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26/01/2012 New back before you know it

Sorry for the blog hiatus, people. I’m been busy preparing a talk for a conference tomorrow (my first as a PhD student!) and I’m too busy being scared I’ll say something stupid or at least decidedly not smart to think up blog posts. But, as always, I’ll be back! (Imagine me nodding earnestly here, it’s more fun that way.)

But in the meantime, go over to Kayla’s blog and check out her Winter Challenge. I’m even participating, as unfashionable as I am. Go look for me in the Flickr group, and expect at least one blog roundup next week!

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20/01/2012 sometimes I play along

Like today, with Young People in Love..

Sometimes…
     It’s hard for me to multitask. I don’t care that women are supposed to be able to do it, I can’t.
     I’m reminded of how much I love B. when I wake up in the middle of the night and look at him sleeping next to me. (Unless he somehow woke me up for the millionth time that night, then I tend to flop over to my other side really aggressively, rocking the bed so that he wakes up too. Which totally doesn’t work, he just goes back to sleep while I lie there. Karma, I suppose.)
     I feel self-conscious when I express an opinion and people actually listen to me. That’s the cue for me to turn red and shut up and assume what I’m saying isn’t important anyway.
     I am mildly dishonest when I don’t buy the extra ‘Zusatsticket’ when crossing the Dutch/German border by train even though I technically should.
     I can’t imagine a world without being able to lose myself in my imagination.
     I’m surprised that I still attempt to run every so often. I am so not a runner yet I’m determined to become one, some day.
     I get a little too easily wrapped up in watching new tv series, like Six Feet Under. (I’ve banned the series for the time being, at least till I finish my conference talk, due need week.)
     I indulge in guilty pleasures like reading cheap crime novels and eating popcorn, usually at the same time.
     I wish all things in life were as wonderful as walking out of a bookstore with a brand new book (oh, for a new-book-smell and a smooth, uncreased cover!).

not new books, but awesome because of the autographs.

19/01/2012 The Charming Quirks of Others

I read as much of Alexander McCall Smith as I can get my hands on. This book, The Charming Quirks of Others, is part of the Isabel Dalhousie/Sunday Philosophy Club series, and it’s lovely. The premise of all the Isabel books: Isabel is an independently wealthy philosopher and is the editor for an academic journal on philosophy. Her work of course spills over in her private life, and she finds herself examining events in her life with philosophic scrutiny. (She might overthink things a bit, occasionally. Perhaps I identify with her there?) So you read a lot about ethics and morals and the implications behind people’s behavior and interactions with each other. Also, she is nosy, and has come into the habit of taking on cases of a sort. Not as much detective cases as situations between people that need sorting out. In this case, three men are being considered for a headmaster’s position at a local school, but an anonymous letter has made clear that there is something in one of the candidates’ past that could hurt the school. Which headmaster, and what happened? That’s for Isabel to figure out. In the meantime, she thinks about love and infidelity, edits the journal, and takes care of her son, Charlie. All of which mayn’t sound very exciting, and perhaps isn’t. These are not exciting books. But they are worthwhile, in every sense of the word.

My description probably makes clear that these are ponderous books. Well-written, sympathetic, but ponderous. And that’s not everyone’s cup of tea of course. But I like them, I like thinking about the ethics McCall Smith posits, and I like reading the descriptions of Edinburgh thrown in on every page. I may like his other series better (the Corduroy Mansions series and the 44 Scotland Street series, and let’s not forget the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series), but Isabel and her overthinking personality are always a good read.

 

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15/01/2012 2011 in books – part two

If so inclined, you can find part one here.

60. Mormonism for Dummies – Jana Riess and Christopher Bigelow
Light dissertation reading. Actually a very helpful book.

61. Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett*
62. Snuff – Terry Pratchett
I read a lot of Terry Pratchett. His books are smart, nerdy, and funny.

63. Poirot’s Early Cases - Agatha Christie

64. She Went All the Way - Meg Cabot
This really was too mindless and I kind of want the two hours back I spent on it.

65. Murder at Hazelmore - Agatha Christie

66. The Year of Living Biblically - A.J. Jacobs*
A funny and honest look at religion and what following the rules really means.

67. The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth  - Alexandra Robbin
I liked this book for its concept of fringe theory applied to geeks and nerds, but it felt too self-help-y towards the end.

68. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents - Terry Pratchett

69. Boy Meets Boy - David Levithan
Quick, fun, young adult reading.

70. Hickory Dickory Dock - Agatha Christie*
71. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding – Agatha Christie

72. Rose Madder - Stephen King*
This book freaks me out, every time. All Stephen King’s books do, actually.

73. Bumped - Megan McCafferty
This was fine, but I was a little disappointed by it.

74. Finding Nouf  - Zoe Ferraris
75. City of Veils  - Zoe Ferraris
These two, set in Saudi-Arabia, were really nice reads. I think I appreciated them all the more for having been in Jordan and thus having had a taste of Middle Eastern culture myself.

76. Savvy - Ingrid Law
Fun, engaging read about magic and powerlessness and being human.

77. White Water Terror  - Carolyn Keene
78. Trial By Fire  - Carolyn Keene
79. Deadly Intent - Carolyn Keene
80. Easy Marks – Carolyn Keene
81. Stay Tuned for Danger  - Carolyn Keene
82. Two Points To Murder - Carolyn Keene
83. This Side of Evil – Carolyn Keene
84. Mixed Signals - Carolyn Keene
Apparently, I was going back to my youth by reading eight Nancy Drews in one go. I think the last time I read Nancy Drew, I was eight years old and being taken out for coffee by my dad (well, my dad had the coffee. I either had an oatmeal raison cookie or a gingersnap).

85. This World We Live In - Susan Beth Pfeiffer
86. The Dead and the Gone - Susan Beth Pfeiffer
These also freaked me out. I hope a meteriote never hits earth.

87. Interesting Times  - Terry Pratchett

88. The Guinea Pig Diaries – A.J. Jacobs
Not as good as The Year of Living Biblically or the Know-it-all, but still fun and typical Jacobs.

89.The Mysterious Mr. Quin  - Agatha Christie
90. Matched - Allie Condie
91. The Last Dragonslayer – Jasper Fforde

92. The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins*
93. Mocking Jay - Suzanne Collins*
94. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins*
These.are.awesome. Go read them. I can’t wait for the movie.

95. Coraline - Neil Gaiman
96. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling*

97. Under the Dome - Stephen King*
One of his best novels.

98. The Man in the Brown Suit - Agatha Christie
99. The Seven Dials Mystery - Agatha Christie*
100. Evolving in Monkey Town – Rachel Held Evans
101. The Body in the Library - Agatha Christie*
102. Peril at End House - Agatha Christie*
103. The Secret of Chimneys - Agatha Christie*
104. The Clocks – Agatha Christie*
105. The Labours of Hercules - Agatha Christie*
106. Thursday Next – Jasper Fforde

107. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows*
One of my favorite love/human interest stories of all time. In letter-form, no less.

108. Cause of Death – Patricia Cornwell*
109. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas - Agatha Christie*

110. A Stolen Life: a memoir - Jaycee Dugard
Not a very good book at all, but still worthwhile.

111. The Marriage Plot - Jeffrey Eugenides
Honest and cruel, yet with a semi-happy ending. Good job, Eugenides.

112. The Year of Living Biblically - AJ Jacobs*
Yes, two re-reads in one year. It’s that good.

113. Very Good, Jeeves – PG Wodehouse
I love me some Wodehouse. I bought this one during the trip to New York.

114. Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven - Fannie Flagg*
115. Standing in the Rainbow - Fannie Flagg*
116. Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! - Fannie Flagg *
117. I Still Dream About You – Fannie Flagg
I read all the Fannie Flaggs while waiting to borrow my dad’s copy of I Still Dream About You, which we also bought in New York. Fannie Flagg is one of my favorite writers.

118. Convergence Culture - Harry Jenkins
Dissertation reading, but oh so interesting!

119. 4.50 from Paddington – Agatha Christie
120. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding – Agatha Christie*
121. Easy to Kill – Agatha Christie*
122. Murder at Hazelmore – Agatha Christie

123. That Old Cape Magic – Richard Russo
Again, an honest and somewhat cruel book, this time about parents and children. I recommend it.

124. The Lace Reader - Brunonia Barry
A fast read but a little complicated, in that when the revelation came at the end I wondered if I had understood it correctly. An interesting look at contemporary Salem. Totally worth the three euros I paid for it.

