- Wondering why the devil some airports (*coughAmsterdam*) have all bathrooms down a huge flight of stairs. Don't people wandering airports usually have carryon bags?!
- Becoming convinced I am dehydrated. Becoming convinced other people notice my efforts to hydrate are successful and they are sick of me brushing by them aGAIN to go to the bathroom.
- Becoming totally sweaty because I ran across an entire airport (immigration, customs, security line, train through 5 terminals, plus the run down the long hall to my gate) to make my flight home.
- Running down my noise cancelling headphones battery.
- Planning the murder of the next announcement that deafens me through my headset. WHY must the announcements be so much louder?
We slept in with no alarm until 10am. Ah, vacation, you are too brief!
We followed the usual morning rituals with a convoluted but ultimately successful attempt to get boarding passes for tomorrow. Then we set off into the city central to make another pass at finding a proper local comic shop.
We stopped in a tiny crepe shop which turned out to be quite popular even at 1:30pm on a Saturday. And no wonder! Our savory crepes were delicious (Duck, goat cheese and honey for me. Haddock and apples for T.). My hot chocolate was a mug of hot milk with a side of chocolate chips and some sort of white syrupy sweetener. The bread was less bread and more deliciously solidified butter cleverly disguised as bread with a tiny bit of cinnamon and sugar. T says they called it a "galette."
Our comic shop search was ultimately successful, to the bewilderment of the owner. "You want in Dutch?" Yes! Then T insisted we take a stroll through the red light district. Those women were beautiful, but rather bored looking.
You have to really want it
Feb. 9th, 2018 05:19 pm Bathrooms in pubs and restaurants in Amsterdam require that you first pass a test of agility, then of intelligence.
Most toilets are downstairs. And they are not ordinary stairs, oh no! These are circular stairs with each step so tiny your shoe is only half on solid ground with every careful footfall. I use both hands on every possible hold. I'm clumsy, not stupid.
Then the toilets are clean with plenty of toilet paper. Which pretty much defines a good toilet in my view. The challenge is the sink. I have learned the hard way: never soap my hands before turning on the water. CAN I turn on the water? Motion detector? Push? Pull? Hidden lever under the sink? A pedal on the floor? Gaaaah!
Can I actually make it back up those damn stairs with soapy hands?!
Two days in a row of sleeping to the alarm. Pffft on jet lag!
No hotel buffet at this hotel, which encourages us to explore. Besides, I picked up a yogurt in the grocery store by the train station last night.
Train to Amsterdam Central again, then grocery shopping to prepare for our canal tour. The canal tour was nice. Not too cold, we were protected from the wind. The website encouraged us to bring food and drink. T& I brought sandwiches, water, and jenever. The boat guys provided cups and gluhwein. Those Boat Guys. I recommend them. Small boat, only 6 people on ours, it felt very personal.
Captain Marc recommended Winkel for apple pie. As it had started to snow by the time we walked in, they also served hot rum chocolate and gluhwein. Tasty! I would have called it more apple cake than pie, but it was good and came with a large dollap of sweet cream.
The snow came down more seriously as we escaped Winkel (our seats were taken before I finished standing up). We spent several more hours searching out comic shops to no avail. Yes, there were shops, but they either had no comics, or the comics were all US imports.
We managed to mostly avoid rush hour on the trains by stopping in a restaurant for drinks, chocolate cake (T), pumpkin soup (me). Both were delicious, though T turned up his nose at even tasting my soup.
My hotel this week
Feb. 8th, 2018 05:58 pm The customer chose my hotel in Amsterdam based on walking distance from the training facility. It was still a 20 min walk (for me. 15 min for people with healthy feet) in the cold. The hotel was... weird.
I've tried hard to think of positive things to say about the hotel.
* It was pretty inside and out. I took some pictures.
* The staff all spoke perfect English. Ok, everyone here speaks perfect English, but it still counts.
* It was only 20 minutes walking distance from work. No traffic blockages.
