Peace, Love, and Happiness to all!
Yay Amsterdam! It is tuesday and we were supposed to leave today, then we pushed it to Wednesday, and now it's FOR SURE Thursday we leave for Berlin... haha So, we got here Friday and haven't been to the famous Red Light District yet and I'm not sure we will even go for a number of reasons, one being that it's supposedly not like it used to be and is therefor dangerous. Another being I'm not sure how I feel about going to a place where I see mostly foreign women, mostly young, mostly pushed into that business, their choice having been removed from them, if they ever really had it. On the other hand, it is a safe place to do it, why? Cuz the government's the pimp? Like murder isn't so bad when it's done by a government?
Wo. Sorry folks. It's been a while since you've had any Jacquie rant! But really, did I make you think about it at least a little? If so, then you know, as long as you can reach ONE person... ;-)
So ya, Amsterdam! Beautiful!! Awesome! I'm lovin it! Staying with my friend Tirza, a local, and we've been out every night since we got here, with the exception of tonight cuz we were pooped so we've indugled ourselves in other activities... Her friends are amazing people who have done amazing things and have hooked me up with some amazing connections not only here with them, but with the organizations they've worked with in S.E. Asia - where I'll be for Christmas and beyond. So who knows what Jacquie's futur holds, but be sure you tune in for the updates! haha But ya, I've been introduced to some incredible music as well... I can't wait to share! And some great books I have to read!
Ya. We went out to the city of Utrecht to meet up with Vilaka - one of the sweetest people I've ever met - for lentil soup, what turned into 5 bottles of wine, and... Picture it: 4 extremely intelligent and beautiful women bonding and sharing some of the most deepest thoughts I've ever had, around a dining room table in a sweet pad that was built in the 60s as a hippy commune (so any architects out there would totally appreciate the character of this place), with awesome music playing, talking about changing the world and passions*. It was really great. The next day we slept in, ate breakies, took old cruisers out to see the dutch countryside! It
was like a chinook, so warm and automn everywhere. Saw a castle, some windmills, a beautiful old town, and lots of sheep.
Went back to Amsterdam and cleaned up for the pot luck Tirza had organised, which turned into a Wine and Cheese rendez-vous, perfect! Met more of her friends and a couple we had already met, took some
funny party pictures too. Crashed out and woke up early and went to see the Van Gogh museum! That was pretty neat. The hotdog I ate before entering was discusting. It was cool getting to know the artist was a struggling one and died relatively unknown. Funny how many only become worth anything AFTER they die and therefor don't need the money. So, ya. That was cool, I have my favs, especially The Walnut Tree (er something). Sat around and took in the city a bit at the park behind the museum and some professor dude from the University of Whales came along... strange experience... wanted us to solve a riddle he and his collegue had brought here a week earlier, their students had come up with the riddle... which wasn't all that much of a riddle... I thought it sucked. But that's not to say we didn't have to think about it! We had 6 guesses, mine was wrong - and obviously WAY too deep for these english dudes. Monique's was right and he gave us 10€ just like he said we would. No one else guessed it! It was stupid. I told him so. haha Maybe I'll tell you about it some day... ;-p
So we met up with Tirza and she took us to our first Coffee Shop experience!! You didn't think I'd pass THAT up, now did you?? I know this is going to family and such, but I refuse to write 2 seperate accounts of what happened. This is ME. Love me for who I am! I am in Amsterdam afterall!! But, if you want the full story on that experience, you can either email me OR wait for the full feature film coming to a theatre near YOU! haha
So dinner was good. Indonesian. Loved it. Met another friend who worked as an english teacher in Cambodia, helped set up like 4 schools. She gave me some contacts for when I'm there and I'm really excited about that prospect. We later went to a really cool jazz club where Monique proceeded take the photography world by surprise when she captured some of that amazing vibe. "Brilliant and REAL" - The New york Times. This was an awesome night cuz that was the best jazz place in the city and we were front and centre, just groovin. We caught the midnight train to the East end where we are staying and popped in a certain series II, episodes 1 through 3 and passed out nicely at about 4am. I woke up at 9 for no real reason, just to
email and stuff, and since we decided to stay yet another night, Monique and I decided to go off on our own and check out the Red Light District by day and the sex museum as well... only we didn't
make it to the museum... and that's all I'd like to say about that. ;-P If you'd like to know how this day/night went, email me and ask... wowzers. A lot of ha ha ho ho and hee hee's... let me tell YOU! Wild!!
