More Cleverness

I've kept forgetting to mention a very clever thing that the University's hospital does. At first I thought it was the hospital's mail deliverers, but it seems to be any employee who wants one. The medical center (hospital and very large research facility) gives employees SCOOTERS on which to slide around the building. It's a very large building, of about six floors. The center is completely open, filled with an escalator and nothing much else. The floor is concrete. Everyone wears soft-soled shoes. Most medical staff are in white. The view is somewhat like seeing all the bikes moving silently around the city. One sits in the hospital's very large cafe and suddenly a white-clad person will whiz by, silently. Every time that I see one, I can only say (to myself), 'What a clever place/city/country this is!'

Spelling: Green and White!

On Tuesday night, I rode over to the Butter Market, to hear a discussion of the merits (NONE, in my view) of the green (governmental) vs. white (journalistic) SPELLING of Dutch, held in an upper room of a cosy, tasty-smelling little restaurant. If you can imagine, from the early 1970s when I first studied this language (#40 globally in numbers of speakers), they have not only fairly dramatically changed the spelling (I had to jettison my trusty dictionaries from the '70s, on orders from my faculty), borrowed hundreds more English words, but now EVERY TEN YEARS, they adjust the spelling! This was a university-sponsored forum. One speaker was a former editor of the green spelling group (worked for a dictionary) and the other man was a veteran journalist and also former editor of something. There were a couple of men amongst us listeners who clearly were involved in these issues and waxed rather dramatically.

I sat there, wondering why in the world people would make a language that's already challenging even HARDER, by changing the spelling every 10 years. English spelling hasn't changed at all, in my lifetime. Grammarians haggle over possessive apostrophes, but the spelling has not changed (this does not take into account American vs. British spelling)! When I studied Dutch before, the one saving grace was that it was completely phoenetic -- NO silent sounds. Now, there's a huge amount more English in it and far fewer phoenetic spellings (e.g., "computer" is now spelled as in English; when I began studying Dutch, it was spelled in Dutch phoenetic spelling, "kompjoeter"; "boutique" was spelled "boetiek").

It was another classic example of the permutations of tolerance in this society -- how things will be argued and discussed virtually to the nth degree, seeking concensus, but rarely reaching it. Along with the tolerance credo, reaching concensus is paramount here. It's most important that everyone have a say, rather than anything be decided. This may explain why there are 21 political parties. I guess it works for them, but tonight for me was an exercise in madness. I think that they shoot themselves in the foot. What they need to do is to use a few more commas, which are virtually absent. One is forced to read things out loud and mentally, to insert commas, as the context dictates. It reminded me of when I studed Latin, in which there are NO commas (I guess they didn't exist then), but one figures things out from how the nouns are declined, and also in context. In addition to a large, hardback Dutch-Dutch dictionary, I have a paperback double set (English-Dutch and reverse). In the fall, the student center had a pile of what's known as the "Green Book" for free, so I grabbed one. It lists, a to z, 110,000 words with the correct spelling, gender and hyphenation. No definitions, no plurals and no verb tenses. While such a publication surely provides a lot of employment, being forced to use it, in addition to a dictionary, seems foolish. And I do NOT intend to buy a "White Book". I wonder how the computer spelling check copes with all of this!

Getting Away: Hoenderloo & Ghent

I'm planning two little trips before the new term is upon me (5 February). I'm going to visit my old Dutch boyfriend, Theo, who lives with his wife and daughter in the midst of the national park and forest, called the High Veluwe. It's due east, south of Apeldoorn and north of Arnhem.

I met Theo in 1973, I think. He was studying political science at Harvard on a fellowship, and I was studying Dutch on Mondays with a graduate of Leiden University, my original Dutch teacher. Otherwise, I was running part of a music store in Harvard Square and singing a *lot* of baroque music. Theo and his wife are foster parents to children with temporary housing and tranquility needs. They have their own 12 year-old daughter, Anna, who is bright and plays the cello. He and his wife write and publish remembrance books, which here are called anniversary and jubileum books. Corporations, historical societies, families and individuals order these books, which entail extensive historical research and gathering of all relevant documentation and photos. I've only seen the website, and look forward to seeing the finished products. They love living in a more peaceful and beautiful area than they had when they lived in Rotterdam. For me, it will be a completely new part of the country to see.

