From Europe With Love

A big hello and happy holidays to my loyal readers, and those just passing thru.

Reporting live from The Netherlands, we've been touring Europe for the past couple of weeks, starting off in Vienna for a week, continuing on to Budapest by train, and winding down our last week with family in NL. It's been a busy and thoroughly enjoyable trip through Central Europe. Much warmer than we'd anticipated. The Christmas markets in both Vienna and Budapest were quite welcoming and full of great stuff, not to mention the nice mulled wine and the Wiener alternative, Punsch.

Here at the moment, Second Christmas evening is in full swing, we ordered Chinese take-out for dinner and can hear the fireworks starting up for New Year's Eve. Here in NL, the fireworks come out in full force on the 31st, but the kids get their hands on fireworks as early as mid-December, and proceed to fire them off day and night until year's end.

Where do they get the MONEY? Those packets of (illegal from Belgium) imported pieces really add up. And how they can get them so early? By law, the fireworks can only be sold during the week leading up to New Year's.

There's so much to write about both our Viennese and Hungarian experiences, but highlights would have to include an old bath house in a park in Budapest, sitting all afternoon in old rooms dating to the 1800's with little of the massage rooms and machines changed since then. . . and delicious restaurants in Budapest. Learning the one very handy word while on our train from Vienna to Budapest: nem dohanyzo! = Non-smoking in Hungarian. Finding our palatial room at the Le Meridien in Budapest, after having spent five nights in a little room and even tinier shower area in Vienna. Watching an opera in the Budapest National Opera House, a work of art! Finding out our flight on Christmas Eve to Amsterdam was cancelled and then being re-routed to Prague, and then onward to Amsterdam from there, flying in a little propellor plane on Tyrolean Air! Seeing Ad's family again all together for Christmas dinner.

Off to enjoy a coffee and tomorrow it's on to Arnhem for a day of shopping with my sister-in-law, meeting an old ex-colleague in the evening and a good friend and her family on Thursday. We'll probably be back before we know it. Just in time to ring in the new year in Vancouver.

Signing off for now,

Ariane C

Stage Jitters

Earlier this week, I attended a performance of Meth, an interactive play put on by people who've either struggled with crystal meth addiction or who have been touched by family or close friends who have. The play itself ran 22 minutes and admission was pay-what-you-can. Once the initial play was over, the director came onstage to give us instruction on how to interact the second time around.

The play started over again from the first scene and as audience members, we were encouraged to yell 'STOP' when a particular character could be changed and bring a sense of safety into the play's scene. Whether male or female, anyone in the audience could find something that they personally would change to better that character's circumstance.

The first scene commenced and the audience was silent. The director stopped towards the end and reminded us that anytime something didn't seem right, to please feel free to intervene. In other words, we had missed our cue already into the early part of the play!

Once the scene got underway again, someone did yell 'stop', came onto the stage, wore a sash containing a hidden microphone and proceeded to act through a better way. After the scene ended, the director appeared and gave commentary and the audience applauded. One by one, brave audience members found a way to change the characters behavior in the script and came up to try their hand. About 1/3 through the play, I felt a scene hit me square in the face, and yelled 'STOP'. Then up on stage, where I stared into the full house and started to think to myself "What have I done???!!"

Sure enough, I got my sash with mic set up over my shoulder, and went away at it. Crazy! In the scene I chose, I was interfering with a young male who was on a high and about to storm out of the house where he had been invited by a good friend and her family for dinner. I think I was up there for five minutes but it felt like a good half hour! Audience applauded, director asked a few questions, made his observations and thanked me. Back in the audience, I felt a rush going through me after having been up there, and I felt happy but nervous as hell having done it.

Meth runs through December 10 at the Japanese Hall on Alexander Street, the absolute heart of the drug-addicted neighbourhood of Vancouver known as East Hastings.

Free Snow, Free Chairlift

Today Grouse Mountain is offering free skiing or boarding with a $2 donation to a local North Shore charity. I couldn't resist the sunny weather and chance to play again in the snow. Two busses and a Seabus later, I was at the base and gondola ride up to the lifts.

As I went to the window to donate the toonie, I was asked whether I'd be skiing or boarding today. I answered that I just wanted to walk around and perhaps rent snowshoes later. She said that I'd either have to rent at her register or not be able to take the free gondola ride up. "Only free for skiers or boarders". I told her that I'd just taken two busses and a Seabus over to be up here. Well, I walked to another woman controlling the line and fortunately, she was able to take care of me and got me through the ticket window with my donation and no further 'committment'. I wasn't really ready to head back to town just yet!

I didn't end up sking (this would probably leave many scratching their heads!), but took in the nature and walked one of the snowshoe trails, sometimes in deep snow! Just didn't feel up to putting on skis and going through the rental crowd today.

Did however see a couple of reindeer, paid a visit to Santa and admired a couple of wolves on the way towards the bus home!

Mighty Little Christmas Cactus

Ad and I could be locked in a cave all year along with our christmas cactus and know precisely when the merry season was on its way…

a cactus with a warm, fuzzy feel for the holidays! Hope everyone's having a good season so far. We'll be travelling soon enough, to make our Central European tour of 06. Vienna, Budapest and rounding it all off with a visit to our family in The Netherlands. As Europe is much warmer than Vancouver at the moment, let's hope it stays that way for a while. We could use a break from the unusually cold temps!

Cheers,
Ariane C