Let op!

Last night was probably the most chill and most fun night we've had so far. We stayed at an abandoned office building that had been converted to living space. The kids that lived there were couchsurfers and were getting paid to stay there so no one else squatted cause I guess it's getting torn down soon. But the important part is that there were 4 wings, all with rooms and all just for us!! The hosts were super chill, made us all pancakes for breakfast, bought us beer, and played the most epic giant building-wide game of pitch black hide and seek. Ever.

We even got some minimalist Dutch lessons: Ik hou van jou = I love you (only one I remember because Gala and I wrote it on our arms). When our host Sam asked us if we had any other things we wanted to learn, everyone was really curious about the meaning of two signs: "Let op!", which turned out to mean "Watch out!" (not "Let's go!" as we had originally thought)and the other, which meant "Cyclists dismount"... might have been some good ones to know in advance. Oh well, on to Germany tomorrow!

The ride today was pretty manageable, not too long... but so hot here. We rode through beautiful forests with tree-lined paths most of the way, except for when we were lost. And everybody (EVERYBODY) has gotten lost everyday. All the time. It's a wonder some of us even made it today. but nonetheless, we are all here... at the Dutch army barracks in Ede! Pretty much the polar opposite of last night's accomodation.

Some things:

-Bike tans are ridiculously funny
-You cannot ride on the highway in Holland (because they have made you your own two-lane bike highway right nextdoor, or maybe even a bridge just for bikes next to the car bridge that also has bike lanes)
-Couchsurfers are amazing people - everyone should be a part of this: http://www.couchsurfing.org/
-Jake's chain fell off today, got caught in his wheel, and took out two spokes... he got his bike fixed and a new tube for 6 Euros
-Gene fell in a ditch trying to get his camera out of his backpack
-Our food budget is 4 Euros per person PER DAY (Haha. Oh wait, that's not funny)
-Charles likes the word "lovely" and sent his mom everyone's blogs so that he didn't have to update her as much
-I'm on the wake up crew (with Chris, Charles, and Yash) and this morning we woke everyone up 15 minutes early with a megaphone singing 'Oh Canada'
-Two more days of riding and we get a day off

Okay it's dinner time, I wonder what the remainder of our 4 Euros will get us tonight...