there for awhile. We found a Mexican restaurant! They pretty much don't exist in Brussels (that Tapas place was the closest we'd come) so we were excited to have some nachos. That night we strolled the Red Light some more, shuffling along amongst the packs/droves of horny men walking the street. We came across the Absinthe place, and decided to give it a try. It wasn't too bad, less foul-tasting than I expected. No hallucinations, but we definitely slept well last night!
Today we woke up and took a walk through Madame Tussaud's wax museum, which was crazy! I don't know how they make the statues so life-like. They ranged from the Pope to Beyonce to Lance Armstrong (upon close inspection, you can actually see the simulated sweat! and scrapes on his knees!) to Gandhi to Prince. One part was a scary little maze you walk through and it's totally dark and creepy. I think it had to do with the history of Holland, and people hanging or something. I was so scared that I jumped right at the beginning and grabbed some random lady's arm instead of Angelina's! Oops. Brad Pitt's butt was squeezable, which was a nice surprise. There was this huge old brick building that turned out to be this really classy mall! We wandered around for a few more hours, coming across a delicious Thai restaurant before sleeping most of the way back on the train to Brussels. I have this week off from teaching, which is nice, but I still have no idea where I want to go. So many choices! And I'm so indecisive!
I'm beginning to miss home, but at the same time I love the excitement of Europe. I especially love the history and the old buildings. We didn't find the Anne Frank house, but just being NEAR it was totally crazy! It's one of those things you learn from your history books and suddenly, you have an experience that helps you understand a little better, relate a little more, to everything you've read about for so long. Some of the places there dated back to like the 1200s and before! Completely opposite from the US, which seems so modern now. Which of course, I dont mind so much... the pavement is even, the streets planned in a more organized fashion. But there's something about Europe, that is soooo captivating and I find it so fascinating to be living here!
Here's a link to pictures: http://community.webshots.com/user/melsato
I finally put them up! More to come, once I figure out how to recharge my batteries and NOT blow up the electrical outlet. Stupid Europeans and their weird outlets. Last time I tried to charge them, there was white smoke and a burnt battery acid smell in my room. Delicious.
I still don't know my Polish roommate's name (it sounds like Masdfkjiowehewiamndfs) but she's really nice, plus she bought toilet paper so she's pretty much at the top of my list right now. She's writing a thesis about German Politics in the 19th Century, and studying poli sci/sociology so we had a lot to talk about the other night. Dang that George Bush, he gets brought up in every political conversation. I saw a "Vote John Kerry" bumper sticker on a car in Amsterdam... I couldn't help but laugh.
This week we went out to a Tapas Bar, which was delicious. I can't get over the fact that restaurants here charge more for a glass of water than for a soda! It's almost worth it just to get beer... (read: Chimay Blue!). Thursday night Angelina and I cooked spaghetti for dinner and then deciphered the signs at the laundromat. This is before she put the detergent and money into the washing machine NEXT to the one her clothes were in :) So now my room smells like delicious, fresh, clean clothes! A nice, refreshing change from all the cigarette smoke.
I was on the Metro one night and saw an argument between these 2 older guys, but of course they're yelling at each other in French. Everyone else around me is snickering, because apparently it's a ridiculous thing to be upset about, but I still don't get it, but I laugh anyways. Turns out, this guy was mad that the other guy put his feet up on one of the other chairs, and he was yelling about respecting your elders and something like "come to my house". I dont know, it was weird.
Friday night, one of the other teachers at Woluwe and a native Belgian, Cindy, threw a dinner party! We tried everything from dip/salad with fromage blanc (yogurt-like consistency white cheese) with radish, to peach halves with tuna, to tomatoes filled with shrimp! Oh and the wine and cheese... I know! Me? Cheese? I decided to be fully Belgian, and it wasn't that bad. Except for the goat cheese. We had the best ice cream EVER, it was cookie with cinnamon flavor. We went out to somewhere near the Grand Place, the streets were full of bars and people! We danced a bit at a salsa place, and sought refuge in a building you'd never suspect to be a bar from the outside, but on the inside was full of comfy chairs and sofas to lounge on.
Saturday morning Alisa, Angelina and I showed up at the train station and 3 hours later wound up in Amsterdam! We had no clue what we were doing or where we were going, but that was the fun of it! The houses there were seriously crooked, because they were so old they started to lean a little bit. Which is curious, considering they're all stuck together! We stayed at a hotel by the Royal palace and a couple streets down from the Red Light District, which was the most glorified porn neighborhood I've ever seen. We wandered around, and ended up at a place called Rookies - a famous "coffeeshop". The bar had a marijuana menu, just like a dessert menu at TGI Fridays! So we made a new friend from Florida named Jim who rolled a joint for us, and pretty much hung out there for awhile. We found a Mexican restaurant! They pretty much don't exist in Brussels (that Tapas place was the closest we'd come) so we were excited to have some nachos. That night we strolled the Red Light some more, shuffling along amongst the packs/droves of horny men walking the street. We came across the Absinthe place, and decided to give it a try. It wasn't too bad, less foul-tasting than I expected. No hallucinations, but we definitely slept well last night!
Today we woke up and took a walk through Madame Tussaud's wax museum, which was crazy! I don't know how they make the statues so life-like. They ranged from the Pope to Beyonce to Lance Armstrong (upon close inspection, you can actually see the simulated sweat! and scrapes on his knees!) to Gandhi to Prince. One part was a scary little maze you walk through and it's totally dark and creepy. I think it had to do with the history of Holland, and people hanging or something. I was so scared that I jumped right at the beginning and grabbed some random lady's arm instead of Angelina's! Oops. Brad Pitt's butt was squeezable, which was a nice surprise. There was this huge old brick building that turned out to be this really classy mall! We wandered around for a few more hours, coming across a delicious Thai restaurant before sleeping most of the way back on the train to Brussels. I have this week off from teaching, which is nice, but I still have no idea where I want to go. So many choices! And I'm so indecisive!
I'm beginning to miss home, but at the same time I love the excitement of Europe. I especially love the history and the old buildings. We didn't find the Anne Frank house, but just being NEAR it was totally crazy! It's one of those things you learn from your history books and suddenly, you have an experience that helps you understand a little better, relate a little more, to everything you've read about for so long. Some of the places there dated back to like the 1200s and before! Completely opposite from the US, which seems so modern now. Which of course, I dont mind so much... the pavement is even, the streets planned in a more organized fashion. But there's something about Europe, that is soooo captivating and I find it so fascinating to be living here!