Day 52 & 53 - Christmas and Catacombs

Wednesday. Christmas Day! Merry Christmas everyone :) it doesn't feel like christmas to me really. what does christmas feel like anyways?? so i got up, get my running clothes on and head out for the eiffel tower. its about 6km from my apartment, running along the Siene river. it was actually a perfect way to see alot of the major sights around here. lots of people are out. i wasnt really expecting the streets to be full at 10AM on christmas morning. its sunny but the cold is biting. i have my long running pants, a tshirt and two long sleeve shirts, and gloves. i feel fine until i get to the eiffel tower and have to stop moving to wait in line. even at 10AM there are a zillion people (it opens at 0930). then i get REALLY cold. i think for sure my leg is going to cramp up. i decide to take the stairs. the line for the elevator is unbelievably long. it kind of snakes around the bottom area. it looks like at least a 2 hour wait. i waited about 20 mins to take the stairs, plus it was a lot cheaper. the stairs only go up two levels, not all the way to the top unfortunately. but that's ok becuase i'm so freaking cold. another drawback to running is that i didn't have my camera with me, so i couldnt take any pictures. oh well!

the eiffel tower is so amazing. an engineering marvel. i spent some time reading an exhibit on how it was constructed. i'm especially interested in the marriage between engineering and aesthetic design. the most obvious structure in the paris skyline. what would paris be without the eiffel tower? every great city has its monuments. NYC has the statue of liberty. SF has the golden gate bridge. D.C. has the washington monument, the whitehouse, etc. i wonder what vetnura's "monument" is.. . and decide it must be the pier. not that the VTA pier compares to the illustrious red beacon through the mist that is the golden gate bridge. but to ventura, maybe it is.

So after the Eiffel tower I went back to the room, showered, changed. I headed down to L'Hotel de Ville to do a little ice skating. took the metro over and it pops out right there. there's tons of people skating, mostly young people. techno music of course. the line to rent skates if forever long. i eat a nice sandwich on a baguette as i wait. gosh its cold. i havent been on skates in so long. the ice is horrible. no zamboni in sight! but the techno is thumping and its getting to be dusk. the scenery is beautiful and i can see my breath in the air. good times. after skating for awhile, i got pretty bored. the skating area was pretty small and i was getting a bit dizzy going around in circles :)

I headed down to near the Champs Elysees. There is a fantastic Christmas market and although I never buy any of that crap I still like to look. Well actually I did by some overpriced candy. I’m a sucker for gummy coke bottles. The trees that line the street are decorated with pale blue lights and the street is very busy overall. why people are driving down the champs elysees it is a mystery to me. traffic is at a standstill all over paris. take the damn metro! it will take 100 times longer by car and you wont have any place to park it anywys. At the end of the street is a ferris wheel so I start heading over that way. I got in line for the ferris wheel behind these two girls from texas. The longer I’m here the more anti-american I become. Why is that?? The one girl looks cold and miserable. she's wearing a fleece jacket and that's it. poor thing. She talks about her horse back at home. Blah blah blah. They’re leaving back to the US tomorrow. Good! The ferris wheel ride is fantastic! I see the whole city from up there. Just lights as far as you can see. The Eiffel tower is lit up blue tonight with a big roving spotlight on the top. I think it changes color each night. It looks beautiful.

After the ferris wheel ride, I head over to the Opera area. I feel like catching a movie. I almost never go to the movies, but I like going on Christmas day. On my way over, I see the most beautiful dress in the window. The store is closed so I can’t go in. the store is a bit too nice for me to go into anyways I think! One of those places you have to get dressed up to go shopping. The dress is very dark navy blue. Its sleeveless with a high neck, almost like a turtle neck. Its pleated and cinched at the waist. Knee length. I can’t tell what its made out of but some sort of stiffer material. Its gorgeous I wish I could afford it. the price tag? 1,050 euro for the dress and 450 euro for the shoes. Way out of my price range. Bummer. Well I took a photo maybe I could find another similar to it in the future.

I finally found a movie theatre, and there is a showing of “burn after reading” in about an hour. I buy a ticket and head across the street to a massive starbucks for a hot chocolate. I call my mom and brother to wish them a merry Christmas. I my bother is stuck in some train station in buffalo. And I’m in paris. Ha!! The movie was hysterical and random and unexpected. i would rent it, but I wouldn’t recommend seeing it on the big screen. Not worth the 10 euro. After the movie its almost midnight so I head back to the metro to head home.

On Friday, I got up and went over to the Catacombs, which is an underground maze of dead people basically. On my way, I stopped at a café and had an amazing ham and cheese omelette. Overall, everything in paris is really expensive. I sat in the café across from a couple in their late 40’s and their young son. The son was wearing a beautiful Burberry coat. I know paris is famous for fashion but I guess until now I haven’t really been noticing (well except for the dress in th window of course!!). I will make more of an effort now. The waiter is cute and obliges my marginal French. He wants to know what I’m doing later. I laugh.

Its freezing out today. As I waited in line for the catacombs, I was ridiculously cold. They only let 200 people inside at one time, so you just have to wait until people leave. I finally get in, and I get the reduced rate (people between 18 and 26 get reduced rates on many things here in paris). I took a very windy staircase down down down down. Underneath the subway and pipelines. I walk along this very narrow tunnel with a low ceiling. Its really dark. I’m feeling really claustrophic. I try to concentrate and control my breathing but I feel like I’m on the verge of a panic attack. I start feeling sick. After a few very long minutes I’m able to get myself under control. The catacombs were built after a mass grave in another location in paris was breeding disease and was blamed for an outbreak of some sort of epidemic. The bodies were exhumed and transported under the cloak of night to the catacombs. Since it was a mass grave, the bodies were not intact, so the bones were not kept together with one body. All the bones were transported and placed in the catacombs in basically another series of mass graves except these were deep underground and would reduce the risk of disease etc. It’s really creepy and stale down there. All carved out of limestone and gypsum. Human bones and skulls line the walls. I’m glad I went but I don’t think I would go back.

After the catacombs, I headed across town to see a designer Christmas tree display. All of the trees are supposed to be decorated beautifully. After about an hour, I just couldn’t find it! so I gave up and headed back to the metro station and headed to La Defense. Underneath la defense is a huge shopping center. The metro goes right into the shopping center. I can’t take much more of the metro. I’m sick of being underground today. I’m not feeling well. I think it’s the motion sickness coupled with the stale air, the throngs of people, and the dirty subway passages. La defense is a stunning architectural feat. A building that is a hollow cube with dramatic steps leading up to a white canvas cover. Check out the picture below.

After La Defense, I head to the Louvre museum. Between 6 and 9:30 on Fridays, its free for people under 26! Yay! So I got there right at 6, ditched my coat, and hoped I would stop feeling sick. There were so many people there initially, but by 8PM, the crowd had really thinned out. I only saw one portion of the museum. To see the whole thing would take several days. After 3 hours I was drained anyways. I spent most of my time in the wing about greek and roman history and impressionist paintings. The paintings in the impressionist wing were so detailed and large! Some took up entire walls! I can imagine a painter would work for years to complete one piece of work.

I saw the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa (of course). The greek and roman artifacts and sculptures were fanstastic. I’ve always had a fascination with greek mythology. Ever since grade school. The stories are so logical and magincal. Zeus on Mount Olympus and Hades in the Underworld. I’m always amazed at how we dismiss the stories of greek and roman mythology as just that…stories. Mythology… keyword being “myth”. Yet the virgin mary and resurrection, parting of the red sea, and noah's ark are not far fetched at all. What?? They are just stories too. Every great civilization has a corresponding great religion. The next great civilization after ours will have a different religion with new stories.

After the Louvre, I met up with RJ’s friend Ben. I wanted to check out this really cool bar that had been recommended to me, but when we got there, it was closed!! Its Friday night!! I was so bummed. So we headed back over to the opera district area that I had been the night before. We had a couple of Stellas. He grew up in CA and knows RJ from the soccer world. Super cool and easy to talk to. But he’s difficult to get in contact with and seems a bit unreliable. Just like RJ!!! Anyways, I had a great time chatting with him and we made plans to go biking along the Siene on Sunday and walk around his area in Montmartre. we didnt end up meeting, but I’m glad I met him. I have a feeling I’ll be seeing him back in California soon enough.

