le weekend

Hallo!

What a crazy last couple of days! I was out a bit late last night as well as I went and had dinner next to one of cyclings greatest monuments. Before I just write down where I was see if you can figure out the address from the photo.


If you haven't figured it out (or are a bit lazy!) it was on top of de Muur van Geraardsbergen. I'm sure I've mentioned it before in a previous post but just in case you forgot.







Ok, back to the party in Gent. I'm sitting here thinking, which is a bit difficult after drinking for a few days straight (no other drugs I promise!). Though at one point I did ask my friend Jan "what is a pils?" to which mistakenly thought I asked "where are the pills." Pils is a basic kind of beer here in Beglium like a stella artois. A few common pils here in Belgium are Juliper, Maes, and Primius. Of of which I can honestly admist I've drank my enough of for at least a month or two. Though my last night at the party (where I arrived home just before 6) I was drinking Duvels out of a plastic cup. I hope that doens't violate Belgium beer drinking code in any way.

Saturday, my friend Jan picked me up and we did a little shopping to prepare for his third annual "long island iced tea party." As one might guess the main ingredient for a long island iced tea party starts in an aisle in the grocery store reserved for those eighteen and above here in Belgium. Thankfully Jan and I qualify! We shopped for all of the ingredients and a few extra items to eat over the next few days. As most of my friends know I eat a lot.

We continued to Gent after our shopping expedition and were ready to begin our adventure into what would become the biggest party I've ever been to in my life. No reason to arrive too early to a party that doesn't stop though so Jan and I spent the afternoon playing some Play Station 3 and Jan introducing me to American culture. Wait, Jan introducing an American to American culture? Yup. Needless to say I'm probably one of the least qualified Americans when it comes to movies, pop singers, comedy, and general gangsters of the free country. So we watched Team America World Police and Harold and Kumor escape from Guantanamo Bay.

Needless to say I've let my guitar hero skills slip to an embarassing level but I was quickly gaining ground with football er, I mean soccer. Eventually we headed out to the party after a progressive walk closer to the center of Gent we arrived at what I've been told is the most popular meeting place amongst friends in Gent; MacDonalds. Naturally. Walked into the thick of things where vast amounts of people were humming along to the tune of various Dj's, old fashion Dutch sing-along songs, and downing all kinds of famous Belgium carnival food. We had a nice group of friends and even despit the rain we took shelter under a canopy and continued to enjoy the evening until around 1am at which point we walked home.

Sunday morning arrived quickly and again we found ourselves with some running around on the agenda. I was off to a race in the afternoon and Jan also had additional plans before we would reunite to kick of 10 Days of Techno that evening. No worries though, our show started around 3am. Yes, started around 3am. On Sunday morning Chef Jan put together eggs and bacon in a delightfully tasty dish that I will credit my sucess in the race to. Thanks Jan! We watched some more movies and played some more PS3 before Jan dropped me off in Aalst where I would meat my teammate and the two of us would head to race. Jan and I would reconvene later around 9pm at his parents house in Ninove. Coke Cola or simply "cola" here in Beglium is something of a prised possession I like to carry around with me in my bag of racing gear. Always a few cans stashed away in some pocket of my bag for after a hard training ride or race. I don't know what it as about the stuff. After a hard race one of my favourite things to do is just sit on the bumper of the car and sip a cola as if it was a prized trappist beer. It replenishes lost sugars, a bit of caffeine so you don't fall asleep on the drive home, and a fizzy feeling on the tongue makes you feel alive inside. Cola and a sugar waffle were the only two things I ate after the race. I later followed up with some bread and Speculoos (which I could write an entire blogpost on and I will).

Soon it was off to Jan's parents house but not before I could repack my bag for the next few days. Finally with Jan we quickly turned the car in the direction of Gent and began to let the night unfold in front of us. We had plans to see a show at festival called 10 Day of Techno which was just part of the 12 different venues that would be hosting live music for the next 10 days. In the middle of planning Jan also learned of an other show that would be hosted at a cafe called Charlatan. There is a music program that we listen on a radio station called Sudio Brussels. The name of the show is called "mish mash." The party at the mish mash show was awesome! All of the music I've listened to in the US since I learned of its existence in the spring. The live show was incredible and even more energetic was the audience. Everyone was completely into the music and it made for an atmosphere that any performing artist would love to have. Jan and I also meet the host of the show, Gunther. I asked for a photo with him but he kindly declined.

