hi! i have a lot to write about. yesterday paula and i went to volendam and went to look at all the tulips, ive been to some nice birthday parties, and i've worked my first day after the bar in metropool.
BUT. i'm at school now and i only have an hour, and these blog entries take precious time and effort to carefully craft and perfect.
thusly, i'm actually here right now to give you an installment of "reasons why i find that the general public of dutch teenage girls has questionable taste"
this entry is going to sound kinda mean. i'm only dedicating a whole entry to this because these things are literally EVERYWHERE, they have invaded the netherlands with unprecedented speed.
this particular variety includes religious themed dangly-bits.
this baby. this baby right there. in case you can't tell what that is, it's a hoop earing. which, on its own i find questionable. but shall we continue. its a hoop earring with a fabric flower in the middle. [this particular picture includes one of the more paletable varieties.] and, as the cherry on top of the gaudy cake, it has little charms dangling off of it, an extra touch of *sparkle* for your look.
anyway. the first time i saw these in a store, i was like
"huh. thats unfortunate".
i kept seeing them around and thinking "oh, its those earrings again. i wonder if anyone buys those."
but then i started to see them in every accessory store. not only that, but i started seeing people wearing them. every day. everywhere. tens of girls.
because apparently these kitsch-tastic babies are WHERE IT IS AT as far as funky spring trends go.
lets look at some more photos, shall we?
striking.
this one's a beaut, with the cat and everything.
"De trend van 2011!"
beautiful!
anyway. what i noticed today was that every girl i was seeing with these earrings was only wearing one. apparently that's what you do, only wear one. because according to my friends,"two is too much".
how could i have been so naïve?
i found out that this triend started from holland's most famous soap, goede tijden slechte tijden. one of the main characters wore it, and now it is a MUST HAVE addition to any festive spring outfit.
dutch girls, i still love you and some of your trends are very nice and cool, but WHAT WERE YOU THINKING. look at your lives, look at your choices.
a quick explanation in dutch;
http://waat.nl/bloemen-oorbel-orchidee-set-van-2/
a review of them;
http://divaofgeneva.blogspot.com/2011/03/review-oorbellen-lorena-nina-uit-gtst.html
this week has been fairly busy! i've decided its probably well time i got off my ass and started doing things and going places, and now that i can go places without practically passing out from cold, that is happening :)
so yeah, this entry will probably be rather long. cos hey, i haven't blogged in a while. and i guesssss i have a little bit of desire to let you guys into my life. or something.
just for a second.
more specifically this second.
this weekend i went to go see only seven left again at metropool with debby and some of her friends. obviously, only seven left and i are now close personal friends, and i could probably make a fairly well fleshed-out photoalbum of "pictures of me and only seven left band members". anyway, this was the third time. the opening band was want want, a dutch band that actually sings in dutch. here you go, have a taste. this song translates roughly to "stupid bitch", in case you were wondering.
the lyrics make it especially charming.
"yesterday was a shitty day,
everything sucks,
everything sucks,
because i saw him with you,
stupid bitch,
stupid bitch"
it wasn't too crowded, we were definitely the rowdiest ones there. "we" of course meaning debby and friends, whilst her friend tom and i exchanged concerned glances :P in any case, it was "weer gezellig". they stayed in the city until about 6 am the next day, which i also wanted to do, but my hardcore partying days ended exceedingly abruptly several months ago. i just don't have that raging desire to be unfunctionally shitfaced anymore, what can i say? i did want to stay a bit longer, but unfortunately if i didnt stay until 6, i had to leave with the last train at 12:30. soo, a little bit early home.
