Mijn god… I haven’t updated this thing in 10 days… so here we go.
Went home Wednesday, got back early today, had a nice visit. Bought clothes, got a new digicam (which is also a webcam :)) and an mp3 player for my birthday (which is tomorrow… or, uh, actually in 28 minutes… and then I’m 20 years old! Weird.), had Starbucks, went to the beach, visited with my grandma and aunt, et cetera… and now I’m back, YAY!!! And there’s snow on the ground… according to P there was a weather alarm yesterday. And according to D (the Enschede one… I know far too many Ds ;)) the trains to and from Schiphol stopped running just after the time that I took my train to Utrecht. So lucky me, I made it!
Everybody’s asking for comparisons now, and my answer is still about the same. I do miss the small things – the weather, the beach, my car. But whenever I talked about NL, I referred to it as ‘back home’ – just automatically. And after the first couple of days there, it was like I had ‘charged up’ on all the Florida I needed and I was ready to come ‘home’ again. And it also seemed like everything I ate was sweet and/or fatty – the only three things I ate that were really satisfying were ‘my’ macaroni, the Publix shrimp, and Aunt P’s chili. I was always asking for ‘real food’ and that’s not something I normally do, junk food junkie that I am. :) And while it was a relief not to have to think about every word that came out of my mouth, in a way I missed the challenge of daily Dutch. And more than once I caught myself about to say dank je wel’ to a waiter, or ‘alsjeblieft’ to a cashier when I handed them money. Weird. Anyway, conclusion: it was a nice trip, but I don’t feel ‘done’ over here yet, so I’m glad this wasn’t the real thing. I’m not homesick the way I was afraid I might be.
The flight back was fine. On the way over, I was seated next to a drunk soldier (American) who had been over in Iraq for the past year or so. But on the return trip (there, it just happened again, ‘terugreis’ came to mind before ‘return trip’) I was next to an Iranian guy who had lived in NL for 20 years, whose wife was Peruvian, and who was moving to the States (Kentucky) for the next three years. He was really nice. The one amusing moment: the bilingualism. The people on the speakers said everything in English and then in Dutch, of course, and when we landed, they started to do the same thing. “Good morning ladies and gentlemen, blah blah blah…” and then once the English was done, the woman started in on the Dutch. She said, “Goede-“ and then the speaker suddenly cut out. Literally almost the entire plane (or at least all the people around me, me included) called together, “-MORGEN!” Really really funny… maybe you had to be there. :) Also, there was an older guy sitting in front of me and when he first got on the plane, the greeter said to him ‘Goedemiddag’ instead of ‘Good afternoon’ (although she did say that next). He stopped short and asked, “Hoe wist u dat nou?” and so he and I joked on the way to our seats that he must have a ‘Nederlands gezicht’ (Dutch face) or something… he seemed really nice. (I got the feeling he wanted to ask me about speaking Dutch… he kept looking at my USA passport. ;) But he never asked.) The flight back definitely gets my vote. But still no video screens! Delta needs some serious upgrading.
So I’ll be 20 tomorrow (in four minutes) and I have no plans. Pathetic, isn’t it? I could have stayed in Florida longer and had my birthday there, but I just felt like being here. But I don’t have any plans, first of all because I just got back and I haven’t really had time to plan anything (not that it would have worked even if I had tried) and everyone that I would want with me is really spread out, like I said before. P is working, L and A are in Leeuwarden and Breda for school, and D has quite enough on his plate at the moment, neem ik aan. :) (But you do need to get down here sometime soon, ‘cause I have a whole bag of stuff for you, and something small for your dad too…) The other D offered to take me with him to Brussel, to this big party he’s going to, but I passed on that for various reasons. And I don’t know what T’s up to. Oh well, maybe something will just fall into my lap within the next few days… who says you have to celebrate ON your actual birthday, anyway? :)
We are out of toilet paper. We were on the last roll when I left… does S not poop or something? Actually, he was probably in Paris – that would also explain the week-old outdated milk in the fridge.
My next task: fix my phone. I’ve somehow set it to ask for my PIN every time I unlock the keys and it’s annoying me. Sitting down with the manual now…
Oh – 0.00. Happy birthday to me.
