Paul has just given me a book called "The McKinsey Way". He bought it for me because he thought that I may find it interesting and useful. What a nice thing to do!
posted by James 7:02 pm
April 30 is Queen’s Day in the Netherlands and this means a day of work or school for almost everyone. The current Queen’s birthday is actually on January 30. April 30 is the birthday of the Queen before her, but the national holiday is still celebrated on this day.
A huge outdoor public party is traditionally held on the night before, in the city centre. So, the AIESECers and trainees organised to meet near the party location at 9pm. I was pleased because Moise and Maja were there too. I hadn’t seen them for a couple of weeks.
Apparently the wearing of anything orange was encouraged, but I didn’t see much evidence of it in the crowd. Most people were dressed for an ordinary night out clubbing. With my lone orange t-shirt in the wash, I made do with something equally bright and obvious – my green happi coat.
There were two big stages, one set up on each side of the road that bisects the paved pedestrian area in the city centre. In front of each stage was a generous amount of open space for dancing. Temporary bars were located nearby, so you needn’t move far for a drink. Of course, all of the bars that lined the pedestrian thoroughfare were open. People would be walking round with raised trays of drinks for sale.
As usual, no-one was dancing at the beginning. Rather, we stood around drinking and talking. I was itching to dance, but I was reluctant to be the only person in the dance area!
At around 11pm, most of us moved to another area of the city centre where there are bars. A DJ was playing songs from the 80s and 90s. There was a bubble-making machine and confetti everywhere. Lots of people were drinking, but also dancing. I had fun dancing freestyle with Maja and Moise.
Unfortunately, they both had to leave early (just after midnight) because they were each doing something early the next day. I decided to stay longer. I danced with the AIESECers, but it wasn’t as fun as it had been with Maja and Moise. At 1am, the outside entertainment concluded and everyone started moving inside the bars and nightclubs.
I resisted the urge to go home and stuck around with the AIESECers. We were waiting to get inside a nightclub that was obviously already packed. I gave up on this, and looked for Huimei, another AIESECer that I had seen somewhere else, earlier. I found her nearby, she introduced me to some of her friends, and we headed off to a different place to dance.
We went to a bar called “Lollipops” to dance. Huimei told me that it is a gay bar, but it just seemed like any other place to me. I didn’t think about it at the time, but its name seems like an obvious indicator! We stayed there for about 20 minutes and moved to another bar called “The three sisters” before Huimei decided to go home because she was tired.
I walked around for another five minutes on the off-chance that I may bump into other AIESECers. The search was fruitless though, so at 3am, I cycled home.
While Huimei and I were walking between bars, she asked me if I were homosexual. She prepared me for this question by warning that I may be offended by it. In the past, I probably would have been offended by it, but this time I wasn’t. I simply replied “No” and we started talking about something else. I appreciated how straightforward she was with the question, but I wonder why she asked it. Do I have behaviours that suggest to people that I may be homosexual?
On Wednesday, I went out by myself to see what happens on Queen’s Day. The first thing that I noticed was the number of Dutch flags hanging over front doors in Hasseltstraat. I could see four flags from my front door. Upon closer inspection of the houses, most of them have a convenient piece of slanted “piping”, above the door, where you could insert your flag.
I couldn’t ride my bike very far down Hasseltstraat because a great deal of it had been closed of as a market. Stalls lined the road selling all manner of cheap junk. I had some money, but my plan was to spend it on carnival-type food.
The city centre was pretty much as it was the night before. This time, though, bands were playing on the stages, rather than DJs. Even though the sky was completely grey, it looked like a very nice place to be. You could stand with a drink and listen to the bands play, or sit outside one of the bars and watch the world go by. I am sure that I would have enjoyed it more had I been there with friends.
There were so many people there, that I figured I would find an AIESECer if I looked hard enough. I couldn’t find any of them, but they may have been inside one of the bars. There are quite a few of them in the city centre. So, I decided to play the role of human geographer and pay more attention to what was happening around me. I even took a couple of photos.
At the first sign of light drizzle, everyone headed for cover, or hoisted an umbrella. I think that the Dutch are very sensitive when it comes to rain. I have yet to experience a proper rain storm while I have been here. (Although, when I consider how much time I spend on my bike going to and from the train station, that’s probably a good statistic).
I also checked out Leij Park because I heard that there would be a fair there. There were a few carnival rides designed for very small children and many stalls of the sort that I had passed in Hasseltstraat. One was selling cups of “Queen’s Day drink” (orange cordial, hehe) for 10 cents each. I bought a funnel of frites met and walked around, absorbing the atmosphere.
On the way back to Hasseltstraat, I found a stall selling “oliebollen”. These are large “lumps” of sweet dough, crispy on the outside, but soft and chewy inside. You can have them coated with icing sugar. The stall was just closing up and there were many oliebollen left, so the woman at the stall was feeling very generous. I got a big bag full for the rest of my small change – a tasty snack for less than half price.
posted by James 9:18 am
Last night, I went to the AIESEC drinks in the city centre. I stayed for only an hour, or so, before I was bored enough to want to go home. Most of the conversations I had with the AIESECers seemed so awkward. Almost forced. Often there would be 20 seconds of "conversation" followed by a minute of standing around avoiding eye-contact. Strangely enough, I seemed to have the easiest time talking with Katrijn, Sjoerd and Jasper. (Only a few weeks ago, I was liking these people the least).
