Adventures in Couchsurfing
Sep. 9th, 2008 03:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jenepelThis entry is like three days in the making. I kept emailing portions of it to myself!
After a bunch of false starts, I finally have actual couchsurfers at my house! Currently two Belgian girls are staying for a few days. They're absolutely adorable and so far a lot of fun. Last night they came home (after what sounded like a long day of sightseeing) and we cooked dinner. Well, they cooked dinner and I helped as much as they would let me. (One of the highlights was this language gaffe - "We bought some cheese, so now we just need to rape it." After much laughter, the actual word was revealed to be (of course) "grate".) We chatted over cooking and eating, and it finally (as all conversations nowadays seem to) led to the US presidential election. Always interesting to get a few more opinions. More interesting to me though, was that we then segued into Belgian politics, which I of course know nothing about. But man, it sounds totally insane! And they were having trouble agreeing on it themselves - in between the English explanations there were frantic conversations in Dutch. Not to mention that as good as their English is, words like referendum, constitution, parliament, etc take a while to get out. So yes, good stuff. Also, they brought Belgian chocolate. :)
Otherwise for couchsurfing I have two other groups booked – well one is just one girl actually – for next week or so. I also have a million more requests in my inbox to deal with, and could fit at least a few other people in, but haven’t decided. I can see how it gets out of hand! You get so many requests (London) and you hate to say no to people, but you also need to have a life. We’ll see what Rach says.
OH! RACH GETS HOME TODAY!!!!!!!!! Just a thought. (This icon is totally Rach and I, back together again!)
I hennaed my hair last week with the henna from Turkey and I’m not sure how it went. I still have brown roots, and I can’t decide if it’s just my roots are darker since it’s getting colder, or I didn’t do it right since I did it myself, or that henna isn’t as strong. I also tried to do my eyebrows, after reading that it was okay, but I don’t think it made much of a difference. It did, however, dye the skin UNDER my brows orange for a few days, so that was fun.
How about some TV news? In new season TV watching, so far I have really only seen Gossip Girl. (YAY!) I’ve got the London episode of Bones, but haven’t watched yet. Oh, and just for fun, I watched the pilot for 90210 last night. It was actually a pretty pointless operation, since I've never seen the older show from the 80's (90's??) and so I'm sure a million references went right by me. I had to read the TWoP recap just to figure out if any of the characters were older versions of themselves or family of or whatever. The only one I actually knew was Shannon D, and that's mostly because once upon a time I (mockingly I swear!) watched Charmed. Anyway, it pretty much felt like any old teen show to me, and certainly not as good as, say, Gossip Girl (OMG YAY!) but probably a little better than OTH. I guess the issue is that the old 90210 paved the way for shows like OTH and the OC, and now those type of teen shows are ubiquitous. So to remake it, the new one now has to come back and deal with the old version's demon spawn. Not the easiest. Still, it was fun enough, and I wish it well.
The main TV I have been watching lately is Brothers & Sisters, which is the best new show I’ve found in ages. If you haven’t seen it, WATCH IT, especially if you like Everwood – they have definite similarities, and of course they are both Berlanti. (I’m on such a Berlanti high that I’ve now procured Eli Stone as well, since there is no more B&S to watch!) I went straight through the first two seasons, and the 3rd premieres next week, so I can’t wait. It’s the family feeling of it – all these siblings arguing and making up and helping each other and teasing and etc. They really do feel like this crazy family; all of them seem to have very believable family affection (and anger) for each other. My favourites are Kevin and Sarah – I would love to hang out with them, they seem like so much fun. Actually, what I would really love to do is get drunk with them. That would be awesome. Yeah, that’s the other thing, these people drink (mostly wine, but sometimes Tequila) like fishes! There is never not alcohol around. I like the show so much I’m considering putting it on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
tasting_tv, which I’ve never done before. And it’s a bit funny seeing as it’s a US show – I’m just discovering it but for all I know it’s a huge hit in the US and they all have been watching it. It’s just that I don’t feel like I’ve read much about it online, and so I really have no idea if it’s a critical success or a public success or whatever. But I guess getting a 3rd season says something. Anyway, I highly recommend it.
I went home this weekend because S&L were visiting from the US and of course wanted to see K&J. So we all took the train up together, and much fun was had. It made me miss Trev though, because otherwise the whole group was there! Also, I spent some quality time with mom and dad, since on Saturday we went to this living history thing that a nearby village was doing. Then, on the way back we stopped and picked some blackberries, which are going (along with some apples probably) into a welcome home crumble for Rach tonight.
And now, just for fun - !
(Hey, it’s much easier than sorting through all 1000 or whatever of the Turkey pics. It's just possible I may be STILL putting that off.)
Here’s everyone together reading Oliver a story, which, if you look at Lauren, appears to be hilarious.
And Lauren playing with Oliver (while he plays dead or something - strange kid!)
This is us stopped by the side of the road to pick blackberries. You can pretty much do this anywhere around where we live. You just need to be a little off the main road because those get picked by people first.
And mom and dad spread out to get all the best ones.
Cows!
Lastly, a bonus shot of all the windmills. There are tons out our way.
I feel a bit weird at the moment, not sure why, but my stomach isn't happy. And I need to go home anyway, so that Rach isn't waiting for hours outside in the rain. So I might just take off. We'll see what Bruce thinks...
