friday evening

well… came home, ate… honestly, its blurry right now, because so many things happened since then (and the start of blog is always a bit daunting).

the most important even of friday was the breakage of my bike.

francesca, simon, thomas and myself went out. instead of going directly to [some place, i dont remember which one], we decided to go to maarkt (martketsquare) and check out if anything is happening there. all 4 of us own bikes, so we biked there. nice, fast, easy (downhill).

maarkt was desolate and empty, and we decided to go back to … highlander, that’s the place (thats the closest bar to the guesthouse). on the way back, while biking on a bumpy street my dust cover was making an odd noise. it was making it for a while before that, but it just got weirder and weirder, like a part of it was rubbing the wheel.

turns out it was.

turns out, that it snapped, and cut into my wheel.

while, i am on the bike. pedaling. moving.

the front wheel gets locked. i hear a fantastic sound of metal breaking, barely have time to go “what the…” and feel myself flying upwards through air, with my bike, while seeing very clearly the front wheel unmoved, and the ground ohsoslowly coming closer to make contact with my head.

in the split seconds that my bike went from horizontal to vertical the following thoughts went through my head (in that order):

“i wish i had a helmet”
“i think i’ll die if i hit that pavement with my forehead”
“i dont have velocity to flip and land on my butt”
“therefore i must fall on the side now”

at which point i … dont know what happened. i dont have a clear recollection of what i did, i just know that the bike was broken on the ground, a few meters ahead of me, after making a 540 circle.

i’m on the ground. with my feet firmly planted on it. and me, not even having a bruise, not a skratch, not any pain. i seriously was born under a lucky star.

all that i had, was a mild shock that prevented me from standing straight for about 10 minutes. and, well, lack of bike.

we went back to highlander (i rode on back of simon’s bike), drunk a few beers, and then went home. all in all it was pretty uneventful, with the exception of the accident.

saturday

OMGOMGOMG! AMSTERDAM HERE WE COME!!
yeaah.. so we woke up at … 7? 7 or so. simon woke up first, knocked on everyone’s door. a few minutes later i dragged myself out of bed, crawled to the shower, more energetically crawled back. quickly packed clothes, took freshly charged battery (thank you nikon for making a battery that easily withstood 2 days of shooting/reviewing with no recharge!), packed soap, toothbrush, you know. ended up with backpack, plus camera back, plus jacket (which didn’t fit into the backpack, tsktsk, i shall improve).

anyway, went to living room. simon, thomas, fabio, me are sitting and waiting for jerome, who is hurriedly gathering.

man was i happy to NOT be the last one to be ready!

anyway, after waiting and finishing our lsat possible eadable supplies (all of us ran out of food, perfect timing), we deployed towards amsterdam.

drive there

thomas is driving, he’s french. i’m saying that because i was sitting in the front (jerome, fabio and simon are like 2 meters tall, so they were cramped at the back), and, well, french driving is all that it is rumoured to be.

laws are just a suggestion and blinker light is a decoration for christmas. apparently the air bags can be turned off (there’s a button that says airbag off…), but i decided not to inquire further into the matter. the seatbelt was working so i was happy.

of course his car is tiiiny :) fun, so.. european. and of course manual.

anyway, drive there was boring, backseat crew fell asleep. i listened to various music, nothing standing out.

we stopped for gas. it was 50 euros for the full tank. i think its like twice more expensive here. (netherlands, not sure abt the rest of europe)

anyway… amsterdam, we arrived. i figured out (without a map!) how to get to the centre (mmm, leet navigation skills). we parked (32 euros for 24 hours, 3 euros per hour otherwise), close to the centre, and as much later turns out, very close to our hostel.

finding the hostel

well, jerome had been in amsterdam previously. so we stumbled around for like 30 minutes, around hte area where he knew the hostel is. found some hostel. went in, they are full (looked COOL, free internet, huge area covered with pillows where people do what people do in amsterdam, lotsa students). we got directions to the hostel jerome was talking about. went there – blue sign on the door, “we are full”.

jerome says he will go to find another place, we sit/stand next to this place, and wait for the manager of it to return from lunch break (thats what they told us). about 3 minutes after he leaves, this COOL chick, with braided blond hair, pierced nose. fabio talks with her, and there are 5 beds! cool!

the price is 18 euros, and the breakfast is included.
later on i spoken to some girls that we met. they paid 24 euros, breakfast was NOT included, and the room had mattresses on the floor!

we get the keys, and bravely go in.

honestly, i was impressed. 9 double bunk beds, 1 shower/bathroom, with a locking shower, locking washroom, and 5 sinks (narrow room). VERY clean. like, i wasn’t going to be picky, but, its really clean.

after droping off our stuff in the locked wooden box that we all share (just my group), we went into the city.

it would be impossible to describe each conversation that happened, therefore here is what we did, and when i have the energy i’ll post some specific stories :)

-> left hostel
-> found major road towards central station, stopped in a sandwich shop, we were starving, but i twasn’t that good
-> walked around amsterdam for 2 hours, just looking at everything, with no real aim.
-> got tea/coffee/water (they had a neat thing where they put a metal plate on top of the cup, to keep the water hot – and you can reuse it to put your tea bag!)
-> walked around some more. found a floating band, listened to them. jerome/fabio are music nuts.
-> walked through the market as it was getting closer to closing time. it was FUN. i got a blanket, for 8 euros, yellowish with chinese characters on it. looks cool, i’m happy. the market was fun, and i’d love to come back and buy more stuff, but i was worried of overspending.

after that, we went home, dropped off bags, and went out. after having some too expensive showarma, (i bit my tongue, SO badly – i bought some cool, cheapish ice cream after that, to soothe it), we went barhopping. all in all i spent 10 euros on that, which is reasonable, cause i was enjoying it.

oh, how could i forget! after showarma but before the beers we went through the red light district! that was FUN. helped that i was surrounded by 4 tall guys, who are my friends, (and 3 of them are my floormates – like family), i didn’t feel scared. otherwise i would – the crowd is fairly diverse and … yeah. scary. i’m glad i didn’t take camera but its not like i couldve gotten photos anyway – they dont like it.

so, yeah, girls, almost naked (like, tiny bikinis), in windows, with red lights. its shocking to a canadian girl (even if she is russian rooted), and its pretty fun to watch and be there.

we stayed out until 3am – i dont have the exact timing for any of the above cause – well, whats the point? :)

came home, fell into beds, waking up half the people.

3 minutes later, some germans came, fell into their beds, waking up half the people.

all in all, awesome day.

continued in next entry