Observations: Snow is sneaky and tricky... it wants you to fall and when you do, the illusion it has created that its soft and white and fluffy is shattered by its compacted, icy reality!!!
Mistakes: falling off my bike in the snow ... straight onto my butt! (didn't see that one coming did ya?!) not catching the bus in the monring (but it wasn't snowing then!!), not reading the weather forecast which said "snow falls on Thursday" until I got home... after falling :(
Mini victories: not breaking anything (me, the bike or the laptop in my backpack!!), not too many people seeing, not swearing too much, getting back on the 'horse' and making it home in one piece ... eventually!
Dutch I've learned: lot's apparently! had our final test for Dutch class tonight, an aural. actually went really well. I paired up with another girl from australia and we just tried to fit as many funny words and lame jokes in dutch as we could into our 10 minute dialoge. success! we zijn uitstekend!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Days 145 to 147 - Madriiiizzzz
In an act of pure insanity, I decided after seeing a piece on the news about an interesting photography exhibition being held in Madrid, that I wanted to visit the Spanish capital... asap. So after convincing Scottish Kathleen she should celebrate her 20th birthday in Madrid met mij we booked our tickets and were off to sort-of-Sunny Spain (where thankfully no rain fell on the plains during our visit).
However, our good luck stopped there. We were due to fly out of Eindhoven (an hour from Maastricht by train) at 9.15am and arrive in Madrid at midday. Everything ran like clockwork getting to the airport (despite having to get up at 4.30am!!!) and then the fog descended ... literally. We couldn't see two feet past the airport windows ... we weren't going anywher :( eventually the airport PA system told us in Dutch (which I actually kind of understood) and then English that we would he put on buses and sent to another airport ... in Germany! So we were herded like cattle outside to wait for about an hour in the freezing temperatures for coaches to take us about an hour and a half in the wrong direction to Dusseldorf airport. By the time we arrived there it was about the time we should have been landing in Madrid. NOT HAPPY JAN!
The influx of unexpected passengers at sleepy little Dusseldorf airport was not dealt with well. The result - a jam packed boarding lounge, mass confusion, more delays and eventual panic. It actually got a bit scary at one point as people started shoving and shouting and airport staff started closing security doors to keep the tired, hungry, grumpy masses in check. And the Ryan Air staff were USELESS. I'm sorry, I know it would have been a tough day for them but they lived up to their reputation as an unreliable airline by not even being able to find out what gate we were supposed to go to! Regardless, we eventually took off for Madrid at about 3.30pm and arrived around 6pm.
Stepping off the plane it was immediately warmer!! A turn around of probably 20C, we walked into 16C temperatures and it never dropped below 9C while we were there. What a pleasure not to have to wear gloves, a hat or thick scarves ... and only one pair of tights!! Bliss (although of course it was the complete opposite coming home which was so depressing). Although we'd missed 6 hours of tourist time we resolved to make the most of what we had left and headed straight for the nearest tapas bar, where we promptly ordered (in a mix of Kathleen's high-school Spanish and my pointing gestures) mojitos and a plate of the tastiest chorizo I've ever chewed. Next was 6 euro paella (platefuls that could feed an army each) and our first Sangria at a joint recommended by our hostel. It didn't disappoint, and the whole meal was watched over by a giant stuffed bull's head.
With full stomachs, we set off to wander the streets. The Christmas lights there put Aachen and Maastricht to shame. Every street was choccas with fairy lights in all patterns and colours, dangling, chaped into globes and, our favourite, the designer red and green enormous christmas tree in the puerta de la sol square. Also, there were people everywhere - another novelty compared to Maastricht. And shops were open. And it was "warm" enough to just be able to 'wandel' as the Dutch say (loosely translated means wandering with no real purpose except maybe to get food at some stage!) And indeed we did. Early on we stopped at THE COOLEST place I've ever been to have a drink. It was like a butcher/small goods store, bar and restaurant in one. Apparently they're everywhere in Madrid but we were genuinely amazed. Full of locals, including old and young, these places serve really cheap but really good sangria, beer and tapas at a bar smack in the middle of what would otherwise look like a shop. Hanging all around are legs of ham while the glass cabinets showcase cheeses, sausages and cured meats and even desserts! Bizarre... Later we capped off our night with churros and hot chocolate as pseudo birthday cake for Kathleen at midnight, and an extremely strong Spanish gin and fanta (that's a new one... but surprisingly tasty)
The next morning it was up and at 'em (after a delicious croissant for breakfast at the hostel - better than any i had in france) to visit the 100 Years of Vanity Fair photography exhibition - our raison d'etre in Madrid (to begin with anyway). The images were beautiful, quirky, shocking, old, new, colour and black and white. It was a wonderful hour spent just wandering from frame to frame peering at the famous people who have been captured by the influential magazine. It was also interesting to consider the images outside of the context of the stories they would have originally accompanied.
By the time we were done it was about midday so we headed to Plaza Mayor where Madrid's excuse for Christmas Markets were being held. While the city excels at Chrissie lights, their markets were a bit laughable in comparison to Aachen. Although all the kids and sickeningly in-love couples were strutting around in these cute reindeer hats or crazy coloured wigs! After a spot of obligatory tourist shopping it was time for tapas lunch. We scored a bargain - 17 euro lunch for drinks, calamari, ham/potato croquette things and fried potatos with chilly sauce. They were all the things we saw they locals eating and seemed to be really popular. Oddly, the calamari came in a short baguette type roll ... everyone was eating it like that, must be a local treat. But I couldn't bring myself to so I ate the calamari first, then some of the bread.
What happened next is truly the most "local" thing I've ever done in a foreign city... we went back to the hostel for a siesta!!! Really. It was about 2.30pm so we popped back to the room for a quick nap before our planned walking tour. Just before we nodded of a Spanish girl came into our hostel room and hopped into bed too!! When in Spain... We awoke refreshed and ready to traipse parts of the city we didn't know existed, learning that the bear and the berry tree and the neptune fountain are symbols of madrid, there were lots of important kings who built stuff in madrids history and the writer's quarter is where all the cool cats lived (and some other more informative facts I've momentarily forgotten!). After walking for an hour and a half we were in need of refreshment so we headed back to our favourite new local, the butcher/bar for a cheeky sangria on the run. This tided us over til we stumbled across a classy indoor food market selling everything from raw produce to artuflly created sweets. Wanting to keep the local theme running we chose creme catalan for a pre-dinner dessert! This gave us the necessary energy to trek to the end of a very long main road to see the Royal Palace all lit up at night.
UFO-like Christmas lights at Plaza Mayor Christmas Markets
Unfortunately, after a wonderful and jam-packed 24 hours our travel luck turned sour again :(
We had found a place that was supposed to have a flamenco show on that night and chowed down some less than desirable spanish fast food equivalent in order to make the show in time, only to find out it wasn't on that night afterall!!! Although we tried to make the most of it by following up with an ice cream for dessert (not really possible or desirable in freezing maastricht) and felt at least satisfied that we'd adhered to Spanish time by eating after 9pm.
However, our good luck stopped there. We were due to fly out of Eindhoven (an hour from Maastricht by train) at 9.15am and arrive in Madrid at midday. Everything ran like clockwork getting to the airport (despite having to get up at 4.30am!!!) and then the fog descended ... literally. We couldn't see two feet past the airport windows ... we weren't going anywher :( eventually the airport PA system told us in Dutch (which I actually kind of understood) and then English that we would he put on buses and sent to another airport ... in Germany! So we were herded like cattle outside to wait for about an hour in the freezing temperatures for coaches to take us about an hour and a half in the wrong direction to Dusseldorf airport. By the time we arrived there it was about the time we should have been landing in Madrid. NOT HAPPY JAN!
waiting for the buses at eindhoven airport
The decorative atrium in our hostel
Stepping off the plane it was immediately warmer!! A turn around of probably 20C, we walked into 16C temperatures and it never dropped below 9C while we were there. What a pleasure not to have to wear gloves, a hat or thick scarves ... and only one pair of tights!! Bliss (although of course it was the complete opposite coming home which was so depressing). Although we'd missed 6 hours of tourist time we resolved to make the most of what we had left and headed straight for the nearest tapas bar, where we promptly ordered (in a mix of Kathleen's high-school Spanish and my pointing gestures) mojitos and a plate of the tastiest chorizo I've ever chewed. Next was 6 euro paella (platefuls that could feed an army each) and our first Sangria at a joint recommended by our hostel. It didn't disappoint, and the whole meal was watched over by a giant stuffed bull's head.
With full stomachs, we set off to wander the streets. The Christmas lights there put Aachen and Maastricht to shame. Every street was choccas with fairy lights in all patterns and colours, dangling, chaped into globes and, our favourite, the designer red and green enormous christmas tree in the puerta de la sol square. Also, there were people everywhere - another novelty compared to Maastricht. And shops were open. And it was "warm" enough to just be able to 'wandel' as the Dutch say (loosely translated means wandering with no real purpose except maybe to get food at some stage!) And indeed we did. Early on we stopped at THE COOLEST place I've ever been to have a drink. It was like a butcher/small goods store, bar and restaurant in one. Apparently they're everywhere in Madrid but we were genuinely amazed. Full of locals, including old and young, these places serve really cheap but really good sangria, beer and tapas at a bar smack in the middle of what would otherwise look like a shop. Hanging all around are legs of ham while the glass cabinets showcase cheeses, sausages and cured meats and even desserts! Bizarre... Later we capped off our night with churros and hot chocolate as pseudo birthday cake for Kathleen at midnight, and an extremely strong Spanish gin and fanta (that's a new one... but surprisingly tasty)
the butcher bar
giant christams tree decoration - you could even go inside it and look up, trippy view
The next morning it was up and at 'em (after a delicious croissant for breakfast at the hostel - better than any i had in france) to visit the 100 Years of Vanity Fair photography exhibition - our raison d'etre in Madrid (to begin with anyway). The images were beautiful, quirky, shocking, old, new, colour and black and white. It was a wonderful hour spent just wandering from frame to frame peering at the famous people who have been captured by the influential magazine. It was also interesting to consider the images outside of the context of the stories they would have originally accompanied.
By the time we were done it was about midday so we headed to Plaza Mayor where Madrid's excuse for Christmas Markets were being held. While the city excels at Chrissie lights, their markets were a bit laughable in comparison to Aachen. Although all the kids and sickeningly in-love couples were strutting around in these cute reindeer hats or crazy coloured wigs! After a spot of obligatory tourist shopping it was time for tapas lunch. We scored a bargain - 17 euro lunch for drinks, calamari, ham/potato croquette things and fried potatos with chilly sauce. They were all the things we saw they locals eating and seemed to be really popular. Oddly, the calamari came in a short baguette type roll ... everyone was eating it like that, must be a local treat. But I couldn't bring myself to so I ate the calamari first, then some of the bread.
lunch!
What happened next is truly the most "local" thing I've ever done in a foreign city... we went back to the hostel for a siesta!!! Really. It was about 2.30pm so we popped back to the room for a quick nap before our planned walking tour. Just before we nodded of a Spanish girl came into our hostel room and hopped into bed too!! When in Spain... We awoke refreshed and ready to traipse parts of the city we didn't know existed, learning that the bear and the berry tree and the neptune fountain are symbols of madrid, there were lots of important kings who built stuff in madrids history and the writer's quarter is where all the cool cats lived (and some other more informative facts I've momentarily forgotten!). After walking for an hour and a half we were in need of refreshment so we headed back to our favourite new local, the butcher/bar for a cheeky sangria on the run. This tided us over til we stumbled across a classy indoor food market selling everything from raw produce to artuflly created sweets. Wanting to keep the local theme running we chose creme catalan for a pre-dinner dessert! This gave us the necessary energy to trek to the end of a very long main road to see the Royal Palace all lit up at night.
Unfortunately, after a wonderful and jam-packed 24 hours our travel luck turned sour again :(
We had found a place that was supposed to have a flamenco show on that night and chowed down some less than desirable spanish fast food equivalent in order to make the show in time, only to find out it wasn't on that night afterall!!! Although we tried to make the most of it by following up with an ice cream for dessert (not really possible or desirable in freezing maastricht) and felt at least satisfied that we'd adhered to Spanish time by eating after 9pm.
Up at 4.30am the next day to return home (grudgingly) and of course all travel plans ran like clockwork on the way back to Maastricht! I was even treated to the Ryan Air trumpet - a voice over noise they play when a flight arrives on time. Oh the irony... grrr.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Days 138 to 140 - Aachen (that's a town, not a sneezing noise)
This weekend (friday avo to saturday avo) we hit the road and bussed over the border the German town of Aachen. Although small, its ridiculously popular with students - pretty much every exchanger goes there at some point (some more times than necessary - you know who you are!). Its popular because its cheap to get ther (11 euro return bus trip), its cheap to eat and drink there (including 4 euro cocktails in one infamous precinct) and its doable in a day without having to book accommodation.
Liking to do things properly though, our gang booked a hostel to stay the night. Arriving in the afternoon, the first thing we saw was a crazy man, fully dressed in a suit and leather shoes, jump into a fountain! (remember the temperature is below freezing!!!) He literally flopped down back first into the water, and when he got up steam was coming off him!!! We were dumfounded and disturbed that he probably caught hypothermia afterwards!!!
