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Adaptation

By admin, 4 October, 2014

Spending time in a different country reminds me a bit of when I changed schools in fourth grade. That has to be one of the most miserable experiences a self-conscious kid can go through. You don't know the rules, and everything is different and difficult. It isn't to imply that my way is the right way or best way; rather, any vacation or extended stay is not without the stress (self-induced?) of trying to "get it."

Staying in Holland this week was pretty easy, relative to say, Tokyo, where I might as well have been on Neptune for the first six months (Pay utilities? At a convenience store, of course! Pay rent? Bring the cash to a bank and transfer it! Be sure to buy your landlord a gift, along with the deposit money you don't get back). But even the Dutch ways are different. Paying for stuff, again, was a thorn in my side. American credit cards lack some chip, so you can't buy train tickets from the vending machines. Fine, it's probably best I go to the counter anyway. But for the local trains, I can't use bills either, only coins. So I spent probably 20 Euros on shit I really didn't need, just to make change for the chipkaart. It has gotten much easier, when I was last here, in 2002, there were these books of stamps that were needed to board a train, I could never figure those out.

I found a cool mostly organic market and picked up a dinner to heat up, but they only take credit cards. Never seen that before at a food store. Why? I was hoping to use my Euros up. I have been doing pretty well eating at random places, but I took one bite of the sausage and threw it away. They can't all be winners.

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