In the spirit of Quentin Tarentino, let me start from the end.
When I got home from vacation, I was pleased to see that the school had bequeathed me with a new toilet... well actually they gave me a new seat and new flushing system, but I guess that is what the French call a new toilet. (I still don't have a lid... which is what I am 95% sure the lady told me they were going to come put on my original toilet seat...) All was fine and dandy - I had a meal of boiled potatoes and beef jerky (thanks, Marge!) because I had no food. I felt like a pioneer, congratulated myself on my hardiness, and went to bed. When I woke the next morning, *splish splish* my bathroom was a lake and my carpet was a soggy prairie. Pioneer indeed. Someone didn't seal the toilet correctly... but I got all of that fixed, no problem.
And now, back to the beginning.
French kids get so much vacation during the school year it should be considered a sin. But then again, they don't get snow days - ha! Because apparently it never snows here in this neck of the woods. (When I come home for Christmas, I demand some of the white stuff. MAKE IT HAPPEN, PEOPLE!) So, one month into teaching, I was given a paycheck and ten days of vacation. I would like to say I made that paycheck stretch as far as possible, but it isn't as easy as you think to live on the cheap when you are visiting tourist towns. (So no, Roger, I wasn't "doing Europe on the cheap... but I never made it into the red!) I met up with an assistant friend of mine named Jess and we went to Bruges, Belgium. Later in the week, I met up with Emily Ann and David, two friends of mine from OU who are also assistants here in La Belle France. I was supposed to go to Brussels in between there... but that didn't pan out... small catastrophe that was avoided thanks to the kindness of strangers.
BRUGES, BELGIUM
When Jess and I arrived in Belgium, we came upon the stunning realization that we, in fact, did not speak Dutch. Reading the crazy Dutch train schedules was a job in itself, but somehow we managed to make our way to the hostel in one piece. St. Christopher's Bauhaus is pretty rad if you ask me. St. Christophers is a chain that I have come to trust, but the Bauhaus has a completely different vibe (it used to be independent, so it has a bit more flair.) It has a fantastic restaurant and bar, so there were always a lot of locals milling about.
We spent our days sight-seeing. Brugge (in Dutch/Flemish) or Bruges (in French) is a delightful medieval town full of ridiculously old buildings and statues. We saw Michelangelo's Madonna and Child, which was his only piece to leave Italy, among other things. Ornate churches, the old belfry (366 steps to the top, but you can see pretty much all of Belgium from up there, I swear), and endless storefronts full of chocolate and lace. Some of the chocolate is only fit for bachelor and bachelorette parties if you get my drift. (I would have bought some for Shley's wedding if I knew it would keep for a year!!!) Belgium specializes in chocolate, mussels, waffles, fries and lace. Mussels and fries? I died and ended up in Mere-food heaven. (But I admit the fries got old after the fifth time... blech.)
The streets themselves were pretty cool. Cobblestones older than my country kind of cool. The hostel was located near the Hello Street - a street the city set aside as the official street where you have to smile and wave at everyone to cut down on the high suicide rates. (I think it is working?) You can hire out horse-drawn carriages, but I don't believe in that sort of thing. The poor beasts never looked happy and I had to laugh at the tourists waiting in line, unknowing that they were standing in a puddle of horse pee.
Then of course there are countless museums (of art, heritage, chocolate and diamonds to name a few) and an old brewery that is still in operation. They've been making beer longer than Congress has been making laws. Astounding. I saw a painting of a man getting skinned alive - creepiest and coolest thing ever. And who can forget the Church of the Holy Blood. This church has a tube of petrified blood that they claim to be the blood of Christ. I read that DNA testing proved otherwise - it isn't that old. Still, the ceremony holds a palpable sense of reverence that is not to be denied. Chilling even for those of us who don't know the Catholic rituals. Plus the pulpit is a globe. How ingenious to literally preach from the world to the world?
Anyway, Maarten the Brugian, took Jess and I on a tour to all his favorite secret local spots in Bruges. Way better than a horse carriage tour. Hilary also took me and Jess to Ghent, another big city in Belgium. We checked out an old castle (with a torture museum woo hoo!) and all sorts of cute little shops. When Jess left, Hilary took me to Inglemunster, a wee little town with a brewery and a castle and not much else. We went on the Day of the Dead though, so everything was closed save the cemetery. (Y'all know how much I LOVE cemeteries, so I didn't complain in the least.) All the graves are above-ground sepulchers. They were teeming with flowers left by the dozens of mourners wandering the yard. More like works of art than graves, really. Marble. Stone. Tile. Sculptures. Bronze. Glass. Incredible and unforgettable.
I spent Halloween at the hostel. It had a big party for the hostel-stayers and the local bar regulars. Full costume, full decoration, full fun. I was a witch and Jess went as a dead cowgirl. We didn't really have much to work with, haha, but at least I had a hat. A DJ was there to play "scary music," which is to say he played a lot of death metal... that eventually turned into techno because ALL music turns into techno in Europe.