Then, sometime between now and second semester, I'm going to get on the train and go see the van Eyck altarpiece in Ghent, in Belgium, and whatever other great art they have there. It's a very beautiful ancient little city and while I visited my second Dutch teacher there in the '70s, I have no memory of it, other than her excellent mussels, fresh French fries and champagne! I've found a tiny hotel, which used to be a monastery. It should be fascinating, not least hearing a 'southern' accent again, in Dutch. To my ears, Belgian Dutch or Flemish sounds very odd. They will understand me better than I them. Flanders was such a rich area, through the ages. It produced superb composers and art. I'll report back.

Thar she blew!

The 'morning after' here is gusty, with a pale blue sky (now, the eternal pale grey) .

Starting Wednesday night, though, a wild storm started and continued all day yesterday. "Stay inside!", warned the National Crisis Center, to cyclists and motorists. I heard last evening that Shell's corporate offices (in The Hague) sent its employees home at 1pm. Schools closed early, too. My neighbor's son told her that it had taken him two hours to drive from Rotterdam to Gouda, a distance of (what seems to be) about 20-25 miles. I had planned a few errands on the high street ("Breestraat" or "wide" street), the main drag for some nice shops (such as the book shops that stock the university's text books), my pharmacy, the main post office and my hair salon, and only five minutes from my home. Normally, it is clotted with bikes and large city buses. Fortunately, cars are not allowed. I started on it at noon and left at about 3pm. It was a ghost street! Hardly any bikes at all. I couldn 't believe my eyes (and wasn't aware of how severe the storm was, around the country). I figured that it was the lack of students, most having done exams and left town. That was likely part of the situation, but mostly it was people staying home. I locked my bike on a side alley, rather than on the Breestraat. With all the shops, city buildings and curves of the street, I felt somewhat sheltered from the wind.

However, during a pause in downpours, as I set off down the Breestraat for the post office, I was nearly blown off my bike and had to walk it, getting soaked. As I finished up at the post office, my neighbor rang me on my cell phone, very excited, saying my next-door neighbor had come to her, asking if she had a key to my house, since a window had blown out! When I got home, the window in question was the cracked skylight, its replacement on order for over a month. Still, there now was a hole in the roof (opening over the stairwell) of about 18" square. I rang the realtor immediately, and they had the window company over by 7:30pm. They sawed a piece of plywood to fit, covered it in heavy plastic, and nailed it over the hole. Fortunately, there was no rain while this was going on.

The paper this morning headlined with "Heavy storm takes 5 lives", showing eight color photos of large downed trees and crumpled cars in Amsterdam, Utrecht, The Hague and Breda (near the Belgian border). One photo shows a semi, with its trailor hanging off a bridge into some body of water. Tens of millions in damage. According to the paper, roofs are now built much more cheaply than in the past, and can be blown off, causing huge damage both to the exposed buildings and also as the roof flies around. Given how densely populated Holland is (#2 in the world), this is a major issue. The chimney of an old chocolate factory in Bussum (the tv/radio center, just SE of Amsterdam) blew off and came to rest on the train tracks! Like San Francisco with earthquakes, one of the worst risks with storms here is exploding/flying broken glass. Winds got up to 200kph. Here in Leiden, it was nothing like that, but still very windy, with heavy rains. From the paper's map, the storm moved mainly west to east, continuing to Poland and also in England. As I scan the paper, even the trains were stopped nationwide, to avoid hitting downed trees. I had no idea yesterday, how bad it was across the country. At least, all of the electrical lines are below ground here. There's no mention of loss of power anywhere, unlike the States' huge winter storms, and the temperature still remains around 45-50F. My only task was to reset my Internet connection.

Reading on in the paper, Zeeland shut its sluices. Zeeland, south of Rotterdam, was the main disaster area in the huge flood of 1953, which spawned the famous Delta Project, now copied around the world (except in New Orleans, despite consulting with one of the original engineers from the Delta Project; what fools). In the Port of Rotterdam yesterday afternoon, a ship rammed into landings of an oil terminal and split open a pipe, letting a lot of oil into the water. Due to the wind, the oil was pushed into a corner of the eight petroleum harbors. The oil carried with it, though, other things, which produced a nasty smell, said the paper. Three ships broke loose. The "Emma Maersk", the world's largest container ship, had to be dragged back to its place by three tugs. Tee-hee, I think, since Maersk was always the benchmark competition of my former employer, American President Lines (now owned by Singaporean Neptune Orient Lines). According to the paper, the harbor suffered minimal damage. There's no mention of any crane damage, but I always fret about those enormous cranes at ports. I guess that the Dutch know better than most countries how to secure its ports.

