The Netherlands
Arriving at the Schiphol airport I did what I have always done, I took the train to the Duivendrecht station, in order to switch trains , and pick up one that goes to Eindhoven, but there was no train to Eindhoven, things have changed since I left, trains now go direct from the airport to Eindhoven with no need of switching, so I had to take a train to Utrecht were I switched trains and got on one going to Eindhoven.
Arriving at Eindhoven, it has been a year since I left this place, 1 year and five days to be exact, but I felt like I never really left, that I did not spend one year in south America, my memory of that last year turned vague and blurred, and I struggled to remember where I went and what I did during that year, and I made an effort to resurrect my memories, feeling as if these memories will disappear forever if I don't manage to recall them at that moment.
I stayed by some friends during my stay, first a couple of days by Harry's , who is actually a friend of a friend (Naeem), a painter and an avid book reader, with a lot of interests in world cultures, we had some pleasant conversations, Harry holds cultural meetings at his house every week, and that week he was showing a Kurdish movie. The next day I visited the office of my ex company Sagantec, a lot of change there, many people have left and many other have joined, generally most of my friends and colleagues lives have not changed much since I left a year ago, but there were a few notable exceptions, Theo at age 40 finally had his first child with his girlfriend, a girl called Tessa. Hein, Johan and Chris, who left the company formed their own one.
On the first weekend I took the train to Utrecht with Rachel, and I stayed at her place for the night, we had dinner with Hein the ex president of Sangatec, and his wife, we passed by their house first, which is looking better and better all the time, they had purchased a run down house on the Neuwe Gragt in Utrecht , and they have been renovating it since. After that we went for a beer in a classic castle bar and Brewery, were we had a taste of there local brew, then Hein and Lisa went home, and me and Rachel went for some more drinks, one at Belgian beer bar, then one at another bar, where a rock band was performing, then a final one at quite little bar, all on all a great night out in Utrecht. The next day was quite cold so we did not do much during the day, and at night we went back to Eindhoven, were we went out with Ania, Adel and Naeem, to a cocktail bar , called Mundial, an excellent cocktail bar, were I had my favourite cocktail, there home made lemon Celo liquor. The next morning Ania made us some great Homos for branch, all in all food was quite good during my stay, it was a mix of great home cooking by Ania and Naeem, and eating out in some good restaurants, I quite enjoyed the Indian and the Chinese, as I missed that kind of food during my year in south America, specially the Indian.
Thursday night we went to see a live performance by a popular dutch rock band, Blof, then on Friday night I had a few drinks with my ex colleages at Sagantec, then had a quite Saturday before leaving to the airport on Sunday, I used my time in the Netherlands to do some shopping, a laptop so I can write when ever I get inspiration, although it is always to too tempting to play a game or watch some video instead, some climbing shoes, a new ipod as my old one is broke, and few more accessories for the laptop and ipod. The good thing is that I got my VAT tax refunded at the airport, the bad thing is I had to pay 75 Euros for the extra weight, but that has much to do with the ten books I am carrying with me as well. I wanted to use the Internet at the airport before flying out, there is a communication center at the airpot, were they even had wi fi, but it costs 10 Euros an hour, that is how much some people pay monthly for their wide band Internet service, and I thought 2 Euros at the Lima airport was expensive, anyway I decided to pass on it. At the gate there was an additional security check, as usual for flights going to Israel, after a lengthy questioning by a security personal, he went to consult his supervisor, then the supervisor came and I thought, probably more questions, but then he just asked me if I speak Arabic, and asked for my help in translation with a passenger that did not speak English, I said I would gladly help, the man turned out to be from Jerusalem, visiting an injured brother in Manchester, anyway after that the supervisor asked me if I spoke Spanish, but this time it was just general interest and not to do another translation, it turned out that he speaks Spanish as well, and we had a nice chat in Spanish, before boarding the plain to Tel-Aviv.
Arriving at Eindhoven, it has been a year since I left this place, 1 year and five days to be exact, but I felt like I never really left, that I did not spend one year in south America, my memory of that last year turned vague and blurred, and I struggled to remember where I went and what I did during that year, and I made an effort to resurrect my memories, feeling as if these memories will disappear forever if I don't manage to recall them at that moment.
I stayed by some friends during my stay, first a couple of days by Harry's , who is actually a friend of a friend (Naeem), a painter and an avid book reader, with a lot of interests in world cultures, we had some pleasant conversations, Harry holds cultural meetings at his house every week, and that week he was showing a Kurdish movie. The next day I visited the office of my ex company Sagantec, a lot of change there, many people have left and many other have joined, generally most of my friends and colleagues lives have not changed much since I left a year ago, but there were a few notable exceptions, Theo at age 40 finally had his first child with his girlfriend, a girl called Tessa. Hein, Johan and Chris, who left the company formed their own one.
On the first weekend I took the train to Utrecht with Rachel, and I stayed at her place for the night, we had dinner with Hein the ex president of Sangatec, and his wife, we passed by their house first, which is looking better and better all the time, they had purchased a run down house on the Neuwe Gragt in Utrecht , and they have been renovating it since. After that we went for a beer in a classic castle bar and Brewery, were we had a taste of there local brew, then Hein and Lisa went home, and me and Rachel went for some more drinks, one at Belgian beer bar, then one at another bar, where a rock band was performing, then a final one at quite little bar, all on all a great night out in Utrecht. The next day was quite cold so we did not do much during the day, and at night we went back to Eindhoven, were we went out with Ania, Adel and Naeem, to a cocktail bar , called Mundial, an excellent cocktail bar, were I had my favourite cocktail, there home made lemon Celo liquor. The next morning Ania made us some great Homos for branch, all in all food was quite good during my stay, it was a mix of great home cooking by Ania and Naeem, and eating out in some good restaurants, I quite enjoyed the Indian and the Chinese, as I missed that kind of food during my year in south America, specially the Indian.
Thursday night we went to see a live performance by a popular dutch rock band, Blof, then on Friday night I had a few drinks with my ex colleages at Sagantec, then had a quite Saturday before leaving to the airport on Sunday, I used my time in the Netherlands to do some shopping, a laptop so I can write when ever I get inspiration, although it is always to too tempting to play a game or watch some video instead, some climbing shoes, a new ipod as my old one is broke, and few more accessories for the laptop and ipod. The good thing is that I got my VAT tax refunded at the airport, the bad thing is I had to pay 75 Euros for the extra weight, but that has much to do with the ten books I am carrying with me as well. I wanted to use the Internet at the airport before flying out, there is a communication center at the airpot, were they even had wi fi, but it costs 10 Euros an hour, that is how much some people pay monthly for their wide band Internet service, and I thought 2 Euros at the Lima airport was expensive, anyway I decided to pass on it. At the gate there was an additional security check, as usual for flights going to Israel, after a lengthy questioning by a security personal, he went to consult his supervisor, then the supervisor came and I thought, probably more questions, but then he just asked me if I speak Arabic, and asked for my help in translation with a passenger that did not speak English, I said I would gladly help, the man turned out to be from Jerusalem, visiting an injured brother in Manchester, anyway after that the supervisor asked me if I spoke Spanish, but this time it was just general interest and not to do another translation, it turned out that he speaks Spanish as well, and we had a nice chat in Spanish, before boarding the plain to Tel-Aviv.
posted by DiagonalMind at
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