Went home Wednesday, got back early today, had a nice visit. Bought clothes, got a new digicam (which is also a webcam :)) and an mp3 player for my birthday (which is tomorrow… or, uh, actually in 28 minutes… and then I’m 20 years old! Weird.), had Starbucks, went to the beach, visited with my grandma and aunt, et cetera… and now I’m back, YAY!!! And there’s snow on the ground… according to P there was a weather alarm yesterday. And according to D (the Enschede one… I know far too many Ds ;)) the trains to and from Schiphol stopped running just after the time that I took my train to Utrecht. So lucky me, I made it!
Everybody’s asking for comparisons now, and my answer is still about the same. I do miss the small things – the weather, the beach, my car. But whenever I talked about NL, I referred to it as ‘back home’ – just automatically. And after the first couple of days there, it was like I had ‘charged up’ on all the Florida I needed and I was ready to come ‘home’ again. And it also seemed like everything I ate was sweet and/or fatty – the only three things I ate that were really satisfying were ‘my’ macaroni, the Publix shrimp, and Aunt P’s chili. I was always asking for ‘real food’ and that’s not something I normally do, junk food junkie that I am. :) And while it was a relief not to have to think about every word that came out of my mouth, in a way I missed the challenge of daily Dutch. And more than once I caught myself about to say dank je wel’ to a waiter, or ‘alsjeblieft’ to a cashier when I handed them money. Weird. Anyway, conclusion: it was a nice trip, but I don’t feel ‘done’ over here yet, so I’m glad this wasn’t the real thing. I’m not homesick the way I was afraid I might be.
The flight back was fine. On the way over, I was seated next to a drunk soldier (American) who had been over in Iraq for the past year or so. But on the return trip (there, it just happened again, ‘terugreis’ came to mind before ‘return trip’) I was next to an Iranian guy who had lived in NL for 20 years, whose wife was Peruvian, and who was moving to the States (Kentucky) for the next three years. He was really nice. The one amusing moment: the bilingualism. The people on the speakers said everything in English and then in Dutch, of course, and when we landed, they started to do the same thing. “Good morning ladies and gentlemen, blah blah blah…” and then once the English was done, the woman started in on the Dutch. She said, “Goede-“ and then the speaker suddenly cut out. Literally almost the entire plane (or at least all the people around me, me included) called together, “-MORGEN!” Really really funny… maybe you had to be there. :) Also, there was an older guy sitting in front of me and when he first got on the plane, the greeter said to him ‘Goedemiddag’ instead of ‘Good afternoon’ (although she did say that next). He stopped short and asked, “Hoe wist u dat nou?” and so he and I joked on the way to our seats that he must have a ‘Nederlands gezicht’ (Dutch face) or something… he seemed really nice. (I got the feeling he wanted to ask me about speaking Dutch… he kept looking at my USA passport. ;) But he never asked.) The flight back definitely gets my vote. But still no video screens! Delta needs some serious upgrading.
So I’ll be 20 tomorrow (in four minutes) and I have no plans. Pathetic, isn’t it? I could have stayed in Florida longer and had my birthday there, but I just felt like being here. But I don’t have any plans, first of all because I just got back and I haven’t really had time to plan anything (not that it would have worked even if I had tried) and everyone that I would want with me is really spread out, like I said before. P is working, L and A are in Leeuwarden and Breda for school, and D has quite enough on his plate at the moment, neem ik aan. :) (But you do need to get down here sometime soon, ‘cause I have a whole bag of stuff for you, and something small for your dad too…) The other D offered to take me with him to Brussel, to this big party he’s going to, but I passed on that for various reasons. And I don’t know what T’s up to. Oh well, maybe something will just fall into my lap within the next few days… who says you have to celebrate ON your actual birthday, anyway? :)
We are out of toilet paper. We were on the last roll when I left… does S not poop or something? Actually, he was probably in Paris – that would also explain the week-old outdated milk in the fridge.
My next task: fix my phone. I’ve somehow set it to ask for my PIN every time I unlock the keys and it’s annoying me. Sitting down with the manual now…
Oh – 0.00. Happy birthday to me.
stormed at 18:01
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