Map one of my long bike ride

On the go...

I leave tomorrow for my month long holiday. I'm going to be attempting to bike from helsinki to Berlin by myself.... Updates will be posted here :)

come 'er and give me a kiss.

I have never been one of those people who cheek kisses their friends. Hell, I don't even give my father or brothers full hugs but apt for a side hug, one arm around each other and done very quickly. However, the kissing on the cheek thing wasn't just because I am uncorfrotable with the human touch.

The real reason I never got into cheek kissing wasn't the human contact factor it was that it was too...hmmm... how do I put this nicely.... I guess there isn't a nice way to say it... It was too European.
ugh... was that too rude to say?

And what red blooded American wants to be European? I'll tell yeah it's the kind that think their too good for America. Well, I'm not too good for America so I spent years avoiding any kind of cheek kissing action.

Americans aren't totally against the cheek kiss. I have seen people give each other ONE kiss on ONE cheek. That is even acceptable to me. When it starts to be unacceptable is when both cheeks have a bit of slobber on them. That seems so european(okay I should just admit it now... European should really read French... and I like most Americans don't actually know anything about French culture or life styles or the people themselves but choose to dislike it for S(hits)&G(iggles).

The Netherlands is slowly breaking me of my anti-cheek kissing lifestyle. I guess the best way to break a phobia is to dive right into that phobia and you couldn't find a better place to break a fear of cheek kissing than in The Netherlands. The Dutch have decided to not just be european when greeting friends... they want to be super European. They have a cheek kissing habit of left-right-left.
One extra kiss for no reason! Seriously there is no reason for it, I have asked around.

I have become very skilled in the art of avoiding the left-right-left hellos by giving a hearty hand shake when I see people I know. The Dutch hand shakes are generally weak and just a couple of half hearted wabbles of the hand. However, to keep people from trying to come in and lay one on my cheeks I quickly do an old cowboy, hearty, trying to show who is stronger, look them in the eye kind of handshake. If necessary I will even even hold there hand with both of mine to try and keep them at bay.

Suprisingly it is weak old ladies who can break through my hand shake. Even when I try to stand sideways, bend forward ever so slightly, and extend my hand as far is it will go they still get me. They will except the hand shake wait till I'm done pumping them up and then pull me in for a lil 1-2-3.

So, warning if you don't like being too europeany or have a fear of the human touch the netherlands is not for you. Stay in America. We are reportedly the most anti-hugging society in the world.... Just the way it should be.
God Bless America.




STAY AWAY FROM MY CHEEKS!

To sound un-American for a moment

I know this will probably get me on a list somewhere... well, actually the fact that I spent all of my junior year of high school writing a big paper about jihad and all of my senior year researching neo-nazis...I'm probably already on some government watch list. So, if you are the person from the government whose job it is to read my blog, my I just say welcome. And I hope what I'm about to write makes it to the front of my file.
Belgians make superior beer.
It needed to be said.
I can sit with a Belgian beer and enjoy it's company the way I might enjoy the company of a good friend. Now any of the major American beers(I must say micro beweries are not included when I say American beers) is like sitting with someone that people swear you'll just love but infact you just want to rush through the meal with them cuz they are so disgusting and gross and mke you want to vomit and in fact if you get too much of them you do vomit and it takes a week to get the smell out of the carpet.... I'm starting to get off topic.

InBev, a Belgian Beer company, recently bought Anheuser-Busch to create the world's largest beer company. All I can say is thank God. Maybe the Belgians can use some of there magic and start making bud light drinkable. InBev is the company that brings Stella to the world. If nothing else it is cheap and strong and the most fun of any beer to drop on the ground... mostly because it gives you an excuse to yell, "STELLA!!!!!!!!"

So, Belgians this is for about 60% of you:
DANK U WEL! U heeft lekker bier. :)

Not all Americans see it my way. However, not all Americans have spent the past year getting drinking so many Belgian beers that they can even look down their nose at Heineken... Het spijt me... The Belgians don't have alot on the you Dutch people but can we all just admit they make better beer...

