Have you ever heard that 6 degrees of separation theory? The first time I've heard about it is on a tv show here. They tried showing about that theory of ...
All living things and everything else in the world is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world, so that a chain of "a friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. source
What on earth does this have to do with this article? Somehow, I get to experience it on my hope that I find Steemians in Arnhem. I've published my post about Arnhem the Bitcoin City a long time ago in the hope that if there is any Steemian living in here, we could meet up, brainstorm and work together with Steemiting. I had no luck for some time even though I published about me hanging out in Kaldi in the hope that someone would read that and go there. Maybe it's just my pronoia but something in the universe must have decided to help that hope come true.
Two months ago( I think ..), a week after I joined Steemit I met @favio .. something(1) (I already forgot that Italian Steemian's name so I'm not sure but I suppose it starts with favio) and commented on his Italian texted blog. I don't remember anything anymore about what I wrote back then but from the comment thread I bumped into @razvanelulmarin (2) who commented that the Dutch are going to be meeting up soon in the Steemit chat. So I tailed @razvanelulmarin.
I looked for anyone he follows with an account name that would hint Dutch and one time found @future-food(3) made a post to the trending that lead me to finding @cass(4). I commented on one of @cass' post and there I bumped into @oaldamster (5). @oaldamster was the only one who I actually kept in contact with and he has supported me all through out my journey here.
Later on, I decided to continue tweeting my articles in Steemit and there I bumped into @oaldamster again when he wrote an article mentioning bitkassa. In that article, he mentioned that I referred that to him and actually, @bakeit(6) got to read it and re-tweeted @oaldamster's tweet on that article. Then @bakeit's tweeter account followed me along with her co-founders of bitkassa. I followed them back. I was reading my piled up emails when I saw the email notifications on tweeter saying @bakeit re-tweeted this post. @oaldamster told them that I published this post and they re-tweeted it. I followed them back but didn't really read much of their tweet till @oaldamster re-tweeted a tweet about BTC Burger Meet up. @bakeit (who was at that time hasn't registered yet) and the rest of the founder of bitkassa organized it to encourage BTC pips to meet up at Iveau Burgers and Winebar, eat burger together, mingle and experience how convenient it is to pay with BTC in Arnhem.
I've already experienced that but I thought - give it a try. I hesitated for sometime because I've already used the bitcoin I delegated to my play jar (what is that? I delegate my bitcoin into a few jars - one is for savings to grow more, another is for play - that's when I go out or shop with it or eat out with hub - the play jar was empty!) since I don't eat burgers and hate the thought of that. However, when I checked the menu at Iveau Burgers and Winebar, I saw they serve chicken burger and other things. I could also order organic juices which made me finally decide to attend. Who would have thought that I'd actually meet fellow Arnhemian Steemian @ottodv. There - that 6 degree of separation experience took place that night.
This was actually not the first time they were doing this meet up it's been going on for months as you can see in this page. I will have to convince hub to go with me and ask if he happens to not have an empty bitcoin play jar. Otherwise, we'll have to pay cash - which is also okay.
The truth is I thought of going hoping I could interview @bakeit and company about how they started bitkassa and many other questions I actually made a list of and brought there to make an article of later. Who would have thought that I would actually meet 2 fellow Arnhemian Steemians there? I did ask @bakeit a few questions but not everything on the list I made. I asked her if she'd ever give Steem a chance like she did about BTC and would she ever join Steemit and obviously the answer was
We chatted more about how BTC used to be so cheap and they actually started with it when it hit rocked bottom and somehow I felt like I am in a The Big Short Movie but with a different cast because imagine that they started during the time bitcoin hit rock bottom after soaring way high and now it's soaring way high again - I couldn't dare ask how much their making and how much they have invested. That's why I don't want to undermine Steem, we'll never know, now according to an investor it's going down, perhaps it would take the course of bitcoin some day we just have to give it a try. These days, I try saving Steem and growing my Steem Power because we'll never know some economist genius have once written, the market follows a cycle and it could crash and suddenly soar back high in a certain period of time. Steemit is just a starter in a sense and if you are watching the Dragons Den - then perhaps you have an idea about how things could actually sky rocket with enough support from investors. I think Steemit is just waiting for a bigger breakthrough. Well, I'd rather let the experts here tackle that part .
Let's go back to what happened in that BTC Burger Meet up, we introduced ourselves to each other, chatted a bit and ordered our burgers. I talked about how I got into Steemit, that I started with just the free 7SBD, how I started unnoticed and who supported me and what I write about, how my journey has been mostly positive experiences so far and the many virtual friends I've made off. Obviously, I was sales pitching haha. Why not? It would be more fun if all of us become Steemians since these guys already have information about crypto currency and who knows - wouldn't it be great to imagine someday, Steem might be soaring high as well - shops here would be open in accepting that for payments in Arnhem? Who knows?