Day 51 - An American in Paris

Today is Christmas Eve!!! well actually right now its just past midnight so its technically christmas day. this morning i got up, did a bunch of things to tie up loose ends (got keycard from elisabet, dropped off some xmas cards, did a little cleaning, paid my bills, printed out last minute paris details), then i packed and got on the road. the drive was a breeze.... except for when i got about 15km from my apartment i rented for the week. it took me 2 hours to go those last 15km!!!! ugh it was so painful. stop go stop go stop go. in a car with a manual transmission. good workout for my shins :) once i got into the city the people here drive like maniacs!!! traffic lights are optional hahah!! if hte light turns red and you're in the middle of the intersection its cool to just stay there and let the traffic back up. lanes are optional as well. stopping in the middle of the street is also cool. the driving situation is stressing me out!!!! thank god i have my GPS.. otherwise i would probably not be blogging now i'd still be driving around aimlessly until i ran out of gas. there are so many people out. my first impressions is there are a lot of lights everywhere and neon signs, overall initally paris reminds me of NYC. later as i walk around more it starts to remind me quite a bit of brussles actually. i think paris and brussels are sister cities.

so i meet the apartment owner, Elie, who has been waiting patiently for me while i was stuck in traffic. he's probably late 20's early 30's and seems really cool. the apartment buidling is gated and you need a code to get in and another code to get upstairs. i'm feeling pretty safe in here. i can't believe i'm only paying 50 euro per night. a hostel was about 40 euro per night and i would have to share a room with 6 people. the apartment is super cool, its a big studio with big windows and a balcony. little kitchen and a bathroom with a washing machine. so unbeleivably perfect. and the best part... it has wireless internet!! the aparment is in the latin quarter, just around the corner from a metro station and a bus pickup, several restaurants and shops, and about 2 blocks from the jardin des plants. perfect location and cool area, but i feel really safe walking around.

so by the time i got here it was about 8PM, i changed and headed out to tackle the metro. it was really really easy. everything is numbered and color coded. i bought a 5-day transpo pass which is good on all metro, train, busess, etc. for the whole city. i took the metro a few stops over to the Notre Dame Cathedral. the cathedral was a few blocks from the metro, and when i turned the corner and saw the cathedral, it was breathtaking. outside there were hundreds of people and a big christmas tree. lots of police as well. i got there just before 9:30 which turned out the be PERFECT timing. i got right in line JUST as they started letting people in for the 10PM show and choir. i got a seat about 1/3 of the way up and had a perfect veiw of the alter. when i first walked into the church, it was so grand and beautiful. it had a certain smell when i walked in. i can't describe it. christmasy. the vaulted curved ceilings and the glass windows, the ornate columns and the polished marble. it was absolutely breathtaking. i will come back during the day, maybe tomorrow, to see it in better light. the candle light was very appropriate for the evening, but i couldn't see all the construction details very well.

initially, i sat next to a nice irish woman. unfortunately, she left early and was replaced by the worst mother in paris and her little brat. the mother basically picked up her kid and put him in my lap, then he proceeded to whine and squirm the whole night, much the annoyance of (ME!!) and everyone else around us. it was like a chorus of ssshhhhhh's. the mom didn't seem to care about the disturbance her son was causing. she was just as rude as he was. obviously the apple didnt fall far from the tree. the little guy was only about 4 or 5 so i couldn't be too annoyed with him. it is christmas after all. but i wanted to kill the mother. i'm going to hell, i know.

i was somewhat able to block out the squirming kid, and I did thoroughly enjoy the program and the choir. it was a film projected on a big screen hung above the alter which gave a basic synopsis of the bible and jesus etc. followed by some wonderful choir singing and organ playing. it lasted about 1h45. it was immediately followed by the midnight mass, and if it wasnt for the kid, i probably would have stayed, but i reached my tolerance limit. when i got up to leave, i saw there were hundreds of people standing on the sides and in the back of the church, and when i got outside, there were hundreds more standing outside. i can't believe what a good seat i had in there!!

i walked back to the metro. everything is lit up so beautifully, even at midnight. lots of people still out and about. i walked over a footbridge and the river below was so beautiful. another footbridge just a bit further up is illuminated and its very easy to see how so many people can fall in love with this city.

speaking of love, i'm beginning to see why paris is called the city of love. on my way to notre dame tonight, i was asked out my 3 different guys! two while i was waiting for the metro, and one actually pulled over while he was driving to talk to me as i was walking on the sidewalk! they all thought 1) i was italian, and 2) my french was pretty good. i'm quite pleased with myself right now. they were all shocked that i was american. "american!! ce n'est pas vrai!!" i'm not sure why they were all shocked, maybe there arent many american visitors or maybe i just didn't look american, whatever that means. in any case, i'm exhausted, and i'm looking forward to getting a little sleep. tomorrow i plan to climb the eiffel tower as a morning workout. can't wait!!!

Day 49 & 50 - The Coolest Place on Earth

Today after work I went to the COOLEST place in the entire world. This indoor sports complex in Den Haag called De Uithof. its this huge complex with indoor skiing/snowboarding, rock climbing, speed skating track, regular ice arena, go-kart track, and a big lounge/bar/restaurant that has a ski lodge feel. i feel like i'm in the olympic village. i went with me co-worker maarten and his fiance. first we went to his apartment for dinner (he also lives in Delft). maarten spent about 3 months at FWI doing an audit of the CPT rigs and processes so i've known him for awhile.

so we get to the complex to do some indoor rock climbing. maarten and hilda have been going every monday for 4 years so they know everyone there and they are quite good. i'm pretty nervous overall. i havent been indoor climbing since high school or maybe even middle school. plus, i'm afraid of heights.

this climbing room is insane. its huge. and it has a bouldering area as well. so we get changed, i get the harness and i rented the special shoes. we get me all roped up and they sent me up the easiest level first (level 3). i made it about 1/3 of the way up before i started to get really scared so i came down. maarten and hilda took thier turns then i tried again. same thing, about 1/3 of the way up. but, by my third try, i made it all the way to the top!!! the feeling was amazing. i felt so accomplished. we moved over to another route and i couldnt get past this one part where the wall just out so you really need alot of arm strength to pull yourself over. hilda is quite impressed at my technique considering i just started. we took a break and had some coffee (of course) and some type of gingerbread-like cookies. we went again and picked another route and i made it all the way up on that one as well :) i';m starting to get the hang of it!! it was such a fun night and all of maarten's friends are so nice. i can't wait to go back!! monday's are bad for me because i have kickboxing so hopefully we can go another night :) also, its a long night!! i didnt get home until after 11PM!!

On Tuesday, i had to finish up things at work before i left. on my way home i stopped at the store and got some things for when i have visitors next week. got home, finished planning my trip, did some cleaning and packing and eeeek i leave for paris tomorrow i can't believe it!!

Day 47 & 48 - Chinese Buffet and Quidam

Saturday I got up and went for a run. The weather is really nice again today. Yay!! When I got back, I did the usual cleaning and laundry, take out the garbage etc. etc. I borrowed the vacuum from Rik thank goodness. After I vacuumed I felt so amazing. The dirty carpet had really been bothering me. After that, I had planned to go to the storm surge barrier in Rotterdam, but I got completely engulfed in planned my trip to Paris next week. I have a list of about 8 pages of all the things I want to do. So many things on the list. So many variables. Looking forward to mastering the public transport system. That’s one of my very favorite things about NYC is the subway. I’m not very good with directions (understatement), in fact my spatial orientation is astonishingly poor. Especially for an engineer I think. But for some reason I’m very good at reading maps and I’m especially good at bus/subway/metro systems. It seems like there is so much to do in Paris. I wish I had more time there. I think this will be the perfect trip to figure out what i want to do on my NEXT trip to Paris :)

I got an email from RJ’s friend Ben, who is having some sort of quarter-life crisis and bought a 1-way ticket to paris and rented an apartment for 6 months. He arrives on the 23rd. I get in on the 24th. So ill have a christmas in Paris travel buddy. Sometimes the way things work out are so unexpectedly random. I wonder if RJ warned him about my insane planning and non-stop schedule. Hahah oh well I’ll just let that be a surprise.

Rik and I went to get some Indonesian food for dinner and accidentally went to this all you can eat Indonesian/Chinese food buffet. Haha I didn’t think they would have things like that here!! I’m so full. But it was super yummy. We went to the grocery store afterwards. I got some stuff to freeze for when I have visitors in a little over a week. Speaking of visitors, I’m looking forward to seeing some familiar faces!!!

Sunday I left early at about 8AM and drove to Brussels. Easy drive. My GPS is working like a charm! It took about 1h45mins. The weather is perfect again today. Much better than the last time I was here (when I got caught in that snowstorm remember??) I started at the Belgian military museum (see photos below). The main part of the museum highlights all of the different uniforms worn by Belgian soldiers in the past few centuries. One thing I noticed is that the uniforms in the earlier centuries were so small! And very ornate. Lots of stitching and decoration. The later uniforms in the 19th century were quite plain with hardly any distinguishing marks, except for rank and flag etc. The walls of this main hall were covered with those quintessential military portraits, of the men in full dress, with his chest out and chin up and proudly staring into the background. There were hundreds of these portraits and easily a hundred different uniforms. The hand weapons were also displayed in this main hall, mostly consisting of many swords and some pistols. Overall from this main hall, I get a sense of a very proud Belgian military history.

