It would be more appropriate to ask, "May I ask you a second question?" Thank you, Gerard, for clearing this one up. It sounds a bit strange, but it's correct.
posted by James 2:31 pm
The question, "May I ask you a question?" is redundant.
posted by James 10:27 am
Even though I am still working on the same spreadsheet, I have found work to be enjoyable. I know what the outcome is supposed to be, some parts are challenging (but not impossible) and I can be creative. I should be able to complete the more important parts of the spreadsheet today.
I have also noticed that it has been more than two weeks since I have had any conflict with Paul. I think that this is, in part, related to the type of work that I’m doing at the moment. In the past, conflict may have resulted from each of us having a different understanding about what work was expected to be done. With the spreadsheet, however, it is clear what I am supposed to do. I know what I should be working on, and, by and large, Paul has left me to it. When a person has a good understanding of what another person expects, confusion is less likely and conflict is easier to avoid.
Of course, we still have differences of opinion about what the most effective way of working is. In one respect, perhaps I should be listening more to what Paul suggests. After all, he has a lot of experience in consulting and this is a type of business that I would like to learn more about. Some of his rules may seem strange to me, but I assume he uses them because he feels that they lead to better results. On the other hand, Paul’s methods may not be suitable for all workers. Everyone has a different working style, and it seems sensible to assume that the individual has the best idea of how they can be most productive.
So, should I be more open to following what Paul suggests, or should I stick to the methods that I feel are right? The more I think about it, the first option seems better. If I test his suggestions for a reasonable time, I will be in a better position to judge whether they are good for me, or not. Then I will be able to refine the description of how I work best.
posted by James 9:24 am
I have often been thinking about Caramello chocolate. It is one of the many things that I miss from New Zealand. So, it was a welcome treat to receive my latest package from my parents – a King Size Caramello and a bundle of cryptic crosswords. What a nice way to wind down after work! Solving a cryptic while drinking tea and munching on Caramello.
Again, by the time I got the chocolate, it was completely smashed. It makes me worried about sending my own packages to New Zealand. I need to design the package so that there is little chance of the contents moving about inside.
Daylight savings time is great! The sun doesn’t fully set until around 9pm, so there is plenty of time to do things outside, after work. Last night, I went for a half hour run. My cough has completely disappeared and I felt good. I love the feeling of accomplishment you have after you have just finished a good run.
It is one of the goals of my traineeship to keep up with my running. I would like to train for a half or full marathon somewhere in the Netherlands, or nearby. As such, I will be more disciplined with deciding when to go for a run. Sunday is “long run day”, of course. I will probably also run two or three times during the week. I already have some running courses in mind.
posted by James 9:35 am
About a week ago, Maja told me that she was moving to a new place. There would be a spare room, so if I were interested I could take it. It would represent a drop in rent from EUR 275 to EUR 150, so I knew that I would give the offer some serious consideration.
Last night, I inspected the new place. It is much further from the city centre than where I currently live. We had to walk to the top of a huge flight of stairs - I could see this being very frustrating after a long day at work. (And, imagine how difficult it would be to move my computer!) There were other things about the place which were inconvenient - to reach the shower, you had to walk through the kitchen and the laundry. The toilet was about as far away as you could get from where you would wash your hands. Of course, the bedroom was much smaller than what I have now, even after taking my sloping ceilings into account.
I have decided to stay where I am. For me, the extra comforts and conveniences of where I am now outweigh the benefits of having a lower rent.
posted by James 9:27 am
Yesterday and today, I have spent a lot on eating out. I feel like I haven't had any time to go to the supermarket, buy the ingredients and prepare a proper meal at home. Of course, I can always make time for something like that. This afternoon, I bought a huge chocolate ice-cream, speaking only in Dutch. I am sure that I pronounced a few of the words incorrectly, and there was probably something wrong with the sentence structure, but at least the transaction was completed successfully.
posted by James 2:10 pm
Last night, as an intentional break from Monday AIESEC drinks, I went to the movies with Marina. We saw "Johnny English" starring Rowan Atkinson. All of the jokes were predictable, but it was still very funny. Actually, Rowan Atkinson could probably just drink a glass of milk and I would find it funny. Of course, halfway through the movie, there was an intermission. I hate this. I have decided that this is solely for commercial reasons - the theatre wants people to go back to the lobby and buy more food.
I popped into the AIESEC drinks, after the movie, just to give Steven some money for my new mobile phone. Katrijn was very bubbly and asked me all these questions about the reception weekend. Marina was waiting, so I had to go. I felt a little guilty that I had avoided the drinks to see the movie. Still, there is always next week.
I have no idea how the road rules work. This morning, there were bikes and cars coming from all directions to the first major intersection close to my house. It seemed like everyone was confused, including me. All the bikes stopped. Then, everyone started moving. Then, we all stopped. In the end, I just went for it. I need to figure this out, quickly. Until then, I will be approaching any sort of intersection with an extreme measure of caution.
posted by James 9:41 am
For the whole of last week, I had been working on a financial spreadsheet for the same client whose business plan I had been revising. It is a comprehensive spreadsheet with all of the important financial statements and supporting forecasts. Ideally, there would be a few pages reserved for data inputs, and the other pages would consist solely of formulae. This would make it easy to use. For instance, you could change the salary set for a sales employee and all of the financial statements would be automatically updated.
