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!

Quickly Updating

Hello!

Much has happened in the last week or so! So, in an effort to just let everyone who follows my blog know - I will try and write a new post tonight or tomorrow. Here is a small list of some of the things I have done! ;)

• I have been to a Josh Groban concert! And boy, was it something else. I have many pictures of his beautiful, wonderful face, and many videos of his even more beautiful, wonderful voice. Oh, Josh.
• I went to Amsterdam! Twice! Once to make a video for the Fulbright center, which I hope to have a link for soon, and the other for the aforementioned concert. Both times were nifty. I bought pants.
• I got my residence permit! I'm legal! And I can tell you all about my new workplace! And how I managed to figure out how to write code in a month!
• I started taking official Dutch lessons. They are...interesting. I love learning the language in a classroom setting, though. Much more to my liking than Rosetta Stone, although, it must be said, Rosetta Stone has literally done wonders for my ability to communicate over here.

Till later!

Meeting the Ambassador-in-Training, Stew, and Kayaking in Holland

Hello, dear readers!

This has been a hectic week, the result of which is that on Friday, I was shocked that the week was coming to a close. Such is life. I've now been in Holland for almost three and a half weeks. I am so Dutch, I have wooden shoes flooding from my pores. That's actually an egregious lie. For one, the Dutch don't even wear wooden shoes anymore, and for another, I may live in Holland and strive valiantly to speak Dutch, but I am a far sight from actually being Dutch. Which I'm okay with. Being an American in Holland is a good thing too.


On Monday of this past week, as I was biking home, I realized I didn't have anything really pressing that I needed to get home for, and so I turned off the main road, and biked down this gorgeous tree-lined path:

Which turns, at the end, onto this sheep and pony-pasture lined path, which leads to a forest, where I took the video in my last post, and which ends at Theehuis Rijnauwen, the best place ever.


Tuesday I spent wandering around, buying my best friend Rachel a birthday present at the neatest store - I live, as I have mentioned, right around the corner from the Turkish/Moroccan neighborhood, where there are a bunch of little stores chock full of everything from colanders to hand-made clay bowls from Africa. The one I went to was called Bazaar Salaam, and it was stocked, floor to ceiling, with the most wonderful gifts and pieces of art, and, well, chochkes.

I bought Rachel some of the aforementioned gift-items, went to the post office (which I am apparently lucky to have - apparently post offices are a rare commodity in Holland nowadays...), figured out how to package the gift, and had a delightful conversation with the postman, in mixed Dutch and English, about sending the gift to the US. He told me my Dutch was quite good, actually, which was a nice compliment, and he told me that everyone he met in America told him he should play basketball, and when I asked why, he stood up, and it was insane. He must have been about seven feet tall. I would have told him he should play basketball too.


Wednesday was a VERY exciting day. Mary, Melissa (the other Fulbright girl who lives in my house now) and I all went to the train station (after I remembered that I had left my invitation at the house and had to go back and get it...) and took a train to Den Haag, the "political capitol" of Holland, to have a day filled with discussions of Dutch government, Dutch people, and delicious Dutch fried food. The Dutch love fried food. I think I've discussed this before. They all rides bikes everywhere. So they're all fit. Hell. I would probably love fried food too if I was super fit and could eat whatever I liked all the time. Oh, the Dutch.

In any case, the day started with us getting to talk to some people who work in the parliament of Holland, and some people who work for the US government in Holland. The first person, a woman, told us about how the Dutch political system works, and what the current political landscape is like...it would take a long time to explain it here, but I'm going to try and summarize what she said:

Basically, the Dutch have a constitutional monarchy, with a House of Representatives and a Senate, like ours, but instead of a bipartisan hot mess that fights for seats in the House and Senate, they have a giant, multi-party hot mess (their words) that fights for seats just in the House. Apparently all the Senate members are appointed, as are almost all local officials (judges, police chiefs, mayors, etc.). Also rather iffy is the role of the Queen in all policy and decision-making - she apparently has a lot of sway, but, being the queen, is never recorded, or broadcast, and everything that she discusses with, say, the head of the House, is completely confidential. So no one knows, really, what her exact political leanings are. Isn't that bizarre and fascinating? I want to be a Queen. Everyone loves her, apparently. And they think that over the years, she's become quite clever, and foxy with her political intrigues. Less highly praised are the members of the House. Basically, when voting happens here, all the votes for people count towards that candidate's party. Then, at the end of the day, the percentage that the party won overall in the election is the percentage of seats they get in the house. So, let's say ten parties win more than 1%. Party 1 wins 20% and gets 30 seats in the 150-seat House. Party 2 wins 30% and gets 45 seats, etc. Some parties (like the animal rights party - yes, it exists) only have like, two seats in the House.

So there's all these parties in the House. The biggest ones (the ones that won the most seats) get together and form what's called a "Coalition" which makes up a majority in the House (so, all told, enough parties join the Coalition to let the coalition have 76 members (more than half the 150-seat House). The Coalition then works together to put forth laws, yadda yadda.

