Back in the boat

Mar
6
Submitted by XL-Network on Sun, 2011-03-06 22:23

Saturday started as usual with a ride to the rowing club. Just two more weeks and we're rowing 8 kilometers on the Amstel river in Amsterdam. I wonder how it'll go. After the rowing I quickly went on my way to the Ligfietsgarage Groningen for the test-drive-day. I felt like taking a look there. Afterwards I rushed home for a quick shower and some diner.

Al 5 PM everyone who had signed up for 'getting back into the boat' training was expected at the Kardinge swimming pool. They had placed three skiffs in the water so you can practice getting back into the boat in a warm and clean environment. I suspected that I would be good at this. I'm agile, strong, handy and have a good sense of balance. Getting into the boat was a piece of cake. But there were a number of other exercises. Standing in the boat and then release the oars. You can have one oar seeking support on the side of the boat while you shift you weight to the other side. A bit more difficult is placing the oars next to the boat so you won't have any support. All 'stunts' where filmed and can be viewed below (together with some photos).

After I was all dried up and dressed I rushed to the USVA because our improv theater group was going to perform a "Meanwhile in the kitchen". A type of story where a director (someone from our group) would create a scene with a number of players, type of game and perhaps a subject. After that it's time to connect all the loose scenes into a big story. Overall that worked out quite good and the (sold out) room with people enjoyed the evening very much (almost as much as the players did). And what happened that evening? A loving relationship between Barend (a macon working on the reconstruction after the war) and his sergeant, Tatjana Šimić and Frank who were both looking for 'the one', a brother and sister (and the wife of the brother) who thought very highly of Geert Wilders and some other scenes about Adam and Eve, the chalk caves in Limburg (where they found coal) and a Mexican guitar player who played at the funeral of the mother of the brother and sister. All in all a super night to remember.