125. Elephants Can Remember – Agatha Christie*
It seems appropriate to have ended the year with an Agatha Christie novel.

Final verdict of 2011? 125 books read (and recorded, I might have missed a few here and there), of which 39 were rereads, leaving a total of 86 new books read this year. I’d like to thank the Dutch and German railways for making this possible, I think I did most of my reading of trains this year.

Now on to 2012!

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12/01/2012 Sherlock Holmes

Last year, the BBC came out with three Sherlock Holmes stories, all set in modern London. Holmes has a cell phone and texts (cell phones actually play crucial roles in almost all the stories), Watson blogs, rather than writes, and the horse cabbies are all motorized now. It’s really wonderful, and B. and I have watched the episodes numerous times. This January, the second season begun, and we’re now two episodes in. Our only complaint is that it can be really complicated to follow the multiple story lines, but since that just means we have to watch them twice, there’s no harm done.

On a related note, while scrounging around the Internet for inspiration for a conference talk I’m giving later this month, I happened upon the KUER podcasts from PRI:Radio West, hosted by Doug Fabrizio. The first episode I listened to was about Sherlock Holmes, and it was riveting. Leslie Klinger was the guest, and I really want a copy of his book, The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes. They talked about a lot of things, including an almost secret society of Sherlockians, made up of Holmes experts (I think most of them are scholars, and they like to treat the Holmes stories as biography, instead of fiction. That’s intruiging, right there, and the inner academic in me wants to play along). But they also talked about Watson, and they were spot on in saying that Watson is central to the stories. Sherlock Holmes is fascinating, but you’d never want to be his friend and hang out with him. No, you come for Holmes and stay for Watson, and it’s only through him that the stories are accessible.

I’d go as far as to say that most of the humanity that Holmes exhibits is accessed through Watson. It’s a very different relationship than, say, Poirot and Hastings in Agatha Christie’s novels. Hasting muddlings are a neat counterpart to Poirot’s vain murmurings, and you need him to access the story since everything happens in Poirot’s head, but Poirot can (and does) exist without Hastings and yet be Poirot. Holmes can’t, not in that way. Not even in the modern, virtual version. Okay, enough with the literary criticism.

Anyway, if you like podcasts, go add this one to your iTunes. It’s accessible, smart, engaging, and, as far as I can tell, about any random thing that can happen on this earth. This should make for a neat array of interesting tidbits you can drop into any awkward social situation, ensuring that while you still seem awkward, you at least seem smart and awkward. That’s a win, right?

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06/01/2012 2011 in books – part one

Voila, the first half of the books I read in 2011. I should probably start doing this by quarter to spare you guys..in any case, I resisted the urge to write something about every book as that would make my head explode, and yours as well, probably.

1. A Novel Bookstore - Laurence Cosse
A lovely book to start off the year. Erudite, well-written, with enough suspense to keep me going.

2. Bite Me: A Love Story – Christopher Moore (audio)*
My kind of love story, with all kinds of weird elements thrown in. Plus, the narrators were awesome.

3. Truckers – Terry Pratchett
A new Terry Pratchett for me. Reminded me a bit of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh.

4. American Chinatown: A People’s History of Five Neighborhoods – Bonnie Tsui
I read this back when I thought I was going to write my dissertation about food in Chinese-American literature. Very engaging read – it made me want to learn Chinese.

5. Corduroy Mansions – Alexander McCall Smith
I absolutely adore Alexander McCall Smith’s serialized novels, and this serie is no exception.

6. J. Kessels: the Novel - PF Thomese
Read it in Jordan, but kind of wished I hadn’t.

7. Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek – Thea Beckman*
Read it in Jordan and was glad I did. My first introduction to an e-reader (thanks, Joanne!) and one of my favorite children’s books of all times.

8. Over Geluk - Twan Huys
9. Thief of Time – Terry Pratchett*

10. Along for the Ride - Sarah Dessen
My first Sarah Dessen. I was very pleasently surprised.

11. Many Waters - Madeleine L’Engle*
12. An Acceptable Time - Madeleine L’Engle*
13. We Are What We Eat. Ethnic Food and the Making of Americans - D. Gabaccia

14. Under the Dome – Stephan King
Creepy. Violent. Honest. I read it again, later this year, it was that good.

15. Partners in Crime – Agatha Christie*
The first of many Agatha Christie novels this year. What can I say? I like her writing and Hercule Poirot has really started to grow on me.