After recovering from the shock of it, we visited the stunning Aachener Dom, the Cathedral which dominates the centre of town and was built in something like 805 AD, making it one of the oldest churches in Germany. It houses treasures from the early medieval period and the mosaic ceiling is a work of art which we spent time admiring with our mouths open and head tilted back. The tiny, brightly coloured and gold mosaics were positioned in so many imaginative patterns, a different one for each arch or panel. The leadlight was also amazing, whole walls of windows, almost from floor to ceiling in vibrant purples, aquas, reds and greens which seemed to depict people and tell a story. Even in muted light of a snowy day they were beautiful.
Luckily, we hadn't eaten too much because the main joy for us was sampling the local christmas cuisine. I returned at least a dress size larger, I'm sure, but I harbour no regret; I knew what I was getting myself into. The menu at these places reads like Christmas lunch or dinner – on offer every day and night for about a month before the big day. We tucked into bratwurst (at more than a foot long, they hang invitingly over the sides of their crusty baguette beds), a warming pork stew with (not that) hot sauce and onions and chunky white backfisch (literally ‘fried fish’) with a potato fritter (with a side of apple sauce). We were eyeing off the waffles/crepes/olliebollen (like donuts but with no hole and more circular)/steamed puddings etc for dessert but there was no room! Instead, our tummies were filled with mulled wine and eggnog, warming in more ways than one! Hence a mug in hand is the only thing that keeps the hordes going as they stand outside, in snow and below freezing temperatures, trying to remain cheerful although they can’t feel their toes. We bought our beverages from a stand with little boot-shaped mugs which made great souvenirs. We did however buy some of Aachen’s very own Printen biscuit - a chewy, glazed type of gingerbread with all the spicy, fruity flavours of the season, for later.
Liking to do things properly though, our gang booked a hostel to stay the night. Arriving in the afternoon, the first thing we saw was a crazy man, fully dressed in a suit and leather shoes, jump into a fountain! (remember the temperature is below freezing!!!) He literally flopped down back first into the water, and when he got up steam was coming off him!!! We were dumfounded and disturbed that he probably caught hypothermia afterwards!!!
if you squint you can see the guy laying down in the fountain
After recovering from the shock of it, we visited the stunning Aachener Dom, the Cathedral which dominates the centre of town and was built in something like 805 AD, making it one of the oldest churches in Germany. It houses treasures from the early medieval period and the mosaic ceiling is a work of art which we spent time admiring with our mouths open and head tilted back. The tiny, brightly coloured and gold mosaics were positioned in so many imaginative patterns, a different one for each arch or panel. The leadlight was also amazing, whole walls of windows, almost from floor to ceiling in vibrant purples, aquas, reds and greens which seemed to depict people and tell a story. Even in muted light of a snowy day they were beautiful.
Cathedral overlooking the markets
But the real drawcard of Aachen was the Christmas Markets. The tradition dates back to the seventies when it was called the Printen Market and was much smaller. These days its exactly what you'd expect from a Christmas Market ... jingles playing, little log-cabin-like stalls selling decorations, sweets, food and drinks, knitted clothes, liquers etc And they were actually capped with real snow as it was still snowing. The Christmas mood was fostered by a sweet organ grinder man playing festive songs and all the fairy lights and lit-up shop windows showcasing wrapped treats. And the best bit, the whole rabbit warren of log-cabin stalls is watched over by a giant inflatable gingerbread man who reminded me of Mongo from the Shrek movie and whom I’m sure features in every visitor’s photo reel.
Looks just like in Shrek!!
Luckily, we hadn't eaten too much because the main joy for us was sampling the local christmas cuisine. I returned at least a dress size larger, I'm sure, but I harbour no regret; I knew what I was getting myself into. The menu at these places reads like Christmas lunch or dinner – on offer every day and night for about a month before the big day. We tucked into bratwurst (at more than a foot long, they hang invitingly over the sides of their crusty baguette beds), a warming pork stew with (not that) hot sauce and onions and chunky white backfisch (literally ‘fried fish’) with a potato fritter (with a side of apple sauce). We were eyeing off the waffles/crepes/olliebollen (like donuts but with no hole and more circular)/steamed puddings etc for dessert but there was no room! Instead, our tummies were filled with mulled wine and eggnog, warming in more ways than one! Hence a mug in hand is the only thing that keeps the hordes going as they stand outside, in snow and below freezing temperatures, trying to remain cheerful although they can’t feel their toes. We bought our beverages from a stand with little boot-shaped mugs which made great souvenirs. We did however buy some of Aachen’s very own Printen biscuit - a chewy, glazed type of gingerbread with all the spicy, fruity flavours of the season, for later.
mmmm toasty beverages
shop window piled high with Printen and other tasty presents
As for the stalls, I won’t lie, they’re a bit repetitive. But the Christmas decorations were more hand-made than factory-line and the knitted hats and gloveswould have come in handy if we weren't dressed for the truly frosty winter air.
As we spent the night we were able to continue our culinary tour of Aachen in the morning with an all-you-can-eat German buffet breakfast at a cafe which was recommended on a few travel websites. It did not disappoint. The joint was filled with Germans so we knew it must have been good. On offer were sausages, bacon, meatballs, eggs, all types of bread rolls, cheeses, fresh fruit, breakfast meats like ham and shaved turkey, croissants, yoghurt, juice.... even chocolates! Such choice is a luxury for us students who usually make porridge or try to cook toast on the stove top in Maastricht!
All that was enough to fuel us as we did another quick trip round the markets and the shopping strip of Aachen before hopping on a bus home. Arriving home we set about preparing our Guesthouse Christmas Dinner extravaganza. Two Scots, two Aussies and a Canadian (and a partridge in a pear tree), we ended up with a mixed main meal and desserts compiled of foods we love to eat at home for Christmas (or in the case of the Brussel sprouts - foods the Dutch love to eat at Christmas!) We even decorated the appartment and wore stupid christmas hats!
making mulled wine
The next day, Sunday December 5, is Sinter Klaas day in the Netherlands. It's the birthday of Sinter Klaas, who is different from Santa Claus (this guy comes from Spain apparently and has little dark-skinned spanish helpers, except the whole thing is very un-PC bc people dress up as the helpers - called zwarte piet, or black pete - are white but put on black make-up. and now that the Dutch are realising this might not be the impression to make - suggesting they're sinter klaas' slaves - they say instead that maybe black pete is just black from the soot in the chimneys when delivering presents...?) Anyway, the whole thing's a bit weird but highly entertaining as people all dressed up wander around town. And the kids still love it so that has to count for something... In the centre of Maastricht they'd set up a Christmas market with a fake ice skating rink and a ferris wheel. The five of us girls hopped aboard the giant wheel and (squeeling all the way) got our first aerial glimpse of 'our' town (it still looked pretty flat! but the snow-capped house rooves were cute). Before the night ended, we made a quick trip to Kerst aan de Maas (Christmas on the river Maas) where we ducked into a temporary 'hot choclate' tent and indulged in beverages with whipped cream on top... mmmmmm
the very un-PC Zwarte Piet!
Maastricht's Christmas Market in town and the church in the background
view of Maastricht from atop the ferris wheel
observations: woollen socks (at least 2 or 3 pairs) are necessary to ward off the chance of losing a toe. snow eventually turns to ice and ice is not my friend. however, i seem to have more luck with it than the many aussie students I've heard about who fall flat on their ass
mini victories: i'm YET to fall but not counting chickens...
mistakes: not buying wollen socks before the first snow fall... was seriously worried about by left big toe for a bit there! ("I can't feel my toes... I don't have any toes!!!" has never rung truer!)
Dutch I've learned: "Fietsen in de sneeuw is heel moijelijk!" = "cycling in the snow is really hard!"
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Day 136 - apparently there's a downside to snow...
So after all my gushing a few days ago, it has come to my attention that there is in fact a downside to snow! I know, it looks so innocent right... all pure as the driven you-know-what... its got quite the reputation in movies etc, bringing happens and beauty to all. Until it gets a but mushy... or dirty... or hard and icy... then we're in trouble.
I always knew it was going to be a bit more difficult getting around on two wheels once the white stuff fell, but I severly underestimated the trickiness. Its even difficult getting around on two feet!
This stuff is crunchy and slippery and has a mind of its own! One minute you're rolling along at a steady pace with your eyes on the road ahead - the next minute the wheel hits a clump of snow/ice and your wheel shoots off in a different direction altogether. No warning, no way to control it, just hold on!
I have already learned that the No. 1 rule is Don't Panic. Other tips include:
No. 2: Two hands kiddies - always two hands on the handle bars.
No. 3: Hit the lights - just like cars in gloomy weather, its smart to put the bike lights on.
No.4: Know when to admit defeat (there's always the bus)
But this brings me to another observation - is there some shame in taking the bus? In Australia, most people drive, so taking the bus is the moral high ground. Here, everyone is expected to cycle, so the bus isn't exactly better for the environment than peddle power. And if you can ride, why pay for a ride right? So I feel as though taking the bus is copping out... But, thankfully, I was assured by one of my Dutch friends this evening that, no, it is ok to take the bus and, yes, people here do do that when the weather is out to get them. Even so, its not cheap here, and I've been warned it can take longer because vehicle traffic increases during the snow and traffic jams abound in a city filled with roundabouts and bike lanes.
Still, there are definitely those determined souls who remain out and about on their treddlies, all rugged up, you can barely see their face as they brace against the arctic chill. Honestly, it is beyond cold here now (If you won't take my word for it, believe the forecast of -11C one day this week!!!) Normal layering ain't cutting it anymore so I look like the Michelin Man every time I step out the door now. I don't understand how there's women out there who still manage to look fashionable in this weather!! (Although a Canadian friend consoled me with the epiphany that all the fashionable women are just cold! Beauty is pain, right?!). As for me, I got busted by a friend in the most hilarious ensemble the other day, featuring black gloves, red scarfe, beige jacket, grey trackies tucked into blue-grey boots and white/pink pom-pom beanie! Nothing matched, and NOTHING was fashionable. Regardless, I looked her (dressed in cute boots, skirt, jacket and tweed hat) dead in the eye and professed "what?! I don't care as long as I'm warm and dry!"
I always knew it was going to be a bit more difficult getting around on two wheels once the white stuff fell, but I severly underestimated the trickiness. Its even difficult getting around on two feet!
This stuff is crunchy and slippery and has a mind of its own! One minute you're rolling along at a steady pace with your eyes on the road ahead - the next minute the wheel hits a clump of snow/ice and your wheel shoots off in a different direction altogether. No warning, no way to control it, just hold on!
I have already learned that the No. 1 rule is Don't Panic. Other tips include:
No. 2: Two hands kiddies - always two hands on the handle bars.
No. 3: Hit the lights - just like cars in gloomy weather, its smart to put the bike lights on.
No.4: Know when to admit defeat (there's always the bus)
But this brings me to another observation - is there some shame in taking the bus? In Australia, most people drive, so taking the bus is the moral high ground. Here, everyone is expected to cycle, so the bus isn't exactly better for the environment than peddle power. And if you can ride, why pay for a ride right? So I feel as though taking the bus is copping out... But, thankfully, I was assured by one of my Dutch friends this evening that, no, it is ok to take the bus and, yes, people here do do that when the weather is out to get them. Even so, its not cheap here, and I've been warned it can take longer because vehicle traffic increases during the snow and traffic jams abound in a city filled with roundabouts and bike lanes.
Still, there are definitely those determined souls who remain out and about on their treddlies, all rugged up, you can barely see their face as they brace against the arctic chill. Honestly, it is beyond cold here now (If you won't take my word for it, believe the forecast of -11C one day this week!!!) Normal layering ain't cutting it anymore so I look like the Michelin Man every time I step out the door now. I don't understand how there's women out there who still manage to look fashionable in this weather!! (Although a Canadian friend consoled me with the epiphany that all the fashionable women are just cold! Beauty is pain, right?!). As for me, I got busted by a friend in the most hilarious ensemble the other day, featuring black gloves, red scarfe, beige jacket, grey trackies tucked into blue-grey boots and white/pink pom-pom beanie! Nothing matched, and NOTHING was fashionable. Regardless, I looked her (dressed in cute boots, skirt, jacket and tweed hat) dead in the eye and professed "what?! I don't care as long as I'm warm and dry!"
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
and some pictures of SNOW!!!
trying to ride a bike in the snow
bike seat covered in white, powdery snow
infamous statues near the uni, given a new look with a dusting of icing sugar :P
the bike park at uni
bike tracks don't make quite as much impact as car tyres in the snow - this is the exit to our uni bike park
undisturbed, fallen snow - reminds me of an iced gingerbread house!
... and one of the aforementioned snow angels
Monday, November 29, 2010
Day 134 - SNOW!!!
OK, so again, this is a bit out of time sequence (only by about 4 weeks!) but I just HAD to write about this now.... today was my first day of REAL snowfall. And it was magical... truly.
When I was six and we lived in Canada for a bit I remember snow on the ground but I don't really have memories of it falling (I'm sure I was in it at some point but there's no clear memories) but today... today will stick in my mind forever!