The other rooms have more of the same, but for specific eras for the Belgian indendence from the Netherlands, and for WW1 And WW2. there is also a room for heavy artillery, when dozens of tanks. Tank operators must have one of the most nervewracking jobs in the military. You drive right into the middle of a battle and hope the armour protects you and you don’t get blown up. Jeez. I bet its really hot in there too. I think I would like to be a sniper. Not a lot of action, but important at critical moments.

The aviation museum is also included in the military museum (see pictures below). There are dozens of decommissioned airplanes, most actual size and some models. There are also exhibits for early flight methods, including my personal favourite the hot air balloon, and submarines and warships. There were 99% guys in the airplane museum, lots of dads with little kids. I know more than a few guys who could’ve spent the whole day there hahah. I stayed about an hour but had to keep moving to stay on schedule. The museum is free so I bet it’s a fun thing for even locals to do on a weekend.

I left the museum and walked about a half a kilometre over to the metro station. The machines are super easy to use and the metro map is even easier. Just two main lines that cross each other, with a few auxiliary loops. Trains come every few minutes, and there is even a station map that shows where the train is right now, and how long until it reaches your station. Very handy. Hop the metro and head over to the Grand Place. When I get over to the grand place, luckily there is a Christmas market set up! I spent about 2 hours poking around all the little stands of figurines, candy, jewelry, pottery, other miscellaneous crap, had a cup of mulled wine, and had a waffle with powdered sugar. The powdered sugar was a major mistake – I got it all over my jacket haha!!! There were so many people around just doing some last minute Christmas shopping. There was a great festive energy in the air. Last time I was here, they were just putting up the Christmas tree in the grand place, so this time I got to see it all up and decorated. See the photo below!!

I hopped back on the metro, then transferred to the bus, to get to La Loge Architecture Museum. They had an exhibit about the 1958 Expo that ended today so I really wanted to catch that. The exhibit features these amazing (hand drawn!!) architect’s design concepts and plans for construction of all of the expo buildings. there were hundreds of structures built for the expo, including an elevated highway (which was converted to a tunnel in the 1980’s), sports complexes, exhibition halls, amphitheatres, a new terminal at Schipol, etc. There were so many different types of structures and architects, but all of the work is beautiful. Very straight and geometric. I’ve always been interested in the symbiotic relationship between civil engineering and architecture. In reality its not nearly as romanticized as it is in my mind. Architects have to deal with piping for plumbing and ventilation and electrical etc, elevators, handicap access, lighting, etc. the outside of the building is what everyone notices, but all of the auxiliary things really define the functionality of a structure.

Overall this trip to brussells was so much different than the first. I think I got over the ”awe” of the city and really started to notice more about the people and the functionality and the way of life. it kind of reminded me of a cross between NY and SF. Wasn’t bustling like NY, but the amount of commercial, retail and office space is comparable. The look of the city is more like SF, aside from the subway/metro system. Its hilly and the buildings some of the buildings are similar. Many of the modern buildings are very NY, but overall its not nearly as flashy. I got to see just normal people out an about, getting groceries, buying lamps, etc. I like living in the city. The energy is incomparable. I would say the only city in CA remotely comparable to a European city would be SF. I took the bus and the metro back to my car which I left at the museum (plenty of free parking!!). I had tickets to the Cirque du Soleil show “Quidam” at 4PM so I had to get back to my car by 4:15. I bought the tickets I think on Wednesday at a reduced (40% off price). I got to the show at about 4:45, and made it to my seat literally 30 seconds before they dimmed the lights and the ringmaster came out to start the show. Perfect timing!!

The show was fantastic. I think my favourite act was the three little asian girls who did the spinning thread thing. The Cirque shows are always top notch. I’ve seen 2 in Las Vegas before. For this show, it was quite humorous as well as entertaining. I think it was more aimed at kids. There was a funny guy who pulled people onstage from the audience to act out little skits. There were jugglers, a man in a big hamster wheel, balancing people, gymnasts, aerial rope people, contortionists, jump ropes, etc. the show was about 2.5 hours and it was fantastic! I was at the very last showing of Quidam before they packed up and moved to a new city. So I just caught it in time. I stopped for dinner on the way home at kind of a soup and salad place, had a bowl of pea soup and a slice of cherry pie (my two faves), and got home around 10PM. Will be a short week… almost paris time!!!

Day 46 - Rock N' Ice Skating

On Friday when i got into work, there was a some presents underneath the christmas tree. (robin and I have a little electric tree in our office, its about 1 foot tall.) No name on the gifts. So I wasn’t sure if they were for me or for robin, and I didn’t know who they were from. I had a hunch they were from Flip, because earlier this week, he was making fun of the Christmas tree and I told him (jokingly) that we had it so people could leave presents underneath it. So after lunch, flip came to my office and asked if I can opened the presents, I said no, I wasn’t sure if they were for me or who they were from. He laughed and alluded that the presents were for me and they were from him. So I opened the gifts and it was this awesome Holland/Amsterdam book and a beer mug with Amsterdam on it. Great gifts!!! Flip and I have plans to go golfing when we get back in January. He and Wim play together quite regularly and I get the feeling they are quite good. I will need to go to the driving range…. and find some clubs to borrow.

After work I rode my bike down to the center area for some ice skating and shopping. The weather is so mild today. Its about 10 degrees out. So pleasant....i wish every day is like this. I rode my bike all around since I wasnt really sure where the rink was and i FINALLY found it. There are tons of people out today. Lots of police too, giving bikers tickets for riding in the pedestrian only area and also for not having lights on the bikes. It’s a perfect night. The outdoor skating rink is HYSTERICAL. Its kind of like midnight rock n' bowl bowling. Lots of flashing lights and techno music. The ice has all these trees and benches so its like an ice skating obstacle course hahah. So much fun though.

Day 44 & 45 - Geomonitoring

Wednesday morning we had a very nice christmas breakfast at fugro. In the cafeteria there was so much wonderful food, including sandwiches, pastries, eggs, juice, coffee (of course), fruit, etc. its still quite dark at 08:30, so they had lots of candles. Quite a romantic little fugro breakfast :) I had the best blueberry muffin.

Later in the morning, albert-jan came over and said that he was sending one of the guys from geomonitoring out to a sheet-pile driving site and asked if I would like to accompany. Uuuhhh… YES! I get to get out of the office! I wasn’t really dressed for the field, grey slacks with ballet-type shoes. I borrowed some steel-toe boots from patricia, but unfortunately I didn’t have any socks. Luckily, it was quite mild out today, and I really wasn’t that cold. I had a my regular shirt, a sweatshirt, my jacket, gloves, and scarf and was fine. I grabbed some sandwiches left over from breakfast and headed out to the site with Dylan.

Dylan was really cool and unassumingly funny. Once in awhile he’d just say these really great one-liners. He was in the rotation program, started off in my group with FIBV, then did his second rotation with the geomonitoring group and liked it so much he’s just stayed there. We chatted for awhile as we drove to the project site, about 45 minutes from the office.

The project is for a new residential building with below-grade parking, sandwiched inbetween two existing brick structures (homes). The project site is located where all the beautiful tulip fields bloom in April. Right now, just large areas of flat nothingness, all planted with tulip bulbs hibernating for the winter. In the spring the fields are so gorgeous. This new building will have a perfect view of the fields.

To excavate for the basement area, the contractor had installed most of the sheetpile retaining/cutoff wall. Vibrations induced from hammering the sheet piles into place had caused some distress to the adjacent structures, so work was halted by the county. The contractor changed the installation method such that the sheet pile locations would be pre-drilled, then sheets would be pushed into place. When we got to the site, we installed 3 vibration monitors on the adjacent structures. The program is really easy to use, simply enter the project name etc., the allowable vibration limit, and the monitoring period (every day 7am to 5Pm or whatever), and the results are automatically emailed from the monitoring device. Awesome! Unfortunately, the contractor only predrilled the locations today, and was having problems with some equipment, so I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see any action.

We got back to the office at about 5PM, and hit some really bad traffic on the way home. It seemed like it took forever!! I’ll meet Dylan at the jobsite at about 7:30-8AM tomorrow. I left work at about 6, headed home, changed quickly, then met Nel for dinner in Delft at 6:45PM. She took me to this fantastic Italian restaurant near the main square. I had the best Italian vegetable soup and some so-so lasagne. We chatted about matthew and debby’s upcoming trip and so many other things. She is such a great person and I really enjoyed spending the evening with her :) I got home around 9:45 and spent several hours finishing my Christmas cards (finally). I didn’t finish until almost 2AM. They will probably not get to the US in time, but oh well. I feel like people will be understanding considering the circumstances. The cards are pretty good this year. I tucked my yearly synopsis note inside of the front red pouch that says ‘seasons greetings’. Inside of the card there are a bunch of pictures of me from this past year. Then I sealed the red envelope with a cute ribbon sticker. Done!!