* The water worked. It turned hot and cold on command.
* There was a toilet and shower in the hotel room. I did not have to share with a stranger.
* There was a safe in the room.
Yeah, I'm reaching.
Now for the things I didn't like.
* There was no Kleenex. I missed Kleenex. Using toilet paper on my poor nose just isn't the same. And my nose didn't like the dry air.
* There was no washcloth. I missed washclothes, especially as the shower water dripped in my eyes when I tried to wash my face. Ok, this is typical of European hotels, but I still miss my washcloth. No, it is too much to pack one. Most hotels have them.
* The bed was too soft. T said his lower back hurts today from it.
* The bed was two single beds pushed together. T kept falling in the crack.
* The shower was a work of art in the middle of the room. It leaked half the time. It was hard to find a good water temperature -- it tended to go straight from burning hot to ice cold with the tiniest touch on the control. There was no place to put the soap or shampoo in the shower. My students called it a "Beam me up, Scotty!" shower because it was a clear glass tube in the middle of the hotel room.
* No gym.
* No drawers for clothing or possession storage. There was a closet which had some shelves. Not many, and hard to see into with the room lighting. I ended up using the flashlight on my phone to see in them.
* The chairs were cheap plastic and quite uncomfortable. Like IKEA chairs or cafeteria chairs.
* The sink was in a corner of the one long flat surface, extending into an almost unusable desk (the desk "chair" was a square block, and the desk surface was entirely covered by a phone, a coffee maker, and a bundle of hotel papers). Most of the counter between sink and so-called desk was consumed by a huge THING I'm guessing the hotel feels was art. I moved it to the floor where it utterly blocked access to the desk.
* I've used a lot of sinks in a lot of hotels. This was the absolute WORST (assuming all comparable sinks actually worked without leaking in a obviously broken way). The sink was a raised bowl. But the bowl was not symmetric. One side was quite short. Every time I washed my hands, I splashed water on the counter. I could not block the drain even with my amazing sink stopper (they deliberately made the drain too big). Even if I could have blocked it up, my travel cereal bowl could hold more water! So I ended up washing clothes every day in my travel cereal bowl. HATED that sink!
* The toilet was in a tiny enclosed room. No light switch, it had a motion activated light. You can imagine what happened next. .... "Damn it!" *waves arms*
We changed hotels this morning. The new hotel is nicer, more standard, more useful and less artistry over function.
Woke up to the alarm at 9am. We slept so late!
We got dressed and I introduced To to the hotel buffet. T, like me, thought it was pretty, but the customer service was slack. The short order cook refused to make me fried eggs (said he had no lighter for the stove). The dishes and cups in the to-use stack were indifferently clean. And many parts of the buffet had run out and were not refilled. They were clearly getting ready for the lunch shift and not interested in us breakfast eaters.
We pack up our stuff and took a shuttle to the airport, where we checked into a much nicer hotel. Nice sink, great bed, shorter walk to the train, all good!
We got 3-day train passes and took the train into Amsterdam Central to wander. And there was great meandering! I had crepes and cider (2 chances to rest my feet). We saw a plastic duck shop and a tiny painted cow shop. No, no space in our return luggage!
We talked about going on a canal tour and ended up booking one from the internet while sitting in a pub. Yay for internet access on my phone! We'll go tomorrow.
We headed back to the train and our hotel as the sun set at about 5:30pm. That is the time most of the town shuts down anyway.
The worst class
Feb. 3rd, 2018 09:22 pm As I travel to another teaching adventure in a strange country, I'm considering what the worst class I've ever had was.
It wasn't the one where my plane was so late I traveled straight from the European airport to the classroom to start class an hour late, still wearing the clothes I slept in on the plane (bonus: they lost my luggage, so I taught in those clothes for 2 days).
It wasn't the one where the classroom temperature ping ponged between 61F and 86F without ever pausing in between.
It wasn't the one that I learned to wear a new bra with multiple hooks and carry a sewing kit. Or the later one where I patched my suddenly strapless slip with a safety pin from said kit.
