Today’s highlight: coming home early!
This past week has been so non-stop, because I’ve been afraid to waste even an hour of daylight. It’s hard to keep up such a pace, and tonight I actually came back before dark (wow, I know) and made myself some pad thai (sorry Shay, no bean sprouts ☺).
Zanna showed me around the north end of the city today, the oldest part of the city where there are no tramlines, and most of the streets are narrow ones, lined with flowers. We spent a few hours wandering through the streets, stopping to eat ice cream and take a few photos. Well, I took quite a few photos, and Zanna was nice enough not to mind. She has been a great help, showing me tons of great places to eat, grocery stores where I can buy Emma friendly food and just generally being a good friend.
I took some good shots today, some that I am actually happy with, which I haven’t really since I got here. Now that I am getting a little better handle on where I am most of the time, it easier to relax and take a closer look at things, and to actually SEE things. I still get lost a lot, but only once today, which is an improvement.
I think one of my favorite things to do here is grocery shop. I realize that that sounds ridiculous, but I really like being in a place where almost everyone is Dutch. There is definitely a little bit of irritation with tourists here, and I don’t blame the natives for getting annoyed. A lot of tourists are blitzed, and wonder around without paying attention. They walk in the bike lanes, in front of trams or are just generally annoying. I mean, imagine hundreds of hippies wandering around Halifax on a Monday, Tuesday…. every morning, I think it would kind of annoying to us humble Haligonians. I don’t blame people here for not liking tourists. And that’s why I like to grocery shop, no one thinks I’m a tourist, I don’t need a map to shop, so as long as I keep my mouth shut, I am Dutch.
I think that this trip will be good for me in more ways than one. I’m pretty passive, unless I’m forced to get uppity, and it has always bothered me. Dutch people (again, a generalization, I’m sure this isn’t true for everyone I’m just relating my experience) are very straightforward. They are direct, and say what they mean without sweetening it. It shows in may ways, not all of which are very obvious. Biking is a good example (I know I talk about biking a lot, but I think it’s a very important difference between our two cultures) to bike in such a demanding environment requires a lot of confidence. And really, it’s hard to be assertive without a certain amount of confidence. I’m hoping that I pick up some assertiveness while I am here.
I have to get up early to meet Judith, so good night all
Love
Emma