Last week was pretty much one of THE BEST weeks of my life. Actually, not "pretty much", it WAS one of the best weeks of my life! This post is going to partly for keeping you all up to speed, partly to document some happy times, and partly to act as "a test of memory recall against the odds"... with alcohol playing the part of "the odds".
Saturday 26th April. Went down to Brussels with Ben and Judith to see Ryan's "Power Force". We trained to Den Haag, stopped in with Judith's family and had a nice quick lunch before borrowing their car and driving interstate. (international, but...you know, 2 hours should not count as international). The play was really good. I had already read it numerous times while typesetting, so already had preconceived notions of what each character should look, sound and act like. Even though Stacy did not quite come across right in my mind, Mick and Wayne both far surpassed what the script asked for. The night was padded out by some comedy routines in the form of a guitar trio, some spoken word , some improv sketches, and a lot of drinks. After the play we went to a end of show party and got to work on the next mornings hangovers.
Sunday 27th April. Slow start, then off to breakfast with Ryan, Chiara and Valentina. To the park for a bit of football between sunning, as it was an amazing day. Then back to Amsterdam via an hour or two in Antwerp (an awesome looking place that I'm keen to spend more time in soon), a car drop off in Den Haag and a train ride back to Centraal. Motty was there, waiting to meet me and start his huge week in Amsterdam. We went to Ben's to collect some giant bean bags, aka my new spare bed(s), move them across town on the trams (funny story in itself), and then we enjoyed a few quiet beers at my new local bar I'd been keen to visit for a while but had always been alone this side of town. Of course a few quiet beers still involved being asked very nicely by the barman to please leave and stop being charming to the lovely bar girl, as it is now 2 am.
Monday 28th April. Work shifts this week were 8am - 4:30pm. Not too bad really. With the sun staying up till 9:30pm these days, there is still plenty of daylight to enjoy after work, but a 4:30pm clock off still feels like an early finish. I am getting the hang of the job pretty quickly and had a pretty good few days there, which don't need to be elaborated on in this post. Monday night, met up with a few other new friends, Sanne and Kaja, for a few quiet beers and a catch up. Motty went to a gig a bit later in the eve and I headed home fairly early - about midnight.
Tuesday 29th April. Got woken up at 6am by Motty, who was just back from what sounded like an awesome gig. Being up at that time was fine though, as Gav called Motty from Oz, and I got to talk to him. Nice hearing another voice from back home. 8 hours of work pass. Tuesday eve aka Queens Night (the night before queens day, as opposed to the actual evening of queens day, which is known as queens-day-night.... right?!) started with us heading to a ex-squat house/venue that a rapper I like from Canada may or may not have been playing at... Turns out he wasn't there, but the gig/experience was still kinda cool, hanging out with Amsterdam's relatively unseen crusty punk crowd. After that show we joined in on a cycle into the city with a huge anarchic group of these punks, which was great chaotic fun, as there were not many other way's of cutting through the masses of people heading in all directions across the streets. We caught up with the full crew, including Ben, Judith, Dan, Shelle, Sheila (American, not Aussie), Kaja and her friend, and Dans brother Tom, who is also visiting Europe at the moment. After a few more drinks in the city wide street party we moved to Ben's for an impromptu dance party in his place. Home about hmm.... should we call it, umm... 3?
Wednesday 30th April. QUEENS DAY! Dragged our abused bodies out of bed in order to meet up with Motty's friend Leonie at 10am, as she offered to take us on a boat with her friends, an offer that you just don't pass up on queens day. Too right! Spent 2 or 3 hours cruising through the canals, and it was just the most amazing way to start this amazing day. The boat had about 15 of us on it, 2 kegs of beer, and a great old stereo (not that we needed it, there was music coming from everywhere, especially the thousands of other boats also running around the place. The city really goes absolutely crazy for this day, a mass of orange clothing, hats, wigs and whatever else, along with food, drinks, and 2nd hand "anything" lining LITERALLY every inch of sidewalk not filled with people. I hear the population of Amsterdam doubles over Queens Day, from 7 to about 14 million people? Crazy. Afternoon was easy going for us, up at Dan and Shelles before heading out into the streets for a few hours of walking around soaking up this awesome vibe, and dancing in the streets. Important to note that there was next to no hostility between anyone anywhere we went (bar one dickhead that threw a book that hit Judith. No big deal, and the book turned out to be quite funny, providing a lot more joy than it did pain). I really don't think a city wide drunken party of this scale could ever work in Australia (or many other places) without a lot more alcohol fueled violence. Evening ended after a few more hours dancing up a storm at a hip-hop club with Sanne and Kaja, with others coming and going around about the place. Got home at... hmm... shall we say 4am? This day was a constant smile, and really did reaffirm just how super happy I am to be here, even if it is away from family and friends.
Thursday 1st May. Woke slow, another public holiday, so we just chilled until heading over to Ben's place in the arvo, where we all got involved in a big casual cook up, as it was Dan, Shelle and Tom's last night in Amsterdam for a few weeks. Another chilled perfect day.
Friday 2nd May. Woke. Worked. Beers in the arvo with Leonie which turned in to her cooking us a traditional Dutch meal - Stamppot. It was Lekker! Then we dressed in our best formal wear (my old shirt and tie, and Motty in a suit jacket he found on queens day), as we were attending a gig that Sanne and Kaja were putting on (and I did the poster design for) - the Artsy Farty Patsy Party: Pretty Prom Night. Don't ask. I've found thats the easiest approach to understanding these crazy Europeans! It was a nice interesting gig, but we had to make tracks, as we were off to another gig at the Bimhuis (mentioned in a previous post about Pierre Bastien). This time it was an avant garde electronic dance party, featuring 2 warp records artists - Flying Lotus and Hudson Mohawke, and a local Glitch hop DJ - Cinaman. Awesome music, awesome venue, and awesome company (including Sheila, Judith, and her old/my new friend Neils, from Rotterdam). Got home well after dawn.... about hmm... 6ish?!
Saturday 3rd May. Treated ourselves to a nice sleep in, felt we deserved it. Woke up about 12... Made our way towards the city for brunch (I know... but lets call it that anyway), and then off to the Westerpark for a nice friendly game of 3 on 3 soccer. Physical exercise for the week - check! After an hour or so of that (and a controversial Canberra team win) we made our way to a terrace bar to soak up a few more rays and a few more beers, as our angry livers had at this point become addicted and needed weaning or something...?!? After some delicious Indonesian take away me and Motty headed up to club elf (11) - a nice place to take in sunset and a view of the city from one of the highest vantage points, 11 stories up. After this we strolled back in to town with Leonie, via the red light district - the very same district we all agreed that we dislike English "tourists" a lot more than we dislike English "people". Motty and I, knowing we had an early 5 am start to get him onto a plane back to London, decided we should move towards home, but just popped in to the local bar for one or two more quiet ones before bed...
Sunday 4th May. So......... haha.... With a good 45 minutes sleep under my belt, we rose and rode to Centraal, with AT LEAST a minute to spare before Motty's train made its way out to the airport, and I headed back to sleep for another 5 hours!
Holy heck....
In the words of Mr Andrew Mottram, CRIKEY! What an awesome week. I had such a great time hanging out with friends, both old, newish, and new, and actually, I'm kinda bummed that tonight has been quiet enough to finally catch up on writing this!
Having Motty here all week was so awesome, and once again helped shrug off any lingering feelings of homesickness. I was so glad that he got to share/contribute to all this enjoyment, as all my words really don't do the whole thing a lick of justice.