Tidbits and Short Stories

I love waking up in the morning and looking out my bedroom window.

The snow has melted over the past few days, and now the ground under the trees reveals the remnants of what must have been a beautiful fall.

On Sunday, some of us went into Amsterdam for the day off.  While Charlie, Kiana, and Daniel all stayed at a hostel for the night, I opted to come back to Apeldoorn so I could spend my entire Monday with no need to travel or leave the bungalow.  [It was in retrospect, a great decision: I slept in, blogged, ran, and watched the Janine Jansen documentary that Annette found on DVD.  I find Jansen, my hands-down favorite classical violinist, to be an absolutely fascinating musician.  Oddly enough, the documentary managed to make the life of a concert violinist both incredibly appealing and absolutely undesirable at the same time.]

A wall of speakers at their hostel.

Inside the Metropolitan Deli, what must be the world's most delightful chocolate shop.

I love how much Kiana is enjoying her chocolate-covered waffle, and how much Charlie is coveting said waffle.

Legit hot chocolate.

We approached a confusing intersection on our way to the Rijksmuseum, and stopped to pull out our map.  As we were consulting the map, a man walked up, said he lived in the city, and asked if we needed help.  He kindly pointed out where we were and which direction we need to go.  We thanked him and he said, quite politely, "I have a quick question.  I'm homeless here in the city...could you spare some of your change?"  So we, of course, gave him some change, especially because he had helped us.  Twenty feet later, we pulled out the map again to consult it once more (this intersection was truly that confusing), and were approached by a man who helped and ended up asking the same thing.  So we gave him change, too.

I appreciate their symbiotic entrepreneurialism, their I'll-help-you-and-you-can-help-me mentality.  If you need to beg for money, why not help someone out while you do?  It's a wonderfully thoughtful win-win.

That picture feels a little weird, right?  I had said to Charlie and Kiana, "Let me get a picture of the two of you in front of the canal.  I'll step out into the street when there are no cars and bikes to take the photo."  So, as waited stood along the railing, I stood on the sidewalk and looked down the street.  A man approached on his bicycle, looked at us, and began to slow down.  Since we were clearly tourists, I anticipated that he might offer to take the picture for us so I could be in it, too.  But as he approached, nothing was said...he just kept looking at us awkwardly.  Feeling the need to do something to break the tension, I stood on the sidewalk and hastily took their photo, which is why the camera is so uncomfortably close.  But, here's the weirdest part: as I put up my camera to take the photo, the guy on a bike proceeds takes a camera out of his jacket and snaps a picture of me photographing them, from 6 feet away!  Then he quickly tucked his camera back in his jacket and sped off.

...what?!  Who does that?!

Charlie, who then offered to take a picture of Kiana and me, was fortunate enough to have a clear street so he could step back for the photo.

Finally, it's been great being back in the Netherlands, not only because they have fantastic performing arts centers, but also because the design and sense of style in the dressing rooms is usually intriguing.  I submit, as evidence, this hilarious dressing room at a venue last week:

...because why shouldn't you hang hot pink, stuffed deer head over the mirrors?