A commuted Dutch lesson

4 months down in Antwerp now.

It is coming along well - cashiers and servers don't automatically respond to me in English now. The entire process is really helped along by being in a native region.

As a language, it is really growing on me, it's very expressive, almost like a pantomime. This exchange below is a perfect example of it. It was like public performance art...

A couple of weeks back, some of my fellow commuters - keen to see me progress, surely - listed useful phrases for me. It was like a role-play that we would have done for our Leaving Cert. languages.

Women A: Mag ik hier zitten?
Women B: Nee.
Women A: ...
Women B: Mevrouw! Ik heb gezegd dat je niet hier zitten kan!
Women B: ...
Women A: Mevrouw! Je hebt mij met jouw krant geraakt!
Women B: Mevrouw! Ik heb gezegd dat je niet hier zitten kan!
Women A: Ik kan zitten waar ik wil. Ik zal de politie bellen.
Women B: Bel! Bel!
[...]
Man A: Mag ik hier zitten.
Women A: Je mag! Je bent hartelijk welkom.⁰

This woman (Woman A) regularly gets the same bus as me. She's is not a morning person. She storms down the aisle, directly for the seat her mental game of Russian Roulette picks for her. The bus was not full, maybe 20% of the seats were free. Even the seat she picked was one of a quartet (two facing two). She just had to sit facing the direction of travel, even though the woman declined her request and the two seats facing away from travel were free.

After 5 minutes of bickering, sniping and misty-eyed nostalgia at "that time you hit me with your newspaper", things died down. A Stranger gets on the bus and asks to sit in one of other two seats. The entire bus could barely keep it together.

Naturally, despite the blow-up, neither woman moved until it came time for them to get off the bus.

Were this Ireland, I would be convinced that this charade was, well, a charade. However, since I have previously noted the mysterious mechanics of Picking Your Seat On The Bus In Belgium, I'll allow it. I can imagine how Sandra Bullock's character felt about getting on public transport after the whole debacle she went through. Of course, the bus didn't have to move for us for "It" to go off.¹

********

⁰Woman A: May I sit here?
Woman B: No.
Woman A: [The woman sits down]
Woman B: Madam! I said that you cannot sit here.
Woman B: [Hits Woman A on the leg with her rolled up newspaper]ⁱ
Woman A: Madam! You have hit me your newspaper!
Woman B: Madam! I told you that you could not sit here.
Woman A: I can sit wherever I like. I am going to call the police.

Women B: Call away.
[The bus reaches its next stop]
Man A: May I sit here?
Women A: Of course you can! You are more than welcome.
¹Oh no he didn't!

-------------

ⁱClearly an avid follower of Jason Bourne.

Doctor, doctor, please

When I finished my PhD, I had intended on writing a quick note on my hard learned lessons.

A mate of mine is beginning his own shortly and he asked me for some advice... so here I am...

Nothing new...

1. Every month or so remind yourself what your "end game" is - or what shape you want it to be at least.
2. When you find yourself getting nowhere, go talk to someone else about their research problems - a change is as good as a rest.
3. When doing a presentation, write a paper for it, not just throw together a few slides. What I want for myself, is, if I give a presentation or write something, that it fits comfortably within what I know. This generally requires knowing more each time. That means thinking about the literature, which I found best done by writing at length about the context of my research. As "3.5" I don't like showing "frayed edges" to people unless it is to actually talk about the frayed edges. 
4. Also - I found I did my best thinking when I was writing down what I had done in the past. Since i was writing about something that was over and done with - I had some distance on it and could see better what to do next.

So nothing new there, but one must give the ego what it wants - in this case it is being redundant :/

I have a couple of ideas for some more posts, I will probably not get time during the week to do them though, being all busy in work and interacting with people. Socially. I started tango two weeks ago. It is a lot harder than salsa. Seriously subtle stuff - I am rapt.