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Nether-Netherland
Aug. 12th, 2008 04:02 pmOh, my brain is a melted marzipan on a sinking lilypad, it's all mixed-up time zones and chaos and itinerant dreams. But here are, in no particular order, some things that have happened, thoughts that I have had, and other tidbits of the imponderobilia of the daily life (TM Malinowski).
1. Despite my enthusiasm at being liberated from a driving lifestyle, on our very first day in the Netherlands, we came into temporary possession of a car, and it was GOOD, and after a 3-hour train ride with the baby today, and the ensuing realization that we are never, ever taking the baby on the train again, or maybe not again, but at least for another year and a half or so, we may be coming into a permanent possession of this car, which may be sold to us for a sum so nominal that it's more like a random acts of kindness than a transaction.
2. While![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
theophile was navigating said car through the ugly agro-industrial wasteland off the highway between Leiden and Utrecht, a pheasant ran out into the road, and we almost hit it. It just kept running and disappeared into the grass on the other side of the road. "Was that a pheasant?" asked theophile. "It was," I replied. "What the fuck?" said he, which, really, what else can you say in that situation?
3. I keep looking at certain people and having a recurrent thought: "that person would NEVER be on a bicycle in the States!"
4. Everyone is on a bicycle! It is awesome. I cannot wait until I am on a bicycle.
5. So far I am on foot. I wore new shoes for a like, 4-hour walk yesterday, and today my feet are blistered.
6. I wore new shoes, because one of my suitcases didn't make it out of the car and onto the plane. I am trying to use the locus-memory-method to remember what the fuck I had packed in it--using the suitcase itself a locus for itself. It's not working very well, but I do know that two pairs of my comfortable boots were in it. Alas.
7. We discovered a gigantic second-hand store full of beautiful furniture for very cheap prices. On a whim, we bought a couch. We have no home and nowhere to put the couch, so it stayed at the store. But it's ours. One day soon we will claim it.
8. Something I always forget about Europe--on some molecular perception level, everything seems so much more familiar and natural to me because the flora all around--even off the roadside--is the same one I grew up with--plants I never learned the names of in English, but here they all are, and their pollen particles infuse the air with--not even a scent--just a certain quality. Somehow, things just seem more familiar in that they resonate with the natural order that imprinted on me in childhood, having to do with climate, topography, botany, and such.
9. Jet-lagged baby OH MY GOD HELP.
10. Tomorrow we are going to go look at the house that hopefully will be ours.
More later! Especially about this city.
1. Despite my enthusiasm at being liberated from a driving lifestyle, on our very first day in the Netherlands, we came into temporary possession of a car, and it was GOOD, and after a 3-hour train ride with the baby today, and the ensuing realization that we are never, ever taking the baby on the train again, or maybe not again, but at least for another year and a half or so, we may be coming into a permanent possession of this car, which may be sold to us for a sum so nominal that it's more like a random acts of kindness than a transaction.
2. While
theophile was navigating said car through the ugly agro-industrial wasteland off the highway between Leiden and Utrecht, a pheasant ran out into the road, and we almost hit it. It just kept running and disappeared into the grass on the other side of the road. "Was that a pheasant?" asked theophile. "It was," I replied. "What the fuck?" said he, which, really, what else can you say in that situation?3. I keep looking at certain people and having a recurrent thought: "that person would NEVER be on a bicycle in the States!"
4. Everyone is on a bicycle! It is awesome. I cannot wait until I am on a bicycle.
5. So far I am on foot. I wore new shoes for a like, 4-hour walk yesterday, and today my feet are blistered.
6. I wore new shoes, because one of my suitcases didn't make it out of the car and onto the plane. I am trying to use the locus-memory-method to remember what the fuck I had packed in it--using the suitcase itself a locus for itself. It's not working very well, but I do know that two pairs of my comfortable boots were in it. Alas.
7. We discovered a gigantic second-hand store full of beautiful furniture for very cheap prices. On a whim, we bought a couch. We have no home and nowhere to put the couch, so it stayed at the store. But it's ours. One day soon we will claim it.
8. Something I always forget about Europe--on some molecular perception level, everything seems so much more familiar and natural to me because the flora all around--even off the roadside--is the same one I grew up with--plants I never learned the names of in English, but here they all are, and their pollen particles infuse the air with--not even a scent--just a certain quality. Somehow, things just seem more familiar in that they resonate with the natural order that imprinted on me in childhood, having to do with climate, topography, botany, and such.
9. Jet-lagged baby OH MY GOD HELP.
10. Tomorrow we are going to go look at the house that hopefully will be ours.
More later! Especially about this city.