After some reflection, I think I contributed a lot to last night's situation. I'm still prejudiced towards the AIESEC culture over here, so I probably turned up at the AIESEC drinks expecting to have a boring time. Of course, if you think that way, it's more likely to happen. Also, my networking skills need some brushing up. Luckily, there is a party tonight (for the night before Queen's Day) so I should be seeing a lot of them again. I can try some new approaches.
I have noticed the first shoots of green from the trees outside my house. So, those trees are not dead after all! They will look much better when they are fully clothed in leaves.
After I alighted the train in s'Hertogenbosch, this morning, I saw something funny and cute. A lady was walking to the train, carrying a shopping bag. A small dog was a passenger in the bag and its head just protruded from the top. This gave me a smile to set me up for the rest of the morning.
posted by James 9:44 am
On Friday night, Marina and I had a conversation which had some examples of how the same words can have different interpretions. She was talking about the rivalry between Russia and the Czech Republic over hockey and how they had performed at the latest Olympics. For a while, I was confused because I thought that she had been discussing field hockey and the summer Olympics. Of course, she had been referring to ice hockey and the winter Olympics.
I went to Amsterdam, on Saturday, with a group of AIESECers to watch an American football game. AIESECers and trainees from other local committees around the Netherlands also attended. The game was between the Amsterdam Admirals and the Frankfurt Galaxy.
I don’t know much about American football, so my main motivations for going were to catch up with the other trainees and see what the stadium is like.
The game was played at Amsterdam Arena which is the home of the Ajax soccer team. The stadium has a capacity of around 50,000, but there was probably only 10,000 there. Everyone was at one end of the field, so the stadium looked empty. Nevertheless, where I was sitting was crowded and the atmosphere during the game was good.
There was so much pre-game “entertainment” that the game didn’t start until 5pm. The game was four quarters of 15 minutes each. Yet, in real time, the duration was two and a half hours because the clock was often stopped when the ball wasn’t in play, and each team could call time-outs.
By the end of the game, I was beginning to understand the rules. Amsterdam won 20-16, coming from behind in the last two minutes. Everyone was happy, but the emotion was not as charged as if it had been a soccer game. Each team was stacked with players from the United States. Also, this game has only just been introduced to Europe, so people are not so passionate about it. I would say that most of the people there had an understanding of the game similar to mine.
Earlier, I had received an invitation from Karin, a friend who lives in Amsterdam, to meet up should I have the opportunity. After the game, I called her and she gave me some directions for how to see her.
It was my first day in Amsterdam, so I soon realised how useless I am at finding my way around a new place. The metro was only 150m away from the Amsterdam Arena, yet it took me about 10 minutes to find it. Then there was the matter of using the metro, itself. I ended up catching the metro three times to get to the stop closest to Karin’s place, when I probably could have got there for one less. Not that this mattered in a financial context – I couldn’t figure out how I was supposed to pay for each ride, so I did nothing! (I figure it is something to do with the “stippenkaart” system, as it is for buses, but I couldn’t see anyone stamping tickets).
It was dark and I was somewhat paranoid about catching the wrong tram. I must have asked about four people for advice about which tram to catch, what time it was leaving and which stop to get off. Each person was patient and gave me clear information. One person even gave me some unprompted advice when I must have looked totally confused while attempting to read a map of the metro. My experience confirms how very friendly the Dutch are when a stranger needs help.
At Karin’s place, I met her friend, Venky, and I was offered a hot chocolately beverage. We had a chat about AIESEC culture shock, AIESEC Auckland and Amsterdam.
Before I left, I also used the internet to check the situation of the cricket between New Zealand and Sri Lanka. It was the end of the second day, New Zealand was in a strong position and Fleming had scored a high double century. I really miss not being able to watch the cricket.
I had to catch the last train heading for Eindhoven to get home. So, it was necessary to catch a specific tram leaving nearby Karin’s place to get to that train in time. I said my goodbyes to Karin and Venky and ran from their car to the tram platform. At that moment, I realised that I had left my mobile phone in Karin’s room. I had a dilemma – I could run back to Karin’s place and get my mobile phone, but that would make me almost certain of missing the train I needed to catch. I gave up on that idea because I valued getting back to Tilburg that night, and I figure that I would have got lost on the way back to Karin’s anyway! So, I will be without a mobile phone for a while. No matter, as the only person who has called me on it, so far, is my mother! (I can just call her from work).
On Sunday, I went for my long run. It was a great day for it – overcast and it had just been raining. Perhaps in an unconscious attempt to attract more comment, I wore my body-hugging “polyprop” top as well as my short shorts. This time I had the goal of “going out for a long run”, rather than “running as fast as I can”. This requires discipline, especially in the early stages. Funnily enough, I got my fastest time for this run, anyway. To be honest, though, I have only done this run twice!
posted by James 9:42 am