Now that the ice skating craze is over and global warming is back in effect, it’s time to turn our attention to more important things, like vacation! Dennis and I are finalizing our plans for our ski trip in the French Alps. We are leaving next weekend and we’ll be gone for a whole week.
Dennis and I had been looking at various ski places around Europe, but we really had no idea which place would be good. We were asking around for advice and found out that Switzerland is good for hard, technical skiing, Austria is good for after ski partying, and France is good for intermediate skiing with a relaxed family-oriented atmosphere. Not being party animals, we decided that France would be fun. One of my coworkers told me that his dad runs a ski trip and he put us in contact.
The club ski trip is in Le Trois Vallee, which is the largest group of interconnected ski resorts in Europe. We will be staying in a chalet that serves dinner every night prepared by a French Chef. Of course, French wine is also served. Hopefully, it will be as good in real life as it sounds on paper (well, not really paper…).
I bought the airline tickets directly on the KLM website. KLM, like their US partners, has instituted a strict luggage policy. At least the first piece of luggage is free, though. But I had to call to get approval to take the skis. The guy told me that the skis could count as my free luggage as long as I don’t have any other luggage. Is this guy for real? How can anyone go skiing with only skis and no other luggage? To get approval for the skis, he needed to know the exact dimensions and weight of the ski bag. In the end it took three phone calls to the airline to get it straight. The skis are nearly as inconvenient as taking the cat on the plane!
Speaking of the cat, we have asked the neighbor girl to watch Nova while we are gone. When we picked up the cat from the kennel after out trip to Spain, he was very sick. Have you ever seen a cat with a head-cold? He looked miserable and could not even breathe through is nose. He had to breathe through his mouth with his tongue hanging out! Anyway, it will be nice for the cat to be safe at home and the neighbor girl was pretty excited to earn some extra money. It turns out that she’s an experienced cat-sitter, too. She and her Mom will come over this weekend to see where we keep the cat food and stuff. My next chore (yes, writing the blog is actually procrastination for other chores) is to write the care instructions for the cat in English and in Dutch. The girl does not speak English although her Mom does and could translate. But writing the directions in Dutch will be good practice for me. I’ll get one of my coworkers to correct all my mistakes!
I learned a bit more Dutch this week at work. We were talking about hair styles. One lady was talking about her “pony” but she was pointing to her bangs. I said that in the US, a “pony” would be a ponytail and I pulled my hair back to show her. She said, yes that’s a ponytail, but ponies also have hair on their forehead, as in a forelock. In England, they call bangs a fringe. I think the word fringe is much more descriptive than bangs or pony. Does anyone know why Americans use the word bangs?
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Happy New Year!
After getting back home only one day behind schedule, I was happy that I had the whole week off anyway. I spent some of my free time working on the last of my Christmas cards. Of course, they are now New Year's cards and since I haven't gotten them mailed yet, they are in danger of becoming Valentine's Day cards!
New Year is a pretty big deal around the Netherlands. All the bike stores improve their winter sales figures by selling fire works. The liquor stores also do a big business. Being boring, Dennis and I stayed home and planned to be fast asleep by midnight. People were setting off fireworks all evening, but we finally drifted off to sleep around eleven. At midnight, we were startled awake by the noise of a million fireworks. We opened the curtains to watch. It sounded like a war-zone! Everyone was out in the streets with everything from firecrackers to Roman candles to professional style rockets. All the way around the house, we could see the fireworks. It went on for more than an hour.
We were surprised that the normally very reserved and conservative Dutch people would spend so much money on fireworks! In the morning, the streets were covered in red papers and other debris from the fireworks. I wondered how many people were missing fingers - but we still don't catch all the news around here!
Dennis had Thursday and Friday off work and it was nice to spend a few days just relaxing. We went to Ikea and bought some stuff for the house. We also got out for some long walks around the neighborhood. It was pretty cold, but the sun was out which is a special occasion around here. On Saturday, it was cold enough that people were out ice skating on some of the canals. It's been at least five years since the canals have frozen around here, so this was a very special occasion! The deeper waterways were still not frozen and a rain shower on Sunday morning caused a lot more thawing. But it's been cold enough since then to get everything good and frozen. People left work early today to go skating in the daylight and I expect a lot of people will take off on Friday to skate. It might be the last chance for another five years!
Dennis and I probably will not take part in the skating. While the idea of skating around the lakes is more appealing than going in a circle around an ice rink, I'm not sure its very safe. Remember, the Dutch think it's prefectly safe to ride a bike with a kid in the child seat while talking on the cell phone with no helmets on. I had one memorable skating incident in college that left me with a broken elbow, so it's not just thin ice that worries me!
New Year is a pretty big deal around the Netherlands. All the bike stores improve their winter sales figures by selling fire works. The liquor stores also do a big business. Being boring, Dennis and I stayed home and planned to be fast asleep by midnight. People were setting off fireworks all evening, but we finally drifted off to sleep around eleven. At midnight, we were startled awake by the noise of a million fireworks. We opened the curtains to watch. It sounded like a war-zone! Everyone was out in the streets with everything from firecrackers to Roman candles to professional style rockets. All the way around the house, we could see the fireworks. It went on for more than an hour.
