Blog 04.12.19 - Everything is CHAOS and I kind of love it.

Blog 04.12.19 - Everything is CHAOS and I kind of love it.

The following blog was written and intended to be published on Thursday 4th of December, but had to delayed due to Wi-fi related foibles

The past few days have been a rollercoaster of emotions and exhaustion.

I'm not used to this high an amount of uncertainties in my daily life, and I'm supposed to find energy for the work placement on Thursday and Friday as well! Not to mention the weekends, of course I have to do something on the weekends, I'm in Holland for crying out loud!

I can't recount all the things that have happened on the past two days, so here are some scattered thoughts about my experiences.

Attended a bunch of classes, YEAAAAAH!

On tuesday we attended a few classes, all of which were very interesting experiences. The english class led by Mr. Turnhout specifically was a lot of fun. I had the opportunity to discuss a variety of topics with everyone, which was absolutely delightful. I haven't been able to speak this much english in a long while.

Went on an adventure across the sea! (Actually it was a lake that used to be part of the sea.)

On wednesday we went on an excursion to Bataviastad with two (I think?) other classes. Bataviastad is a collection of various fashion outlet stores, where all sorts of brands are sold at "cheap" prices. Though the difference between a pair of jeans costing 150,99€ or 79,99€ doesn't mean much to me. I'd rather get a pair for 30€ at most. Anything above that I feel is above my paygrade, thank you very much!

Bataviastad turned out to be an interesting place to visit, however expensive. Observing Dutch customer service, their presentation of products and, of course, their famous window displays was an educational experience. The displays definetly had a lot of effort put into them.

The most interesting part of the trip however, was the trips to and from. An hour long bus trip with no internet? Heavens no, whatever shall I do to pass the time!? Have conversations with the people around me, I suppose. I actually ended up enjoying the journey more than the destination. I had lovely and insightful conversations with the teachers and one of the students on the road, it was absolutely lovely. Even if we had to yell to eachother most of the time. These students, a rowdy bunch they are. A bit exhausting for a reserved introvert like myself.

Sunrise and sunset are still gob-smackin' gorgeous, what else is new?

Every trip to and from school has been absolutely fantastic. We travel with the bicycles graciously provided for us by the school and despite my poor state of physical fitness, I've throughly enjoyed riding around the place. The farmland that Berkhout consists of still looks absolutely stunning, my time of departure and arrival always seems to coincide with sunrise or sunset. A happy coincidence, no?

Ongoing battle againstm local traffic, part II.

The traffic culture in Holland still absolutely terrifies me. Sure, you've got bike lanes, which might make you feel safe. But then sometimes you don't, and you're expected to ride on the same road cars travel on. This makes me very nervous. Very. Not to mention, even the sacred bike lanes aren't safe, because some motorized vehichles such as scooters make liberal use of them as well. I have seen way too many nearly-accidents to count on both of my hands, myself included in a couple as well. Well, at the very least all the pedestrians should be feeling nice and safe, I hope.

Work placement on Thursday and Friday... Oh no.

Me and Gustav will be taking part in work placement at an establishment called Hema, over in Hoorn. It's sort of like Tokmanni, if that makes sense? It's a very general store that sell a variety of goods. On Wednesday we met Dimitri, who is sort of the person in charge around there. We got our keys and uniforms and are supposed to head there tomorrow on Thursday at roughly 9am. Dimitri assured us that they'll have plenty of things for us to do around the shop, even if we can't necessarily serve customers in the way we are used to. The language barrier will probably be the biggest issue during the work placement. I'll try not to get too stressed about it.

Self critique on my linguistic performance.

Speaking is difficult. Even when speaking finnish, I tend to throw words out of my mouth at stupidly high speeds and the problem is still present when speaking english. I will need to learn to slow down, without sounding condescending of course. This will be especially important during the work placement. I will potentially have to be able to help and direct customers who may be lacking in their understanding of english. Speaking rapid fast, even if it's technically correct, will not be helpful when the other party is not proficient in the language and just wants to know where we keep our selection of trousers.

This ended up being a two-pager, sorry about all the text. I have a lot things on my mind, especially when physically and mentally exhausted. 

- Your local rapscallion and ne'er-do-well, Tuomo