The Best Job Ever.
I was called up by my pimp to come and work at Keukenhof. This is one of the main tourist attractions of Holland, as a friend commented: It's the Disneyland of flowers.
It has special significance for me personally, as Lisse, the city where the Flower Park is, has a sister city relationship with Tonami, Toyama. And since the reason I got placed in Tonami and was because of tulips and this sister city-ship, Lisse is the reason I lived in Toyama for 2 years of my life.
Vengence would be mine!
Haha, I kidd. Maybe.
The point is, I rocked up to the Flower Park, among the tourists, expecting to be holed up somewhere at the back of a kitchen doing dishes. This was not the case, I walked to one end of the park, to an employee-only area, where I got given a classy uniform- (with two rows of buttons on the shirt!) and was sent to the opposite side of the park. The park is huge. Luckily, walking is considered work too.
So I got to help a guy wheel out a trolley full of hot dogs to a spot near the entrance of the park. By "help", I mean that I crashed the trolley twice. He laughed at me, we swapped and I got to wheel a smaller trolley.
Anyway, this was to be my job for the day: Selling pre-wrapped ice-creams, next to the hotdogs and waffles. It sounds okay, but I was concerned. See, right opposite us was a Draaiorgel- a giant organ. (Guys, insert own dirty joke here). It is hard to explain, so, here is a video. I took it more so you can listen to it.
Keep in mind, that this thing is especially loud. It playes every note at full-blast, and it plays usually well-known songs. Do you recognise this one yet? Other classics that it was playing on a 60 minute-loop were "Sukiyaki" and "Lemon Tree". Yeah. Umm, I looked at my watch, and remember thinking that this could be a long day...
Miraculously, it wasn't busy enough, so I got sent back to the opposite side of the park for a different job. This can only be described by this photo:
Yes, I was an ice-cream vendor!!! And I mean, home-made ice-cream. I got to scoop it out into the cones and hand it to people. It was awesome! Usually I would try to metaphorise how awesome it was, but nothing could come close. I mean, it was as awesome as being an ice-cream vendor in a quiet corner of the park on a day perfect for ice-cream vendoring, and getting paid for it.
This was my office. I unfortunately was not allowed to ride it, despite it being at the opposite end of the park. It was a long push. But at least pushing a bike is considered "work". This photo below wasn't me, but a colleague of mine. He was in a much busier spot.
The only negative part about the job, again was due to noise pollution. Here is a video of my surroundings. I was right next to a fountain- a never ending stream of water...
It was really fun to talk to all the people. Sure, they weren't always happy with how small the ice-cream servings were, but I was already piling it on more than I was supposed to. Unfortunately, and strangely, the many Japanese toursits did not come my side of the park. They must all have gone straight to the windmill, taken their photo and got back on the bus headed for Berlin. Instead, I served many Germans and French. Unlike Dutch-educated people, I have not studied German, (technically untrue as I studied it for 10 weeks when I was 13), or French (Also untrue as I studied it for 5 months when I was 20), so I was unable to speak back to them, although they presumed I could.
But I could understand them surpisingly well. My French understanding is probably slightly higher, but German is close enough to Dutch to get most gists. At one stage, I was very worried. A stern-looking and speaking German asked for an ice cream. Then he looked at me and spat:
"Sepen mal"
I thought, why is he speaking French, and saying that I am "super bad"?
Okay, it turns out he said "Seben maal", i.e. he wanted seven ice creams.
So I was finished at 3:30, and I since I was already in the park, I transformed into a tourist. I talked to my hotdog colleague, and I was able to procure a free meal, and I took photos.
Yabba Dabba Doo?... I didn't understand the relevance.
Seriously, I thought Japanese people would be all over the ice cream. I was waiting to scream in my whiney-est voice "Aisu kuriiiii-mu ikaga desu ka!!!!", like the annoying girls on the Shinkansen... That would have been hilarious. I never got the chance. Vengence can wait... I kidd. Sort of...
Sakura and tulips... Yeah.
There is being "diplomatic", and there is "ass kissing". Seriously, just because they voted for Obama, it doesn't mean America should suddenly outnumber the Dutch flag 4-1, on our home territory! I don't care if there was a good reason.Anyway, being an ice cream vendor made me think constantly of this joke. If anybody watches Craig Ferguson from the Late Late Show, (you are awesome, and) you may have heard him tell this joke before.
When he talks about old-time movies, he says there always a scene where an ice-cream vendor guy says (in a thick Italian accent):
"Get some tootsie Fruitsy Ice Cream!"
And then a man walks up to him and says he wants a toostie fruitsy ice cream.
The vedor replies "We don't got no tootsie fruitsy ice cream."
Then as the customer walks away, the Italian shouts out: "Come get your toostie fruitsy ice cream!"
"Come and a get a tootsie fruitsy ice cream!"This was playing though my head all day. It was awesome...
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