I was sitting in class, having come in from a light icing-sugar dusting of what I was told was snow but really wasn't satisfying enough... looking out the window at the leaf-less trees and then, more suddenly than I'd expected it started snowing HARD! Bigger flakes were falling, like there was a wind pushing them to the ground, and then they started swirling in all directions and I was mesmerised. I paid very little attention to the class for about 10 minutes and instead just stared out the window with a big stupid grin on my face! Eventually, some classmates noticed and started laughing at me, telling me "its only snow" or "you'll get sick of it soon enough" ... and they're probably right, it will be hell to cycle in, its freezing cold and it will turn from this glorious white powder to black sludge before I know it... but for now, all I want to do is marvel.
I couldn't wait to get outside after class and I reckon it took me about 45 minutes to get home (not the usual 15) as I stopped every few seconds to take picture after picture of the same white landscape. I was also cycling at about 2m an hour because I didn't want to slip (there isn't a lot of grip left on the old girl's tyres :s). Although, for the uninitiated, I learned some valuable lessons today ... 1) cycling around with your mouth gaping open while its snowing will get you a gob full of condensation and 2) snow actually hurts when it gets in your eye! like rain, but more solid... so I'll be wearing sunnies or a cap or something from now on.
But this afternoon, nothing could dampen my spirits... not the uphill ride home, not the loss of feeling from cold in my fingers and toes, not the realisation that if the snow is starting this early its going to be a looooong winter. Today was just for enjoying.
So as soon as I got home I ran down the hall to find som friends and we ventured out for a walk. Stop: picture. Stop: snowball fight. Stop: pick snow up and throw in the air like a 5 year old! I was honeslty like a kid in a candy store... a frozen marshmallow candy store! And to top it off, before we came back inside we dare to drop on our backsides in the frozen ice and make snow angels :) like something out of a movie I tell ya! And in fact, that's what its felt like ... unreal, like I've just stepped inside the ice arena at home for a bit, or I'm on some reality TV show and there's a giant snow machine behind our guesthouse... but, if thats the case, I'm happy to play my part for now :)
Dutch I've learned: "Het is sneeuwing" = "It's snowing"
"Het sneeuwd" = "It snowed"
"Ik hou van sneeuw" = "I love snow!"
... you get the point!
When I was six and we lived in Canada for a bit I remember snow on the ground but I don't really have memories of it falling (I'm sure I was in it at some point but there's no clear memories) but today... today will stick in my mind forever!
I was sitting in class, having come in from a light icing-sugar dusting of what I was told was snow but really wasn't satisfying enough... looking out the window at the leaf-less trees and then, more suddenly than I'd expected it started snowing HARD! Bigger flakes were falling, like there was a wind pushing them to the ground, and then they started swirling in all directions and I was mesmerised. I paid very little attention to the class for about 10 minutes and instead just stared out the window with a big stupid grin on my face! Eventually, some classmates noticed and started laughing at me, telling me "its only snow" or "you'll get sick of it soon enough" ... and they're probably right, it will be hell to cycle in, its freezing cold and it will turn from this glorious white powder to black sludge before I know it... but for now, all I want to do is marvel.
I couldn't wait to get outside after class and I reckon it took me about 45 minutes to get home (not the usual 15) as I stopped every few seconds to take picture after picture of the same white landscape. I was also cycling at about 2m an hour because I didn't want to slip (there isn't a lot of grip left on the old girl's tyres :s). Although, for the uninitiated, I learned some valuable lessons today ... 1) cycling around with your mouth gaping open while its snowing will get you a gob full of condensation and 2) snow actually hurts when it gets in your eye! like rain, but more solid... so I'll be wearing sunnies or a cap or something from now on.
But this afternoon, nothing could dampen my spirits... not the uphill ride home, not the loss of feeling from cold in my fingers and toes, not the realisation that if the snow is starting this early its going to be a looooong winter. Today was just for enjoying.
So as soon as I got home I ran down the hall to find som friends and we ventured out for a walk. Stop: picture. Stop: snowball fight. Stop: pick snow up and throw in the air like a 5 year old! I was honeslty like a kid in a candy store... a frozen marshmallow candy store! And to top it off, before we came back inside we dare to drop on our backsides in the frozen ice and make snow angels :) like something out of a movie I tell ya! And in fact, that's what its felt like ... unreal, like I've just stepped inside the ice arena at home for a bit, or I'm on some reality TV show and there's a giant snow machine behind our guesthouse... but, if thats the case, I'm happy to play my part for now :)
Dutch I've learned: "Het is sneeuwing" = "It's snowing"
"Het sneeuwd" = "It snowed"
"Ik hou van sneeuw" = "I love snow!"
... you get the point!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
mmmmm lekker
Just thought I'd let you all know that I just ate a big spoonful of peanut butter... straight from the jar... well, this IS my year of Peanut Butter!!
Friday, November 19, 2010
Days 100 to 105 - Ich bin ein Berliner (that's right, I'm a donut!)
Day 100 - (Tues) Journey East of the border (via the West)
Not only was today a momentous occasion for being my 100th day away from home, it was also exam day AND the beginning of our journey to Berlin.
After taking the (thankfully, relatively easy) history exam in which I wrote too much (no surprise there for those who know me ... or are reading this blog for that matter) it was home to pack and off to the train station. Our plane for Berlin was to leave the next morning - from Brussels though (such is the way of the hunt for cheap flights - did I mention the flight was only 40 euro return?). So we got the train to Brussels where we had booked a cheap hotel room (same price as a hostel so why not treat ourselves, right?) for the night, near to the airport so we could catch our 7am (or thereabouts) flight to the German capital.
But from the moment we stepped off the airport shuttle bus at the Formula1 hotel the signs were not good. There was a nice looking Ibis hotel, an Accord ... and then our excuse for a hotel. As we were trying to check in the police and an ambulance showed up and stormed into the F1 (presumably called out for a drug overdose!). Once inside, the smell of cigarette smoke invaded our nostrils as we ascended the stairs (no lift in sight) to our "room" which had no toilet or shower (they were down the hall, in separate rooms, similar to aeroplane toilet cubicles, which apparently were self cleaning - red light on door means "cleaning", green light means "clean" ... SO misleading). The places was a DUMP! (worse than the Green Tortoise Mum) There was dirt and who knows what else all up the walls, the sheets were a suspect colour, all the "linen" was pilling and fluffy and the whole place stank. We were knackered from the travel and had an early start the next day so there was only one thing to do... go over to the Ibis hotel bar and have a drink in the hopes of sedating ourselves enough in order to fall asleep!
Day 101 (Wed) - On the road again...
Never have I been so grateful for an early start! We were out of that hell hole of a hotel ASAP. Check-in at the airport was a breeze, no lines at that time of the morning for budget airlines apparently... but what we hadn't counted on was the security check line. They're nuts for it in Europe... making people take of their shoes and belts and things before they even go through the metal detector thingy. And the whole process moves SO SLOWLY. And of course, because we weren't used to the rigorous process, we showed up late and were in a rush... which of course meant that Nakita, my Aussie travel buddy, had to get stopped for a check. After copping as much action as she's had since she left her bf at home (from an overly feely airport security lady) it was back on with the her boots and off to the gate. (Curiously, at the same time Nakita was getting her pat down, there was what looked like an eight-year-old girl getting a security check next to her!! Really? What is an 8-yo going to stuff in her bra?!! hrm...)
But from there it was smooth sailing. Lobbed at the Generator Hostel in Berlin (thanks for the recommendation Matty, and I'd recommend it to anyone else - 100x better than the F1, clean, friendly and all you can eat bfast - yes!) After a much-needed shower (no, we did not avail ourselves of the facilities at the F1) we found ourselves at THE BEST German restaurant for lunch. Cheap and cheerful, the No 1 Kartoffel Haus (actually calls itself the No.1 potato house in Berlin) served up EVERYTHING potato ... potato soup, baked potatoes, fries, rosti, mashed potato, potato salad... even potato pancakes ... as well as the expected array of sausage and sauerkraut :) See my lunch below ... served with the perfect Pilsener.
Day 103 (Fri) Walk this way
Walking tour in the morning, really informative, took in all the expected landmarks and more and the Aussie female guide told a great story about the press conference that (mistakenly) announced the Berlin Wall would come down. She also pointed out the line of bricks on the ground that showed where the old wall used to run. After a short break for German cheesecake (as one does in Germany) we went to see the longest remaining section of the wall - the East Side Gallery (the bit with all the mural paintings on it). The art and slogans there really made me think about the difference in attitudes between the 60s, when the wall went up, the 80s when it came down, and now.... Also, I was lucky to have done history as a class in first period because everything we'd learned over the past 8 weeks was now right in front of me! Unlike studying these things at home it helped me to realise they actually did happen, and this was where...
Capping off another big day, we lined up to climb to the top of the Reichstag glass dome. In all honesty I'd had it by then and it was a quick trip up and down but the view was pretty cool. Dinner that night was not at the Kartoffel Haus... and therefore nowhere near as good! But I did keep up my daily intake of Berliner donuts by grabbing one on the way home for dessert!
Day 104 (Sat) - Final day in Berlin ... also day before Halloween
After a few days of information, culture and history it was time to focus (even more) on food. We headed to a market this morning where we picked up a bunch of goodies for a picnic lunch - highlights included apple wine (told they worship the apple, although I'm surprised there wasn't potato wine!), apple strudel, houmus!!!! (its been so long...although it wasn't as good as at home), rolls made from the same dough as pretzels and ... get this ... pure melted cheese scraped onto bread. no joke, they just cut a big wheel of cheese in half, put it cut side up under a griller and when the top layer is all melted they just scrape it straight off on to bread, bit of salt and parsley or something similar and voila.... my god was it delicious!
With significant food babies as a result we thought it would be a great idea to go clothes shopping! Google had thrown up an op-shop in Berlin where they sold clothes by the kilo! again, an array of felt hats (complete with feathers), massive fur coats, russian hats, stoles/stolls (you know, the fur scarfe things) etc etc.
That night we partook in a Halloween pubcrawl - 5 pubs, crazy costumes (including my cow-print apron which will look smashing with my bike and was a big hit with the other pub crawlers - as seen in the pic below), finished up about 3.30am...
Day 105 (Sun) - No rest for the wicked
Pity we had to get our train to the airport at 4.30am. So no sleep for us. After 2 trains to the Berlin airport, a flight to Brussels, 3 trains to Maastricht and a bus back to the guesthouse it was definitely time for a nap!!!
Not only was today a momentous occasion for being my 100th day away from home, it was also exam day AND the beginning of our journey to Berlin.
After taking the (thankfully, relatively easy) history exam in which I wrote too much (no surprise there for those who know me ... or are reading this blog for that matter) it was home to pack and off to the train station. Our plane for Berlin was to leave the next morning - from Brussels though (such is the way of the hunt for cheap flights - did I mention the flight was only 40 euro return?). So we got the train to Brussels where we had booked a cheap hotel room (same price as a hostel so why not treat ourselves, right?) for the night, near to the airport so we could catch our 7am (or thereabouts) flight to the German capital.
But from the moment we stepped off the airport shuttle bus at the Formula1 hotel the signs were not good. There was a nice looking Ibis hotel, an Accord ... and then our excuse for a hotel. As we were trying to check in the police and an ambulance showed up and stormed into the F1 (presumably called out for a drug overdose!). Once inside, the smell of cigarette smoke invaded our nostrils as we ascended the stairs (no lift in sight) to our "room" which had no toilet or shower (they were down the hall, in separate rooms, similar to aeroplane toilet cubicles, which apparently were self cleaning - red light on door means "cleaning", green light means "clean" ... SO misleading). The places was a DUMP! (worse than the Green Tortoise Mum) There was dirt and who knows what else all up the walls, the sheets were a suspect colour, all the "linen" was pilling and fluffy and the whole place stank. We were knackered from the travel and had an early start the next day so there was only one thing to do... go over to the Ibis hotel bar and have a drink in the hopes of sedating ourselves enough in order to fall asleep!
Day 101 (Wed) - On the road again...
Never have I been so grateful for an early start! We were out of that hell hole of a hotel ASAP. Check-in at the airport was a breeze, no lines at that time of the morning for budget airlines apparently... but what we hadn't counted on was the security check line. They're nuts for it in Europe... making people take of their shoes and belts and things before they even go through the metal detector thingy. And the whole process moves SO SLOWLY. And of course, because we weren't used to the rigorous process, we showed up late and were in a rush... which of course meant that Nakita, my Aussie travel buddy, had to get stopped for a check. After copping as much action as she's had since she left her bf at home (from an overly feely airport security lady) it was back on with the her boots and off to the gate. (Curiously, at the same time Nakita was getting her pat down, there was what looked like an eight-year-old girl getting a security check next to her!! Really? What is an 8-yo going to stuff in her bra?!! hrm...)
But from there it was smooth sailing. Lobbed at the Generator Hostel in Berlin (thanks for the recommendation Matty, and I'd recommend it to anyone else - 100x better than the F1, clean, friendly and all you can eat bfast - yes!) After a much-needed shower (no, we did not avail ourselves of the facilities at the F1) we found ourselves at THE BEST German restaurant for lunch. Cheap and cheerful, the No 1 Kartoffel Haus (actually calls itself the No.1 potato house in Berlin) served up EVERYTHING potato ... potato soup, baked potatoes, fries, rosti, mashed potato, potato salad... even potato pancakes ... as well as the expected array of sausage and sauerkraut :) See my lunch below ... served with the perfect Pilsener.