I discussed it with another colleague on Monday, and we typed up a page of changes to be made. All of the changes sounded simple, so I thought it would be easy to complete by the end of the week. However, what was easy to explain in English turned out to be difficult to express using the language of Excel formulae.
Often, things which are simple to use have complicated internal workings.
During the week, I was frustrated that it was taking me so long to make the changes. By Thursday, it was obvious that I would have to work really hard to finish on time. On Friday, I was resigned to staying late after work to see how much I could do. By 9pm, Paul came into the room to see me still at the computer. I told him that there was no way that I would finish that night (there is probably still a day’s worth of work left to do). He was understanding and said that I could finish it next week. He said that I should go home and start enjoying my weekend.
I was disappointed with myself that I couldn’t complete the work on time, especially after promising to do so. But, I think Paul appreciates my effort.
AIESEC Twente was having their turn to host a reception weekend, so that’s what I did on Saturday and Sunday. The Twente local committee is based in Enschede – a medium sized town in the north-east of the Netherlands, very close to Germany. The travelling time to get there was about 3 hours, and involved changing trains twice.
Enschede seems a lot like Tilburg. Its population is around the same size, and the city centre has a similar feel to it. It is a student town. I found out that almost no-one from the local committee actually comes from Enschede. Most people come from the cities in the west of the Netherlands and they will move back there to work, once they have finished their studies.
Unfortunately, I was the only person from Tilburg. To compound this, only a couple of the friends that I made in Maastricht were able to come. This was a little frustrating, because I would be going through the same process of meeting everyone for the first time, and only being with them for a day or so. I don’t mind meeting new people, but it is nice to also have a group of established friends that you can hang out with.
The agenda for the weekend had an international feel. On Saturday, after lunch, we could attend two workshops from a choice of a salsa lesson, tae kwon do and theatre sports. There was an Italian buffet for dinner and, on Sunday, we would go swimming.
On the sign up sheet for Saturday’s workshops, I immediately chose the salsa lesson. From what I have heard from Marina, salsa is very popular amongst Dutch students. She had even been invited to a few “salsa parties”. So, I thought having salsa skills would be useful, and I wanted to see what Marina’s reaction would be when I told her about the workshop. I also chose theatre sports because it sounded fun.
Salsa is a combination of many South American styles of dancing. Its translation, in English, is “sauce”. Salsa can be danced to any song with an eight-beat rhythm. You always rest on the 4th and 8th beats. The instructor was patient and the lesson was excellent. I learned five basic step patterns, and by the end of the lesson I was dancing with a partner. My favourite move is the “inside turn”. I still need to count the beats in my mind and I haven’t figured out how to signal to my partner which move I will do next. Simply, I need to practise a lot before I turn up at any salsa parties.
There were about twenty people at the theatre sports workshop. As a warm-up we played some games which would be useful as ice-breakers in many situations. (One of them was very similar to the drinking game, “Zoom”). Later, we did four-person skits in front of the others. I learnt some useful things about making a short skit which is interesting for an audience to watch.
A short pub crawl was organised for after dinner. My first reaction was cynicism. We would be walking to each pub and buying ourselves drinks, yet there was a party later where we could drink as much as we liked without paying extra. In the interest of preserving my finances, I only had a couple of drinks during the pub crawl.
The party, on Saturday night, was held at the house of an AIESEC alumnus. I later learnt that the local committee likes to use this place for special events like this. It is easy to understand why. A bar is installed in the main room downstairs, and it was fully stocked with alcohol for the night’s party. It was certainly less expensive than having the party in a bar in the city centre and the atmosphere was more personal.
The party had a slow start, but when the volume was turned up and much beer consumed, things became more lively. I made a request that “Ojos Asi” by Shakira be played. (This is my favourite AIESEC linedance song). Twenty minutes later, it started playing, and I was so enthusiastic. It’s the first time I have heard it in the Netherlands, aside from listening to it on a CD Walkman. About ten other people were also fully proficient in the linedance. Even though space was limited, everyone fully got into it.
Throughout the night, I heard this song another four times. We also danced to “Reach for the stars” a ridiculous number of times. By 4am, I was struggling to stay awake, but I think I had reached the stage where I could do those line dances in my sleep, anyway. Pedro, the president elect of AIESEC International, was also there, and as you may imagine, he is well versed in all of the AIESEC linedances. For the ones that I wasn’t totally sure of, I looked to Pedro as my benchmark.
There appears to be a perception amongst the Dutch that anyone from New Zealand is able to consume a lot of alcohol without being affected much. Naturally, the more I drank, the more I wanted to go to sleep. After going to bed at midnight in Maastricht, I was determined to fix my reputation, by staying up longer. This time, I called it quits at 4am, and I think that is respectable.
The swim on Saturday was the ideal activity as an aid to recover from the previous night’s party. I attempted some upside-down underwater salsa and I was mildly successful. I could do the basic step followed by an inside turn. No-one was willing to be my partner in this new style of dancing, but I’m sure the attempt would have been funny.
posted by James 9:32 am