I didn't post yesterday due to a lack of internet, but I wrote this up on a word document:
Day 2
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
3:40 PM (US time)
Last night was fun. Five of the guys in our room of the hostel we stayed at walked around town with us. We went to a Kebab restaurant (on the main street) and then to a bar, where the guys ordered Heineken since it's fresh out of Amsterdam. Vi and I were tired and had to get up early the following morning (4.45AM!) so the guys walked us back to the hostel around 11. When we came out of the bar, the sun had completely set and pretty much all the windows in the red light district were occupied by women in lingerie seeking 'business.' One guy was talking to one of the strippers and he said in Engilsh "How about you wear what I'm wearing and I'll wear that!" and the prostitute replied in a thick accent "Are you a homosexual?" haha. We got a good laugh out of that! I tried to discretely take some pictures, but they didn't turn out too well. The best way I can think of to describe the red light district of amsterdam is to compare it to a giant sex shop. You have cinemas and live porn and gay porn and toys/contraptions beyond your wildest imaginations. There even was a peep/live sex show directly next door to our hostel. Ha ha. Pretty ridiculous, but also quite amusing, in my opinion.
I slept really crappy last night.. I didn't get to sleep til about midnight, and didn't have much of a problem falling asleep once I finally laid down. However, I woke up when the first group of guys came back to the room at just after 1/1.30am and people continued to come back until about 3, during which time I was unable to fall asleep. I wasn't able to fall asleep until about 3.30! I kept thinking about how much I missed everyone back home and how sketchy hostels are (even though I knew (hung out with) 7 of the 12 of us in the room). I missed my parents terribly, and also Mick. Of all the trips I've taken since middle school, I've never really had a problem with homesickness. But here we were, the first night in Amsterdam of a 30-day trip and all I could think about was going home. There was a point where I was even indifferent as to whether or not I made it to Arras to visit my host family!!! Anyway, like I mentioned, I finally made it to sleep around 3.30. But at 4.45, Vi got me up and we threw on some clothes and cleaned up a little before setting out for Arras!!!!!!! Woooo! I was so excited! Vi had to have been thinking I was the most annoying thing on the planet: the closer we got, the harder it was for me to contain my excitement. I was going to see my beloved second family and close friends that I haven't seen in 2 years. We took the first train at 5.53am out of Amsterdam Centraal to Antwerpen Centraal. Then we had five minutes to catch the connecting train to Lille Flandres at 8.05. On this trip, there were not too many people, so Vi and I sat in a a group of 4 seats that faced each other and put our feet up. Big mistake. The ticket-taker came by and literally yelled at us. We thought he was joking, so we lightheartedly appologized and said we wouldn't do it again. He asked me "Do you do this at home, put your shoes to the seats?!!" Then he hit us lightly (but with anger) across the face with our train tickets and threw our passports down, which slid across the table in the middle of us to the window. Once again we appologized, not realizing how big of a deal this was to him, but before leaving us, the grouchy man threatened to charge us 12(I think?) Euros for each shoe that touched the seats from that point on. A little over the top there, I think…
Anyway, we got to Lille around 10 and Vi and I wandered around, past the cathedral and to a cell phone shop where I learned how to recharge my cell phone. I had to get a new SIM card, so my number changed, but it was less expensive than I was anticipating and I couldn't have been happier to have a way to get in touch with my host family. Then we strolled on over to the grand place(?) where we bought baguette sandwiches and large chocolate croissants. We sat by the fountain and ate, taking in the scene around us. When we couldn't eat any more, we went back to the train station and checked the time of the next train to Arras. It was at 12.25, so we had an hour to kill. I got in touch with Annick and told her when the train was leaving, so she, Pierre, and my host mom would be waiting for us in Arras when we arrived. Then we wandered again. Vi had always wanted her first alcoholic drink to be japanese sake, so when we came across a japanese restaurant, we thought we would go in for a quick glass so she could check that off the list. Neither of us was hungry in the slightest, so we were just going to drink and leave. Our server was really pissy when she brought