New Years Eve and Year One Report

Sounds fun - - AND official, doesn't it? "Year One Report!" Actually, I thought it would be interesting (but I could be wrong) to revisit some of my thoughts about being here that I shared from a year ago, and how some of those things may have changed or still hold true. But first, let me get into our New Years Eve party, held at our crib in its "primo location" that's close to Leidseplein and the Centrum. Never held one of these, so there was excitement and tension in the planning. We were also always being asked to host some sort of shin-dig, especially by Zsolt, a co-worker of Radhika's at GE. So before we went to The Canary Islands, we visited Europe's version of Sam's Club, a place called Makro. Borrowing our friends membership card while they were in San Diego, we visited the place, list in hand, on the Saturday before we left. Not the best time to go shopping, of course, the weekend before Christmas. But it was all we had. Now, the first obstacle was getting a cart. They have a simple way of insuring that carts don't end up all over the place when shoppers are done with them. To remove a cart from the convoy line of carts, you have to insert a 1 or 2 Euro coin into a slot. It releases a chain that connects your cart to the "convoy", and to get that coin back you have to return it to the "convoy" and as you slide the chain back onto your cart, the coin pops out for you to retrieve it. No dudes huffing and puffing in the parking lot on cart duty. No carts laying in ditches or on the side of the road here. You find them only in their little cart sheds waiting to be used. It's quite smart - - quite simple. Why the US retailers don't do this puzzles me. Now, the only carts I saw initially were the size of tanks! They have the largest carts I've ever seen. It took all I had for my scrawny ass to keep from running over innocent children with it. Turning corners? Forget it. I rolled over an entire generation of "Dutchies" and took out half an aisle!! Then I see people pushing normal-sized carts! Where did those come from? Outside! So I tell R I'm not popping a hernia with this thing and I'll return it outside and get a smaller one. I got my 2 Euro coin back and went to the other side of the lot for the human-sized carts. Oops! They require a 1 Euro coin, and of course I don't have one. Back into the store for change. I finally get the cart I want (this entire process took at least 10 minutes as I have left out portions of the story) and we commence our shopping. Beer, champagne, snacks, sweets - - we're loaded up and ready for check out. Along with the meatballs from Ikea, we're pretty much set for the party when we come back.

A day of decorating and final preparations on the 30th and 31st, and we're good to go. Ultimately, we have about 25 guests in our place eating, drinking, talking, and playing a round or 2 of "Never Have I Ever". Such an international gathering!! Guests of so many descents - - Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, American, French, Romanian, Dutch, Australian, Russian, Indian, not including dual passport holders for Ireland, Poland... WOW, I hadn't thought it was SO VARIED until I compiled this list! We went from 9 until a little after 3, and the wrap up was indirectly spurred by the hosts request that 2 "partiers" should depart as they either showed up "hammered" or reached "hammerdom" the last hour or so of the party, and the likelihood of them crashing through a glass table or taking a header down the stairs was becoming more and more a probability! And when you cut off their drink supply, well, it can just get ugly. But before this, many stood out on the terrace in the cold watching fireworks from several directions. As we learned from last years experience, there seems to be no municipally organized firework shows, just people setting them off from the streets, rooftops, basically anywhere. That's why we saw a building ablaze last year and read reports of deaths and dismemberment's in print media. Also the next morning, the place looks like "shock and awe" went down the night before. The air still has sulfur and powder in it, and the ground is strewn with papers from spent ground and airborne fireworks. It's a real mess that takes days to clean up! Even with the 2 that were unable to show self restraint or recognize their own limits, the party went well, everyone had fun, food was good, there was plenty of champagne, and people made new friends and acquaintances. A good night overall. I'll get some pictures up of the evening soon.