Any way you count it, it's the first full day I've been in the Netherlands.
Last night, I went to sleep very early, and only got up once to check the time and answer the call of nature. I couldn't find my watch, and my cell phone doesn't even show the time here--so it's useless as an alarm clock--so I went downstairs to ask someone in the lounge what time it was. It was midnight.
Woke up around 8:30 a.m. (that's 1:30 a.m. back home) and got dressed before going down to the lounge for the free breakfast. No poffertjes or lamatjespap (not sure how to spell that one), but it's summer, so I figure they wouldn't make those right now anyway. They did have cereal, bread (plus toasters), coffee, various juices, jam, chocolate/hazelnut spread (a.k.a. Nutella), CHOCOLATE SPRINKLES, and some sort of cakey square thing which I'm sure tasted familiar but I can't quite remember the name of. I didn't have one of everything, but I ate enough.
After breakfast, I went up to get my money and stuff before heading to the supermarket. I needed bottled water and some lip balm. I'd lost the tube of Blistex I keep in my backpack--and found it again after I'd been to the market anyway. Started taking pictures on the way to and from.
Back from the market, I got my stuff together and rented a bicycle--8 euros, plus a 50 euro deposit per day--then headed out to see the cube houses.
I forgot to mention yesterday that, in all my frienzied, Monday night packing, I knew I was going to forget something. Odd thing is, it wasn't something I missed until I got to Rotterdam Centraal yesterday: the Netherlands road map Grandma lent me. It would have been nice to have, but I can live without it, even though the Rotterdam City map the receptionist at the hostel gave me isn't nearly detailed enough to be 100% comprehensible.
Anyway, saw the cube houses, then went back to the hostel for lunch. Ate that, and then brought my computer downstairs to look up directions to the Peppels' house. Walking would take over 5 hours, and biking about 1½, so I'm not sure I want to do even that. Instead, I looked up where their ward meets for church. Turns out, they're in the Rotterdam 1st ward, and their building is just a 9-minute bike ride away . . . if you don't get lost 3-5 times along the way, that is.
The biking directions I got online (at http://www.fietsersbond.nl/fietsrouteplanner/) were so convoluted, and I couldn't see many street signs when I went past a block or two, so I kept getting lost on the way to the church. I finally got there though, and took the straight route back to the hostel. Now I know how to reverse it and get to the church without trouble.
I decided that was enough biking for the day (it was 3 p.m), so I turned in the keys for the bike locks (got my 50 Euros back, too) and decided to bum around the hostel for the rest of the day. I've been on the computer since about 4, and got my list of NPCs for the RPG I'm going to run this summer typed up.
I thought of typing up the new scenes I'd written for my fantasy story, but this chair is hard, and I need some dinner anyway. Right after I hit the "Submit" button on this post, I'm logging off. Pictures are in my "Vacation in Holland" album on Facebook!
Maybe I should do some more Rosetta Stone tomorrow . . . nah. I'd look silly talking to my computer in the middle of the lounge (wi-fi doesn't reach to the 3rd floor).
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Is this day one, day two, or day three? I'm confused.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Well, I'm here.
. . . I'm absolutely exhausted, mostly confused by the Netherlands train/tram/metro system, and somewhat dehydrated, but I'm here.
Yesterday, I got off work and changed clothes. Then I went to the employee parking lot and got my luggage out of the Bug before going back to the terminal. I was hoping to check in right away, but no one was at the IcelandAir ticket counter, so I watched an episode of Stargate: Atlantis on NetFlix before trying again. Still no one. By that time, it was about 2:30 or 3 p.m, and I was starving.
So, I got some "lunch" which was really dinner for me, and went back to the counter. There were two girls there, but they were from Lufthansa (a German-based airline). They told me that IcelandAir doesn't usually get to the ticket counters until about 5 p.m, so I was kind of bummed.
I went and changed my money over to Euros, and then just sat up in the lobby area for a while. Around 20 minutes until 5, I went back, and there they were! So I got my boarding pass, handed off my extremely heavy luggage (after all, I had packed food in it since I can't afford to eat out for eight days in a country where I don't know the fair prices for anything) and went to the Employee Checkpoint.
I was so concentrated on making sure my laptop got out of the bag that I forgot that I still had my cell phone and iPod in my pockets! I should know better, since I'm constantly telling people that they should take those items out of their pockets myself. Bit of a blonde moment there. Of course, a couple of the p.m. guys laughed at me for it, and we had a good chuckle.