A post-lunch wander led us to our now-favourite bakery chain in Europe where I promptly ordered "ein Berliner" and stuffed it, custard and all, in about 2 seconds flat. Also discovered this cool soft-gingerbread-type heart-shaped chocolate-covered christmas cake thing, another hit :) On the downside, Berlin streets are quite confusing, the number will be going up one way and then all of a sudden they start going down, but then it might be different on the other side... weird, we never did figure it out while we were there! After some traispsing through the high fashion stores of Berlin (trying on 400 euro fur-Russian hats, just for fun) it was time to call it a night.
Day 102 (Thurs) - Hitler, the Holocaust and the Wall
First stop today was a brand new exhibition about Hitler at the German History Museum. Apparently it was the first time an exhibition had focused on the man, more than the Nazi movement or the war etc - a controversial approach in Berlin, we were told. Worth it though, the exhibition as a whole really brought his rise and fall together, kind of made you understand how it could have happened, where his support came from, how he manipulated and used force and how people went along with it. I can't say I understand why it was all allowed to happen but I suppose I have a better understanding of how, if that makes sense.
After a quick pitstop at our favourite baker chain for a fresh pretzel and a coffee (yes, an actual coffee, apparently European Lauren drinks coffee... sometimes, anywya), the next stop was the Holocaust Memorial. Above ground it looks like the pic below, concret blocks all the same width and lenght but different heights. Our walking tour guide later told us there could be a number of interpretations - coffin boxes, the rise and fall of a graph (as in number of jews killed as Nazis gained and lost power) etc - but, as the next picture shows, it also has the effect of making you feel very cold, lost, confused and alone when walking around the maze it creates.
Under thise maze-like creation is the actual Holocaust Museum. It tells the story of the Holocaust in a time line and then from the perpsective of Jews who wrote letters to family or kept diaries etc. I actually found myself brought to tears at some of the quotes, and that's not meant to sound corny, but I was genuinely surprised at how much of an effect it had on me to read, for example, the panicked letter of a little Jewish girl who expressed in a letter to her father that she didn't want to die, that she was too young. The fact that, at that age, she had to grasp the concept of impending death was profoundly saddening. And you could also sense the panic that she and others would have felt... The exhibition also gave me a much better understanding of how widespread the Holocaust's reach was. A map showed where all the camps and transport points were all over Europe and I was schocked to see some as far down as the Greek Islands, where the Nazis even put Jews on boats to bring them to mainland camps from tiny Islands.
After our time there it was definitely time for some mental relief so we went to check out a German op-shop. It was really cool to see the difference in style - both between Germany and Oz op shops, and in time as there were some really old coats and hats and stuff there. An absolute gold mine for the dedicated op-shopper. I however made the mistake of trying on a pair of skinny leg jeans near one discerning German woman who told me they looked a bit... well she couldn't think of the word so she said something in German to the young German guy next to her who then translated... "tight" Bahahaha embarrassing much?!?!
Last stop for the day was the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. Our walking tour guide later told us it wasn't worth visint but I thought it was great. All stories of how people tried to go over, under and through the Berlin Wall to try to get to the Western side. Stories of excape included a woman who hid in two suitcases on the backseat of a car with a gap cut through the two sides of the suitcases that touched, a guy who cannoed his was around a body of water, a father who set up a flying-fox from one building window to another, women who "swapped husbands" with women on the Western side to pretend they lived in the West and a guy who got hit with a self-detonating bundle of schrapnel as he tried to scramble over the wall. Crazy stuff...
That night we were joined by two more girls from the guesthouse - Scottish Katie and Kathleen - and we hit up our No.1 Kartoffel Haus again for dinner. Wanting to try something traditionally 'Berlin' I ordered the currywurst and sauerkraut (a weird kind of skinless spongey sausage that I'm not sure contained actual meat, covered in curry sauce.... but the sauerkraut was good, had bacon in it too). For dessert we ordered an array of things containing apple - the second favourite staple in Berlin, after the potato. Apple strudel was the hero dessert while the potato pancakes with apple pure were like a hash brown covered in baby food :P And in true Eruo style we had an appertif - German schnapps, 50% alcohol when straight from the bottle, but they set it on fire in little cups and it goes down to about 30% alcohol! haha
Before bedtime, we went to check out the Brandenburg Gate all lit up at night, as well as the glass dome on top of the Reichstag (the German Parliament).
Day 103 (Fri) Walk this way
Walking tour in the morning, really informative, took in all the expected landmarks and more and the Aussie female guide told a great story about the press conference that (mistakenly) announced the Berlin Wall would come down. She also pointed out the line of bricks on the ground that showed where the old wall used to run. After a short break for German cheesecake (as one does in Germany) we went to see the longest remaining section of the wall - the East Side Gallery (the bit with all the mural paintings on it). The art and slogans there really made me think about the difference in attitudes between the 60s, when the wall went up, the 80s when it came down, and now.... Also, I was lucky to have done history as a class in first period because everything we'd learned over the past 8 weeks was now right in front of me! Unlike studying these things at home it helped me to realise they actually did happen, and this was where...
Capping off another big day, we lined up to climb to the top of the Reichstag glass dome. In all honesty I'd had it by then and it was a quick trip up and down but the view was pretty cool. Dinner that night was not at the Kartoffel Haus... and therefore nowhere near as good! But I did keep up my daily intake of Berliner donuts by grabbing one on the way home for dessert!
Day 104 (Sat) - Final day in Berlin ... also day before Halloween
After a few days of information, culture and history it was time to focus (even more) on food. We headed to a market this morning where we picked up a bunch of goodies for a picnic lunch - highlights included apple wine (told they worship the apple, although I'm surprised there wasn't potato wine!), apple strudel, houmus!!!! (its been so long...although it wasn't as good as at home), rolls made from the same dough as pretzels and ... get this ... pure melted cheese scraped onto bread. no joke, they just cut a big wheel of cheese in half, put it cut side up under a griller and when the top layer is all melted they just scrape it straight off on to bread, bit of salt and parsley or something similar and voila.... my god was it delicious!
With significant food babies as a result we thought it would be a great idea to go clothes shopping! Google had thrown up an op-shop in Berlin where they sold clothes by the kilo! again, an array of felt hats (complete with feathers), massive fur coats, russian hats, stoles/stolls (you know, the fur scarfe things) etc etc.
That night we partook in a Halloween pubcrawl - 5 pubs, crazy costumes (including my cow-print apron which will look smashing with my bike and was a big hit with the other pub crawlers - as seen in the pic below), finished up about 3.30am...
Day 105 (Sun) - No rest for the wicked
Pity we had to get our train to the airport at 4.30am. So no sleep for us. After 2 trains to the Berlin airport, a flight to Brussels, 3 trains to Maastricht and a bus back to the guesthouse it was definitely time for a nap!!!
Day 100 - the first 100 days in office!
Day 100 - (tues) the 100 day milestone
Usually more of a political timeframe but I've decided that on my 100th day away from home (or at least when it appears in my blog!) I shall pause to reflect on what has been achieved. So here's a quick wrap:
Countries visited: 8 (including the autonomous states of the Vatican and Monaco! everyone counts right?)
Landmarks seen: highlights include Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Versailles, Notre Dame, Colloseum and Roman ruins, Vatican, Acropolis, Sagrada Familia (Barcelona Church) ... (and very shortly after my 100 day mark: Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, old Berlin Wall/East Side Gallery, Holocaust Memorial and Anne Frank's House)
Languages spoken (or should I say, attempted speaking): English (its not as good as it used to be with all these external influences!!), French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, German, Swedish, Korean - I've got at least a few words in each, that counts for something right?!?!
Courses taken (and, more importantly, passed!): 2
Bouts of homesickness: 2 serious ones
Bouts of actual sickness: 4 bloody colds!!
Most money spent on: toss up between travel and medicine!!!
Postcards sent: 4
Postcards received: 1 (pick up the pace people!! :P) (although there was also that box of Haighs chocolates!)
Pairs of shoes broken: 2
Bikes bought: 1 (Moo Mobile still going strong)
Bikes broken: 0 (YES! this is a special achievement given almost everyone else's bike has had something go wrong with it - touch wood)
Bike stacks: just one...
New favourite foods discovered: BILLIONS - stroopwaffels, speculoos spread (think biscuit taste but in spread-form - makes even the most boring piece of wholegrain bread taste delicious), poffejes mmmm, warm red cabbage and apple (yep, its actually tasty the Dutch way)
Seasons of crappy TV downloaded to my laptop and watched: 4 (there was a lot of bus time on Contiki!!)
Blogs: 42 (including this one)
So there you have it, get the picture?
Until this point I've been recounting pretty much every day because pretty much everyday has been adventure, thrown up something new/funny/terrible/blogworthy. But as I start to settle into this life some days are just.... days, you know? So a change of tact/tack (never sure which one it is!) from now... although everyday is interesting to me, its probably not to you so, so from now on you'll just get the highlights :)
The trips away, the hilarious happenings, the momentous moments... you get it.
For now, as the Dutch say "tot gauw" (if you've been reading you'll know what that means :P)
Usually more of a political timeframe but I've decided that on my 100th day away from home (or at least when it appears in my blog!) I shall pause to reflect on what has been achieved. So here's a quick wrap:
Countries visited: 8 (including the autonomous states of the Vatican and Monaco! everyone counts right?)
Landmarks seen: highlights include Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Versailles, Notre Dame, Colloseum and Roman ruins, Vatican, Acropolis, Sagrada Familia (Barcelona Church) ... (and very shortly after my 100 day mark: Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, old Berlin Wall/East Side Gallery, Holocaust Memorial and Anne Frank's House)
Languages spoken (or should I say, attempted speaking): English (its not as good as it used to be with all these external influences!!), French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, German, Swedish, Korean - I've got at least a few words in each, that counts for something right?!?!
Courses taken (and, more importantly, passed!): 2
Bouts of homesickness: 2 serious ones
Bouts of actual sickness: 4 bloody colds!!
Most money spent on: toss up between travel and medicine!!!
Postcards sent: 4
Postcards received: 1 (pick up the pace people!! :P) (although there was also that box of Haighs chocolates!)
Pairs of shoes broken: 2
Bikes bought: 1 (Moo Mobile still going strong)
Bikes broken: 0 (YES! this is a special achievement given almost everyone else's bike has had something go wrong with it - touch wood)
Bike stacks: just one...
New favourite foods discovered: BILLIONS - stroopwaffels, speculoos spread (think biscuit taste but in spread-form - makes even the most boring piece of wholegrain bread taste delicious), poffejes mmmm, warm red cabbage and apple (yep, its actually tasty the Dutch way)
Seasons of crappy TV downloaded to my laptop and watched: 4 (there was a lot of bus time on Contiki!!)
Blogs: 42 (including this one)
So there you have it, get the picture?
Until this point I've been recounting pretty much every day because pretty much everyday has been adventure, thrown up something new/funny/terrible/blogworthy. But as I start to settle into this life some days are just.... days, you know? So a change of tact/tack (never sure which one it is!) from now... although everyday is interesting to me, its probably not to you so, so from now on you'll just get the highlights :)
The trips away, the hilarious happenings, the momentous moments... you get it.
For now, as the Dutch say "tot gauw" (if you've been reading you'll know what that means :P)
Friday, November 12, 2010
Days 97 to 99 - Impending dooooom ... and by doom I mean exam!
Day 97 (Sat) - Home invader!
Skyped Bwetty this morning ... in my house! (he was housesitting for mum and dad) ... quite odd for me to be all the way over here and him to be in my house, very weird to see all our furniture in the background of his skype ... and getting into an argument over whether a chair was in that spot when I left home or not! lol
Later I headed to 'Dutch Woolies' for supplies for a weekend of not-leaving-the-house-or-possibly-showering serious study. To my delight I managed to find a touch of home on the supermarket shelves in the form of sausage rolls!!! even had them with heinz tomatoe sauce ...mmmm (sorry dad, but I can smother everything with it over here and not risk turning you off your dinner!)
Once home and at my desk it suddenly dawned on me that the last time I prepared for an exam I was 19, in 'first-year' uni and the subject was the devastatingla hard (ahem) Film Studies! Unfortunately, my attempts at notemaking and preparation just transported me back to Year 12!!
Day 98 (Sun) - Aussie, Aussie, Aussie ... oven, oven, oven
After another long study day I had a bunch of Aussie girls over for dinner - and to marvel at my oven :P
We made the biggest, choc-full-of-goodness veggie lasagne, topped off with chocolate cake for desert ... again, have I mentioned I love my oven?! Was nice to be around Aussies to, each reminiscing about the day we left home, making fools of ourselves bawling in the airport! But also quite revealing to see how we all look back now and wonder why we were so scared. Hindsight eh...? I've come to the realisation that I worried far more than I needed to... but how was I ever going to know that until I got here!
Day 99 (Mon) - Handed in essay today (done early so I could whizz off to Berlin soon after the exam) and realised that in one day, I'll have been away from home for 100 days!