For the Americans who don't agree with me check the video below because Stephen Colbert is speaking to you:

Sharing

Recently my friend Shawn(don't let the name fool ya... it's a girl) came for a two week visit. Shawn and I met on the Alternative Spring Break Trip I took to Honduras my last year at university. Though I considered her a friend(The Hondo trip was A-mazing all people on it I consider friends) I never considered her a close friend. She asked me if she could come for a visit one day after reading my blog. I said sure, assuming she like most others would say they were coming or that they really wanna come but than not come. However, Shawn's spontatnous(how in the heck do you spell that? And my spell checker is only for Dutch words so sorry there are so many mis-spelled words) attitude led to her buying a ticket to amsterdam.


I kept telling her on our internet convos before hand that Fryslan is not Amsterdam and is not close to the major cities one might think of as a place to have fun in Holland. In fact where I live we don't like The Netherlands being refered to as Holland. She said that was fine and that something different was what she was looking for.

May I just say I'm so glad she came with an open heart and was willing to let me share Fryslan with her. This little corner of the world that I have been living in for nearly a year and calling home for almost 6 months now. Shawn is a better writer than me so I will refer you to her blog: http://secretsmile27.blogspot.com/ for more infromation about her trip. I just want to say that now I consider her a good and dear friend. And hope in the future I can share more of my crazy life with her :)
Shawn where do you want to visit me next:
England
Australia
Africa
Turkey

And for any Hondo people out there... We want a reunion 2011 anywhere in the world... votes need to be cast.

Sex and Fryslan

"Which one do you think you are?"
"Miranda. yeah, that isn't even a question... I'm Miranda, bitterness and all"
When girls start talking about Sex and the City the question of which character are you always comes up. Women like to be able to identify with one of the characters. I have reluctantly had to admit I can identify with Miranda. I have even had a fight with a friend that was almost word for word what mirada said to Carrie in one episode. They offer online quizzes in case you can't figure out who you are. In all honesty I don't need one but I took it anyway. suprise suprise it said what I already knew. You can take a looka t it here if ya want:

Which Sex and the City Character Are You?
	You are Miranda. You are drawn to men who can respect your independence and strength, and engage you intellectually. However, you are as hard on potential boyfriends as you are on yourself. It's a tough act to balance the demands of work and dating, but your cynical views on love make it even harder to find someone to take away the loneliness.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

When the Sex and The City Movie came out here, in The Netherlands, the night before the official release there was a Ladies Night. Myself and three gal pals decided to go see it. We tried to decide who was who but ended up with one Miranda and three Carries. I guess our group wasn't ideal. At the movie theatre we were given free cocktails(with booze(sweet!)(Super cool)(yay)(Can I have second?)) Myself and we'll say Carrie #2 got the ones with booze. The other two Carries chose not to drink in the movie, so un-Carrie of them. before the movie they had a wide variety of sex toy available to purchase. Some that had even been featured ont he tv show.
My friends and I had showed up a bit late so we got split into two groups Carrie #2 and #3 in the second to last row and myself and Carrie#1 in the last row. We still managed to talk through the movie. In movie theatres in the Netherlands they have an intermission have way through the movie. It's so the Dutch can stretch their long legs, but more importantly they'll go buy more wine and beer... yep the standards for film watching in the netherlands. The intermission was particularly special for the Ladies night becuase "stripper" ahd been brought in... we all waited to see him. Carrie #1 and I started chanting Stripper stripper... and got some of the other ladies in our area to start chanting... in English. I have already seen male strippers(Thank you Mandy, Betsy, and Andrea for a memorable 18th birthday) so I wasn't that excited for him but I did want the movie to continue so we needed him out there first. When he eventually came out he went into the crowd looking for a girl. I quickly sat down but kept yelling. The rest of the abck row was still standing. Then as he approached the back row all the other ladies sat down in unison. They all became very quiet and started looking at the floor. I kept yelling cuz I'm not afraid to kick a stripper in his money maker if he tries to get me on stage. He eventually picked a woman.... and... how can I put this.... he wasn't so much stripping as giving the lady a naked lap dance. That was all he really could do was give lap dances. So, it was a huge let down and we all started chanting again to get the film going.
We thought with the end of the movie all the excitement was done. However, on our way out we were given a goodie bag. it had hair syrum and... a vibrator. What a nice and necessary present to recieve at the movie theatre. Now this is how movie going ought to be done.

