I just gave Peter a 1.5 litre bottle of cola.
posted by James 1:56 pm
At 7:35am, today, Netherlands time, New Zealand's population officially passed 4 million. Yet, I still feel like the same person.
posted by James 10:27 am
Last night my washing powder, fabric softener and soap for the shower all ran out on the same day. Go figure. I need to do another big shop.
I also went for my first night-time run. When I got home from work, I was so hungry that I decided to eat dinner first. This meant that I had to wait until 9pm to go for my run. (If you run too soon after eating something, you get the stitch big-time). There weren't that many bikes out, so I often had the bike lane all to myself. The city centre was also quieter. It was a peaceful run.
posted by James 9:31 am
I am in a very happy mood at the moment! I have just finished working on the spreadsheet. It is 27 worksheets big, fully integrated and all of the financial statements balance correctly. I'm really pleased with it. I'm so pleased with it that I have given Peter (a colleague at work) a challenge. I will give him a 1.5 litre bottle of cola if he can find any mistakes with the internal logic of the spreadsheet.
posted by James 4:44 pm
When I apologised to Katrijn for my contribution to our e-mail exchange (about my feedback to the receptions program), that was supposed to have been the end of it. That night, I had also been expecting apologies from Katrijn and Sjoerd, but I didn’t receive them. I was disappointed, but I thought that I should just forget about it and get on with my traineeship.
After two weeks, I hadn’t been able to move on. I would often stew over Sjoerd’s e-mail and imagine all of the angry things that I could say to him. I was frustrated about how things were supposedly resolved. I had some unanswered questions and I felt that there was still more to learn.
I didn’t know anything about Sjoerd’s side of the story. What was going through his mind when he sent the e-mail? Would he act the same way if faced with a similar situation? Until I knew these things, I would continue to have an unfavourable view of him. And, even though he is just one person, he is the president of the local committee, and it was beginning to harm my perception of the other AIESECers.
So, I called Sjoerd on Monday and invited him around for Tuesday evening to talk about things. Taking in what I have learnt recently, I ensured that it was a face to face conversation. It is more personal and more effective.
Sjoerd confirmed his perspective about the original feedback e-mail. His view was pretty much the same as Katrijn’s. He thought that it was negative criticism of the local committee and it damaged their reputation. I shared that I had received e-mails from friends in New Zealand saying that the feedback wasn’t interpreted that way by them. He could be reassured that the reputation of AIESEC Tilburg was not damaged.
When Katrijn received my last e-mail, she was in tears. This angered Sjoerd, so he sent his e-mail. In all likelihood, his e-mail was sent impulsively, due to anger. He said that he probably would have sent a different e-mail had he taken the time to cool down. However, I felt like I was drawing this from him by asking some leading questions, so I can’t be totally sure.
I also directly asked him what I could learn from this. If I wanted to give feedback in the future, how should I do it. He confirmed that face to face is the best way, perhaps at the Monday drinks. Out of interest, I asked him what he had learnt and whether there was anything that he would do differently next time. He replied that it is easy to take a different interpretation of what someone is communicating to you, so it is important not to overreact. I agree with this.
The conversation turned to AIESEC culture and trainees. Sjoerd commented that the other trainees (Maja and Moise) don’t want to participate in the reception activities and this is frustrating for AIESEC. I suggested that he talk with them about their reasons for not coming. I hope that he follows this advice. I also said that AIESEC needn’t always organise elaborate reception activities for the trainees. A simple invitation for a cup of tea or an evening out pooling would suffice. His response was that the AIESECers were busy people and wouldn’t have much time for that sort of thing. This seems strange to me – if they have time for a reception event, then why would they not have time for the suggested alternative?
It is clear that we have different ideas about AIESEC and its purpose. I see AIESEC as a learning organisation where you can develop yourself by trying new things and interacting with different cultures. An important element of AIESEC, for me, is having fun through active participation. Sjoerd sees his role in AIESEC as more like running a business. AIESEC is seen as an organisation where you can develop your business skills, and companies are really impressed when they see it on your CV. This explains why the local committee is so organised with reception activities and logistics. From my perspective, treating AIESEC as a business has made them appear more distant to the trainees. As a result, they are not getting to know the trainees as well as they could, and their AIESEC experience is less rich. Of course, this is due to our different AIESEC cultures. Perhaps Sjoerd would counter that my Auckland local committee is too laid back.
