Amsterdam! Josh Groban! Dutch!

Well hello there, my captive audience.

There is a lot to update you on. First and foremost, I got my residence permit last week, which means I'm totally legal now! Totally. I was really happy when I got it, though I must admit, because the letter was in Dutch, at first I was panicked that they had rejected me. But Google Translate came to the rescue (man, is that a neat service! I love it.)  and helped me to understand that, in fact, the International Department had granted me a residence permit till June 1st of next year. Hooray!

So, the best news with regard to my residence permit is that I can regale you, my adoring audience (I do flatter myself) with tales of my workplace! First of all, my workplace is a wonderful land of joy, and cake, and espresso. The NICHE (neuroimaging in children) lab is just an all around excellent place to work. Populated by grad students, post-docs, and Sarah Durston (the head of it all) it is one of those rare research groups where everyone gets along quite well both inside and outside the lab, and people actually collaborate on things. I love working there, basically. Oh, and they have an espresso machine. Like, a really fancy one. With a milk swoosher (what in the blazes is that called? A milk foamer? Anyway, it makes foam.). I have had to make serious personal limits to my coffee consumption because this thing is literally right next door. When I first started working in the lab, I went a bit mad, and had about four cups of this wonderful, nutty coffee in one day, which resulted in massive heart-racing, stomach-cramping discomfort. So, then I decided that I didn't want to go to an early grave, and that maybe one cup of espresso per day was good enough.

I currently am working on (and should have finished by the end of the week...but that's what I said last week...) programming (yes, PROGRAMMING) a task for children to play while they are in the fMRI scanner. The task is called Spongers, and it's based on what's called the Monetary Delay Incentive (MID - I know, so technical) task. Basically, kids see a screen with Spongebob and Patrick side by side. The choose one, and either get a small amount of money, or they choose one, and "lose" and don't get any money.


Let's talk about how mind-bogglingly, paradigm-shifting-ly difficult it is to program this simple, simple idea into a workable "video-game-esque" program. It is SO HARD. But! I am happy to say that in the past several weeks, I have learned how to program using a software called Presentation, and I have created a lovely video game. I will put pictures of this process below, and I expect you all to be duly impressed, because holy cow, I knew how to do NOTHING before I stepped foot in this lab, with regard to programming.

My workstation! Thrilling.

Sorry it's sideways. Lean your head and appreciate the complexity of the code!

The Oefenscanner! Also known as the practice scanner. With our sweet little elephant patient.

The thing you use in the scanner to respond to my task.

Spongers!

So, that's work. It's been going very well, and I look forward to going back to it every morning (which is a great feeling, I can tell you!).

As to my adventures this weekend! On Friday, I traveled to Amsterdam to film a short interview between myself and the head of the Fulbright program here in the Netherlands - Marcel - talking about my first few weeks here. Marcel basically asked four of the current Fulbrighters to give interviews now, in a couple of months, and at the end of our time here, about settling in, etc. The interview was fine, and afterward we had a very good, very long conversation about life, and he bought me lunch, which was very nice (though, it was so small, because we went to one of those really cool, high-end restaurants where the portions are super-tiny but super-artistic and delicious).

After we parted ways, I wandered into Amsterdam, looking for an open air market. I found it. And some coconuts.

Coconuts! With straws! Naturally, I had to buy one.

So, raw coconut milk is actually delicious. For about the first ten sips. Then I got sick to my stomach. My advice? Drink it in small portions, slowly. Very slowly. Preferably mixed with something else. But the fresh nutty flavor was amazing.

Albert Cuypstraat, a giant, open-air market.

Marketing!

More marketing!

So I bought these awesome pants, at this market. Which I didn't take a picture of, but which I assure you, were awesome. They look like this. Except cooler. And with black designs all up and down the legs.

They're called Harem Pants. And they are SUPER comfy. I wish I could buy about ten of them. As it is, some will be purchased, doubtless, for Christmas presents.

 Last, but CERTAINLY not least, I went to go see Josh Groban on Sunday. Oh, Josh. How I have loved thee, and thy adorable curly hair, and thy amazing, inspiring voice.

