Now that I am armed with a small Dutch vocabulary I'm keen to practice. However, I'm risking boring the poor cleaner at work to death with my extremely limited range of questions. Instead I've resorted to the mute approach; I listen in to people's conversations on trains in the hope that I'll understand. Today I listened to one woman talk at length. Unfortunately the only words that I managed to catch were 'Walter Raleigh', 'Small House' and 'Two Cucumbers'.
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Monday, October 27, 2003
Strange Soundtracks
I was doing a relaxation massage treatment last friday, creating a soothing ambiance and allowing my client to drift into a lovely sleep... when the sound of 'Smack My Bitch Up' came thundering through the partition wall that separates the treatment room from the gym. It made a nice change from those awful whale noises/pan pipe/synthesized wave sounds that some people insist on playing when they massage, but the less-than-mellifluous vocal qualities of Keith Flint isn't the most obvious accompaniment.
More musical irony came on Saturday when I flew to the UK for a friend's wedding. During the signing of the registers they played the theme tune to the Mr. Men.
It was a bit of a mad dash to the wedding. I arrived two minutes ahead of the bride. I just had time to sling on my good shoes in the car park, grab a camera from the boot and make a run for it. All-in-all it was a lovely weekend though. The wedding was in the New Forest in a beautiful country house, I got to see England in its Autumnal glory, drink champagne on the lawns and dance to Tom Jones' 'Sex Bomb' with my mum (yet more musical irony).
More musical irony came on Saturday when I flew to the UK for a friend's wedding. During the signing of the registers they played the theme tune to the Mr. Men.
It was a bit of a mad dash to the wedding. I arrived two minutes ahead of the bride. I just had time to sling on my good shoes in the car park, grab a camera from the boot and make a run for it. All-in-all it was a lovely weekend though. The wedding was in the New Forest in a beautiful country house, I got to see England in its Autumnal glory, drink champagne on the lawns and dance to Tom Jones' 'Sex Bomb' with my mum (yet more musical irony).
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
Sneeze and Sleaze
I was in the UK last weekend and during my stay I went to a friend's Hen Do in Portsmouth. This can best be described as a day of contrasts, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous.
The sublime... well, we spent the day in a spa, de-toxing ourselves in preparation for a bit of alcohol-based toxification during the evening to come. One of the 'treats' that I chose was a session in a flotation tank. I had a whole hour to float effortlessly in the buoyant water contained in a little pitch-black chamber. The sensation was pretty pleasant, apart from the fact that about 20 minutes into the session I started to sneeze and then rubbed my eyes (forgetting about the high salt content of the water). This didn't really aid the whole sensory-deprivation experience.
The ridiculous.... this was provided during our evening meal by our waiter, Rod. Now, Rod was quite a character. Despite looking like he was pushing 50 he fancied himself as a bit of a Dream Boy. He was wearing a white shirt unbuttoned to his navel (revealing his fake tan) and white mesh trousers over a white thong. As we reached the dessert course he decided to stand on our table and take off the lot (and I mean the lot). As if the chocolate ice cream wasn't enough to induce nausea.
The sublime... well, we spent the day in a spa, de-toxing ourselves in preparation for a bit of alcohol-based toxification during the evening to come. One of the 'treats' that I chose was a session in a flotation tank. I had a whole hour to float effortlessly in the buoyant water contained in a little pitch-black chamber. The sensation was pretty pleasant, apart from the fact that about 20 minutes into the session I started to sneeze and then rubbed my eyes (forgetting about the high salt content of the water). This didn't really aid the whole sensory-deprivation experience.
The ridiculous.... this was provided during our evening meal by our waiter, Rod. Now, Rod was quite a character. Despite looking like he was pushing 50 he fancied himself as a bit of a Dream Boy. He was wearing a white shirt unbuttoned to his navel (revealing his fake tan) and white mesh trousers over a white thong. As we reached the dessert course he decided to stand on our table and take off the lot (and I mean the lot). As if the chocolate ice cream wasn't enough to induce nausea.
Not what you would call fluent, but getting there...
I apologise for my lack of blogness recently. It's all gone a little bit mad over the past weeks and I've barely had time to record it all.
The Dutch course passed in an ogenblik (one of my newly acquired words... a moment). I can't believe that the last lesson is on Friday. I'm going to miss the classes, but not the long hours spent ploughing through the homework after late shifts at work. However, I was rewarded for my hard work this morning when I got a comfortable pass mark in my exam and chocolate from my teacher!
I can now officially speak Dutch. I am proud to announce that I had my first conversation with a 'real' person today (albeit an extremely disjointed one). My chosen guinea pig was the cleaner from work. I had the choice between Dutch and Moroccan, and I guessed that the former would be slightly more productive.
