Mar's Great Adventure

To make a long story short, I spoke on the phone with my company in Rotterdam this morning. I finally have the news. Although it is not good news, I'm glad I finally know. I didn't get the work permit. I do hope to visit sooner than later. Anyone wanna hire me?

Since I have been back, I have had to get accustomed to everyone around me speaking in English. I still have to stop myself from saying please and thank you in Dutch when I go places. Overall, it has been extremely busy. I helped my mom and dad with the annual Christmas Eve celebration including a Sinterklaas poem and gift giving. Yes, I know we do this on the wrong day of the year, but it has been a very fun family tradition here.

Christmas morning was full of Dutch surprises. I was able to bring back a couple of things from Holland including Kerstbrood and some cheese. I surprised the family with a couple of other Dutch gifts.

Yesterday, I went to the Insight Bowl where ASU played the Rutgers. I was wearing my gold shirt of course and went with a couple of other friends. It was an entertaining game and ASU pulled out a win in the end, 45 to 40. Today, I have nothing that I absolutely have to do so I finally slept in. I think I am back on Arizona time.

I arrived in Arizona safe and sound. I still have a bit of a sore throat and my coughing has increased but it isn’t too bad. Yesterday morning, I caught my train with Caroline to Schipol arriving with a comfortable amount of time to check-in, etc. I checked in and rotated some things in my luggage in order to have both of my suitcases of the correct weight limit. It was a very close call! They both weighed almost the limit of 32 kg each. Then, Caroline and I had a cappuccino. After the cappuccino, I passed through the first passport control of many more to come.

I kissed Caroline goodbye in a much more natural fashion than when I arrived, as I know and practice the Dutch greeting system a lot better now, and we both tried not to look so sad. (I just kept thinking I would be back in a month; I hope it works out.) After getting my passport stamped I located my gate, a very long way away. When I arrived to my gate, I passed through security and waited to load the plane. I had a window seat, my favorite, and there was no one seated in the middle seat next to me. I was quite pleased.

In London, I followed the long hallways until I approached the long line waiting to pass through security to get to the International Terminal, Terminal Four. After passing through, I stopped in the bookstore to purchase some reading for the long flight and found out what gate I would be departing from. I didn’t have much of a wait in London, something I was happy about. When boarding the plane, I discovered that this plane wasn’t completely full either. I once again had a window seat and an empty middle seat next to me.

Overall, the flight was smooth. I was able to see Greenland when we flew over it. I read Animal Farm since I had never read it before and started the very beginnings of Plato’s Republic as I decided I should read the whole thing instead of only the excerpts I have read in classes. I watched two movies including Goal! and the Forty Year Old Virgin. I closed my eyes for about an hour. The remainder of the time I spent writing a couple of Christmas cards, listening to my ipod, and looking out the window.

We arrived in Phoenix exactly on time, 4:20. I gathered my belongings and off the plane I went. The line through passport control was not too long and I passed through here pretty swiftly. My luggage was already waiting for me and I snatched it up quickly. Rolling each heavy suitcase in one of my hands, I walked to the customs people who asked me two questions. I told my mom these questions in the car giving away one of the Christmas presents I had bought her as one of the questions or comments was about this gift. Oh, well. Hopefully, there are other surprises to come for her!

After a long walk with the two heavier by the minute suitcases, I walked out and found my dad who was talking to my mom on the phone. Next, he put my flustered mom on the phone who kept saying, “I’m sorry” as she was driving around outside the airport and hadn’t made it in on time. It was actually quite convenient because she picked me up on the curb aiding in an easy loading of my suitcases into the car. I hopped into the car here and my dad went to the garage where his car was located. (My mom came from home and my dad came from work, hence the two vehicles.)

Ik heb met mijn moeder en de auto gepratten beetje in Nederlands. We brought my luggage home and gathered into one car where we met Latezia and Brian for dinner at Gardunos. It seems as though I have almost never left. I tried very hard not to say Cola light astjeblief to the waitress and vijf to the hostess. It was a bit strange not to have everyone around me in public speaking Dutch. Now, I have arrived and am preparing myself for the Christmas festivities.

Tot Januari Nederlands!

There is soooo much to tell but currently no time to tell it. To make a long story short, I somehow left my bag in Eindhoven after a very nice day in Maastricht. In my bag was my laptop. After discovery, talking with conductors, and a lot of worrying, it was found. Whew.

Saturday, I was supposed to go skiing with Caroline, Nick, and Rose but we decided not due to my sore throat. Instead, I saw the new Harry Potter with Nick. Today, we picked up my bag in Eindhoven. Yay! Then, I spent the afternoon running from place to place in Amsterdam.

For dinner, I had a real Dutch meal...my favorite. Now, I am attempting to pack. It looks like a hurricane hit my room. (I'm in Almere and very sadly left my room in Rotterdam Saturday morning.) Let's just say that wasn't the easiest ride down and elevator and walk from a building I have ever had.

Ik heb pratten over alles met mijn familie deze avond zo nu ik ben in mijn kamer met mijn koffers.

Arizona, here I come!

