In Belgium needing to use the bathroom

Well here is an update about the last 24 hours. We had a good meeting in Amsterdam. Before I left, I was talking with my dad and he said that you need to be careful because everyone is intrested in US politics and they do not like George Bush so be on your toes. I said sure then and went on my way. Well in our 1st meeting the 1st two questions were 1) How is the economy and 2) who are you voting for? Well there goes that plan. I dodge the question as best I can and he seemed to be happy with my answer so that was another bullet dodged.
So once we are done with the meting, we take the train from Amsterdam airport to Lille, France. That means we have to go through Belgium. Even better we have to change trains in Belgium. So we get off the train and I need to use the bathroom. After much searching we find a bathroom but it costs money to use the bathroom. What kind of crap is that? Is that insane? Had I really had to go I probably would have found a corner or something because I am not paying for something I cannot prevent. That is unreal. It is like paying for every breath. Well I could hold it and went on the next train which made everything very nice. Also, in speaking with people sometimes when you pay to use the bathroom, they give you only a certain amount of toilet paper. Now that is down right insane. Holy cow.
So we were on the high speed train and from Amsterdam to Belgium it was not very fast but from Belgium to France it was very fast. I would say it is the fastest that I have ever been on land. I think they said it was about 200 K an hour. Wow. So we arrive in Lille and life is good.
Lille is a really cool town. It is very nice and very pretty. The city center is huge. It is unreal how big it is. So we had a good time there and it was awesome. It must not have been too damaged during the war because there are so many nice old buildings there. As you could guess when we went out for dinner I forgot my camera so that is a total bummer. So no photos of the town.
At dinner it was awesome, we were sitting in the American section. I say this because there was a guy who was I think right of the plane talking with the most stereotypical Frenchman. The Frenchman had no expression on his face and looked like someone was reading the phone book to him. Well our waiter was amazing. He was this little Frenchman how had like a 3 Musketeers facial hair thing going on and looked right out of central casting. It was awesome. I had some lamb because they said it was very good here. Because Lille is below sea-level the grass is salty and it makes the lamb extra tasty. Alcide was the name of the place and it is worth your time if you are Lille. Do not order the Steak Tartar because it looks like a huge plate of ground beef, I do not know how they eat it (and I like beef). I look forward to you all and as always MORE TO COME.

Peace out,
Kirk

They call them coffee shops but it does not smell like it

So I arrived in Amsterdam and took a quick snooze. Not too long because that would have really did me in for the jet lag. So Diane and I head into Amsterdam to just check it out and eat up the rest of the day. We took the shuttle to the airport and then the train to downtown. I took a taxi to the hotel when I got here and I got taken for a ride. Oh well, I am sure that there is European getting fleeced by an American sometime right now so it all works out. Here is the hotel where I will be laying my head Tonight . So there you go. Amsterdam is a pretty cool place. The thing that amazed me was that there was really no traffic. Maybe it was Sunday who knows, but it looked like a pretty manageable city. On the main drag outside of the Train station there is a bike parking lot and there must be about 2000 bikes. It is unreal how many people have their bike parked at the train station. The main street in the city is packed with shops of trinkets and what not. I think every store bought their gear from the same distributer. We crossed over many canals and I had a lot of thoughts, which were not limited too, 1) How deep is the water? 2) How clean is the water? 3) what do you think is at the bottom of the canal? 4) How many people go into the water every year? So there you go. So as we were wondering around I did not see any "hash bars." Well I was looking for the wrong thing. They are called coffee shops. Not only do they sell weed but they also sell Mushrooms. They call mushrooms "energy starters." Know I have known a few people on mushrooms in the past and energetic was not the first adjective that I would have used for them. So the Coffee shops are all over once you know what you are looking for. >This should give you a better idea of what they are. So there you go. We did not get to the red light district but those things happen, and that is why you want to come back. Next time I am going to get a bike and hopefully go on a bike tour and try not to crash into the other million bikes that are in this town. Well I am off to bed so I can get a good night sleep. I look forward to hear from you and I hope all is well. MORE TO COME.

