i AMsterdam

Amsterdam

House boats

Taken whilst riding a bike

sunset over a canal

so much water in amsterdam

a canal with lots of boats

night shot of a canal//looks way better in real life

nice water reflections

nighttime canal again

 

he had to have been 3... no training wheels like a champ

Tilburg

We visited a museum that used to be a concentration camp. I haven´t taken a world history course in a while. It´s like some of this stuff I forgot actually happened.

 

where they burned dead bodies

240 people. one room. tiny beds.

All 240 people were allowed to shower once every 10 days for 30 minutes... as in, in 30 minutes, everyone had to be done.

this memorial was the shooting wall. It has all the names of the people who died there

  

Not all of Tlburg was so bleak though

typical tilburg street

bart and evert... at hiking machu piccu they´re great. at playing pool, they´re less great

Evert´s parents had a small farm. The lamb was about a week old. I wonder when he´ll suspect he´s adopted (the lamb, not Evert)

Surely theres a joke here somewhere

Tim Duncan´s favorite store

we went to some sand dunes. it was like a beach with no water

 

Southern hospitality, cheap wine, bama football, and a really nice gay guy

Still haven't had acces to a computer that I can upload my pics onto yet so you'll have to read more ramblings for right now.

I was thinking last night about my trip and all the fun experiences along the way and about how its bittersweet that I'll be home soon... and I figured I'd share some of the smaller stories from my trip that didn't deserve a full blog entry but were still enjoyable/memorable... the ones that didn't make the cut.

----In Amsterdam I had this conversation with a lady on a crowded tram:

Me: (realizing there were no more seats) Oh , would you like to have my seat?
Lady: You're not from here are you?
Me: Umm, no.
Lady: Well no thanks I'm okay. Men in Amsterdam never ask women if they want their seat. Where are you from?
Me: I'm from the states... and a part of the states where men open doors and pull out seats for ladies and do it all with a smile... It's called southern hospitality.
Lady: *confused look*
Me: Florida. I'm from Florida.

**Note: I was actually refering to Alabama, but I don't consider myself from there, thus why I said Florida.

----I was in a park enjoying a nice sunny day in Amsterdam (these are rare) when a man who was extremely drunk/high started talking to me. He had a big bag of food and beer and wine but wanted me to give him money so he could buy more beer. Ha it was really entertaining. We talked for about 15 minutes.

He was perisitent too... I think mostly because he was so far gone that he would ask me the same questions not remembering that he'd just asked the same thing 2 minutes ago. Long story short, he offered to sell me a bottle of wine for 2 euros. The future math teacher side of me came out as I did some calculations in my head "Surely the amount of alcohol or whatever he can aquire for 2 euros is less than what is contained in a bottle of wine. So by making this purchase, I'm really doing him a favor," I thought.

I left the park 2 euros poorer and a bottle of wine richer.

----One of my favorite comedians, Brian Regan, has a bit about how he fantasizes about being one of the few men who have been on our moon so whenever some "me monster" starts yapping away about how awesome he is, he can automatically trump any story by saying "I walked on the moon..." It's funny I promise.

Anyway, I think I may have experienced that a couple times in a England and The Netherlands. Whenever I would get in a discussion about sports it would inevitably lead to a discussion about what we call football and what everyone else in the world calls football.

I would smile in my head when I heard stuff like "Yea the fans are insane, travelling from city to city just to go to the away games... And the stadiums, 50,000 screaming fans in one place..." I would just let them keep going "Oh man the atmosphere is intense!... We barely even sit down!" I'd smile because I knew I had the ultimate trump card: Bryant-Denny Stadium.

So when they'd finally slow down, I suppose expecting a "Wow thats incredible!" from me, I'd instead begin to tell them about how I went to a university in a city with a population of 90,000 but an on campus stadium that holds 100,000. I'd tell them how one time over 90,000 people showed up... to watch a practice. I'd tell them about the rivalries and how the color orange makes me do that thing where you throw up in your mouth just a little bit. I'd tell them about on multiple occasions riding long distances, one time 30 hours, with people I had met the day before just to get to a game. And then having to sneak in when I did get there. I'd tell them about "Roll tide" and how two words could mean, "thanks", or "hey man", or "amen", or "cheers" or "i don't really know you, but I see you're a bama fan" or a plethora of other things. I'd tell them about Alabama football. And then the conversation would be over.