I’m pleased that we had the conversation. I have a better understanding of Sjoerd’s perspective when he sent the e-mail, and I feel that the issue is resolved.
On a different subject, when I got home I was so hungry. I found some chocolate in the fridge, so I ate some of it. It was Marina’s chocolate, so my intention was to replace it when I went to the supermarket that evening. Later that night, I offered Marina one of the two chocolate bars that I had purchased. She said that I didn’t have to worry about it – I should just put it in the fridge and we could share it. This friendship is blossoming. When there is an open willingness to share chocolate, then that is usually a good sign.
posted by James 9:26 am
For Easter, it seems that most of the AIESECers left Tilburg to visit their families. Also, Kasia and Ania have gone back to Poland for the next few weeks. For the time being, it’s just me and Marina living at the Hasseltstraat address.
I still had to go to work on Easter Friday. It was more relaxed than usual because we knew that Paul wouldn’t be coming into the office. He wasn’t even upstairs. He had left for a skiing holiday on Thursday afternoon. I wore my typical weekend clothes and even brought some CDs to listen to as I worked on the spreadsheet.
On Saturday morning, I posted a chocolate-filled package to New Zealand. The post office merely weighed the package and I paid the stated price. I was surprised that I didn’t have to complete anything extra, such as a declaration of the package’s contents.
In the afternoon, Marina and I took the train to s’Hertogenbosch. I suggested the trip because I realised that I hardly knew anything about the place, even though it’s the town where I work. My monthly train pass allows me to go there and back unlimited times, so I may as well take advantage of it. I have a “Lonely Planet” book on The Netherlands, which includes a few pages on s’Hertogenbosch. Marina and I decided to take a “random walk” approach to sightseeing, mixed with looking for the more interesting places suggested by the authors of “Lonely Planet”.
We headed for the city centre first. It was market day, so there were stalls erected all over the place. There were plenty of stalls selling flowers, fresh fish and fruit. One vendor was selling freshly made stroopwaffles. They had a diameter of approximately 15cm and the caramel stroop filling was deliciously warm. It was an excellent snack to enjoy as we inspected the other stalls.
After pursuing a random walk, we happened upon Sint Jan Cathedral. According to the Lonely Planet, it took from 1336 to 1550 to complete its construction. It is 115 metres long and 62 metres wide. The height of its spire is 73 metres. Unfortunately, a lot of the outside was hidden behind scaffolding placed for a renovation project. Nevertheless, the inside of the building was impressive and Marina and I spent about an hour looking around.
Religion is not a strong focus in my life, but I still respect cathedrals and churches as very peaceful places to be. Sint Jan Cathedral is no exception. There is a vast amount of space inside, intricate stone carvings line the walls and the stained glass windows are beautiful. I was impressed by the height of the ceiling. At its peak, at the “all-seeing eye” in the central dome, the ceiling was 41 metres high. Marina and I also noticed that many of the stone blocks on the floor had carved writing and pictures. After many years of people walking over them, the writings had faded. Marina suggested that they may have represented the families who had “sponsored” the building of the cathedral. We later learnt that these stones marked the graves of people who used to be buried where the cathedral stands today.
Another random walk took us to an out of the way place where pieces of art were being exhibited. The floor was concrete and, aside from a makeshift table near the entrance, there was only the art displayed on the walls and the floor. Aside from the woman looking after the place, Marina and I were the only ones there. Before we left, we learnt that the woman was called Anna and she had made the sculptures on the floor and one of the large paintings on the side wall. The painting depicted a couple ice-skating. For fun, I got a photograph of us in an ice-skating pose in front of the painting. She talked longingly about De Pont, the art gallery in Tilburg. This is only five minutes bike ride from our place, so we have decided to visit it soon.