Peace out.
Kirk

a long time away

Well folks, I am back. Sorry for the delay but a lot has been going on so let me bring you up to speed. I am currently in Amsterdam. I am not wearing any clogs but there was a crocs shop in the airport so they must take their cloging very seriously. The crocs sell for the same price in Europe as they do in America. The only problem is that there is the exchange rate thing that people have been telling me about, so crocs is making money hand over fist because the Euro is worth more than the USD. So the flight was fine and everyone had a wonderful time. No real problems, got some sleep and arrived in Amsterdam first thing in the morning. Customs was so easy, there was no paper to fill out, just hand them your passport they stamp and you go on your way. It is that easy. I arrived and it was raining so that is not that awesome. The airport in Amsterdam has to be the biggest airport I have ever been to. It is unreal. I think it might take up 85% of Holland with Amsterdam city taking up 13% and 1% for the canals and 1 % for flowers. It is just massive.
Well hopefully I will get into the city center and buy a bike because I have always wanted to park a bike at the Amsterdam Train Station and just keep it there for when I need it. I would also give my friends my key to my bike lock if they were ever in Amsterdam and wanted a bike. My phone does not seem to be working so that is bad news if you would like to talk to me but good news for the blog because I will be posting a lot more. I am here for a week and doing 4 countries in 5 days so that should be pretty fun. There will be a lot of travel and some business so I do not know how much I will be able to see and look around but I promise to keep you as informed as possible. You are more than welcome to join me. Also I would say the best thing to do is to RSS this blog. It is so awesome and it really helps you stay on top of things. I look forward to hear from all of you. MORE TO COME.

Peace out.
Kirk

Some more quick hits but more detailed.

Taxis – they all have GPS in them so you just tell them where to go and they type it in and they go. They do not get lost so they cannot stiff you, it is awesome. The bad part is that the cab company knows where the cars are at all times. It is pretty cool though.

Bus Stops – Most of the bust stops have signs that tell you how many minutes away your bus is. It is so cool. I saw one that said the next bus was 36 minutes away so that way you can grab a beer and wait for the bus and not miss it.

Oviedo – is a pretty big town with not so many people in it. It never feels crowed. I do not think Oviedo has ever been attacked because the architecture is way too nice and it all looks really old. It is pretty crazy. You can run into a lot of places because you are always looking up and seeing the different architecture.

Condiments – They really do not like any kind of condiment on anything. Not ketchup, no salt, no pepper no nada. It is pretty amazing to think that everyone likes the same stuff the same way, but who knows.

English – it is amazing when you are attempting to speak Spanish how terrible your English gets. Maybe it is just me, who knows but I really struggle with English over here and I change the way that I talk as well. I speak much slower and much more direct than if I was just in the states.

Street Signs – There are none. I have no idea how anyone who does not live here know how to get anywhere. I guess that is why all of the taxis have GPS.

Lottery – They have people walking around with lotto tickets around their neck. I have no idea how it works but it must because there are a lot of people selling them. The other crazy thing is that they have blind people selling these tickets. It is crazy. I have no idea how or why they let the blind do it but Spain is not America.

The after work bar (cafe) scene – It is awesome. It is like happy hour but only more fun because more people are there and they always have free appetizers. They are little bite size things and they are so good. They also offer them at lunch. I do not know why anyone would ever order anything if they offered these because they are really good. Who knows that is why Spain is so great.

Well I think this maybe the last Post from Spain. Country number 14 in the passport. I really had a great time and i look forward to being back. The Spanish people are pretty chill and play it pretty even. I know we will all be in touch. until next time: Stay Safe. MORE TO COME.

Peace out.
Kirk

Bring on the Bread

I sort of feel like all of my posts are about eating but i guess that is what interests me. So here we go. They serve bread with everything. You do not eat anything without bread. If you run out room on your plate, you just put it on the table cloth. It is crazy how much bread they eat. No one eats too many veggies but they do not hold back on the bread. All of the rolls are of the hard roll type. They are not afraid of Carbs which is very fun and everyone has a good time.

They are not afraid of the dishwasher either. After every course they take away all of the silverware and bring you new stuff. They also are very always want the right plate/bowl for the correct type of food. If you do not have the right one, or you just want to try a little bit of someone's food, they will bring a new one.

