The first weekend

In case anyone cares to comment, I freed up commenting to anyone, not just Blogger members. Some people call me the Abraham Lincoln of Blogger, and I'd have to agree with them.
Anyways, my first weekend in Den Haag was somewhat uneventful. I did much as I had during the week, go wandering around town trying to get unlost. But this time, I found myself at the beach, although that was mostly on purpose. It looked surprisingly similar to the beaches of San Diego, I was expecting something rocky, but just sand and sand, and a shit load of seashells. And odd looking ones at that. Sure there were the same old clam looking shells that you think of when you think "sea shell," but these were long skinny oyster looking shells, all in big piles, like so



I think they were piled like that naturally, but I wouldn't put it past the Dutch to pay a guy just to pile those up on the beach. Side note, they hurt like hell when you step on them in bare feet.

Whilst walking down the beach, I witnessed some kind of rescue mission by the lifeguards. And this was the craziest assed beach rescue I have ever seen. One guy swam out to the girl in distress with some sort of belt that was tethered to a box that the rest of the crew was holding onto as the line reeled out. When the distressed person got the belt around her, the part of the crew on the beach started pulling the line. They claimed this was an effective way of rescue, but I think they just didn't want to get wet. I've seen the San Diego lifeguards in action before and it was much more impressive. Also, I think this was a training mission, as the distressed girl went back into the water with the rescue crew and started doing crazy exercises.

Here is the "rescue" scene.


Because of my lack of attention span, this rescue had distracted me from my initial agenda. From across the beach, I spied what appeared to be two surfers. So, with my curiosity peaked, I walked down the beach to investigate. When I got down there, behold, I was indeed two surfers.


I was unaware that one could surf in the North Sea, but here it was, two daring Dutchmen were doing it. Although the waves were few and far between and looked way too crappy for me to surf on, as anyone that has seen me will tell you, my surfing chops are neigh on nonexistent, It takes a pretty powerful wave to get my fat ass moving, so I will probably not partake. That and the convenient excuse that the water will likely be way too cold by the time I can get a hold of a wet suit that fits me.

That was about the extent of this weekend's excitement for the weekend, as I prepare for my first day at work on Monday, which should be full of excitement. I will leave with some photos.

I believe I found the coonass owner of that houseboat in all his Pierre Part Reebok glory.

The guy in the chair just sat there motionless while being filmed, no doubt the worst film ever.

This was the second of three sets of people on horseback, just riding down the street as a waited for the bus. Madness.


The most grandiose beach hotel I have ever seen.


And, finally, only my friends from the plant will get this. But, why didn't anyone tell me that Vince quit the plant and moved to Den Haag?


More to come.
Matt