I so wasn't ready for this picture to the left but oh well, it a memory I suppose lol!
Hey
guys! I have a lot of interesting things to post about today, like
seriously my weekend was fun-filled and packed to capacity. It would
still be going but I decided to take a break, as my leg isnt feeling
so hot, so I can always use a bit of a lie in day. Okay so lets get
this blog post started shall we! So as I had said in the last post
that this upcoming weekend was called Kings Day, a major thing here
in Holland, and I got to experience it. It was wild. So it all
started on Friday
Friday
after I finished work around 6:30 I headed into town by my bike. I
know usually I don’t ride my bike when I'm off, but I know the
trams stop running after 1am, and I had a hunch we would be there
until later then that so I rode. I headed into the library to check
out the wifi as I still had a few hours to kill. But finally it was
8:30ish or so and I met up with Marcy and Camilla(an Au Pair from
DenMark) and we around the center of the Hague to check out what they
had in preparation for tomorrow. It was Kings day weekend and I was
told that on Friday you want to be in the Hague and Saturday for
Amsterdam. So They had a few different genres of preforming artists
and everyone was getting drunk.
I
don’t like the taste of booze, but I had some mixed drinks, so that
was okay. So then it's still not a lot of people there yet so we
decided to go check out the carnival again, Okay here is the fond
moment for my night begans. I had no camera that night I accidentally
left at the house charging for that night(The irony still gets me).
So we decided to head to the bumper cars. Now back home, I remember
the bumper cars fondly, a bit of childish fun for evryone. In a line,
and maybe 15 or less people at a time. Not Friday! They had maybe
25-20 bumper cars in the mini arena thing they had and there was no
line, only chaos. They gave you a token after you paid and when the
people before you turns was finished, you ran out on the arena to
grab your car. It was whoever got there first, and we managed. So
when we went on the bumper cars,
I
had just opened one of my mixed drinks, it was coconut, rum and Cola
I believe. It was pretty gross as all I had tasted was conconut,
however I was going to drink it as I paid for it. So I get inside my
bumper car with my drink and the person there puts my token in. My
car starts spinning in my place, like my wheel, as well as my friends
I heard later, it had a mind of it's own. So I finally figure out how
to drive it, with one hand I may add as I was still holding my drink,
when all of a sudden, I got bumped. It was so intense but so fun, we
were flung everywhere and no one had time for the seatbelts,
so
it was just crazy. I managed to get bumped so many times I lost
count....and what of my drink you may ask? The majority of it, end up
all over the bottom of the bumper car...oops. It was hectic there but
oh so fun. So after the ride was over we headed to another one, who
we found had doubled the price of the ride and made it not worth it.
We didn’t do it having already done it last weekend, and started to
head back to square with all the music. At the point I think it was
like 11pm or so so there was quite of lot of people there.
We ended
up in the middle by this statue and dj and they were dancing, I'm
awkward so I just stood there lol. We met some guys and had some fun,
I suppose. And when it all finally said and done with, I left early(
I know party pooper right?) But by then it was between 1-2am I can't
remember and as the next day we had to be at the train station early,
and I knew I hated waking up on a few hours of sleep. So I biked
home. I'm beginning to really like biking at night, it's so calm
here, and quiet and peaceful. When I got home I'm not sure of the
time I know I fell asleep at 4 ish....all I know was I only got 3-4
hours of sleep.
Saturday
I woke up around 8am to get to the train station and biked there and
parked my bike before heading in and waiting on Marcy and Camilla. We
then got snacks, and then headed onto the train at 9 for the 50
minute ride to Amsterdam. This was my first time going to Amsterdam
and it was insane. Everyone was more or less in orange. I didn’t
have anything orange but curtsey of my friends I had some glasses and
a whistle(lmao) but I bought a shirt later on. I have some pictures
of Kings day that I'll put here, but the rest will be on my facebook.
So
we got into Amsterdam at 10am and headed outside. It was a beautful
day in Amsterdam, and as I had only brought a sweater and a
sweatshirt with me, that was good news to me. We met up with another
Au Pair, Carman(she from a Latin speaking country unsure of which
one) And we all headed down to the carnival they had there. The
prices for that one was insane and I was short on cash as the bank
hadn't cleared my money from this month because of the Holiday
weekend. So anyway we headed to it and it wasnt a lot of people
yet(to me it looked like a lot but I got the shock of my life a few
hours later) It was crazy.
