Tag Archives: netherlands

Frisbee Champions

Since Ms Thingk told me to talk more about Amsterdam life, especially the personal details, this is going to be an exciting update to my fledgling ultimate frisbee career here in the Netherlands.

As many of ye readers well know, I’m a very active new member of the Amsterdam City League, and I practice with the team known as Crunch, one of a few great teams from Amsterdam which play around the country and the continent (i think). Normally I avoid the weekend road trips to god knows where, simply because I treasure my weekend time, especially for podcasting. However this past weekend I joined the Crunch-3 squad in the final games of the outdoor season, in Arnhem. What followed was a whole series of firsts in my life:

The first time I played ultimate frisbee outside of amsterdam.
The first time I joined the team Ive been practicing with for months.
The first time I played on state of the art new fangled almost grass-turf.
The first time I scored a whole lot of points against a Wageningen team that just could not control me.
The first time I collapsed midway through the third match of the day with violent leg cramps and was carried off the field.
The first time I watched the amsterdam red lights play live.

And sure enough, for the first time ever, I was part of a team that won the Netherlands 2005 Division 5 outdoor league.

It’s pretty incredible to see how seriously the Dutch can take frisbee. So many players of so many different ages (the old guys intimidate me). So many teams with so many funky names like the B-Frisbee-2’s or IceyDykes. While there may have been lots of international people present, I really felt like I had entered into a secret dutch sect of frisbee worshippers… and I kind of liked it, despite the sharp pain in my legs.

And YES, Frisbee Girl fans, she WAS there… and she still gives me those looks and I still feel light headed when we talk.

Speaking of flying discs, look- a ninth planet!

bicyclemark71: The Dutch War Problem and Relationships in the Netherlands

Join the Mindcaster and myself as we sit in my garden and tackle cultural issues, especially relationships and civil unions in the Netherlands. (experimenting with a microphone… hence the odd sound)

AudioCommunique #71(mp3)
28min+, 80kbps, 16Mb+

Topics Include:
The Misuse of Public Funds by the Bush Admin
The Dutch government won’t share their intel on the Iraq War
Relationships, Living Together, and Civil Unions in the NL
The progressive aspects of culture here we forget about
Privatization of Electricity
Ryanne’s Video Blog is mentioned

Music Includes:
João Donato – Bye Bye Brasil
Bill Frisell – Perritos (Intercontinentals)
Lali Puna – Alienation (from Remixes and B-Sides)
Jay Unger – Ashokan Farewell
Lenin and Zelia Duncan – Naturalemente (from the João Donato Song Book)

Overheard in Amsterdam

We now take you to the Frisbee field in South Amsterdam, for another scene proving what a wonderfully international place this can be. – Cut to: The Frisbee Fields in Amsterdamse Bos.. where Blue Steel is taking on the Crazy Purple Grapes. Bicyclemark and a new guy are standing on the sidelines waiting to sub in on the next point. The new guy turns and asks in Dutch:

So where are you from originally?

BM, in my usual confusing style: Oh Im Portuguese but I’m American.. spent most of my life in the US.

Guy on sideline says: Oh, I know how it is. I don’t have any Dutch blood, but I’ve lived here all my life. Im adopted from Sri Lanka, me and my two brothers when we were babies. But I guess I’m Dutch, according to my passport.

BM: Wow, Sri Lanka.. the Netherlands… thats a good life story.

GoS: I guess so, I don’t remember any of it.

Team captain: Yo guys, you’re in!

And so it goes in this international game they call ultimate frisbee.

The Story of NOLA

As the evening became morning here in the Netherlands, I spoke with my dear Ms Thingk last night. One of my most favorite people in the world, who around this time last year, I met here at the fishtank, where I work. Now dwelling in the people’s republic of brooklyn, Ms. T asked me about A-Ren… said she hadn’t seen any photos of him lately. And that got me thinking…

Years from now.. say 10… my wonderful nephew will sit with me and ask about what happenned in New Orleans, and the entire gulf coast, at the end of Summer 2005. It will be one of those “where were you when” questions, like people do for JFK and 9/11. And I’ll sadly tell him all about it; the reports, the neglect, the suffering… you know the drill.

But what about that world where my nephew will live. That era.. the 2030’s when he’s closer to my age now… will the major media be just as irresponsible as it is today? Will the public still have no stomach for the horryfing state of the world? Will he switch away from the news when he see’s the suffering still going on in Zimbabwe or downtown Detroit?

I say he won’t. But I can’t say the same for the world around him. The way this disfunctional society works is a long and established system. It repeats itself over and over. Tragedy-Recovery-Resolve-Repeat… slight variations on the same theme. In some cases we’ve seen signs of potential. But as a student (in the school of life) of history.. its hard to not be a cynic. I’ll have to find some way to give my nephew hope, for him to help create a better world in his way. Sort of like his lazy uncle does.

Wrong Place Wrong Time

There was a time when I was always in the middle of it. The demonstrations, the political discussions, the cool mob-related scandles… THOSE were the days. I even had my Israeli manufactured gas-mask shipped to me in Europe, to be prepared for all those protests and other rebellious events, I would be attending over here.

But four years on – nothing. During an EU summit in seville, I missed the activist bus, which was turned away at the border with spain anyway. For all the anti-war demos I attended in the Netherlands, it was so calm and organized, I don’t remember seeing any police. Add to that, the general feeling of skepticism that has set in, for anything related to the democratic process and the masses; its clear I haven’t attended a crazy event in ages.

And then I hear about meetings like What the Hack, which will take place in the south of the netherlands next month, while Im in portugal, and I think to myself… dammit. I want to camp for a weekend with international hackers, and make networks out of coconut shells and that sort of thing. But then, just to pour salt on my boring wounds, I read about the Hack-Train they’ve rented, which will be travelling through Germany to the NL passing through various conventions relating to technology and rebellious society…. a TRAIN! dam dam dam. I’m never in on the action anymore.

AudioComm #44 – Breaking News: Live from an Eviction

AudioCommunique #44(mp3)

28min+, 64kbps, 13Mb+

I was at a party and people were talking about how the Afrika Squat was being raided and evicted. As a self-proclaimed friend to all squatters and believer in that once thriving Amsterdam movement, I grabbed my covert earphone-microphones and head over to report about it. In this podcast I speak to neighbors, artists, and police.

There’s a good 2 minutes where I speak in Dutch with the cops, I didn’t bother translating its fairly explanatory, the cop accused me of being a spy for the squatters, and then I asked if there had been any confrontation. (to which he said basically no) I may submit this to Netherlands Indymedia as well.

Photos in chronological order are available here.

To find out more about squats worldwide go to squat.net.