After going to my gate (A19) and changing from heels to socks and sneakers, I walked down to the opposite end of B gates and got a massage. I soooo needed that! After the massage, I took the train to the terminal, then the shuttle to D gates, where I got a manicure. Never really got one of those before. It was interesting. Finally, I walked over to the C gates and took the train back to A.
The weather was bad. They couldn't finish fuelling on time, because of lightning, and they couldn't board us until after the fuelling was complete. We didn't start boarding until about 10 minutes before the plane was originally supposed to take off (8:40 p.m). Then, some people decided they didn't want to go after all, and the baggage handlers had to take their luggage off, so we sat there even longer.
Finally, we took off--at 10 p.m! I was extremely worried that I was going to miss my connection, since I technically only had about an hour and a half of lay-over in Rekyavik. But we got there just in the nick of time, and took off for Schiphol on schedule.
I didn't think to take my camera out of my carry-on until after we took off, and the seat belt light was still on. Also, a pregnant lady asked me to switch seats with her (so she could get up to pee whenever she needed--living with Anna, how could I refuse?), so I was at the window instead of the aisle and couldn't get out without asking two other people and their baby son (the husband used to teach Spanish and French at FCC--small world!) to move out of the way first. Plus, my carry-on was stowed across the aisle anyway. The same happened from Rekyavik to Amsterdam, only this time, it was a lady not wanting to be separated from her son by a row, and the bag was a couple of rows behind me as well as across the aisle this time. I'll try to remember to take pictures on the way back instead, though the views last night and this morning were awesome! Plus, the configurations of the two foreign airports are so interesting!
I think the food I'd bought at Dulles for my "second dinner" on the flight went bad or something because I didn't eat it right away, because about an hour before we landed at Rekyavik, I was feeling extremely oogy. That, combined with my allergies attacking me with a vengeance and my inability to find a comfortable seated position after more than 5 hours in economy class made me extremely light-headed when I went to the bathroom before landing. I got in there, and puked, yuck! (Though you probably don't need to know that, but who cares?)
Anyway, got to Schiphol just fine, and found my way around. I had to exchange Euro bills for Euro coins--the train ticket machines don't take bills--and then find which platform and which train to go to. I can understand some Dutch, but not when there's not really a key for the different symbols on the train schedule and I have no idea how to read them (format and structure-wise, not the actual letters and words) in the first place.
A nice middle-aged lady helped me find the right train, and a girl sitting in the same car as I was helped me get off at the right stop. Then came the chaos.
I desperately needed to pee, but I also had to find out how to get to the hostel I'm staying at (ROOM Rotterdam, Van Vollenhovenstraat 62). I decided to at least get directions first, and found a machine which prints a map out for you if you type in the street name. I had to get the information desk lady to help me interpret it--she was kind of curt about it, as though I should know what all those symbols are when it's my first day in the country.
Then, I went in search of the W.C. It was upstairs, but thankfully, there was an escalator--though those are treacherous unless I get the luggage balanced just right. It costs half-a-Euro to use the restroom at Rotterdam Central! So, I had to use the vending machine and get a coke (which was 1.5 Euro) so that I could go to the bathroom, which I did.
Then I had to get more bills changed to coins, because I needed to purchase an OV-chipkaart for the tram to get near the street I wanted. It took three or four tries, but I eventually got two chipkaarts, each with 10 Euro, and got on the tram which took me to Vasteland.
I got all turned around looking for Van Vollenhovenstraat, and asked a lady with a baby where it was. She kindly pointed it out to me, and I walked along it a while, but ran out of street before I found the right number. I asked an older gentleman where I could find the right building, and he pointed to the opposite side of the street from where I'd been walking! *facepalm*
I almost walked past the hostel again, but then I saw the sign on the corner of the building. Then I had to get my exhausted self--and my extremely heavy luggage--up the stairs and down the hall to the reception desk. Got that taken care of, got my room key, another guy was kind enough to tote my luggage up to the third floor (which, in America, we'd probably call the fourth floor). From there, I got organized, used the ladies again, and brought my computer downstairs so I could text Anna through Skype and get a glass of absolutely necessary water.
I think I'll at least wait until my computer's recharged (I used it without an outlet in the ticketing area yesterday because I couldn't find a working outlet) and get some more water before I go upstairs for a shower and a nice, long nap. Then I'll think about toting all the food I brought down to the guest kitchen.
