Into the Neverlands

Another wet day in Utrecht... How naive of me was to think I left the rain behind as the plane Dublin-Amsterdam took off a few weeks ago... My brand new screamingly yellow poncho is looking forward to be worn again while I'm pondering how long will it take for the bike to get all rusty if the weather stays like this.

The lack of posting is due to the fact that the past week has become a roller coaster of experiences and various thoughts that seemed to flicker through my head without any particular order - some of them resulting in an overwhelming joy of being right here at this particular moment, others making me reassess the past and the future. The following thoughts in a way are influenced by a few glasses of outrageously inexpensive and incredibly decent red from Buzet (4 Euro a bottle - this will make my vino friends in Dublin cry) which was purchased as a consolation after riding the bike in the pouring rain to the majestic Utrecth University library. It is majestic indeed even though I haven't made it to the top floor yet.

The Neverlands continue to dazzle me and one can only wonder how long this euphoria will last. Even though I'm trying to not overmythologise the place and the people I must say that everything has lived up to my expectations so far - the town, the amount of Belgian beers available, the people, my biking experiences, the university, the students, you name it. Some blogger described this as a country where nobody is ever angry. I must say it seems to be true. Even when I nearly bumped into another of those unthinkably tall cycling Dutchmans today. All he said was something along the lines of an enthusiastic ooaaop! And off he went.

On the other hand after meeting quite a few people from other countries during the past two weeks I can't help but feel an indescribable temptation to compare myself with others who have found themselves in the Neverlands. I guess it is part of our nature. Or is it just my nature stemming from the unknown suburbia of Europe roaming the Neverlands? Even though comparisons do not necessarily do us good, recent chats, coffee breaks and biertjes made me come to a few conclusions:

* I must definitely learn another Western European language (besides the Dutch) as my ancient lingua spoken by about 3 mln people is quite useless. Watching Belgians chatting away in French, then switching to German, then Dutch and back to English is simply incredible (and useful - do I even have to mention that?).

* I should read more and I must say that organising the time independently is quite a different experience. Waiting for a batch from UK's Amazon (thanks to the weak pound it seems to be one of the cheapest places to purchase books): this and this and a few more. Books in the Neverlands are unbelievably expensive!

* I should cut down on the amount of sarcastic jokes I'm using and should watch out what I'm saying in general more (a resolution at which majority of my friends would probably laugh - I wouldn't be me otherwise).

* Finally, I suppose I should stop comparing myself to the other residents of the Neverlands, perhaps quietly watch them instead and simply enjoy life regardless of my nature and theirs. I can't escape my own shadow I guess.

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Cycling in the Neverlands! I'm not raising ideological flags, but the feeling when everybody stops - the cars, the pedestrians, the trucks, the busses - is a blessing to anybody who comes here from abroad and mounts their bikes. After a few days of unconscious halting whenever somebody was approaching the path I was cycling on I finally discovered that when in the Neverlands, the cyclist is the king. Long live us! And on we ride...

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When in Rome... as they say. Got my bike, trying to murmur alstublieft wherever I turn and when I’m not sure whether the bike track becomes one way I follow the person in front of me. Sometimes this results in quite a few detours, but this is how I begin my life in the Neverlands: stupidly smiling to the questions I do not understand in the shop and constantly navigating myself: look left look right look left look right. It can be quite hard after spending three and a half years in Ireland where it was mainly right left and jaywalking as the roads in central Dublin are mainly one way. Jaywalking in Utrecht? Forget it! You’ll get knocked down, most probably by a bike. By the way, what happens when a cyclists crashes into another colleague during the rush hour on one of the main junctions? That was a nasty thought that crossed my mind as I was watching the caravan of bikes moving steadily along the streets of Utrecht today.

In terms of language problems, despite the fact that everybody speaks English here I feel terribly uncomfortable not knowing Dutch and I can’t help but think about Dublin.

After googling yesterday for a while trying to find other blogs about the Neverlands (a few of the discoveries are on your left hand site) I realized that every single of them seems to be mentioning the pivotal question: to learn or not to learn. Majority of them I have to say are in favour of learning, with a few very educational ones, i.e. Dutch word of the day. A similar blog in Lithuanian and Polish in particular is desperately needed in Ireland. While the expats are thinking about the necessity of learning the Dutch, the tragedy of many Eastern Europeans and much of misunderstanding happening between them and the Irish is that they do not even question the necessity to learn English but in the meantime whinge about the Irish round the clock.

Now the problem when you agree that you need to learn the Dutch, is how… ☺

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