It was a good thing that I had spent so much time running around with Maarten, Hilary and Callum, because on that Friday and Saturday night, I was homeless. I didn't want to tell any of you for fear that you would worry about me, but I was supposed to meet up with friends in Brussels, plans fell through and subsequently, I had no place to stay... so I crashed in the hostel staff apartment with Hilary... haha. She was staying there, too, couch surfing, so all was gravy. I panicked for about five minutes, but everything worked out in the end. (One of the people I was supposed to meet in Brussels ended up sleeping in the train station... so at least I had a soft, warm place to sleep!) Anyway, on my last day as I was waiting for the bus, mulling over my week with a cup of hot chocolate, one of the regular bar visitors asked me if I was a new worker at the hostel. I laughed and knew it was definitely time to move on to my next destination...
AMSTERDAM
I've already been there before and most of you have heard the stories (two of you were on that trip with me...) so I will spare you the details of the canals and the streets and the houses that are all impossibly narrow and tilt forward to save on property taxes. For all the talk of drugs and sex, Amsterdam really gets a bad rap. It is still an amazing city, probably the cleanest city I have ever been in in my entire life. Not even probably, but surely. Clean. No beggars. Chill. Historic. Good food. Good people. My kind of town.
I met Emily Ann and David in Brussels. They had missed two trains getting there, haha. Poor dears couldn't read their tickets. Sometimes I wonder how I, of all people, have become the travel-savvy one. Once we hit town in Amsterdam, we made our way to the hostel - Stayokay Vondelpark. Oh my gosh, it was flippin' amazing. Probably the pimpest hostel I've ever been in. I didn't like it much - I like my hostels more intimate and less corporate. But this place has something like 400 beds and a full kitchen. I couldn't begin to explore its four floors.
We stayed in a room with three Spanish dudes that spoke no English and spent their evenings baking out in the room and reading English phrase books... so we spent our evenings out on the town. One night we went to a bar and I was carded... you have to be 16 to drink in Amsterdam... so I must have looked 15. The bartender was surprised to find out that I was older than he was, haha. I couldn't believe it! Another night we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for an American meal. We'd had Mexican, Dutch (Pancake Bakery... slobber slobber I love stroop!) and Chinese (Wok to Walk!!!) so we were jonesin' for some Americana... after all, we hadn't had food from home in two months! And our last night we took a wine and cheese candlelit canal ride. THAT was cool.
During the day, I finally got to see the Rijnks Museum, which is just a general museum, but HUGE. Too bad 90% of it is closed for renovations... yeah... well anyway. We wandered around Vondelpark next to our hostel and took cheesy "wedding and senior picture" photos in the trees and on the bridge crossing the little creek. The fall colors were just starting to burn on the leaves, so it made for quite an enjoyable morning... makes me miss the trees of Athens... le sigh. I finally visited the Anne Frank House and bought her diary. I wish I would have read it back when I portrayed her in the play - she was so much more than I made her out to be. A lot like me in many ways - I plan on making my daughter (if I have one) read it when she turns 13 just to give her a little insight into what all girls go through, no matter when they lived or how they lived. We stumbled upon the Homomonument, which is exactly what it sounds like. A series of marble triangles erected in memoriam of all the homosexuals sentenced to death at the hands of the Nazis and at the hands of current society. And I revisited the Van Gogh museum because, well, he's awesome. I went and visited my old favorites and bought new magnets reminding me of his artistic and prose-etic (not poetic, but with prose?) genius. Basically we spent our time wandering around, eating good food and looking at art. Is there a better life?
It rained most of my vacation. I saw the sun for five hours one day and the other nine were complete clouds. That's ok though, because Emily Ann, David and I watched a rainbow form before our eyes. We didn't just look up and BOOM there it was, but really WATCHED it form. Astounding. THAT made the entire trip worthwhile.
Sigh. I think that is all. Finally, eh? I tried to keep it short, but you know me... I am sorry you guys have to read (or ignore) these long e-mails. Because I can't blog, y'all have become my outlet. :)
Send me questions! I only got one so far from Aunt Lori. I plan on another e-mail later this week addressing her inquiry.
And how crazy is it about Lily getting engaged!? I leave the country and the cousins start getting married off! :D :D :D
I can't wait for Christmas. I miss you all so much!
Gros bisous,
Meredith
P.S. I thought I had an adventurous vacation... a friend of mine (a Canadian English assistant in Troyes) was arrested in Germany for biking through a red light that "was red for longer than one second." He was just cruising behind a car, so in the time it took the car to pass through, he ran the light.
P.P.S. Transit workers and union workers are striking tomorrow (Tuesday, Nov. 13) so that means I will be stranded here without trains and maybe without electricity, depending if our power plant strikes, too. Oh and the teachers are planning a strike with the other civil servants on Nov. 20. So if you don't hear from me it is because I have no electricity and no job. :)
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