So, there's this guy. His last name is Wilders. He's in the Coalition, as a member of one of these bigger parties. And he's totally. freaking. nuts. So we talked a lot about him, and how much trouble he's causing (I apologize to people who like Glenn Beck, but Wilders is kind of like Glenn Beck, in my opinion). Wilders is vehemently nationalistic, and as somewhat a result of that, vehemently anti-immigration, and anti-Muslim. For instance, Wilders insists that the Dutch, in establishing New York City (which, as we all know, used to be called "New Amsterdam," from that song, "Istanbul was Constantinople!") were intrinsic to the entire modern existence of America. Now, I mean, perhaps he has a point. But intrinsic? As in America wouldn't exist as it currently does if we weren't all infused with the Dutch mentality? I don't know that anyone has ever suggested that to me before.

Okay, so Wilders is a bit nuts. He wants to eject all the Muslims from this country, and "purify" the land - he uses a lot of Nazi-esque language. And he has a huge support base with people who are very afraid of the influx of Muslim immigrants. I mean, hey. I don't think anyone has a right to take over your country. But kicking them all out? Exiling them? I feel like we've tried to learn from past mistakes in that area...

Onto happier topics, perhaps. Wilders aside, we also talked a lot about the differences between Dutch culture and American culture. There were so many interesting points, I don't think I can discuss them all here. Let's leave it by saying we used the following words to sum up the Dutch:

• Egalitarian
• Tolerant
• Utilitarian
• Privacy-minded

After our long, in-depth conversation about the Dutch, we went to the ambassador's house (Oh, was it nice) and had many little fried delicious nibblets of Dutch food, and got to talk to many more important government-related people, and Fulbright alumni, and well, the ambassador-in-training himself. I had a lovely conversation with a man named Hans about our earlier political discoveries, and he invited me to come to the embassy for a giant Thanksgiving feast held for American diplomats. Isn't that great! He invited all the Fulbright kids (we're actually really not kids, but, there you go. I used to have students who were a good twenty years older than me who I still called "my kids") and so now we all have somewhere to go for Thanksgiving!

After much hob-nobbing (a term I had to later explain to my Dutch friends) and being served caviar by nice men in tuxes, we departed, and walked to a very sweet little Irish pub, where we ate a real dinner (Sorry, Ambassador. Finger food is delicious, but not quite dinner). We then had a very painful (on my part, due to the heels) walk back to the central station in Den Haag, where we hopped on a train and came back to Utrecht. It was a long, long day. And there was this guy at dinner. And he introduced himself, and within three sentences, he was like, "Hi, my name is so-and-so, and *coughcoughhack* I've been like, really sick ever since I got here! Like, I literally stepped off the plane and had a UTI!" after which he proceeded to tell me about how he used to have a diagnosis of ADHD. Which, if you think about it, is perfect, and hilarious. Except for the part where I woke up on Thursday morning sick too, thanks to his lovely explosive introduction. Bless his heart. He was nice, despite his getting me sick.

Thursday was a perfectly normal day in every way, and on Friday, I hosted a dinner party! It was a wonderful dinner party. It included the following incredible food-things:

• Jool's Favorite Stew, by Jamie Oliver
• Brown Butter Vanilla Bean Rice Krispie Treats by Beyond the Box

I'm very pleased to say that the food turned out excellently. I had extra veggies left over from the stew, so I also made a baked gouda and root veggie flaky pastry, basically, that was also delicious. A big salad, two bottles of wine later, and all my dinner guests and I were super pleased. There a bunch of pictures I'll be putting up later but here is one from before the dinner:

Pretty! On the board is rosemary, garlic, and lemon zest, for the stew. It gave it a really interesting, tangy taste. It was..interesting. I liked the stew without the topping too, though.

In any case, the dinner was a huge hit! We wandered out after the dinner, and went downtown - there was a HUGE party going on around the Dom Cathedral tower (yes, around, on, and under the cathedral was a giant disco dance party). They had huge laser lights playing all over the cathedral (Mary got some excellent pics I'll put up later). It was totally bizarre, to see this 800+ year old cathedral get lit up like the inside of the hippest dance club in Europe, and to see thousands of people streaming, dancing, running, screaming, smoking and drinking around it, while really, really heavy techno music plays. It was a bit overstimulating, actually. Ha! They also have these things here that are basically outdoor urinals - they must cut down on public urination, which, actually, is good, but still. Dudes are just turned into these little plastic booths (with no doors) and, man. I do NOT want to see that. Mary agrees. We generally avoid these things, yet have a morbid fascination with their existence...

Today, I had a delightfully slow morning, full of toast with sprinkles (Oh, how the Dutch love their toast sprinkles) and Harry Potter. Around noon, I left the house, intending to visit the giant Saturday market we have here, and to go to a town-wide booksale I saw advertised for the nearby town of Zeist.

Instead, as soon as I left my door, I was immediately caught up in a giant street market.

They had candy.