[this is an ongoing issue, that could potentially be solved by being able to bike alone after 11 pm. buuut i'm not sure if i'm up for dying in a ravine on the way home from hengelo, so 12:30 it is. this is also a problem when i work, because the things usually last until 2-4 or so, and i always have to pussy out and go home early before everyone cleans up. slecht!]
anyway, so that was saturday. it was also absolutely beautiful weather on saturday, 25 whole degrees. which roughly translates to 75 f, or "fucking get out your bikini this is about as warm as it gets" weather. wencke and i and another exchange student from columbia [simena] biked to hengelo to finally get some of hengelo's famous vanderpoel ijs. it was only the most delicious creation ever. i got crème brûlée [don't you wish your keyboard was dutch like mine?], which was custardy with little bits of praline, and stroopwafel [of course], which had chunks of stroopwafel in it. and was homg-amazing. then we enjoyed a lekker full-tummied ride back to borne. in short sleeves! with no jacket! i could have died of happiness.
on sunday i was feeling just a bit dysfunctional after my "late night" at metropool. because, though i didn't drink much, i did manage to pack in 3 glasses of white wine at the end of the night.
i guess it's been long enough since berlijn in october that i am no longer repulsed by wine. mostly.
but, i hauled myself together and paula, henri, ik, en simena went to duitsland to visit a castle. it was pretty cool, i'm always a fan of that kind of old timey stuff. though, some of it was excessively ridiculous. in the olden days, they enjoyed making things out of animal parts much more than they do now. for the taxidermy, i was like "okay", i endured the antler encrusted lighting fictures, i even managed to be like "this is understandable" for the antler lounge-seating.
in my mind, the line was crossed with the giant goat[?] leg serving utensils. which, in case you don't understand, were A SPOON AND A FORK MADE OUT OF ANIMAL LEGS. LIKE, WITH HAIR ON THEM. AND HOOVES.
it was ever so extravagant. laughably so. i <3 symbols of high status.
but anyway, it was enjoyable. :)
monday i went to enschede with tutti and simena, not too much to report. i picked up a large bag of assorted drop schepsnoep and a leopard print poncho. also, in traditional nederlands fashion, a giant shitstorm of hail appeared out of nowhere right as we were about to leave, so we had to take shelter in burger king for half an hour. which was actually sort of painful, since i am not a huge fan of fast food, to put it lightly.
tuesday jelle came over, always gezellig :> tuesday is our day, since i am out early and he only has his ridiculously low-leveled core-courses. since we haven't been able to hang out on the weekend for a while, it's nice that most weeks we have a day <3 even though, since we're both dirt poor, we're sort of running out of things to do XD thinking of a free hobby is much more difficult than you think. but, a new sushi restaurant is opening up in winterswijk soon, so we want to go there and try it out. because sushi is my god and master now. C:
eueuehehhhuuuhhhhmmmm wednesday was "sportdag", for which we all had to choose a sport to do after school for some unknown reason. seemingly the reason was to torture us, since like 90% of kids today were complaining about their back/leg/arm/everywhere pain like old people. but that i think is because they all entered the wonderful worlds of canoeing, kick-boxing, rollerblading, salsa dance, etc. i , in traditional angela fashion, chose archery, the least sport-y sport. also the most in line with my future dreams of becoming robin hood.
look it is me, they have painted my future.
anyway.
besides being kind of a haul and a half on the bike to get there, it was pretty cool. we didn't do a whole lot. but! i did make some new fraaannnzzz. a group of boys from my grade and the grade below me, including a boy who exchanged to japan but then came home early, decided that for some reason it would be beneficial and not social suicide to interact with me? [HEY, UNPOPULAR OPINION :D score.] so that was fun. i've also been provided with a long list of animes to watch, which is wonderful actually since i spend a good amount of time listlessly staring into space at home. now i can fill that time with deliciously weaboo-y glee.
obviously an improvement!
precisely what my life needs more of.