fout van mij

I have a bad 13 year old girl habit. I blame the world for my promblems. okay, maybe not all my problems and maybe not all people. To be a lil more specific I blame the Dutch for why I can't speak Dutch. I bitch and moan about how they all speak Englsih and are always trying to show how much English they know.
However, I ahve recetly realized it isn't their fault it's mine. The reason I don't know Dutch is because I don't listen. To be honest I don't listen in English either. At least not the first time anyone says anything it takes two or three tries for me to really know what anyone is saying, even in my native tongue. The problem with that is when I say "Wat zei je?" to a Dutch person they assume it is that I don't understand, not the honest to God truth I just don't like listening to anyone's voice but my own. So, when stuff gets repeated to me here it is always in English. Once someone has started speaking English to me it is a very difficult process to get them to go back to Dutch. Takes a lot of answering everything in Dutch and whinning in English about how no one speaks Dutch with me.
So to all Dutch people het spijt me. I only sort of blame you for my problems now.

Hazed and Confused

Last night...er or should I say this morning.... whichever.... I was driving home from a cafe in lemmer at 3 in the morning(guess that answers whether it was morning or night) when I saw two figures standing in the middle of the street. As I drove closer I realized they were people trying to get me to stop. I instantly swerved around them, my American everyone-is-a-psycho-killer instinct kicking in overtime. Then I realized I was in the middle of no where and that no cars drive down that road at night so they would be the worst psycho killers ever waiting there. So, I came to a stop a ways down the road. The two young guys came running at my car full speed. They didn't open the door but stood outside it til I opened it. ONce I opened it they popped their heads in and the chatty one start talking in VERY fast Dutch and all kinds of words I didn't know. So I gave him the time out signal and said " WHOA WHOA TIME OUT! Spreekt uw Engels?"
"YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?!"
"JA"
"We are a part of a fraternity we have been dropped off and we must make it back to our fraternity by tomorrow afternoon. WHERE IS A MAIN ROAD?"
I was thinking maybe the Fraternity was in Groningen which is only an hour from me. "Where is your Frat?"
"In DELFT!"
Delft for the record is no where near me... although it is a tiny country so you never that far away.

