These days, I am more conscious about how much money I spend. There are many things that I would like to do in my last months here, so it is important to minimise my spending in those areas where I have some influence.
Yesterday, in the supermarket, I spent a whole minute debating whether I should buy a container of griesmeelpap. It only cost 87 cents, but it seemed like something that I didn’t really need to buy. To illustrate this further, the most annoyed I have been this week was when I discovered that I had paid EUR 3.65 more than I had intended at the supermarket. I found out, only after I had returned home, that my purchase of two rookworst sausages had not been discounted, as advertised. I had blindly punched in my PIN at the supermarket without really checking what I was paying.
On the bright side, my new found characteristic of thift has been good for my budget. I am still on track to spend less than EUR 100 on food this month. This is a big improvement from the beginning of the year, where I would spend over EUR 150 in a month, easily.
My biggest reason for saving is so I can travel as much as I can. I have a goal to visit all of the provinces in The Netherlands (I still have five to go). I have express invitations to visit Portugal, Norway and Russia. In February I will know people that I can visit in Germany and Austria. I want to go to Belgium and buy some chocolate. Everyone tells me that I should go to France, Italy and Spain. I have read Anita’s update e-mails about her trip around so many European countries. I would like to do something like that.
I don’t need to go to all of those places. But, I want to do more than what I have done so far. With so many countries in close proximity, it seems a shame that I have only been around The Netherlands and abroad to Croatia.
I used to think that it was due to deficiencies of time and money that I couldn’t travel as much as I liked. Now I think it is just due to the lack of money. Time is not really an issue – there is no rule that says that I must go back to New Zealand immediately after my traineeship finishes.
I found out that I get paid the absolute minimum for a trainee in The Netherlands. I learnt this by reading over the AIESEC traineeship questionnaire for companies. The form states what the minimum salary is, but encourages the firm to pay more so that the trainee can have a better cultural experience. It does not surprise me, though, that Paul would opt to pay the minimum.
I could ask for some extra money from my parents, but a few things have been holding me back. First of all, I have an urge to be independent. I want to see if I can manage this on my own, with what I get paid from my traineeship. Secondly, I feel that I might be crossing some line if I ask for more money in these circumstances. Maybe I am being selfish. It is not as if I need money for food or paying the rent – I can survive here with what I get paid. I just can’t go out as much as I would like, or do all of the travel that I want to. These things could be considered luxuries, so maybe I shouldn’t be asking for more money, just so I can do them.
Then again, this is the ideal time to travel to these places. I am already in Europe. I should really do as much as I can. I will assess my budget again, and see how it fares if I include all the travel I want to do. That way I can see what the shortfall would be. With this figure in mind, I can ask my parents for their opinion. They always have the liberty to refuse, but I will never know what may happen unless I ask.
posted by James 7:56 am
I am more likely to respect a person who is not afraid of being open with his or her vulnerabilities. I see it as a sign of honesty.
I was thinking about that today when I recalled a meeting that Paul and I had, a long time ago, with a client and his other advisors. The whole meeting was conducted in English, for my benefit. At the end, Paul asked me how I thought his English was. The way he said it had a childlike feel to it - he seemed pleased with himself that he lasted the whole two hours in English, and he wanted some encouragement from me. I told him that his English was very good, which was the truth. He was beaming. Reliving that moment made me smile.
posted by James 8:03 pm
In the weekend, I went to Wageningen for the reception weekend organised by the local AIESECers. Only Vincent and I were the representatives of Tilburg.
We caught the train from Tilburg just after 10am on Saturday morning. Vincent had wanted to catch an earlier one, but I was late due to getting my hair cut, and bending over to pick up a 2-euro coin which had been accidentally abandonned by its owner. Our journey was comprised of four parts - two each by bus and train. On the way, I had a look over Vincent's photo album of Benin. We arrived at 12:30pm - half an hour late, but there were AIESECers at the bus station to meet us.
I met Ingeborg (from Norway) and Andrei (from Romania). They are both trainees based at Rotterdam. I spent most of my time with them, during the weekend. There were about 30 of us altogether. This is small for a reception weekend, but I think it made for a more personal atmosphere.
Our first activity was a choice from painting, t-shirt printing, oriental dancing and pottery. I chose painting. It was run by a nice American woman who had been living in The Netherlands for the past 30 years. She had taken digital photographs of various scenes and buildings around Wageningen. The photos were enlarged into A3-sized photocopies. We each chose a photo, and used it as a base for our painting. It was very easy, because we were painting directly onto the photocopy. We were limited to three colours, so it was an interesting exercise in contrasting colours. My picture was of a funky yellow and red church tower set against a purple sky.
We had dinner at a Greek restaurant. The main courses took a while to arrive, but my hunger was intermittently satisfied by small helpings of frietjes (fries). I gave my fork to the person sitting next to me, she would skewer some frietjes on my behalf and hand the fully-loaded fork back.
I had an interesting conversation with Elma, a Wageningen AIESECer, about the obligations of an immigrant moving to a new country. It makes sense for the immigrant to integrate with the culture of the new country, but maybe there is a trade-off between that and the immigrant practising the culture of their country of origin?
After dinner, we all moved to a nearby club where the floor downstairs had been reserved for us. We were given a lesson in merengue - a Latin American dance style characterised by a fast beat. I'm always nervous when dancing in a pair, but I was really enjoying it by the end. Throughout the hour-long lesson, we danced with many partners and learnt some crisp-looking moves. The girls that I danced with seemed to understand my signals, so I felt pleased.
We stayed in the same place, after the lesson concluded, as the venue transformed into a typical club for dancing. We stayed until 2am, when most of us were tired enough to seek out our allocated places for sleep.
Ingeborg, Vincent and I all slept at Elma's place. It was a nice 20-minute walk away, towards the far side of the Wageningen township. Her room was on the 15th floor of a building of student apartments. I took some photographs of the view the next morning. The three of us literally took up all of the room's floor space with our sleeping bags.
Vincent had to get up early, as he was due back in Tilburg for work reasons. The rest of us had the traditional reception weekend Sunday sleep-in. Nevertheless, we woke up in time to stroll slowly back to the AIESEC office for some brunch.
That marked the end of the reception weekend. Ingeborg, Andrei and I stayed a little longer to take some typical tourist photos of the "Hotel de Wereld".
I am really pleased with how my AIESEC network is expanding. I am making friends with people from so many countries. Each of them has usually offered a place to sleep at their home, should I ever visit their country. It is a good feeling to receive such an invitation. I feel sad that I won't have enough time or money to visit all of these places during my current stay in Europe.
posted by James 7:51 pm