Since Eva’s birthday was the 26th of February, it was for sure that we would have a double birthday party together. After a long search for a good location, it was finally held at our friend Anna’s place. She has a nice and neat place, and we wanted to keep it that way, so since it was very snowy outside, we requested people to take off their shoes.
Our friend, who is a DJ, played the music of that night, making it a real dance party, which Eva and I have never held before. It was really nice, and good enough, as people still had the options to have conversations, or sit down, or write something on our poster, or go outside, or eat! We prepared cake with ice cream and fruit, but our theme was BYO (Bring Your Own), so we had enough to eat and drink.
Unfortunately the night had to end with an unfortunate happening. My friend could not find her purse, and I felt really bad about that. House parties in the States are like ‘Open Houses’, as everybody, including –or even those who are not invited, is able to come. Basically, that’s how I’ve been going to other house parties as well; hearing about it from others. But that’s something we wanted to avoid. Eventually, non-invited did get to hear about our party, so there were some people who showed up that night Eva and I did not personally know. Therefore I suspect them to have taken my friend’s purse, which is sadly enough, still not founded and thus simply lost.
Nevertheless was it an awesome and special party; Eva turned Quarter a Century and I am now Double Deux! We are suitemates, basically we sleep head to head with a thin wall in between, and she's my best friend here, and celebrating our birthdays together was something really cool and special.
M A R D I G R A S
The ‘carnival’ fest before lent, is known here as Mardi Gras. But because many roads were still covered with snow on the actual day of Mardi Gras, the fest was postponed to the following Saturday, the 24th of February, when the actual 40 days of fasting already took place.
It was a sunny day with a clear blue sky, as usual on my birthday, and downtown was packed with families, youngsters and every other inhabitant of greater Burlington, enjoying the music and decorated cars and trucks marching by. But basically it was like watching one big, life commercial block along the streets. The whole fest was sponsored by big companies, so the least they deserve was to have Burlington’s population of 20.000 to perceive only a glimpse of their company. I must admit I can still enjoy the philanthropic mindset and expressions of Ben & Jerry’s, but I detest seeing images of Heidi Klump on a huge pink truck passing by.
People were walking around with loads of colorful beads around their necks, because were given away and spread around. The idea behind it though was that a person would receive a bead for every time she or he would ‘flash’ someone, meaning showing a body part, mainly implying the breasts.
After 45 minutes the parade was over and he crowd got scattered, streaming into the bars and pubs to drink the day through. Dressing up and getting drunk, basically the same as back home. Now I just need to experience carnival in the Netherlands!
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