the sake and we tried to give the menus back declining her food offer. We ended up ordering the cheapest thing on the menu--one bowl of white rice. She wanted us to get more, but that was 1)all I would ever eat from there since I don't like susi 2)the only thing I could squeeze into my full belly and 3)the only thing we were willing to pay for. We had 10 minutes to eat it, so thankfully it wasn't a long wait. Vi had to drinks of her sake and decided it was nasty, so she couldn't drink anymore. And the smell alone was enough to keep me away.. Haha. We paid and ran out the door, sure that we would never be welcomed in that restaurant again. It was just across from the train station, so we were on our train within the next 5 mins or so and were ready to head out. It took us a long hour and ten minutes to get to Arras, (which is about a half hour away) because we had to stop at EVERY station in every small village along the way. Ugh. Anyway, 13.35 I was running off the train and down the "voie" to where my lovely family was waiting. I was so excited to see them I almost started crying! We had to hurry back to get ready for Pierre's birthday party though, so we didn't stand around long. The house was the same as I remembered it (except for the remodled bathroom upstairs). The people looked the same, and were just as warm and welcoming (except Annick got a perm). I was thrilled to be back. I met the two exchange students that were staying with Francoise now: Mafa (mexican) and Verra (finnish). Both of them are super nice, and they speak almost perfect French. I am slightly jealous. Lol. Mafa was diagnosed with a bad case of strep throat this morning, though, so she spent most of her day in bed, sleeping. Pierre's birthday party went well: I got to see the family that lives in the area (Thomas's family, Simon's family, and Annick) and then Pierre-Antoine stopped by for a bit at the end. Thomas's twins don't really remember me, but they were only 3 so I can understand.. Marius (who was 1) has gotten so big! And he is adorable! Romane didn't seem to remember me at first either, but then she invited me to play "spies" with her and Pierre, so I knew she remembered me then, and gladly accepted her offer ;). Being back was sort of weird at first, I felt kind of left out of their lives because my French has definitely gotten a lott worse, and so much has happened over the past couple years &Francoise has 2 exchange students who have been here since August (Verra) and December (Mafa), so they have become part of the family by now. Don’t take that the wrong way though...I really like both Verra and Mafa. They're really sweet and funny and fit well into the family, so don't take this as a statement of jealousy. But after Verra left with Bridgette and Andrea (girls from the Netherlands and Mexico, who are also pretty awesome) to go to a party and spend the night at Andrea's, I felt much more included by everyone and we had a lot of fun catching up and laughing and reminiscing. I tried to translate as much as possible to keep Vi (who doesn't know French) up to speed. After a dinner of a local dish (a cheesy pie) and some desserts, the family headed home and Vi and I went up to bed. I am so happy to be back. Now it almost feels like I never left… my life here and my life at home are so seperated, so it feels like it just picked up where I left off in July of 2009. I'd have to say that all that homesickness went away once I fell asleep at 3.30 this morning..i am going to chalk it up as being overtired and unable to sleep. So to keep that from happening again, I should probably get some rest..a demain :)
Today, I slept in until just before 1, and Vi was sleeping until 2.15! We were pretty tired haha. I also slept through the night, which was good. I got ready and went downstairs to eat with the family. Annick and hers/my host mom's mother joined us. Then I went into Arras with Vi to meet up with Marine at 3/3.30. The three of us had a drink at a cafe in the Petite Place before heading over to the park by Lycee Robespierre. We talked and taught Vi some French, lol. Then Marine had to go, so Annick brought us back to Roclincourt. We went to chat with Arlette, Christophe, and Simon for awhile, and then Pierre-Antoine came as well. They told us about the new giant the town made and the exchange students Arlette and Christophe had taken in over the past couple years. After a good hour or two, we went over to Pierre-Antoine's house to say hi to his parents. Then we headed home for dinner. Today was a holiday, so there was no work or school, but tomorrow everything is back to normal, so everyone went to bed soon after dinner and Vi and I are online. Tomorrow Anne and Annick are taking us shopping :)
I'll update then!
bisous
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