I got in from Portland at 7am on Tuesday after the nearly 10 hour flight. I had really good company on the flight - a really nice girl from Switzerland that lives in Portland now. It was nice to talk with her about her perspective as a European living in the US v. my perspective as an American living in Europe. Living abroad has certainly opened both of our eyes - for better and for worse. The flight went by quickly, and I got in to the airport only to discover that the taxi that I had arranged had come on MONDAY morning instead of Tuesday. No big deal, I just went outside and got a ride with one of the many taxi's that were waiting outside. Had a great time chatting with the driver - he was an immigrant to Holland from Tunisia, which I didn't really know anything about before meeting this guy. A nice welcome home.
As I had been out of the office for two weeks (even though I was working in Portland), I thought it was pretty important that I give my team a little face time, so I quickly showered, found my car (kind of a miracle to remember where I parked it after being gone for two weeks), and boogied on down to Hilversum. I think this was actually a great idea - when I don't have to go into work the day I get in, I usually give in to the jet lag and crash on the couch at some point. There is no sleeping at work, so this was a great way to get over the jet lag. I'm so blessed to have good friends on both sides of the ocean - I was greated with lots of hugs and Dutch kisses. It was so nice to have such a warm welcome, because it was so hard to leave all my loved ones on the other side. I started feeling better nearly immediately.
So, after the small taxi issue, my next issue of the week was that while I was gone, my whole team moved into the brand new "Paula Radcliffe" building. (which is really cool BTW... I'll take some pictures soon!). I had packed before I left, but somehow, only one of the two crates I had packed made it to my desk. I was kind of freaking out, because the crate that was missing contained one of my most prized possessions - my magnet collection from all of my world travels over the past 10 years! I was super bummed to think that this would go missing... and no one really could help me. :( Finally, after two days of getting no answers, I just started going around the building looking through every box I could find... and, guess what?? I FOUND IT! That totally made my day. It's the small things in life that really matter, and my magnets, though they are kind of silly, make me so happy! I love to look at them and reflect on all the amazing places I've been fortunate enough to see. :)
On Wednesday night, I FINALLY got to see Coldplay after booking tickets all the way back in February! I drove down with some friends, which ended up being bottleneck #3 of the week... what was supposed to be a one hour drive took over three hours! We were so sad... we thought we were going to miss the concert! We were so funny... we kept telling each other "Postive thoughts, positive thoughts", and, believe it or not, every time we made up something crazy about Chris Martin waiting back stage for us or Gwenyth Paltrow (his wife) holding our drinks at the entrance, traffic started moving. We made it to the park just in time for the concert to start! The park held NINETY THOUSAND people! And, it was standing room only... which makes it mighty difficult to see in the country with the world's tallest average people! But, the music was fantastic, and they had great screens, so it sort of felt like we were actually seeing them. :) It was truly a great concert. Now, the problem with a large area filled with 90,000 people is getting 90,000 people OUT of a very large area. Which leads to the next bottleneck of the week... the four hours that it took us to get out and get on the road back to Amsterdam. Oh yes... good times. The first problem was getting 90,000 people out through ONE exit (thank goodness for fire code in the US - this is what would happen if there was no fire code, which I'm pretty sure is the case here). Then, getting 90,000 people over a small pedestrian bridge going over the river nearby (I seriously thought about swimming!). Then, transporting 90,000 people by BUS back to the parking areas. Then, getting 90,000 people out of the parking garages. The situation just got more and more humorous to me, as there was really nothing I could do... or maybe it was just the extreme lack of sleep and jet lag. ;) I finally made it to bed by 3:30am. I guess that's one way to get over jet lag! :)
Birthday girl Nagwha & Claudia with some yummy fritjes! :)
The sea of tall Dutchies in front... um, so you see anyone on stage? Yep, me neither! ;)
Well, at least I could see the screen! :)
Okay, so Thursday, no issues. I was super excited on Friday, because I had scheduled the delivery of my new car. Okay, it's not really mine (in Europe, many employers provide cars for their employees), but it's mine for now. I have sort of a strange predicament here - I don't know how to drive a stick shift, which is about 95% of the cars here... so there were very limited cars for me to choose from... actually, there was only ONE left at the lease place. Luckily for me, it was a BMW one series. Yeah, I'm not complaining! :) It got dropped off at 3:30, and I was SO SO SO excited to drive it home. I drove immediately to the parking permit office, since I park on the street and needed to register this new car so I wouldn't get tickets. Got there at 4:45, and it closes at 4:30. Oh boy. :( I hung out at home for a while, and then went to pick up my friend Christa so we could go to Ikea for a few things. On the highway, the "check engine" light comes on, and the car stars shaking. I thought a wheel was falling off or something. We got to Ikea, and I called the BMW help desk. They sent out a tow truck... turns out the engine wasn't firing on all cylinders. Oh, what luck! I was able to get an automatic rental car, which I then had to go to the parking services place to register on Saturday morning. Oh, what fun! :)
Getting the new car towed at Ikea... bye bye, new car!
Saturday, I had made plans to go and meet Karyn for "Monumenten Dag", when all the older buildings in Holland that are usually closed get opened up to the public. My bike was making pretty strange sounds as I was riding it, and it was SUPER hard to pedal. I was covered in sweat by the time I met her. So, after seeing a few sights, we went to a bike rental place to see if I could get a quick tune up. When I got to the store, the guy kind of laughed at me. He said, "You've been riding THIS????", and basically said it was not repairable. So, he showed me a few bikes, promised me that the one he sold me was a very high quality bike, and off we went... I couldn't believe how much easier it was to pedal the new bike! I felt like a new woman!
Bye-bye, old bike! :)
Yeah, I felt like a new woman until the PEDAL FELL OFF!!! Seriously, we weren't more than 3 blocks away when the pedal just fell off of the bike! I took it back, and the guy felt really bad. Thirty minutes later (this was not an easy repair!), we were back in business. Not sure what the universe is trying to tell me with all of these transportation issues... need to have a think on that one.
KP with the new bike and the new bike's pedal...
Despite all of the craziness of the week, I'm still smiling and still enjoying my time here. I guess you have to see the humor in life - otherwise, you'll go crazy. :)
1 comment:
Oh my gosh- are you making this up? I think you must be. Wow. 90,000 people in one place? that gives me clausterphobia by proxy. And all the transportation issues? I guess it is good you don't work in logistics :) I am sorry about all that chaos- and impressed you're still smiling- I would have temporarily quit life & laid on the couch until I could stomach the thought of biking/driving/bussing/walking anywhere again! love ya!
Post a Comment