keeping secrets from her own sister?

2002-06-27

Get. This. My sister--my amazing sister--has a new diaryland diary and she didn't even tell me. I found out because she linked to me and someone followed her link to me and I saw that on my stats and went there and it was her. And I'm so glad she's got a diary again, but Jeanne; THIS is the way I find out?! For shame. For Shame I say! She's got an entry about numbers and how she's always assigned them gender and when I read it I realized that I have always mentally assigned gender to numbers also, but I've always just thought that odd numbers were male and even numbers were female. I'm not going to link to my sis's diary because I don't know if she's keeping her diary private, but if she wants to give me permission after reading this, then I'll link later.

Is it just me or are those bras with clear plastic straps trashier than bras with regular straps? I just want everyone who wears those plastic-strapped bras to understand that the straps are not invisible--they're very very shiny--so you're not fooling anyone. No offense, for real, and your choice of undergarment is surely none of my business, but just one more thing about that; the convertible bras are really nice and work with many garments. I bought one recently and, sadly enough, have not yet had reason to convert it (i.e. make it a halter bra), but it's waiting in the wings, just in case.

Today I want to talk about the bikes in Amsterdam. So Many People ride bikes in The Netherlands, and it was really nice in the city because it cuts Waay down on noise and pollution. The bikes people ride are pretty crappy, but probably that's on purpose because A) a nice bike might get stolen and B) a nice bike (new, with gears and things) is not necessary because the country is so flat. I was as blown away by the number of bikes in Amsterdam as I was about the number of grapes being grown in France (seriously, they grow grapes equalling a shitload, squared). Near the Centraal Station in Amsterdam there is a 4 or 5 story (can't remember which) parking structure just for bikes. And when we went by there on a Saturday, it was packed, and it was a Huge structure. Packed with bikes. I have pictures of this that I will post tomorrow or this weekend (we chose to get jpgs of our pictures as well as prints--8 rolls of film worth, so watch out).

I think the thing I liked most regarding the bikes was that parents rode their children around on them. And not necessarily in those bulky seats that go behind the bike seat proper. They have different baby seats there that I think are much better than the ones I've seen here. Babies sit in seats that mount to the handlebars, so that the babies are between the driver of the bike and the handlebars. Better, yes? And older kids don't usually get a seat, per se--they sit on the long flat metal thing that extends over the rear wheel. We saw numerous bikes with a parent and 3 kids; one in the baby seat and 2 on the flat metal thing. We saw kids riding bikes on their own, but I think they were about 10 years old and older. Bikes get their own lanes, everywhere, and they get their own stoplights. Bikes rule and I was sooo jealous that we don't have similar bike-friendly things here in the US. I know some cities are bike-friendly (Eugene, OR, for instance), but most are not. Why is that? Give me my own lane and I would absoLUTEly ride my bike around. So yeah. I imagine this bike thing doesn't interest anyone else as much as it interested me, but I swear, if you could see it? You would be impressed.

Another thing I liked in Europe (this was ubiquitous) was when we ordered gin and tonics (before dinner almost every day) they brought us tall glasses with some gin and ice in the bottom and a small bottle, each, of "Schweppes Indian Tonic". I love that Indian Tonic thing and I am prowling eBay in search of tall glasses that say that. Because I saw some in France, so I know they're out there.

Something I didn't like much in Amsterdam was the whole Red Light thing. I was a little conflicted about it, actually, because we walked through the Red Light District a couple times and saw all the women in their windows, beckoning and being sexy, and I wanted to feel sorry for them. But then I was thinking that it was very condescending of me to feel sorry for them because they applied for licenses to be prostitutes and, I don't know, maybe they have a union or something. So it was their choice to get into that line of work, and I don't know what circumstances influence a person to want to be a prostitute, but very possibly it would offend them to have me feeling sorry for them. So I won't, but Damn. That is some degrading work. [a side note, one woman shouted through her window that she would "do" me and Francisco together. I hope it goes without saying that we didn't take her up on the offer]

The Dutch make good sandwiches (broodjes), good pancakes (pankoeken, I think) and good coffee. It's not espresso, unless you specifically order espresso, but it's strong and yummy. They also have good beer (duh), and good fries. They had 'vlaamse frites' stands at which you could purchase a large cone of good fries--made from whole potatoes, as opposed to US fries which are processed--with a glob of the sauce of your choice. The Dutch seem to prefer mayonnaise, but I couldn't go through with getting that on my fries. Not because I thought it would taste bad (because I'm sure it would Not) but because I couldn't put the fat grams out of my head. I was already getting the fat from the fries--no need to add mayo. I got mustard instead.

Did I mention, though, how across-the-board-skinny Nederlanders are? I was quite surprised. I expected Europeans to be skinnier than Americans (and they are, by far), but I didn't expect a nation full of supermodels. I was doing a visual survey, the whole time I was there, and I estimate that about 1 in 10 Nederlanders is a little bit chubby. And maybe 1 in 30 are more than a little chubby. Can you believe that? Because I couldn't. The Dutch are beautiful and I love them. I think they smoke too much, but it seems to be their only flaw.

My lunch hour is over and I need to stop writing now. More later...

Kiss./ Kiss. Kiss.

Love,

E |

cats-kittens

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