We were surprised that the normally very reserved and conservative Dutch people would spend so much money on fireworks! In the morning, the streets were covered in red papers and other debris from the fireworks. I wondered how many people were missing fingers - but we still don't catch all the news around here!
Dennis had Thursday and Friday off work and it was nice to spend a few days just relaxing. We went to Ikea and bought some stuff for the house. We also got out for some long walks around the neighborhood. It was pretty cold, but the sun was out which is a special occasion around here. On Saturday, it was cold enough that people were out ice skating on some of the canals. It's been at least five years since the canals have frozen around here, so this was a very special occasion! The deeper waterways were still not frozen and a rain shower on Sunday morning caused a lot more thawing. But it's been cold enough since then to get everything good and frozen. People left work early today to go skating in the daylight and I expect a lot of people will take off on Friday to skate. It might be the last chance for another five years!
Dennis and I probably will not take part in the skating. While the idea of skating around the lakes is more appealing than going in a circle around an ice rink, I'm not sure its very safe. Remember, the Dutch think it's prefectly safe to ride a bike with a kid in the child seat while talking on the cell phone with no helmets on. I had one memorable skating incident in college that left me with a broken elbow, so it's not just thin ice that worries me!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Flying at Christmas
“Attention in the waiting area. Please note that flight 666 will be departing out of gate B3, not A21 as listed on the airport monitors. The airport is in charge of the monitors and they are not updating the information properly. Also, the flight is delayed by an hour and a half. Thank you for flying Satan’s Airline and have a nice day!”
“Welcome on board Satan’s Airline Flight 666. Due to bad weather at our destination, we will not be able to take-off for another 2 hours.”
“As we reach our cruising altitude, we will turn off the fasten seat belt sign. At this time, the flight attendants will go through the cabin to sell beverages and snacks. Everything costs $3.64 and exact change is required. The flight attendants are here for your safety, not to provide you with change.”
“Sorry to cut the beverage service short, but we are experiencing some serious turbulence. For your safety, please return to your seats and fasten your seat belts. The turbulence will be a problem for about 40 minutes.”
“Air sickness bags can be found in the seat back pockets. If you do not need your air sickness bag, please pass it to the rear of the aircraft where extra bags are desperately needed. Thank you!”
“As you can tell, we have started circling the airport. They are changing the runway configuration in response to the changing weather conditions. We estimate landing in about 30 minutes. Sorry for the turbulence, we will be on the ground just as soon as we can.”
“Satan’s Airline would like to welcome you to the 9th circle of Hell. For those of trying to make a connection, please check the monitors in the terminal for flight information. Since we are about 4 hours late, you have probably already missed your connection. To get rescheduled, go to the customer service desk in the main terminal. Expect the lines to be really long because we laid off most of our employees and the rest called in sick. If this is your final destination, you can collect your bags at baggage claim 5. Please be aware that the airport is experiencing serious baggage delays because of the lay-offs and the bad weather.”
“Thank you for flying Satan’s Airline. We know you have a choice in airlines, and through our code-share arrangements, no matter which one you choose, you still end up flying with us.”
(Yes, most of this true...)
“Welcome on board Satan’s Airline Flight 666. Due to bad weather at our destination, we will not be able to take-off for another 2 hours.”
“As we reach our cruising altitude, we will turn off the fasten seat belt sign. At this time, the flight attendants will go through the cabin to sell beverages and snacks. Everything costs $3.64 and exact change is required. The flight attendants are here for your safety, not to provide you with change.”
“Sorry to cut the beverage service short, but we are experiencing some serious turbulence. For your safety, please return to your seats and fasten your seat belts. The turbulence will be a problem for about 40 minutes.”
“Air sickness bags can be found in the seat back pockets. If you do not need your air sickness bag, please pass it to the rear of the aircraft where extra bags are desperately needed. Thank you!”
“As you can tell, we have started circling the airport. They are changing the runway configuration in response to the changing weather conditions. We estimate landing in about 30 minutes. Sorry for the turbulence, we will be on the ground just as soon as we can.”
“Satan’s Airline would like to welcome you to the 9th circle of Hell. For those of trying to make a connection, please check the monitors in the terminal for flight information. Since we are about 4 hours late, you have probably already missed your connection. To get rescheduled, go to the customer service desk in the main terminal. Expect the lines to be really long because we laid off most of our employees and the rest called in sick. If this is your final destination, you can collect your bags at baggage claim 5. Please be aware that the airport is experiencing serious baggage delays because of the lay-offs and the bad weather.”
“Thank you for flying Satan’s Airline. We know you have a choice in airlines, and through our code-share arrangements, no matter which one you choose, you still end up flying with us.”
(Yes, most of this true...)
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