Right on time

Today is Tuesday and as promised here I am, about to write a fantastically compelling entry to my blog. Buckle up folks here we go . . .

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is my posse. From left to right they hail as follows . . .

JiPi - Short for Jean-Phillipe, we all call him Jean-Phillipe. He's the man that organized this place. It's an old house and he's renovating it in an ecologically sound way. We're helping. So far that consists of flinging muck made of woodchips and chalk powder at the walls. We call this insulating.

Jeneviéve - An integral member of the cast, Jeneviéve is from Québéc. She's the kind of person that makes you wish you had a stronger sense of national identity. She's fun, friendly, a great cook, and tons of fun to be around. It wouldn't be the same without her.

Grayson - The most kick ass dude on the scene.

Petra - The 2nd Petra I've met abroad. She's a Somerset girl educated in London with an accent that very consciously sounds nothing like that of the area she was born. Her culinary ability is worthy of praise and her predilection towards doing the dishes is a very welcome addition to our little gang. It's also good to have another Anglophone in the crowd, just to even things out a little.

This is a picture of my on the first day of my arrival in Chalabre. I guess I was a little excited to be here.

Damn

Ran out of time. Was going to make a great post, but sadly I need to give up the computer. Next time I'll have internet is Tuesday.

Check back then.

Back in Belgium

For those who don't know (and those who read my blog. This means you Clayton.) I've just returned to Belgium from Amsterdam. After my last experience hitchhiking I decided to just take the bus. (Last time took me 5 hours to get 2 hours up the road and it was hailing and cold and dark so I just gave up and took the bus and then the train. This time I just paid €5 more and took the train all the way in.

It was sold out on the internet, but when I arrived in person it only had 5 people on board, so I managed to get a ticket (discounted again because I'm under 25 ;) ) with no problem at all.


The trip took 5 hours so I slept a bunch. Then in Leuven I found my friends weren't home so I asked a stranger if she knew of a pay phone. She didn't so she took me back to her house, baby strapped to her chest, and let me use her phone. No answer, so I went to the pub ... for 5 hours.
In my defense I only had 6 beers (not even pints) over the course of 5 hours. To my detriment it was Duvel which is 8.8%, so I was a bit toasty when some granny started to chat me up in French. Fortunately my friends arrived before she could buy me another beer and she left. Then we left.


After arriving chez mes amis, we played 'Sing Star' on the play station. Turns out I suck. Then everyone left so I'm currently alone in a flat in Leuven, Belgium. It wouldn't be so bad if the T.V. was working but as far as I can tell I just have to wait for technical problem to be solved. I could read, or journal but I've been doing that a shit load today in that pub and I'm not really up for it again.


In other news I got a new Camera in Amsterdam!! It was priced €150 but I got it for €100 with 2 free memory cards. Not really cheap but it's good to have a camera again. Here is one picture. I don't know how to change the picture quality on my camera so everything is too big to upload all at once.

Curly Q

After much contemplation, and even more patience, and much determination, I have regrown my curly moustache.
The dude who looks like he's gonna bust a cap is named Frank. I met him that night. I have no idea why he's pretending to shoot me.

This gent went to Gent

That's right. On 4 hours sleep I went to visit the medieval city of Gent. It was awesome. Cool architecture, winding canals, pedestrian only sections of town, tons of bicycles, and a very friendly livable overall feeling. It's kind of what North American cities should be, but probably never will.

After seeing the castle (only €1.50 because I'm under 26 ;) ) I walked around for a while. Actually I walked around for hours because I got lost and just kept walking. Eventually I made it back to the station but I was hungry.

Knowing that I would eat when I got home I tried to forget about it and not waste money on some crap. I ended up buying an entire bag of chips and a sausage on a bun smothered in fried onions, sauerkraut, and hot mustard. Instead of the warm feeling of accomplishment; of having willpower strong enough to resist temptation; instead of this I got indigestion and €4 less in my pocket. Kind of makes me feel bad about fibbing to the guy at the castle.

It's like 1997 over here

There's techno on the radio and smoking in pubs.

Glad to see everyone's paying attention.

So I've been in Lille for the last few days and I've had a great time. I went to a Canadian bar last night and it sucked. A lot. Today I'm off to Antwerp and then to a Balkan Circus Party!! I'm justifiably excited about that!

I'm equally excited about a site my current host showed me. www.deezer.com where you can listen to pretty much any song you like; for free. No downloads but if you're on the road who needs 'em?