Not yet integrated....
Hey hey! This week I discovered I'm not as integrated as I thought. Like every dutch person I planted rows of tulips at the end of 2004. At lunch last week I heard my colleagues saying their tulips are 15 cms out of the ground. I have acres of bare dirt. I asked what the problem could be. The next day Klaas says to me "aaaah Susan, I don't mean to be offensive, but you did plant your tulips the right way up??' I reply, "Are you serious?? Is there even a right way up for tulips??" Apparently there is and I planted mine upside down so they are growing towards Australia..... there's always next year.

I began with 4 working days a week in March. Sounds relaxed eh? So far I've been doing housework and waiting for new furniture to be delivered. Luckily, Gosia starts doing 4 days from April 1, so I've promised myself to have more fun from then on.

A few of us want to start a dance class (bikini season is looming). We heard about something called Salsa jam and popped along to watch a workshop on Sunday. Picture 10 fat ugly girls dancing like they're on speed and you'll understand why we left after twenty minutes. Gosia's exact words after 5 minutes were,"This is complete bullshit, I'm leaving". The rest of us stuck it out for another 20 minutes and left to grab a coffee and discuss why it is that the concept of rhythm and grace never caught on here.

Speaking of gracelessness, I had another run in with a volleyball girl on Friday. Well ok I had a run in and she guessed it was normal human interaction. Lenny and I went to watch the boys play volleyball. It's the first time I've been in months because I find watching paint dry a more interesting pastime, but it was the last home game and the boys love it if we come along to cheer them on. So Lenny and I decided to face it together.

At the agreed time I rocked up and sat down with Lenny to chat. We were combining chatting and watching the game and generally having a good time when I noticed one of girls who plays in the same club but for 'the ladies' (I use that term somewhat loosely here) was glaring at us every now and then. I now have a sixth sense for a 'moment' about to happen so I braced myself for impact.

It came after the second set. She turned to us and asked in the most patronising voice I've ever heard 'Do you two even know who won that set??'. If Jarno had said it I would have laughed, but her tone was just dripping with distaste and it's not the first time she's felt the need to lecture me on my volleyball watching etiquette. Last year she chastised me for bringing a magazine, somehow she didn't understand the connection of taking a magazine with the fact that these girls have been meticulously freezing me out since I arrived. I've lost count of the amount of times I saved a table in the bar for everyone and they walk straight past me and sit at another table (without even acknowledging I'm in the room). All my well intentioned attempts at contact have been met with an inexplicable combination of hostility, xenophobia and monosyllables.

Luckily, the guys at volleyball more than compensate for it. They're great fun. Really funny, interesting, relexed and easy to chat with. Half of them are dating girls from the ladies teams, I often wonder how those romances ever work?? Now we just have to hope that these ladies never find my site (or maybe it would be better if they did as my kicking ass skills failed me again on Friday and she got away without the dressing down she deserved). Gives me something to work on I guess....

Til next week,

Suze