The Dutch course passed in an ogenblik (one of my newly acquired words... a moment). I can't believe that the last lesson is on Friday. I'm going to miss the classes, but not the long hours spent ploughing through the homework after late shifts at work. However, I was rewarded for my hard work this morning when I got a comfortable pass mark in my exam and chocolate from my teacher!
I can now officially speak Dutch. I am proud to announce that I had my first conversation with a 'real' person today (albeit an extremely disjointed one). My chosen guinea pig was the cleaner from work. I had the choice between Dutch and Moroccan, and I guessed that the former would be slightly more productive.
Monday, October 13, 2003
Loud Mouse in My House
You've heard of the song 'A Mouse Lived in a Windmill in Old Amsterdam'? Well I think that mouse is now 'living in my apartment in old Zaandam'... and is keeping me awake at night. In fact, by the sound of it, it's got its clogs on.
Sunday, October 12, 2003
Wasting my cash
Having ten minutes to spare at Centraal Station when waiting to meet friends today, I decided to have some passport photos taken for my new travel pass.
I scrambled around for four Euros in change, put them in the machine, opted for the 'four passport photos' button and sat down to wait. After a minute I realised this wasn't going to work, so I started pressing various buttons to try to find the 'give me my money back' option. The Dutch on-screen instructions were lost on me (despite having spent most of my waking hours over the past two weeks buried in 'Learn Dutch' text books. ) After hitting a few random buttons I decided to give up and try to find someone to give me a refund. As I stood up from stool the machine started to flash.
Five minutes later I was rewarded with four 'fun photo stickers'. Framed with hearts, flowers, little cupids and the words 'I love you' were four little pictures of my chest. Not sure that I'll be using those.
I scrambled around for four Euros in change, put them in the machine, opted for the 'four passport photos' button and sat down to wait. After a minute I realised this wasn't going to work, so I started pressing various buttons to try to find the 'give me my money back' option. The Dutch on-screen instructions were lost on me (despite having spent most of my waking hours over the past two weeks buried in 'Learn Dutch' text books. ) After hitting a few random buttons I decided to give up and try to find someone to give me a refund. As I stood up from stool the machine started to flash.
Five minutes later I was rewarded with four 'fun photo stickers'. Framed with hearts, flowers, little cupids and the words 'I love you' were four little pictures of my chest. Not sure that I'll be using those.
Saturday, October 11, 2003
Swanky New Pad
I'm very excited! I was hit by a bit of a bombshell earlier this week, when my flatmate told me that she was moving out in December. I can't afford to keep the place on by myself and didn't fancy being homeless just in time for Christmas, so I started making enquiries. On the positive side, t's just the excuse that I need to move into town - Zaandam is OK but it's just NOT Amsterdam.
By some miracle I've managed to find the perfect solution. A friend from work is going off travelling from December 'til March so she's asked me to take on her lovely apartment in town. Can't believe my luck. I will cut my travel time by hours per day, have my own lovely big space, a garden and even BBC television!! They're going to have to tear me out of there in March - I'll be clinging to the furniture by my fingernails....
Time to go and rescue my abandoned bike. Hope it's not been cleared by the police (they go round and cut bikes off railings from time to time to stop the place being taken over by rusty bicycles). Apparently they are worried that someone will plant a bomb in one. Seems like Mission Impossible to me.
By some miracle I've managed to find the perfect solution. A friend from work is going off travelling from December 'til March so she's asked me to take on her lovely apartment in town. Can't believe my luck. I will cut my travel time by hours per day, have my own lovely big space, a garden and even BBC television!! They're going to have to tear me out of there in March - I'll be clinging to the furniture by my fingernails....
Time to go and rescue my abandoned bike. Hope it's not been cleared by the police (they go round and cut bikes off railings from time to time to stop the place being taken over by rusty bicycles). Apparently they are worried that someone will plant a bomb in one. Seems like Mission Impossible to me.
Sunday, October 05, 2003
Party Time Again
Some friends from work invited me to a housewarming/birthday party last night out in West Amsterdam.
Another cool apartment to hang out in and the chance to drink too much rode wijn (red wine) and talk nonsense! I discussed the rules of pig hockey with a Dutch farmer, mourned the tragic decline of Millie Vannillie with a guy in a pink jumper from Glasgow and ate far too many cheese cubes/pineapple chunks on sticks.
Unfortunately I had to run Cinderella-like at midnight to catch the last 'pumpkin' tram back to Centraal in order to get the notorious 1:06 train to Zaandam. I'm sure I wasn't hallucinating when I noticed that I was sharing the carriage with a man dressed as a giant turtle (complete with green face and large shell). He was shortly joined by his friends... one dressed as a tiger, another as a lion. There must have been some pretty strange theme parties going on.