I had to inform them that they had been walking in the wrong direction. If they were to keep walking the direction they were they would run into a big lake and just more teeny tiny villages.
"Where are we?"
"Friesland"
"We are in fucking Friesland?"
the quiet one speaks up, "Middle of fucking no where Friesland!"
"Well if you want any kind of big road head back the other way and go to Lemmer. It's just off a big road. Good Luck."
"Thank you so much"
I drove on and realized that was kinda mean of me to just leave them in the rain in an area they don't know and there are no good walking routes to Lemmer. Also, I didn't feel it was very Midwestern of me to just leave two confused college guys in about as remote of a place as you get in the Netherlands. I drove on for about a kilometer and then turned around and came back for them. I had my window down(despite the fact that it was raining) and shouted, "C'mon get in the car!"
They couldn't believe I had come back fror them. They were very Dutch so they did the polite Dutch thing and asked me what I had done tonight and why was I on these back roads at three in the morning. They also couldn't believe that any American woman would be willing to live in Friesland without being married to a Frysan man.
They told me that they had started drinking at a quarter to 5, they each had to do a few beer bongs, and then once they were pass out drunk they and the other freshman were thrown into the back of a van asleep and then they were all being dropped off in different places around the country and had till the afternoon to get back. So, they woke up on the side of the road near nothing. I asked them if they were still pretty drunk. The quiet one in the front seat was like, "No, it has all warn off!"
I had been the first person to drive by and also the second person to drive by in the few hours they had been walking. They were so glad both cars stopped. I gave them a lil tour of Lemmer as we drove though it towards A6, a major road in the Netherlands. I took them to a bus stop where a bus goes to Lelystad and stops at a train station. They had no money. They kept saying, "all we have is a bottle of water, these trash bags for rain coats, and now you!!!!"
I had a full tank of gas and was tempted to just say I'll drive ya all the way to Delft. I have never been there and that seems as good of a reason as any. But, I realized that would be taking away the fun and adventure of figuring out how to get back. Making it too easy for them would ruin it. When I told them I felt bad for their dillema Tom(the chatty one in the back seat, Martin was the quiet one in the front) grabbed my shoulder and told me I shouldn't feel bad. It was their decision to join the Frat and that other than this it is a very nice fraternity. I explained to them I went to a party school with a great greek system and have seen some pretty shitty stuff with Hell Week and still thought the frats weren't all bad so no worries.. Martin said, "Well, we just have a hell weekend." God everything really is smaller in the Netherlands(roll of eyes should be said with that last sentence)
They were excited to see the bus stop was next to a McDrive, but sad when I pointed out that because they are in Friesland it doesn't open til ten. I walked them through what they could do: take the bus, catch a train to amsterdam and then from amsterdam to delft. And since they had no money and were kinda cute I made sure they knew they should trying sweet talking the ladies and telling the guys the whole story about being left out by Oudemirdum. I don't know if they have some how already gotten back or if they are still sitting at that McDrive, but I do now know Hazing is Hazing the world over.

Димa Билан

So, if you ahve ever read this blog or hung out with me after I was in Peace Corps Kyrgyzstan than you know how much I LOVE DIMA BILAN!!!! Love him. Love him. Я люблю его He is the only Russian Singer that I really got into. And when leaving kyrgyzstan I way over paid for his CDs but it was so worth it.
Well, a little news item about Dima Bilan is he just won Eurovision. It's like the competion that made Abba. I'm super excited. However, I actually don't like his singing in English. The song is called Believe. And you can believe me he is awesome. So, check out the clip from his winning performance below.

Borat in AMsterdam

This isn't even half as funny as the last clip I posted with Ali G and the Beckhams but this fun too. You can see some Dutch Subtitles and hear some Dutch since no one seems to know what it sounds like :)

insanely funny!

Seriously you need to watch this!

An Bingo was his name ooooooo

I wnet and played Bingo last night at the Doarphuis It's nice to know the world over that Bingo is a sport for old ladies.... Did I just call Bingo a sport? Wow I need to get more exercise. cUz if sitting around smoking cigeretes drinking Berenburg(Frisian Liquor) with Cola is exercise than these women are the fittest women every.
However, I din't win anything last night. Not even one of the little consaltion prizes at the end. I tell myself I'm helping out the community center, I mean I never use the blender I won last time. But I'm only fooling myself because I really wanted to win. Like really wanted to win. I was chatting with the bartender(where I had to sit since I showed up late) and the whole time I kept saying ik wil iets. IETS! I was just saying I wasnt something. SOMETHING!
I even got annoyed with a nine year old that kept winning stuff. Everyone kept applauding for her and I was doing that slow sarcastic clap. I gotta start practicing my numbers in dutch some more since I am convinced I only lost cuz I would miss a number here or there. I hate the way Dutch say there numbers. 59 would be said nine and fiftey. It takes my braina while to process that infromation cuz first I go to nine and then I have to think of what they said after the nine but my brain has already becme fixated on the nine. Stupid Dutch language keeping my from my prizes!

iggnorance

yesterday a Dutchman I don't know told me not to vote for Barak Obama because he is black which means he is lazy and doesn't want to work... he wasn't joking around in anway. When I gave him a dirty look he said well, it's true. So, I guess it is good to know there are ignorant people all over the world. And one thing all you ignorant people out there should know is|: where a rubber.

