30 January 2010

30/01 - The Goddess

Oh wow. This story starts about a week ago. I was walking to my work at Lobster House, around 7 when the sun sets. At this time of the day, the glowing road seems to end in to the distant mountains, where the sun slowly drops behind. The whole scene screams for a deep breath, a moment of silence, a beautiful memory.

En oh yeah, that memory came. With a little music in the ears I was walking past a car, but I didn´t bother to look much at the people in it. At such moments the moment is enough. I heard someone from the distant of the inside of the car saying ´Bon Nochi´ and ´kumbai?´, the local way to great each other. But as mentioned before, I just left it with a short ´bon, kumbai?´, and strolled on towards the slowly dying sun.

A good hundred meters further anyhow, a car came up from behind and a window was lowered. More alerted now I checked who where the passengers; a man behind the steer, in the front seat a girl, and behind her another girl. The man started a conversation about what I was doing on the island, where I was working, etc. After a while he introduced the girls to me, at first the one in the front seat. She was quite small, had a piercing trough her nose but altogether looked quite cute. She could just speak a little bit English, furthermore Spanish. Under the pressure of the moment I couldn't make myself clear in my starting Spanish (commooo..uuuh... esta?), whereafter the girl in the back lowered the window and introduced herself. And I'm sure that at the moment, bending slightly over to the car, the blood shot trough my cheeks. This was, taste or no taste, an unbelievable beautiful girl. Both Venezualan, she quite tall (a bit shorter than I am), a perfect figure, brown intense eyes. Honestly, this is no matter of taste. She IS a goddess.

Anyway, as more often the case in these kind of situations, my slick talk dropped just as hard way behind the mountain as the sun did, and the conversation ended after some more words. They promised to come by in Lobster soon, and I strolled along to my work, cursing myself for all the openings I missed the few moments ago. All good, some days went by, sometimes remembering the moment as beautiful, other times reffering to it as just a silly thing.

Until yesterday! Walking back to home, I came by there apartment again, and oh yeah baby, there she was. The goddess. She greeted me with a Bon Dia, and we had a nice conversation. Just coming back from some banking stuff, my mind was logic enough to keep the conversation going without paying too much attention to her beauty. 'Cause damn, she can play in a clip of Ne-Yo, Pharrell, whatever... Still enough to my senses I got her phone number and we agreed to do something in the night.

Coming home I had a heavy mind. This change was to good to be true, but in a few days I had to rent a new place, and I had only some tens left to spend in the night.. and that's not much, if you know a cab already costs 20 single-way. Digging trough my big suitcase on the look for left guilders or dollars, I scraped enough together for some drinks. After I called around to find out the place-to-be the night, I payed her a call to confirm the date. And word to word, around 9 I walked, as cool as I could, the hundred meters to her home.

She opening the door, I almost turned around immediately to go home and pull my blankets far, far over myself. This was not true. Scenarios flashed trough my mind; a joke, a set-up, a robbery. Because she was wearing. And wearing only as the stylish woman in the world can do, the Italians, Venezuelans, Beyonces. She was wearing a tight black mini-dress, with a zipper in the front. Around her hips a gold-colored chain was jingling, to emphasize her perfect figure. Oh come on, I thought. Come on. I stood there, in my worn-off brown leather shoes that hadn't seen shoe polish since I left Holland, marked with white stripes from the salt of the streets of Toronto. Above that I was wearing a grey corduroy material pair of jeans, which at the knees where almost trough. Above it a white shirt that was too large for me. Come on.

But hey, sometimes you just have to forget yourself and concentrate on the moment. I greeted her as if I was wearing custom made Prada jeans, with three kisses, and a hug. So far so good. So FAR, so good. After it she tells her 'little' sister is coming along, and oh yeah, there is the other girl coming. Dressed in a tough way with sneakers and a jeans skirt, she walked up to me and greeted me in the same way. Except, the last kiss on the mouth. Whatever. I was in it anyway.

Now I was walking there with 2 of the most beautiful girls. Sisters. Venezuelan. And oh, I was glad with my trainings at Streetwise. Just blabbing away, I tried to figure out the positions in the group we had. At first taking them to Lobster to show them off to my manager Ramon, we took a cab after to go to the club Bermuda, a hot new thing here. For the first round of drinks I kept my breath for the pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris, but what shows my surprise... they don't drink. Just a watter was enough. They dance, they don't drink. They bought drinks for me.

Having a great night, wherein I learned to dance the Meringue with the oldest, and with the youngest just danced away on every song, I found they are smart, they think, and yes of course, they use there beauty, but also do know how far they want to go. When normally out with a girl, I still keep my eyes open for other girls. Hey, I'm a guy. Not last night. I was with the most beautiful woman from the entire club. The three of us just danced away and laughed.

