Monday, November 26, 2012
On the Train
So I'm on the train from Amsterdam to Nijmegen right now and since I'm not doing my homework, I thought I might as well write a short blog post. I spent this weekend in Paris with my family. It was a great time, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have because I was so worried about meeting (surpassing) my family's expectations. You can't really screw up Paris too badly, but lil ole deranged me didn't realize that until right about...now. I think that we (or at least I) ruin a lot of things for ourselves. I don't know; I'll write a real travel writing piece about it some time.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
#servergirlstruggz -- Dutch Wonderland
November 12, 2012
I bet you guys all thought #servergirlstruggz were over. Well, you were...right. I am safe across the good ole Atlantic, having found refuge from the American tyrants of my former restaurant in the Dutch countryside. However, I still haven't been able to shake entirely my servergirl tendencies. Traveling costs money, so when an on-campus job working in our tiny dining hall opened up, I jumped at the opportunity. Of course, this job is a little different than my last one...
IT'S WAY BETTER. There's a reason why I titled this post "Dutch Wonderland," and it's because I currently work in one.
First of all, the people with whom I work are great. Yanto, Nellie, and Stephan are the sweetest people in the entire world. They always ask me about where I'm traveling, joke with me in English, and even explain to me the things I don't understand in Dutch. Stephan also gives me special treatment in the dining hall now, assisting me on my daily quest for the perfect apple. Even though they don't understand how my classmates and I can consume so much peanut butter (apparently we eat more than previous years), we still get along swimmingly.
Another reason why I prefer this job is that it is far less stressful than waitressing in an American restaurant. Here, I am a dining hall assistant, meaning that my main duties are bussing tables and putting away plates and glasses. Compared to the constant sprinting/fetching/computing/fake smiling/hating my life I did this summer, my autumn job has been heaven. I only have to focus on one task at a time, and I'm even allowed to talk to my friends on their way out of the dining hall.
So of course, everything about this job is perfect, except for me. Sure, I wowed Stephan by taking initiative by putting food away and cleaning counters without being asked, but that probably doesn't make up for yesterday's incident.
I broke a pepper shaker. The tables at the dining hall have been newly decorated with long vases filled with water and flowers. While I was bussing a table, I accidentally knocked one of these vases over, which, in turn, sent a pepper shaker flying. Besides the obviously audible crash, brown powder covered the floor. I was waiting for a stern look, some rolled eyes, maybe even a bit of backstabbing chatter but was greeted with good natured laughter. Nellie smiled at me, Yanto shrugged his shoulders, and Stephan assured me, "Don't worry; happen all the time." I guess they must have found my American ineptitude adorable. Even so, I felt bad for my mistake and my mess, so I quickly grabbed the brush and dustpan and got to cleaning. No scolding was had, no report was made, no suspension was given.
In fact, we're all still good friends.
I bet you guys all thought #servergirlstruggz were over. Well, you were...right. I am safe across the good ole Atlantic, having found refuge from the American tyrants of my former restaurant in the Dutch countryside. However, I still haven't been able to shake entirely my servergirl tendencies. Traveling costs money, so when an on-campus job working in our tiny dining hall opened up, I jumped at the opportunity. Of course, this job is a little different than my last one...
IT'S WAY BETTER. There's a reason why I titled this post "Dutch Wonderland," and it's because I currently work in one.
First of all, the people with whom I work are great. Yanto, Nellie, and Stephan are the sweetest people in the entire world. They always ask me about where I'm traveling, joke with me in English, and even explain to me the things I don't understand in Dutch. Stephan also gives me special treatment in the dining hall now, assisting me on my daily quest for the perfect apple. Even though they don't understand how my classmates and I can consume so much peanut butter (apparently we eat more than previous years), we still get along swimmingly.
Another reason why I prefer this job is that it is far less stressful than waitressing in an American restaurant. Here, I am a dining hall assistant, meaning that my main duties are bussing tables and putting away plates and glasses. Compared to the constant sprinting/fetching/computing/fake smiling/hating my life I did this summer, my autumn job has been heaven. I only have to focus on one task at a time, and I'm even allowed to talk to my friends on their way out of the dining hall.
So of course, everything about this job is perfect, except for me. Sure, I wowed Stephan by taking initiative by putting food away and cleaning counters without being asked, but that probably doesn't make up for yesterday's incident.
I broke a pepper shaker. The tables at the dining hall have been newly decorated with long vases filled with water and flowers. While I was bussing a table, I accidentally knocked one of these vases over, which, in turn, sent a pepper shaker flying. Besides the obviously audible crash, brown powder covered the floor. I was waiting for a stern look, some rolled eyes, maybe even a bit of backstabbing chatter but was greeted with good natured laughter. Nellie smiled at me, Yanto shrugged his shoulders, and Stephan assured me, "Don't worry; happen all the time." I guess they must have found my American ineptitude adorable. Even so, I felt bad for my mistake and my mess, so I quickly grabbed the brush and dustpan and got to cleaning. No scolding was had, no report was made, no suspension was given.
In fact, we're all still good friends.
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