On Thursday I met Dylan at the project site in the morning. This contractor is sloooooooowwwww. Equipment is not working properly. Lots of coffee breaks. No one wears hard hats (except dylan and myself). Doesn’t seem to be any sense of urgency, or that ‘time is money’. Seems like they could finish the job whenever and that would be ok. It’s a much colder this morning but luckily I have socks on today :) nothing really happens until about 11AM when the pick up the first sheet pile. The pile is fed into a special piece of equipment that pushes it into place. The equipment is clamped onto some adjacent piles that are already in place. It hydraulically pushes the sheet vertically into the soil. Surprisingly, its very very quiet, and I can’t feel any vibration. The generator that runs the equipment is much louder in fact!!! See the picture below :)

I got back to the office around 1PM, and started working on a roadway embankment for Ben and Robin. They were modelling the embankment in Plaxis to evaluate the embankment stability, anticipated settlement, and the influence on a nearby pipeline. Instead of wickdrains, they planned to use the IFCO system to accelerate the consolidation, which basically consists of knifing these little trenches, placing a pipe in the bottom, and backfilling the small trench with clean sand. Pumps are attached to the pipe system to pump the water out and essentially dewater the embankment to accelerate the consolidation and subsequent strength gain. The IFCO system is widely used here in the Netherlands. I worked on this most of Friday as well.

When I got home on Thursday night, I had a package from my mom!! There was a NY sweatshirt, some pajama pants, and a pink hat/glove/scarf set. Also some winter hand towels. Haha. She’s obviously been shopping at the Christmas Tree Shop again. There was also a card from my grandma and some photos from when I was little. God I don’t know how I survived.... I had headgear and big glasses and used to actually wear both to school. Who wears headgear to school??? I also had this unbelievably bad perm. I got a perm when I was maybe 6 years old. Why my mother agreed to that I have no idea hahaha. I guess her way of letting me be an individual and express myself. Thanks mom.

I was so unbelievably tired, I went to bed so early, probably around 20:30. it felt amazing. AMAZING! Also, aftern being here for 6 weeks, i finally figured out how to work the heat in my apartment. It was always so cold, I was practically wearing a snowsuit while I was home. The heat is motion sensitive, so I assumed that since I’m never home, by the time I did actually get home and went to bed, the heat didn’t have enough motion to keep it on. But it turns out that the heat IS motion sensitive, but in addition to tripping the sensor, you also have to push a button on the thermostat to turn it on. So basically, I’ve been living without heat for 6 weeks in the middle of winter. Wow. So now, the apartment is fine. A little too warm even :)

Day 42 & 43 - Presentatie and Kadootjes

Monday. Unfortunately, i will miss the uitsmijter today at lunch, because i have my big presentation!! i thought i would be nervous, but i really wasn't. I had worked really hard on the slides and the presentation and i knew it would be great. i wore my grey pinstripe pants and black heels with a navy blue shirt made of very nice silky material. i thought about wearing my glasses but i thought that would be overkill. me and wil got everything set up in the Basalt conference room. about 35 people showed up. lunch consists of sandwiches and milk (or course!!). for the first 30 seconds of talking i'm a little nervous but then i feel fine. i was supposed to only talk for 1 hour but it went to 1.5 hours. i had so much to say and so many things i wanted to talk about!! the only crappy part was that my laser pointer died part way through!! everyone seemed interested and had some really great questions, and afterwards adriaan (most importantly) and my other co-workers said they really enjoyed the presentation. yay! i feel great.

after the staff meeting i had a quick meeting with adriaan and maarten (interrupted by a little hallway celebration for mark-peter's 44th birthday), and we talked about some upcoming projects i will be working on. i'm really looking forward them, the first will be some plaxis modeling of a surcharged roadway embankment, and the surcharge effects on a nearby existing pipeline.

after work i was supposed to go to kickboxing at 6PM, but i ended up working late, so i missed it bummer. no dutch class today; we are on break until the beginning of january. so, i just went home and finished my post cards and my christmas cards, caught up on my facebook and emails, and still did not manage to make to bed before midnight!! oh yes, i also booked my flight to berlin!! i will be going for 3 full days in january! there's so much i want to see in berlin i'm really looking forward to the trip :) i'll have my personal tour guide, a berlin native (thomas - who worked for fugro west for about a year and a half).

On tuesday, it was VERY foggy in the morning. i had to wait about 10 minutes to warm up my car in the morning becuase i didnt have an ice brush. brrrr. traffic was the worst its ever been this morning, probably due to the fog. it took about 45 mins to get to work!! (normally it takes about 15). today at work i mostly ran a bunch of plaxis simulations for roadway embankments, tomorrow i will work with ben to model the water pumping and trenching and the pipeline. in the morning, we had some pie (including cherry pie from multi vlaai!!) to celebrate maarten's graduation from the master's program. here, they don't have professional licensure, so to be able to say you are an engineer, you must have a master's degree. so this is a big day for maarten and we are all very proud of him. he started at fugro as a CAD operator, and also drove the CPT trucks, then went to school part time for his master's. so he's really worked his way up.

i also got some good news that i won $100 as the fugro west christmas party! for submittng more than 10 work/process improvement suggestions over the past year. sweet! i also talked to eric to see how things were going in dubai. one of my colleagues here in leidschendam worked with him in dubai for a few weeks last spring so i wanted to make that connection. i also told eric that he looked like jesus and he should try out for a christmas play or nativity scene. he said he'd never been told he looked like jesus. come on!! don't you think eric looks like jesus???

when i got back from lunch (pea soup... my favorite!!! i wanted to get two bowls but i thought that would be greedy. flip agreed.) there was a big box on my desk. a christmas present from fugro!! so i waited for robin to come back, and we turned on our little christmas tree, and i opened the package. most other people took thiers home, but i wanted to open mine then. inside it was 'breakfast' themed. there was a breakfast cookbook (in dutch but i can figure it out!), orange juice, cereal, champagne, special breakfast cakes and cookies, tea, and at the very bottom, a big blanket!! the blanket was by far my favorite.. it has little pockets for your feet how clever is that?? see the pictures below :)

Day 40 & 41 - The Day the Earth Stood Still

Saturday and Sunday. Well this weekend was really important for me to get myself organized again after being on the go for several weeks. I got up Saturday morning at about 9AM, and I actually watched TV! For a whole hour! I watched this animal planet show about an animal hospital somewhere in the UK. I saw a little owl and some badgers get rescued, but unfortunately a black swan and a little baby deer didn’t make it. oh my gosh it was heartbreaking. The black swan had a broken foot, and they even did surgery to repair it, but it got infected and the foot wasn’t getting any blood flow, so they had to put the swan down. Then, the baby deer was found in a ditch by the side of the road, presumably abandoned by its mom. They tried to bottle feed it, but the deer was so sad that it wouldn’t eat, and ended up dying. Ugh it was heartwrenching.

So after TV, I spent several hours cleaning and doing laundry, took a shower and got ready. I went to the pie store and luckily this time they had a half of a cherry pie left. I bought it. YES! I ate one piece right away. The pie didn’t make it through the weekend. :) I went to the grocery store and I had planned to get some pictures developed to send out with my christmas cards, but I forgot my darn memory stick at home. Oh well.

When I got back to the house around 18:00, i heated up some leftovers, had another piece of pie, worked on my presentation, then I left at about 20:00 with rik to go see “the day the earth stood still” starring Keanu reeves and Jennifer Connelly, two of my very favorite actors. We rode our bikes over to the movie theatre, which is near the town center and only about 5 mins from the house. We got the tickets (seats are assigned in theatres here so you have to buy them a bit early), then went across the street and I got some coffee/hot chocolate to wait for the movie to start at 21:10. the movie was pretty good, I mean I thought I could have been a lot better. It was a bit short so I think they could have made it longer and gone into the plot or character development more. The kid’s character (jaden smith) was really annoying, and keanu reeves (the alien) only said about 5 words the entire movie, mostly just staring blankly into the screen. US secretary of defense (Kathy bates) and the entire us military defenses were terribly cliché of arrogant, aggressive, war-mongering Americans. jennifer connely was pretty good though. did you ever see her balenciaga ads? she looked like an alien in those. fierce.

