I am starting a new series called "The zany adventures of Dream the Cat."
Our first adventure starts out with Dream on the couch sleeping and dreaming no doubt as well. Dream was suddenly awoken by a noise in the stairwell.
What could it be, thought Dream.
"Hello, who's there!!" (being that dream is a cat all you heard was Meeooww and it sounded like complete giberish to anyone who doesn't speak cat).
Dream annoyed that no one ever answers her when she talks, went back to sleep trying to ignore the noise she heard in the stair.
"Creek" the sound continued. This time not anticipating the second sound, Dream being startled this time leapt up and fell off the couch. Landing on here feet, as cat's due.
"Ok, that's it" said Dream She ran to the doorway to see what was making all the noise. It was Andrew the master of the house.
"Hello Dream" (being that Andrew doesn't speak cat, all Dream heard was bloobob doo doo), said Andrew.
Dream looking puzzled at this strange response that Andrew had given. Dream said, "why are you making all that noise I am trying to sleep."
Andrew, kept on walking thinking that Dream was just being grouchy with all her meowing.
At this point Dream realized that something wasn't right. Andrew never walks away without giving me a look of puzzlement. Dream was determined to get to the bottom of this strange occurrence. To do this she would have to leave the safety of the couch and venture downstairs to the garden and sit upon the chair where Dream does all her great thinking.
Dream headed off on her question, down the stairs, past the front door, by the new stranger's room, shooting past the washing machine, which Dream had been suspect of ever since moving into this house. The Washing Machine had been renown for strange noises and Dream had had quite enough of all the racket.
The next obstacle was the outer door. Dream had only one option to get past the great door. Scream, Scream until someone came to open the door. So, Dream began to Scream "Hey, Open the door!! I want to get out!!" (MEEEOOOOWWWEEEOOOWWMMMMEEE).
No one came. Dream waited a few more seconds, then Screamed again and with more force. "Hey I am trying to help all of you so someone come here and open the door for me PLEASE!!! (ME OUW OUW OUW MEOUW). Finally, Jason, the new stranger came out of his room. "Dream what is your problem" (doo bah goo doo), Dream looked at the new stranger and hissed. Surely he would know what a hiss means. Well, Jason the new stranger did know the hiss sounds. With contempt in his eye's Jason walked back into his room.
At this point andrew came down stairs. "What is all this racket, Dream, I am trying to work. (habadoo doo, cee pa yehaha doo). Dream looked intently at Andrew as he walked over and picked up the kitty. Carrying Dream, past the Washing Machine, up the stairs, into the living room and dropping her near the couch. At this point dream remembered that she was sleeping and woke up.
"oh, it was all a dream." (meouwser)
Till next time, dream on dreamers
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
its the little things that matter
hey all,
the picture here is from Albert Heijn, a local grocery store chain in the nederlands. I have a funny, haha funny, experience there the other day when I was shopping for Lambs meat. I noticed that when I enter a new country with a new language I work so hard to learn that language that I don't remember simpler parts of my own language (english). Case in point, I know how to pronounce Bezuidehuiseweg correctly. But, I didn't realize that lamb in dutch is, well, lam. I was in the grocery store, staring at the meat, for about 10 min, I figured out what pork was, what beef was, I even figured out what viel was, but lamb was the elusive meat on the day. Finally, I did what no man should have to do, ever! I asked for help. There was a very nice lady next to me and I asked if she spoke english, she did. Then I asked her what the dutch word for lamb was...she said, lam. We stared at eat other for a second, not sure what to think. I honestly thought she was just repeating what I had said to make sure she got it right. No, she was telling me that the dutch word for lamb was lam. She then, not being confident in herself took me over to the lam and showed me, just to make sure. Well, when I saw the spelling you could say I felt like a total idiot!! That would be an understatement. I thanked her and then left the store defeated in my linguistic abilities for the day. Lam...crap if you ask me.