If anyone needs to contact me, get in touch with Anna (emergencies only, please). The only people who should be doing this will know how to get a hold of her, so I'm not going to tell that here. I'll be calling her via Skype either every evening or every other evening, and will be able to get back to you then. I don't know where any other free wi-fi spots besides the hostel's lounge are, so I'll be keeping my computer here while I go sightseeing.
I do not have an international calling plan, so calling my cell phone will get you nowhere until I'm back in the States.
Tomorrow, I think I'll go see Amsterdam--gotta rent a bike first though, those trains and trams are expensive, so I'm going to keep them to minimum use. I plan on seeing at least the Anne Frank house, the Dam and the Rembrandt Museum. Maybe I'll take a canal tour too, but I'll have to see how much time the rest of it takes up. I also have to find out when the peak times are, so I don't bring the bicycle on the trains then.
Maybe I'll just stay in Rotterdam tomorrow, and visit Amsterdam later. After all, Grandma told me about this row of houses that were built on their corners, and that sounds interesting. Then there's Futureland, and Arboretum Trompenburg.
I'm going to call Grandma's friend, Suzanne, in a couple of days and see if she'd mind me coming by to say "hi." Maybe I'll go to church with them on Sunday, if I can figure out what public transportation will take me to her house before their ward meets.
Anyway, that's it for now. Until tomorrow, tot ziens!
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Whew!
Okay, now that all the non-fiction is posted, I get get down to explaining where I've been all this time.
Scratch that. You can pretty much figure it out: school, work, Haven, etc. How about I describe my plans for the summer and next school year instead?
Oh, I've pretty much given up on listing all the books I read for the 50-Book Challenge--keeping track of them as I go is extremely tedious, so when I get around to writing the list, I can never remember all of them.
Anyway, next week, we have a new shift bid at work. Due to the nature of next Fall's school schedule (one class on Monday/Wednesday, plus two music lessons on either Monday or Tuesday, and two online courses), I'm hoping I finally have the seniority to get the shift with four ten-hour days and three days off--specifically Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday. Failing that, I'll try either to get the overnight shift with any days off, since my classes are all after that shift ends, or the same shift I have now (0430-1300) with Tuesday/Wednesday or Monday/Tuesday off, which I will then ask to be split to Monday/Wednesday like last Fall, in order to accommodate my class schedule.
A week from this coming Tuesday, I will be accomplishing a goal I have had on my list for over two decades: I'm going to Holland!
I've wanted to go ever since I found out 1) What countries are, and 2) Grandma and Grandpa S. were born and raised there. In fact, I decided years ago that the first time I was able to afford to take a vacation outside the country, I would go to the Netherlands. Everywhere else could wait until after that.
I will be staying at a hostel in Rotterdam, and might go to at least say "Hi" to Grandma's friend in The Hague. I will definitely be visiting The Hague, as well as Amsterdam, the Kinderdijk, and some other places around the country. I plan to travel by train from city to city, and by bus or taxi within each city. I might rent a bicycle for in-city transportation as well, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to afford it.
My plane leaves around 5 p.m. on the 29th, so I will be working that day before changing clothes and going to get my luggage from the car. After that, I will check in and go back through the checkpoint. I have a layover of about an hour and a half in Rekjavik going both directions, but I figure that will only be enough time to eat, if I need to.
The return flight lands back at Dulles around 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 7th, so if I still have the a.m. shift then, I will not be able to get home in time for a shower and enough recovery time from jet lag in order to function properly at work the next morning. So, I am taking off Friday, June 8th as well, and returning to work on Saturday, June 9th, which is actually Mom's birthday.
No matter what schedule I have this bid, I should have July 4th off (or at least the day after, so I don't have to worry about going to bed on time), so I'll be able to be in the Haven's annual group picture this year. That's good, because I had to miss last year's photo.
After my vacation, I'm going to be running an RPG at the Haven, probably on Tuesdays, based on Anne McCaffrey's Pern. I'm currently tweaking the Cinematic Unisystem rules to accommodate that setting, and I hope the game goes well, because I'm extremely excited about it. It's going to be set about 500 Turns after the events in The Skies of Pern (in other words, approximately 3,000 After Landing), and I'm not going to say anymore about it, because I don't want to give any spoilers to the people who may be interested in playing.
