Last night, there was a parade which went down Hasseltstraat. It was full of children and their parents, holding many bunches of flowers and bags of sweets. Some of them were holding miniature Dutch flags. I think they were walking in school groups. Almost everyone who lives at my end of the street had set up chairs on the footpath to watch the parade from. I took a couple of photos, even though I didn’t know what the parade was about.
I asked Steven and Lia if they knew what the parade was about, and they hadn’t heard of it before. I am guessing it is something peculiar to Tilburg.
The reception activity organised for the evening was karaoke. We met at the McDonalds at 9pm, but as the karaoke didn’t start until 10pm, we filled in the time with some pooling. The karaoke, itself, was a non-event. It would have been at a bar that also had karaoke as an extra. As I understood things, karaoke wasn’t held there very often, and the bar staff were reluctant to set things up for us. Some of us had already selected songs, but nothing was happening. At 10:45pm, I was bored of the whole thing, and just went home.
So sadly, I am yet to experience karaoke Dutch style.
posted by James 9:47 am
I just got the reply from the Twente girl. It was friendly, but (unfortunately for me) I found out that she already has a boyfriend. Oh well. At least now I know, and I won't be left wondering "what if?". Much better than being indirect and waiting to see what might happen.
posted by James 3:13 pm
This morning, I sent an honest and direct e-mail to the girl I like from Twente. I haven't received a reply yet. I have also had four cups of coffee! So, I can't sit still!
posted by James 12:38 pm
Up until this point, I have succumb to convention without really thinking about it. Dinner has been my biggest meal with the standard meat, potatoes/pasta and vegetables. Lunch has been the smallest as I have attempted to save money. (I have been supplementing this with all the juice and cup o soup that I can drink, at work). It has restricted me. When I get home from work, it would be nice to go for a run, but on such an empty stomach it would be suicide. Then, I have a huge dinner, but go to bed just three hours afterwards.
Next week, I am going to change the structure of my meals. I will make lunch my biggest meal, over dinner. Meat is the most expensive dinner component, so I could spend less on this and more on lunch stuff. The more I think about it, the more this makes sense. I will have a full stomach at work, so I will probably be more productive. When I get home, I will have more energy in stock to go for a run. I also think that I will end up spending less on food and drink.
Last night I went for a run, at 9:30pm, after eating dinner. (My time was 1 hour 2 minutes). If I had had any plans for going out, I probably would have foregone the run. With my proposed change in eating focus, I might not have to make such a choice.
posted by James 9:35 am
I need to learn the Dutch way of pronouncing letters of the alphabet. When I hear "R", they mean "A". When I hear "A", they mean "E". And, when I hear "E", they mean "I". No wonder I'm so poor at taking phone messages!
posted by James 2:46 pm
One of the times when I am most “aware of myself” is when I am doing my stretches after a long run. I am sitting on the footpath with my left leg outstretched, and the right one bent to my side. I am grabbing the toes of my left foot with my right hand. My left palm is level with the ground to maintain balance. The only sound I hear is my breathing, quick at first, but slowing down as I take deeper breathes. The air is sweet. I am fully aware of my pulse – my heart is still beating hard from the workout. I seem to sweat more, now that I’ve stopped running. Perhaps this is because I no longer have the air rushing past my head to cool it down. The front of my running singlet is drenched with sweat. Streams collect in droplets on my forehead and chin, and intermittently fall to the footpath. I like the patterns left by the drops as they collide with the ground. My body is tired, but my mind is totally refreshed. I have a satisfying feeling of accomplishment. I feel pleased to have my body and what it is capable of. I feel content.
This is why I enjoy running.
posted by James 9:29 am
Friday, May 30. That was the hottest day that I have experienced so far, in the Netherlands. The temperature was in the high 20s, but it felt warmer. The lack of wind made it worse. Luckily the office had air conditioning. The difference, when you stepped outside, was obvious.
That night, we had dinner at Anne’s house. We made two big pizzas. Dinner was filling and the conversation was pleasant.
When I got back home, I was sweating like I had just been for a run. I had a cold shower to mitigate the effect of the heat.
In the supermarket, goods are priced per unit, and also per kilogram. I bought a packet of “Frisk” peppermints the other day, for EUR 1.05. It would have cost EUR 145.38 had I bought it by the kilogram. That’s nice to know.
On Saturday evening, I went pooling with Jasper. One of his friends joined us. We played “cuts” for two hours. It was so much fun! To use a tennis metaphor, Jasper is the master of the “unforced winner”. I can understand it happening once in a while, but four times in a row is hard to believe. Yet, I saw it happen. Having said that, he regularly missed the easy shots. As Jasper said, “Sometimes the easiest shots are the most difficult”.
I think Jasper is the AIESECer that I get along the best with, at the moment. He understands my sense of humour and I think he is funny too.
I went for runs on both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s run was 40 minutes. I had no stitch this time, which was a relief. It was so hot that by the time I got back , my singlet was totally soaked with sweat. After stretching, I had a really refreshing cold shower. Sunday’s run was longer – I went out for 30 minutes, turned around and came back. I must have maintained a steady pace because my time was 59 minutes and 43 seconds. A gentle breeze made this run more bearable. For most of the middle part, I was running along very long, straight, stretches of path reserved for bikes and pedestrians. Tall trees on each side created a picturesque, shady tunnel. I really enjoyed it.
On Sunday evening, I met Moise and Maja in the city centre to have a look at the “Hap Stap Festival”. All of the bars had set up marquees in the city square. By means of a special ticket system, you could purchase small meals and specialty beers. We had a couple of drinks at different bars and enjoyed each others conversation.
Maja and Moise are already making plans for where they will work once their traineeships are over. I have a general idea of what I would like to do (work in one of the big four accounting firms), but maybe I should be taking some more concrete steps towards this. Or, at least find some more information about my possibilities.
At 3am, on Monday morning, I couldn't get to sleep because it was so damn hot! At times like this, I prefer the cold. At least you can put an extra blanket on the bed. But, with the heat, after you have taken everything off the bed, that's it. You can't very well remove your skin. Sheesh! So, I had an ice cold shower for two minutes, then tried sleeping again. It worked, but I'm so tired today.
posted by James 10:01 am