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Monday, August 31, 2009

it's been a week since my loved one has made it over from the States and oh what a week it's been!


The day I heard that she had been accepted to the same University i was, I started counting down until she came to live with me again. I spent half a month getting the apartment ready for her arrival
(mind you I had moved into my new apartment before heading off to england the night before my flight... I literally finished moving everything at midnight on monday... and left tuesday at 7AM.... so suffice it to say the place looked pretty bad)

I bought IKEA chairs and tables, pictures, kitchen gear, and all those things necessary for an apartment..

Finally she got here last week.... and of course while the place was a vast improvement over before... it wasn't what she called "woman clean" I guess spending half a year living as a bachelor took it's toll... no worries though I was over the moon to have her here with me...

She's not really a smoker... has it on rare occations... but she's quite alright with my partaking ...

We decided to head on into Amsterdam on Sunday for the Uitmarkt. Apparently the start of the Amsterdam cultural season. Throughout the city there were booths everywhere advertising the hundreds of plays and theatrical art projects in the upcomming year. We came in by train and arrived at 2 walking out to a sunny, albeit windy day. The city was packed to the brim and we speedily avoided the crowds of tourists and the RLD....

zipping down the Zeedijk we walk through China town just chatting away. As we approach the Nieuwmarkt we see massive structures up in the square. We approach and start to hear a distinctly dutch tune. On stage was a band in traditional clothing, playing their instruments and jamming away! It's great to see these kinds of cultural festivals in Amsterdam. As much as I enjoy the smoking culture, and the normal touristy bits, it's good to see how the locals celebrate their own culture. It's only after living here for half a year that I've come tp appreciate these things... We zip down to the east following a neverending line of stands. Each with a different theatre company/ performance arts group advertising their productions... it was great!

The only real problem was that everything was in Dutch... Sadly our language skills are seriously lacking... but oh well... we'll pick it up eventually

After walking around the waterlooplein area I posed a request for a coffeeshop stop. The Mrs. was fine with it and we popped into Old Amsterdam...

Walked up to the bar to see Marco smiling back. I asked if he had any White cheese in at the moment seeing as it's my absolute favorite smoke so far....

But alas it wasn't to be... He said he was out and wouldn't have any more for about 3 weeks.... perhaps i'll plan an impromptu bike ride up one weekend to stock up of course

He did have a new product called New Cheese. Having never tried the UK strain of cheese, my experience is limited to what I can get in the Dam. I've had the Big buddha cheese and HGF's cheese (which is my favorite by the way)... so i thought what the hey? give it a go...

The buds were quite tightly packed and there weren't many crystals... I smelled and there was that distinct cheese flavor there.. It was a bit more sour smelling than HGF... and not as strong... I bought a gram and skinned up a spliff. It definitely had the heavy body high of a cheese, It was a nice smooth smoke as well... I didn't cough it down... and I was quite content for the rest of the afternoon...

After a bit more wandering through a book market (again most were in Dutch... but a few stands had English books and that was cool) We found a ferry giving rides to different events... again for free! So we boarded the last ferry of the day and bombed around the canals... all the while listening to Accordian music on the boat.... It was a great day sucking in dutchie culture!

On the way back to the station I stopped by at HGF to pick up a little bit more bud... Grabbed myself a gram of the Silver pearl, and headed back on the train and back home.

Overall a very nice day trip up to the Dam..... Now and again these small days remind me why I moved to this country....


peace,
hippy

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Rollin down the Highway


Being back in Holland is a bit of a culture shock, mostly the shock of having human made technology surrounding me... no tents and fields... indoor plumbing... television.... wireless internet... those kinds of things...


I've been smoking quite a bit since comming back, Mostly back to my usual spliffs, but i've been slowly introducing my vaporizer into my smoking repertoire... It's a different experience, a different high and I really do like it... It's a definite saver of weed. The amount I've vaped is barely over a gram and I've used the thing tons of times... I swear I can get high after 1 session which amounts to about 1/2 to 2/3 of a normal Bowl... about a third of what I put into a spliff...

I still enjoy the ritual and satisfaction one gets by rolling a really nice, well done spliff... The craftsmanship and talent is lost when loading up a vape... which is why I haven't given them up.... (also there is that niccotine fix i get from the tobacco since I've quit ciggies)

I've found a wonderful smoke from a local shop called Goa.

(not to be confused with theGoa in Amsterdam)

The weed is Called "Q" and is €8.50 per gram. has a lovely fruity/skunky smell, quite strong, but not overwhelming.
Looking at it the weed is dense, with large buds covered with white crystals and hairs. It's sticky, but breaks apart easily... not too wet...

It's an excellent all around body high with a bit of cerebral sensations... nothing visual or extreme, but a good overall sensation. It actually made me want to study, and i brought out my research and did some notes!...

I'll get some pictures up later but this is a real gem. I'd recommend it to all those interested in a good strong but uplifting high....

Random bike rides throughout the town and country remind me how much I love my bike and how well holland works for it. ah well... off to another fun time reading and enjoying life...

peace to all!

hippy

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Back in Civilization
It's been over a month since I've been on the boards... but i've been on a unique adventure exploring the human past and the human psyche....

what happens when you comfine a dozen or so human beings to a farmers field in southwestern Oxfordshire to brave the english summer with tents and a rickety kitchen just to dig up some old roman and iron age structures?
their only outlets from this cycle is the trips to the pub and occational visits to Tesco....

you end up with far too much drinking and debauchery with many frayed nerves and brain cells... you end up half crazy by the end of it.

and that was my past month! wee! I can't remember... well much of anything past 9pm...


although I do remember a fateful night filled with cider, beer, gin, and copious amounts of wine..... i have a hazy memory of screaming obscenities at someone's inordinately large tent....

this night started out as a group meal I had cooked for the campsite... homemade spaghetti and meatballs from scratch...
I had spent the day doing my normal archaeological duties... a bit of digging here, a bit of soil flotation there.... some photos and my day was up.... As I'm driving the tractor back to the campsite, with the other diggers bouncing precariously on the back trailer, I could feel the cool breeze and see the changing clouds forming overhead. They would swirl by at amazing speeds... we bumbled along through the rolling fields of wheat... and what should appear over the horizon.....but a nuclear power plant...

good ol' england eh?

we slowly pull into the campsite and I immediately banish everyone from the kitchen save my soux chef... and we begin the mad rush of cooking for 16 people.... I heated up the sauce I had made from the night before and starting mixing up the ground beef... we ended up with 62 meatballs... more than enough for everyone

After two hours and quite a bit of wine and spirits imbibed... we brought forth the masterpiece of fresh pasta with tomato sauce and meatballs with garlic bread and tons of red and white wine.... It was an instant success! the table was silent... which is always a good sing for the chef... everyone's too busy eating to speak!

well we kept eating and drinking... i swear I polished off another bottle of wine... after some semi-embarassing dance moves, someone cleverly pointed out the the pub closed in 20 mintues...

not wanting to end the night... we headed over to the pub.... where i proceeded to play a VERY drunken game of pool with my supervisor... and nearly kill one of the locals sitting at the bar....


all in all was a good night....

then waking up the next morning having to mattock back half a meter of rocky subsoil... ahh what a wonderful life us archaeologists live...


but that was pretty much the whole 4 weeks... lots of craziness filled with a bit of archaeology... here and there...

but now i'm forever thankful to be back in the real world with indoor plumbing, modern conveniences like 4 walls and a roof.... and flush toilets are my best friends!



peace,
hippy