Day 15 - the VTP meets Den Haag

So today my legs feel like stiff as boards. this tin man needs some oil (a.k.a. aleve) and lots of it. i'm still hobbling around. the 2nd day soreness is definitely the worst!! i seriously considered taking the elevator up one floor.

during lunch i was trying to tell some of my co-workers about kanye west. how the heck do you describe kanye west?? broken jaw 'through the wire' era? or flashing lights tour era with those crazy sunglasses? there's a kanye west concert next week in rotterdam (about 15 mins from my house here). its a stop on his new 'glow in the dark' tour, which is supposed to be unbeleivable. so we decide to check out some YouTube videos so they can see who he is. we have to watch on the public computer since that's the only one without the web filter on it. the public computer is right in the lobby area that connects all the offices, right near the printer. can you imaging how funny it is to watch the 'Gold Digger' video in the middle of a stuffy engineering office with a bunch of dutch people who think its socially acceptable to have white people painted in black makeup dressed in colorful outfits who accompany the equivalent to Santa Claus to hand out presents to kids? see the picture of Black Pete (Zwarte Piet) below. Now picture the 'Gold Digger' video. you can laugh now.

So, obviously, no takers on getting someone to accompany me to the concert. i'll do my best to find a concert buddy this weekend.

Towards the end of the day, Jan Willem brought me a big bag of Taai-Taai cookies. my favorite! they are a holiday special around here and man are they good. i gave some to everyone who stopped by my office. Everybody loves Taai-Taai! They are like chewy gingerbread cookies sort of. Kind of a cross between a shortbread and a gingerbread cookie in the shape of a little puff pastry. YUM!!

After work about 10-12 Fugro people met at Kristina's house in the Haag for POKER!! Kristina's apartment is so perfect, its two large bedrooms and a really big living and dining area. there are windows along the entire side of the apartment, making the space feel even larger and more open. the apartment building is right around the corner from the Haag Central train station, and has an amazing view of the government building right across from the courtyard. Den Haag is right on the coast and is more of a metropolis-like city - more high rises, bustling traffic, a bit more 'hip' etc. compared to Delft which has more of a folky feel.

We ordered Indonesian food which was perfect and just spicy enough to make your nose run but still be good. we had a few heinekens, which were in glass bottles but slightly smaller than in the US. everything is smaller here it seems.

so there was me, kristina, elisabet, robin, wouter, maarten, patricia, annemiek, martijn, anouk, and suzanne (and kristina's boyfriend but i cant remember his name!!). only me and robin really knew how to play, so when we finally started (tournament style, 5 euro buy-in) even dealing the cards was a major discussion. we played 2 or 3 practice rounds which were hysterical, then we got down to business :) it was insane and funny and so not serious - so different from the seasoned veterans that frequent the VPT (ventura poker tour for all you non-ventuckians). people were betting and calling rediculous things but no one really cared. most of the time i couldnt understand the dutch, but i could kind of figure things out by people's funny facial expressions and hand motions - especially kristina's!!

i got fourth and we finally finished up around midnight. maarten came away the big winner, as he had been catching some great cards all night (i sat next to him so i could see many of his hands) and he was big stack most of the night too. annemiek came in second and suzanne third. this write up doesnt even compare to Pbot's, but i can tell you that robin went all in with this short stack on pocket aces and maarten hit a set of jacks, knocking him out. it was just maarten's night! i only played about 4 hands all night, wasn't catching much. doubled up early on with a straight on the river, but after that just couldnt get the momentum going. oh well! everyone seemed to have fun and they said they wanted to do it again soon :) i think we'll have another poker night in December :)