Although there are a few large canals in s’Hertogenbosch, a lot of the canal system is underground. Or rather, buildings have been placed over the canals. Often, we would be walking down a street and spot, to the side, a piece of canal that hadn’t been built over. Once, we saw some children fishing in such a piece of canal from the footpath.
I enjoyed walking around and stopping for things which made good photographs. Sometimes, we would just watch the ducks playing around the canal. It is easy to pass the time by watching animals interact and theorise about what they are thinking when they do certain things. For instance, we were watching a duck standing on a wharf by a canal. Occassionally, it would lift up a foot as if it were about to step into the water. Yet, it would always shake the foot and replace it in the same spot. According to our theory, the duck wanted to go for a swim, but it was apprehensive because the water looked too cold.
Perhaps it sounds ridiculous for us to be theorising about the duck’s intentions and what it was thinking. Yet, when it comes to other humans, people make similar assumptions all the time.
We had McDonalds for dinner because it was the easiest thing to do. I took the McDonalds placemat home as a souvenir for Dutch language practice.
I had a late lie in to celebrate Easter Sunday and, for breakfast, enjoyed some thick toast with honey. As I was finishing, Marina arrived back from her run. (She cycles to the special runners’ park and follows a random run). She said that she was going to Utrecht with some friends and she invited me to join them. I experienced some reluctance, at first, because I had a solid plan in my mind of the things I was going to do around the house that day. That’s the inertia of changing plans. Of course, in the end, I chose to go on the trip to Utrecht.
Utrecht is about an hour’s train travel north of Tilburg. It is home to the largest university in The Netherlands, so there is a large student population. The next AIESEC reception weekend will be held here in May.
Like s’Hertogenbosch, there is an extensive canal network, however, there are many cafes located at the canal water level, below the street. These cafes are housed in what used to be warehouses when trade was more extensive along the canals. Utrecht has a long history, and I enjoyed walking around the old streets in the city centre. As it was Easter Sunday, all of the shops were closed, aside from the bars and cafes.
We were quite a big group, so it was sometimes difficult to make decisions about where to walk to next. There is an obvious trade-off. When you are travelling by yourself, you have complete autonomy over where you go and the decision-making is more efficient. Yet, when you travel with a group, you have the company of friends to share the experience with.
The highlight of the day was a guided tour of the Dom Tower - the tallest church tower in The Netherlands. It is just over 112 metres high. The tower was originally part of a larger church which was built in the 14th century. In 1674, a hurricane demolished the middle part of the church, leaving the tower and the back of the church. These days, a road goes through the space where this section of the building used to be.
There are eight large bells in the belfry of the tower and these are tolled on special occasions. The largest one weighs over 8,000 kilos (good gosh) and it requires four men to operate it using ropes. Even then, it takes four minutes for the bell to start/stop making sound due to the enormous inertia.
At 75 metres up, you could walk around the outside of the tower and soak in the view. From above, I retraced the path that we had earlier walked. In some places, there was enough space for me to sit down with my legs stretched out. For a minute or so, I thought about how this place was ideal for someone to sit and reflect about things. The highest you could go was 90 metres and, naturally, this provided an excellent vantage point for taking photographs of the city scene below.
I have also confirmed my fear of heights. I would look over the edge, think about how high I was and how certain my death would be if I fell off. I made sure that I was always holding on to something, and kept my weight towards my back. I am sure that I would never be courageous enough to attempt a bungy jump.
Eeirily, Monday morning began the same way as Sunday. I was finishing my breakfast as Marina came back from her morning run. However, this time there was no invitation forthcoming to visit another Dutch town. That was fine, as I relaxed by tidying my room and writing some e-mails to friends.
In the afternoon, I went for my longest run yet, in Tilburg. There is a ring of four long streets which encircle the city, so I was interested in how long it would take to run it. There was some nice scenary along the way. One stretch reminded me of “Twin Oaks Drive” in One Tree Hill Domain. The run took a decent 1 hour and 10 minutes. I think that if I want to go for longer runs, I may have to consider running to different towns (and, perhaps, back too!). It is about 25 km between Tilburg and s’Hertogenbosch, so it may be worthwhile to catch the train there and run back.
posted by James 9:41 am