Adaptable
If I had the time and the stamina, I would count all the new things (from foreign-language vocabulary to gadgets to rules and regulations) I’ve had to learn in the past 2 years and 10 months. Talking to someone recently about living overseas, I realized I’ve created three categories to help me handle my life: things I know already, things I don’t know, and things I don’t care to know.
Things I know already are my respite, a sanctuary. When my brain is particularly overloaded, I fall back on an old recipe rather than try something new. When I am a little homesick, I enjoy going to one of the places I’ve lived before – either in person or through pictures. When I’m trying to have an intelligent conversation and watch Rebecca at the same time, I will most certainly use English rather than muddle through in Dutch.
Things I don’t know are all around. Is this the right custom? Do you pronounce this word with the accent on the first or second syllable? Where can I find sweet potatoes? It’s so important to have people around me who can answer such questions or point me in the right direction. Or at the very least, not laugh in my face when I ask them.
And then there are the things that I just don’t care to learn. Like how on earth to get the rear windshield wiper to turn off on our car (the car I drive every two weeks, maybe). The other day, I just ended up moving the little joystick thingy that controls such things up and down and back and forth and every which way until the wiper stopped wiping. Works for me.
Things I know already are my respite, a sanctuary. When my brain is particularly overloaded, I fall back on an old recipe rather than try something new. When I am a little homesick, I enjoy going to one of the places I’ve lived before – either in person or through pictures. When I’m trying to have an intelligent conversation and watch Rebecca at the same time, I will most certainly use English rather than muddle through in Dutch.
Things I don’t know are all around. Is this the right custom? Do you pronounce this word with the accent on the first or second syllable? Where can I find sweet potatoes? It’s so important to have people around me who can answer such questions or point me in the right direction. Or at the very least, not laugh in my face when I ask them.
And then there are the things that I just don’t care to learn. Like how on earth to get the rear windshield wiper to turn off on our car (the car I drive every two weeks, maybe). The other day, I just ended up moving the little joystick thingy that controls such things up and down and back and forth and every which way until the wiper stopped wiping. Works for me.
posted by Beth at 4:32 PM
1 Comments:
you can buy sweet potatoes propably at the Turkish supermarket in veenendaal. I thought I saw them there ;-)
mmm....I tried to forget about sweet potatoes. There are so much things that takes extra effort if you want them from your previous life ;-)
Post a Comment
<< Home