So sunday i got up, went for a (very cold) run, worked on my presentation, then rode my bike over to the university to watch frank's field hockey game. (frank is MV's cousin). it was SO cold out. i had my usual two jackets on, boots, hat, scarf, gloves, and wow i was freezing.

i chatted with nel for awhile and fred showed up for the second half of the game. i'm going to meet nel for dinner on wednesday. ok so back to the field hockey game. its pretty intense. i've only ever seen women's field hockey in person before (jess b. remember i used to do the scoreboard in college??). but the men's field hockey is a lot more fast paced and crazy. the other team was a bunch of wimps. every few minutes one of them would go down 'injured'. frank's team ended up winning 4-1, thanks to some of his brilliant defensive moves. i think he needs another haircut soon. after the game fred said they would be having a few drinks in the club house, but i was already freezing and it was getting dark and i wanted to iron my clothes for tomorrow so i politely declined. i wanted to hang out with some of the field hockey guys though. oh well had to be responsible. :)

Day 39 - Haarlem Meetup

Friday I pretty much worked all day on finishing up my presentation for Monday. I will still need to do some work on it this weekend, but it’s nearly done.

After work I went to the pie store because I’ve been craving cherry pie like you wouldn’t believe. The best pie store around is definitely Multi Vlaai (vlaai=pie). So I head there on my way home from work, and even though its only about 2km from my house, it takes forever!! My little GPS takes me a weird way and right through a ton of Friday traffic. So I get to the pie store around 19:00, and they only have about 5 slices of pie left… in the whole store! What?? So it turns out, they only make a certain number of pies each day, and when they run out, they run out. Bummer. No pie for me today.

So I head home, quickly change, brush my teeth, and head up to Haarlem to meet a bunch of people for dinner. Its part of an expat meet-up group. I’ve been talking to the coordinator a few times, but this will be the first time I actually meet everyone and I’m looking forward to it! I get there right on time, 8PM. Traffic on the way up was non-existant, which I wasn’t expecting since I have to go right by Amsterdam to get to Haarlem. Haarlem is a gorgeous city, kind of a bigger version of delft. It’s also an old city, with beautiful canals running everywhere, brick streets. It had a bit more of a modern feel, like Den Haag, but definitely feels like delft.

So I meet everyone at Venezia, an actual authentic Italian place. Small, warm, wooden tables. The people that work there only speak Italian. This isn’t American Italian, so forget about olive garden, or even Armando’s in Oxnard (sorry Armando). But this is real Italian. The front of the restuarant has a real wood oven and I can see the guy making pizzas and calzones all night.

So there’s a big long table right in the center of the restaurant. About 15 people came to the dinner, all people that are living in NL but are originally from somewhere else (definition of expat I guess). So end up sitting on one end of the table, next to Sandra, Amy, and Alex, and across from Duncan. Sandra is actually originally dutch, but has lived the past several years and new Zealand, and says she prefers non-dutch people. She is hysterical, probably late 30’s/early 40’s, and looks a lot like my cousin Dawn except she’s really tall. She says ‘bloody hell’ after nearly every sentence, takes about 5 smoke breaks during dinner. Her current occupation? Selling MDF. Yep that’s right. Artificial wood. She used to work for Ernst and Young in their financial department. I can tell she has led a very cool life. We were talking about how there are never any veggies with dutch meals (besides potatoes), and she said to me “Lady, I didn’t make it to the top of the food chain to eat vegetables… bloody hell…” hahah!

Amy happened to be originally from Schenectady, which is the town next to where I lived near Albany, NY. Her dad worked for GE, and we reminisced about Mohawk mall. Ha! What a small world. It never ceases to amaze me. Amy is here for about 6 months studying for her master’s or PhD, I’m not sure, in some sort of music anthropology. She’s small and asian, and surprisingly, she smokes too.... cloves. Wow.

Alex is from L.A., I’m not sure why he’s here, but he is. He’s Mexican, and we laugh about the food they call ‘mexican’ here. He’s pretty cool, I don’t really get the LA vibe from him. Maybe he’s been in NL long enough to have lost it.

Ducan is a brit but has lived in NL for 5 years. He is very very funny, as are most brits that I have met thus far. I asked if he knew any good bar songs. He said he actually knew surprisingly few. What! Somehow the conversation turned to cannibalism, and he had quite some disturbing things to say. I’m not sure if he meant to be funny or if he was serious, but either way, kind of freaky. Overall, I thought he was really cool and pithy and I liked his sharp wit. there are some pics on my facebook of the haarlem dinner.

Dinner was amazing. A-mazing. The menu was pre-arranged so I wasn’t too sure what I was in store for. They just kept bringing out more and more food! Breads, meats, pasta, bean salad, stuffed mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, red and green pepper salad. That’s just the appetizers! Then the main course was either pesce or carni. The fish was some sort of white fish, and it was the whole fish. Bones, head, tail and everything. The meat (which is what I had) was chicken stuffed with bacon and cheese and rolled up. Oh so good. Dessert was some sort of fluffy lemon pastry. Oh my gosh so good! I’m getting hungry just typing this. Oh also I forgot to mention the unlimited wine. So for everything we had a pre-arranged price of about 30 euro, which is on the expensive side, but for everything we got, and it being Christmas dinner, I felt it was definitely worth it J I got to meet some cool people and have an amazing dinner. Sandra is going to organize a little rock climbing trip maybe next Sunday coming up in Den Haag. So hopefully I will get to see everyone again. got home around 12:30. exhausted!!

Day 37 & 38 - Glasmozaiek

Wednesday. Woke up with a sore throat and alot of sinus pressure. am i surprised? no. i haven't been sleeping more than 6 hours per night, i'm never home, always going somewhere or doing something, and its cold and rainy everyday. obviously, i'm stretching myself too thin, overcommitting, stressing myself out. what's new? why do i do this to myself? matthew's aunt emailed me today to see if i wanted to come over for dinner sometime this week. when i thought about it, i dont have any availability until next wednesday. and after that, not until after the new year! so we're going to get some itilian food next wednesday. i already know what i'll have.... lasagna. can't wait!

in the morning i went down to talk to france, one of the fugro mechanics. his office is plastered with pictures of naked women. i guess when you work with a bunch of mechanics all day, its acceptable. they work on maintainig/repairing the CPT and drill rigs, and all the other fugro vehicles. i tell him about the car, the flat tire, give him a map showing where i left it, etc. he laughs at me. whatever, i don't care, i tell him its ok to laugh at me. i give him the keys and he says to come back in the afternoon and it will be ready for me. so i came back in the afternoon, with one of the nice black fugro sweatshirts robin v. brought me from CA. i tell him "kadoojte", (present/gift). the other guys all start laughing hysterically and france blushes bright red. i'm not sure if it was inappropriate to bring him a thank you gift for going to pick up my car, fixing the tire (actually he put two new front tires on), and putting new windshield wipers, but i thought it was appropriate. on the way out of the garage, one of the CPT operators was there and i said 'doei Arno' (bye arno). he turns to the other guys, and says in dutch 'she knows my name!!'. haha i walk back up to my office, smiling, thankful i've been taking those dutch classes.

so during lunch i went with claartje to the drugstore down the street from Fugro. interesting side note, we saw a garbage can on fire on the way there. claartje took a picture and kept walking hahah! so we get to the store, and i tell the lady my symptoms and then say give me the strongest thing you've got. she looks at me defiantly, locks her eyes with mine, and slides a package across the counter. 2 days of medicine, 3 vials per day, and you're done. perfect. i dont mess around.

when i got back to the office, i open the first little vial. its filled with little balls that look like small dippin dots (remember that 'space age' ice cream imitation?? god i love the 90's). i let the dots dissolve on my tongue. kind of taste like candy. yum. i want another one. i didnt really feel any different all afternoon. no worse, but no better. i think maybe the medicine really IS candy. that woman at the drugstore is chuckling to herself somewhere i bet....

after work i drove up to amsterdam, picked up jill, sarah, and monika from the train station and we had some dinner at a restaurant up there before class. jill, coincidentally, is from rochester originally. what a small world. it always surprises me how small it really is. jill is very petite, very sarcastic. i like her pesonality. i like to trade banter with sarcastic people. i'm not particularly adept at conversing with story tellers. you know those people. always have a long story with an ebb and flow and a memorable ending. these people like campfires and dinner parties. i prefer hot tubs and cocktail parties. more short, punctuated conversation. i like the quick comebacks and interjecting commentary. i like debaters. people that have a passion for something. people that have something to say. dont confuse debaters with rhetorics. debaters truly love to exchange ideas in heated conversation. rhetorics just want to dispell thier own thoughts and hear themselves talk. rhetorics want an audience. debaters want a dance partner. i like dancing.

class was good today, we wont have any more until the beginning of january. i'm kind of bummed becuase i feel like i'm starting to really get the hang of things and now i'll be on break. time to focus my efforts on brushing up on my french for paris.

Thursday. still not feeling any better. the magic vials are not all i was hoping for. oh well. guess i'll have to resort to, i don't know, actually sleeping, drinking lots of water, and slow down from a milllion miles an hour to maybe a hundred??