We walked around looking at all the
markets and I got me an orange shirt where I can blend it. It says
Bedankt which means thank you of some sort shirt. The shirt shows the
queen passing the day along to the King. As yesterday was the first
Kings day in 100 years as usually it's Queens day. Exciting huh?
Heres a few pictures so you can see what I mean.
Alright
so then we walked around for hours checking out different sites and
meeting up with friends of friends. Around 3 I think we headed to the
Rijes Museum, pronounced rice and it holds paintings and all that
good stuff. We didn’t go in it, as it was obviously closed but we
went through it, a passageway they had underneath and it led us to
the I am Amsterdam Sign but there was a ton of people so I couldnt
get a picture in front of it. I'll go back this week I think, in the
day time and hopefully not that many people will be there. The sun
was bright and we headed out on the grassy field and took a seat. We
had been walking since 10am, functioning on 3 hours of sleep, so what
did we decide to do. Take a nap right there on the grass. We werent
the only ones. The grassy area was filled with different groups of
people more or less doing the same thing.
This was us...before we went to sleep lol
We
slept for an hour, and it was so great lol. When we got up we were
refreshed for a bit and we started walking again. Well we headed to
look for a bathroom for my friends. Every bathroom there mostly
coasted between 0.50 cents or 1 euro or 2 euro, one bathroom was 1
cent per second....lol. Everyone was trying to make fun off of the
toilets. I didn’t spend much on them, due to my body's capacity but
my friends did. The guys however had those portable urinals that I've
seen in festivals abroad here, it interesting. They were put there as
if it wasnt guys would pee on the walls and it would be just gross.
Not that it mattered as towards the end of the day, the urnials had
all overflowed into the sidewalk and streets...and more guys were
still using them it was gross.
I got photobombed yesterday didnt even know I had until I went back and looked at it. Lol. Here it is. Oh yeah, it was so much yesterday. The colors on my cheeks are of the Dutch flag, I know..I'm American but I needed to blend in lol and I did.
Okay,
and then because we were in amsterdam and in the daytime, didn’t
notice but we were in the redlight district every single shop we went
into to buy drinks, had a section for cannabis/weed and the like. I
was in line to buy a mixed drink again, and next to me was a shelf of
cannabis cookies and brownies....was I tempted...Hell yes lol. I
didn’t have a lot of money as I stated before so I didn’t buy
them, I did buy a Cannabis Lollipop and it was kind of gross at
first but I got used to the taste I think. It tasted like grass, and I clearly knew was I was eating, and
then coupled with the mixed drinks, I figured when In amsterdam, and why not right? I probabaly will try the cookies another time definitly. So then back to my mixed drink it only had 6% of alcohol in it, which we then added more vodka and
tequila too, I got buzzed but that was pretty much it. It went away after my nap. Due to my father, my brother and I have a
HIGH tolerance for Alcohol so it's really hard for me to get drunk.
Anyway, heres a picture of my treats though, the tipsyness was fun, I
felt a bit free actually and though I've only been truly drunk once,
I do know my limits.
So
I think thats it. We stayed there until late, like 12:00am, as we
werent sure when the last train left and none of us wanted to get
stranded in Amsterdam. We were so not gonna call our Host Parents,
they tend to chat quite a lot with one another as their friends lol.
By the end of the night though, the trash, despite all the trash
cans, the streets were filled with debris it was just crazy.
Wait
I alomost forgot to mention, we went back to the Redlight District at
night, as my friends heard some music and they wanted to check it
out. I didn’t know truly what the redlight District might truly
consist of as the one in Groningen was nothing compared to this one.
and it was a shock. A ton of guys were just stopping in the middle of
the street to look at the girls in the windows or doors. We passed
this erotic theater where they had a live sex show going on <.>
I'm sorry but that just wasnt for me. I was super embarassed as
Prositution is legal here and a respected? Perfession here. I was
uncomfortable as we passed the windows, and tried not to look or make
eye contact as we passed. Not for me...never in the night again..no
thanks!
I
bought a souvenior for my mom and I saw something that reminded me
of my brother and I'm going back to Amsterdam this week to get it for
him, and something for me. Anyway, I think that's my post. It was a
hell of day let me tell you. And now, I'm relaxing on this Sunday and
looking up places to go this week, starting Tuesday I have the whole
week off until Monday night. And i'm so excited....Somewhere here I
come!
