* cababarant *

Friday, May 28, 2004

Followup on Dutch toilets: I found an essay on German toilets that explains it all.

posted by sheryl | 10:25 PM | comments (0)

For anyone who's ever been fed up with Che Guevara t-shirts and paraphenalia: big ups to Steve Z for finding this in a cafe in Antwerp:

"If I could turn back time... to a pro-Communist past with peasant-led revolutions... If I could find a way..."

posted by sheryl | 10:05 PM | comments (1)

Monday, May 24, 2004

Don't worry: the cup was empty. :)

True EuroBaby

posted by sheryl | 11:22 PM | comments (0)

Saturday, May 22, 2004

I need to address it. Someone has to write about it.

I'm talking, of course, about the Dutch toilet. It's not the most appetizing subject, but you can't live in Holland (or in Germany) without noticing it. So, there's a specific type of toilet that you find in these countries, that is apparently limited to these countries. It has A Shelf That Sits Above The Water Level. Now, how does that look? Like this:

So you can imagine what happens When You Go. It involves the constant use of toilet brushes. Why the Dutch want to use a toilet brush so much is beyond me. As my friend Steve Z (who lives in Germany) says, whoever designed this toilet is a sadist. (He calls it the Shit Shelf Toilet). I haven't verified the facts, but according to Kyle's friend Peter, the toilet was invented in the early part of the century as a health craze by the Germans, who thought it important to examine the recent contents of their bowels. Um, shouldn't this "health craze" have passed by now? Why are some new toilets still using this design? Any Germans or Dutch people out there who can verify that they actually prefer this design? Anyway, something that I had to um, unload. Ho ho!

posted by sheryl | 10:08 PM | comments (1)

Tuesday, May 04, 2004

BTW, Boris won Dutch Idol last Saturday, so now maybe we don't ever have to hear him sing again, especially that glass-breaking rendition of "Rock Your Body". His limo drove right past us on Queen's Day-- I found out later when I saw it on TV. He was on his way to sing a glass-breaking rendition of "Respect". I didn't think anyone on Idols could wear more makeup than Clay, but here he is!

posted by sheryl | 9:42 PM | comments (0)

Konningendag Feestje!
Amsterdam on Queen's Day is like nothing I have ever seen before. There were people, people, people and more people, filling every street in Amsterdam, three-quarters of whom were wearing orange. I'm still recovering from it. This being Europe, you couldn't walk through the city without escaping the dance music, as you can see in this video at Leidseplein. There was even a house DJ in the ice cream shop at 3:00 in the afternoon. Imagine every street in Seattle completely overrun with pedestrians. And the trash! I have never seen trash like it, except maybe in the Manila slums. We were literally wading through paper and bottles and cans at some points. We went down to Vondelpark, where another Queen's Day tradition was taking place, the Vriesmarket, where kids can sell all their old things on the street and in the park. Basically a flea market of broken toys and torn clothes. Awesome stuff to go right into your own yard sale for half the price!

Sof and me getting our Queen's Day on

Dari gets the look at Vondelpark

Oh, the trash!

Wheels of steel at the Australian ice cream shop

We've got spirit, yes we do...

We were so exhausted the next day that the only thing we did was to go to the serene Japanese garden at Clingendael Park, here in The Hague. It just opened, and is only open for a month. So great.

Sof at Clingendael Japanese gardens

posted by sheryl | 9:09 PM | comments (0)