The ferry journey was really rather pleasant. I won't go on about it: I shall just say that the cabin was clean and spacious, with sizeable bunk beds and an en suite shower room, and they fed us quite a posh three-course dinner and an English breakfast. I barely felt the ship's motion at all. Indeed, it was such a pleasant and relaxing means of transport that I would do it again, even though in the past I have had only the most unpleasant of experiences on ferries. Well done Stena Lines.
The most I have to describe is more recent - so much has happened in so short a time! I am this hour returned from my first-ever Dutch lesson and I think that the course is going to be marvellous. My fellow students are,without exception, nice, bright, keen women (no men in this class) who really want to learn Dutch and who ask sensible questions without looking like they think anyone is going to eat them for it. That last is testament to the atmosphere in the group. No one even gave me death-glares when I volunteered something in Dutch or asked a question that wasn't exactly to do with the point under discussion. Although they have all been in Holland for months and I only got here on Monday I think I have studied the language most out of all of us - after all I haven't been coping with an international house move with family/job/bills/etc into the bargain. The course book costs all of €95 new, which is pretty steep even with the included CD-ROM, but I am hopeful of finding a second-hand copy on the interwebs for much less than that. I didn't learn very much from today's lesson because my level is already about right for the first part of the course, but I will learn more as we go along and I really enjoyed the class - three hours passed like one! AND two of the group are Spanish au pairs who have very generously agreed to speak Spanish to me from time to time! Truly I have fallen on my feet.
Speaking Dutch grows easier with each passing day of practice. I have been on two shopping trips (three if you count yesterday when I got to the supermarket till and thought I'd left my money at home, only to remember as I got back to the flat that my money isn't in my purse because I haven't got a Dutch bank account yet and I'd had it all along; I returned quietly to the shops and chided myself muchly) and asked for assistance in Dutch from four shop employees, including one gentleman from a country other than Holland who, when asked if he spoke English, replied 'I barely speak Dutch!', which entertained me greatly :) Needless to say, the succeeding conversation is the most Dutch I have spoken with anyone but Erik since my arrival. I have an appointment on Tuesday to register myself as a legal resident in Leiden, for which procedure Erik has to produce a letter of permission formally stating that it's OK for me to live here. If it isn't this is probably a bad time for him to tell me, so I hope that the letter will be forthcoming anon.
The bicycle Erik provided for me to get to college today is far too tall: even with the seat at its lowest I can barely touch the tips of my toes to the ground, which is a very frightening position to be in at busy junctions, I can tell you. When I put this to Erik this morning he said, rather caustically, 'That's a standard Dutch bicycle. Do you want a children's bike?', to which I felt like saying 'Do I look like a standard-height Dutch woman? If it stops me rolling under a bus, yes!' but I didn't because he was being otherwise kind and saw me all the way to the college in the pouring freezing rain even though it meant he couldn't be early for work like he wanted. He really has been an absolute gem throughout the whole international escapade so far, and I have been trying enough, I promise you.
So after college this lunchtime two students (Rachel from America and Michal from Israel) and I went for lunch at a falafel bar (I know, I know, but it was really not inedible at all) and then Rachel took me to a second-hand bike shop she's known for a while and we found a low-frame ladies' bicycle for €120, which is not at all bad for a good bike. It has a dynamo that powers the front light as one pedals, and a wheel lock and a stand, none of which features appear on the one I've ridden today. I felt positively precipitous whenever I had to stop and (try to) put a foot down, so a lower seat will be a joy. Erik is going to stop by there after work and pay off the balance - I put down a deposit to make sure it won't have disappeared by the time he gets there. My plan was to get a bus to meet him at the shop and ride My New Bike home but the bus doesn't save much of the walk and I wouldn't know when to push the button anyway, so on the whole I'd rather not. Erik's new plan is to leave his bike at work and ride my little one home, if his legs aren't entirely too long. We may go to look at carpets this evening, as the nearby home decor shop is open till 8, though we'll see if I'm still mobile enough by the time Erik gets home with the aforementioned bicycle. The bedroom and my study both lack floor coverings and my study walls still need painting, so we do need to get on with choosing things. We're planning to have a look on Saturday but Erik's parents are coming round (Erik: 'Don't worry, they know about the chaos.' Me: 'Thank you, dear.') and I expect we'll be tidying up, and I might even be expected to cook (heaven forbid).
I don't intend to cook tonight, especially if it would mean walking or taking the scary bike to the supermarket to get fresh vegetables. We do have two sausages left from last night's tea and I could eke out a side dish from packets of rice and dried vegetables. If that doesn't suffice we'll manage on sandwiches, or else we could eat out somewhere or try a local taken-away food specialist. I feel like celebrating today because my last rent payment for my little house in Stoke (which is still on the market to buy and to rent, by the way, and is actually much nicer than the pictures make out) has been refunded to my bank account and Bramptons have authorised the refund of my deposit in its entirety so I will shortly be considerably better off. No need to splash out on luxuries in general, of course, but I think one meal out won't break us.
Good heavens I'm tired. Everyone tells me cycling is easier on the muscles than walking. I don't know about that, but I'm going to break the bike in over the next week before my next Dutch lesson, getting to know the area and learning how to navigate cycle lanes. I did find that my headscarf in its customary position limits my peripheral vision too much for safety so I'll put it up the way I used to in uni, tied around a bun. It'll still keep my ears warm but will allow me to see more people before they crash into me. I will also look out my gloves from whichever box they lie in - it was bitter in the sleet this morning and I would very much like to feel my hands when they are in charge of the brakes. Erik's bike is an 'oma-fiets' or 'grandma bike', with no brake levers - you pedal backwards to brake - but I don't want to be dealing with unfamiliar braking methods as well as unfamiliar road layouts and over-confident Dutch cyclists so I'm glad that my new bike is not one of these 'proper' ones.
Nap time. Goede middag.
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