Skyped Bwetty this morning ... in my house! (he was housesitting for mum and dad) ... quite odd for me to be all the way over here and him to be in my house, very weird to see all our furniture in the background of his skype ... and getting into an argument over whether a chair was in that spot when I left home or not! lol
Later I headed to 'Dutch Woolies' for supplies for a weekend of not-leaving-the-house-or-possibly-showering serious study. To my delight I managed to find a touch of home on the supermarket shelves in the form of sausage rolls!!! even had them with heinz tomatoe sauce ...mmmm (sorry dad, but I can smother everything with it over here and not risk turning you off your dinner!)
Once home and at my desk it suddenly dawned on me that the last time I prepared for an exam I was 19, in 'first-year' uni and the subject was the devastatingla hard (ahem) Film Studies! Unfortunately, my attempts at notemaking and preparation just transported me back to Year 12!!
Day 98 (Sun) - Aussie, Aussie, Aussie ... oven, oven, oven
After another long study day I had a bunch of Aussie girls over for dinner - and to marvel at my oven :P
We made the biggest, choc-full-of-goodness veggie lasagne, topped off with chocolate cake for desert ... again, have I mentioned I love my oven?! Was nice to be around Aussies to, each reminiscing about the day we left home, making fools of ourselves bawling in the airport! But also quite revealing to see how we all look back now and wonder why we were so scared. Hindsight eh...? I've come to the realisation that I worried far more than I needed to... but how was I ever going to know that until I got here!
Day 99 (Mon) - Handed in essay today (done early so I could whizz off to Berlin soon after the exam) and realised that in one day, I'll have been away from home for 100 days!
Days 92 to 96 - Beginning of the end.... of study bloc one that is!
Days 92 & 93 (Mon & Tues) - Study, eat, study
No need to really explain these days ... even in Europe, some days are still mundane :P
Day 94 (Wed) - Haaaaallelujah!
Made a momentous discovery today ... chocolate-covered Oreos!!! Closest thing we can get to a Tim Tam over here. Also made risotto in a rice cooker ... seemed almost sacreligious doing so whilst so close to Italy, but with a distinct lack of Le Cruzet cookware in this studenten keuken it was the safest bet!
Day 95 (Thurs) - Making classy friends
Last history class today and I think I can honestly say I now know everything that ever happened in the world after 1945, on every continent and context!!! or at least that's what I feel like the course tried to get us to learn... will see how much info I managed to stop from leaking out my ears when I take the exam next week?!? Having so many Germans in this class I found I've started to pick up German words that I recognise, or English interspersed with the German. Although usually they speak English if I'm in the room, even if I'm not in the conversation. They say its rude not too, which is very considerate of them and simultaneously make me feel like a bit fat uni-lingual loser! Although, am making some progress in Dutch. I can actually answer back (sort of) to the teacher when she picks on me! And after Dutch class I went to an Australian's house for dinner (as one does in this multicultural setting - we were joined for dinner by a German, an Italian, a Frenchy and a Pom!) Was a far classier affair than the guesthouse - there was wine (instead of the commonplace exchange student beer) and even a little jazz music from the iTunes - ooh la la.
Unfortunately, my attempt to be classy and bring Brie cheese ended in a surprisingly stinky, runny lump of goo in my bag (note to self: European cheese is stinkier than in Oz and goes off VERY quickly!!)
Day 96 (Fri) - Movie date for one?
Last day of classes for study bloc one today. Had to endure a rather awkward and halting explanation of Shakespere by one classmate but think we got the gist of it (yes that's right, I'm claiming to have somewhat understood Shakespere - becoming more cultured by the minute here!). That evening, to celebrate surviving the first 7 weeks of study I decided to take myself off to the movies to celebrate. Took my own popcorn and a pick-it-yourself bag of lollies from the friday morning market and indulged in Eat, Pray, Love. Without ruining the movie, she visits Italy, India and Bali and the thought struck me that I've now visited all three of those places! It also occurred to me that you can both be in a place you've always wanted to visit (ie. Europe) and still want to go on a holiday to somewhere else (say, tropical Bali for example!) All in all a nice night ... except perhaps for... ripping a hole in my one and only denim skirt when getting on my bike to ride home! HOW embarrassing. Turns out there's only so long you can live in one set of clothes out of one backpack before they literally wear bare. Sad thing is, I conditioned myself so much to not spend money before I left for this trip that now I don't really feel like shoppin for new clothes! Think I can work the grunge-hole-in-my-denim look for a while...?
No need to really explain these days ... even in Europe, some days are still mundane :P
Day 94 (Wed) - Haaaaallelujah!
Made a momentous discovery today ... chocolate-covered Oreos!!! Closest thing we can get to a Tim Tam over here. Also made risotto in a rice cooker ... seemed almost sacreligious doing so whilst so close to Italy, but with a distinct lack of Le Cruzet cookware in this studenten keuken it was the safest bet!
Day 95 (Thurs) - Making classy friends
Last history class today and I think I can honestly say I now know everything that ever happened in the world after 1945, on every continent and context!!! or at least that's what I feel like the course tried to get us to learn... will see how much info I managed to stop from leaking out my ears when I take the exam next week?!? Having so many Germans in this class I found I've started to pick up German words that I recognise, or English interspersed with the German. Although usually they speak English if I'm in the room, even if I'm not in the conversation. They say its rude not too, which is very considerate of them and simultaneously make me feel like a bit fat uni-lingual loser! Although, am making some progress in Dutch. I can actually answer back (sort of) to the teacher when she picks on me! And after Dutch class I went to an Australian's house for dinner (as one does in this multicultural setting - we were joined for dinner by a German, an Italian, a Frenchy and a Pom!) Was a far classier affair than the guesthouse - there was wine (instead of the commonplace exchange student beer) and even a little jazz music from the iTunes - ooh la la.
Unfortunately, my attempt to be classy and bring Brie cheese ended in a surprisingly stinky, runny lump of goo in my bag (note to self: European cheese is stinkier than in Oz and goes off VERY quickly!!)
Day 96 (Fri) - Movie date for one?
Last day of classes for study bloc one today. Had to endure a rather awkward and halting explanation of Shakespere by one classmate but think we got the gist of it (yes that's right, I'm claiming to have somewhat understood Shakespere - becoming more cultured by the minute here!). That evening, to celebrate surviving the first 7 weeks of study I decided to take myself off to the movies to celebrate. Took my own popcorn and a pick-it-yourself bag of lollies from the friday morning market and indulged in Eat, Pray, Love. Without ruining the movie, she visits Italy, India and Bali and the thought struck me that I've now visited all three of those places! It also occurred to me that you can both be in a place you've always wanted to visit (ie. Europe) and still want to go on a holiday to somewhere else (say, tropical Bali for example!) All in all a nice night ... except perhaps for... ripping a hole in my one and only denim skirt when getting on my bike to ride home! HOW embarrassing. Turns out there's only so long you can live in one set of clothes out of one backpack before they literally wear bare. Sad thing is, I conditioned myself so much to not spend money before I left for this trip that now I don't really feel like shoppin for new clothes! Think I can work the grunge-hole-in-my-denim look for a while...?
Day 90 - Up THAT creek!
Day 90 (sat) - Row, row, row your boat ... not so gently upstream!
Today, while my guesthouse friends swanned around Liege (just over the Belgian border) shopping and 'doing' coffee, I decided it would be a great idea to explore the great outdoors of Maastricht. Earlier in the week I signed up for a kayaking trip on the River Maas (without really thinking about weather conditions, my limited wardrobe at the time or, for that matter, my kayaking skills...) Nonetheless, I cycled down to meet the group of other intrepid UCMers and we headed for the launching point on the river. Literally as soon as we got there it started to rain!
Exhibit A:
After about an hour of scenic paddling, passing the odd cow or swan, the novelty began to wear off. The UCM organisers had planned for us to paddle 11km, with the option to stop at 8km, but after travelling about 3m in the first hour that 8km mark became the sole goal!
Observations: the River Maas scenery is actually quite picturesque as it winds up from Maastricht into Belgium
Mistakes: Kayaking in the Netherlands in any season other than Summer!
Mini victories: paddling 8km on a foreign river and NOT capsizing! e-Yessss!
Dutch I've learned: "Ik heet dit" = "I hate this"
"Het is heel, erg koud" = "I'ts bloody cold!!!"
Today, while my guesthouse friends swanned around Liege (just over the Belgian border) shopping and 'doing' coffee, I decided it would be a great idea to explore the great outdoors of Maastricht. Earlier in the week I signed up for a kayaking trip on the River Maas (without really thinking about weather conditions, my limited wardrobe at the time or, for that matter, my kayaking skills...) Nonetheless, I cycled down to meet the group of other intrepid UCMers and we headed for the launching point on the river. Literally as soon as we got there it started to rain!
Exhibit A:
Despite wearing every piece of remotely suitable clothing I owned (old sneakers, 2 pairs of leggings, track pants, multitude of tops, mildy waterprood jacket & coopers cap and beanie combo to finish off the look) I got ridiculously wet early on. I teamed up with a French girl who had kayaked before and, while we struggled a bit at first (think round and round in circles or a zig zag effect) we found a rhythm eventually and were at the head or at least middle of the pack of 9 kayaks-for-two for most of the day.
Trudging to our fate!
Me and my kayak buddy
After about an hour of scenic paddling, passing the odd cow or swan, the novelty began to wear off. The UCM organisers had planned for us to paddle 11km, with the option to stop at 8km, but after travelling about 3m in the first hour that 8km mark became the sole goal! The 'pleasant' weather from the start of the day continued and we got wet from above and below while out on the water, not to mention the wind pciked up to the point that paddling full-steam meant treading water in one spot. We also ran into some tricky teeny-rapids and bigger-than-we'd-like rocks which all slowed us down. By this stage all 18 pairs of hands were frozen, noses were about to fall off, generally extremities weren't working ... except for one guy who managed to stop on the side bank for a pee! Because of my poor paddling technique, litres of water ran down my arms every time I lifted them to paddle, leaving my gloves wet enough to wring dry over the side! As the next hour dragged on the though crossed our minds that we may never make it and our group would be found as a bunch of floating popsicles by some Belgian farmer as we floated upstream!
Before the going got tough....
Finally, after about 3 hours (it was estimated to take only 2) we spotted a tiny figure on the bank ahead that turned out to be our kayak-hire-guy. Paddles were raised above heads in triumph and a surge of adrenaline propelled us all towards the bank where we flopped ashore. Wet and literally frozen we towelled off and headed for the nearest cafe where hot chocolate and soup brought life back into frozen lips and fingers. But the relief was short lived - while kayak-hire-guy dropped us back to where we started, we all still had to ride home from there!! All I can say to try and describe how cold I was by the time I got home was that it hurt to have a shower in the hot water! Not to mention the bruises on my hands from paddling and the array of stiff/strained muslces that reminded me the next day ... just how much 'fun' I'd had!
We maaaaade it!!
Mistakes: Kayaking in the Netherlands in any season other than Summer!
Mini victories: paddling 8km on a foreign river and NOT capsizing! e-Yessss!
Dutch I've learned: "Ik heet dit" = "I hate this"
"Het is heel, erg koud" = "I'ts bloody cold!!!"
Monday, November 8, 2010
To blog or not to blog...? and other academic musings
Saw this image in a lecture slide and me thinks it is hilarious! Totally encompasses the whole liberal arts study over here and also trying to keep up with this thing - this whole sharing your thoughts and experiences with the world is bloody time consuming!
I also wondered the other day, do you think academics get shitty when we (lazy students) reduce their wonderful, long musings to dot points in order to study for for exams? Or when we totally butcher their theories in paraphrasing for an essay? Most of them here have such crazy Dutch or German names I'm probably pronouncing them wrong each class too :S
And speaking of exams, I saw the other day that an Adelaide researcher wants to get rid of "archaic" written exams. Hear, hear, as the Bard would say. Why can’t we just learn interesting things, enjoy the process and not have to be tested at the end! I felt like I'd been teleported back to Year 12 :S and in the end I reckon I might lose points for writing too much because I didn't see the instruction that said only write one page ... and I maintain my handwriting is fat (not to mention comletely ruined by 5 years of shorthand!!)(P.S. Mum, as an academic reader of this rambling, please don't hurt me!)
On the flip side, one really cool thing about studying here is the textbooks. At home all I get is dowdy media textbooks on media ethics and law and stuff. This bloc here I got one with Pop Art picture of Marilyn Monroe on the front! Am totally sending home a big box of all my books on a boat so when I'm old I can have them in my study library and reminisce about my days as a European intellectual!
For now though, I suppose I've answered old Willie's question (by blogging) and look forward to acquainting myself with him next semester when I delve into the subject "Shakespere on Screen"!
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Days 85 to 89 - Officially livin' the Dutch life
Day 85- (Mon) Yes, Adelaide is a proper city!
