The Pancake Pirates

The Netherlands (Holland?) was also a nice place, but I'm probably never coming back.

That said, is it Holland or the Netherlands? Maybe I'm showing some weird American stupidity here, but I'm not sure the Dutch even know what to call it since I've seen it as both.

We ate Pancakes on a Pirate ship with a bunch of screaming children. I had an Italian Pancake, in which they stuffed everything Italy was famous for. It tasted like crap. So I scrapped out all the stuffings and just ate the pancake.

We did some light shopping. Tried some weird Dutch meats (one that sounded like Croquet and another that sounded like someone vomiting). They were sort of tasty. Like, I'd never crave them or anything, but they were alright.

Then we met my friend's parents. She said they were crazy. I thought they were absolutely hilarious. I loved them.

Her parents are divorced, so we met her dad first. He was very well dressed for an older man. Very chic. He played us a lot of Dutch music. Some sounded like our Country, some Polka-like, even a rap song. Good times had by all. He understood our English, but couldn't speak it very well. I took the coffee offered to me and made polite conversation. My friend looked oddly embarrassed, but I didn't know why.

The conversation turned to Iraq and her dad started speaking very passionate, broken English. Mostly, he spoke Dutch. I looked to my friend to translate. She didn't. I waited. Then I told him I didn't understand and I asked my friend to translate. She wouldn't. I think I was following what he was saying and I did want to comment, because what he was saying was interesting. But she wouldn't help us at all. Then we left. Like, he seemed to get that I didn't understand, but didn't want to just nod a smile either because I was interested in what he was saying.

Then we met her mom. By met her mom, I mean that a Dutch woman did the hello kisses to me. She was also fabulously dressed. She looked AMAZING for her age. Like, she must have to fight them off. We made polite talk. Nothing serious. The TV was on and I noticed that she was watching the same thing as her Ex-Husband, but I was too polite to say anything. I drank even more coffee because I felt like I couldn't say no. I tried to stick to the couch area because the Dutch are a bit weird about you wandering around there house. My friend said it was weird that I put on music at her house. I guess the CD player is sacred.

Good times. There may be no entry tomorrow. So don't be too surprised. I'm going to Greece. Do they have the internet there yet?