Carnaval!

Oh, what a fun, fun weekend!! This weekend the Carnaval celebration started in Southern Holland... I think it's kind of like Mardi Gras, but it lasts for 5 days! I went down on Sunday to meet some friends, and I had the best time I've had since moving to Holland. The whole thing is crazy - it starts around 11am, and goes until the wee hours of the morning. Everyone is dressed up in costumes, and some of them are really, really good. I think Leslie and I had as much fun getting dressed as we did partying. I just kept laughing at how ridiculous I looked! :) Lots of fun, lots of drinking, and lots of new friends. I'll definitely be spending the WHOLE weekend there the next time... getting up for work this morning was really rough! :)

Here are some pictures:


Well, so they still haven't figured out that plastic is the way to go when there are large groups of people consuming large amounts of beer... you are supposed to put your glass glasses on these shelves, but at people got drunker and drunker, you could hear shattering glass everywhere!


Leslie and Eric, ready to go!


Oh yeah, we look ridiculous!


I'm still not exactly sure about this... it's a tradition to hang an old housewife?!? Seems strange to me... must do more research on this.


Our Dutch colleague, Ditte, and her boyfriend, Bos, joined us later in the day for more fun.


Watching the parade...


A collage of the many costumes we saw... clockwise from top left: crazy pink people, 80's workout fanatics, costumes made from Albert Heijn (grocery store) bags, an Arab (can you SO not see this being okay in the US???), and, yes, folks, a bloody tampon - couldn't believe my eyes!

I was so bummed that I had to come back to Amsterdam... I took the 8:30 train, which got me home around 11pm. I lost my "FEBO" virginity. For those of you that don't know, FEBO is this crazy place where you put money in a slot, and then you get food that has been under a heat lamp for god knows how long. Very healthy, I'm sure, but it sounded delicious after a day of drinking. Not sure I ever want to eat that again! :)

Making our selections...