Had a meeting at Maastricht town hall this morning to officially apply to live here (bit late now right?! but that's how the system goes). I had to register within a couple of weeks of getting here, then they set you up with this meeting. You have to show your passport, rental agreement, uni forms etc, they even wanted my birth certificate but let it slide given the hassle it would be for just 10 months here (but if I ever come back I must bring it, the lady tells me in an ominous tone!). So we fill out the forms and she gets to the bit that says "Adelaide" and queries "Is this a place?" HA! I nearly burst out laughing ... all anyone knows about Australia is Sydney!! Where's Norman from Eindhoven immigration and his recognition of the Adelaide Crows when I need him!!?? Anywho, I'm now (after more than 2 months here) officially allowed to live here (even if I come frm Adelaide :P). To celebrate this status I went and bought Milo ... yes MILO!! found it in, of all places, an Asian supermarket. Has what appears to be a Chinese Olympic swimmer on the can instead of Kieran Perkin's look-a-like like at home but has that same 'just like Nesquik only crunchy' taste :) mmmmm
Also, on my way out of he town hall to buy said Milo, I passed a bridal party and was aghast to seethe bride wearing ... BLACK!!! (And no Jess, just cos a European does it does not mean its acceptable!!!)
Day 86 (tues) - Totally a Dutch student
Went to a Dutch girl's house for dinner tonight after class (although we ate tortellini, not anything particularly dutch). Then I went to my first hippy student open-mic night. The uni holds free-for-all performance nights for arty students in the common room. Cheap vego food on sale, cool kids with guitars, make-shift drums, AMAZING voices and even a girl who did fire twirling (and almost set her stockings on fire in the proces!). Made me annoyed at myself for giving up the piano... :(
Day 87 (wed) - Cashing in on the student life
Scored a multitude of old-school kitchen goods from an op-shop this avo for the miserly sum of 6 euro! then scrounged back 1.50 euro from the supermarket by returning plastic and beer bottles - e-YES! Returned for (i think) the third Zumba class this evening - we're totally pros now, we gots da mooooves LOL
Day 88 (thurs) - Telling times
Tackled the overwhelming topic of financial crises in history class today, presenting me with an opportunity to brag about Australia being the "only country to avoid recession"! Later, in Dutch class we handed in our first written assignment - a whole 50 words! (I later received a grade of 4 and was DEVASTATED ... until I found out the score was out of 5, not 10!) We also learned to tell the time in this class but its so weird in Dutch ... if its for example 8.30, we say half past 8 (as in how many minutes it is past the turning of the current hour) but the Dutch say its half 9... (as in there's half an hour to go until it turns to the next hour) SO confusing!!! although its fun and knowing these little bits of Dutch is helping out day-to-day, I've come to the conclusion that if I ever want to have a proper conversation with a Dutch person I'm going to have to put a lot more effort into studying the language ... like grammar for example, I hardly know how to describe grammar processes in English, let alone Dutch! But after a day of bragging about Oz and all things Dutch, I ended this 24hour period at an international student dinner. Basically everyone brings a plate from their homeland and we share (again with the communism!) I made ANZAC biscuits (but with stroopwaffle syrup bc I couldn't find Golden Syryp, so they were kind of Dutchy ANZAC biscuits!), some other Aussie girls cut up sponge cake and dipped it in choc and coconut to make lamingtons (YUM), but the craziest thing was this blood pudding from Sweden. It was really, really dark red, almost brown, sliced thinly and baked or fried or something (and obviously is made from, among other things, animal blood). Its a bit of a Swedish specialty apparently, tastes really bland and floury but they put this kind of tart jam on it... (I tried a small bite... :S) Unfortunately it totally looked like chocolate cake ... and this meant more than one person was duped to "try some chocolate cake for dessert" and took a BIG mouthful... eep! To round off my multicultural education I learned two swedish words tonight - "tjnixen" (or something like that) means "howdy" and "schkrinkly" (totally not the spelling but roughly how it sounds) means "crinkly" as in a crinkly shirt ... useful hey?!
Day 89 (fri) - Rookie mistakes
So I got ripped off at the market this morning ... found this awesome dip store and asked for a small amount of dip and some stuffed baby capsicums, but there were no price signs and the language barrier prevented verbal clarification so I was left with a 12 euro bill (about 18 aussie dollars!!!). Later on that night, we went to a new little beer bar and (rookie mistake no. 2) asked the bar tender to just bring us some nice beers... we ended up with one that tasted like a mix of rocket fuel and anniseed, two that were 10+ % alcohol and another that was like sweet/sour cherry medicine!!! on the upside the place had the cutest bathroom, with rubber ducky patter on the bright blue toilet seat! In between mistake one and two I managed to pop over to Belgium for dinner - yes that's right, ANOTHER COUNTRY for dinner (really we just cycled up the road to the house of a German girl I met in introduction, who lives just over the border). Had to stop in at my place between cycling from there to the bar to meet other friends bc it had rained while we were in having dinner and I'd sat on a wet bicycle seat... (I may spent 10 or so minutes blowdrying my butt! don't judge!!) And then, I am proud to report, I cycled all the way to town holding an umbrella over my head ... doing about 2km an hour! As the title of this post says, I'm a real Dutchy now!
Observations: Brie cheese is especially smelly in Europe! And supermarket-brand wine for like $4AU is actually drinkable, as chocolate for 50cAU is edible.
Also, I've realised cycling time is like "loo time"... gives you time to think. Unlike catching the bus at home where I can read the paper or do uni work, and unlike the car bc there's no radio, you just have time to think (and watch the road of course) but I come up with some of my best (if I can call it that) blog material on two wheels.
Mistakes: See above!
Mini victories: Cycling with an umbrella ringing a bell...?
Dutch I've learned: "laat maar" = "never mind"
"Ja, ik wil" = literally translated means "yes, I want" but is apparently the Dutch version of "I do"!
Had a meeting at Maastricht town hall this morning to officially apply to live here (bit late now right?! but that's how the system goes). I had to register within a couple of weeks of getting here, then they set you up with this meeting. You have to show your passport, rental agreement, uni forms etc, they even wanted my birth certificate but let it slide given the hassle it would be for just 10 months here (but if I ever come back I must bring it, the lady tells me in an ominous tone!). So we fill out the forms and she gets to the bit that says "Adelaide" and queries "Is this a place?" HA! I nearly burst out laughing ... all anyone knows about Australia is Sydney!! Where's Norman from Eindhoven immigration and his recognition of the Adelaide Crows when I need him!!?? Anywho, I'm now (after more than 2 months here) officially allowed to live here (even if I come frm Adelaide :P). To celebrate this status I went and bought Milo ... yes MILO!! found it in, of all places, an Asian supermarket. Has what appears to be a Chinese Olympic swimmer on the can instead of Kieran Perkin's look-a-like like at home but has that same 'just like Nesquik only crunchy' taste :) mmmmm
Also, on my way out of he town hall to buy said Milo, I passed a bridal party and was aghast to seethe bride wearing ... BLACK!!! (And no Jess, just cos a European does it does not mean its acceptable!!!)
Day 86 (tues) - Totally a Dutch student
Went to a Dutch girl's house for dinner tonight after class (although we ate tortellini, not anything particularly dutch). Then I went to my first hippy student open-mic night. The uni holds free-for-all performance nights for arty students in the common room. Cheap vego food on sale, cool kids with guitars, make-shift drums, AMAZING voices and even a girl who did fire twirling (and almost set her stockings on fire in the proces!). Made me annoyed at myself for giving up the piano... :(
Day 87 (wed) - Cashing in on the student life
Scored a multitude of old-school kitchen goods from an op-shop this avo for the miserly sum of 6 euro! then scrounged back 1.50 euro from the supermarket by returning plastic and beer bottles - e-YES! Returned for (i think) the third Zumba class this evening - we're totally pros now, we gots da mooooves LOL
Day 88 (thurs) - Telling times
Tackled the overwhelming topic of financial crises in history class today, presenting me with an opportunity to brag about Australia being the "only country to avoid recession"! Later, in Dutch class we handed in our first written assignment - a whole 50 words! (I later received a grade of 4 and was DEVASTATED ... until I found out the score was out of 5, not 10!) We also learned to tell the time in this class but its so weird in Dutch ... if its for example 8.30, we say half past 8 (as in how many minutes it is past the turning of the current hour) but the Dutch say its half 9... (as in there's half an hour to go until it turns to the next hour) SO confusing!!! although its fun and knowing these little bits of Dutch is helping out day-to-day, I've come to the conclusion that if I ever want to have a proper conversation with a Dutch person I'm going to have to put a lot more effort into studying the language ... like grammar for example, I hardly know how to describe grammar processes in English, let alone Dutch! But after a day of bragging about Oz and all things Dutch, I ended this 24hour period at an international student dinner. Basically everyone brings a plate from their homeland and we share (again with the communism!) I made ANZAC biscuits (but with stroopwaffle syrup bc I couldn't find Golden Syryp, so they were kind of Dutchy ANZAC biscuits!), some other Aussie girls cut up sponge cake and dipped it in choc and coconut to make lamingtons (YUM), but the craziest thing was this blood pudding from Sweden. It was really, really dark red, almost brown, sliced thinly and baked or fried or something (and obviously is made from, among other things, animal blood). Its a bit of a Swedish specialty apparently, tastes really bland and floury but they put this kind of tart jam on it... (I tried a small bite... :S) Unfortunately it totally looked like chocolate cake ... and this meant more than one person was duped to "try some chocolate cake for dessert" and took a BIG mouthful... eep! To round off my multicultural education I learned two swedish words tonight - "tjnixen" (or something like that) means "howdy" and "schkrinkly" (totally not the spelling but roughly how it sounds) means "crinkly" as in a crinkly shirt ... useful hey?!
Day 89 (fri) - Rookie mistakes
So I got ripped off at the market this morning ... found this awesome dip store and asked for a small amount of dip and some stuffed baby capsicums, but there were no price signs and the language barrier prevented verbal clarification so I was left with a 12 euro bill (about 18 aussie dollars!!!). Later on that night, we went to a new little beer bar and (rookie mistake no. 2) asked the bar tender to just bring us some nice beers... we ended up with one that tasted like a mix of rocket fuel and anniseed, two that were 10+ % alcohol and another that was like sweet/sour cherry medicine!!! on the upside the place had the cutest bathroom, with rubber ducky patter on the bright blue toilet seat! In between mistake one and two I managed to pop over to Belgium for dinner - yes that's right, ANOTHER COUNTRY for dinner (really we just cycled up the road to the house of a German girl I met in introduction, who lives just over the border). Had to stop in at my place between cycling from there to the bar to meet other friends bc it had rained while we were in having dinner and I'd sat on a wet bicycle seat... (I may spent 10 or so minutes blowdrying my butt! don't judge!!) And then, I am proud to report, I cycled all the way to town holding an umbrella over my head ... doing about 2km an hour! As the title of this post says, I'm a real Dutchy now!
Observations: Brie cheese is especially smelly in Europe! And supermarket-brand wine for like $4AU is actually drinkable, as chocolate for 50cAU is edible.
Also, I've realised cycling time is like "loo time"... gives you time to think. Unlike catching the bus at home where I can read the paper or do uni work, and unlike the car bc there's no radio, you just have time to think (and watch the road of course) but I come up with some of my best (if I can call it that) blog material on two wheels.
Mistakes: See above!
Mini victories: Cycling with an umbrella ringing a bell...?
Dutch I've learned: "laat maar" = "never mind"
"Ja, ik wil" = literally translated means "yes, I want" but is apparently the Dutch version of "I do"!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Comedy about my new home!
PEED myself watching this ... perhaps it will give y'all a little insight into my world here :)
Days 83 & 84 - Lovin' the Dutch Oven
Day 83- (Sat) Pizza oven
After another scintilating saturday studying(!) it was time to revive an old tradition from home - pizza night! Armed with 1.50 euo pizzas from Jumbo('elke dag beter'- 'everyday better' proclaims the bright yellow sign of our favourite Dutch supermarket chain) we cruised round to fire up the oven. And now my favourite part of living in this guesthouse - the dinner company. As we waited for our mix of margherita, pepperoni, chicken and corn (on pizza, not a soup!) etc to crispify we sat around effectively a card table that passes for a dining table in or excuses for kitchens (have I mentioned all the units are the same, right down to the crappy furniture - in each kitchen there even seems to be the same combination of one good and one dodgy broken IKEA chair - it ends up being a game to see if you can take your chair to someone elses place for dinner and come home with a better one!) ... anywho, where was I, oh yes ...cramped kitchen conversation .... so sitting around this tiny table (or perched on the kitchen bench if ur unlucky enough to come last and no more chairs will fit in the room!) were 2 aussies, a scot and two canadians (and that's positively bland as far as multiculturalism goes here) but the conversation ranged from a crazy Dutch politician having a crack at Muslims, to the Canadian Mayoral race to the benefits of Milo versus European drinking chocolate. No matter what meal of the day, or in what language (when my Dutch girls pop round for dinner or Tess tries in vain to teach me some Korean) ... its never just "pass the salt pls" around here :)
Day 84 - (Sun) Muffin better to do than bake
In need of yet another study break I busted out the fall-back muffin recipe from home and filled our tiny unit with a smell yummy enough to entice Tess out of her room! Apparently the sight of fresh baked goods was enough to send her back in there to retrieve her camera! (For anyone who's interested, the muffins are now doing the rounds on FB, tagged as me!) Who knew two red-hot elements with a tray between them, housed in something suspiciously resembling a microwave could bring so much joy :P
Observations: Although I've just spent this blog talking mainly about food I'm now about to complain about the side effects - I calculated the other day that I ride at least 8km each day, to and from uni, sometimes more if I make multiple trips, yet my pins are no closer to being "insurably toned" nor has my waistline all but disappeared ... Belgian chocolate, you gotta lotta 'splaining to do! In fact, instead of resembling a two-wheeled goddess, most mornings (now that its getting foggy) I end up hurtling into the uni bike-park sweating like a pig and desperately searching for a tissue to wipe my running nose/dribbling eyes/damp forehead, before peeling off the layers to see steam floating into the air! Its been single-digit temperatures here (yes, already! grrr) but I still manage to work up a sweat, and going downhill too! Hrm....