It wasn't the one where the electricity went out entirely in the building, leaving us without a projector and reading from the books by the emergency light (that one has been multiple buildings in several countries. Tough when we were all logged in via emulators to a VAX and the lost electricity cut our connection to the stat software.).
It wasn't the one when my carpal tunnel was so bad I had a student type in all my commands for me.
It wasn't the one where I learned I have plantar fasciitis by feeling like I was walking on Lego pieces for 5 days.
It wasn't the one where I learned I have plantar fasciitis by feeling like I was walking on Lego pieces for 5 days.
It wasn't the many where jet lag and travel stress allowed me 2-3 hours of sleep a night and a splitting headache all day every day.
No, my worst class was the one where they didn't talk. Many, over multiple weeks.They didn't ask any questions. It was horrible. And deathly boring. And every day I covered too much material because they never talked. And after class they would line up to ask me questions. I later found out it was a cultural thing. I handle it better now. At least I hope I do. I plan for it in those countries where I know it will happen.
Monday will be fine. I'm sure they will be chatty.
false advertising
Jan. 30th, 2018 12:03 pmAmazon has been one of my favorite sites for many years. So many books!
T signed up for Prime several years ago. He discovered he could share his quick shipping with me by sharing his membership. I was delighted to discover this included all of the Prime shows.
But for a while now I've been reading about something called "Prime Reading." This is evidently a library of books I can read for free as a Prime member. But my challenge was figuring out how. There are many links to how wonderful this Prime Reading is, but very limited information on how to take advantage of it. I managed to find a list of books to try. But the directions said "Locate the title that you'd like to borrow, then view the product detail page for that title." Ok, easy enough. I'm on the detail page for the tempting books.... "Select the option to borrow the book for free with Prime Reading". Yeah, that sounds good, but there is no such option. Does not exist! I tried on the computer, I tried on my phone. No such option.
I went through the many hoops to contact Amazon help. While waiting for the help person to figure it out, I continued to google directions from non-Amazon people. One site showed images of their Kindle pages, making it clear that the button on my screen that says "Read for free with Kindle Unlimited" should really be labeled "Borrow for free with Amazon Prime." But it doesn't. The Amazon help person finally came back on the line and said that it is because only T gets this benefit, not me. He is the person who bought the Prime membership, and I am merely a hanger-on. That was not mentioned anywhere in their documentation. And of course T is unlikely to want to take advantage of his benefits, whereas I care a lot.
Feeling bitter now. Really really bitter. Cheated.
T signed up for Prime several years ago. He discovered he could share his quick shipping with me by sharing his membership. I was delighted to discover this included all of the Prime shows.
But for a while now I've been reading about something called "Prime Reading." This is evidently a library of books I can read for free as a Prime member. But my challenge was figuring out how. There are many links to how wonderful this Prime Reading is, but very limited information on how to take advantage of it. I managed to find a list of books to try. But the directions said "Locate the title that you'd like to borrow, then view the product detail page for that title." Ok, easy enough. I'm on the detail page for the tempting books.... "Select the option to borrow the book for free with Prime Reading". Yeah, that sounds good, but there is no such option. Does not exist! I tried on the computer, I tried on my phone. No such option.
I went through the many hoops to contact Amazon help. While waiting for the help person to figure it out, I continued to google directions from non-Amazon people. One site showed images of their Kindle pages, making it clear that the button on my screen that says "Read for free with Kindle Unlimited" should really be labeled "Borrow for free with Amazon Prime." But it doesn't. The Amazon help person finally came back on the line and said that it is because only T gets this benefit, not me. He is the person who bought the Prime membership, and I am merely a hanger-on. That was not mentioned anywhere in their documentation. And of course T is unlikely to want to take advantage of his benefits, whereas I care a lot.
Feeling bitter now. Really really bitter. Cheated.
Another cold?
