10-06-01

Last night, we had a most excellent time hanging out with Seth and his wife Michele. She is a hairstylist in training and gave Elizabeth & myself a free haircut in exchange for booze. Four thumbs up. Seth's ass. I mean, four thumbs up for the excellent haircuts. Seth & Michelle are really cool, artsy weirdoes - the best kind. They got married almost 1 year ago after being together for, what, like a long time. And they got married in a graveyard. They snuck in illegally at night to the cemetery on the border between Evanston and Chicago and had a friend perform the ceremony who was certified over the Internet to officiate. They have some really creepy-cool wedding pictures in black 'n white that show real, dead ghost images in the background. Seth has about 500 action figures displayed on shelves, about 10,000 comic books in boxes, and about 5000 albums alphabetized on another shelf. Michelle created a mixed media painting of John Lennon and Yoko made of beans and peas called "Give Peas a Chance." They are both vegetarians, too, which is awesome.

Speaking about friends, there was a group of folks I thought of as my friends in Amsterdam, but in the end, I don't think they were. They were acquaintances, which I suppose isn't bad, but I was saddened as I came to realize it. Perhaps I expect too much. My personal take: the Dutch people seem to form really close networks of friends who constantly socialize with each other. They often stop by for coffee and a cigarette or tea; they have picnics; they just hangout and talk. They are constantly in touch with each other. At least that's how it seems from my perspective. It's not that American's don't form groups of friends, but the Dutch people just gather in groups and talk. They don't seem to go to bars as often as Americans do. They seem tighter knit than American groups of friends. I think the fact that European cities are so much easier to navigate by public transportation, that cities are quick to travel to and from, as well as the fact that the Europeans use space more effectively than American cities makes it easier for them to get together. There's also another reason: The Dutch work less than Americans so they have more free time to spend with friends. They have a 35-hour workweek and a minimum of 25 days of vacation a year. I get 10 days a year! FUCK.

At any rate, I had a friend who used to live across the street from me, and she was German. She had lots of International friends and would often have visitors. One day she stopped by my apartment because two Dutch women who were friends of one of HER friends were visiting Chicago for a week. But they had nowhere to sleep, so she wanted to know if they could borrow my futon mattress. So I dragged the mattress over to her apartment, and they used it in the living room. I met them again at a party the next night, and we talked a bit.

About 9 months later, I had a chance to take a vacation before starting a new job, so I decided to up 'n fly to Amsterdam. I emailed those two women and asked if one of them would put me up got a week, and one of them, Marianne, said sure no problem. (I didn't think I was asking for too much - I mean, they did stay at my friend's place, I helped them out, etc.) So I flew in and visited her apartment. It's a beautiful old place, hundreds of years old, big. It was a two floor flat she shared with this guy named Frenk (I think is how you spell it). She works for the Dutch national theater association, or something like that. She had an extra little mattress, and I slept comfortable in the stairway landing on the fifth floor just outside Frenk's door. Marianne was very nice, and introduced me to a bunch of her friends who I got to hangout with a couple times. I particularly had a good time hanging out with Frenk who took me out himself. I met a smart guy named TJ who has a ska band and worked in a drum store, and his girlfriend Annoushka, A guy named Renee who was one of the most sincere people I've ever met - a good listener, a guy named Sander who worked at a bank, and his girlfriend Lisette who worked at a movie theater. It was a very eclectic group of friends, and they mixed equally regardless of job in a way that is uncommon in America. Almost all of them spoke English very well. Most Dutch people do.

So I had a great time. Frenk took me out one night to a very small, almost entirely Dutch (non-touristy) young club. He got us the most fantastic ecstacy ever. It was hyper-heavenly. I learned to really appreciate techno for the first time. It made me want to be a DJ for a while, until I tried and realized how damn hard it is.

The whole time I was there, I tried to be very polite; I took Marianne and her friend out to dinner as a thank you. I certainly hope I wasn't rude in anyway, but I find it hard to read their cultural implications.

I returned to Amsterdam this year, in late July, and I'll tell that story tomorrow.

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