These past few days have been super busy. This past weekend (Thurs-Sunday) Caroline Riina and her lovely friend Hannah came from Dijon, France to stay with me in Amsterdam for a few days. We went to the Van Gogh Museum, the I Amsterdam sign, the Anne Frank Huis, Waterlooplein, and to MuseumNacht, among various other adventures.
Caroline and Hannah at the "m" in i amsterdam
They even had their first Dutch pancakes- a real treat to be able to document.
remnants of our pancakes.Museum Nacht was this past Saturday, and all of the museums in Amsterdam were open until late (around 2am for most of them) and with your ticket you could access all of them for free! They had their exhibits, plus food, drinks, and good music. At the Hermitage Museum, where they have an Alexander the Great exhibition currently, we made it just in time for the "Larp your heart out" event. For those of you who do not know what LARP-ing is, it means "Live Action Role Play". So there were people dressed as Alexander, his ladies, and various other people from Alexander's time, dead and alive. They were interacting with the museum visitors. My friend Becca was even attempting to negotiate with Alexander himself!
We also went to the FOAM (museum for photography), the Botanical Gardens (where they were selling bugs for people to eat...intriguing), and the NEMO. At the NEMO, the science museum, they had everything from kid's games to a sex education exhibit (where Caroline and I could try out the tongues box where you "french kiss"! see picture below for explanation.)
note: did not intentionally make a creepy/pervy face in this.We also got to just sit outside on the roof and see all of the city lit up. It was, and still is, a magnificent view of Amsterdam.
The view of the city from the roof of the NEMO.Overall it was a stellar weekend. Pretty good weather, good friends, good activities!
However, this week has been stressful with papers, presentations, Dutch classes, and the like. Not to mention that today there has been the WORST weather since I've arrived! 40 degrees fahrenheit, freezing rain, gusts of wind that are so powerful that they will literally knock you off your bike. Or the wind will be blowing directly toward you, so even if you are pedaling as fast as you can, you aren't moving forward at all. Quite a challenge.
This weekend/week have been great successes in the Dutch language category (NOT including the class itself.) I have been able to communicate with various strangers only in Dutch. They were basic questions, like "where would you like to sit?" (café) or "who is the last person in line?" (filling up tram cards), or "how many siblings do you have?" I have been (somewhat) coherent in my Dutch speaking capabilities, which was very fun!
While the weather has been stinky here today, I did receive a FANTASTIC letter from the one and only Sienna Beckman! It was such a great way to wake up and to get this letter. I apologize to everyone for being so TERRIBLE at writing postcards (current # of postcards sent=0. sorry.)
But I do miss you all so darn much.
Here is a picture that Sienna sent me of the whole gang playing the TRAIN GAME!!!! Which no one here in my program or in the Netherlands for that matter understands. Thank you again Sienna for the letter, the photo AND the temporary tattoos!! I will wear them at the most appropriate time, just for you ;)
taken from my phone. This photo (along with the postcard about the two fall shows at Oxy) is stuck to my wall right above my bed. LOVE to Sienna, Zoe, Alyson, Aylia, Tristan, and Eric. (and to everyone else, obviously.)After my Dutch class tonight (6:30-9:30, ugh) I am FREE from classes until Monday- huzzah! Friday night I am going to see Ratatat live (SO. EXCITED.) and then perhaps I will get to see a cool ballet performance on Saturday night (ballet + dubstep/electronic music=bliss).
Either way, I am looking forward to this weekend!
Funny Dutch words:
lawaaierig (la-VAI-er-ig)=noisy (ps. very hard word to pronounce!)
geboren en getogen=born and raised
zand=sand (so simple, right?)
huis=home
dier=animal
huisdier=pet (literal: house animal)
knuffelen=to cuddle, snuggle
Dag!!
I had to go back and look at this post again and comment. Under obligation of being me, I HAVE to say that I love that the science museum is called Nemo. :)) And I'm so happy my card finally reached you! I'm sad it took so freaking long, but alls well that ends well.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to knuffelen with you :))
xx