My aerodynamics

Cycling in the netherlands is a national past time. But I ahve to say one thing about it... It's windy in the Netherlands. And I'm no Lance Armstrong. I'm probbaly the least aerodynamical person in the world. So, when I bike against the wind I come to an almost complete stop. Fortunately I bike alt in the early morning so it is only me and the farmers that are out at that time. I'll be inching along at my ever slow pace against the wind and then when a farmer comes by in his tractor I ahve to try and speed up as best I can to not apear to be as slow as I am... My answers aren't blowing in the wind... It's just a pain in my ass....

I know not a lot of people read my blog but for those of you who do can I just promote the links on my blog for a minute. There are alot of nice blogs that my friends have from all over the place and if you currently can't travle live vigarously through some of my friends :)

It's in the title

So, the title for this blog is How did I get here? So, I figured I would compile a slide show of different pics from all my travels. I never know how I ended up somewhere..... things just seem to randomly happen to me. So, I hope you enjoy the randomness.

I might have laughed too hard at this....

for the first time....

I feel like I'm seeing the netherlands for the first time. I have to say it is a really beautiful country. It isn't the majestic beauty of Canada or the American west. It isn't a classic and perfected beauty of Paris or Northern Italy. It especially isn't a wild beauty like Scotland or Kyrgyzstan. No, I'm finding here to have what I would say is a quiet beauty. Almost....hmmmm.... if landscape can have this.... let's say an inner beauty. I have been living here for over 8 months and though I have kind of noticed it in the past I never truely was in awe of the beauty here. That is the problem with inner beauty... It doesn't hit you in the face right away.
When I first got here I was kind of in a daze from the summer I had just ended. I worked at...hmmm.... for lack of a better word... uniquely insane camp.
Actually it could have been a good summer if I didn't have the boss I had. He would tell me to do something, I would do it, and then he would get mad or sarcastic at me for doing it. And unlike after Peace Corps I didn't get to have a week or two to recoup before joing the real world. Nope. I moved to The Netherlands the day after camp ended. For the first month or so here I was still in post camp shock.
Then as that wore off I began to realize... I'M IN THE NETHERLANDS!!! WHAT?! How did I get here? It has been difficult to develop a social life here. The Fries aren't the most welcoming people to outsiders.

However, in the past two months I have started to develop a social life. I'm on three different sports teams and I go out once or twice a week. The weather was crap for months.
It wasn't even snowing, it just was kinda cold, windy, and there was no sun. Now all of a sudden the sun has come out and with it there is a whole new light being shined on the netherlands. Now as I look out on the green pastors filled with sheep and cattle; the canals that seem to stretch on forever; the sea filled with sail boats; the flowers next to the roads; I suddenly get it. I get that The Netherlands is a truely beautiful place.

Keukenhof

Yesterday I went to the Keukenhof in Lisse. It boasts of being the biggest spring time garden in the world. I don't know if that is true or not, but it is really big. I showed up early in the morning which was cool because there weren't many people there. I planned on staying there all day but after the busses started coming in there were just too many people and I had to get out of there. But it is really lovely.
I'm putting up some photos. I don't know if these are even the best photos I took but I felt I needed to put some up. The Keukenhof also claims to be one of the most photographed places in the world. So, if that is true I'm just keeping with tradition and adding my little lot to the bunch.
Enjoy.

making clean water available to all

This is doc from National Geographic about how PLay Pumps are bringing fresh water to people in s.s. Africa. Worth taking a look at:

Clean Water

It's all in what ya drink....

I am not a great student of languages. There are some people who get languages. I’m not saying that they don’t study, I‘m just saying they know how to make their studies very efficient. A friend of mine seems to think people either get languages or they don‘t. I don’t exactly believe that, I think some people are naturally better than others and the rest of us have to work really hard just to learn the basics.

In high school I took a year and a half of Spanish. I recently went to Spain with my sister and what was made painfully clear is that I can’t speak any Spanish. If I hadn’t had Diane with me I would have been totally screwed.