I got to work and figured out how to listen to internet radio. christmas music all day!! i'm starting to get in the holiday spirit. i found a little miniature christmas tree in my closet and plugged it in. its on my desk. very festive. robin wasnt in today. wasnt in yesterday either. working in the amsterdam office i guess. good! now i can turn the heat up in our room!!

for lunch i had a poor excuse for a burrito (carolina would be rather insulted), but the burrito was slightly offset by the fantastic bean soup. the soups here are quite noteable and i will miss them.

after work i went over to Lisenhage (a nearby open air mall) to return some pants i had bought at the H&M in spain. even though they said 28, and i have another pair of jeans that are 28 and fit perfect, i couldnt even get these pants over my knees. whatever. so i returned the pants, grabbed a quick ham & cheese croissant, and headed back to fugro for a glasmozaiek class (glass mosiac making). earlier i learned how to electronically transfer funds with my Rabobank caluclator thingy to pay for the class (17 euro) quite easy actually. Henk helped me.

so me and elisabet start our mosiacs. you get a big round plate and theres a million different types of tiles and glass. theres about 15 women all making the plates. it was fun but wow it took a lot of concentration and a steady hand. it took about 3 hours to make my plate. its of a wave and the sun (if you can't tell). it needs to dry for another day and then i will grout and glaze it, then voila! my own glasmozaiek!!

Day 33 & 34 - Alicante, Spain

Alicante. what a perfect day on saturday. i got up at about 9AM, and took the best shower of my life. a real shower in a real bathtub and the water pressure was unbelieveable. conversely, my shower in the moroccan paradise is just a corner of the bathroom curtained off, and the shower head is at stomache level. so you really can't just stand under the water and relax. you have to worry about flooding the bathroom.

aahhh back to the shower. loving it. get dressed. sqin jeans and high boots of course, the european staples. black tshirt with a green wrap shirt. sunglasses. first time i've worn sunglasses since i got here. eat a granola bar i had from my purse. don't bother to dry my hair. head outside armed with my map, my camera, a plan for the day, but clearly left my sense of direction at home. my first stop was to the Castillo Santa Barbara, the old military fort that overlooks the city. you can see it from miles away. its only about 1KM from my hotel, walking all on city streets. but i can't find the darn entrance and it takes me about 1.5 hours to actually get there. but its ok, because on the way i get to explore the city, walk along the beach, and i find out about a big parade tonight. lucky for me!!

on my way to Castillo SB, i make my initial observations about Alicante. its a very old city. inhabitated for about 7000 years, and home to the greeks, romans, arabs, then finally the spanish. the city has seen many wars, most recently in 1873 when an armoured vessel named the Numancia attached the city, manned by rebels of the cantonist movement attacked the city and its famous castle on the hill.

athough i know the city is rich in mediterranean history, i don't have the same sense of history as i got from brussels. the "feel" of the city is so much different. alicante architecture is simple and a bit drab. it doesnt have a modern feel, but neither does it have a historic feel. most structures are at least 5 stories high, all touching like things always do in cities. no elaborate columns or stone work. most things appear to be concrete and brick. flat facades. nothing distinguishing really. streets are not particularly narrrow by european standards, and most of the sidewalks are quite adequate as well. the city is quite hilly, sloping down to the water. one very notable thing is a very efficient transportation system. they have a train, an above ground tram and and underground tram, a great bus system, and most of the parking is free and underground. i mostly got around on the buses (well mostly i just walked actually). the train and trams mostly take people into and out of the city, and the buses provide transport once you're downtown.

not many folks out this morning. i notice people are moving slowly. people are small. i'm feeling very tall again. i'm used to tall dutch people walking very fast on thier long legs. people here tend to be not taller than 5'10", more petite but still curvy. they have more angular features. didn't see one (real) blonde the whole trip. all dark hair. younger men mostly had short hair that looked like christiano ronaldo (a very famous footballer) see picture below. i mean thier hair looked like his. definitely not all the guys looked like that! heck no if that were the case i'd still be there!! clothing for men tended to be fitted. younger women, although small, seemed to have a lot of spunk. more edgy fashion, but i wouldn't call them fashionable. lots of older people too. very properly dressed though. slacks and blouses for women. hair done and makeup done like old ladies like do to. fierce sunglasses are the must have accessory for the 60 and over crowd. the older men are dressed in slacks and sweater vests and button down shirts.

On my way to the castillo i stop at an open air meat market downtown. its a bit too early for that. my stomache turns a little. i'm hungry though. need some breakfast. i walk along the beach and it is so gorgeous. theres a walkway along the beach called the Explanada and its very intricately paved with ceramic tiles. the craftsmanship is stellar. its smooth. i wonder how many people have walked here. millions i bet. the explanada is lined with palms and occaisonally there are street vendors selling knockoff sunglasses, scarves, purses, and little battery operatored barking dogs. here's a picture below of the explada.

i bet summer here is very crowded. the water is perfect and warm. the ocean is very still today, almost glassy. a perfect blue blanket as far as i can see. the sand is very fine and just warm enough. its a great day to be alive.

ok so i finally make it to the Castillo SB. there's two entrances, one on the beach side and one on the opposite side. the beach side has an elevator. one thing i do notice about Alicante is that is very handicap accessible. ramps everywhere. kudos alicante! so i take the beachside elevator, i cross over the beach frontage road on an elevated pedestrian bridge and here's the view from the bridge.

The tunnel to get to the elevator goes deep into the hillside. i feel like i'm walking the green mile. its very eerie. its about 2 euro to ride the elevator up, but to tour the castle its free. sounds good to me! i take the elevator up, and now im 165 meters up at the top of the round mountain.

The old fort is amazing. you really can see everything for miles from up there. a perfect strategic position. thre are cutouts in the walls and holes for cannon fire and a dungeon. its all composed if a crude concrete it looks like. theres a great lookout point. it would have been crazy to be in this fort during a battle. i felt like i was in the lord of the rings. here's some pics at the top. alicante is in the background below. this castillo is one of the coolest things ive seen/experienced in europe thus far. a definite must-see. while i was up there, i saw a sailing lesson, about 30 little boats zig zagging on the water. what a perfect sailing day. it was like watching a mother duck with her little baby ducks.

So after taking in the breathtaking views at the top of the castillo SB, i walked down the backside of the mountain and headed to the MARQ, which is an exceptional archaelogical museum. i saw these amazing exhibits of artifacts from ancient peoples, including pottery, tools, bones, etc. they also had simulations of what alicante looked like since it was first inhabited thousands of years ago. they had exhibits on the climate change, and the land usage, the religious influence. really really neat museum and i would definitely go back. luckily, while i was there, they had an special exhibit about civil engineering in roman times! they had lots of scale models and engineering drawings of aqueducts, homes and other structures, churches, bridges, water wheels, etc. it was amazing to see how adept the romans were at construction and how innovative they were for thier time. genius. not all the information was in english, so i really wished i had a spanish speaking companion :)

After the MARQ, i walked over to the Plaza del Mar, which is basically a big shopping mall. i was STARVING by that point, and got a really good egg covered sandwhich, kind of like two pieces of french toast with cheese inside. so good. so bad for me!! i mostly walked around, bought some socks (i had forgotten them at home), looked for a pair of walking shoes (i just had my boots with me), but struck out on the shoes. i did find this really cute purple dress though so i got that. will be a fun summer ventura outfit, or good with leggings and a sweater here. after the plaza, i headed back to the hotel to take a shower and get ready for the parade. there was some miscommunication with the bus, so i ended up walking most of the way. i think i've walked about 15K today so far. my legs and feet are so tired.