Today my schedule made me work in the morning at Lobster, to go after that to 't Klooster, job # 2. Being quite at Lobster, I walked home early, and had a couple of hours before the next shift. Coming home I'm getting a call from the oldest, 'she saw me walking by and wants to take a dip in the pool with me'. Whatever, that's cool! So the three of us to the pool, swimming and laughing, after which she drops me off at my other work. Holy shit eh.

The oldest one is called Marysol, 28, has a degree in Bussiness and Management, and has lived in several countries for a couple of years, including NY, USA. She is the goddess.

The youngest one is Jana, 20 years, and busy with anthropology, still in Venezuela. She's cute and jumping.


Now this night, doubt is coming. I learned to listen to that feeling inside, and it says this is just too good to be true. They are to nice, too easy. I'm not ugly, are nice to talk to, but hey, I'm not this good. Anyway I'll see what happens. Money they can't get from me, I'm broke. I won't do drugs and will watch out for things involving that. Different cultures maybe.

Tomorrow I'm going to a beach with them. It will be perfect again.


Photos are coming soon, you will understand my clumsiness around them :)




27 January 2010

Dit is een stuk dat naar mijn mening laat zien hoe mijn generatie en ik gekaraktiriseerd kunnen worden.. scheldwoorden en grof woordgebruik staan er met een reden :)

Raggen door het leven heen... soms heb je van die periodes. Je wil nergens aan denken; feesten feesten feesten.
Stuk gaan, dronken worden. Duiken voor verantwoordelijkheden. Ik mis goede gesprekken met iemand; iemand
die even serieus is over bepaalde dingen. Over ´t leven. Over seks; over relaties. Ze komt niet op mijn pad. Ze zijn
bezet. Ze spreken andere talen. Niemand opent zich tegenwoordig, romantiek bestaat niet meer. Je moet neuken
en beffen en rukken. Enzo. Waarom weet ik niet precies, het zal wel weer een reactie ergens op zijn.. Die preutse
ouders van ons, die nog zo beperkt denken over geld en seks.. komOP! Geld heb je gewoon verdomme. Ik wil ook
MEER geld, sowieso (zowiezo). En ik moet ook veel neuken, en dan lekker van achter, haar goed laten bloeden.
Want dan kan ik de volgende dag mien moat opbellen en hem vertellen 'dak een chick heb loatn bloedn.
Godverdomme'. Jaja, wij, Generation Now, zijn hard bezig met geld uitgeven en neuken! Dus stoor ons alstjeblieft
(asjeblief) niet met nutteloze dingen zoals a) een diepzinnig gesprek of b) een romantische affaire, want a kan ik
toch niet volgen en 'wa moek daarmee', en in de tijd die b kost kan ik al 3 van die teringwijven
palen.

Dus, Generation Now, we willen het nu, en liefst gister. Laten we vooral doorgaan met de party spirit hardcore
rocken en achteloos geld spenderen, dan worden we straks helemaal echt wel goed gelukkig!

17 January 2010

17/01 - Rebellion paradise

Magic is up in the air!


Curacao is truly a little paradise. A paradise though that's not as the Biblical paradise, without evil and treason. The blend of warm weather, friendly people, bribery, crime and fatigue makes it an environment where all the things, good and bad, are bright and clear as the colors here.

A few days ago I was lying on a commercial beach (Hemmingway's, for the locals) with my 3 Groninger (my home town in Holland) friends. White sands, palm treas, a nice breeze, and a beautiful little bay with the most clear water you can imagine. You could see extraordinary fishes swim, everything was perfect. The next day I'm in Fuik again, where I am helping out at the homework classes. Here are kids from 14 years old that don't know what percentages are, kids with hunger, and is the whole area a sort of desert, with cacti and big hills. On the beach day I'm spending 15 guilders to get a chair on the beach only, figure how much the drinks are. On the next day kids don't know what 10 guilders are; pennies and dimes are there lifes.

Since I've been here, minus the first 2 days, I've been working each day at the Lobster House. It's a great place to work at; Antillian pace, lovely colleague. Bartending is going great, I'm learning a lot about liquors and mixes. As I might have described before, the manager at first only hired beautiful girls, so I am the first guy on the floor (in the kitchen there are already guys). So altogether it's perfect to work. On the other hand though, it IS a luxury restaurant; and people who come here spend a lot, easily over a couple of hundred p.p. So again, another side of Curacao.