However, in the past two years I have been able to learn two very different languages. Last year I lived in Kyrgyzstan and was an English teacher with Peace Corps. I had to learn Russian in order to live and work there. It was tough. It is a difficult language to learn and in all honesty it was the first language I was ever really learning. I then went back to America for a few months. Fortunately while I was in America for a majority of the time I was working at a camp with a lot of Russian Jews so I got to still practice my Russian. Since coming to the Netherlands my brain has pushed out a big chunk of Russian in order to fill that space with Dutch. Russian, -a language spoken by almost 200 million people -came in second place to Dutch -a language spoken by almost 30 million people. I have never been known for prioritizing.

I’m still not confident with foreign languages. I hate that I don’t know slang. I have a very thick American accent. I can only really understand if people are speaking clearly and not too fast. I hate all of it. The thing I hate the most is when you can’t find the words to express myself.

I have found something that helps my language abilities more than studying ever has. Alcohol. Not just any alcohol. The drink must be very specific to the language.

Vodka for Russian and beer for Dutch.

When I would first show up at a party in Kyrgyzstan I would sit quietly. I might be able to carry on a little bit of a one-on-one conversation but nothing more. As the toasts went on through the night my Russian became better and better. When I started to slur, I some how became more understandable. One party in particular by the time it was my turn to give a toast I went on so long they had to sit me down because everyone wanted to drink and I had been talking to long. I have only had vodka a few times since leaving Kyrgyzstan, but every time I have had it since I suddenly feel I am a great master of the Russian language.

Vodka doesn’t work with Dutch. If I have a couple shots I resort back to Russian. No, it takes beer for me to speak descent Dutch. I especially need to have a couple beers to keep up with the conversation if I’m at a party with a bunch of Dutch people. If I’m not drinking beer I can keep track of the conversation but I can’t think in Dutch quickly enough to add anything to the conversation. I don’t get messy when I drink beer. I become very focused which is what I need to speak Dutch. Vodka makes me very sloppy which brings what I’m missing to the Russian language.

The past two weeks I have been too sick to drink beer so I have been stuck just sitting and listening to Dutch people at the parties I went to. My Dutch feels as if it has dramatically decreased. I need to get healthy again so I can get drinking again and starting speaking Dutch again.

Whenever I drink wine I think I can speak French. When I have sangria I think I think that year and a half of Spanish actually did some good. Whiskey has made me believe I can understand what Scottish people are saying to me. Tequila makes me pass out.

The more I learn about different alcohols the more I learn about different cultures. So, Bottoms up!

Dutch Music vs. Russian Music

When I first arrived in Kyrgyzstan a Peace Corps volunteer from the group before me told me it would be just a matter of time and I would learn to like Russian Pop Music. I laughed in his face cuz I felt I had a good taste in Music and Russian Pop was not good music. Eventually over time I learned to love Димa Билан (Dima Bilan) I thought his music videos were ridiculous but I loved singing along with the music. I even bought one of his CDs before I went home. Ever since then it has been one of my favorite CDs that I own.
So, when I moved to The Netherlands I was at first skeptical that I could find anything that I liked. Now with my Dutch considerably better than my Russian I have found lots of Dutch Music I enjoy. My favorite Dutch band in Blof. There should be like a line through the "o" but I don't know how to do that. Also, I saw a band called Nick and Simon in concert. While, my friend Lauren hated them, I actually really enjoyed their music. They sing the theme song from the movie De Scheepsjongens van Bontekoe. I don't know if you noticed but my last name is totally rockin' the title of that movie.
So, I decided to let you hear and judge for yourself which is better. I know odds are if your my friend or relative and you are reading this you know neither Dutch or Russian(Carly your the exception with your Russian) Still check out these music videos they are all kinda funny in their own right.
The first one is Dima Bilan with: Impossible Possible
The second is Blof with: All is Love (theme song from the Dutch version of Love Actually)
The third is Nick and Simon with the theme from De Scheepsjongens van Bontekoe: Take my hand
I gave the English names just cuz the Dutchand Russian names would me nothing to you. Blof is my favorite Dutch band and this is my favorite song of theirs and Dima Bilan is my favorite Russian singer and this is my favorite song of his. Nick and Simon were just included cuz I saw them in concert and I love typing my own last name
Bontekoe
Bontekoe
Bontekoe
ENJOY!!!!!