16. N or M? – Agatha Christie*
17. Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie*

18. Picadilly Jim – PG Wodehouse
Wodehouse is one of my favorite humor writers. I can’t get enough of him.

19. This Land is Our Land: immigrants and power in Miami - Alex Stepick et al.*
I read this book when I thought I was going to write my dissertation about Miami. I went through a lot of dissertation topics before I settled on “my” Mormons. I originally read this book for my studies in Berkeley, it’s amazing. Go read it.

20. Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie*
21. An Overdose of Death – Agatha Christie*
22. Trace – Patricia Cornwell
23. Wishin’ and Hopin’ – Wally Lamb

24. The Starter Marriage – Kate Harrison
I think this book tried to be more than chick-lit, but it didn’t really work for me.

25. Op Weg Naar Zoar -  Sela

26. Diggers – Terry Pratchett
27. Wings – Terry Pratchett
Part two and three of the Bromeliad series.

28. City on the Edge - Alex Stepick

29. Girl of the Limberlost - Gene Stratton Porter*
One of my favorite books of all time. I think I read it at least once a year.

30. Je Blijft - Anna Drijver
31. Feet of Clay - Terry Pratchett*

32. Zomerhuis met Zwembad – Herman Koch
Disappointing after all the hype. I’m not sure I want to read his other book now.

33. Clausowitz - Joost de Vries
So worth it.

34. March – Geraldine Brooks
Interesting and engaging. Written from the viewpoint of Mr. March, you know, the father in the “Little Women” family.

35. Star Island - Carl Hiassen

36. Het Pauperparadijs - Suzanna Jansen
Emotional family novel about poverty.

37. These is my words - Nancy E. Turner
Not always very well-written but always gripping.

38. Little Men – Louisa May Alcott*

39. The Well of Lost Plots - Jasper Fforde
40. Thursday Next - Jasper Fforde*
41. Lost in a Good Book - Jasper Fforde
I like Jasper Fforde. In case you hadn’t noticed.

42. The Cat Who Saw Stars - Lilian Jackson Braun
43. The Cat Who Robbed a Bank  - Lilian Jackson Braun

44. Gunn’s Golden Rules – Tim Gunn
B. and I were watching Project Runway during this time. “Make it work!”

45. The Seduction of the Crimson Rose - Lauren Willig
46. The Tempation of the Night Jasmine - Lauren Willig
47. The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde

48. Keeping the Moon – Sarah Dessen
49. Dreamland – Sarah Dessen
50. That Summer – Sarah Dessen
The summer of Sarah Dessen.

51. Big Boned – Meg Cabot
52. Size 14 isn’t fat either – Meg Cabot
I can’t help myself. I like her books.

53. The Wednesday Wars – Gary D. Schmidt
54. Okay for Now – Gary D. Schmidt
My two favorite books of the year. Hands down.

55. Lock and Key – Sarah Dessen
56. What Happened to Goodbye – Sarah Dessen

57. The Mysterious Benedict Society – Trenton Lee Stewart
58. The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey – Trenton Lee Stewart
59. The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma – Trenton Lee Stewart
These were so much fun!

Tell me, what was your favorite book of 2011?

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04/01/2012 hindsight

I wanted to do some kind of 2011-round up, but I couldn’t find the right format. Finally, I borrowed these questions from Holly, who borrowed them from Sundry. Only they were a bit quicker about this than I am. But since it’s not January 6th yet and I can still wish you a happy new year with an unemcumbered heart, I’m going to post them anyway. Enjoy! And feel free to leave your own responses in the comments. 

via Pinterest

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
I was going to say, move to a foreign country but that’s not entirely true. But I’m sticking with the foreign thing – travel to an Arabic country. Going to Jordan was exhilarating and disorientating – and I loved every minute, even the corny camel ride.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I refuse to do New Year’s resolutions, so I didn’t make any. Sorry.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

A friend from high school. And several college acquaintances all got pregnant at the same time. B. freaks out when I talk about kids, though, so I can’t mention it too often or he gets a really worried look on his face.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My cousin, Paul. Five days into the new year. One year ago this week, in fact.