P.S. the lam was delicious.
the picture here is from Albert Heijn, a local grocery store chain in the nederlands. I have a funny, haha funny, experience there the other day when I was shopping for Lambs meat. I noticed that when I enter a new country with a new language I work so hard to learn that language that I don't remember simpler parts of my own language (english). Case in point, I know how to pronounce Bezuidehuiseweg correctly. But, I didn't realize that lamb in dutch is, well, lam. I was in the grocery store, staring at the meat, for about 10 min, I figured out what pork was, what beef was, I even figured out what viel was, but lamb was the elusive meat on the day. Finally, I did what no man should have to do, ever! I asked for help. There was a very nice lady next to me and I asked if she spoke english, she did. Then I asked her what the dutch word for lamb was...she said, lam. We stared at eat other for a second, not sure what to think. I honestly thought she was just repeating what I had said to make sure she got it right. No, she was telling me that the dutch word for lamb was lam. She then, not being confident in herself took me over to the lam and showed me, just to make sure. Well, when I saw the spelling you could say I felt like a total idiot!! That would be an understatement. I thanked her and then left the store defeated in my linguistic abilities for the day. Lam...crap if you ask me.
P.S. the lam was delicious.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Sushi and boils
Heja (hello, in Swedish),
The Major issue that was going on for myself was severe discomfort in my lower back. Since, last Friday I had been experiencing severe pain in my lower back. There was swelling and shooting pains. This baffled me the whole weekend, but the pain kept growing worse and worse. Until this afternoon, I had laid down for a nap and when I woke up I realized that this swollen thing had begun to discharge out of my back. At this point Andrew rushed me to the doctor and they diagnosed it as a boil, yes a boil! (http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/boils-topic-overview)
At this point a little needs to be said about the Dutch medical system here. It is notorious for being quite brutal and that was the case. They don’t like to treat people unless its absolutely necessary and they don’t like to give anesthetic or antibiotics.
I knew things were going bad when the doctor said this, “ok, now we are going to spray a cooling agent, pause, ok, now I am going to make the incision.” At this point I almost stopped him, incision!!! Before I could I was experiencing some serious pain and could barley breathe let alone yell at the doctor. The Doctor cut into the boil and then began scrapping out the infected area. This created a sense of…well…pain.
As I laid their on the table clutching the wall with all my strength and shaking uncontrollably from the pain. The doctor said, “It’s a medieval disease, which requires a medieval treatment.” As you can imagine this comment did not raise my confidence in the doctor’s abilities. The doctor was kind enough at one point to pause, so that I could catch my breath, but then he went at it again and I laid their in the fetal position squirming and doing everything I could to not scream in agony.
In all fairness, the treatment was far cheaper than I am used too, but honestly I think I would have paid triple for it not to be so painful. I am feeling better, but I have to…well someone here has too, dress my wound each day. I can now say I have been through the hell that is the Dutch medical system and well it was an experience…a very very painful experience.
I was able to have a good laugh about it on the way home…after I stopped shaking that is. I wonder what the next week will bring, maybe an infestation of locusts or frogs will over run the city. One can only hope.
The Major issue that was going on for myself was severe discomfort in my lower back. Since, last Friday I had been experiencing severe pain in my lower back. There was swelling and shooting pains. This baffled me the whole weekend, but the pain kept growing worse and worse. Until this afternoon, I had laid down for a nap and when I woke up I realized that this swollen thing had begun to discharge out of my back. At this point Andrew rushed me to the doctor and they diagnosed it as a boil, yes a boil! (http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/boils-topic-overview)
At this point a little needs to be said about the Dutch medical system here. It is notorious for being quite brutal and that was the case. They don’t like to treat people unless its absolutely necessary and they don’t like to give anesthetic or antibiotics.
I knew things were going bad when the doctor said this, “ok, now we are going to spray a cooling agent, pause, ok, now I am going to make the incision.” At this point I almost stopped him, incision!!! Before I could I was experiencing some serious pain and could barley breathe let alone yell at the doctor. The Doctor cut into the boil and then began scrapping out the infected area. This created a sense of…well…pain.
As I laid their on the table clutching the wall with all my strength and shaking uncontrollably from the pain. The doctor said, “It’s a medieval disease, which requires a medieval treatment.” As you can imagine this comment did not raise my confidence in the doctor’s abilities. The doctor was kind enough at one point to pause, so that I could catch my breath, but then he went at it again and I laid their in the fetal position squirming and doing everything I could to not scream in agony.
