Editing CS Newsletter for the Netherlands 2010.2 (section)

==past==

===Flash Mobs in the Netherlands===

Flash mobs have been taking over cities all over the world since around 2003, though until recently they
were not common in the Netherlands. A flash mob
is a (large) group of people who assemble suddenly in a
public place, perform an unusual act for a brief period
of time, and then just leave again. At the first ever
recorded flash mob 150 people arrived at a flooring
shop, claimed to live together in a warehouse and
showed interest in buying the same rug. Exactly 10
minutes later the crowd suddenly disappeared.

Reading about this first flash mob inspired me to
research the phenomenon. As I sat captivated by videos
of flash mobs on Youtube, the idea of organizing one in
my home city became increasingly exciting. Admittedly
it took a bit of work, but within a few weeks eager
participants were signing up on CouchSurfing, Hyves and
Facebook.

The afternoon went off without a hitch. At the
appointed time on Saturday 20th February 2010 the
signal was given. CouchSurfers ran out of shops, jumped
up from benches, suddenly stopped window shopping, and
got down on their knees and fanatically [http://crystalshard.net/test/flashmob.jpg worshiped] a
small statue in the busy shopping area of Rotterdam.
Passers by looked on with confusion and surprise, as
the mob disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.
You can find “Worship the Sock Bears” on Youtube.
Our after party proved highly successful as
Rotterdam’s Tiki Bar kindly agreed to open early for
us.

If you’ve ever been part of a flash mob you’ll know
the immense amount of fun involved. If you haven’t
yet, don’t fear, there are many more entertaining
events looming on the horizon. On Saturday 3rd April at
15:00 there will be massive pillow fights worldwide!
The pillows of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, along with over
120 other cities will be celebrating together as never
before. Interested? Check out our [http://www.couchsurfing.org/group.html?gid=26365 group]

[http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/spanglyhaze/ Hazel]

===CouchSurfers’ Music Exchange: Different cultures different music styles===

During my Australasian half-year-in-between-jobs I’ve
encountered it several times: backpackers I randomly
met that have the best suggestions of music I might
like after listening to some of my stuff on my iPod. Of
course you’re somewhere dodgy and that’s exactly
the point where you are being pushed into another
rundown bus and you forget to write down the artists
and titles of the songs your musical muse told you. You
tell yourself you’ll remember it till you find pen
and paper. An hour later you completely forget about
it.

That’s how the idea of the [http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=58591 Couchsurfers’ Music Exchange] started: it’s a meeting where CS'ers 
listen to other CS’ers' music and give “if you like this you
might also like”-type of suggestions. (besides
writing down some tracks themselves, of course). To
keep it civilized nothing is actually copied on the
spot (except for some open source tracks).
The first meeting took place the 1st of March at the
“La Place” on the top floor of the OBA (library)
near Amsterdam Central. A happy and culturally diverse
group of around 15 people brought their laptops, iPods,
headphones and hard drives to share their taste in
music. A combination of hip-hop, electro, lounge,
classical music, Dutch music and bollywood was the
outcome. The atmosphere was open and relaxed; a
beautiful start of a monthly little festival of music
lovers.

The next one will be on the 18th of April at the
same spot. Keep an eye on the CouchSurfing [http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=58591 events
calendar] for more info. 

[http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/victorious_e/ Victor]

===Bowling meetings===

One year ago exactly, Jeroen and Ellen organized the first Eindhoven Bowling Meet. This successful meet has brought Eindhoven CS back to life after it kind of died. 

One year and many meets later in Eindhoven, we decided to have another Bowling Meet! We arranged to meet at 8pm, in front the entrance of Mega Bowling. Lots of ‘familiar’ faces, but a lot of unknown ones as well, came to this event and there were even some international guests. It was a nice mix of people, devided in four lanes.

One after the next, the bowling balls were launched and it became clear who had the most talent –and who was there just for fun-. The music was best to be described as ‘old skool 90s’. And of course we saw some bloopers like throwing the ball backwards or sliding along with it.. but in the end the aim of the night was to have a good time.. And so we did! Everyone went home happily afterward. See you all at the next Eindhoven Meeting!



[http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/abeyholland/ Astrid]

===Happy times in Zwollywood - Sardines===

What do you do when you're with over 10 CouchSurfers in a abandoned school (which will be demolished in 2 weeks) and because it is [http://www.earthhour.org/ Earth Hour] you just turned off all the lights?

Answer: Sardines!

Sardines is reversed hide and seek; one person hides and the rest tries to find him/her. When you've found the person that is hiding you get next to this person untill you've reached the point that one person is looking for everybody.

Both the location and the group of CouchSurfers appeared to be perfect for this game. We've been hiding under the sink, under chairs and even in the shower of the teachers' dressing room in the gym of the school. In the end we got so good that we even managed to let somebody sneak out and come back with chips. 

The next step: Sardines on Saturday afternoon on [http://www.couchsurfing.org/group_read.html?gid=1348&post=5356152 Utrecht Train Station]

[http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs515.snc3/27054_108733015822075_100000561303728_153097_5544008_n.jpg picture1],
[http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs495.ash1/27054_108732965822080_100000561303728_153087_2414733_n.jpg picture2], [http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs515.snc3/27054_108732989155411_100000561303728_153092_296049_n.jpg picture3], [http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs495.ash1/27054_108732982488745_100000561303728_153091_1916225_n.jpg picture4]


[http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/kilgoretrout/ Jasper]