yo yo yo! i am just about to leave amsterdam for berlin, but i had some funny stories to enter that couldn't wait...well, i thought they were funny.

on wednesdays afternoon, post major frustration, alexa and my new friend megan decided to roam around the city in search of little treasures. there was shop after shop with colour tinted shades, wigs, band-aids(?) and beanies (as well as the standard amsterdam paraphernalia). we got hungry, so we ate. i had a wacky sandwich with pickles, tomato, cucumber, pineapple with cheese, and surprisingly it was yummy! we jammed back to the hostel and chilled for a bit before dashing off to another crazy part of the city to see a jazz band. during their intermission we wandered into the square to watch the performers...the first was some guy with a half shaved head, his performance was nothing spectacular. the second was two guys dressed in black who had candles all around them, and they were fire dancers. it was really cool to watch, but i began to wonder how they decided "'i think i want to become a fire dancer, this is what i want to do for a living". i asked them if they went to fire dancing school, if their dentist knows that they put lighter fliud in their mouth, and if they could give me the nama of the place they bought their equipment. now, here's the kicker, we were watching the next performer set up, while talking to the fire dudes, and he was a sixty-ish year old man in brown trousers and a knit sweater. just a cute little mr. roger's type man....but no! once he was all set up and had completed his stetches, he removed his sweater to reveal an amazing pupper body. i yelled out ''hey, you're batman!'''. then i shut up when he pulled down his pants and was wearing nothing but a strapless sequined thong. i couldn't believe it! he started climbing his rope and doing acrobatics...it was so crazy!!! we bolted when he started walking over to us still in the same attire, so i can't tell you much more about that.

yeserday i went with megan and alexa to the van gogh museum and luckily i didn't notset off any alarms. then i went off on my own on my little dutch bike to cruise the streets. i was like kramer on his bike in new york, swerving from side to side, ringing the bell, nearly missing pedestirans. it was great to be causing such a zoo! next i went to the anne frank museum--totally unbelievable! it was the actual house where she and her family hid during the holocaust.

well, i gotta go, hopefully i didn't bore you too much! gotta catch that train to germany~~~

greetings from amsterdam! this is a brief entry b/c i only have 8 minutes left on the computer!!! brussels was awesome, though my time there was too short! on the train ride to holland, some girl spilled her juice all over me! but that's cool, b/c i was just thinking about how i wanted to be a sticky and reek of some wacky juice flavour. i also met some really cute somalian kids and spoke french with them most of the trip. arrived yesterday afternoon to beautiful sunshine and nice breezes. went to the red light district last night...boy was it interesting! it was very sad to see all the girls that have hit rock bottom so hard they have turned to this icky business. the hostel that i'm staying at is great and i've met some lithuanian brothers that are so hilarious! tomorrow i am supposed to be heading to berlin to see katharina, but perhaps i will stay on more night here. there are still lots of places and museums i'd like to see, but my travel mate isn't interested which sucks. please send emails!! i miss you all lots and would love to hear from you. especially my parents and my chump brother...hopefully next time my stories will be more interesting and perhaps a bit funnier~~~

the past few days have been an absolute zoo! i finally managed to meet up with ben after another struggle with my stupid bags (this time trying to get them stuffed into a cab, who's driver ended up being off duty stopping traffic, horns blaring from the impatient drivers behind him, but he drove me anyway b/c he felt so sorry for me!) we got back to ben's flat and i had my anticipated shower...then we headed out to buckinghamshire (pretty fancy name, eh?) to his mates' place to party it up. had a wicked night, at the end of which, the guys managed to toss me into a skip (dumpster) full of drywall. i ended up sleeping most of the next day, though walking every few minutes thinking my alarm was going off, when really it was the pedestrian crossing warning outside. then we went driving around acting silly. got back into london with benny about half 7, at which time i began to unpack yet again, as to re-organize for my european tour 2002.

...and so my life returns to life on the right side of the road...i'm hanging out with the jean claude van damme, you know, the muscles from brussels? no no no, actually i met up with alexa today and we caught the train here...i went in the chunnel (the underwater train from england to france)! i was so scared i thought water might start rushing in, i made it out fine, though i did feel a little dizzy from holding my breath for so long. now here we are after a slight panick attack on alexa's part b/c she couldn't get in touch with her friends parents. she was visualizing us sleeping on the streets or something since we'd been told that all the hostels were full. i called jorge at the jacques brel hostel and told him what was up and begged him to get us a room, and after an argument with his boss, he did...then we ended up getting picked up by our original hosts, so poor jorge is still sitting at his desk waiting for us to arrive. so i'm safe, sober and sleepy...tomorrow we go to bruges and then it's look out amsterdam on tuesday afternoon/evening.

uhhh, yup...that's me for now. hope to hear from you soon...oh and i'd like to apologize to ash for not opting for one of his plethora of entries to win the rights to name my site. maybe you'll make the cut for my australian tour 2003~~~