Let me show you around. We have the accounting department: Kevin, Oscar, and Angela
The "other" staff: Ryan, Kelly, Creed, Meredith, Toby
The sales team: Dwight, Jim, Pam, Andy, Phyllis, Stanley
And Michael Scott, Regional Manager!
Aren't these pretty much the coolest ever one-of-a-kind Office character paper dolls? That's why they get a place of honor at the top of this blog post. Just admit it: you wish that my sister was your sister. Then maybe she would send you rockin hand-made paper dolls and other such exquisite crafts. But NO! She is my sister, and you will all just have to envy her artistic skills, and envy the fact that, through the magic of the mail, her crafts now decorate my room.
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(segue)
Now, on to a few other things!
I know I'm expected to give a summary of Eva's birthday party here, so here it goes ;) The intricate Dutch/American cultural differences can be seen in the unique custom of...
You know what? Forget that. Our book of the title "Learning from the Stranger" told us to explore and enjoy the cultural differences around us in this *new* culture, and there is an appropriate time and place for that sort of thing. But I'm tired of always trying to find what's different about the things I do over here, and frankly after two months, nothing seems that much different to me.
So I don't have to say I went to a "Dutch" birthday party. I went to a birthday party. We ate pizza, we did crafts, we played a crazy game with the crafts, we played a more sophisticated version of the game Mafia, and we watched the Lion King. Eva blew out candles, we sang "Happy Birthday," and the pie and apple tart were out of this world delicious. It was fantastically fun, not because it was new or strange, but because it was familiar and normal.
My conclusions from this? Learning from the Stranger is good, but people very quickly cease to be strangers. Then you realize that some things -- friendliness, happiness, parties, Disney movies -- are not cultural, they're universal. And the things that make us different mean nothing compared to the things that keep us the same.
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On that note, I went to the ZOO today!
(cue the song)
going to the zooooo, zooooo, zooooooo
how about youuuuu, youuuuuu, youuuu
going to the zooooo, zoooooo, zooooooo
you can come tooooo, tooooo, tooooooo
Every once in a while, you should take time to take time to re-discover your inner child. (Actually, for me this past week it's been more than every once in a while...) Going to the zoo is just such an activity. I can't remember the last time I went to the zoo for fun -- taking the kids you nanny doesn't quite count -- and, really, what's not to love about looking at animals?
Here are Anna, Bonnie, and Deborah, standing beneath the winged gates that serve as a portal to animalian adventure:
Here's the niftiest part about the zoo: we got in for only 2.50! Being a VU student does get you some perks; the normal admission price was 18.50. But a quick flash of the VU student ID and our proof-of-registration cards, and we were in for 16 euros less than we might have been. How's that for a deal?
I could bore you with many pictures of animals, but that's what Facebook is for! Instead I will describe the zoo a bit for you. The zoo's full name is Natura Artis Magistra, but everyone calls it Artis. It was founded in 1838, and in 1883 the world's last quagga died there. Thank you, Wikipedia, for that information, and for teaching me that this is a quagga:
As I mentioned in the previous story, cultural differences were not all that evident. In fact, I won't even use that phrase anymore. Artis was your typical zoo, with maybe the only strange thing being the slightly outdated cages (but that could just be because the zoo is old). But elephants and gorillas are not native to the U.S. or the Netherlands, so they will look about the same when you put them in either place.
Like the birthday party, the zoo was more about fun than necessarily learning something. I am okay with that, since I already do enough learning in class. Speaking of class, here are a few things coming up in the rest of my week:
Tuesday:
All-day field trip with the Human Evolution class to a neanderthal excavation site in Belgium. Fascinating, new country, long day.
Friday:
Human Evolution final exam. I started this class three weeks ago, and in four days it will be over. So between now and then, it's study, study, study!
Friday - Sunday:
The Calvin group has the excursion of all excursions. We're going down to Zeeland on Friday afternoon, staying with host families for two nights, learning plenty of things, and then returning on Sunday night.
Monday:
I start a new class! My last class at the VU :( It's called Molecular Development, and it's going to be a zinger.
Now I'm off to pack my backpack for Belgian adventures tomorrow. Talk to you later, and thanks for reading!
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