Got back to the hotel. do i need to take another shower? no not really. but its so nice to have a real shower i just took one anyways :) the parade is supposed to start at 6PM. so i head out at about 6, walk down towards the end of the parade route (which is close to the beach and the harbor area), and gladly pay my 4 euros to sit in one of the blue chairs that line the route. theres thousands of chairs along the route. i probably would have stood if 1)i hadnt walked 15K today, and 2) if the parade wasnt 3 hours long. it was 3 hours long. 3+ actually. it was a beautiful parade, but nearly every float/exhibit was the same. dancers followed by a float followed by a band or music. the costumes had a very middle eastern feel to them. mostly traditional war costumes. the purpose of the parade was to celebrate St. Nicholas de Bari, but it did not have a christmasy feel to the parade. i kind of felt like i was in the "gladiator" movie. i know it sounds weird. the paraders made hand gestures that kind of resembled the gesture you give someone when you're driving and someone cuts you off and you throw your hands up like "what the heck??" comical.

after the parade, i walked down one of the main streets, and there was a small fair going on, mostly selling jewelry and little trinkets. apparently, 10PM on saturday is when everyone is out and about. i went to a store kind of like barns and noble, got an unbelievably delicious apple pasrty, and perused the books. i found a little wall-e notebook, but it was pretty beat up and i couldnt find another one so i didnt end up getting it. on my way back i stopped at a restaurant for dinner, and overall, i've been pretty disappointed by the food here. i was thinking it would be more like mexican food. besides the paella, its mostly sandwiches and eggs. so the place i went for dinner i would equate to like an applebees. i had a really tasty chicken seaser salad. and good news! a very large glass for my coke zero! not a little glass that is two sips like i'm used to in NL. :) good becuase i was really thirsty. i walked back to the hotel and got back around 23:30. i was going to stay out, but for whatever reason, i just didn't feel that safe. maybe it was the warnings on the travel websites i'm not sure. in any case, i decided to listen to my gut.

on sunday, i got up, took another blissful shower, and checked out of the hotel at 11AM. they held my bag at the front desk so i didnt have to carry it around all day which was great. i visited several small museums, including the Museo de Hogueras, the Bancaja Museo, and Lonja del Pescado Alicante. the Museo de Hogueras had exhibits of all these really cool cartoony floats contstructed over many years. There were also many photos of past princesses or some sort of female royalty. They were all wearing similar white dresses, maybe for confirmation or something. the Banjaca Museo was a very interesting gallery showcasing modern art-type works from past olympics. posters and drawings and sculptures. there was one show being played on the big screen that showed a football (soccer) game, but they had digitally erased the soccer ball and put in a textbook. so it looked like the players were kicking around a book. now that's art.

i perused the harbor and took a harbor ride in a little boat for about 3 euro. anything to not have to walk!! my feet and legs are actually really sore today hahah! i'm surprised! i've been working out consistently 3 days per week. i'm dying for some shoes i can tell you that. i took the bus to the airport, a nice 30-40 minute ride. got to see some other parts of alicante and the countryside. once you get out of the city, theres alot of industrial area, but mostly just open space. desolate even. made it back to the airport. i checked in about 2 hours before my flight, pretty standard i thought. i was so early that they hadn't even released the gate assignment for my plane yet. i perused the duty free area, which was rediculously overpriced, and finally about 40 minutes before the departure, they assigned the gate. i headed over. i was the first one there! most people came 20-30 mins before the flight. i thought that is cutting it pretty close but not by standards here. i don't think they have the long unpredictable security lines like in the US. plus this airport isnt very big. maybe a bit bigger than burbank.

flight home was nice. sat next to a nice dutch couple. young and in love. little kisses and whispers the whole flight. actually it was nice to see. i don't usually see any public display of affection from the dutch people. even hand holding is pretty rare! when we landed, i went to get my car and pay the parking, but luckily, the parking machine was broken! so i didn't have to pay the 30 euro it would have been!!! awesome! it took about 2 hours to get home, pretty easy drive, i think i was back around 11PM. exhausted. fantasic weekend. work tomorrow!!

Day 35 & 36 - Uitsmijter and a Flat Tire

Mondays. My favorite day! based on my lack of sleep last night, i'm expecting to be very tired today. but, i'm not actually. maybe its the 3 cups of hot chocolate before lunch. who knows. for Sinterklaas last friday, i gave robin and elisabet chocolate letters of thier first initial (a big chocalate "R" for robin and an "E" for elisabet) which is a really common present for sinterklaas. i aslo made robin a poem, which is also the norm for sinterklaas. in the poem, i wrote how its always cold in our room, and make fun of him how he's a really fast runner but yet he's always late, so maybe he should learn to tell time, and that i think he's smart and funny and i'll miss him when he leaves for holiday in january, but at least i'll get to turn the heat way up while he's gone. so he writes me one back, and it makes fun of me for always eating canned pineapple, my affliction for the baby-faced spinning instructor, how i'm always smiling and laughing even when he gives me these gross dry crackers to eat, etc. i will post the poems later but right now they're on my computer at work.

In the morning, robin and i talk about the recessmas (recession + christmas for all those of you living under a rock). its really not a big deal here in NL. but based on the national news, things are all wacked out in the US. i'm feeling anxious and worried. why? nothing in my life has changed. financially i'm right where i was a year ago (well minus about 20K that WAS in my 401(k)). i feel good about my job, if not in ventura then i feel like i could work somewhere else for Fugro. i feel happy that i got my PE license out of the way. i feel happy that i have enough experience to be an asset, but not too much experience that i can't be molded. i feel happy that i'm not married and don't have any kids and that i have the freedom to be flexible in my life right now. but yet i still feel anxious. i'm trying not to be, but its constant bombardment from the media, its more like a paranoia actually. ultimately i know this will pass.


so i had the uitsmijter for lunch and it was awesome as always. after lunch i finished up my sheet pile wall design and started working on my presentation for next week. i only have 1 hour and i feel like i could talk all day. i'm trying to get the outline together but right now its just all scattered thoughts. so much to say.


after work i head to my kickboxing class yay! i got my own bag this time, usually we have two people per bag, which is fine if that other person has rhythm (remember the woman last week with no rhythm??). its actually better with two people becuase then the bag really isnt moving all over the place because you're hitting it with opposite forces. so anyways, my knuckles are cut up again, but my body shots are getting really ferocious.


after kickboxing i took a quick shower and headed up to amsterdam for my dutch class. i'm starting to get the hang of the sentence structure and the pronunciation. i'm noticing a difference in my reading comprehension, and i'm able to pick up some conversation here and there.


on the way home from class, i drove right underneath a jumbo cargo jet. you know on the 405 at LAX where some planes fly right over the highway to land at the airport? and it looks so crazy how low they fly and traffic always backs up there? well there is an even better version of that here. a part of the actual runway/taxiway is built right over the highway. a runway overpass just for the airplanes. so literally i was driving on the highway, went under the overpass just as the jumbo jet was taxiing overhead. it was just a flat concrete slab, maybe 1/2 meter thick, with some simple supports. just high enough to let truck traffic underneath and just wide enough for the airplane wheels. nothing special. didnt seem like it would hold all that weight. what if the pilot steered it a little wrong? there weren't even any guardrails on the plane overpass!!


it was almost 23:00 by the time i got home. now i was tired. real tired. at some of my F pastry and went to bed.


Tuesday. wow it was really hard to get up this morning. i was having these insane dreams. can't quite remember, but usually i don't have dreams like this. it was like a pychological thriller movie. just enough to get your pulse going, mess with your mind, and leave you hanging at the end. actually, maybe that should be the title of my memoir. (see earlier posts if you don't get that joke).


i worked on my presentation most of today at work. i talked to adriaan i want more work i want to be more busy etc. i can't function unless i'm working all the time. for lunch they actually had cheeseburgers! of course i had to get one. how cliche. after work i studied my dutch homework for about 1 hour and then left to go to my spinning class. when i was driving over there (only about 2K from the office), i felt there was somethign wrong with the car. when i got to the gym, sure enough, i had a flat tire!! shit! i dont know how to change a tire, its dark out, its cold and of course raining. i discuss it with the girls, and the consensus is to get a ride home with elisabet and tell the mechanic at fugro tomorrow and hopefully he will fix it for me. sounds like a plan to me.


so the spinning instructor actually rode his bike today! bummer, i like when he dances around like a marionnette. class was tough today, i guess he's making up for lost time. he always says more resistance more resistance! but i can tell he's faking when he 'turns' the knob. what a fraud!! oh well. he can get away with it becuase he's so adorable. after class i endure the awkward 'see your co-workers naked' in the locker room and catch a ride home with elisabet. i made some chicken broccoli stirfry with rice for dinner. very yummy. well i guess you can't really call it stirfry, i mean i made it in a pot, but whatever, still yummy!!

Day 32 - Sinterklaas and the "F" Pastry

Well today is finally Sinterklaas day here in the Netherlands. That's right, 5 December, Sinterklaas comes and puts presents in the kids shoes (that have been good this year). Bad kids get put in Zwarte Piet's bag and whisked back to Spain! coincidentally i'm flying to spain tonight. i guess i must have been bad this year...

when i got to work this morning, there was a big box on my desk. a sinterklaas present from Fugro! so i open it up, and behold - a big pastry filled with almond paste, shaped like a big "F". hahahah! awesome!! the pastry is unbelievably good. i have a serious weakness for baked goods. the almond-filled pastry log is a popular dessert here. its good when you heat it up a little.

work was kind of non-work today. wouter brought in little cakes to celebrate his birthday. he sent an email out in dutch that said he was "today i have one more year older". but the word for "older" and "parent" is the same, so i thought he had said "today i became a parent". so i go in to his office and said congrats on the new baby and he looked pale. then he laughed and explained the mistranslation. he said later he called his girlfriend just to make sure she wasn't pregnant. haha!! at 3PM we all met in the hallway to have some drinks and snacks to celebrate Sinterklaas. And we all got to leave 1 hour early (at 4PM). i left right at 4 so i could get to the airport to catch my flight to spain. its normally about a 2 hour drive to Maastricht, but with Friday and holiday traffic, it was a miserable 3.5 hours. i mean miserable. stop go stop go stop go. but, i made it to the airport with plenty of time before my flight.

the airport was kind of in the middle of nowhere, it only had 2 gates, and the whole airport was about the size of a .... i don't know. it was freakin small. a bit bigger than the oxnard airport but not by much. i got some prepackaged nuts, some m&m's, and a water and read my civil engineering magazine while i waited to board the plane.