Mistakes: And while I'm on the subject of bikes ... I have come to th realisation that mine is in fact a piece of crap! As much as I love the Moo Mobile (and beieve it was worth buying purely for the novelty factor!) I must admit it is rusty, with bald tyres, terrible sqeaky breaks, with portable cheap lights and a creaking seat! I'm sure its only a matter of time before the whole thing falls apart from underneath me one day! So I've resolved I must begin the search or a new bike, in earnest, after exams. But for now, let's not tell Daisy... she's still got to carry my at least 8km each day and I don't want my only mode of transport to feel unloved and take it out on me over a speed hump!
Dutch I've learned: "Ik hep geen broers of zussen maar Ik hep twee honds" = (oooh a whole fancy sentence!) means "I don't have any brothers or sisters but I have two doggies! (who I keep seeing on skype every time I talk to Mum and Dad :P)
For now though, "Doei ..." ("Byyyyyyyyyyeee")
After another scintilating saturday studying(!) it was time to revive an old tradition from home - pizza night! Armed with 1.50 euo pizzas from Jumbo('elke dag beter'- 'everyday better' proclaims the bright yellow sign of our favourite Dutch supermarket chain) we cruised round to fire up the oven. And now my favourite part of living in this guesthouse - the dinner company. As we waited for our mix of margherita, pepperoni, chicken and corn (on pizza, not a soup!) etc to crispify we sat around effectively a card table that passes for a dining table in or excuses for kitchens (have I mentioned all the units are the same, right down to the crappy furniture - in each kitchen there even seems to be the same combination of one good and one dodgy broken IKEA chair - it ends up being a game to see if you can take your chair to someone elses place for dinner and come home with a better one!) ... anywho, where was I, oh yes ...cramped kitchen conversation .... so sitting around this tiny table (or perched on the kitchen bench if ur unlucky enough to come last and no more chairs will fit in the room!) were 2 aussies, a scot and two canadians (and that's positively bland as far as multiculturalism goes here) but the conversation ranged from a crazy Dutch politician having a crack at Muslims, to the Canadian Mayoral race to the benefits of Milo versus European drinking chocolate. No matter what meal of the day, or in what language (when my Dutch girls pop round for dinner or Tess tries in vain to teach me some Korean) ... its never just "pass the salt pls" around here :)
Day 84 - (Sun) Muffin better to do than bake
In need of yet another study break I busted out the fall-back muffin recipe from home and filled our tiny unit with a smell yummy enough to entice Tess out of her room! Apparently the sight of fresh baked goods was enough to send her back in there to retrieve her camera! (For anyone who's interested, the muffins are now doing the rounds on FB, tagged as me!) Who knew two red-hot elements with a tray between them, housed in something suspiciously resembling a microwave could bring so much joy :P
Observations: Although I've just spent this blog talking mainly about food I'm now about to complain about the side effects - I calculated the other day that I ride at least 8km each day, to and from uni, sometimes more if I make multiple trips, yet my pins are no closer to being "insurably toned" nor has my waistline all but disappeared ... Belgian chocolate, you gotta lotta 'splaining to do! In fact, instead of resembling a two-wheeled goddess, most mornings (now that its getting foggy) I end up hurtling into the uni bike-park sweating like a pig and desperately searching for a tissue to wipe my running nose/dribbling eyes/damp forehead, before peeling off the layers to see steam floating into the air! Its been single-digit temperatures here (yes, already! grrr) but I still manage to work up a sweat, and going downhill too! Hrm....
Mistakes: And while I'm on the subject of bikes ... I have come to th realisation that mine is in fact a piece of crap! As much as I love the Moo Mobile (and beieve it was worth buying purely for the novelty factor!) I must admit it is rusty, with bald tyres, terrible sqeaky breaks, with portable cheap lights and a creaking seat! I'm sure its only a matter of time before the whole thing falls apart from underneath me one day! So I've resolved I must begin the search or a new bike, in earnest, after exams. But for now, let's not tell Daisy... she's still got to carry my at least 8km each day and I don't want my only mode of transport to feel unloved and take it out on me over a speed hump!
Dutch I've learned: "Ik hep geen broers of zussen maar Ik hep twee honds" = (oooh a whole fancy sentence!) means "I don't have any brothers or sisters but I have two doggies! (who I keep seeing on skype every time I talk to Mum and Dad :P)
For now though, "Doei ..." ("Byyyyyyyyyyeee")
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Days 78 to 82 - O, Beste...
Day 78 - (Mon) Happy Anniversary
Brett and my one-year anniversary today! So of course I was homesick :( But we had "brinner" together which was nice (for the uninitiated, thats BReakfast and dINNER, because of the time difference).
Also joined the Yearbook committee today, mainlu because I want to make sure I have one to take home at the end of my year here!
Finished the day attending a free lecture on Democracy in the Arab World. Was so nice to have the time to just sit and listen to an expert explain these issues that I've always wanted to know more about (in fact, feel I should know more about) and just absorb ... not have to take notes, not be tested later, just listen and learn. Only time I ever attended something like that at home was to pick out the "headline" and bolt back to the office to file!
Day 79 - (Tues) Awkward much?
So my theory that everyone here is so keen to study and enthusiastic in class suffered a blow today. Poetry class was painful. It was like being back in Oz - no one offering up anything, everyone looking at the floor, awkward silence UGH. So of course this has to be the week I get picked to be discussion leader! And on a topic I know sweet FA about. Murphy's hey!?
Day 80 - (Wed) Zuuuuummmmbaaaaaa
After a day of sleeping and studying it was time to get active. I've always seen the ads at home for this Zumba (the apparently cool-as-a-cucumber way to lose weight while becoming a salsa queen in your own living room) and discovered they offer classes at the uni gym. Arrived at the gym (already sweaty from the 25 minute cycle there! intense warm up!) to discover my Zumba-buddy Celine has done hip-hop dancing for years. I begin preparing myself to play the part of "white girl can't dance" but find after a few minutes that it really doesn't matter. Our Zumba instructor is the epitome of a Beyonce back-up dancer, complete with afro and bootay, but the rest of us are like flailing fish on a boat bottom! What's worse, our plan to stand at the back so no one could see us backfired when we realised the windows behind us were lined with macho mean headint upstairs to the weights who stop to peer in at us sticking out our butts and pumping our elbows like chickens a discotheque! But its a hoot ... half the exercise is in the abs from laughing at yourself so much. And who knew, its actually a tough work out. After one successful session Celine and I have decided to keep going, pick up some moves, and bust them out on a Maastricht D-floor sometime soon :P
After working up an appetite I cycled (no, struggled uphill) home for tasty korean beef and rice, cooked by my roomie Tess as a cheer up for my bout of homesickness and to belatedly celebrate the one-year milestone. What a sweetie :)
Day 81 - (Thurs) First (almost) all nighter
Fifth (I think) Dutch class tonight. We're starting to actually use a few words to each other in class now. Was lots of listening and practicing pronunciation this time - its what we all need most help with. And again, for some reason, the Dutch Royal Family came up in conversation (they're a favourite topic of our teacher!). Home by 9pm for an unpleasant stretch of study after letting a poetry assignment crep up on me ... took even longer because I ended up getting distracted by the cool poems in the back of my textbook!
Day 82 - (Fri) Controversy and cabbage
Somehow managed to have a debate about abortion in poetry class today... which is bad enough among native speakers but can get dangerously lost in translation among English-as-a-second-language participants! Then, in a complete change of topic, we were assigned readings on "Why Britney Spears Matters" for the next tutorial ... stay tuned for the answer to that life-altering question!
Highlight of the day: Dutch dinner at night - 3.50 euro (bout $5 AU) for three-courses of hearty Dutch cuisine. Pea soup, cheese chunks straight out of the 70s and THE DENSEST Rye bread Ive ever seen for entree, mashed potato (of course), surprisingly tasty red stewed/pcikled cabbage, meatballs, sausage (which tasted like a giant hot dog weiner) and gravy for main, and bowlfuls of pofferjes (those tiny Dutch pancakes) and licorice ('Drop' to the locals) for dessert. Bargain ... we'll be back. Capped the night off wit beer and some soccer at the international student pub ... Germany v Turkey, commentators speaking German, everyone in the bar (except for maybe two people) German .... lots of "Oh ja, Oh ja" going on in the background ... thankfully Germany won. Arrived back at the guesthouse to find half naked blokes in the room down the hall playing some sort of card/drinking game in their front kitchen ...!
Observations: Traditional Dutch food is not all that different from traditional German food ... or Belgian food for that matter.
Dutch I've learnt: "hoeveel?" = "how many?" as in "hoeveel biers?"!
"De Slegte" = "the Bad Guy" (not really sure why this came up but I thought it was funny, or as the Dutch say "grappig")
"O, Beste" = "So, so..."
Brett and my one-year anniversary today! So of course I was homesick :( But we had "brinner" together which was nice (for the uninitiated, thats BReakfast and dINNER, because of the time difference).
Also joined the Yearbook committee today, mainlu because I want to make sure I have one to take home at the end of my year here!
Finished the day attending a free lecture on Democracy in the Arab World. Was so nice to have the time to just sit and listen to an expert explain these issues that I've always wanted to know more about (in fact, feel I should know more about) and just absorb ... not have to take notes, not be tested later, just listen and learn. Only time I ever attended something like that at home was to pick out the "headline" and bolt back to the office to file!
Day 79 - (Tues) Awkward much?
So my theory that everyone here is so keen to study and enthusiastic in class suffered a blow today. Poetry class was painful. It was like being back in Oz - no one offering up anything, everyone looking at the floor, awkward silence UGH. So of course this has to be the week I get picked to be discussion leader! And on a topic I know sweet FA about. Murphy's hey!?
Day 80 - (Wed) Zuuuuummmmbaaaaaa
After a day of sleeping and studying it was time to get active. I've always seen the ads at home for this Zumba (the apparently cool-as-a-cucumber way to lose weight while becoming a salsa queen in your own living room) and discovered they offer classes at the uni gym. Arrived at the gym (already sweaty from the 25 minute cycle there! intense warm up!) to discover my Zumba-buddy Celine has done hip-hop dancing for years. I begin preparing myself to play the part of "white girl can't dance" but find after a few minutes that it really doesn't matter. Our Zumba instructor is the epitome of a Beyonce back-up dancer, complete with afro and bootay, but the rest of us are like flailing fish on a boat bottom! What's worse, our plan to stand at the back so no one could see us backfired when we realised the windows behind us were lined with macho mean headint upstairs to the weights who stop to peer in at us sticking out our butts and pumping our elbows like chickens a discotheque! But its a hoot ... half the exercise is in the abs from laughing at yourself so much. And who knew, its actually a tough work out. After one successful session Celine and I have decided to keep going, pick up some moves, and bust them out on a Maastricht D-floor sometime soon :P
After working up an appetite I cycled (no, struggled uphill) home for tasty korean beef and rice, cooked by my roomie Tess as a cheer up for my bout of homesickness and to belatedly celebrate the one-year milestone. What a sweetie :)
Day 81 - (Thurs) First (almost) all nighter
Fifth (I think) Dutch class tonight. We're starting to actually use a few words to each other in class now. Was lots of listening and practicing pronunciation this time - its what we all need most help with. And again, for some reason, the Dutch Royal Family came up in conversation (they're a favourite topic of our teacher!). Home by 9pm for an unpleasant stretch of study after letting a poetry assignment crep up on me ... took even longer because I ended up getting distracted by the cool poems in the back of my textbook!
Day 82 - (Fri) Controversy and cabbage
Somehow managed to have a debate about abortion in poetry class today... which is bad enough among native speakers but can get dangerously lost in translation among English-as-a-second-language participants! Then, in a complete change of topic, we were assigned readings on "Why Britney Spears Matters" for the next tutorial ... stay tuned for the answer to that life-altering question!
Highlight of the day: Dutch dinner at night - 3.50 euro (bout $5 AU) for three-courses of hearty Dutch cuisine. Pea soup, cheese chunks straight out of the 70s and THE DENSEST Rye bread Ive ever seen for entree, mashed potato (of course), surprisingly tasty red stewed/pcikled cabbage, meatballs, sausage (which tasted like a giant hot dog weiner) and gravy for main, and bowlfuls of pofferjes (those tiny Dutch pancakes) and licorice ('Drop' to the locals) for dessert. Bargain ... we'll be back. Capped the night off wit beer and some soccer at the international student pub ... Germany v Turkey, commentators speaking German, everyone in the bar (except for maybe two people) German .... lots of "Oh ja, Oh ja" going on in the background ... thankfully Germany won. Arrived back at the guesthouse to find half naked blokes in the room down the hall playing some sort of card/drinking game in their front kitchen ...!