Busy as I am now, with 3 afternoons in the week Fuik, 7 days in the week work, and an occasional party night, I'm still really relaxed. Even people from Curacao itself tell me they keep having the feeling they are on vacation in there own country; the feeling here, it's perfect. It remembers me of a video game I used to play when I was young (gheghe, that's only a few years ago...). It was called Just Cause (http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/733/733208p1.html), and took place in some S American country. The thing that sticks the most was the sound of shrieking brakes and barking dogs; same in Curacao. Furthermore there was a sort of mix of beautiful and peaceful nature with rebels that where shooting everyone. Curacao doesn't now rebels of course, but there are loud and noisy things here, and the feeling of rebellion is present (breaking free of Holland).

Even though it's really nice here, I have to keep setting targets for myself, otherwise it would become boring after a while. So when I learned Papiamentu, Spanish and a little Portuegese, I think I will be done here. Hopefully I earned enough money at the time (of course it will take a while to learn 3 languages) to move on, otherwise I will see what I am going to do.

For now, Karnaval is coming!

12 January 2010

12/01 - Un glas di aua ku eis!

Hello! From now on in English, so friends from Toronto can follow as well!

Curacao is lovely- imagine hot weather, a beautiful view, shrieking brakes an barking dogs, along with cheap cold beers from crowded little bars and little public transport buses with jolly music. Getting there?

I arrived a week ago, and can not imagine being in Toronto anymore.. so cold and fast-paced! The moment I stepped out of the plane it was really really warm- but the trick is not to stress. Customs an immigration in Curacao are just for show... so no problems with them.

But in the very first few days I had to get work, or go home! Think I had 160 US dollars cash, and about 400 euro's in my account.. minus rent for 2 weeks. So no Mambo beach (the place to be for interns, and really expensive), driver's license or scooter rental yet. But with so much luck with meeting the right people (Judith from employment agency Kadanz), I was happy and working the very third day after my arrival here!

'My' restaurant is called 'the Lobster house', and is a short ten minute walk from my apartment. It has a magnificent ambiance with light effects and a aquarium. The staff is all Curacaoan, and the waiting staff complete feminine! No complains from my side, eh! I'm working there 7 days a week now (need money), so the sunny beaches will have to wait.

My apartment is luxury, with an own kitchen and washroom, tv, airco, etc. It's expensive though (too expensive, 55 guilders p/d against a wage of 8,5 guilder p/h), so I'm looking for a longer term rent and somewhat cheaper. Anneke, my landlord, helps me out great. By example, she set up an appointment for me to have a look at a great apartment, which I just forgot because I slept too long!

Besides the bright and sunny side of Curacao stands a poor and hungry side, which I am also wanting to discover. Last Saturday I helped out packing food kits for the Voedselbank (food charity), and today I am going to Fuik to attend a homework class, which I am going to give myself in the future if I like it. These kids are put to work as soon as they get home, and aren't stimulated by there parents to keep up with classes. So this class is to give them an opportunity and environment that makes them able to make the required work. And for me to catch up with my own never made homework ;)

Future plans? Not yet, besides discovering the culture, do some good things, maybe get a job that asks some more responsibility, learn Papiamentu and Spanish and enjoy LIFE! Not sure yet how I can move on after Curacao, because saving here will be difficult. But hey, who cares. I found paradise!

And folks, DO come by! You are cordially invited to lay around in the sun, drink fruit mixes (real ones, with ONLY fruit & ice) and meet great people. Concerning me, you only have to book a ticket. There is always a place in my home, and if I am free I'll be happy to show you around..

05 January 2010

5/01 - Geslaagde reis

Hallo allemaal,


Veilig aangekomen na een hoop gedoe met de aangescherpte beveiliging. Curacao is ongelooflijk warm!

Groeten

03 January 2010

2/01 - CURACAO BABY!!

Enigszins heb ik mijn blogje verwaarloosd qua reisplannen, maar nu krijg je het ineens: 5 januari, DINSDAG DUS, vlieg ik om 6 uur lokale tijd via Miami naar Curacao... Yesss.

Zonnig weer en zonnige mensen, het gaat helemaal goed komen! Op dit moment zit ik nog in stress hier in Toronto. Het sneeuwt keihard, vandaag werd m'n werk gecancelled (ik werk nu op een construction site- buitenshuis dus), omdat de wind en sneeuw te hard was. Dit betekent weer minder geld voor Cura, en verder moet ik nog allerlei kleine dingetjes regelen als een kamer op Curacao, mijn bagage goed inpakken (door die achterlijke kerel van een week of wat terug zijn er op US bound vluchten nu niet eens meer carry-ons toegestaan), geld omwisselen, gedag zeggen tegen iedereen hier, enz enz. Maargoed, het heeft allemaal een geweldig doel, en dat is prachtig weer!

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