Spreekt Engels

I woke up with a little bit of a sore throat. As a result, I decided to forgo my morning yoga which is sort of like trying to avoid drowning by swimming deeper.

“Work” was fine although I didn’t have my “A” game. I worked at the tribunal and then at the office which is actually the lead attorney’s apartment. It started raining at about 1:00 (13:00 in Dutch) and didn’t stop until two seconds after I arrived home. I left the office at about 6:30 (18:30) into a steady rain. There is a beautiful red brick road on my route to and from work. Like many of Europe’s gems, this road is aesthetically pleasing and functionally frustrating. Every day I think this road is going to kill Willie. One of these days Willie is going to explode. Today was that day. About thirty meters (that’s how we measure things) onto the road, Willie’s chain popped off. No big deal right? Just put the chain back on the bike and continue on your way. Good idea except the Dutch cover their bicycle chains with a vinyl cover that requires disassembling the bike to remove. It took about fifteen minutes to remove the cover and reposition the chain. I was soaked and hungry and, predictably, grumpy. I still needed to go the supermarket and stare at the nearly empty beef case.

The supermarket is always entertaining. It is a chance to interact with the Dutch people at a very domestic level. You can meet people on the tram or at the bar but the grocery store is where you get to see what people put in their bodies. In the case of the Dutch that is really good beer, some cheese and a lot of bread…no beef. Since we are technically underwater, I figured fish was a safe bet. Must be fresh. The checkout girl spoke English to the person in front of me but I want to assimilate so I played dumb. She spoke in Dutch, I smiled and said Ja and Nay to everything she asked. I think she asked me if I had a discount card and then whether I had 5 cents. She probably asked me if all Americans were as short as me and whether I liked to have sex with men. Either way I felt like a native and the fish wasn’t bad.