Maybe I could call this home tonight...

Like a runaway! I have this habit to repeat the shit out of all the songs I really like. Than after listening to it a hundred times in a row I ignore them for a few weeks and the process starts again. My all-time favourite is Sia-My love, the piano instrumental. I love it! It’s so touching. I like music which makes me feel. Songs that I can relate to. However that one is put on hold because of my new addiction. Thriving Ivory-Runaway. I can’t stop listening. I can really relate to this song. I ran away a few times, was always back in a few days because I didn't want to fuck up my education, but just listening to this song...I wish I could. If I was certain I was not able to study medicine, or study at all I would pack my bags and go to England or France.  The last time I had my bags already packed, not to run away to a foreign country, but to stay in the woods nearby to avoid my home. The tension between me and my mother was a bit too much...Luckily that’s much better now. I worked too much and became insufferable. So three weeks ago I quit my job, dyed my hair, almost cut it short and just said ‘’Fuck the world!’’. Thank Buddha I didn’t cut my hair short though! I like it long, it’s a bitch in summer, but it keeps me warm in winter. Not that short hair doesn’t suit me, I had it two years ago. It’s just once it’s gone it takes a while to grow back.

Concerning my job I heard there are two new girls, quiet young, only sixteen or so. I’m one to talk I’m seventeen but still. I did the dishes, made smoothies, baked bread and scones, cleaned the kitchen and what not. I was the all-round interior culinary caretaker. In other words, don’t fuck with the kitchen, it’s mine. I worked in the basement and the cook worked upstairs in a much smaller kitchen. All the food was made and baked in my kitchen, it was also where all the machines are like the oven, dough thingy and cutlery. And of course my awesome sink and dishwasher! Whoohoo! The building where I worked was really huge. Looking in through the windows it looks really small, but once inside you can really see how big it actually is. There is a ground level, where the bar is at with the little kitchen behind a corner in the back behind the bar. The bar is also the first thing you see when you come in. Next to the bar there was a little isle to get to the kitchen nook and next to that was a staircase which leads down to the larger kitchen. There was also a staircase going upstairs to the first level that stretched out from the end of the bar to the little kitchen nook. A meter from the going up stairs there was another staircase which also went up to the first level. The two first levels were divided by a wall with a column that supports the roof. Next to the second going up stairs there was a going down stairs, but only a few steps. Not into the basement or anything. It was just a lower part. The bathroom is also there. There is another loo in the basement, but that’s for employees. And that’s about it! Wait, there are also a few rooms downstairs in the basement. In the old days those rooms were cellars. The ceiling is really low and roundly curved. I’m not that tall so they’re perfect for me, but one of the cooks has to duck all the time. My kitchen on the other hand has a normal ceiling. There are four cellars down there, the kitchen not included. And two of them are next to the water of one of the many little canals in Utrecht. In Dutch they’re called ‘’grachten’’ and I don’t know a single English-speaking person who can properly pronounce it! Just like Scheveningen, it’s a beach in Holland. I always say just puke out the word. It’s a really harsh sound. Grrrragrrrrten! I had a colleague from New-Zealand and he sometimes asked certain phrases like ‘’De broodjes zijn klaar’’ (=The sandwiches are ready/done).

It’s fun hearing people struggle with the Dutch language. The truth is though that most Dutch people can’t even speak it properly, especially grammar. Dutch grammar is a real bitch. There are so many rules, and then there are so many exceptions to those rules. It’s maddening! Also the spelling, exceptions everywhere! Luckily I have a spelling program on my computer… Another thing is that I don’t find the Dutch language overly flattering. It doesn’t have this melodic flow of French, where you can shout out the worst curses and it would still sound beautiful, or the opposite with German where no matter what you say it sounds as if you are going to strangle someone. One of the most funny languages I’ve heard so far is Maori. It’s the native language of New-Zealand and the sound of the words is absolutely fabulous! My old colleague speaks it and he taught me a few words. Most of them I have already forgotten but I do remember how to say hello and goodbye. Kia ora is hello and ka kite is goodbye. I have no idea whether the spelling is correct but mheeh. 

Yours faithfully,

Claire Quiem