Dwarf Soccer in Brazil

I love when this is on CNN

Spanish Football

Me cheering on Barcelona

Diane and I at Real Madrid.


I never did get the chance to talk about going to some Spanish Football games with Diane. We first went to a Real Madrid-Getafe game in Madrid that ended with Getafe winning 1-0. Very dissappointing. Then I got her to also go to a Barcelona-Valencia CF game. That ended with a 1-1 tie. It was amazing though. Valencia's goalie Timo Hildebrand was so A-Mazing. Barcelona had shot after shot and he was stopping everything. Valencia had two shots at the goal and made one. Barca's goalie only had a 50% for the night. Diane felt the need to point out the math on that. Barcelona only scored in the very last seconds of the extended play of the game where they threw everything they had at good ole Timo. Diane and I sat near the Valencia crowd, which was so loud and chaotic. After the game Diane and I waited for the fans to clear out so we wouldn't have to fight our way out. What we didn't know we'd get to see by waiting was actual fights. The police trapped in the Valencia fans and wouldn't let them leave till all of Barca's fans were gone. The continued to sing and cheer for the time they were trapped in the stadium. However when they did let a few go there were still a few Barca fans in there and that's when the fights started. Was pretty cool for D.D. and I since we were just sitting there waiting for everyone to leave.
Those fights didn't seem too common of the atmosphere of Spanish Football. I couldn't believe how supportive the fans were at both Barcelona and Madrid. Diane said people had potty mouths(she speaks Spanish, where as I was delightfully ignorant) But seriously they would cheer just for trying to make a goal. They weren' angry at the team for their mistakes but encouraging them to do better. I loved the enviroment that I was engolfed in at the games.
One strange thing from the Madrid game that didn't happen at the Barcelona game was that at half time everyone in unison pulled out a sandwich wrapped in tin foil and sat there eating their sandwiches and talking about the first half of the game. The women's bathroom at Real Madrid was empty in the mostly Male crowd. Diane and I looked around and we were the only women that were there without a man. Barcelona was completely different with a strong female presence. The one who sat behind us had a particularly filthy mouth.
So, if you are ever in Spain it is worth checking out the football Matches. Even if you know nothing about the sport. Diane can back me up here... Spanish Football is alot of fun.

This made me laugh

taking my blog to a multimedia level! Watch out for more ways to waste your time.

how old am i?

I know in the grand scheme of things 24 isn't very old. If I were to keel over tomorrow everyone would just keep sobbing, she was so young, she was so young. The problem with 24 is when you haven't played basketball since you were 18 and some how you talked your way on to one of the best basketball teams in the netherlands.... Suddenly 18 seems like an eternity ago and 24 belongs in a nursing home.
Yep, I'm training with the women's basketball team in Urk.The practices aren't even that hard, I'm just that out of shape. I hadn't done a sprint in two years.
Now into my third week of practice I'm doing alright. But that first week.... oh, that first week I could hardly move. I hadn't been so sore since freshman year of college during the first week of track practice. That week Erica and I debated over whether it would be less painful to throw ourselves down the stairs than it was to walk down them.
I do alirhgt for about the first hour of practices then the last half hour I'm just throwing up shots hoping something goes in. When need be I still resort bck to the infamous walk-jog. It something Erica and I perfected in college. It is where you are actually walking but you throw your hips in such a way as to appear to be running incrediably slow.
I'm going to keep going to the basketball practices, but all I can say this thank god I'm leaving before I'm 25.

