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Published: September 13th 2006
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Refreshing mist from the fountain
I really like the wide open space here. On Tuesdays and Saturdays this space is crowded to the max with little booths for the market. Okay so a little back tracking before I start talking about today. Susanna (my communications contact person) set me up with a student in my department incase I had any questions, etc etc. His name is Jeffrey (pronounced yeff-ree) and I met with him yesterday evening at the centrum. We sat outdoors and I ordered a glass of red wine (best red wine I've ever had...probably because it had an actual cork and not a screw off top, haha) and he had a cola because he was going to volleyball practice afterwards. We chatted for an hour and a half about everything from culture to classes to communication stuff. I guess he's into euro car racing or something and participates in "the circuit." All I could picture was the xbox rally sport game. =) Anyway, it was very pleasant and the whole atmosphere was relaxed. Many other people were out doing...nothing. I find back in Seattle if it's nice out we have to get up and do something whether it be swimming, suntanning, hiking, etc. Dutch people sit and can sit for hours over a glass of wine or beer. This wonderful outdoor atmosphere might change once it starts raining -
Kass = cheese
Kass kass and more kass. The Dutch are very proud of their cheese. "Jonge Kass" in the photo means young cheese. Older cheese is stinky, more popular, and tastier in my opinion. =) unless they have canopies and heaters. I hope so.
Today I had my class from 3:45-5:45. Before then it was getting too hot in my room, so I decided to go and bike to the city and see what I could find. I went back to this new area I just found out about yesterday when I went with Janne. I went into all the stores I was curious about. One that I wish we had in Seattle is called Xenos and it's like an IKEA meets Cost Plus meets high-end dollar store. It had everything for really cheap prices. I saw a mug that I liked. It was actually pretty lame. It said "koffie" all over it which is how they spell "coffee." I'd never buy a mug like that if it was in English, but there's something that makes it cool to me when it's in Dutch. I didn't buy it though. yet.
There was this neat fountain that kids were running and biking through. It spurted water up at different levels and also produced a lot of mist that felt good when the wind blew it towards my direction. I was basically killing time before
Friends, not food
On my ride to the university from the centrum (about 2 minutes from the centrum), a bunch of sheep were munching on grass in a park. Cute my class. Once again, a nice day - I will hopefully meet a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed friend who also doesn't know Enschede. I guess it's not as exciting to take fun pictures of random things if it's your hometown.
So I got home just before 6 and decided to make dinner. I remembered Emma (my mom) making a good dish - pasta noodles, cubes of fresh mozarella cheese, fresh tomatoes, and fresh spinach leaves. Chiel and I rode to the supermarket to buy the ingredients and then I quickly made dinner. But here's the thing: when I cook myself something, if it tastes bad, I eat it anyway and who cares. But when I have to cook for somebody else, it better be good or else I'll feel bad. I guess the dinner was a success (at least to me). I've found that my housemates - and maybe it's a dutch thing - do not say if the dinner tastes good or not. Chiel and Arjan spoke a lot of Dutch to eachother during dinner but I didn't hear any "goed" (good) or "lekker" (tasty) or "niet" (not). So maybe they wern't talking about dinner. =)
I also
getting talented
A shadow of yours truly. I am getting much better at this multi-tasking while riding your bike thing. Remember shadows skew things - I look more proportionate than that. =) decided to drop my class on Friday because it was sooo boring and I also checked my department's graduation requirements and they only let 10 credits apply to my major if I do a foreign study. I think it's a load of BS but what can I do, I'm half a world away? This is okay though because it will give me time to really study for my class that is actually in Dutch. So now I only have class wednesdays for 2 hours and thursdays for 2 hours. My Dutch language class starts on sept 28th and that will be for 1.5 hours (I think) on one weekday.
Love from Enschede,
Myia
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