erm, English?

Wednesday morning began with a light jog. And no, I don't exercise. In my weekly fight with the gate key (yes, I've managed to get it open without having to vault over, but it's always a little bit of a struggle) I watched the 52 bus fly past my street... insert here the stream of expletives that ran through my head as I finally got the gate open and went flying down the road. As I ran, fiddling with my purse trying to reach my wallet so that my chipkaart would be ready, I watched 52 come to a complete halt at my stop, "yes, he's seen me coming" I thought, relieved that I could take the sprint down a notch. Nope! I watched in horror as the break lights disengaged and the engine began to purr, the wheels starting to move forward. Resume sprint. I tore up to the side of the bus waving my hands like a madman. After a split second of "why doesn't this bus driver see me???" he stopped the bus and let me on. Whew. For the next few stops I tried desperately to get my panting under control and cursed myself for leaving my gym shoes at home...because sureee, I would totally work out if they were here.

After sitting in 5IB on Wednesday I had a nice long chat with my little Bammer student. He told me about half of his internship in Adairsville and the other half outside of Tuscaloosa. We talked about preferences in NFL teams and whether I would watch the Super Bowl (probably not). I've promised him that I'll make an Auburn fan of yet... or that I'll make the class watch the end of the Iron Bowl every day.

I left school around 17:00 to go catch my bus home. Sitting at the appropriate terminal, contemplating the use of adjectives (because I'm really cool and not a huge dork at all), I was lost in my own thinking until the terminal was approached by a cute little old lady. She smiled at me as she came close, so I smiled back. She stood for a moment, then let out a stream of incomprehensible Dutch in my direction.
"I'm so sorry, I don't speak Dutch" I replied. Normally at this point people switch to English or wave "never mind" and move on, but not this woman. Onward she plowed, grinning widely and spewing a string of words that I didn't have the slightest clue of what they could mean. I think she might have tried a few english words, but the Dutch accent drowned them out. Back and forth we went, her speaking in Dutch occasionally miming her intent, me smiling and stammering out answers to questions she may or may not have been asking. Every once and a while a lull would occur, and I would think "oh thank goodness, she's done" only to be re-engaged with a fresh string of Dutch. Needless to say when the bus finally arrived, we did not sit next to each other.

I did, in fact, sit next to a man well, he sat down next to me, who addressed me in English.
"This bus go to Bennekom?" he asked, showing me a Google map with directions to get off at one of the stops along the line. Perplexed at his accent, but relieved to hear some English, I assured him that it did.
"I have to ask, is it that obvious that I don't speak Dutch or do you just speak English?"
I took the perplexed look on his face to assume that English was not his first language.
"erm, English"
After a few minutes of awkward silence, he offered that it was his first time on this bus line. I soon learned that he was Syrian and had fled the country because of the war. He had just met with a lawyer to get his nationality switched over to the Netherlands.
Unfortunately, we reached his stop before I could find out any more so I just wished him luck and sent him on his way.


The past couple days I've been teaching with no supervision. Let me tell you, I am totally getting kicked in the karma for being a cocky little brat in high school. Boy, do these kids give me a run for my money. But the adrenaline of being in front of a classroom hasn't worn off, which I'm taking as a good sign. 

This weekend I'm taking the train and seeing what kind of trouble I can get into, stay tuned for tales of my inevitable adventures.