J.J.Jaded

Since my lil sister Diane didn't make her flight to Spain I found myself with some time on my hands. I spent my first night in Madrid just wondering around walking into any store that was open...Stores open after 5! Wait till I tell everyone back in Friesland that that really happens some places.
I ended up walking into an underground Supermarket. Similiar to the first underground supermarket I ever saw 5 years ago in Prague. While rolling down into the store on a converbelt I realized I'm starting to be a little travel jaded.
When I fisrt started traveling abroad I had to take in every sound, taste, smell... i wanted to absorb the country into my pores. I often did with the frequent acne that came along with these trips. In the past five years I have gone from only one country under my belt, Sweden when I was 13, to double digits. I have studied photography in the UK, Whitewater rafted the Nile, drank virgin margarhitas at 8 in the morning in the carribbean,have drank more vodka in Central Asia than one person should consume in a life time. Over the past six months, since moving to Friesland, I have gotten to travel around the norther part of the Netherlands, Watch Rugby World Cup Semi Finals at the Eiffel Tower, dancing till all hours of the night in London, learned all about Bols jenever in Amsterdam, jumped a fence in Italy, and now am exploring Madrid. I list these things not to brag but to try and understand why I wasn't overcome with joy as I rolled into the supermarket. When I was in Prague 5 years ago I went out of my way everyday to go to that underground store because I thought it was the most unique thing on Earth. AN UNDERGROUND SUPERMARKET! I also thought, okay still think, the "Prague Czech it out" shirts are so clever and cool. I seem not to get overwhelmed anymore by how cool and new and exciting things are. My skin for the first time in my life, is clear. I often will see something that would have suprised or shocked me in the past and now find myself going oh, that's nothing compared to... insert country I have been to before where ever I am at the time.
Traveling is all I every really wanted to do. No, let me rephrase that... exploring.There isn't really anything left to discover except for the things you discover for yourself. The wonder and awe that you find in things. I have been extremely lucky, no no that isn't the right word...blessed, with all the traveling I have gotten to do in my short lifetime. I wandered the aisles of the underground supermarket thinking about how I always swore I wouldn't get jaded, I would always find ways to be excited. and then without trying I was reassured that I might not be as jaded as I think, when I saw a woman pull out a giant knife cut off the head of a fish, gut it, and cut of the tail and wrap it in less than 10 seconds. No one else there was amazed but I was restraining myself from applauding. And then I saw that the store had Mountain Dew and Oreos. Two things I haven't seen in months. ¿Man does life get better than this?

My 24th

I had my 24th birthday two days ago. I didn't want a party or anything big to happen since my 23rd birthday in Kygyzstan ws a disaster.
In the morning Rob(my boss) said: "oh, 24? hmmm... I had been working for 6 years and started my own company the next year."
Well, happy Birthday to me. All I could say was good for you. I was changing his daughter diaper at the time. Thank goodness after that I had volleyball. Even with my birthday I'm still on average 40 years younger than the other players on my team. They all kept telling me how I ahd so much time ahead of me and that I was so young. Thank you that is exactly what I want to hear. I ahd made cupcakes for everyone on the team just to make sure they really understood I'm not as old as them.
In the evening the family I work for took me and a friend of mine out for dinner. I had a fantastic meal. Only problem is I found out I don't know what the Dutch word is for Lobster cuz apparently it was on menu. Dang I missed out on free lobster! If only I had know.
I tried to go see the movie Kite Runner since I will never get around to reading the book. Only problem is we got five minutes in and there had only been about 4 lines of dialect in English. We grabbed our coats and ran out of the theatre. I over exagerated my English and in ability to understand English.
"Oh, I am soooooo sorry Do you speak ENG-LIIIIISH????!"
yes
"Well... We were in the movie Kite Runner and it's in Arabic not English"
blank Stare
"We SPEEEAAAK ENG-LISSSSHH. So, we can't watch that and we want our money back."
We got the money back and since we both felt like we had just made 8 euros we decided to go spend it on Blonde Beers(yummy!) Lauren wanted to get me a piece of Chocaolate cake but it was to expensive and they don't give anything for free in Friesland... not even on your birthday.
Over all a nice and very relaxed b-ay. Tonight I'm going out with "the Girls". The group will include an Aussie, Polack, Chinese girl, and an Israeli. Well, it looks like my 24th year is going to be competative as my most random year of my life... thus far.