Apres ski

I've been away for a couple of days to ski with Britt and 400 other Dutch students... It was amazing! I haven't been skiing for 4 years and I was missing it loads, so this was a great opportunity to feel the snow and get on skis again. The location was fantastic, a town called Axamer Lizum in Austria. The ski complex wasn't huge but in the '60s and '70s two Olympic winter games were held there. The view was absolutely beautiful, high and snow covered mountains everywhere, some bare rocks, pine trees, sparkling snow - what else can you wish for? Often I just stopped somewhere along the piste to admire the place (and to rest my untrained muscles). After the slimy, ugly weather of the Netherlands, the fresh, clean, cold and sunny days of Austria were a real treat.
















Three days of continuous skiing and partying... Of course I returned much more exhausted than my initial state but it was definitely worth it. Being active can be rather refreshing, at least for me. We started every day with breakfast, then skiing until 4 pm with a lunch break in between, apres ski party from 4.30 onwards, dinner and party till we collapsed. On the first day I started with snowboarding - something I've never done before but always wanted to try - but I realized that I am, in essence, a skier. Combining this realization with the fact that instead of falling around for 3 days I preferred to enjoy some wintersporting, I switched my snowboard to a pair of skis. I had the impression that I must have been one of the most difficult customers at the ski rental, but the staff was always very kind, smiling and helpful. First, I made some mistake with the reservation. Then, I switched my left-footed snowboard to a right-footed one (it didn't help). Later, I returned the snowboard and got the skis. Then I returned the boots and asked for a bigger one. At the end, everything was perfect.

The evenings were just as good as the days. The party on the first night and the apres ski on the second afternoon were especially exceptional. I hope to get some pictures from Bruna and our roommates, because I never brought my camera along. The music was good, which surprised me (long live the Gelazer!) and satisfied my dancing needs completely. I left the bar at 2.30 am. on the first night :) It wasn't unexpected at all that next morning I felt a bit out of shape, I was tired, everything hurt (yeah, lack of exercise for like a year) and I wished I didn't stay that long. But in retrospect, I'm happy I did.

Money vs. acknowledgment

It's a satisfying feeling to receive your salary for a work well done, but is it just as satisfying to simply get acknowledged. Yesterday, I had an appointment with a teacher of mine to discuss how I had done as a student assistant in her class, to come to an agreement about the salary I should get (because bureaucracy is being nasty to me again, and since it's January, the university doesn't feel obliged to pay me) and to plan other instances of working together. She was pleased and although she seemed very professional with the money-issue, by the time she started to add up my hours, I felt like saying: "Oh, don't worry, I loved leading those classes, just leave the money..." Then, maybe because she looked so absorbed in calculating the sum and looked so convinced that I need to get money for my efforts, I kept my mouth shut.

In fact, I need that amount to afford a new bike - one that will replace the old one that got stolen during the winter break. You might ask why I need a bike. The answer is embarrasingly easy: everyone needs a bike here; you are not only lost, but also a social failure if you don't have bike. Even more so, if you can't ride a bike properly, like myself. Rosemary (the teacher mentioned above, who is by the way a linguist and a phonetician, and not Dutch but Irish) maintains that you are failure among the Dutch if you don't know the word gezellig. It's even worse if you think that gezellig can be translated to English. It's supposed to be much more than cosy, it's almost the secret of Dutch happiness. I'd add biking to the list. Because the Dutch can fietsen, and I can just bike. Today I borrowed one of the Asycles (bikes by ASIC) to attend a Helmholtz lecture on cognitive neuroscience in one of the buildings of the big university in town, which is most easily approachable by bike. According to my boyfriend, the bike was of the right size for me, but I felt like balancing on the top of a tower, felt ridiculous and was actually ridiculous with my inability to get on the bike for the first try every time we stopped. See the blog of my former American roommate for reference on my biking skills.

Actually I didn't want to conclude that I'm a social failure in Dutch culture but I did want to stress the point that I need a bike. It would be ideal if I could get the previous one back , but there's not much of a chance that it will just pop up in front of my window. Dear bike, RIP. So, the money will be usefully spent. I just hope Rosemary knows that I did it for fun and experience and not for the financial compensation...

For those of you who absolutely cannot wait to find out more about how I bought and rode on my first Dutch bike, this in an excerpt from the blog of Jess Weather:
"Dia and I went to the centrum this morning to buy her a bike. That was interesting. I can't really remember how things were before I learned the 'lay of the land' when it came to biking in NL - it all comes so naturally now. But Dia was having trouble today - in the store, she didn't know what to look for in a bike (which is why she took me along) and then when we finally decided on one and she went to try it out, it took her four tries to get going on it without falling over. (The Dutch keep their seats raised high, which, granted, takes some getting used to, but I'm a good two inches shorter than Dia and I was able to ride it fine.) But even beyond that, there are other things you have to learn. Rules of the road (ahem, don't cycle blithely along the left side of the path), bike mechanics ("No, there's nothing wrong with the bike, that loud jolting from your pedals is because you're between gears. ... Gears. ... That little switch on the handlebars. ... Oh, just switch bikes with me!"), and simple tricks (like if the bicycle light is red but the pedestrian light is still green, you can still cross the road without getting killed). But there's also a certain 'feel' which takes some time to develop; you have to change your reflexes in a way. Like Pauline said, way back when, "The bikers know where they are going." And it's true; in whatever you do - walking, biking, merging, crossing a road - you can't hesitate or panic and double back, because that's what causes problems. You just have to go, and they'll adjust for you."

Sleepless

"I'm not sleepy yet" whispered I into the ear of the greatest guy on the planet who happened to be at the verge of falling asleep next to me. And here I am, at this almost-existing world of bits (Kbits) and pieces, joining the community of people who feel that they need to say something. But this is all I had for today: giving birth is tiring. Finding a name was enough already. Labelling is almost an art, and picking the words that will eloquently describe the future contents of such a virtual space is almost impossible. I have to say I'm satisfied though. The baby is born, named and will be raised during the days, weeks, months to come. I'm a proud mother.