Next Fall, my classes are as follows:
EN203 with Ted Taft (the same instructor as for EN205 in Fall 2011 and EN204 in Spring 2012): American Literature from the beginning to the Civil War. EN204 was from the Civil War to modern times. Mondays/Wednesdays 1100-1215.
LF101 with an as-yet-unnamed instructor: Introductory French - I took French in Middle and High School, but when I signed up for it, the A.P. French class was cancelled, so I could not take it for college credit. Therefore, I have to start back at the beginning for French at FCC. Online Course.
MU103 with James Hontz: Fundamentals of Music - I've been trying to take this course for ages, since it's the prerequisite for the Music Theory and Music Composition courses, but never had the time to take it when it was offered before. Online Course.
MU178A with John Pursell: First Year Brass (Trumpet) - I'm way out of practice with the trumpet, and I want to get my lip back, so I'll be taking weekly ½-hour-long lessons. Schedule unknown until August, will either be Mondays or Tuesdays.
MU184 with James Hontz: First Year Guitar - Since I only know one real song on the guitar ("Merelan" from The Masterharper of Pern Soundtrack Songbook), and can't really play it at tempo, I figured I'd get actual lessons. The class I had signed up for in senior year of high school started out with just theory, so I dropped that class in favor of Show Choir, and hadn't gotten around to getting personal lessons yet. Now, I will have. These lessons, unlike the trumpet lessons, will be hour-long sessions. Tuesdays, 1430-1530.
After next semester, I will only need two more Literature courses before I can graduate and get my A.A. degree in English/Literature. Those courses are the second half of British Literature, EN202, and the second half of World Literature, EN206. If one or both of them is not offered in the Spring of 2013, my academic advisor, Dr. K, said that we could substitute any other 200-series Literature course, though I don't know what that could be, since I've already taken all of the other 200-series Literature courses I know of.
Anyway, after I get that degree, I plan to go back to FCC and change my major to Music. I hope to later transfer to a four-year school and get my B.A, so that I can teach music. That way, if I can't find a position teaching at a school, I'll at least be able to give lessons in my spare time.
I also started writing a story back in November. It's nowhere near finished yet, and it's already over 13,000 words (48 pages, Times New Roman, 12pt, typed and double-spaced or 14 pages, Times New Roman, 6pt, typed and double-spaced). There was no way I was going to do it for Na-No-Wri-Mo though, since I have trouble writing it in anything other than fits and spurts. It doesn't have a title yet, and I'm not going to write a description of it here. I want to finish it before I send it out to the world in general, though a couple people have already read earlier parts of the story.
My original plan was to finish it and send it to the Writers of the Future Sci-Fi and Fantasy Writers Contest (which used to be judged by Anne McCaffrey, who as most of you should know was the author of the Pern series--among others--and my favorite author of all time), but they have a word limit of 17,000 words. Given that I'm maybe half-way through the story at more than 13,000 words, I'll probably be way over the limit by the time the story is finished. If that is the case, and I can do it well enough, I'll abridge the story so that it's under the limit and submit the abridged version to the contest. Then, I'll send the long version to a publisher after the contest is over, no matter whether the story gets a prize or not.
If I cannot abridge the story and still keep the major plot intact, I'll just send it to a publisher.
Lots of plans, lots of stuff to fill my time. I'm also watching my way through all of the Stargate serieses and movies. I'm currently nearing the end of Stargate: SG-1 season 9 and Stargate: Atlantis season 2.
No new knitting projects lately, but can you blame me, busy as I've been without them?
Non-Fiction Works by DSDragon
The following were all done for one class or another during the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 school years at Frederick Community College, or for classes from Fall 2013 on at Ashford University. I don't really feel like digging through old computer files to find essays and such from middle school or high school (or from my earlier semesters at FCC) right now, but I might do that eventually. The essays are sorted by semester and class. I will include the teachers' comments at the end of each piece.
Fall 2011
EN102: English Composition and Literature
NOVEL PROJECT: I read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, and wrote four different papers on it.
UNDERSTANDING GENRE: We were to describe a photograph involving blackberries (which I have included in the post), and then do something creative related to that photo. I wrote a poem.
PLAY REVIEW: We were supposed to see the play "American Buffalo" at the Maryland Ensemble Theater, but I could not attend any of the performances without taking time off of work. I was allowed, instead, to watch the video version, and that is the version I reviewed.
