Brannon's Euro-Trip

Lost Earlobes and Such

Yesterday I left the hostel intent on wandering Amsterdam. Then it poured. There is film festival (only documentaries) going on right now so I decided to see a film. But it was hard to choose since the descriptions were in Dutch. So things clear up and I decide to continue plan A. It turns out Amsterdam is wonderfully scenic. It is built completely around all of these canals and there are lots of flower markets. So I spent the day wandering, the weather kept alternating between sunny skies and pouring rain so I kept dashing in and out of shops. Its not as cold as Berlin. Thank goodness. On the otherhand there is no snow. I got The Two Towers. I finished the Fellowship and decided there would be no waiting until I'm at home with my pre-purchased volumes.
I made a vegetable stew. Which I think will last me the rest of my stay. It's a bit bland (and I dropped half the tomatoes on the floor) but its nice to save a bit of money on food if not on accomidations.
Today at breakfast i met an Austrailian girl, Sarah, from Melbourne. She wears green cowboy boots and doesn't seem to give too much thought to mathing...so I knew I would like herfrom the git-go. We went to the Van Gogh museum which was very interesting I thought. I was sad they didn'thouse Starry Night (is that what its called?) but they had a pretty good collection and his life story is really fascinating. He was really an eccentric character and did go mad at the end. He was pretty much a self made artist. And he wrote this amazing amount of letters almost all to his younger brother who financially supported him his entire life. And who died (of greif?) shortly after he shot himself. Theo(his brother) was only 34 and had only been married a couple of years with a one year old son (Vincent).
Then we went to see the "World Premiere" of a short doc about adopted Dutch children (7 total) who go to visit for the first time their drug addicted birth mother which turns out anticlimactic. But sadly probably not unlike many reunions. It was called "Mum" and all the kids and their Dutch parents were there. Then the main film "A Love Apart" about a Nigerian girl's arranged marriage. The ritual of her lying in a tent for weeks before the wedding not allowed to talk or move really so that she is super-weak (submissive?) for her wedding day I found a bit distressing. Of course she was willing and you can chalk it up to culture. But it many of the people of the community did not approve of arranged marriages for their own daughters and were not continuing the custom in that way. So it was interesting. Very non-Western. And the camels galloping through the desert were truely bizzare.
Tomorrow, I have loads to do. I've hardly taken any pictures. I was just inthe kitchen with 10 other people... none of the same nationality. I love it.

posted by Brannon @ 6:06 PM