Observations: Traditional Dutch food is not all that different from traditional German food ... or Belgian food for that matter.
Dutch I've learnt: "hoeveel?" = "how many?" as in "hoeveel biers?"!
"De Slegte" = "the Bad Guy" (not really sure why this came up but I thought it was funny, or as the Dutch say "grappig")
"O, Beste" = "So, so..."
Days 75 to 77 - Food, glorious fooooood!
Day 75 - (Fri) A (verbal) taste of home
Crunch time -today's the day to perform a poem in poetry class. I've chosen Mulga Bill's Bicycle by Banjo Paterson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulga_Bill's_Bicycle), about a bloke's awkward (to say the least) first bike ride, in a bid to give an Australian perspective on this country's most-loved pastime. Went down well. I'd forgotten in fact how infectious that kind of Bush poetry can be and was reminded of primary school poetry recitals :P Although, my classmates were grateful for the "actions" that came along with my performance which helped with interpreting my "thick Australian accent"!
That night, a celebration, at Nakita's "new" unit (she moved upstairs, most likely to get away from the mouse taunting her in the unit downstairs!) Twas also the debut of the mini oven - a kitchen appliance we've all been missing badly. Kita spotted one at the store up the road and now its the latest fad in the guesthouse - we've all got one of the microwave sized wonders. Yo don't realise how much you miss grilled-cheese-topped pasta bakes and fresh baked muffins until you're deprived of them for months...
Day 76 - (Sat) My very own hot-box
So of course this morning I went to the shop first thing and bought my own oven!
Day 77 - (Sun) Brunch communist-style
Was a regular Sunday morning spread. All the girls gathered at Andra's for the mst extravigant student brekkie - each bringing a few things to contribute and sharing in cooking duties. Unsurprisingly, I was in charge of pancakes. Katie brought a whole boody tropical harvest (fresh from the market - pineapple, melon, even mango mmm) and of course we had waffles with chocolate spread (for about an 18th of the price we paid in Bruges). Also, the Dutch are fond of what we Aussie's would call fair bread, for breakfast. Except their chocolate sprinkles actually taste like chocolate, bigger than ours, and more velvety mmmm
Stuffed full, I had planned to take part in a uni excursion to a professional Sand Castle competition being held about an hour away by train - but the trip was cancelled last minute :( So instead, I took myself off to the movies, solo .... bad idea ... the only flick showing was "going the distance", a movie about a couple dating long distance ... hrm. Only thing that ameliorated my depression afterwards was chuckling at the thought of the bloke sittng about 4 seats away from me, about my age, also watching this chick flick by himself!
Observations: There is too much poetry out there to ever read ... and only half of it makes any sense to me!
Mistakes: Watching a long-distance rom-com by myself while in a long-distance relationship, half way around the world!
Mini victories: Manging not to cry in said movie!
Dutch I've learnt: "Ik weet 't niet" = "I don't know" (new favourite phrase in class!)
"Kunt u mij zeggen waar de WC is?" = "Can you tell me where the toilet is?" (I should learn this one in all languages!)
Crunch time -today's the day to perform a poem in poetry class. I've chosen Mulga Bill's Bicycle by Banjo Paterson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulga_Bill's_Bicycle), about a bloke's awkward (to say the least) first bike ride, in a bid to give an Australian perspective on this country's most-loved pastime. Went down well. I'd forgotten in fact how infectious that kind of Bush poetry can be and was reminded of primary school poetry recitals :P Although, my classmates were grateful for the "actions" that came along with my performance which helped with interpreting my "thick Australian accent"!
That night, a celebration, at Nakita's "new" unit (she moved upstairs, most likely to get away from the mouse taunting her in the unit downstairs!) Twas also the debut of the mini oven - a kitchen appliance we've all been missing badly. Kita spotted one at the store up the road and now its the latest fad in the guesthouse - we've all got one of the microwave sized wonders. Yo don't realise how much you miss grilled-cheese-topped pasta bakes and fresh baked muffins until you're deprived of them for months...
Day 76 - (Sat) My very own hot-box
So of course this morning I went to the shop first thing and bought my own oven!
Day 77 - (Sun) Brunch communist-style
Was a regular Sunday morning spread. All the girls gathered at Andra's for the mst extravigant student brekkie - each bringing a few things to contribute and sharing in cooking duties. Unsurprisingly, I was in charge of pancakes. Katie brought a whole boody tropical harvest (fresh from the market - pineapple, melon, even mango mmm) and of course we had waffles with chocolate spread (for about an 18th of the price we paid in Bruges). Also, the Dutch are fond of what we Aussie's would call fair bread, for breakfast. Except their chocolate sprinkles actually taste like chocolate, bigger than ours, and more velvety mmmm
Stuffed full, I had planned to take part in a uni excursion to a professional Sand Castle competition being held about an hour away by train - but the trip was cancelled last minute :( So instead, I took myself off to the movies, solo .... bad idea ... the only flick showing was "going the distance", a movie about a couple dating long distance ... hrm. Only thing that ameliorated my depression afterwards was chuckling at the thought of the bloke sittng about 4 seats away from me, about my age, also watching this chick flick by himself!
Observations: There is too much poetry out there to ever read ... and only half of it makes any sense to me!
Mistakes: Watching a long-distance rom-com by myself while in a long-distance relationship, half way around the world!
Mini victories: Manging not to cry in said movie!
Dutch I've learnt: "Ik weet 't niet" = "I don't know" (new favourite phrase in class!)
"Kunt u mij zeggen waar de WC is?" = "Can you tell me where the toilet is?" (I should learn this one in all languages!)
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
My first poem....
Had to write a poem for my Pop Songs & Poetry class and wasn't quite ready to write a deep and meaningful love sonnet so... Behold, my "Ode to Vegemite" (written around the time I may have received a replenishing jar from Mum!):
"Black tar housed in yellow and red,
Salty wonder we spread on bread,
A zing on the tongue,
Ejoyed by old and young,
Oh Vegemite, you're so right!
Now rare as gold,
Nowhere is it sold,
As addictive as 'coke',
Or the need for a smoke,
Oh Vegemite, you're so right.
A certain craving it sates,
Should be called 'vege-mate',
Can't live without the stuff,
But convincing others is tough,
Oh Vegemite, you're so right.
Mine shipped from abroad,
Stockpiles I horde,
No substitute I've found,
Searched the world round,
Oh Vegemite, you're so right."
"Black tar housed in yellow and red,
Salty wonder we spread on bread,
A zing on the tongue,
Ejoyed by old and young,
Oh Vegemite, you're so right!
Now rare as gold,
Nowhere is it sold,
As addictive as 'coke',
Or the need for a smoke,
Oh Vegemite, you're so right.
A certain craving it sates,
Should be called 'vege-mate',
Can't live without the stuff,
But convincing others is tough,
Oh Vegemite, you're so right.
Mine shipped from abroad,
Stockpiles I horde,
No substitute I've found,
Searched the world round,
Oh Vegemite, you're so right."
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Pause for reflection...
This one doesn't really fit in chronologically but after about 7 weeks here now (as of writing on October 8) I wanted to take time to reflect on a few things...
When I first arrived, the days were long and generally warmish (although it still rained occassionally). These days (apart from the positively lovely bout of sunshine we've had the past few days) it rains regularly and darkness falls at least an hour earlier - so around 7.30pm/now. Aparently we turn our clocks back one hour at the end of August. The nights are also colder now, you can really feel the chill in the air when you step outside. It's not cold inside yet but I am confident the heating will work beautifully when that becomes the case.
One positive is all the leaves are changing. All along the roadsides there are these carpets of golden maple-shaped leaves and the climbers which cling to the outside of so many of the buildings have turned from green to a striking, deep red. It's almost as if its snowing leaves as you cycle down the street - one drifted down from a branch and right into my face the other day!
On the down side - I must get a wriggle on and buy a rain coat before I get caught out again. I've found these black, thick poncho looking things, very Darth Vader-esque, with a hood and which come down to cover your legs and handle bars when you're on a bike. Although I'm afraid I'll scare little children if I ride around under something like that, so best keep looking.
I also need to get a proper warm winter coat, but that involes what I term reconaissance shopping (lots of looking around for quality and price) and I don't have the bloody time! I also consider myself a bit of a recovering shopaholic over here (after abstaining for at least 6 months before leaving home) and am loathe to go back into the shops for fear I'll relapse! So far anything I've bought here has been on sale and has replaced something that broke! But I can't avoid it forever ... apparetly last winter was an average of minus 10C or something equally ridiculous and my brought-from-home target hoodie ain't gonna cut it in that.
I suppose I feel at home here by now. I'm starting to know the shortcuts to uni and town, where I can and can't ride my bike and remembering to turn my lights on at night to avoid the 35 euro fine. I know which shops to go for which essentials (even found a place the other day that sells Milo!), when they're open (NOT Sunday, hardly any of Monday - and Business SA thinks Adelaide has it bad!) and which are the best Dutch snacks to buy at the supermarket (although I haven't quite figured out the best cheese, or found somewhere that sells houmus!!! withdrawals much?)
I've accumulated enough bits and pieces to make my room colourful but, contrary to my existence at home, I don't actually have enough possessions to create much of a mess! (I swear Mum and Dad!) It's quite the little community at our guesthouse. There's a sport park up the road, a playground out the back, you always bump into someone at the supermarket not five minutes away and you never have to eat alone - there's always group cooking going on in someone's kitchen. We even have our own facebook page dedicated to the "Countryside Guesthouse" cause we're practically out in the sticks compared to the more central guesthouse. The upside for us tho is we each get our own room and only have to share our bathroom/kitchen/laundry with one other person (except for the odd occassion when ur place gets invaded by bored and hungry exchange students bearing beer!) as opposed to up to 30 in the main guesthouse. And you can actually get some peace and quiet here - instead of trying to drown out the noise of a Germany vs Sweden beer chugging competition in the communal kitchen outside your door at the main guesthouse.
So all in all, I've settled in ok, I guess. It's about now that it starts to sink in that this is it for the next 10 months. Of course, there'll be plenty of side trips to far flung places, but for the majority of those days this is home sweet home. As long as I don't run out of Vegemite I think it just might work...!
When I first arrived, the days were long and generally warmish (although it still rained occassionally). These days (apart from the positively lovely bout of sunshine we've had the past few days) it rains regularly and darkness falls at least an hour earlier - so around 7.30pm/now. Aparently we turn our clocks back one hour at the end of August. The nights are also colder now, you can really feel the chill in the air when you step outside. It's not cold inside yet but I am confident the heating will work beautifully when that becomes the case.
One positive is all the leaves are changing. All along the roadsides there are these carpets of golden maple-shaped leaves and the climbers which cling to the outside of so many of the buildings have turned from green to a striking, deep red. It's almost as if its snowing leaves as you cycle down the street - one drifted down from a branch and right into my face the other day!
On the down side - I must get a wriggle on and buy a rain coat before I get caught out again. I've found these black, thick poncho looking things, very Darth Vader-esque, with a hood and which come down to cover your legs and handle bars when you're on a bike. Although I'm afraid I'll scare little children if I ride around under something like that, so best keep looking.
I also need to get a proper warm winter coat, but that involes what I term reconaissance shopping (lots of looking around for quality and price) and I don't have the bloody time! I also consider myself a bit of a recovering shopaholic over here (after abstaining for at least 6 months before leaving home) and am loathe to go back into the shops for fear I'll relapse! So far anything I've bought here has been on sale and has replaced something that broke! But I can't avoid it forever ... apparetly last winter was an average of minus 10C or something equally ridiculous and my brought-from-home target hoodie ain't gonna cut it in that.
I suppose I feel at home here by now. I'm starting to know the shortcuts to uni and town, where I can and can't ride my bike and remembering to turn my lights on at night to avoid the 35 euro fine. I know which shops to go for which essentials (even found a place the other day that sells Milo!), when they're open (NOT Sunday, hardly any of Monday - and Business SA thinks Adelaide has it bad!) and which are the best Dutch snacks to buy at the supermarket (although I haven't quite figured out the best cheese, or found somewhere that sells houmus!!! withdrawals much?)
I've accumulated enough bits and pieces to make my room colourful but, contrary to my existence at home, I don't actually have enough possessions to create much of a mess! (I swear Mum and Dad!) It's quite the little community at our guesthouse. There's a sport park up the road, a playground out the back, you always bump into someone at the supermarket not five minutes away and you never have to eat alone - there's always group cooking going on in someone's kitchen. We even have our own facebook page dedicated to the "Countryside Guesthouse" cause we're practically out in the sticks compared to the more central guesthouse. The upside for us tho is we each get our own room and only have to share our bathroom/kitchen/laundry with one other person (except for the odd occassion when ur place gets invaded by bored and hungry exchange students bearing beer!) as opposed to up to 30 in the main guesthouse. And you can actually get some peace and quiet here - instead of trying to drown out the noise of a Germany vs Sweden beer chugging competition in the communal kitchen outside your door at the main guesthouse.
So all in all, I've settled in ok, I guess. It's about now that it starts to sink in that this is it for the next 10 months. Of course, there'll be plenty of side trips to far flung places, but for the majority of those days this is home sweet home. As long as I don't run out of Vegemite I think it just might work...!
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