Goings On

1) M and I discovered a new thing to get into here in Enschede. (Not exactly the mecca of cool happenings, so this is good news... ) Last Wednesday, we went to "Ladies' Night" at the Holland Casino. Everyone gets in free ("Because if we charged the men, that would be discrimination," the girl at the check-in counter told us in response to our obvious question) and you both get a chip good for one free drink.

After we entered, I looked at M and said, "Humpf, that's odd. In the States, you don't pay cover to get into a casino and the drinks are free. You know, they want to encourage you to stay and lose all your money gambling."

M replied, "Uh, that would never work here. We're Dutch, Ang, we'd all come to the casino for the free drinks and never touch the slots."

2) I took a 2 1/2 hour Dutch test today. It was, for want of a better word, paaaaiiinnnfuuullll. I've found that my listening skills are complete crap, but I'm not afraid to talk at all. Of course, M said that's just the way I am in English, so he's not surprised.

3) I work out. A lot. For the first time since I was 20, I have discernible muscles in my legs. Granted, they're enveloped in a layer of squishy fat, but they're there. I swear!

4) There's no such thing as Halloween here and that bothers me immensely. I love that holiday and, really, it's not only because of the candy. (Ummm... okay okay... It's mostly the candy.)

Maybe I could introduce it over here and we could call it "Hollandween." We could carve potatoes into... errrrr... Spud -o- Lanterns and go bobbing for wheels of Gouda.

5) If you ever meet a Dutch person ask them this: "Hey, did you ever get your bike back from the Germans?" They'll think you're hilarious. (http://www.dutchamsterdam.nl/68-amsterdam-city-of-bikes)

6) I've decided to commence with a one-woman campaign entitled "Making Holland a Nicer Place to Live." When you meet individual Dutch people, they're usually quite friendly. (If somewhat pushy and blunt to a fault.) But really... they're nice people. But in general... you know, out there... out in the stores, restaurants, etc... they are the absolute rudest people I've ever met. I know, I've bitched about this before, but I do believe it's time for me to do something about it. I'm not sure what form this action is going to take. But I think I've narrowed it down to writing letters to newspapers and wielding a high-powerd assault weapon in the stores downtown until I get a "May I help you, Miss?" Hmmm... which one would be more effective....

8) I started working as a part-time researcher at the University of Twente in the Communications department. (This is also the place M is getting his PhD.) It's a good job to have, but there's one wrinkle: I'm also working in the same department as M's ex-girlfriend and I sit in her bestfriend's office.

9) I left a few pieces of old bread on the kitchen counter and M asked "What is this? Should I throw it away?" "No," I replied, "there's a big goose that hangs out in front of my building at the university and he keeps giving me deep, meaningful stares every time I walk past him. I've decided to give into his Svengali-like powers and give him what he wants."