Flying these days...

So… Carlos should take off at 11h25, after going by foot to the train station, take a train and then a bus, and arrive at 13h25, just in time to have lunch with his grandmother…
I was going to pick his grandmother, take her to his mother house and go get him at the airport so we all have lunch together!

But… there was an air controllers strike in France! He started just like me waiting for the gate… he didn’t knew about the strike! At the time of his flight he called me and said that they would probably not take off in time. I was listening to the radio, but only after that phone call I heard about the French traffic controllers. I sent him a message so he would know what was going on and I was checking the airport’s website to see the status of the flight.

The plan was when Carlos got on the plane he would just give me a ring on my mobile. At 12h30 more or less he gave me a ring; he would probably get here before his grandmother take the bus to Lisbon the see her son. Nevertheless, he called after that saying that they were still making the boarding… But he called again at 13h30 saying they missed the slot of take off and they would have to wait three more hours! So I had lunch with Carlos’s grandmother and parents, and I returned home because I wanted to spend some time with my mother - Carlos parents were going to pick him up.

When I arrived home Carlos called me saying they were going to take off, so I called Carlos’s parents to warn them.
So I saw a movie with my mother and then took her to her dance class. When I got back I called Carlos, he was supposed to have landed, but he didn't answer. He called me 10 minutes later asking me where I was… He didn't saw anyone at the airport when he arrived, after waiting so long… Only then he realized his parents were going to pick him up! But he didn't even call them; he walked to their house (it’s more or less one kilometer away) because he didn't wanted to wait more! When he arrived there nobody was home – they were at the airport waiting for him! Not a good journey!

Anyway, he arrived just in time to my mother’s birthday dinner!

Surprise!

I wanted to surprise my mother for her 60th anniversary! So almost nobody knew that we were coming for holidays!

As we are staying for some weeks we had to bring the cat, so I flew first with her and Carlos will come tomorrow!

Yesterday we went to Delft!

We wanted to go to Delft for sometime now, we passed it so many times on the Highway and it seemed really cosy and nice, but yesterday we really got out of the house on purpose to see Delft!

The city is amazing! It has so many canals and churches… Why do they need so many churches? There are at least four just in the centre!

Anyway… here are some pictures!

This is the older church! In Holland you can't expect to see straight buildings - check what's wrong with the next pictures (I swear the camera was up straight!)

Another thing that is incredible, is the mixture of new and old, that is never shocking…

And then you also have houses that grow in to each other! :S

This one is the Oost Poort - I missed it so I had to "still" a photo (from http://www.pacificprime.com/images/delft_netherlands.jpg)

Things you do when you're an expat! LOL

I never had done this before... But between a joke or two I decided to make some “codfish cakes”!

Don’t they look good? I’m sorry the plate is so empty already, but we were so exited eating them that we only remembered to take pictures almost at the end! J

You = You (with all due respect)

The thing I like the most in English language is the fact that I don’t have to be always concerned whether to treat the person in a formal way or in a more casual way.

I have the tendency to speak more casually right away when talking to someone my age, or if I empathize with the person. Some times it’s tricky when talking Portuguese or French…

But the worst is when you begin a conversation in English, and suddenly you realise that the person you are talking to also speaks French or Portuguese and we decide to switch all the sudden. This happens to me frequently when I’m talking for the first time with someone, so it would be nice to be formal, just in case…but most of the time I’m just casual, I keep the same register that in English! 

Not once was I told to be formal, but that’s not something you say… and people might think you’re disrespecting them… But I’m not! It’s just, well… I think we are all humans, equal (not to the eyes of god, because I’m not religious) and for me there are only a few people in the world that deserves that kind of distance. That’s right, this is not about respect, this is about keeping a distance! That’s why it’s so difficult for me when I’m talking to someone I feel a bond with!

I remember the first time I was on a bus stop and a kid asked me the time treating me in the formal way (in Portuguese), and I was “oh my god, I feel old now!”

So if I had the power I would banish the formal way in every language! If English can do it and they are so formal why can’t the rest of the world do it also? We already know it’s not a lack of respect…

Crazy, CrAzY, CRAZy, ORANGE!

Yesterday we went to see the game downtown! Everybody was wearing orange! And some of them had the weirdest accessories, check it out!

That's beesie - I think it's their mascot! They are giving little beesies everytime we go shopping! I have a bunch of them and don't know what to do with them anymore!

I don't have an explanation for this one, very original!

Every time they score it’s a huge party, they jump, they dance, they make a lot of noise and they light what I only know by “very light”…

And then the game was over, and the orange team was going to the finals – we had to leave the centre because they made so much smoke lightning I don’t know what…

...and they jump into the canal! I must say I had a summer jacket… it was not hot!

The streets were very crowded and they stayed celebrating!

Good Mornig World!

Today I took the time to dedicate myself to work on the contents of a website for the expat group I’m doing volunteer work for, but I really couldn’t begin without taking this out of my chest and put to the world – I’m very sleepy!!!

Yesterday the Orange team won Brazil in the World Cup and Dutch were celebrating, as obvious, making a lot of noise – they are no different from anybody else.

I almost wish they had lost (sorry) because I can’t stand anymore vuvuzelas! They started making noise and cheering more than one hour before the game, and at two o’clock in the morning they were still celebrating! That’s ok by me, but please go celebrate downtown or in the park, not at my door step!

As the night was falling we decided to go out and have a drink downtown, because it was so hot in our apartment  So to get some fresh air we walked to the park with an ice cream and we realized there was going to be a movie projection, like I have only seen in the movies! So we ran home, grabed a blanket, a bottle of wine, and there we went, this time cycling!

It so pleasant to watch a movie in a park, outside, drinking wine, relaxing. The movie was funny, about the Woodstock festival, cute! I really enjoyed it!

When we arrived home there were some boys with their bikes coming to the little square in front of our block. It’s common to have some young people smoking and drinking here in front, but this is a very nice neighborhood! It’s just that is so pleasant to be here, so quiet… Only they forget to leave it that way…

Two in the morning I was already sleeping, but I was awakened by a vuvuzela and screaming (from those how didn’t had vuvuzela)! Not funny!

After a while I decided to call the  police. All that time, I was thinking that somebody would do something, there are people with kids, but I gave up. I had to turn my computer on to search for the number and I called the police asking if someone could send the kids home…

When I hung up, the kids were gone, I don’t know if they heard my phone call or not, but after a minutes I could get some sleep again.

But even Mother Nature was angry at us – four o’clock in the morning imagine: thunderstorm!

If someone needs it the website is: www.politie.nl

Second hand is (very) cheap!

Our apartment was previously rented to an ex-colleague of Carlos that decided to return to his homeland. He was American, so he couldn’t take most of his stuff home, he was going to sell it in second hand. As we decided to keep the apartment we bought everything he wouldn’t take, so we had furniture in the house. 

Sure, we didn’t had a choice in that, but in the other hand, we didn’t had any work choosing, comparing, assemble, etcetera…

One other consequence is that now we have two iron machines and two vacuum cleaners!

I already put an advertisement in “marktplaats” to sell them. www.marktplaats.nl/ is a website were you can buy almost everything in second hand and put free advertisements for one month. I saw the prices of similar products in the website so I could face the competition. The iron would cost 7,5 € and the vacuum cleaner 10 €. Do you believe that someone made an offer for 5 € for the iron? 

It’s really in their blood to try and buy for the cheapest price and they don’t mind at all to buy things in second hand!

Anyway, we need the space in our little storing room so maybe I’ll just sell it for 5 €…