Jan. 25th, 2018 04:27 pmI traveled earlier this week. My coughing immediately got worse. My dentist (cleaning) this morning suspects that I am making myself sick again by using my used-when-sick toothbrush.
Oh, I'd so rather be painting!
Oh, I'd so rather be painting!
The past 6 days have given me a much greater appreciation for people with limited spoons. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.... when getting out of bed or just standing up was a huge act of will power.... My days centered around sleep, drinking the maximum amount of hot liquids and continuing to breath. It was painful in so many ways. I did notice a strong correlation between my fever and my ability process information. The higher my fever, the fewer tasks (where example "task" = get out of bed or put on socks) I was able to accomplish.
It was Thursday before I was able to consider anything beyond very basic life maintenance.
It has been a bit like living in a bubble. I came up for air today to discover that my father-in-law is also recovering from the flu (he was fine last Saturday when I saw him). And several of my local FB friends who I have not seen in more than a week are also in the midst of the flu. So... at least I'm not alone in the misery of this experience?
It was Thursday before I was able to consider anything beyond very basic life maintenance.
It has been a bit like living in a bubble. I came up for air today to discover that my father-in-law is also recovering from the flu (he was fine last Saturday when I saw him). And several of my local FB friends who I have not seen in more than a week are also in the midst of the flu. So... at least I'm not alone in the misery of this experience?
How the Grinch failed to spoil Christmas
Dec. 27th, 2017 01:42 pmIn this scenario I am the grinch. Saturday I started coughing, the kind of coughing that made me admit that I had a problem more serious than allergies.
Sunday I called my brother R &![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
livingdeb to warn them that I was contagious. They decided to come share Christmas with us anyway. Late Sunday, they assured me that I should not worry about baking anything (I had planned a pie), they would bring everything.
And they did. They came Christmas morning. They brought massive quantities of food. Chinese food, tamales, cookies.... They brought Christmas movies. We ate. I drank tea and huddled under a blanket. We watched The Nice Guys and Iron Man 3. It was lovely.
Sunday I called my brother R &
livingdeb to warn them that I was contagious. They decided to come share Christmas with us anyway. Late Sunday, they assured me that I should not worry about baking anything (I had planned a pie), they would bring everything. And they did. They came Christmas morning. They brought massive quantities of food. Chinese food, tamales, cookies.... They brought Christmas movies. We ate. I drank tea and huddled under a blanket. We watched The Nice Guys and Iron Man 3. It was lovely.
Both sides of a New York welcome
Dec. 22nd, 2017 02:34 pm The ship docked in New York early this morning. So early that our friends S&L thought we would have a reasonable amount of time to at least see them. We caught a taxi from the dock and it was a quick 15 minutes to meet them. Yay! It was lovely to catch up. They fed us a hearty 2nd breakfast and a great deal of tea.
They sent us off at noon to catch our 3pm flight home. We entered the TSA Pre security line in plenty of time. And then I met the local TSA guys. I meekly asked after a tub in the security line to put my electronics-filled coat in and protect it from being crushed by my luggage. They either didn't hear me or ignored me. I repeated the request, a bit louder. No response. No eye contact. I repeated it again, louder. They told me that TSA Pre security line does not NEED tubs. "Well, may I have a tub?" and they went straight into "Ma'am, YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN!" I was speaking over the surrounding noise, but I didn't think I was yelling. I tried to be meek. They said they would bring me a tub. They tried to talk me out of using a tub, saying the conveyer belt is cleaner than the tubs, which are often used for shoes. I agreed that is true, but I still wanted a tub. I reached the front of the line and didn't push my luggage out of sight until I had the tub. They yelled and told me that I was holding up the line. I asked for the tub again. They yelled louder and told me how very rude I was being to all the surrounding passengers (who could hear every bit of their side of this conversation). Every time I spoke they told me to "Ma'am, WE ASKED YOU TO CALM DOWN!!!" It was super intimidating and freaky. There were three of them, all tall and loud and male in full uniform. I felt that by asking for a security tub to go through security I was going to be arrested for.... something. It was horrible.