HI101: History of Western Civilization
For this class, we were to choose 2 out of 3 essay prompts and write those essays. We could have done all three (the third would be extra credit), but after I wrote notes for the third essay, I did not have time to actually write it. I have included both the first and second essays, but not my notes for the third.
ESSAY #1: Augustus
ESSAY #2: England - I did not find the subjects of either this or the third essay as interesting as the first one, so I did not do as well as I probably could have.
HE102: Nutrition in a Changing World
ASSIGNMENT #1: Personal Nutrition Assessment
ASSIGNMENT #2: Recipe Remake
ASSIGNMENT #3: "Fad" Diet Review - The Migraine Diet
DIETARY ANALYSIS PROJECT: We had to track our eating and exercise habits for a week, and then analyze how healthy we had been based on the nutrients we received, how much fat and calories we took in and used, etc.
EN205: World Literature - This was my favorite class last semester, and I loved writing the two papers that were required, as well as the class discussions. Out of both semesters this school year, I am most proud of the Comprehensive Research Paper I wrote for this class, as it was a completely new idea, and although I had trouble finding sources to support my thesis, I had a lot of fun writing it.
SHORT PAPER: The Amarusataka
COMPREHENSIVE RESEARCH PAPER: The Odyssey and the Art of War
Spring 2012
I had two classes this semester which did not require any written work: MU118 (Choral Ensemble) and MU151 (Class Piano). There is nothing I can post for the piano class, but I will eventually be receiving a CD of our choral performances, so I will see what I can do about posting that later.
EN201: British Literature
FIRST PAPER: "The Lady's Dressing Room" by Jonathan Swift
SECOND PAPER: "Sir Patrick Spens" (Scottish Folk Song)
FINAL PROJECT: "The Flea" by John Donne
EN204: American Literature
SHORT PAPER: "A Municipal Report" by O. Henry
MID-TERM EXAM: Feminism
COMPREHENSIVE RESEARCH PAPER: "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" by Langston Hughes - I had a lot of trouble even figuring out what work I wanted to write about for this paper, and by the time I did figure it out, I only had a few days left before the due date. Therefore, this paper is only 2½ pages long, when the requirement was for 6-8 pages. I still managed to get a B on it though.
FINAL EXAM: The Individual and Society - I just turned this in the day before I posted it here, so I have not (and probably will not) received any comments on it, nor do I know what grade I received for it.
PH101: Introductory Philosophy - This was an online class, and the instructor did not provide comments for any essays written, just grades.
ESSAY #1: Existentialism - Grade: 100/100
ESSAY #2: Utilitarianism - Grade: 100/100
MID-TERM EXAM ESSAY: Reality - Grade: 145/150
TEST #4 EXTRA CREDIT ESSAY: Contract Theory - I just turned this in a few hours before posting, so I have no grade for it yet.
FINAL EXAM ESSAY: Truth - Like the Extra Credit Essay, I just turned it in a couple hours before posting, and have no grade to share.
Fall 2012
EN203: American Literature
SHORT PAPER: Why Not? Equality in Two Lines
MIDTERM: Combining Religion with Secularism and GettingAmericans
FINAL: TheEvolution of a Concept: Freedom
LAR101-1: Introduction to Arabic - There were no essays for this course, only a project which I will not post here, because it is a huge PowerPoint file.
Spring 2013
EN216-ONL1: The Short Story
Essay One: Initiations
Essay Two: Compare and Contrast
EN224P: The Graphic Novel
Journals
Literary Analysis - Subtle is Better: Feminism in Comics
People and Trends - Reviving a Trend
SSR Response - “The Sky is Falling!”: A response to In theShadow of No Towers by Art Spiegelman
Critical Lense - Not Understanding, but Appreciating, the Father: APostmodernist Perspective on Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by AlisonBechdel
End of curriculum at Frederick Community College--A. A. degree in English/Literature received June 2013.
Beginning of online curriculum from Ashford University--Credits transferred from Frederick Community College and applied toward B.A. degree in Applied Linguistics.
Fall 2013
PSY202: Adult Development and Learning
Considering the Present
Looking Toward the Future
Spring 2014
SOC120: Introduction to Ethics and Social Responsibility
The Ethics of Gambling
ANT101: Cultural Anthropology
Tattooing in American Penitentiaries and Malaysia
BUS308: Statistics for Management - No papers yet.