5. What countries did you visit?
Jordan, France, Belgium, Germany, and the US (New York). Oh, and a lay-over in Riga, Latvia on my way to Jordan, does that count?

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
My driver’s license. It’s been tough going and I curse the Dutch custom of driving stick shifts and making us all spend at least a thousand euro’s on our licenses. It better be worth it when I finally hold that card in my hands!

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Well, January 5th, because of Paul’s death. June 6th, because it was our first anniversary. Other than that, I’m not sure. Apparently I don’t pay attention to specific dates.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Moving in with B., even if it is on a part-time basis. For two people as complicated and with as much baggage as B. and me, it’s a pretty big accomplishment that we haven’t killed each other yet.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Finding a job after graduation. It took me six months and even then it was only a secretary position. Don’t get me wrong, I learned a lot about office politics and rejoiced in each and every paycheck (there’s nothing like the powerlessness of being on government benefits to make you appreciate earning your own money!) but it wasn’t exactly how I envisioned life after graduation. It’s a good thing that I was applying to grad school, or I would have questioned why, exactly, I was so proud of graduating cum laude since it clearly wasn’t of any use in the real world.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I hurt my back. It still hasn’t fully recovered and I’m a bit wary about lifting heavy stuff, now. Otherwise, I think I was okay. My mom was in the hospital enough for the whole family, I guess.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Food, lots of glorious food. B. and I would go on food-shopping dates, like the one in Rotterdam or the time we biked to Kleve, Germany, or just in town itself to the international stores scattered about or to the local grocery store to take advantage of the post-Christmas sales. What can I say? We like to eat.

12. Where did most of your money go?
Not to books. Unemployment (September 2010 till March 2011) meant my book budget was severely curtailed and it never really recovered. I just ordered a bunch of books for my dissertation project and you would not believe the thrill when they arrived.

13. What did you get really excited about?
Mormons. A bit of an odd answer, perhaps, but researching Mormon culture and religion for my dissertation application brought so much joy to my life – I felt at home with books and academics in a way I hadn’t felt about anything after graduation. Also, that my trip to New York included both the J.P. Morgan Library and The Book of Mormon musical. Yes, I am a nerd and I am fine with it.

14. What song will always remind you of 2011?
“Zo Stil in Mij”, by Van Dik Hout. It was played at my cousin’s cremation and it reminds me of that day every time it’s played.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder? Thinner or fatter? Richer or poorer?
Hmm, happier, I think? It was a weird year for me, things fluctuated a lot as I tried to find my place in the world. I lost and gained weight, so that was a wash, and although I worked full-time for the last half of 2011, the earlier unemployment and grad school now kind of cancels it out. So I’m going with happier, so I come out ahead on at least one account.

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Pray. Perhaps go to church, although I’m not sure about that part. My non-new year’s resolution this year is to at least attempt to figure out religion, to find a way in which church and God and I can get along, hopefully.

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Worrying. Projecting my fears upon other people. Arguing with B. over trivial matters. Filing at work.

18. How did you spend Christmas?
On a train. The 23rd was for my dad in Leiden, the 24th and 25th for my mom in Groningen, and the 26th for B.’s family in Wageningen. All that travel killed me.

19. What was your favorite TV program?
True Blood, BBC’s Sherlock Holmes, The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Chuck, Criminal Minds, and NCIS: LA. I told you, I watch a lot of TV.

20. What were your favorite books of the year?
I read over a hundred books this year, thanks to my hour’s commute each way to work, trains in general and my Kindle. This was the year of Agatha Christie, as I read almost her entire oeuvre. Also, I fell in love with The Wednesday Wars and Okay for now.

21. What was your favorite music from this year?
Josh Ritter, whom I saw in concert twice. I hardly ever go to concerts, so you can imagine how much I like Josh Ritter to go twice. Also, Bach’s cello suites, in pretty much every recording. They make me homesick every time for the time I still took cello lessons, but they are also transcendental enough to take me out of myself, and for this, I adore them.

22. What were your favorite films of the year?
Away we go. And the final Harry Potter.

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 24 and I don’t really even remember. I’m pretty sure I baked a cake or two and I think my sisters came to dinner.

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Being employed in such a manner that actually required some brain power.

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
Layers, skirts, colors, and cardigans. Something like that.