Bare with poor video quality and enjoy something a bit different. Sorry for moving the camera around so much. I wasn't trying to hold myself up, really.



the dj's mix it up! I'm not quite sure how to introduce the fact that I've grown quite attached to the varous sounds of electronic music. I don't know what it is. I've never listened to it before but know it's easily one of my favourite compositions. Odd how we compile our lists of likes and dislikes in life.

We later went to another show (10 Days of Techno) and along way we made a stop to a rather unique and very helpful party accessory. An outdoor "vay say" i.e. the W.C. another words the toilett. A four sided, self standing, heavy PVC plastic, looking thing providing a spot to stand and a hole to pee into. There were located all over the city and I will admit it was a bit odd just walking up and releiving yourself in the open. Odd but helpful.

Here an another video of the mish mash;



Off to 10 days of techno. You may recognize the room from the previous days pictures. Here is the walk down a bunch of stairs to the room hosting the performance. It felt like one of the parties you go to where you keep walking down random hallways and flights of stairs only to show up a huge open room with lots of people. Pardon the various camera angles, I was attempting to get artsy with it.




This party was hosted at the Vooruit in Gent. Here is a picture from the outside and although it appears I've completely missed parts of the name I'd like to remind my readers there is more to life than the obvious signage and lettering amongst our environment. So think if you are ever searching for clarity or distinction look not at the whole picture but a small portion. Bring the portions together to create the entire meal.






Here is another video from the venue at Vooruit with DJ Ken Block playing. We were actually quite disappointed with the atmosphere at the Vooruit and didn't stay long. The Mish Mash party was really that great.




There is no better way to finish off a night of good times then with frietjes! Here I am happy as could be with my frietjes and tartar sauce! They are seem to give you worlds smallest fork to eat these things with and amazingly enough it works.

All in all a fantastich evening! We arrived home around 2 or 3am and already had a plan for the next evening. Long Island Iced Tea Party :)

The next morning we again spent the morning relaxing a bit, drinking some coffee, and slowly but surely getting into the groove for preparations for evenings get together. We were hosting the party at Jan's house and so a little house cleaning was scheduled but not much. The main priority was mixing up the cocktail for simply pouring later. Below Jan is the "mix master" a spin off from his DJ career (no pun intended).

We ended up with 5 two litre bottles filled with long island iced tea mixture. In the evening as guests arrived all we had to do was add some cola and ice. The ice was delivered by the "ice man" go figure!

Later Jan again cooked some pasta for dinner and we again had another PS3 match where Barcelona lost a hard fought match against Italy 2-1. A rematch is due soon!

Guests arrived and we gathered in the living room to enjoy one anthers company. The conversation was sometimes English but most of the time in fact it was in Dutch. Which I have no objections too, after all I want to learn it! It is however very hard to follow along and add to it a few a Long Island Iced Teas and you could relate the feeling of comprehension somewhere along the lines of never taking a calculus course and then signing up for Calculus 401 your first semester. You know what the numbers are but man! Are they in a weird order and what's with all the slang! No worries though I'm convinced getting a little tipsy and following along is the quickest way to learn whats going on. A few drinks to breakdown your hesitations and to aid in softening the American pronunciation and you are on your way to learning. Almost. We walked to Gent Beach which was a man made beach in the middle of Gent. Some wood, lots of sand, and some lawn chairs turned a small square into the beach. The live band was playing American cover songs but again my lack of American culture lead me to believe they were new releases. Not entirely true though, I did recognize a hit by Bob Marley.

Then it was off to the Duvel Tent where as you could imagine they served nothing but Duvel. There was a DJ playing there and we listened to familiar rock tunes such as Born to be Wild, Nirvana, and Offspring. It was my turn to go "what do you mean you don't know this song!"
I ended up staying out very late. In fact as I was walking home it become clear to me I was no longer listening to the sound of electronic dance music but the sounds of nature. The birds were out and the sun was due up in an hour or so. Lovley. Literally in a few hours it would be time to head back to Ninove, where I would sleep for most of the day and only awake in time to watch the last three kilometres of le tour.

I had a great weekend and it was really "the max!" I meet lots of great people and really enjoyed there company and hospitality. Thank to all!

Time to do some training and get back some form for racing. Tomorrow it is off to the Ardennes for some training. I can't wait to ride my bike!

tot ziens :)