In all fairness, the treatment was far cheaper than I am used too, but honestly I think I would have paid triple for it not to be so painful. I am feeling better, but I have to…well someone here has too, dress my wound each day. I can now say I have been through the hell that is the Dutch medical system and well it was an experience…a very very painful experience.
I was able to have a good laugh about it on the way home…after I stopped shaking that is. I wonder what the next week will bring, maybe an infestation of locusts or frogs will over run the city. One can only hope.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Biking Culture
Yes, now that I have been in The Netherlands (or as the dutch say Nederland, subtle, but different; notice the "d" instead of the english "th" a very peculiar distinction. The "d" is believed by many scholars to have originated from the the ancient dutch culture located near the, then small village of Gouda (pronounced "Hauda" the rough "H" sound is believed to have originated from the the more ancient tribe of dutch ancestors near, the modern city of Amsterdam (pronounced "Amsterdam") the "H," legend has it was at one point combined with up to three other letters, "z" "x" and "3," during the victorian period they were combined to distinguish native speakers and confuse locate peasants) once the "H" was firmly established in its pronunciation the once famous and now outcast dutch poet/beggar/nobleman/self-made linguist, Karl von Liker put forth a bold pronunciation of "Nederlands" with the "d" as the central emphasis of this name. Karl von Liker was immediately executed by the king Ron von Liker (no relation, but were from the same country), it was unclear the real motive of the execution, but it might have been due to the fact that Kind Ron von Liker had a slight lisp in his speech and found the "th" pronunciation much easier) for about two weeks, I thought I was well versed enough to comment on dutch bike culture.
Its nuts!! Like the photo we see above (which I took one day on my way home from work. The dutch are very serious about their biking, even to and from work. This was a particular bad crash, but sadly, an all to common sight on the hard streets of Den Haag. I am learning the do's and don't's of biking here. For instance, if and little old lady is biking straight at you, she is not going to stop! I learned that lesson the hard way, which leads me to the great dutch health care system...
Its nuts!! Like the photo we see above (which I took one day on my way home from work. The dutch are very serious about their biking, even to and from work. This was a particular bad crash, but sadly, an all to common sight on the hard streets of Den Haag. I am learning the do's and don't's of biking here. For instance, if and little old lady is biking straight at you, she is not going to stop! I learned that lesson the hard way, which leads me to the great dutch health care system...
Monday, October 6, 2008
Silliness
I have to say, as I thought what should I blather on about today I realized that my life has not seen its normal amount of silliness. I haven't had those chance run ins, or odd experiences. Although I did get run into by a bicycle in Amsterdam saturday, that was kind of silly if you think about it. Really though, where has the silliness gone? It could be that in the Netherlands there is not silliness? Maybe this people in there quest for a multicultural Utopia have managed to eliminate all silliness as well!!
Well those of you who know me best I know that this will not stand, the silliness will be brought back to the Netherlands by my self or my ever growing army of silly warriors. Let it be know, Den Haag, the silly army is on the move...
Well those of you who know me best I know that this will not stand, the silliness will be brought back to the Netherlands by my self or my ever growing army of silly warriors. Let it be know, Den Haag, the silly army is on the move...
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Water
I was sitting around yesterday thinking about water. Maybe it was the fact that the world is slowly running out of fresh drinking water, maybe it was the fact the Canada and the U.S. reached a Great Lakes protection policy, or maybe it was the fact that I was staring out the window at the slowly flowing canal right outside the house I am living in. Either way I was thinking about water and idealizing it a bit. I mean we dependent on it for life and that can be idealized. Well here is what I thought,
Water, flowing, slithering down the road
It twists and turns wherever the world goes
Water is clear, its blue, it can be green too
Water is refreshing and scalding
Like a vast expanse, a desert
or literally thin as air, water can be everything
Water can hypnotize as it flows along down the road,
outside the house I am staying.
Water, flowing, slithering down the road
It twists and turns wherever the world goes
Water is clear, its blue, it can be green too
Water is refreshing and scalding
Like a vast expanse, a desert
or literally thin as air, water can be everything
Water can hypnotize as it flows along down the road,
outside the house I am staying.
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