26. What kept you sane?
B., the prospect of grad school, and therapy. 2011 is also the year that I stopped going to therapy, after two years of continous sessions. That felt good.

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.

Um, just keep breathing? Although I’m pretty sure I already knew that. A bit of a disappointing end, I know, but I kind of distrust big life lessons, so there you go.

30/12/2011 even more holiday cheer

So I hope you already know this, but right after Christmas is a very good time to go grocery shopping, if you’re like us and on a tight budget but like eating well. Yesterday, we made the long bike trek to the Albert Heijn on the other side of town and cashed in on all the lovely discounted products. When we got home, the poor fridge had to endure being stuffed to the gills, and we’re looking forward to some good eating: lobster, rabbit, salmon, turkey, scallops (marinated two ways), chocolate raspberry pies, and some sushi, which became our lunch before we biked back home.

We’re eating the turkey tonight, with some leftover brussels sprouts. It’s the rabbit’s turn on Sunday, as we’re making rabbit and leek pie from Jamie Oliver’s Great Britain cookbook (my mom’s Christmas present to me). After that, who knows? The possibilities are endless. I did make B. promise not to eat any of the good stuff without me, as I head back to Germany on Monday. I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes, opening the fridge every night and seeing all the good food you can’t touch would not put me in a good mood. It’s a good thing B. has been blessed with a whole lot more patience than I have or I might come home to an empty fridge.

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29/12/2011 Christmas break

Today, B. and I took advantage of Christmas break and walked around town together. (Amazingly, we weren’t the only ones, it was packed. It took us three tries to find a place to have some coffee, as all our favorite spots were filled up tight. Which makes me far less charitable to other shoppers, I have to say. Peace and goodwill to all men, until they impede my coffee-drinking progress, apparently.) We wandered from store to store, making a stop at the library (yay, new books to read! Richard Russo’s That Old Cape Magic is now lying next to me) and our local chain bookstore. And there we struck gold, as they were having a “75% off” sale. Do you know how cheap books become when they’re 75% off? I kept looking at my phone’s calculator in disbelief: am I really only going to pay 3 euros for this book? (I kind of doubted my math skills – seriously, simple arithmetic is not my forte – until we went to the register and our discount was more than sixty euros. That was a very good feeling.)

This was our haul:

The big hardcover book is a real treasure, the food photography within is so gorgeous I’m seriously considering buying an extra copy and cutting out several pages to hang framed on our still bare walls. I know, I know, cutting up books is morally questionable, but I might just do it anyway.

And the best part? At the register, B. surprised me by telling me those books were his late Christmas present to me. Wasn’t that nice of him?

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23/12/2011 christmas cheer

You know why Christmas is always interesting in my family? Because we mostly use public transportation to get everywhere. (What, you thought some cool family traditions or perhaps an out-there church service or maybe even really hip food on the table? No, sorry.)

I take a lot of public transportations, mostly in the way of trains. So I also experience a lot of delays, as that’s how it works. This week alone I went up to Groningen, from Groningen to Dortmund, back from Dortmund to Nijmegen, and today from Nijmegen to Leiden. The ride up to Groningen went fine, but I managed a two-hour delay on the second trip, a train that completely quit on us fifteen minutes before the Dutch border on the third trip (necessitating a cab ride to aforementioned border so we could catch the train from there) and, just now, a train that kept starting and stopping and finally had us change into the next one up (they run every half-hour). So, that was fun.

It also bodes well for the coming days, as tomorrow we’ll be going from Leiden (dad) to Groningen (mom), then Sunday back to Nijmegen, then Monday to Wageningen (B.’s mom) and back to Nijmegen. And then we’re staying home for a while.

Luckily B. and I are patient train-travelers, and we like to people watch on those occasions that it all goes wrong. Some mutter to themselves, angrily, most go call their significant others that they’ll be late, and sometimes, when it’s really bad, the passengers will all band together and you’d almost fear mutiny. Good times.

Christmas tree at Groningen Central Station
Image via Wikipedia

In any case, I wish you all a very merry Christmas! (Alas, I have not made one of those Christmas cards with a smiling B. and me on the cover. Perhaps next year…although, since B. positively abhors that kind of thing, perhaps not. We will have to see.) I hope your Christmas brings you lots of good food, rest, and family, perhaps not in that order.

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