I'm Here! [or there...]

It feels great to be back in the Lowlands... when I arrived at the airport yesterday it was raining but Dutch rain never felt this good before and it's so totally different from English rain, I swear!

The flight was good, no problems, just the usual Squeezy-jet delay, this time caused by three passengers who were probably lost at customs or something. I thought the Squeezy-jet policy was that they refuse to wait for those who are late... Guess Squeezy-jet waited in case they might not reach their target this year. Anyway, there were some funny situations I ran into at the airport. One of them was a woman from Istanbul who kept asking me questions in Turkish even when I replied in English she kept talking to me like I was completely capable of understanding her. I did understand somehow what she was trying to tell me so I took her to the monitors, had a look at her ticket and noticed that her flight was delayed...

I tried to explain to her about the delay and she kept answering in Turkish. When I was about to give up I turned around to have another look at the monitor and lucky me it showed her gate number which was seven. I said to her in English: ''seven..., you... have... to... go... to... gate... seven...'' again she smiled at me and probably cursed me in Turkish, I couldn't tell. At that very moment I remembered Gods creation, one of his many wonders: fingers! So I showed her seven fingers to make clear to her that she had to go to gate seven. I then took her along with me to the train to the terminal. On the train she expressed her thanks to me by a sincere smile. So silly me, I tried to let her know that she had to get off at the first stop, again I failed.

I gave up, shut my mouth and used my hands instead. When the train stopped, I pointed out to her that she had to get off. I had to get off as well. So she followed me on the escalators until I had to go right and she had to go left. I tapped her shoulder and showed her which direction to go. She nodded and started speaking Turkish to me but this time with a huge smile on her face, which told me that she was honestly grateful... I must admit, it felt good to be able to help her out even though I heard an announcement a few minutes later that indeed her plane had been delayed by an hour.

When I arrived in the Lowlands C. and T. were waiting for me at the airport, it was really good to see them! I had to collect my bicycle from the storage unit so we drove there to find out that the tyres were fine so we shoved it in the back of the car and drove home. I was amazed to see all the graffiti along the ring road which wasn't there when I left, things have definitely changed since I moved, a shame... I also noticed a few more office towers that had been built during my absence.

Around 20.00 we left and walked to this restaurant called Haesje Claes where we had dinner. I had a starter which I have been craving for for almost a year: herring... and it was goooooooooooooood! I then had halibut with steamed vegs and a delicious mouth-watering Hollandaise sauce and a glass of white wine [no box this time! been a good girl]. For dessert a Dutch latte. We left the restaurant at about 23.00 and walked back home [about 25 minute walk]. Had a splendid evening! Thanks C. and T.!

I didn't sleep very well last night, due to noises that seems to come with the type of houses in Amsterdam. At five this morning, one of C.'s neighbours decided to run down the stairs probably with clogs on, that's how loud it was. Then another neighbour decided to do the same an hour later and some other neighbour decided to do some late spring-cleaning outside on her balcony which is right above my bedroom, so I got up since I was awake anyway.

I went to visit my mum today and took the train south, towards The Hague. It was good to see her, I left at 19.00 with my elder brother to go over to his place. He bought a house at the beginning of this year, a really cool place with old spiral stairs all the way up to the second floor. After he finished showing me around we went to the pub and had a few drinks. I took the train back to Amsterdam at 21.00 and arrived back home at 22.00 where I started to install some stuff on C.'s laptop. I promised her to have a look at her applications and settings a while ago because she couldn't get her email app to work. I fixed it *of course* and treated myself to a two hours internet session which has almost come to an end...

So I'm off to bed now because I'll have another busy day ahead of me! Hopefully they will wear wellingtons tomorrow morning instead of those bloody clogs!

ps I am currently typing this on a PC laptop and yes I am totally aware of this... so please no comments about PC users vs Mac users. Stuart if you read this: I don't want to hear a word...