Only in Amsterdam.....
Another cool apartment to hang out in and the chance to drink too much rode wijn (red wine) and talk nonsense! I discussed the rules of pig hockey with a Dutch farmer, mourned the tragic decline of Millie Vannillie with a guy in a pink jumper from Glasgow and ate far too many cheese cubes/pineapple chunks on sticks.
Unfortunately I had to run Cinderella-like at midnight to catch the last 'pumpkin' tram back to Centraal in order to get the notorious 1:06 train to Zaandam. I'm sure I wasn't hallucinating when I noticed that I was sharing the carriage with a man dressed as a giant turtle (complete with green face and large shell). He was shortly joined by his friends... one dressed as a tiger, another as a lion. There must have been some pretty strange theme parties going on.
Only in Amsterdam.....
A Run in the Rain
I spent yesterday afternoon running in Vondelpark with some friends I met at the speed date event.
By the time I arrived at the park I was already exhausted. My bike tyre decided to explode with a defeaning bang en route, causing the whole street to jump as if a gun had been fired. I ended up having to abandon my poor bike in its sorry state on the street and run the rest of the way.
The guys I ran with (Steven who is Dutch and Mike who is Danish) were both lovely. Steven had standard-issue lengthy Dutch legs so the pace he set was pretty hard to keep up with. After 5km or so I had to drop back behind them for a final leisurely lap, but I think I managed without pretty well, especially considering we all got soaked in a bit of a downpour.
At the end of lap three we met for a couple of well-deserved hot chocolates in the cozy warmth of Cafe Vertigo (the Hitchcock reference is due to the fact that it's attached to the Film Museum in the park). We sat slowly steaming and chatting. It looks like this may be the start of a regular little running club!
By the time I arrived at the park I was already exhausted. My bike tyre decided to explode with a defeaning bang en route, causing the whole street to jump as if a gun had been fired. I ended up having to abandon my poor bike in its sorry state on the street and run the rest of the way.
The guys I ran with (Steven who is Dutch and Mike who is Danish) were both lovely. Steven had standard-issue lengthy Dutch legs so the pace he set was pretty hard to keep up with. After 5km or so I had to drop back behind them for a final leisurely lap, but I think I managed without pretty well, especially considering we all got soaked in a bit of a downpour.
At the end of lap three we met for a couple of well-deserved hot chocolates in the cozy warmth of Cafe Vertigo (the Hitchcock reference is due to the fact that it's attached to the Film Museum in the park). We sat slowly steaming and chatting. It looks like this may be the start of a regular little running club!
Essential Dutch for Survival
My Dutch lessons have got off to a great start, but are a little hard on the brain.
Getting my head around the inverted word order has been a bit challenging (for example, instead of saying 'on Saturday I'm going to make an apple tart' they say 'I'm going on Saturday an apple tart to make').
So far a few essential phrases that I have acquired are:
Ik heb trek in een lekker broodje - I just fancy a tastie sarnie
Jij bent erg knap, wat is je telefoonummer? - You are very handsome, what is your telephone number?
Waarom draag je dat kippenpak? - Why are you wearing that chicken suit?
Getting my head around the inverted word order has been a bit challenging (for example, instead of saying 'on Saturday I'm going to make an apple tart' they say 'I'm going on Saturday an apple tart to make').
So far a few essential phrases that I have acquired are:
Ik heb trek in een lekker broodje - I just fancy a tastie sarnie
Jij bent erg knap, wat is je telefoonummer? - You are very handsome, what is your telephone number?
Waarom draag je dat kippenpak? - Why are you wearing that chicken suit?
Saturday, October 04, 2003
Blogless...
For a while there I was blogless.
Our broadband connection went a bit tricky over the past couple of days, but due to my heroic flatmate Angie and her several frustrating hours on the phone to technical support we are fully connected again. Phew.
I haven't had a moment to myself this week as I've been flying backwards and forwards between Dutch lessons and work so when I've finally been getting to bed I've been totally exhausted. However, I promise to be more blog-active in the next couple of days. I've got another exciting weekend ahead - parties, dates, running, trips to Utrecht...
Will tell you all about it (and what I've been learning in Dutch) later.
Our broadband connection went a bit tricky over the past couple of days, but due to my heroic flatmate Angie and her several frustrating hours on the phone to technical support we are fully connected again. Phew.
I haven't had a moment to myself this week as I've been flying backwards and forwards between Dutch lessons and work so when I've finally been getting to bed I've been totally exhausted. However, I promise to be more blog-active in the next couple of days. I've got another exciting weekend ahead - parties, dates, running, trips to Utrecht...
Will tell you all about it (and what I've been learning in Dutch) later.
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