so! that brings us to today. no activities planned, i'd expected a pretty lame day. my first hour fell out, and then i had a free hour, and then biology. tentatively free at 11:45. i figured i'd maybe go to the c1000 and pick up a loaf of bread and some more wheat bran, y'know. whatever. [i usually don't eat bread, boterhammen are kind of against everything i stand for and enjoy in the food realm. but i have to go travelling tomorrow and i wanted to pack sandwiches. so i got all fancy like and bought a pack of smoked salmon, which is one of the only bread toppings i am ridiculously fond of, and a half loaf of the full-grainiest brownest bread i could find. also because i manage to turn every piece of bread i try to defrost into a crumbly crisp of dissapointment, so i figured i'd just purchase my own goddamn loaf of ready-to-use angela bread for this week.hokay. continuing with plotline.]
just to make sure i wasn't like, magically required to make a test for some reason, i took a look at the roster board before i left. just for giggles. pretty sure i even had my bike key out already.
low and behold, jesus christ, my art class was listed to attend a "tea party".
...what. okay. i figured it was probably a little meeting to explain some things for tomorrow, because we're taking a class trip to den haag. but secretly i was kind of excited, because 1. i like tea and 2. i enjoy anything that doesn't involve me sitting, doing nothing, letting my brain melt.
sooo, headed over to the art room. when i got there, i was greated not by some teachers with cardboard cups full of engelse melange, but a giant tatami mat setup, boiling tea kettle, and a large dutch man in a kimono.
... tea party. japanese tea ceremony demonstration? is it possible to be so lucky? i know i'm a giant nerd, but i can't help it! it was very much a pleasant swerve away from what my day was supposed to be.
the rest of the students seemed fairly unphazed by this obvious gift from the heavens. first he explained in dutch how most tea ceremonies go, which i think might have killed everybody with boredom, but i was right there with him! like an a++ student puppydog. he said that, alas, only two students could participate in the demonstration and taste the tea. obviously it was not a WHOA DON'T EVERYBODY RAISE YOUR HAND AT ONCENOW sort of situation. i tried to volunteer myself without sounding too overjoyed, maybe with a hint of "oh well if nobody wants to then i guess i will take the fall for all of you". i and the other boy who was volunteered took our shoes off and knelt on the tatami mats. first, he offered us "snoepjes", which were sweet miso crackers. then he made the other boy tea. which, to say the least, he did not find especially lekker. he said it tasted like liquid sushi, which made dutch-kimono-teamaster-sama lol. i thought it tasted yummy, like really strong green tea. which, i guess makes sense, because it was matcha tea, and that is exactly what matcha tea is. anyway, it was a pleasurable and unexpected experience. like... the last thing i would ever expect to happen. ever.
buuut. tomorrow i accidentally managed to plan myself an impossibly busy day. i set out at 6:45 for school to catch the bus to den haag. then i spend the whole day checkin' out all of the wonderful and inspiring sites of den haag, such as museums. and probably some stores or something. maybe a snack automaat. hopefully no rain. thennn, we get back in the bus and arrive in hengelo around 8:30. at which point i was stupid enough to sign up to work at metropool. so then i run over there because i am already an hour late, and work in the coat room until 1:30 am. at which point i am assuming i either die or have developed a tyler durden, one of the two.
we both know which option i am rooting for.
saturday i am going to sleep until a ripe hour of 3 pm, then haul ass to the albert heijn to pick up some melons, and then i have a chocolate fondue birthday party of a girl from my class :) thus, the melons. because melons go good with chocolate, right? yes. i'm excited! mostly to spend time with the girls in my class outside of school, but also because i am a huge fan of fruit.
also, sidenote, i've started reading that jerry spinelli book stargirl in dutch. i figured it'd be handy to read a book i already had some vague plot guidelines for. its going well, i'm about half way done, shamelessly mentally compensating for words i don't know because i've forsaken all use of my dictionary. ka-pow!
lastly, a special treat for all the liefhebbers,
oh yes. it's even better if you can understand it, i promise. it is about having to shit in the shoarma restaurant and going in the ladies room.
another winner. i just shamelessly love dutch rap.
anyway. muis has just invited herself to lie down on my arms, so i guess i am done typing. wish me luck for tomorrow :D
