We arrive Thursday evening in Ieper, after the entire country of Belgium had traffic jams due to construction and accidents, just in time for a ceremony in the center they do twice every day. Ieper was a big city in the first World War and they have a huge memorial monument in the center that has all of the soldiers' names engraved from all over the world that died in the War and that were never found. Quite breathtaking. Thousands and thousands of names from so many countries, some of which I did not even realize were apart of the war. At 11 AM and 8PM everyday they play the "last post" and say a prayer. As you can see in the picture below how many people were there for a random Thursday evening - very neat to see!!
Evidently, US and Great Britain still own some pieces of land around Ieper, including some cemeteries / burial grounds. They say that every year on November 11th they have a big ceremony in Ieper and over 10,000 people attend, which I think is believable since you can see all of the people crowded around for the last post on a Thursday evening in June.
Then, we had some welcoming champagne before the dinner and different events began. We were assigned seating for dinner and I swear I was at the biggest part table in all of our community. 3 of our 8 people can be described by me as:
1) The biggest partier in the entire community (loudest one as well)
2) A guy that kept getting made fun of by guy #1 because he didn't drink. After 2 hours guy #1 finally asked guy #2: "Why don't you drink?" Guy number 2's answer: "because 3 years ago I drank so much I was in a coma for 2 days." Can't. Make. That. Up!
3) The oldest guy in the community who was telling stories of drinking a whole crate of beer during a project go-live celebration Cantus. (see earlier post last November titled "Koln" for a description of a Cantus, or google it).
So literally, everytime a waiter or waitress came by, someone at our table was ordering a round of drinks for the table. I think at least 2 times we stole another table's order from a waiter that was walking by. After dinner a quiz team building event (which we got 2nd in, thank you smartphones) we had an open bar in the hotel until 1 AM. Then the fun began because everyone headed out to the one open bar in Ieper. This bar had shelves and shelved stocked full of glasses and glasses and by the end of the night they were completely gone. We had to start re-using some because they couldn't clean them fast enough. Probably had to do with people keep ordering "meters of beer."
On Friday we had 4 hours of meetings and presentations and then went to Bellawaerde Park - a theme park and half zoo which was a ton of fun. However, the intense heat and the night before were not meshing very well, especially since the first ride we rode was the "Boomerang" and it mixed almost everything up. Everything that wasn't mixed up yet was done in the "El Toro" - a spinning ride I would compare to the Scrambler in the states. We had some team activities until 3 PM then we were able to venture around the park on our own or leave at 3 and of course we went and rode more rides including a couple fun water rides. The last ride we rode was again the Boomerang and we immediately regretted that decision....
3) The oldest guy in the community who was telling stories of drinking a whole crate of beer during a project go-live celebration Cantus. (see earlier post last November titled "Koln" for a description of a Cantus, or google it).
So literally, everytime a waiter or waitress came by, someone at our table was ordering a round of drinks for the table. I think at least 2 times we stole another table's order from a waiter that was walking by. After dinner a quiz team building event (which we got 2nd in, thank you smartphones) we had an open bar in the hotel until 1 AM. Then the fun began because everyone headed out to the one open bar in Ieper. This bar had shelves and shelved stocked full of glasses and glasses and by the end of the night they were completely gone. We had to start re-using some because they couldn't clean them fast enough. Probably had to do with people keep ordering "meters of beer."
That's not me by the way!
That's how much damage was done. I got in bed around 4:30 AM and there were still a decent group still at the bar when I left. On Friday we had 4 hours of meetings and presentations and then went to Bellawaerde Park - a theme park and half zoo which was a ton of fun. However, the intense heat and the night before were not meshing very well, especially since the first ride we rode was the "Boomerang" and it mixed almost everything up. Everything that wasn't mixed up yet was done in the "El Toro" - a spinning ride I would compare to the Scrambler in the states. We had some team activities until 3 PM then we were able to venture around the park on our own or leave at 3 and of course we went and rode more rides including a couple fun water rides. The last ride we rode was again the Boomerang and we immediately regretted that decision....
Captions: Top - Me and Meter Beer Guy out front
Middle - The Innocent Looking Boomerang - trust me, way worse than it looks!
Bottom - Me and the Park Mascot! (he doesn't like it when you pull his tail...)
Middle - The Innocent Looking Boomerang - trust me, way worse than it looks!
Bottom - Me and the Park Mascot! (he doesn't like it when you pull his tail...)
No comments:
Post a Comment