National holidays in the Netherlands are either derived from Remembrance or religion. Many of them occur in May and June. This week’s holiday was Ascension. I don’t normally have many students on Thursdays so for me this would have been a day off anyway. I got an invitation that I could not refuse from my former student ShinWei. We met at an IMAX theater to go and see Top Gun: Maverick. I was not expecting much but I got to say I was blown away by how good the movie actually is. It had enough of the elements of the old film to be considered a sequel but definitely told new stories. I highly recommend it. My other takeaway is that Tom Cruise is a vampire, and was turned when he was filming the first Top Gun. The fun did not stop there, however. Jasper also had the weekend off and I was surprised when he sent me a link to rolling kitchens, a food truck festival here in Amsterdam. H doesn’t generally propose doing interesting things and I’m frequently on my own for festivals and the like so I jumped at the chance to actually go do something that he suggested. I combined it with a visit to a jewelry exhibition with my friend Nico. The agenda there was twofold: go see shiny pretty rocks and deliver a few kilograms of moon pies to her son Stirling which I had transported from the US. I got the best thank you note ever. Please note that in the picture below moon pies have been given a very exalted status.
Sunday was a regular workday with both George and Jerry and the Palestinian girls on my schedule. Or at least it would have been if George and Jerry’s mom hadn’t mixed up her days with a cancellation. We were supposed to meet on Sunday as normal and then we aren’t going to have a lesson today as there’s too much noise in my house from some workers who are fixing my windows later on. The girls from Palestine continue to be quite a challenge and I am struggling to give them lessons that are appropriate for their level. They are both being trained in school at a B2 level but they are not nearly there yet. They simply can’t string a sentence together and it makes it quite difficult to have a conversation. I have tried some teenage-focused lessons but these girls haven’t indicated any interests at all, besides shopping. There was some progress as Wesam who is 15 has expressed an interest in design. I am going to try to find some lessons on design to pique her interest. She’s also a bit of a self-starter so maybe I will try to discuss starting your own business as a language topic.
The Writer’s group was canceled because the library was closed for the holiday and I haven’t looked at my laptop in terms of writing since the week before I left for the US. The good news is that we’re thinking to do a live session perhaps on Monday next week which is another holiday. I am looking forward to reconnecting with my characters once again this Thursday and possibly one other day this coming week.
There was some not-so-great news from the eye doctor yesterday. While my right eye is back to where it was post-cataract surgery, my left has gotten worse and sure enough, they have seen a baby cataract forming. It’s too early to do anything about that so it’s a waiting game to see when they can actually operate. Fun times are ahead.
That’s all she wrote for this Inkreadable installment. But stay tuned. As always, there is more to come.
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