Utrecht, friends and bad pasta

Holland, Holland, Holland. I asked one of Maud's friends about the difference between 'Holland' and 'the Netherlands'. They means the same thing, essentially, now, but once upon a time 'Holland' was the rich part, and 'the Netherlands' was the rest of it.

So Maud's place is basically amazing. It's in the centre of town, a second-floor apartment overlooking the canal. It's big and bright and has beautiful huge windows that you can throw open and fall out of. It's all cluttery and creative and arty and, basically, Jes and I have stopped at a few real estate agents to look at property... we're moving here. It's so green, and there's a canal that runs through the middle of the city. There's lots of young people, cool bands play here often, there's a supermarket and a video store ... there's no need to look anywhere else, really. There's good noodles, too, and some lovely little bars. Y'all can come visit, I don't mind.

I don't even know how you're meant to use that urinal. Well, I mean, I know how you use it, it's pretty simple, you basically just gotta stand and pee, but don't you think they could've at least put, I dunno, a shower curtain around it? Something? Those things stand ON THE FOOTPATH. Not in Utrecht, thankfully - Utrecht is not so tacky. That shit's in Amsterdam. And I guess peeing on the street is nothing new to a lot of people, myself included (only when the need arises, really really arises), but it's so confusing, like a weird mashup of trash and civility, so you feel nice and normal just peeing in a bathroom, but then realise the little man has gone green and a hundred people are barging past you. How confusement.

Less confusing is hamburgers in vending machines. I don't know why this shit isn't everywhere. I would definitely buy one of those, definitely definitely. Once, at least. Then, obviously, when you realise what a hamburger from a vending machine tastes like, you'll never purchase one again. Having said that, they seemed fairly popular amongst the kiddies in Amsterdam. They sold out quite quickly, one could say!

The canal that runs through Utrecht is constantly alive with music and noise, boats, people drinking on the banks, ducks with their babies, people riding waterbikes. And you have to cross little bridges to get from one part of town to the other. It's tight.

Speaking of tight:

That's where we're staying. Not there, not in that tree, but that's the view from our window. It's amazing waking up to the light streaming in through there - less amazing that it comes in at like 5am, after only going down at about 11pm or something.

Europe Interplay starts tonight, and Maud is basically organising the whole thing, so she's going to be mental for the next week, never at home. (Interplay is an international playwrighting festival held every year - I went to World Interplay last year in Townsville, which is where I met Maud and a lot of these other geezers). Tonight's the opening night party, and I think Jes and I are going to crash it. There's lots of old Interplay folk from Townsville here - I've already caught up with Anna, who's from Melbourne, and Florian from Delft (here in Holland). A few others, tutors and delegates alike, will be around, which will be nice.

That's me and Maud. She's the sweetest girl you'll meet.

The other night, Anna and Florian came into Utrecht for the afternoon, and we all grabbed lunch and some coffee and had a bit of a catch up. Jes and I decided to make dinner for them and for Maud, and then Maud invited her friends Erik and Yorit, so we went to the supermarket and got too much pasta and not enough sauce and put together a meal for 7. Aside from the shit food and the warm wine, it was really lovely. We all sat around and laughed and listened to songs and everyone spoke English, most of them better than me, and then the boys went off to see Xavier Rudd who was playing just up the road - so there were at least 3 Australians in Utrecht that night.

We decided to go out, too, that night, so while I lay on the couch, Jes did her little girly routine with the makeup and the clothes and the hairspray... well, she thought it was hairspray. The can was on the shelf with all the hair mousse and whatnot, so she grabbed it and used a bit of it. She kinda turned to me and said "That doesn't smell like hairspray. What is this?" We had a look at the label, which was written in Dutch, and worked out it was actually waterproofing spray for your shoes. It seemed to do the job though, because she looked great. And when it rained that night, the water just slid right off her.

Everyone is smiling, but it's all fake. We're actually all bloated and dying from the bad pasta...

We had another label-issue the following morning when Jes came in from the kitchen and took a mouthful of muesli and screwed up her face. We'd bought sour buttermilk instead of normal milk to put on our cereal. It said 'melk' on the front, so it seemed to be ok. It wasn't. I ate it though, and I'm still alive, so I guess it can't have been that bad. We might make some pancakes from it, because apparently you can use it for that.

Yesterday we got the train to Amsterdam. Jes got some new shoes (above). I think Amsterdam is basically a bit of a hole. A big whorey, touristy hole. I've been there before, two years ago, albeit very briefly, and I don't know what I saw last time, but wow. Initial touristy reactions are of grossness and dirtyness. Anna and Florian have said there are some very beautiful parts once you get away from the shit, but the shit is kinda what hits you first, what's pushed. Sad looking girls and women in their underwear, waving at you from shopfronts, trying to get your business. Sex shops galore, tacky nasty spruikers out the front trying to lure you in... I don't want to sound like a prude (heaven forbid!) but it's kinda yuk. We did see lots of stray cats though, which were cute and fun to play with. And we got some Ben and Jerry's ice cream, which made us both very happy. We met Anna, her friend Eliza, and Florian for a drink, too. And we bumped into some of the Spanish kids we waited with back at the Paris metro at 5am. Stupid small world.

It's really weird being able to smell weed wherever you go. You're walking to the supermarket or to church and all of a sudden someone rides past you smoking a joint. And it could be anyone, y'know, it's not just the young kids or the tourists, it's the cops and shit. Not the cops, I'm sure, but probably the priests. There's a coffee shop a short walk from our place and we've observed that it must close at midnight, as at about 10 minutes to 12, there's a line out the door of insomniac-looking people who clearly need something to send them off into the land of nod. The windows of the shops display what's on offer, like a little menu, with quantities and prices. There's even a chart to decode magic mushrooms - it has a table with the type of mushroom to buy depending on what kind of physical/psychic/bodily reaction you want to have, how many you should take, what to avoid when taking them (ie alcohol etc). And, hilariously, they've just introduced smoking laws here, which restrict the smoking of tobacco in bars and coffee shops etc, so if one were to smoke some weed, you can't roll it with tobacco, it has to be straight green, and THAT can be smoked indoors. What? What? What.

We didn't end up getting back from Amsterdam til quite late, and all of the shops had closed, so we got a pizza and ate it while watching The Devil Wears Prada and Maud did some work. Poor thing is going to have a crazy week! 60-odd people arriving today from all over the world, and she had to meet and greet all of them and answer all their questions and allocate all their rooms and tell them all where they can buy stamps and a drink and then tuck them allll in to bed at night. Busy work.

We've got a few things planned for the next couple of days. We want to climb the big tower in the centre of town, go for a trip down the canal in a waterbike, ride real bikes to the forest for a picnic, go to Delft and see some art, go back into Amsterdam, and go to a little cheese village not far from here. I don't know if we'll squeeze it all in, but we'll try. Berlin is next week, and everyone I have spoken to has said it's amazing! So excited.

I've put up all my photos, now, I think. Check them out here. I managed to delete a few altogether, which was a little irritating, but I think they're boring ones anyway, so it's not like there's a big gap missing from the holiday.

Jes has been at the beach all day, so she's napping on the bed. I'm doing this and watching a bit of Ally McBeal. I think we'll head to the party at some point later on tonight.

Miss you all, a lot now actually. I'll be funner next time, promise.

xd