Hub and I both asked for a chicken burger with salad while some of them asked for a burger and fries. This is what my chicken burger looked like. I was taken a bit aback when I saw how huge it was because hub and I are not heavy eaters when it comes to dinner. It's a pretty tasty burger but I struggled finishing it because it's pretty much made for big dinner eaters. I had to give hub my salad who was delighted with it.
It's a huge burger ! No, extra large actually!
I just had an organic apple juice for a drink while they all took wine. It's pretty dim in almost every restaurant here in Europe not just the Netherlands so forgive me if my pictures don't appear as clear as they usually do as I only had my Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 edition with me that night and nothing more.
More BTC and Steemit talk between hub and @ottodv and the rest of the gang and they're all done with their food while I was still struggling with mine. I was pretty stuffed that night, I couldn't breathe a bit. A little later, their co-founder of bitkassa arrived and more chatting happens and I finally finished my burger and that's the only time the waiter took our plates away. I find that pretty nice - service wise. In Asia, we never leave the table nor tidy up the dishes unless everyone is done eating so I appreciate that waiter's gesture a great lot. What can I say if you happen to be in Arnhem and like burgers - go to Iveau Burgers and Winebar. Their burger is not only great - the service is also wowza! ( I picked up that line from @richman and I loved that. It's just so perfect for giving compliments to anyone or anything that wowed you.)
In case you decide to pay the place a visit this is what their facade look like. Hub and I passed by it because it was pretty dark we didn't notice the sign on their glass window. We kept walking in search for it till we ended up in Kaldi and realized we've passed by it since the numbers on each doors said we needed to go back.
It's not just burger you could pay with BTC in Iveau, they also serve dessert and though that night was pretty cold hub decided to treat me with the ice cream of the house. It's a trio ice cream of mango, cliche and vanilla topped with red berries and raspberries on the side.
I love the fact that it has red berries in it since am not a fan of sugary food. I'm near 40 and my palate is pretty sensitive to sugar. Hub and I just shared it since I am lactose intolerant I'd vomit with too much of it. It was freaking delicious and the acidity of the red berries added to the yum factor in the tongue. I was too focused enjoying it I forgot about my cappuccino - which was actually pretty strong I asked hub to help me empty my cup.
More talks and I just listened most of the time when the bubbly @pejekel finally showed up. I thought it was pretty late and Iveau Burgers and Winebar, was about to close plus we're all done eating so I thought she's missed out but I was wrong. Turned out this very energetic bubbly person is another Steemian who hasn't started blogging yet and I've told her she should already, shared more of my Steemit experience and talked about what she does more. Yes, She out-talked me so I wonder why on earth @pejekel is still not blogging yet? She had a glass of wine and talked with me some more and then with the rest then the gang told us we're off to the next place. Surprise about it, I wonder whether we'd go with them since hub has to work the next day. The gang are just so good a company so we went with them to the next stop.
We were thinking to check out Barleys' but unfortunately they haven't set up for BTC payment yet.
So off we headed for Stout meaning naughty in English.
We got to Stout and we almost had the whole place to ouselves and wondered whether we should stay outside since they also have a heating.
They've decided it was too cold and I couldn't agree more so they went in while I took a quick selfie with the sign that says they accept BTC for payments.
More selfies inside and we started to order drinks. Stout caters for non alcoholic customers. Aside from juice they have tea ;). Not to mention food that's gluten free, how cool is that actually? And you can pay with BTC!
The men talked some more, we made lols and more lols when suddenly someone near the bar started singing. Oh migosh!!! Stout has Karafun on Wednesday night! Both @bakeit and I were gushing and telling each other we only sing in the showers ha ha.
This is what their faces looked like when we went in front of the screen. We braved ourselves singing since we had the place almost to ourselves.
But hey, it was not very crowded so I pushed the bubbly @pejekel to ask the dj who was singing for a song. I actually approached her first but she was singing and I begged whether I could sing with her but she refused so I went back to our group and she tailed me saying I should check out Karafun and find a song in their list that I want to sing.
I also made these gifs myself at Makeagif.com . Thanks to @cynetyc for writing it down on his "Let's Make An Omellete Post".
We've hit it off since we're actually in the same age bracket - all of us are on the late 30s. More songs and I noticed they actually have a dart board, too. I wanted to play with hub but hey, Karafun really spells FUN so I thought - Nah ~~, next time. Anyway, I already know what's in store in Stout.
At almost 12, hub had to pull me out as we went there by bus. We didn't expect it to be this late so we didn't go by car. If only. We bid the guys goodbye and @ottodv told me they're planning to do something. This was it.
So, if you happen to be in Arnhem or anywhere near it or planning to go travel abroad and be early on the Steemfest and want to use BTC for shopping check out this article to find out what Arnhem has in store for any shoppers who'd like to use BTC, better yet ... check out bitkassa.
We'll be doing this meet up on a monthly basis and we'd be brainstorming not just about BTC and cryptocurrency but about Steemit as well so if you feel like joining us Netherlands, you're all welcome!
I took each picture with my Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 edition.
Normally, I blog posts about cooking, gardening and photography and if you happen to be interested in all of those, too .