Sunday, June 24, 2007

The Netherlands, day 6

While Sandy was taking the kids to school and doing her household stuff, I checked my mail and stuff - and got two sales on etsy. More, people, more! you need my thingies for sure, admit it.
We planned to go and see Boijmans van Beuningen collection, other part of the quest was to find a spf50+ sunscreen, the pan for those little Dutch pancakes and maybe something else of interest.
We found out that Boijmans van Beuningen museum is for free on Wednesdays. Yesterday we were just hanging around so today we had to cough up nine euros each. The Dutch have no student discounts which is not nice from them,for that matter. I knew Boijmans van Beuningen as a good collection of modern art but there was sooo much medieval stuff and so nice! I got the gallery guide so one day I can peel the plastic off.... anyway, I had fun. I love old art. There was even lots of Italian works.
The pan thing is called poffertjepan. Hope I got that right in writing, Dutch is sort of weird. I guess that I could get into it soon, though, if I tried. I did not, really. I will not say that I'm able to learn a language in like three months, someone would for sure say that it's intellectual pride and that pride is a mortal sin and that I'm just a boasting nerd... regardless that it is true. We couldn't find the pan in question in the housewares store... Sandy commented bitterly that the Netherlands are full of whoever but the Dutch and all those people from wherever just don't make the poffertjes. And that they get social support and free courses and she, guilty of being born Dutch, has to cough up for courses... which she doesn't because she cannot afford it and thus she cannot find a decent job and that it's not fair. Welcome to the politically correct world where people from outside the EU can work anywhere in the Union if they have permanent residence in there whereas I, member of the EU state and with a permanent residence there, will have problems in half of the states. It doesn't mean that the immigrants should be all shot but.... Feel free to accuse me if racism and intolerance. I'm not racist and I'm relatively tolerant but not to bureaucracy and their inventions.
Anyhow, we saw the Cube Houses. I have no idea how they are organized inside but they look cool.
I got a spf50+ sunscreen and whenshopping for it, I found the hair dye my mom adores, something by L'Oreal, I guess, that makes two shades. Expensive like hell, brought it from Italy the other day and Mom just adored it.
I like gifts that are used up. Next time I can bring a new chocolate or hair shampoo (my Dad is in the critical age of observing one's hair for fallout - not his case - and graying - he's gray but no-one can see it from more thanhalf a meter distance since he's pretty blonde.... but any hair gloss, hair growth pills or just anything of that sort makes him happy. He believes in nettle extract, too. so when I plundered The Body Shop in Amsterdam, one of the things we don't have here either, I grabbed a bottle of nettle herb shampoo for him...). So, with gifts nicely solved and a few other bags, we returned for Sandy's house, I was cuddling the cats and chatting and stuff and waited for some news from the guys who had to pick me in the late afternoon. The phone rang and I picked it, thinking that it's them.
"National Register of Animals, are you Ms. So-and-so?" I thought it was some database checking or something.
"Yeah, I am but whatever you need, make it quick, I'm in Holland."
"Oops, that's a problem, your cat is in the shelter...."
I kept calm, although I wasn't sure how I managed not to explode. My not so dear flatmate (Juha is Juha....) was to take care of three things: feed Tähti, water plants and not to destroy the house. Well, she might have fed her but she lost her. Killkillkill. I told the Register lady that I'll text her with flatmate's number and that they arrange it with her. I had a message exchange with the flatmate which made me totally enraged - she left the window wide open overnight, the cat disappeared, she looked for her and she's so sad now. How nice. I didn't ask when she planned to tell me, I just told her to pick the cat from the shelter.
Sigh.