I guess I should get a television. With the BBC on the radio, the daily paper and the Internet, I haven't missed t.v. here, which is as bad as the network stuff in the U.S., with lots of U.S. imports. I've seen DVDs on my laptop. My rent includes payment for cable, though, so I guess it's time to cave in. It will help my Dutch.

Off to resume a bit of retail therapy. I'm itching for a tour of the Port of Rotterdam, but it will wait a few weeks.

Tawny Port at 15:00

Faced with the choice of biking to the post office (about 5 minutes) in driving, horizontal, chilled rain or Oxley Tawny Port, a George Clooney video (purely for the visuals; a major weakness, although "Good night and good luck" impressed me; "Syriana" just scared me [awful fingernail scene]), loving felines and house chores . . .

The weather is getting to me. Locals say, "Yes, well, we're used to it." Even with all of my rain gear, I still get wet and can't see. And it's d a r k. Two hours less of daylight here; sunrise is near 9am. The *most* comical sight is this: people riding their bikes while holding umbrellas, which always makes me think of the Seurat painting which spawned the Sondheim musical, "Sunday in the Park with George", featuring silent figures holding umbrellas. It's foul outside: hammering rain, howling wind and DARK. The guilt is easing off.

About ten days ago, I woke up dizzy. I stayed really dizzy for about four days. It was frightening. Needless to say, I figured that I had a brain tumor and set about considering my last days. The very sweet KNO (Dutch for ENT: in Dutch, it's throat, nose, ear) diagnosed it as a left inner ear thing that would last from two to 14 days. I had to postpone remaining exams, but my advisor and the program coordinator were both wonderful and said just to rest, so I have (with DVDs). I can read (papers and novels), but can't focus enough to study. I feared it was psychosomatic, a panic attack, but the ENT said not. I still think that the last eight months caught up with me at Chapter 19 vocabulary point (politics), and I just couldn't absorb any more school. That's my theory.

The good thing about the weather is that it's blown in from the North Sea, and changes every few minutes. So, off to Wednesday in the house with George.

This & that -- dit en dat

1. One question of long standing has suddenly been answered: the house at the end of my street (on the posh side, facing the beautiful park and canal), with the trampoline-like things suspended from near the ceilings, belongs to a dentist. What a relief, to have that solved.

2. Paging through a magazine about Leiden yesterday, what appeared but a note about a local theatre, that is housed and performs in one of the posh houses around the corner! The director/usual actress lives in the house. I see the rear of the house and there are always a lot of elegant chairs by the window. The theatre seats about 25. Needless to say, I'm booking tickets for the next production, which is in March. www.plantsoentheater.nl

3. Socks . . . Be still, all hearts! Yes, I found some new ones yesterday. Very nice. Nearly 100% cotton. One pair striped, in most of my colors. One pair spotted (light brown with cream spots; perfect with linen trou). Two pair darkest purple, knee socks. Total cost: 20 Euros, more or less. Secretly, I think that they're all men's socks, but I certainly don't care. They fit very nicely. Women's socks are mostly useless.

4. What was it? Another mystery was revealed this week, besides Nicole Kidman making some really horrible movies (and my being foolish enough to rent them). Oh: as my class discussed vocabulary to do with health not long ago, it was revealed that all elementary and secondary schools here are visited at least monthly by a sort of circuit dentist! He/she drives around the country in a fully-equipped dental van. This is paid out of taxes and has been going on since the 1950s! Then, our Estonian said that all schools in Estonia have resident doctors AND dentists, ready at a phone all to rush into duty. All we ever had/have in the States is a nurse. I was mightily impressed.

That's enough enlightenment for the third day of the year. Good night!

Romania and Bulgaria???

How in the world did this happen? I've clearly been out of a major loop, astonished to hear today that Romania and Bulgaria are now members of the European Union. For them, the benefits are clear. For member countries, particularly those into which Romanians and Bulgarians will try to immigrate, it seems such a bad idea! I've read in today's online London Times, that Britain has already set limits on numbers of people and types of jobs that may be enjoyed by Romanians and Bulgarians. Basically, seasonal agricultural jobs and very highly skilled jobs may be held, for limited periods of time. The BBC World Service said that it's expected that few Rs and Bs will emigrate, and if they do, it will be to southern Europe. I don't believe it for a moment. They will follow the money. New ghettos will follow. Do gypsies have passports?

I really don't get it. As far as I know, Bulgaria has famous yoghurt and Romania has nothing but problems. I'll have to read up. Can anyone give me some background on this?