It was an accident. What's new? I wore my shirt inside today. I had a meeting in Almere again. After the meeting I had lunch at Caroline's house before coming back to Rotterdam. As I was sitting on the couch, I noticed a seam on my arm I had never noticed before. Then, I realized my shirt was on inside out. So...either no one noticed that my shirt was on inside this morning or everyone just ignored it and let me be the fool that I am. :)

Friday was a very hectic day. I went to Soest to do some work on my project where we ran into a problem. The end result was my rushing back to Rotterdam to talk to Agnes who had come up with a solution; she had to head home so left me what she had figured out on my desk. I looked at it and breathed a huge sigh of relief. For those of you who know my inherited red cheeks, I was asked if I was hot at one point since I had been zooming around from station to station and train to train with a full out sprint walk to get to work. (So, my cheeks were red and I had what was once coined, “tomato face.”) I visited with people afterwards at our weekly company bar and headed home.

Saturday, I awoke and did some more work on my project. I baked a cheesecake, my last one for awhile, since I promised to bake one for my roommates. (I brought two slices into work for some other people I had made that same promise to.) I also went to the grocery store carrying four empty cola bottle filled bags to return in exchange for 25 cents a pop. It was very amusing as I took the tram. Saturday, I was really the bag lady.

Saturday evening, Eline, Marijke, and I went to Now and Wow since it was my last weekend staying in Rotterdam. It doesn’t open until 11:00 so we headed there around 11:45. We had a good time as usual. Also as usual, I purposefully embarrassed my roommates by dancing around very goofily at the disco from time to time. My parents will know what kind of dancing I am speaking of. :) We met up with a colleague from work and his friends as well. Needless to say, I got home quite late.

Unfortunately for me, I can never sleep in anymore regardless of how late I am up. So, I promptly awoke in the morning and decided I should do some laundry. Mainly, I wanted to get the smoke smell out of my jeans from the evening before. Sunday evening, Marijke and I made the chicken with green beans and potatoes dish I concocted when I first arrived since we hadn’t had it in awhile. It was quite tasty.

Now, I am trying to sort through in my head how I am going to get everything from Rotterdam to Almere. Lucky for me, I will be going to Almere on Tuesday evening to stay the night and go to my meeting in Almere Wednesday morning. This will allow me to take a trip of luggage. Wow, I’m coming home in eight days...weird.

The past two days have been a whirlwind; I feel as if it has been weekend but intermixed with work. On Tuesday, I went to Soest Zuid to meet and work out some analysis for work. After plugging away all day, I caught the train and went to Almere to stay at Caroline’s house since I had a meeting Tuesday morning in Almere for work as well. My alarm didn’t go off in the morning but I still awoke in time and hopped into the shower.

After unpacking a bag I had brought to Almere and laying out my belongings in my room so that I don’t have to take everything from Rotterdam to Almere in one trip, (I will be spending the last two days in Almere), I ate a broodje met kaas. I met up with Sandy and we went to the meeting which lucky for me, only lasted about an hour. After the meeting, Sandy dropped me off at Caroline’s house where I had enough time for that delectable cappuccino I haven’t had in awhile.

Ten minutes later, we were Sneek bound. We visited Tante Gatz first and then drove to Gorredijk to visit with Tante Appie and Oom Jan. I attempted to speak some Dutch again and stumbled upon my grammar but know at least some of my Dutch was comprehensible. We had a very nice visit with delicious gebak and that famous coffee.

Next, Caroline and I drove back to Almere where we had a quick dinner before I was again dropped off at the train station to catch a train to Amsterdam. Actually, I caught a train to Weesp and then Duivendrecht. The Duivendrecht stop is right next to the Heineken Music Hall and the Ajax Stadium. I met Rink at the Duivendrecht train station where we began to drive around in hopes of finding where to park for the concert we went to last night. We didn’t spot the Heineken Music Hall but we couldn’t miss the Ajax Stadium. (I remember Richard telling me that the Heineken Music Hall was right next to the stadium.) After driving around, we just parked in the Ajax stadium and looked at signs until we found which direction the Heineken Music Hall was located. Success! It was right outside of our parking garage.

The Heineken Music Hall was really cool. It was a bit bigger than Marquee Theatre in Tempe. Our tickets were on the floor which was nice. The tickets for the balcony had seats; I really like the set-up because the venue is still quite small. When you walk in, the first thing you see are a bunch of mirrors. These mirrors are also doors that open to the hall where everyone is standing.

The concert was pretty good overall. It wasn’t phenomenal but it didn’t stink; it was good. Oh, you may want to know what the concert was…do ya? Do ya? We went to see Billy Idol. Yes, you read that correctly. We missed a song or two at the beginning, but I walked in while hearing the lyrics, “Dancing with myself.” This quickly reminded me of the many times I would sing and dance to this song, by myself of course, when living with Peeler/Peel/Stephanie.

After the concert, there was an “after party.” This was also in the Heineken Music Hall and consisted of a dj playing a wide array of music, people dancing, and people talking. I did see some very interesting dancing going on. We hung around for awhile and visited with Rink’s friends; I also did a lot of people watching. We left around midnight and went to the parking garage. Here, we spend about twenty minutes trying to find the car.

We parked on the second level and had to walk toward the North side. The car was parked next to some stairs. I distinctly remember looking outside of the garage and seeing white and red lights on the side of a building when we parked so that I could use this later to remember where the car was parked as a frame of reference. So, when we got into the garage to leave, we walked to the North and ascended some stairs. It didn’t look the same. Next, we walked around a bit and a bit more and a bit more. Finally, we talked to a parking attendant and he told us to go back downstairs, turn left, and walk up the other stairs. We weren’t mad in the head after all; :) the parking garage was divided into halves upstairs. We finally found the car and drove back to Rotterdam where I quickly dove into my bed. It was a very busy but very enjoyable day...

I have sooo much to do before I leave!