Day 71 - (Mon) Blast from the past
Arrived home from uni this avo to see a friendy face popping out the side of a had-better-days van parked in our guesthouse carpark. Cruise Matty, for those of you who know him, and his mate Chris/Kris (I didn't ask how to spell it!) were winding down their european odyssey after about 5 months on the road and stopped into Maastricht for a bit on their way back to London. Was comforting to see a friendly face, swapped travel yarns and picked up some good tips for future adventures. For the boys, it was a luxury - we had pizza for tea and sat in my room drinking beer and, of all things, watching TV - they looked at it like they hadn't seen one in years! The highlight for me - being able to take advantage of the 8 for 5 euro specials at the supermarket and cart everything home in their van! Cheers fellas
Day 72 - (Tues) Home Alone
The boys sent the night in the set of bunk beds crammed into the back of their van, still in the car park. I'd offerred the floor of my room but the bunks were probably more comfortable - except for the maintenance dude with a whipper snipper at 7am! Left the guys to their own devices at the guesthouse for the day (with the permission of Tess of course) while I had 3, two-hour classes back-to-back. Came home to find the toilet seat up (a first in our house!) and to hear they'd got thoroughly lost just trying to find the centre of town. Later we headed out for 5 euro pub meals (a recent and helpful discovery) at a nearby establishment (P.S. was satay meat - that's right.... peanuts) before dessert in the form of a stroopwaffle McFlurry - only the finest Dutch cuisine for our visitors!
Day 73 - (Wed) Mix n' Mingle
Spent the day catching up on homework neglected in Belgium and while the boys were here = homework in bed :P Eventually got out of my PJs to go to a "mix n' mingle" party organised by the university. Was to be held at an old Fort and the area on the map looked like just grass so you can imagine our surprise when we rocked up to what could have been a wedding venue - complete with dancefloor area, bars, outdoor deck and quite possibly the only "view" in Maastricht, as it was atop the only hill in Maastricht. Was vaguely like an American prom - think ppl on the dancefloor way to early and all dressed to the black and white theme - but on the upside there was free food (finally tried a frikadellen - dutch sausage, kinda), cheap drinks and the chance to get to know some of my classmates and guesthouse neighbours a bit better. Also, whizzing down the hill on the bike ride home was a bonus.
Day 74 - (Thurs) When it rains it pour
Had to pay my rent today. As if handing over 450 euro in one fell swoop isn't demoralising enough, I got rained on riding to the guesthouse office. In my determination not to end up like a drowned rat AGAIN I somehow managed to tie my umbrella to my body with my scarfe and ride uphill with it precariously swaying above my head. It only blew inside out about 3 times on the 10 minute ride! After forking out the cash I thought I'd pump my tyres up with the loan pump there. Big mistake... the cap on the tyre air guage had been put on too tight by the wanky bloke who helped me last time (remember him? he bagged the moo mobile) and when I pulled at it the whole thing came off, letting down the tyre! BUT this time (Dad and Brett, you'd be proud) I managed to fix it myself by delving into the guesthouse tool box, removing the bit of the cap that was stuck with plyers (I think...) and then replacing it ... good as new :) Success! Altho I'm not too sure how long the Moo Mobile will last me once winter sets in ... rusty chain and bald tyres do not go well with wet roads. But I won't put the old girl out to pasture just yet...
Fourth Dutch lesson tonight ... was actually a bit of fun. The teacher is speaking just a tad more English and it is making a world of difference. In the process of learning to describe people we learned the phrase "lekker ding" or "hot chick". And then wouldn't you know it - on my ride home some bogan on a bike going the other way yells it at me, but I was so surprised I knew what it meant that, instead of looking disturbed, I burst out laughing. Poor bloke had no idea :P
Observations: MUST remember to close mouth when cycling. Although sunglasses act as a sort of windscreen for the eyes there is no such thing for the mouth and, consequently, I have swallowed many a bug in the past few weeks!
Dutch I've learned: "Wat bedoel (pronounced bedool) je?" = "What do you mean?" (this one gets a regular work out!)
"Ik ook (pronounced oak)" = "Me too!"
"Hoi lekker ding" = "hey ther hot stuff!"
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