The craziest thing about food beside the long lunches is what time they eat. Everyone starts to eat dinner around 9 pm. But it is not uncommon to start eating around 10-11. So that is crazy, i have no idea what time everyone else goes to bed but if you have a meeting a 9 pm you really cannot do a lot after a 10 pm dinner. It does not seem that going out for dinner is as big a deal in the states but people do it. I think everyone walks to dinner because when you get out of dinner there is never anyone around. So that is odd because you see people at restaurants but they are not out on the roads so who knows. So there you go with the update on dinner, now in other news.
Yesterday was the first nice that I have had when i was at a Coke Battery it is unreal, how that works that if you go to a coke battery you will have bad weather. When we were there the awesome thing was that there was a school group that was taking a tour of the plant. How bummed out would you be if your teacher said you were going on a field trip tomorrow and then they said you were going to a coke battery. What a bummer. Today is my last full day here in Spain so i need to do everything that i need to do in the last day so it looks like i was here for a long time. We have not had a ton of time to do all of the little side things when you are a true tourist. I guess Oviedo is not a place that people like to talk about because there are no postcards in the town. I will not get turned away every place has a postcard about it, so we will find them. I also took some pictures yesterday so all is well, people will know that i am hear. I know we will be chatting soon and i look forward to hear from everyone. MORE TO COME.

Peace out.
Kirk

Let us talk about Sidre

So last night, there we did something that we never did before. We had Sidre. It is pronounced Cider with a Spanish accent. I spoke with a couple of people about it and they all said good things, so I was somewhat interested in it. Well let me tell you what it is first. It is apple cider with booze in it. Just like Woodchuck (I think because I have never had Woodchuck). It is just apples that have fermented. Sidre is native to this region of Spain. Everyone loves it here. Let me tell you about it. It leaves something to be desired. The experience is fun but the taste is a little different. I will talk about the taste first. It is very bitter and not so sweet. It taste like apple juice that has been in the fridge for like 8 weeks too long. Now because that is bad we need to talk about the good. The experience is awesome, here is how it works. You order a bottle (about 6 servings per bottle) and the wait staff pours it for you. They do one of 2 things. They either pour it free hand or they pour it in a cylinder. The reason why they pour it behind a cylinder is to prevent the splash. The reason why there is a splash is because they do not look at the glass when they are pouring it and they start the pour above their head. It is crazy. It is also very fun to watch. So they pour about a shot and a half in glass and every time they hand it to you, it has to be finished before you set the glass down. It is crazy like that and very funny. Everyone is watching you and you have a jolly good time. The smells are not so good but it is well worth you time. If you find a good Sidre, well then get loose because you did better than I. In case you were wondering 3 of us did 4 bottles and everyone had fun and was not drunk. So enjoy. Oh yea by the way lunch was at least 5 hours today. So now you know. MORE TO COME.

Peace out.
Kirk.

Quick hits about Spain

Hello everyone,

I am sorry it has taken some time to post so you are getting like 2 in 1o minutes. So here you go. Here are some quick hits.
Lunch -- Everyone takes a 2-3 hour lunch. Nothing happens during that time. I mean nothing. If you want to go pick up some parts you need for the afternoon, you will have to wait. It is crazy. With lunch being so long you do not get home until about 8 pm.
The style of lunch -- First you start with a beer, then you drink some wine and have some food. It is unreal. After lunch is over you go back to work doing your job that needs fine motor skills.
Smoking -- Everyone smokes. It is unreal. I do not know if Spain knows about 2nd hand smoke or they just do not care because everyone does it. It is crazy.
Oviedo -- I think that is spanish for the "town that only sells shoes." It is unreal how many shoe stores there are in this town. Shoe stores are the Starbucks of Oviedo.
Google -- How come google is so smart and wants to tell you that you are in Spain. I know i am in Spain but does not mean that i know Spanish or can read web pages in Spanish? I want the stuff in English.
Bruce Springsteen -- He is following me around the world. 3 weeks ago he was in Cleveland and tonight he is about 3 hours away from Oviedo. That is pretty crazy. I guess Spain is pretty crazy for El Jefe.
3 years of Spanish 10 years ago -- You will amaze yourself on how much you remember about everything when you are forced to use it and talk with others. That is by far the highlight of the trip. I know I got "C's" in the class but i sure remembered a lot.
Sidear --I think that is how you spell it. It deserves it's own post so i will give you one very shortly. I hope all is well. More to come.

Peace out.
Kirk