Student - March 9, 2011

Tour of Carnival (I)

Last Sunday was so far the best day I ever had in Netherlands.

I could even take a picture with the Chilean miner!
'What is the right thing to do?' This is a famous question inquired by Prof. Sandel. Maybe not as smart as his students in Harvard University, but I have my perfect answer for it: At the right time, go the right place and do the right thing. My 'Tour of South Netherland' last weekend was one of the most right things I ever did.

I should have been there one day earlier, but unfortunately I canceled it due to the cloudy weather. 'Don't cry man, at least you saw the mini-version in Wageningen.' A kind-of-copycat parade in the city. When it seemed to end up with another dreary week, finally on Sunday morning the sun came out and it rewrote my story of the week.

Sunbath, music and laughter, the train was full of the cheerful elements. I planned to go to Eindhoven first. But it arrived at Den Bosch, all the crowd got off. 'The big parade is moved to here today,' the ticket inspector told me. So I followed the crowds to go out of the station. Oh man, what a sea of colors! From Batman to Mr. Simpson, from frog to sausage, people in various costumes were gathering in the plaza and waiting for the kick-off of the parade.

'Derek, let's go!' said 'Captain Jack Sparrow' Stefan, who I came across in the square. He's a native of Den Bosch. Thanks to my Dutch, no matter how poor it is yet, I easily got on well with him and his friends. They invited me to celebrate the day with them. How could I say 'NO' to it? We shuttled through different pubs, took a drink, sang and danced. I felt a bit stoned after 5 or 6 glasses of beer in a row. Wow, it was my first time to have a hangover at lunch time! Luckily I wasn't drunk enough to make a wrong call to my parents. Otherwise they must have gone mad.

All good moments must come to an end. I somehow got separated from them when we blended back in the ocean of procession. I took a look at my watch. It was 15.10 already. 'Well, it's time to go.' I talked to myself then turned around, walked against the stream of people and toward the station. I got on the train heading for next stop: Tilburg.

How did my tour go on? I will tell you next week.


Video of the week:
A real-time commentary of Parade in Den Bosch（Ignore the Dutch, just enjoy the music :-p）