Established (nearly)

Hello, everybody,

It's been ages. September 26th was a very long time ago. Since then, I've . . .

- Received my residence permit (from the Ministry of Justice), in record time -- less than 30 days. I was warned that it could take six months. Even my advisor at the International Office was astonished. The permit is valid for a year, and cost about 500 Euros, for the processing and legal costs (a major scam, I think).

- Received my university student ID. This took the longest time.

- Received health insurance, which costs only 26 Euros a MONTH, for the duration that I'm here. It remains to be seen how well the insurance will cover my needs. This price reflects my being a full-time student, regardless of my age.

- Received wireless Internet, at home, TODAY.

- Auditioned and got into a good choir, in the St. Nicholas Church (a Roman Catholic church) in Amsterdam, which is a stone's throw (thrown by a giant, across the Metro construction's gaping pits) from the Central Station, so very convenient. This group sings Anglican (Church of England)Evensong on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays, at 5pm. The service is a proper British Evensong, but with no clergy (this is a good thing!). The church is a neo-Baroque enormous pile, built in the late 19th century. It's the size of a small cathedral, with two very high domes. It's dark inside and has a lovely acoustic. While the choir is called "professional", no one is paid! I'm going for quality here, since I have no time for quantity. There's a weekly rehearsal, which I'm not used to, but oh, well. I need to keep my singing voice going, so this should work out well.

- Planted 344 flower bulbs in the front tiny plot (about 2 feet x 10 feet), which for years has served as the WC for the street's cats, but NO MORE! Like beer, flowers, cheese, veggies and some other things, flower bulbs here are so cheap (yes, Holland is the world center of flower bulbs, but I was still amazed at the low prices, bought at the local "Hema", a very useful, colorful department store). I paid about 20 Euros for all of these bulbs. It was impossible to resist, even though I'm renting. While I was adding soil to the ground and designing the planting, I had a lot of approval from neighbors and people strolling, who promised to check back in the spring! One foil to the cats came from a lady passing by, who suggested sprinking used coffee grounds onto the soil, which I'm doing.

- Kept my head above water academically. The only grades we've had so far come from the weekly vocabulary quizzes (about 175 words to learn, each week!), and I'm maintaining an average of about 8.6 (of 10), so that's a comfort. I'm figuring out clues to remembering new words, using "sounds like", and using the prefixes and prepositions which are often attached to verbs, to learn them and guess them, in context. Guessing definitely is a factor of taking the quizzes. Each chapter has a theme, such as "money", "education", so are practical and helpful in daily life. Progress comes in clumps and irregularly, as knowledge seems to do. We all feel as if the words stick for the time of the quiz each Tuesday morning, and then evaporate into the mist. With such a massive infusion each week, I really wonder how many will be with me as time goes on. If nothing else, this weekly discipline helps us in the immersion process. We're just beginning the second phase, which will be lots of reading and comprehension work. Next semester, we'll start reading actual literature. One thing that I always enjoy is the weekly transcription of a popular song using headsets, always about some aspect of life here. It always takes me at least an hour, but once immersed in it, I really enjoy the process.

- Missed getting a 10 last week by one stupid mistake. After 11 years of work in maritime law, I managed to define a canal as a sluice, or LOCK. It was a multiple-choice thing. I forgot that "canal" was on the list of options. My long-time, esteemed boss will be very amused to read this.

- Unpacked all of the CDs and LPs, still wondering what in the world to do with all of the LPs, some of which I doubt ever went into CD. I can't bear to get rid of the LPs and probably will buy a record player.

- Been amazed at my cats' progress with Dutch. They appear to be completely fluent! They also have progressed with their foot races upstairs, the length of the house. They guard the front of the house vigilantly, sitting for hours on the window sills, fending off criminal attack.

- Accepted that the price for the beautiful, green that surrounds me is very wet weather. Last week, it hailed (yes, little ice pellets, that bounce), not once, but three times, before lunch, on the same day. The long, pale grey sky has arrived and won't leave completely until next summer. With some exceptions, the sky is the color of laundry lint and feels very low. Other than making it hard to get up in the morning, I don't mind it. The amazing thing is that it can be very grey here for days, but not rain! It looks and fees like rain, but may not rain.

- Been thrilled by my art history course. We finally got to Rembrandt yesterday, and it was fascinating to hear discussed the technical aspects of why his work enthralls me every time I see it. There are quite a few much earlier painters that I'm now eager to see more of, such as Rogier van der Weide and Lucas van Leyden. These two are known as "Flemish Primitives", but their work is anything but primitive. There's a new exhibit at the Mauritshuis, in The Hague, that's Rubens and Pieter Brueghel, that's top of my list. It would be great to take a long holiday and just go and see my favorite pictures, in museums around the world. In the meantime, Delft, Den Bosch, Ghent and Bruges have lots to offer.

- Bought what's called the Museum Card. For 25 Euros, it gives the bearer free admission to all Dutch museums, for a year! Since the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum alone charges about 10 Euros, this card is a steal.

- Bought the train discount card. For all rides begun after 9am, one saves 40%! The discount card for Holland costs 55 Euros, but for 15 more, one adds a 25% discount for train rides in France, Belgium and Germany. Quite a deal.

- Not figured out the snails. They're still plentiful in the rear garden and don't seem to be harming anything.

- Lost a few pounds. No snacking, more exercise and better food have all helped. Also, I'm eating at home nearly all of the time, and that makes a big difference.

- Resolved to figure out how to load photos onto this blog, but don't have them now. Soon, soon!

'bye for now,
Pamela