I am in love….with this place that is!!! Everything about it here seems to be right up my alley and contain a certain charm for which words escape me…it’s just, well, complete I suppose. I have no further explanation, just come visit and see for yourself! I have no complaints except biking in bad weather. It really just isn’t any fun. I see all these Dutch people just going for it with no raincoat or umbrella pedaling like mad people through the blowing rain and I don’t understand… Are they just wet the whole day afterwards at work and school? Because I know I am!! I need to learn their Dutch secret to staying dry…That being said I am learning adapt, albeit slowly.
The past
three weeks have flown by at warp speed and I cannot believe here we are
mid-October. Scary really. I have made many friends, from Europe and beyond and
successfully talked most of them into teaching me to cook a dish from their
home country. Devious I know! I started with my Chinese classmate Han Yue, with
whom I made Chinese steamed buns, then Mr. Levan from Georgia (the country not
the state haha) who made a dish that I can’t remember the name of but was
amazing, and lastly Miri from Austria schooled me in how to make pumpkin
raviolis….does bliss come in another form? It was so much fun to learn and of
course get to know my classmates better!
Weekends are consumed with brunch
dates (homework too of course…) and my colleagues and I usually gather one
night a week for dinner together. Also I may have gotten a bit carried away
with my canning this year…I couldn’t help it because I had all these empty jars
(just begging to be filled) and wild rose hips and hawthorn berries abound
EVERYWHERE here! Of course I just couldn’t
let them go to waste! They literally jumped off the vines into my pockets! So
Charlie and I routinely went on nature walks and came home laden with berries
from which we made jam, jelly, syrup, chutney, compote, and anything else we
could imagine! It was fabulous. Sadly, the weather has changed drastically in
the past week and now is quite cold so my berry season is over; that, plus I
ran out of jars. Oops!
Also, the couple from whom I rent
my room are superb. The woman and I are like long lost sisters as we share a
devout interest in all things culinary and natural. The constant exchange of
goodies and recipes that occurs in the hallway between our two houses reminds
me of an old west trading post and is constantly filled with yummy baked goods and
cooking utensils we are borrowing/returning to/from one another. Not only that,
but her dog Woek and Charlie run around together like old chums. A few weekends
ago I went to a church concert featuring a friend of theirs who had the deepest
most southern style voice I have ever heard. I felt like I was in New Orleans
all over again! She had this full resonating voice that seemed to resound off
the walls of the building. It was the kind of sound that bypassed my ears and
seeped straight into my soul instead. It was captivating.
I realize this blog is bit more
food based than usual and according to these photos it looks like all I do is
cook and eat with other people, which of course isn’t all that untrue….BUT I do manage to be productive in other areas of my
life as well ;)
For starters,
my masters colleagues and I have been assigned the task of creating a corporate
story for a shipping company who has designed an emissions free cargo tanker
(true life!) here in the north of Holland. It is really a fascinating company
and the although there is a lot of work involved the case is super engaging and
I am really learning a lot about the inner workings of the corporate world. I
know it sounds like not my area, and at the beginning I didn’t think so either,
but maybe I am more interested in such things than I initially thought because
I love it!
Anyway, in the name of creating the
story we have had to take a few “educational” field trips one of which was to
see this boat….No, in fact it is NOT the Black Pearl, but this was the basis of
the idea for the cargo ship. I won’t dive into too much detail but this boat
carries fair trade rum, chocolate, and coffee to and from the Caribbean eight
months out of the year. We had a wonderful visit talking with the proprietors
and watching them do their thing…and buying rum and chocolate….;) After the
trip our advisor asked me to write a blog for the department newsletter about
the excursion, so if you are interested in reading more about it, here is the
link:
To be
honest that typically seems to be the theme of my studies here: lots of work
but so interesting it that it doesn’t appear that way. Everything we do is
practical and we explore a lot about inter and cross cultural communication and
how it affects business practices. We discuss things I never thought of and it
grips me to my very core! I am also taking a Chinese class one night a week in
a desperate effort to not loose all Chinese language ability I gained while
living there and am planning to take the HSK3 test in December! Wish me luck!
Thanks
again to Mom and Caroline for my wonderful care packages!!! AS for Charlie,
well he is doing just fine as you might imagine and is also adapting to life
here in the Netherlands. Love and miss you all!! xoxo
