I’m in a venting mood, so here it all comes. First of all, I absolutely cannot stand Martin’s brother’s girlfriend. Actually, I’m not alone in that. I know I always say how much I love the Dutch openness, but really, something has got to be done about this girl. Her name is Reina, which in Spanish means ‘queen’, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. There are simply not words...
Martin had told me that the first time he met her, she had told him within fifteen minutes that he wasn’t as ‘caring’ (‘zorgzaam’) as his brother. I thought he must be exaggerating, but yesterday, she and Olaf (M’s brother) came over, and the six of us barbecued. And again, within fifteen minutes (I really have no idea how we got onto this topic, but...) she had told me flat-out, “You’re sturdier [‘steviger’] than I am. I’m taller, but I’m thinner, too.” If there were ever a time when I wanted to punch someone in the face… I mean, who SAYS that sort of thing to people? Especially people you’ve just met?
And it doesn’t end there. Well, I suppose the outrageous rudeness ends there (unless you count the fact that she went on to ask me if I had had a breast enlargement, to which I flatly said NO – like I would choose this! – after which she proceeded to trying to guess my cup size...), but there’s also the way she talks. Ve-ry slow-ly and clear-ly. (And no, that’s not her trying to overcompensate for English not being a first language or something – I’m talking about Dutch here. There’s never any English spoken in that house; Martin can speak a little and Reina claims she can too, but I’d be interested to hear the proof.)
And oh, is it annoying, listening to her talk. She doesn’t only talk slowly and clearly, she talks as if her brain has been sucked out through her ear canals, as if there’s just an empty space there which occasionally sends out a few echoes. We were all laughing over stories about how Olaf had abused his canary (which is now his parents’ canary), keeping it in a tiny cage and not feeding it if it ‘didn’t listen’ to him. Reina’s contribution to the conversation was a scolding, “O-laf! Je mag geen die-ren mis-han-de-len!” [“O-laf! You can’t a-buse a-ni-mals!”]
Anyway, to move on to another rant: I am officially sick of having no money. Here, it all gets sucked up by the exchange rate, and at home, it all gets sucked up by the car. Certain people think that I spend carelessly; I really don’t buy unnecessary things that often. A lot of money goes to cell phone bills (at home I’m on our family plan), train tickets, and bus strippenkaarten, and of course there’s the fact that you have to do grocery shopping practically every day here because everybody buys everything fresh and liquids only come in liters, considerably smaller than gallons. As for fun things, I have bought, in the course of one year, three concert tickets (Elton John, Shania Twain, and of course Marco Borsato), a camping backpack, a bikini, a few (necessary) articles of clothing like T-shirts, a bottle of Celine Dion perfume, and as my big ‘whopper’ purchase, I went to Tenerife. That’s not that bad. But I am officially desperate for as many jobs as I can get. I have one, or at least I’m fairly certain I have one, back in Gainesville, and of course I have the six weeks of Ton-A-Wandah. But if anyone has anything else to offer me – translation (or anything, actually) that can be done via e-mail, or designing websites, or something else part-time… do hit me up. Please.
Saw GTST tonight - a rather touching episode - on Friday, Barbara and Valerie told Charlie that Valerie is really her mother... cliff-hanger of the century... so tonight were all the reactions. I also saw Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which I really like, cheesy as it is. The family tonight had two little boys and the mother was pregnant again - with TRIPLETS. So of course they did all the 'normal' redesigning stuff, but the big surprise was the nursery, because the family didn't know themselves if they were having boys or girls, and so the show host went to the doctor's office and found out, so the design team would know what color(s) to use for the nursery. Turned out they were having two boys and a girl, and the mother was SO happy that she finally had a girl to go along with four boys... I'd be the same way, haha. Not like we can choose, but when that day comes, I definitely want a girl...
Okay, beginning to ramble now. Guess I'd better put that to good use by working on my paper.
Until next time!
P.S. Countdown: 14 days :(
Martin had told me that the first time he met her, she had told him within fifteen minutes that he wasn’t as ‘caring’ (‘zorgzaam’) as his brother. I thought he must be exaggerating, but yesterday, she and Olaf (M’s brother) came over, and the six of us barbecued. And again, within fifteen minutes (I really have no idea how we got onto this topic, but...) she had told me flat-out, “You’re sturdier [‘steviger’] than I am. I’m taller, but I’m thinner, too.” If there were ever a time when I wanted to punch someone in the face… I mean, who SAYS that sort of thing to people? Especially people you’ve just met?
And it doesn’t end there. Well, I suppose the outrageous rudeness ends there (unless you count the fact that she went on to ask me if I had had a breast enlargement, to which I flatly said NO – like I would choose this! – after which she proceeded to trying to guess my cup size...), but there’s also the way she talks. Ve-ry slow-ly and clear-ly. (And no, that’s not her trying to overcompensate for English not being a first language or something – I’m talking about Dutch here. There’s never any English spoken in that house; Martin can speak a little and Reina claims she can too, but I’d be interested to hear the proof.)
And oh, is it annoying, listening to her talk. She doesn’t only talk slowly and clearly, she talks as if her brain has been sucked out through her ear canals, as if there’s just an empty space there which occasionally sends out a few echoes. We were all laughing over stories about how Olaf had abused his canary (which is now his parents’ canary), keeping it in a tiny cage and not feeding it if it ‘didn’t listen’ to him. Reina’s contribution to the conversation was a scolding, “O-laf! Je mag geen die-ren mis-han-de-len!” [“O-laf! You can’t a-buse a-ni-mals!”]
Anyway, to move on to another rant: I am officially sick of having no money. Here, it all gets sucked up by the exchange rate, and at home, it all gets sucked up by the car. Certain people think that I spend carelessly; I really don’t buy unnecessary things that often. A lot of money goes to cell phone bills (at home I’m on our family plan), train tickets, and bus strippenkaarten, and of course there’s the fact that you have to do grocery shopping practically every day here because everybody buys everything fresh and liquids only come in liters, considerably smaller than gallons. As for fun things, I have bought, in the course of one year, three concert tickets (Elton John, Shania Twain, and of course Marco Borsato), a camping backpack, a bikini, a few (necessary) articles of clothing like T-shirts, a bottle of Celine Dion perfume, and as my big ‘whopper’ purchase, I went to Tenerife. That’s not that bad. But I am officially desperate for as many jobs as I can get. I have one, or at least I’m fairly certain I have one, back in Gainesville, and of course I have the six weeks of Ton-A-Wandah. But if anyone has anything else to offer me – translation (or anything, actually) that can be done via e-mail, or designing websites, or something else part-time… do hit me up. Please.
Saw GTST tonight - a rather touching episode - on Friday, Barbara and Valerie told Charlie that Valerie is really her mother... cliff-hanger of the century... so tonight were all the reactions. I also saw Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which I really like, cheesy as it is. The family tonight had two little boys and the mother was pregnant again - with TRIPLETS. So of course they did all the 'normal' redesigning stuff, but the big surprise was the nursery, because the family didn't know themselves if they were having boys or girls, and so the show host went to the doctor's office and found out, so the design team would know what color(s) to use for the nursery. Turned out they were having two boys and a girl, and the mother was SO happy that she finally had a girl to go along with four boys... I'd be the same way, haha. Not like we can choose, but when that day comes, I definitely want a girl...
Okay, beginning to ramble now. Guess I'd better put that to good use by working on my paper.
Until next time!
P.S. Countdown: 14 days :(
stormed at 15:27
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