So today, we're in Berlin! (In case you're wondering, I saved this email the other day and started writing it again today...) We took a train to Berlin and it only took 6 hours with a gazillion stops so not too shabby! We got here kind of later so we just checked into our rip-off hostel, showered, and grabbed some grub... Tomorrow I'm definitly having sausage and sour craut! And of course see the sites! I'll let you know of course.
We've decided to break up the next 12 days as follows: 3 nights here, 3 nights in Prague, 3 nights in Vienna (hopefully), 2 nights in Munich, and 1 night in Frankfurt which happens to be Holloween night! We were thinking about dressing up as canadians pretending to be americans pretending to be canadians... What do you think? haha We leave the next evening quite late for Dublin... Crazy! To think of all the places we're going to visit within the next couple weeks before we leave for cold - but gorgeous - Ireland for about 5
weeks or so of work. December 20th I'm officially flying to Bangkok from London!!! I'm meeting Carly there and it looks like we'll be heading up to Chiang Mai for Christmas and not sure what we'll be doing for New Year's yet... It's all a surprise for me since I don't know much about S.E. Asia and she works in Cambodia. She has the reigns and I don't mind. I'll be staying in the area for an indefinite amount of time, maybe even work at one of the schools I mentioned earlier... I love not having a plan. I will of course be
keeping you all updated on the turn of events. Questions? Write me! Leave me a voice mail!! Send me party pictures (or whatever) to: orneryhipster@gmail.com
I love you all and I hope everyone had a yummy Thanks Giving... I want to here Halloween stories! Babies? Marriages? I feel so out of touch. Until next time...
Yay Amsterdam! It is tuesday and we were supposed to leave today, then we pushed it to Wednesday, and now it's FOR SURE Thursday we leave for Berlin... haha So, we got here Friday and haven't been to the famous Red Light District yet and I'm not sure we will even go for a number of reasons, one being that it's supposedly not like it used to be and is therefor dangerous. Another being I'm not sure how I feel about going to a place where I see mostly foreign women, mostly young, mostly pushed into that business, their choice having been removed from them, if they ever really had it. On the other hand, it is a safe place to do it, why? Cuz the government's the pimp? Like murder isn't so bad when it's done by a government?
Wo. Sorry folks. It's been a while since you've had any Jacquie rant! But really, did I make you think about it at least a little? If so, then you know, as long as you can reach ONE person... ;-)
So ya, Amsterdam! Beautiful!! Awesome! I'm lovin it! Staying with my friend Tirza, a local, and we've been out every night since we got here, with the exception of tonight cuz we were pooped so we've indugled ourselves in other activities... Her friends are amazing people who have done amazing things and have hooked me up with some amazing connections not only here with them, but with the organizations they've worked with in S.E. Asia - where I'll be for Christmas and beyond. So who knows what Jacquie's futur holds, but be sure you tune in for the updates! haha But ya, I've been introduced to some incredible music as well... I can't wait to share! And some great books I have to read!
Ya. We went out to the city of Utrecht to meet up with Vilaka - one of the sweetest people I've ever met - for lentil soup, what turned into 5 bottles of wine, and... Picture it: 4 extremely intelligent and beautiful women bonding and sharing some of the most deepest thoughts I've ever had, around a dining room table in a sweet pad that was built in the 60s as a hippy commune (so any architects out there would totally appreciate the character of this place), with awesome music playing, talking about changing the world and passions*. It was really great. The next day we slept in, ate breakies, took old cruisers out to see the dutch countryside! It
was like a chinook, so warm and automn everywhere. Saw a castle, some windmills, a beautiful old town, and lots of sheep.