----In London I'm pretty sure I got hit on by a gay guy.

I was staying at a hostel and there was a bar downstairs... a nice little place to hang out. I was there one night talking to the bartender who was also American and staying at the hostel so I knew her a little. Anyway, at one point she got busy and a guy comes and sits next to me...

Possibly gay guy: Hey man I saw you at the library today.
Me: Oh cool. Yea, I was there today.
Possibly gay guy: I'm Anthony (I dont remember his real name)
Me: I'm Austin (we shake hands)

Over the next 20 minutes or so we chat and he's very nice. Too nice maybe. He also is very touchy and expressive. I remember thinking, It's cool that you live alone and work in the fashion industry, but do you really need to lean over and put your hand on my back or shoulder while teling me this? And then it hit me. It all made sense.

Oooo, you're gay, I thought. And maybe think I'm cute? Ha, it all makes so much sense now.

He was a talker so I had time to plan my next move while he went on about what he was doing to the inside of his apartment and how it was going to look fa-bu-lous.

I decided to just say something like "Man I haven't had any luck with the ladies lately" at some point in the conversation just so he knew where my loyalties rested, and then just keep talking. I mean, he was nice, interesting, entertaining... I just prefer people who are more... female.

My dichotomy of desires

Dichotomy is another one of those words that makes me sound smarter than I am. Also plethora. I like throwing that one out there from time to time.

Anyway, some of you, whoever "you" is, may know my trip's story and others may not. Here's the short version:

-set off on my big Euro-trip with big plans to see lots of places.
-planned on using a student loan to fund this trip.
-found out last second that the money wasnt coming.
-survived using a mix of generosity and hospitality of friends, family and people I didn't know with a dash of my own survival skills and whole lot of God's provision

And that's where I am today. Well technically I'm in Tilburg, but I'll get to that next time. Emotionally, for lack of a better word, where I am is in a state of having two basic desires:

1) to stay in Europe as long as possible and continue exploring, making friends, seeing new places
2) to not starve

Unfortunately these two desires get closer and closer to being mutually exclusive everyday... a dichotomy of desires, if you will. You see, there will come a point when the funds completely run dry and I can stay and not eat, or return and eat. Hopefully that time doesn't come before March 30 because on that day, I'm coming home. That's right, I officially have a ticket back. I can't decide if I liked it better when I didn't know when the end was coming or now that I know exactly how much time I have left. Whatever the case, I've had a great time and hope to soak up these last few weeks.

And when I do come back--Applebees on Hillsborough when simon gets off work.

Pictures of Amsterdam and Tilburg coming soon...

Brief digression II... CS Lewis was right!

I just realized that instead of brief digressions, I could've called these segments detours. And then it would go with the whole "on the road" theme. And then I would seem more clever. But alas, 'tis too late. I suppose I'll have to stick to using words like alas and 'tis to make myself feel smart.

So why was CS Lewis right, you may ask. Well he said this (and I'll paraphrase)

"Christianity is a statement that, if true, is of infinite importance and if not true, is of no importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important."

I thought about that the other day and I think its kinda like if someone were to say to me "Austin, theres a bomb in the refrigerator that's going to explode in 2 minutes." If what this person said was true, its definitely pretty important to me--my life is on the line. If it's not, then his words are irrelevant to me. Either way I do know two things:

1) His statement is definitely not of medium importance. It's either true or not. I'm either 2 minutes away from dying or I'm safe.
2) I know I'm not going to keep on eating pancakes or doing whatever I'm doing without at least investigating (i.e. taking a peek in the refrigerator).

This metaphor is probably a stretch but you can see where I'm trying to go with this...

Jesus said some pretty radical, crazy things. He said he was God. He said believing in him leads to eternal life. He even had the audacity to claim to be the one and only way. The nerve, right? But either all this stuff is true, and infinitely (literally) important, or he was a liar or a lunatic and should be completely ignored.

When I say I'm a Christian, what I mean is that I just simply fall into the category of people who find all that crazy stuff Jesus said to be true, and thus infinitely important. And so I hope my life reflects that.

Kinda like the "there's a bomb we gotta go" line is one that's worth attention, Jesus's words and life, no matter what your beliefs, are at the very least worth some attention/investigation. Sure it'll be harder than looking into a refrigerator, but the search for truth is worth the journey.