Big, big PILES of candy. So, naturally, I bought a giant bag. And munched it as I walked down the street with my bike.

And saw this disturbing sign:

Now, upon further inspection, these mats did not appear to be made of actual seal skin. I think that's just the brand name. But what a stupid freaking brand name!!

What I could not take a picture of (it was just way too awkward) but wanted to, were the swarms of Muslim women buying lingerie. All these completely covered women, with headscarves, holding up lacy underwear and bras, gabbing happily about which one they were going to get. It. was. so. weird.

Eventually, I extricated myself from the masses, and made my way towards the city center, where I did eventually go to the giant Saturday market.

They had olives. And apricots. And walnuts. It was so, so delicious-looking:

Next Saturday I won't eat lunch, and I'll just go to this thing and get olives, and sausage, and freshly baked bread, and have myself a picnic. Oh, yes.

Then, as aforementioned, I intended to go to the book sale in Zeist. Here is where I ended up instead:

Oh, yes. That's right. Today, I rented a kayak, and spent three wonderful hours paddling up and down the canals of Utrecht.

And finally, made it to Theehuis Rijnauwen!! That wonderful and magical place, that can be reached by bike or kayak. Well, now I've done both. And they were both on my life's bucket list. So, yeah. Feeling pretty accomplished today, let me tell you what.

Something you won't see in the US while kayaking - this is an outpost of a fortress (Fort Rijnauwen) from WWII, I believe. It's kind of hidden, but it's there!!

At the end of my wonderful kayaking adventure.

So, I stopped at the Theehuis, had a cappuccino, and went back to the rental place - three hours in a kayak, for 8 euro. It was so great.

I biked back home (I've gotten the workout of my life today), and had a long, hilarious conversation with my nice neighbor (he just kept re-pouring my wine glass) about Dutch politics, and the nasty other neighbor (nice neighbor doesn't like mean neighbor, whose name, by the way, is Fokka (pronounced, you guessed it, like, "Fucka," which is hilarious, in a mean, hilarious way)) and after quite a few glasses of wine, he gave me several large books, and told me I had to read all of them (I'll try), and he told me it was a pleasure to live next to such a sweet young lady. He's married to a nice Irish woman, who loves to bake, and they have two sweet little red-headed girls. He said his wife could give me some baking lessons. I might try it out!
 

Alas, I'm paying for my day of working out, because the cold that started Thursday morning has been resurfacing all evening, and now I'm coughing and in a generally bad way. But I'm just chilling in my room, writing and reading Harry Potter. Hopefully I will be better once again in the morning. By the way, Harry Potter is just the gift that keeps on giving. I have been invited to go speak at almost ten schools now (the Fulbright center allows schools to read our bios and invite us to come speak to their English classes) and at least half of them have mentioned my love of Harry Potter as a motivating factor for their invitation. Some of my Dutch friends have started sending messages entitled, "To Miss Harry Potter" because whenever anybody asks what I'm doing, my first response (recently) is always, "Oh, reading Harry Potter!"

But next week, friends and family, Harry Potter will be put aside for one of the most momentous occasions ever - my favorite book, Abarat, will finally be getting a third installment (there's two now). I AM SO EXCITED. I have literally been waiting seven years for this book. I will tell you more next week once I've read it. :)

A Wee Update

Well!

I am happy to report, that within a day of my bike having a fantastic meltdown and breaking forever, and my subsequent purchase of a new bike, I needed to use my spare bike. So it was good I decided to always have two bikes. Mary's tire, which was fixed (for the disgustingly high price of 30 euro) went flat again on Sunday. So for the past two days (because, of course, the bike shop was closed on Sunday AND Monday) she has been using my spare bike. See? So glad I bought the second one.

Also, it must be said, my new purple bike is wonderful. Smooth, fast, sleek, and it does not make any nasty squeaky noises. Though, I suppose, if you get a bungee cord wrapped around your back wheel, because you forgot to pick the bungee cord up, maybe you shouldn't complain about squeaky wheels...

Sunday (after Mary furiously told us about her tire going flat AGAIN) Mary, Clemens and I went to dinner at a little Belgian pub. Clemens and I got beef in a beer-based stew, and it was soooo good. I washed this delightful dinner down with a beer called...wait for it...Lupulus. Yes! I know. So, naturally, I took pictures.

It was a strong, white beer. So, in other words, it was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS. Just like me! A true namesake.

I also biked to Theehuis Rhijnauwen (the pannenkoeken restaurant) today, and I will post a video of my bike trip there later. I had a bacon, apple, and cheese pancake, and it was incredible. I love mixing salty and sweet flavors like that. I sat on the outside porch, and watched sweet Dutch children run around and eat pancakes, and I saw many happy Dutch grandpas, with big white mustaches, lovingly chasing their grandchildren as they ran around and ate pancakes. It's such a wonderful, joyful place. So far, it's my favorite place in all of Utrecht. And soon to come, kayaking to this place! Because it's next to a river! And I know how to rent the kayaks now - Mary says the shop is right next to her house. So we're doing it.