Went back to Amsterdam and cleaned up for the pot luck Tirza had organised, which turned into a Wine and Cheese rendez-vous, perfect! Met more of her friends and a couple we had already met, took some
funny party pictures too. Crashed out and woke up early and went to see the Van Gogh museum! That was pretty neat. The hotdog I ate before entering was discusting. It was cool getting to know the artist was a struggling one and died relatively unknown. Funny how many only become worth anything AFTER they die and therefor don't need the money. So, ya. That was cool, I have my favs, especially The Walnut Tree (er something). Sat around and took in the city a bit at the park behind the museum and some professor dude from the University of Whales came along... strange experience... wanted us to solve a riddle he and his collegue had brought here a week earlier, their students had come up with the riddle... which wasn't all that much of a riddle... I thought it sucked. But that's not to say we didn't have to think about it! We had 6 guesses, mine was wrong - and obviously WAY too deep for these english dudes. Monique's was right and he gave us 10€ just like he said we would. No one else guessed it! It was stupid. I told him so. haha Maybe I'll tell you about it some day... ;-p
So we met up with Tirza and she took us to our first Coffee Shop experience!! You didn't think I'd pass THAT up, now did you?? I know this is going to family and such, but I refuse to write 2 seperate accounts of what happened. This is ME. Love me for who I am! I am in Amsterdam afterall!! But, if you want the full story on that experience, you can either email me OR wait for the full feature film coming to a theatre near YOU! haha
So dinner was good. Indonesian. Loved it. Met another friend who worked as an english teacher in Cambodia, helped set up like 4 schools. She gave me some contacts for when I'm there and I'm really excited about that prospect. We later went to a really cool jazz club where Monique proceeded take the photography world by surprise when she captured some of that amazing vibe. "Brilliant and REAL" - The New york Times. This was an awesome night cuz that was the best jazz place in the city and we were front and centre, just groovin. We caught the midnight train to the East end where we are staying and popped in a certain series II, episodes 1 through 3 and passed out nicely at about 4am. I woke up at 9 for no real reason, just to
email and stuff, and since we decided to stay yet another night, Monique and I decided to go off on our own and check out the Red Light District by day and the sex museum as well... only we didn't
make it to the museum... and that's all I'd like to say about that. ;-P If you'd like to know how this day/night went, email me and ask... wowzers. A lot of ha ha ho ho and hee hee's... let me tell YOU! Wild!!
So today, we're in Berlin! (In case you're wondering, I saved this email the other day and started writing it again today...) We took a train to Berlin and it only took 6 hours with a gazillion stops so not too shabby! We got here kind of later so we just checked into our rip-off hostel, showered, and grabbed some grub... Tomorrow I'm definitly having sausage and sour craut! And of course see the sites! I'll let you know of course.
We've decided to break up the next 12 days as follows: 3 nights here, 3 nights in Prague, 3 nights in Vienna (hopefully), 2 nights in Munich, and 1 night in Frankfurt which happens to be Holloween night! We were thinking about dressing up as canadians pretending to be americans pretending to be canadians... What do you think? haha We leave the next evening quite late for Dublin... Crazy! To think of all the places we're going to visit within the next couple weeks before we leave for cold - but gorgeous - Ireland for about 5
weeks or so of work. December 20th I'm officially flying to Bangkok from London!!! I'm meeting Carly there and it looks like we'll be heading up to Chiang Mai for Christmas and not sure what we'll be doing for New Year's yet... It's all a surprise for me since I don't know much about S.E. Asia and she works in Cambodia. She has the reigns and I don't mind. I'll be staying in the area for an indefinite amount of time, maybe even work at one of the schools I mentioned earlier... I love not having a plan. I will of course be
keeping you all updated on the turn of events. Questions? Write me! Leave me a voice mail!! Send me party pictures (or whatever) to: orneryhipster@gmail.com
I love you all and I hope everyone had a yummy Thanks Giving... I want to here Halloween stories! Babies? Marriages? I feel so out of touch. Until next time...