After a bunch of false starts, I finally have actual couchsurfers at my house! Currently two Belgian girls are staying for a few days. They're absolutely adorable and so far a lot of fun. Last night they came home (after what sounded like a long day of sightseeing) and we cooked dinner. Well, they cooked dinner and I helped as much as they would let me. (One of the highlights was this language gaffe - "We bought some cheese, so now we just need to rape it." After much laughter, the actual word was revealed to be (of course) "grate".) We chatted over cooking and eating, and it finally (as all conversations nowadays seem to) led to the US presidential election. Always interesting to get a few more opinions. More interesting to me though, was that we then segued into Belgian politics, which I of course know nothing about. But man, it sounds totally insane! And they were having trouble agreeing on it themselves - in between the English explanations there were frantic conversations in Dutch. Not to mention that as good as their English is, words like referendum, constitution, parliament, etc take a while to get out. So yes, good stuff. Also, they brought Belgian chocolate. :)
Otherwise for couchsurfing I have two other groups booked – well one is just one girl actually – for next week or so. I also have a million more requests in my inbox to deal with, and could fit at least a few other people in, but haven’t decided. I can see how it gets out of hand! You get so many requests (London) and you hate to say no to people, but you also need to have a life. We’ll see what Rach says.
OH! RACH GETS HOME TODAY!!!!!!!!! Just a thought. (This icon is totally Rach and I, back together again!)
I hennaed my hair last week with the henna from Turkey and I’m not sure how it went. I still have brown roots, and I can’t decide if it’s just my roots are darker since it’s getting colder, or I didn’t do it right since I did it myself, or that henna isn’t as strong. I also tried to do my eyebrows, after reading that it was okay, but I don’t think it made much of a difference. It did, however, dye the skin UNDER my brows orange for a few days, so that was fun.
How about some TV news? In new season TV watching, so far I have really only seen Gossip Girl. (YAY!) I’ve got the London episode of Bones, but haven’t watched yet. Oh, and just for fun, I watched the pilot for 90210 last night. It was actually a pretty pointless operation, since I've never seen the older show from the 80's (90's??) and so I'm sure a million references went right by me. I had to read the TWoP recap just to figure out if any of the characters were older versions of themselves or family of or whatever. The only one I actually knew was Shannon D, and that's mostly because once upon a time I (mockingly I swear!) watched Charmed. Anyway, it pretty much felt like any old teen show to me, and certainly not as good as, say, Gossip Girl (OMG YAY!) but probably a little better than OTH. I guess the issue is that the old 90210 paved the way for shows like OTH and the OC, and now those type of teen shows are ubiquitous. So to remake it, the new one now has to come back and deal with the old version's demon spawn. Not the easiest. Still, it was fun enough, and I wish it well.
The main TV I have been watching lately is Brothers & Sisters, which is the best new show I’ve found in ages. If you haven’t seen it, WATCH IT, especially if you like Everwood – they have definite similarities, and of course they are both Berlanti. (I’m on such a Berlanti high that I’ve now procured Eli Stone as well, since there is no more B&S to watch!) I went straight through the first two seasons, and the 3rd premieres next week, so I can’t wait. It’s the family feeling of it – all these siblings arguing and making up and helping each other and teasing and etc. They really do feel like this crazy family; all of them seem to have very believable family affection (and anger) for each other. My favourites are Kevin and Sarah – I would love to hang out with them, they seem like so much fun. Actually, what I would really love to do is get drunk with them. That would be awesome. Yeah, that’s the other thing, these people drink (mostly wine, but sometimes Tequila) like fishes! There is never not alcohol around. I like the show so much I’m considering putting it on
tasting_tv, which I’ve never done before. And it’s a bit funny seeing as it’s a US show – I’m just discovering it but for all I know it’s a huge hit in the US and they all have been watching it. It’s just that I don’t feel like I’ve read much about it online, and so I really have no idea if it’s a critical success or a public success or whatever. But I guess getting a 3rd season says something. Anyway, I highly recommend it.I went home this weekend because S&L were visiting from the US and of course wanted to see K&J. So we all took the train up together, and much fun was had. It made me miss Trev though, because otherwise the whole group was there! Also, I spent some quality time with mom and dad, since on Saturday we went to this living history thing that a nearby village was doing. Then, on the way back we stopped and picked some blackberries, which are going (along with some apples probably) into a welcome home crumble for Rach tonight.
And now, just for fun - !
(Hey, it’s much easier than sorting through all 1000 or whatever of the Turkey pics. It's just possible I may be STILL putting that off.)
Here’s everyone together reading Oliver a story, which, if you look at Lauren, appears to be hilarious.
And Lauren playing with Oliver (while he plays dead or something - strange kid!)
This is us stopped by the side of the road to pick blackberries. You can pretty much do this anywhere around where we live. You just need to be a little off the main road because those get picked by people first.
And mom and dad spread out to get all the best ones.
Cows!
Lastly, a bonus shot of all the windmills. There are tons out our way.
I feel a bit weird at the moment, not sure why, but my stomach isn't happy. And I need to go home anyway, so that Rach isn't waiting for hours outside in the rain. So I might just take off. We'll see what Bruce thinks...