Basically, I got super lucky. I went on the website, having been reminded that there was a Josh Groban concert in Amsterdam soon, and found out a) the concert was in a week, and b) there was exactly ONE. TICKET. LEFT. So I literally bought the last ticket. The minute I paid for it, the website was like, "This concert is now sold out!" And! My ticket was in ROW 8. I was so close to him I could have..I dunno...leaped the stage or something! It was so amazing. I must have gotten VERY lucky, because the concert had been (apparently) sold out for months. Someone must have canceled right before I got online. In any case, I bought the ticket, and went to Amsterdam on Sunday, around 1.

I dressed very carefully. I went for the slightly nerdy, but sweet and cute look. (This all sounds so creepy as I write it, but I tell you, I have loved Josh Groban for ten years, and this was my chance, you know??)

When I got there, I quickly found his buses:

 Which I sat outside of for sometime, willing Josh to come out and greet me. Then I got a bit braver, and walked around to the back of the building, where I found a lot of ladies hanging around. I had found the place Josh was rumored to be arriving at.

So I chatted with some moms. And some grandmas. And we discussed our love of Josh. And I discussed my desire to be whisked away in his bus at the end of his concert...

The band arriving.

Apparently this giant dog thing is a Josh Groban-thing. I'm not enough of a super fan to know these things, I don't think...

After about three hours of waiting around with no Josh - you know what? I was a bit fed up. This is my fed-up face.

And yet another silly, yet fed-up, face. Note the glasses, which were intended as Josh-Groban catching magnets, drawing him into my similarly nerdy and deep soul. I am NOT a creeper. At all. ;)

Suddenly, Josh pulled in, on a bus! He waved, we waved back. Then they closed this big metal door, and Josh was gone. Such a tragic day for me and the moms.

But, we still had an awesome concert to look forward to! I went to dinner - they were playing Josh Groban music everywhere - and swifty left dinner to go inside the music hall.

I was flipping out when I saw how close my chair was. You know how close it was? SO CLOSE.

This is how happy I was. There was also a lot of Heineken. I will not lie. I mean, it was held at the Heineken Music Hall.

See how big it was? See how CLOSE I was?!

And then, the lights went down, and he emerged, and it was like...heaven. It was amazing. It was so much better in person than listening on a CD. It was visceral. And moving. And astonishing. I mean, the man's 30, and he's got this powerhouse voice. And he's funny. And he had the whole audience laughing at every break. Like, at one point, he gave this very interesting speech about his love life, ending with, "Yes, folks. I've had sex." Which, coming from him - the audience was howling.

I have a bunch of videos, too, but I'll post those in another blog, as this one is getting excessively long (looks like my programming script!).

But! I could not leave without telling you two things. The first is that Josh did FOUR encores. Each one more loudly received than the last. The last encore was the entire audience singing "You Raise Me Up" together. It was incredible. I was belting it. I even did the gospel-y parts. People gave me some funny looks. I did not care.

The second thing is, I got a ton of pictures of Josh! I got to meet him after the concert! (Not, like, formally, just as he was moving along, signing autographs, but still).

He was just as beautiful as he looks in his photographs.

Look how psyched I am! I mean, his hand touched my face!! Sadly, I did not get an autograph, opting to take photos instead.

My face. Josh's face. What more could you WANT?!

And the last one, before he was gone. Le sigh.

So, that was my Josh Groban adventure! Alas, I did not get to ride away into the night with him on his bus. But I'll settle for these totally rad photos and the amazing concert he gave. Till next time, right?!

I also started Dutch classes on Monday (Monday was a long day, seeing as I got back from Amsterdam at 1 AM on Sunday and had to get up at 7 on Monday). They went really well! Let's hope I learn lots of excellent fundamentals. The Dutch is getting better, by the way. I'm taking a trip to Barcelona in the spring (more on that later), and I'm having a really hard time separating the Spanish and Dutch! Oh, well. Everything in its own time. I'll recall the Spanish soon enough, I'm sure!