A real group effort. 
@bubke's phone, button pushing by 
@soyrosa, commentary by 
@pundito. It was a funny moment which made it easy to all be smiling in this shot :D
Is this thing even on? How do we frame this picture? Where is the self-timer? How does the self-timer work? Oh there it is! We have 5 seconds guys - SMILE!
NewSteem is only a few days old and the first meet-up already happened in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. A very last-minute call of mine on Wednesday led to a small group of people drinking beers and eating snacks in the center of the city. On a very sunny day this is not a bad thing to do... But of course everything will be even better with the right company.
The last-minute call came from a spontaneous interaction I had with @bubke who is from Belgium but living in India - now for a month in Europe but leaving again next Thursday, it led me to the idea to try to get a few people together as it won't happen often we have this amazing Steemians so close to us!
I met him shortly during SteemFest3 in Krakow, but it was only right after the Bowling Evening and @bubke had a few too many cocktails... So he didn't even remember we met! Well, I can't stay mad at a drunk man for long, and we made up for the short meeting last November by having hours and hours of chats on a sunny terrace with some lovely Gouden Carolus and other awesome beers (like a very good Jopen 0.3% IPA - these low-/no-alcohol beers are getting better and better!)
Even though @bubke doesn't write many posts, don't underestimate that he is heavily involved with Steem in many ways: from building a Steem Village in India to investing STEEM as he sees it as a great long-term investment to being super happy with 
@holger80's beempy as it gives him (and possibly many many others!) the opportunity to build on/for Steem.
Full of ideas and stories and enthusiasm and a real love for Steem I can't be happier we had some time to connect today. Thank you for traveling all the way to Rotterdam and back in one day @bubke!
Then there was 
@buzzbeergeek, the Croat living in The Netherlands nowadays, who met up for a beer as that's basically his passion in life. Very very bravely he entered the conversation in Dutch - a language he is still learning. Now that can't have been easy! @bubke speaking with a Flemish accent, @pundito with a (slight, but still) German accent and me probably speaking way to quickly as Dutch is my mother tongue...
Not an official #beersturday entry, I'm just not in the habit to take photos of the beers I drink, but I did love all these logos on the wall at our Meet-Up location, so I ofcourse had to think of 
@detlev the #beerlover
We almost were able to meet 
@artakush as well, but damn, that guy can party! His hangover was too severe to drink with us - will have to make our next meet-up even more at the beginning of the weekend so we are the first to have drinks with him and he can't cancel on us :D
And last but not least, dear @pundito, who I met as a young green Steemians months ago when he was still nervous about meeting Steemians as 'I was the first one he would ever meet' - and now he's there every time <3 I drove with him and 
@brittandjosie to Aachen for @detlev's epic meet-ups a few months ago, and I can count on him to be available for a beer and a chat and some critical questions about Steem always... He loves Steem, and despite some severe doubts about HF21/22, he's always here, investing and growing his presence on Steem and building community. As that really is what these meet-ups are about.
A small but sweet meet-up, one to treasure! I loved having beers with The Guys and can't wait for a next gathering - they are fun to attend and organize, whether they are 1:1 meet-ups or big events like SteemFest, I always come home knowing Steemians are the best kind of people.
I'll plan the next one a few weeks in advance again so that everyone can be there: 
@roelandp who tried but was not able to move his plans at this last minute, 
@misslasvegas who might be able to plan her stay in The Netherlands around that date, and of course all the people who were there on the earlier meet-ups will be able to join as well <3
How about you? Can you easily attend Steem meet-ups were you live? If not, are you thinking of maybe organizing one? I' the worst organizer but have never regretted setting a date and a time for Steem Meet-ups - maybe you would love it too. CHEERS!