At the end of the security conveyor belt was a huge pile of tubs on a hand cart. Inside security. Away from passengers like me who would want to use them for their coats or other small crushable items.
Walking away, I thought that perhaps this is normal behavior for New Yorkers? They are always this rude and aggressive? Perhaps they didn't want the work of dealing with the tubs played into it. The position of power they were in only made the experience more terrifying for me.
What to do when we get home....
Dec. 21st, 2017 04:29 pm We are getting home just before Christmas.
Lunch with Dad (Christmas-y lunch?). Grocery shop for whatever we are making for Christmas. Maybe laundry. Find a pie crust recipe (before the grocery shopping!).
Over Christmas week at home, I Have Plans. Plans, I tell you! I have a green lego dragon (birthday present) to put together. And we plan to binge watch the first 6 seasons of Game of Thrones. No, we haven't seen it. Yes, it is a problem in modern culture that we have not seen it.
Other than that... We are playing it by ear. Maybe some yard work. It will be nice to putter about the house for a few days before work starts again with the new year.
Update: Lunch with Dad happened. Grocery shopping happened. Laundry happened. I did some acrylic painting. And mid-Saturday I got sick. Just before Christmas. Ack!
Lunch with Dad (Christmas-y lunch?). Grocery shop for whatever we are making for Christmas. Maybe laundry. Find a pie crust recipe (before the grocery shopping!).
Over Christmas week at home, I Have Plans. Plans, I tell you! I have a green lego dragon (birthday present) to put together. And we plan to binge watch the first 6 seasons of Game of Thrones. No, we haven't seen it. Yes, it is a problem in modern culture that we have not seen it.
Other than that... We are playing it by ear. Maybe some yard work. It will be nice to putter about the house for a few days before work starts again with the new year.
Update: Lunch with Dad happened. Grocery shopping happened. Laundry happened. I did some acrylic painting. And mid-Saturday I got sick. Just before Christmas. Ack!
watercolors
Dec. 20th, 2017 07:27 pmOn board the cruise, we mostly eat, sleep, read and work out (well, I work out. T is being lazy.). On my last cruise some years ago I joined a water coloring class midway through. They charged for the class (supplies) but allowed me to show up and play with water and paint. I had fun. This time, I packed my water colors and some extra supplies. I've been watercoloring every day for 2 hours in the morning. It is the one thing I do consistently every day. It is lovely. I'm not making great art, or even good art. But the process is really fun. And I'm learning a lot. This instructor is completely different from the last one (both good) and I love the very different suggestions and viewpoints. I think that my sense of color and what I can do with it has expanded from working consistently with both instructors. Totally worth it!
Good shoes are not enough
Dec. 19th, 2017 03:09 pmI was going to only pack 3 pairs of shoes: workout sneakers, black daytime nicer sneakers,, and evening heels (as evening heel-ish as I ever get). But T talked me into a 4th pair of shoes: my new work mary janes.
My feet have been pretty happy for the past few months, but a few days before we got on the plane for the cruise, they started hurting. It was the pain diagnosed as metatarsalogia -- shooting pain in the ball of my left foot. Stretching helps only limitedly. I packed a huge bag of epsum salts (which made for a fun search of our carry ons in the airport) and a collapsable tub. But I packed those because I always want to soak my feet in hot water on cruises for one reason or another. When we got on board, T supported my nightly hot-water-and-epsum-salt habit by requesting to soak his feet in the same water because of the blisters he got from his airport shoes.
But it wasn't enough. The pain in walking was just getting worse and worse. After two days on board the ship I was in enough pain to be constantly trying to limit my walking even in the lovely mary janes. My workout sneakers will quite literally not allow themselves to be tied any looser. So I got our cabin steward to fill up the ice bucket and went back to soaking my feet in ice water several times a day. And the hot water and epsum salts at night. Two days later... I feel much better.
So, ice water. Yes, it is even more awful to experience than it sounds. But worth it for the decrease in pain.
