Monday, June 21, 2010

Wellen Reiterssh


so getting from amsterdam to berlin was no easy goddamn feat, and not only can marion and i attest to that but so can ivan, brent, ty, van, ivan's mother and an irish and polish lad who's names i cannot recall. i don't know where we went wrong, but about 3 hours into the trip, and 3 wrong train stops later, we ended up with two americans, a german, and two colombians in tow-- making every coach we were in the party car. that means that we have new best friends.

we were supposed to get in at 8 pm, but we ended up getting here at 4 am the next morning, where we stayed in our hostel. on one local train from germany our party joined up with a bachelorette party of russian "stewardesses" (outfits included) who shot syringes full of minty green liquid into our mouths and gave us little bottles of plum brandy (i also got some furry leopard print handcuffs from the bride herself-- i was a huge hit with the girls bc they were all drunk and kept rubbing my baldy head raw and kissing me and grabbing me. it's probably because i look like a lesbian)

our party stopped somewhere else in germany (it looked like freaking las vegas) where we all ordered too much tequila and took a bunch of really adOREable photos that have since mysteriously disappeared from my camera.

now we are in berlin with david and staying at a hostel and waking up too late to get the cheap-o breakfast and thanking god david knows passable german bc all i know is "ich ben ein berliner" and "mein kampf" and marion keeps mispronouncing "kreutzberg."

Thursday, June 17, 2010

"I really don't wanna shower in there" M. Cohn



marion's friend set us up in a superduper little apartment nearish the red light district kind of in the heart of amsterdam. it overlooks... well it overlooks some fucking street the name of which i can't remember, it probably ends in "straat." the guy below owns a laundromat-- his name is mr. singh, and he's delightful, although his taste in coffee shops is questionable. please note that mr. singh's apartment comes with a fully stocked kitchen (anyway, there is no NEED to buy any goddamn marijuana in this city, you get high by simply walking around.)
anyhoo. the scariest part of mr. singh's apartment (i really can't complain about the vertiginous stairwells because that's typical here) would have to be the shower, which is probably on loan from auschwitz and marion and i have only braved it once each. it is communal, and today i heard some guy doing EXTREMELY TROUBLING breathing exercises up in thurr when i had to pee, and so rather than go up there and risk seeing some dude in a hockey mask standing over the remains of some american tourist, i crossed my legs real tight and haven't been up since. the sink is looking pretty good right now.

"Stop saying 'goddammit' when you like something, Hal. You're misusing the word." M. Cohn




goddammit, amsterdam is gorgeous.

"Yeah, Hal, let's get you high on mushrooms and then go and get you some ink." M. Cohn or "welkom to amsterdam"


so. on a map basically what amsterdam looks like is if your kid brother got out a bunch of colored crayons and went berserk all over the paper. assuming my proper role as the sancho panza to mar's don quixote, i deferred to her on all things geographic, which basically meant me looking over her shoulder trying to ascertain the difference between various "stracht" and "gracht" (i DID learn how to say "i am a nurse" -- ik ben een verpleegkundige-- in an ex-pat bookstore, but i'm doubting the usefulness of that phrase in particular, because, if i ever had the chance to use it, i would undoubtedly end up exacerbating any situation for which it applied as i am NOT a verpleegkundige and in fact have no medical training short of applying bandaids.)

(okay. i can think of some other situations where "ik ben een verpleegkundige" would be useful, but marion refuses to go to a sex show here with me.)

anyhow. marion is a baller Reader of Maps, and i owe the fact that i slept in a familiar bed last night to her. in fact i think i offered to buy her breakfast for navigating us home. this might be an expensive way of compensation.

THIS PICTURE REFERS TO MARION IN HER TEN EURO SEX-PANTS.
"oh my god, hal, i look really good right now."
"yes you do. SCORE."
"no, you don't understand. i look, like, REALLY good...."

turn computer upside down



the dangers of smoking in the UK: if you are a child you will kill yourself; if you are not, you will grow hideous facial hair.

PATRIOTISM

(insert revolutionary war joke here)

Tuesday, June 15, 2010