When you are really busy at work, time just flies past. It's almost like an hourglass with no bottleneck. Hehe.
posted by James 5:22 pm
On Wednesday, I came to work determined to manage my time well. I would revise certain parts of the business plan, fix all known faults in the spreadsheet, and get up to date with my hours registration. As it often is in such situations, my plan had to be discarded. The office was busy printing and faxing tax returns for many of the clients. For most of the afternoon, I found myself next to the fax machine, making sure that the pages went through without a hitch. It wasn’t as boring as you may imagine. The fax machine was slow, so it was easy to do that job and read a book at the same time.
Late in the afternoon, I found out that it was Paul’s birthday. His 40th birthday. He was having a big party at his house (which includes the office downstairs). Ah! (The cogs in my mind slowly turned). So, that’s why there was all that beer and wine in the fridge downstairs!
We stopped working at around 5pm, and reorganised the office for the party. Afterwards, we stood outside around a table. Paul made sure that we all had drinks. We talked about work, university and student organisations. I had two beers, and I probably would have stayed longer had it not been for my empty stomach. Alcohol has a rapid effect on you if you haven’t eaten much beforehand. I caught the train home at 7:39pm, feeling a little light headed.
I only accidentally found out that the next day was a holiday. Paul asked me what I was doing, and I tentatively replied “Er, going to work?” Hehe. So, that was a nice surprise. I checked the calendar in the kitchen at home, and it confirmed that Thursday was indeed Hemelvaartsdag. I’ve since checked my dictionary, and it translates as “Ascension Day”. Alright then. I’m not religious, and I’ve never heard of this holiday, so it didn’t mean much to me.
It was a perfect day, and I shamefully spent the morning inside doing some random tasks.
In the afternoon, I decided to practise some “no hands” cycling at Leij Park. It was awesome. I am really good at “no hands” cycling now. My record was 2 minutes 45 seconds, and I only stopped because I ran out of path! I can think of a “course” in the park that would take me about 4 minutes to cycle, but whenever I tried it, there were people obstacles in the way. (I wasn’t brash enough to scream for them to move. And you can’t very well operate the bell without touching the handle bars!) On the way home, I cycled no hands entirely from De Pont to just before my building. I felt so cool and smug.
To summarise, I can cycle the straights easily enough. Going fast is fun. Gentle, sloping corners are easy. Sharp right-angled corners are too hard for me (if, indeed, they are possible at all). To put this into perspective, I could perpetually cycle no hands around an Olympic running track, if it weren’t for eventual boredom and leg (and bum) fatigue. I don’t have much experience no hands cycling up/down a slope, so it’s difficult to say how good I would be in those circumstances. Also, if I changed bikes, then I wouldn’t be as good. Different bikes, different characteristics.
I went for my long run in the evening. The past two times I have been running, I have had immediate stitch before even leaving Hasseltstraat. This is disturbing. Although, after a minute or so of walking, it has disappeared. I have some information about marathons being held in Amsterdam and Eindhoven in October. I am considering doing one of those. I have never done a marathon before, but it is one of my long term goals to complete one in under three hours. This time I just want to finish! I wonder if four months is enough training time?
posted by James 9:54 am
Monday's AIESEC drinks were low key. Most of the AIESECers didn't turn up as they are preparing for exams. It seems like there is always at least some people getting ready for exams! I only stayed for about 40 minutes because it wasn't very interesting. Just standing around, drinking and talking. I'm not drinking at the Monday drinks (does that defeat the purpose?) because I'm trying to save my money. When I ran out of things to talk about, I just went home!
I am becoming good at no hands cycling. Actually, going along the straight is quite easy. I am almost managing slight curves. I wonder if it is possible to go around right angle corners? I doubt it. You would have to tilt the bike too far. Then again, there may be a Dutch person here who can do it.
posted by James 6:36 pm
In an effort to break the EUR 500 note, I bought my monthly train pass to s’Hertogenbosch. This costs EUR 102, but the ticket counter wouldn’t accept the EUR 500 note. I had to visit a nearby money changer to get some smaller notes. They charged my EUR 2.50 for this service, but I guess that’s something you have to expect.
This weekend, the Utrecht local committee was hosting a reception weekend. I was keen to attend this one because of the people that I might meet there – other trainees, an AIESECer from the Ukraine who had recently served a term at AIESEC International, and a girl from the Twente local committee that I’m interested in.
There were seven AIESECers from Tilburg going. I think this is because the AIESEC “year”, over here, ends in June and many AIESECers around the country wanted to be there at, perhaps, their last event.
In the evening, we climbed the Dom Tower – my second time (the first time was last month). The tour was similar to my first one, but I learnt some new things from chatting with the tour guide after the tour had finished. The Dom Church is the centre of a cross formed by five churches. (This is the only such cross formation in the Netherlands). After the hurricane in 1674, it took 150 years to clear the rubble of the destroyed section of church because no-one wanted to pay for it! On a clear day, you can see as far as Amsterdam, and I was shown the direction of where to look for Tilburg.
Unfortunately, due to the rule concerning the number of people allowed in the tower, we had only 15 minutes to ourselves at the top. I would have liked to stay there for half an hour, at least, just admiring the view, talking to others and contemplating.
Dinner was an interesting set-up of oil cookers and a mini frying pan for each person! Eight people sat at each table, and containers of raw ingredients were spread out. You lit the oil cooker and cooked your own dinner. You cooked small portions at a time and simply stopped cooking when you were full.
Unfortunately, the party dampened my view of the reception weekend. It was held at a nightclub in the city centre, rather than an AIESECer’s house. This may have been good (huge open space dance area), if it hadn’t been for the awful DJ. He couldn’t make up him mind about the style of music to play, he kept repeating awful songs, CDs skipped, he stopped songs before they had finished and it wasn’t loud enough. Sigh. Also, you had to pay extra for drinks (usually this is included in what you pay for the whole reception weekend).
So, by 1am I had lost all motivation to dance. To make things worse, the AIESEC Twente girl that I like had left, to return to Enschede, by that time too. I hadn’t met the Ukraine AIESECer. Understandably, the Tilburg AIESECers didn’t want to leave, so I had to be patient.
We left after 5am. Jasper, our sole directions, had drunk enough for two people and he was palpably wasted. We were walking for ten minutes in the wrong direction at one stage, and end up reaching the house as the sun was rising. We were so tired. Moise was almost sleeping on his feet. The “tragedy” of the situation was funny.
We went back to Tilburg, first thing after waking up. I’m not sure if there were any reception weekend activities planned for the Sunday.
I spent Sunday at home, resting, drinking tea and studying Dutch.
I am really pleased that I bought the “Blof” CD. The songs have really grown on me. It is also very good for pronunciation practice – the entire lyrics were included with the CD, so I can read along as I listen. I have always thought that listening to foreign music is a very useful component of learning another language.
The AIESECers are also more aware that I am making the effort to learn Dutch. They appear impressed, even though my vocabulary is still very limited.
Right now, I feel satisfied with every aspect of my traineeship. I am busy with meaningful projects at work and, aside from a few hiccups, the relationship with my boss is much smoother than it was earlier. Home life is comfortable. My relationship with the AIESECers is better. Even though they are mainly “surface” friends, I feel that things are moving in the right direction. I am more independent. I know my way around and where to find what I want. I can easily organise my own activities, if I choose. I am making good progress with my traineeship goals.
posted by James 10:52 am