Almost as usual it got pretty late last night, but fortunately I didn’t have to be in a hurry for this day and both Charis and I could sleep in long.
I slept on a mattress on the living room floor and only got awaken by the running around sounds of her rabbit in its cage, around 1 pm in the afternoon. Charis and I sat down for her webcam and checked our emails. Because it took some time for me she started a delicious sandwich with eggs breakfast and made -specially for me- espresso coffee!
I already knew that the next person I’d to be visiting today had to work until 5pm so we had enough time to relax and wander on the net and have fun arguments with each other about everything.
Jasper was the next person I’d visit for this day. He works, coincidentally also, in a beach restaurant on the Scheveningen beach Escubelle (only 1 block away from the Bora Bora restaurant where Charis works) and had invited us both for dinner on the beach! We had great sole-fish with salad and spicy fried potatoes, oh so very delicious. And he cooked it himself in the kitchen of the restaurant! Very special!
With Charis still with me, the handout of The Gift to Jasper was a personal happening. Yesterday Charis didn’t know what to give to the next host, but eventually this morning she decided to go for: one picture of her and a friend posing together with the star singer Lenny Kravitz, one album of Lenny Kravitz and a personal note. If that’s not a personal gift!
Jasper unpacked the package and was very surprised! He didn’t expect anything and really liked the idea of passing presents too. What would he give to the next one? He looked outside and saw the owner of the restaurant fighting with the Frisian flag (Friesland a province of The Netherlands) and the pole and saw him renew the flag a quarter before 8 pm. That old flag had been hanging outside of the beach restaurant for over 6 years and Jasper decided that would be The Gift for the next host, because it’s a unique souvenir of Scheveningen beach!
Every year on May 4th, the people of the Netherlands honor the victims of World War II as well as those who perished in other catastrophic events such as the devastating explosion of a fireworks storage facility in the city of Enschede on May 13th of the previous year, which destroyed an entire neighborhood, and the tragic fire that broke out in a nightclub in Volendam on New Year’s Day, trapping and killing many of the guests.
At 8 o’clock in the evening everybody takes 2 minutes of silence to stand still in respect for those who died while fighting for their freedom. On the Dam in Amsterdam our Dutch Queen lays down a wreath at the national monument.
At that time we both three, Jasper, Charis and me took our two minutes of silence during our meal. Even the music in the restaurant goes off.
For foreigners who don’t really understand this: All Dutch flags hang halfway the poles. Cars on the highway go to the side and stand still for two minutes. TV-stations go black or show the national monument for two minutes. This is how it happens in The Netherlands. Every year.
And on May 5th we celebrate Liberation day, the Dutch Day of the Freedom, the Day that the Netherlands were officially liberated from the Germans in the World War II and where we celebrate to be free in any form of being on this planet. Not forgetting those who aren’t free somewhere on this planet.
After the delicious meal we three had some more drinks and talked about Jasper’s websites. He has his own company in web design, called Threehouse-Design.nl (later became somebody else’s business) and also studies IT. Next to this he also publishes his own weblog called MrGreen.nl, together with some friends of his. The name MrGreen originally came from his first weblog design, which was totally green.
After we saw the sun go down into the ocean (beautiful view from our table at the window) it was time to go to Jasper’s student house. At the streetcar I said goodbye to Charis with a great hug.
With another streetcar Jasper took me to House SMAK (short for ‘s Morgens Altijd Koffie which means in English Always coffee in the morning). When we got there, some 15 minutes later, in the old quarter of The Hague, all the house mates were at the bar. Yes, they have a bar inside their student house. Don’t ask how, but those techies even build in a web server and a monitor inside this bar. You can sit on the crutch or just lay yourself down on one of the couches, really nice – but very jaunty too! We drunk some beer and some residents of the house passed over some joints to smoke, while some relaxed drum and base music was playing in one of the rooms.
Suzanne, a lady who will move into an empty room in the house soon, and Jasper and me, stayed up as one of the latest en started to play with the bar’s webcam and posted some posts on MrGreen.nl.
As Suzanne didn’t dare to go outside at that time of the night, she decided also to stay and sleep over at the house. Problem: space. Jasper’s room had a high-up two-person bed and a mattress on the floor. As a result, one of us had to share the bed with Jasper, while the rest of us wanted to sleep on the double bed. Consequently, we decided to squeeze three people into the two-person bed, with Suzanne in the middle.
No, dear readers, nothing exciting happened – only someone snored!
Jasper is a the stereotype for the Really Cool Guy. He’s totally himself and very open in talking and doing things. And he has a great life, working at the beach almost all week, cooking in the kitchen (mmm!) and does some little studying next to his own internet-company!
That night, after some pushing with pillows and pulling pieces of blankets we all fell asleep as rocks. Gone ’till tomorrow.
