Recovery days

The days following Fem's departure and the NT2 exam have been happily relaxed, a necessity volgens mij after any big exam. Thursday was a day for delicious group lunch (complete with excess avocados bought in preparation for the promise of an authentic Mexican food night in the coming days), sorting out chores we had been putting off (doing laundry, putting up nails for additional small-room storage space, and buying a new pair of jeans), and binge watching Narcos (for the second time) before a work meeting in the evening.

lunch

the initially planned 3 nails

the slightly carried away 9 nails + Narcos

sunny afternoon in town with friends

local style adviser

dinner (more avocados)

DON'T MOVE: the most awkward panorama ever?

unexpected visit from Plume the pug at the work meeting

Friday was a day for busy wedding work (with the whole patio being hired out for a wedding breakfast), then every room being checked out and then in again with large groups - the most difficult type of guests! We were also enlisted to help preparation for the 'language cafe' being hosted at the hostel that evening. After cooking an improvised sort of healthier version of the Dutch/Indonesian classic satay curry with roast tofu, broccoli, sweetcorn, and soba noodles it was time to get ready to go to see the band of one of our managers, Lisa & the Lumberjacks, play at a popular live music bar in the centre of town. Despite being incredibly jealous of another manager being paid to work at a Radiohead concert in Amsterdam that evening, we had a really great night here in Haarlem.

satay tofu

"the cozy drinkers"

kerk at night

On friday night/saturday morning, I had my first encounter with the dark side of the nightwatch. I got to sleep at around 1am after coming home from Stiels, only to be woken again at 2.30am by several drunk wedding-goers literally inside our room. After helping to sort out what room they were supposed to be in, and who had switched cards with who, it was unsurprisingly difficult to get back to sleep having just been woken by several strangers next to my bed. This was probably for the best however, as 2 more waves of drunk guests from the group rooms came in each with their own set of problems that needed to be attended to. After having to give up my personal mastercard for the doors to a group who could not get their own card to work (which later caused further problems as they stayed longer than they should have without returning the card), and going to ask groups on the patio, in the oude mannen dorm, in the upstairs hallway, and in the province dorm to keep quiet, it was finally time to sleep again at around 4am.

The daytime was of course busy, the weekends being the most rushed time, made more complicated by several groups ordering breakfast at the same time and then being unable to get into any rooms to clean them without a card. Finally finishing around 4pm I was so ready to just laze around the hostel. With discussions turning to the recently unhealthy make up of all of our diets we devised a plan of action for several healthy group meals for the coming days - as well as creating a list of great films some of us had not yet seen, or films that had been recommended to us. I am happy to be heading off now to watch the first on that list, my own recommendation and one of my favourite films, What If. Tot volgende keer!