Boarding the plane was a fiasco. so first you go from the general waiting area to the gate waiting area. so, instead of sitting comfortably, now you have to stand in a line southwest-style (before they did the numbering system) for about 20 minutes. then, you go through an attendant who checks your passport. then you wait in another line. then, you go through a second attendant who checks your ticket. then, you wait in line for a bus that drives you about 100 feet over to the plane. where you wait outside in the cold to board the plane. note to ryanair.... hire a process engineer!! streamline!!!

the flight was nice. cramped. cheap. but worth what i paid and gets me from point A to point B. everything was plastic. no seatback pockets even, not even an airsick bag. no magazines. no drink service. no in flight movie. whatever, all i want to do is sleep. but, what they do have is LIGHT. the cabin lights are kept on the whole flight. shouldnt they be worried about saving on electricity?? during the flight they try to sell you stuff. lottery tickets. perfume. calling cards. swimsuit calendars. god dammit all i want to do is sleep.

so happened to be sitting next to these two students from the US (one guy from new jersey and a girl from SF). they're doing some study abroad program at a school near maastricht. i think they're art or drama students but i'm not sure. in any case, i didn't like them at all, not really because i didnt like them as people, i didnt like them because they were americans. the way they talked irritated me. the stupid crap they talked about irritated me. the way they said "ohhh my god!" and "like" every third word. how they talked about how one of them had a dorm mate leave mid-semester and never got it filled, so he had a single. "oh my god i hate you!" she said. no.. i hate you! now let me sleep dammit!!!

so i got the alicante, and the weather was perfect. it was pleasant with a light breeze. a perfect california summer night. got a taxi to my hotel. checked in. the hotel is very modern. newly renovated about 26 rooms. just what i would think a european hotel would look like. minimalistic. sleek. everything my moroccan paradise is not. here's some pics of my room. its small but perfect for me. the best part are the big french doors that open out to a patio that is bigger than my room! all for about 100 euro for the weekend. well worth it i think. its about 1AM and i finally crash. finally. sleep. dammit.

Day 30 & 31 - Addicted to Chocolate Covered Kruidnoted

Wendesday. Robin brought with him to work today a bag of chocolate covered kruidnoten. also known as crack!!! i'm completely addicted! a bag that costs about 2 euro is about 150 kruidnoten. its a special holiday cookie for sinterklaas (which is this Friday). they are small round brown cookies that taste similar to gingerbread. a relative of the pepernoten.

the kruidnoten are covered in white, dark, and milk chocolate. i like the dark chocolate ones the best. robin made me a little cookie dispenser out of the bottomless red cups we have at work. after about one cupful i felt so sick (i mean it was only 9:30AM!), but i couldnt stop eating them!!! then i had a big pancake for lunch with powedered sugar and syrup. ugh my body was hating me today.

Arnoud (hydrologist) came over to my office today to help me with a dewatering/sheet pile project. he helped me model the water levels and the drawdown etc. arnoud hardly speaks any english, and i hardly speak any dutch, so the entire exchange was quite comical. or at least robin thought so!! arnoud is a really funny guy, kind of like matthew perry on friends. i wish i understood his dutch jokes better :)

after work i drove up to amsterdam to meet sarah and monika for dinner before our class. we went to this cool cafe/bar and had the best dinner i've had in weeks! chicken skewers with peanut sauce, salad, and a baked potato. sounds simple, but soooo delicious. 'kip sateh' it was called. yum.

sarah is working for some christian/catholic church doing outreach and recruiting. she's worked for the church all over the world. her next trip is to romanio to assist with the deployment of goods and clothing to local childrens hospitals and orphanages i think. i would guess she's about 26 or 27. from minnesota. no accent. apparently she lost the accent while in college in florida. she has blond curly hair, about 5'5", wears wire glasses, very low maintenance. although she works for the church, she doesnt come across as overly religious or restricted. she has a nice genuine aura about her. her passport, she claims, only has two more stamp spaces. i'm green with jealousy. i tell her, my passport only has two spaces stamped!!!

monika is from sweden, and maybe i'm wrong about sweden, but she doesnt look like i would expect. she's very petite, maybe 5'2", very fair skin with jet black hair and ice blue eyes. she looks like a porcelain doll. she wears skirts with boots all the time. i like her fashion sense. she speaks very good english. she's her doing payroll services for her company "indefinitely". i would think she's about 24 or 25. she wants to go to check out brussels, so i think we're going to arrange a trip together the weekend of 20 or 21 December. Quidan (a cirque du soleil show) is playing its last weekend in brussels on the 20 and 21st, so i really want to catch that. hopefully we can work our schedules together.

class was good, learned more practical things again. started learning adjectives. class is moving very fast i still dont feel like i can really carry on even a simple conversation. hopefully i will start progressing over the next few weeks.

during dinner, sarah was telling me how she booked a flight on ryanair to morocoo for like 50 euro (roundtrip). so when i got home, i searched for thier website to find the cheapest flight for the weekend. anywhere. and i found one to Alicante, spain, for less than 100 euro (roundtrip). i booked it! Alicante is a gorgeous coastal city right on the mediterranean. check out the website. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alicante its more touristy in the summer, but i checked the weather and it will be about 15 deg (C) which is alot better than here (about 5 deg C). did i think i was going to spain this weekend? hell no! but i am. and its going to be awesome!!!

Thursday. woke up a bit late this morning and scurried into work about 15 minutes late. eek i hate being late. i was up so late after dinner and schoole and looking for flights. i spent most of today modeling my sheet pile wall again. i've gotten pretty darn good at this program. i even figured out how to model poured-in-place underwater concrete (fairly common here) with tie-downs, then pump the water down later and introduce hydrostatic pressure on the concrete floor.

today for lunch i had this really good corn soup. i think its worth mentioning. for dinner i had some sort of ham and cheese panini i grabbed at Hema (equivalent of like a mervyns but they also sell some food). overall pretty good food today. no choco coveredkruidnoten thank god. but, i did have about 4 cups of hot chocolate. actually, lets talk about the red coffee machine. i think i've mentioned before, but i really should buy some stock in that company. those red coffee machines are everywhere. the machine makes all kinds of coffee, capuccino, cafe au lait, espresso (i think??), and my beloved hot chocolate. its about 2.5 feet high and about 1 foot wide and 1 foot deep. when the lady comes every day to fill it up, its like the guy on the construction site who comes to clean the porto-pottys. most important person around. the machine makes a distinctinve whirring sound while dispensing the drink. its practically a perpetual sound around the office. the hot chocolate is perfectly dispensed in my bottomless red cup with just a little bit of foam on the top. its a little too hot so i usually pour some cold water in it and drink it right away.

i downloaded the new john legend record last night. you must get it. "Evolver". i think it's his second or third record, but he's produced/collaborated/written/played for the past 10 years on other people's records. ie. kanye west, jay z, alicia keyes, lauren hill, etc. he's won 5 grammys and he's really talented. i've been listening to his record non stop and i can't get enough!! great vocals. so mellow yet provacative.

i talked with adriaan today about doing a presentation about the ventura office. we scheduled it for monday, 15 december at noon. 1 hour presentation to about 50 people. i'm really excited about it actually. i'll work really hard on the powerpoint and it will be a really good presentation. i thought i would be nervous but i'm not. just excited really. looking forward to it! adriaan just laughs at me.

after work i headed to the grocery store and the bank, since thursdays are the only night open late and i will be gone for the weekend. got home around 8PM, packed my bag for the weekend, took a shower, cleaned up the apartment, did some laundry, checked in online for my flight, researched things to do this weekend in alicante. I'm SO excited about the archaeological musem in alicante! they have an exhibition right on roman civil engineering: "ROMAN ENGINEERING IN SPAIN: The exhibition Artifex. Roman Engineering in Spain aims to bring to light the great technological legacy of the Roman world. The display highlights the Romans understanding of different areas of technology, especially civil engineering. " wow i'm so lucky!!

Then did some blogging. now doing some sleeping. likely i wont update until i get back on sunday night or maybe monday, but i'll post pictures so it will be worth the wait!