Sweet, sweet sleep...
One of my goals on this transatlantic holiday cruise was to sleep. I think we are accomplishing it quite well.
Almost every day is 25 hours. We go to bed around 8 or 9pm and I wake up about the time the gym opens. T grunts at me and goes back to sleep. At home, he generally requires 1-2 hours less sleep than me. But here...? I'm not sure how he is doing it, but he seems to have flipped to 1-2 hours more than I do every night.
My theory is that he actually has a very mild case of sea sickness. Not enough to feel ill, but just enough to feel really really sleepy. He smiled at me sleepily when I suggested this to him.
T also says that he is "winning" when it comes to sleep. I've tried to tell him that it is not a contest. "Yes, it is! It is a sprint." *sigh*
One of my goals on this transatlantic holiday cruise was to sleep. I think we are accomplishing it quite well.
Almost every day is 25 hours. We go to bed around 8 or 9pm and I wake up about the time the gym opens. T grunts at me and goes back to sleep. At home, he generally requires 1-2 hours less sleep than me. But here...? I'm not sure how he is doing it, but he seems to have flipped to 1-2 hours more than I do every night.
My theory is that he actually has a very mild case of sea sickness. Not enough to feel ill, but just enough to feel really really sleepy. He smiled at me sleepily when I suggested this to him.
T also says that he is "winning" when it comes to sleep. I've tried to tell him that it is not a contest. "Yes, it is! It is a sprint." *sigh*
Disconnecting
Dec. 17th, 2017 02:38 pmIn this modern age, one of the things I value highly is having a vacation from the constant onslaught of email and media. When I'm connected to my own wifi I am connected to everything, even if I'm technically on vacation.
But a cruise ship is different. We have 265 minutes (because we are preferred travelers) of very slow wifi on board, which we mostly use to play our game. I don't watch youtube news videos, I don't read the news on cnn.com or bbc.com. I am limited in my email access... It is really a change. I love it.
I'm reading a lot. Which I anticipated, downloading books before we left. and the ship has a lovely library. I have to admit that I went the luxury route and hit their large print section first. Ah, limited squinting....
But a cruise ship is different. We have 265 minutes (because we are preferred travelers) of very slow wifi on board, which we mostly use to play our game. I don't watch youtube news videos, I don't read the news on cnn.com or bbc.com. I am limited in my email access... It is really a change. I love it.
I'm reading a lot. Which I anticipated, downloading books before we left. and the ship has a lovely library. I have to admit that I went the luxury route and hit their large print section first. Ah, limited squinting....
"Sound Science"
Dec. 6th, 2017 02:58 pmI thought 538's recent article on "The Easiest Way to Dismiss Good Science is to Demand Sound 'Science'" to be very thought provoking. The idea that the core question is how much risk are we willing to accept gives me a much more sympathetic view of the climate change deniers. They are willing to accept a higher level of risk with the immediate financial benefit than I am. Ah. That is truly a personal decision. I think our society should accept a lower level of risk for ourselves and our children, even though this means a more immediate financial sacrifice.
Risk averse. Where does that put me on the political spectrum?
Risk averse. Where does that put me on the political spectrum?
Shoes (part 3)
Nov. 30th, 2017 11:55 amOver Thanksgiving we stayed with J. J has a lovely modern house, about half tile and half carpet. I ignored T's recommendations and did not pack my fancy new houseshoes.
I so so SO regretted it. J is a shoe-free house and I was hyper-aware of every moment walking across his lovely tile. His horribly painful tile. Oh, my feet hurt! Yeah, the houseshoes really help my daily life at home. I love them. Until I visited J, I didn't quite understand how much I love my houseshoes.
I so so SO regretted it. J is a shoe-free house and I was hyper-aware of every moment walking across his lovely tile. His horribly painful tile. Oh, my feet hurt! Yeah, the houseshoes really help my daily life at home. I love them. Until I visited J, I didn't quite understand how much I love my houseshoes.
