So I went to the IND today. The IND is the place for all your immigration affairs. I have to go there because I am filing for a 1 year residence permit via having a job (work permit). The sad thing is, the school that says will hire me, they did not file their vacancy with the CWI (The Center for Work and Income, I think) until recently, when they should have done it WEEKS ago. The rule is that in order to hire someone that is not from the Netherlands or in the EU, the company has to file for vacancy and the posting has to be up for at least 6 weeks. After 6 weeks and the company did not find an appropriate applicant, then they make start to look (and hire) for someone outside.

Sadly, the school did not file for the vacancy early enough…and my deadline to be in the NL legally ends soon…. Afterwards, my stay here is quite…illegal. I am quite saddened by this! We are also looking for other options, but anything else will just take as much time.

Luckily, there won’t be a cop coming to take me away come my deadline and stick me on a plane with a bill for the plane ticket and send me off. Yet….

I don’t know what to do. And the poor kid who needs a teacher assistant! The young boy has epilepsy, and they were going to hire me to be his aide (as well as the teacher’s)…but now this….

And then with Yorick starting a new job…the circumstances are just grim. I would love to see my parents, but so soon? I’d like to stay in the Netherlands so I can be with Yorick!

Yesterday, we went swimming! It was me, Yorick, and two of his friends: B and J. I don’t know how to swim, so their mission was to teach me how to swim.

B is a swimmer, and J and Yori both can swim, so it was nice to have 3 lifeguards around. I had a lot of fun! I made a lot of progress in swimming than the last 20+ years in learning how to swim. My family finds it hard to teach me stuff like biking for instance. It took a long time for me to learn how to bike! My dad even got training wheels for me, but I hated those blasted things, haha. So when they were trying to teach me how to swim…well…. I think part of it was that my parents were not comfy wearing a bathing suit or showing their body. So my siblings all tried to teach me how to swim. Mostly my brother. But my brother being the teenager he is, gave up after a bit, haha. Come to think of it, I don’t think any of my siblings are really good swimmers, but they can swim, whereas I sink.

So, I am happy! I was able to swim without much aid (like floaters). It is very tiring though! But I think it’s also because I get frantic that I would sink and DROWN…that I swim like a maniac. B was telling me to relax and just do it naturally. I try…but I still get frantic because I get scared…I really get scared of drowning. But I was very happy to know I can trust those 3 to save me if anything happens.

At that swimming place, they even had a recreation area that included 1 cool slide. I liked the slide and went 2x. I even dipped into the jacuzzi…though I was by myself. I wish Yori would go in with me, but there were these jacuzzi hogs.

Ahh, well, I am happy with my progress in swimming. They said that we should go again so I can be better, then we can go to some place called Tiki Island or some name like that. It’s a water park, you know, the kind with slides and stuff. Yori says there are a lot of “Emma-friendly” slides there. Yes, that is good.

I’m watching the Olympics opening ceremony now. Some Chinese guy is giving a speech now, after the parade of nations. Ahaha, I love the Olympics! I’m looking forward to watching diving, swimming, gymnastic, etc.

In honor of the event, I have put in an Olympics Medal Table to keep track of all the medals won.

Let the games begin!!

Last night, I had a very gross nightmare. Just…thinking about it gives me goosebumps! I dreamt that…I was kind of bald…but that’s not the worst of it. The top of my head looked like someone took my hair and tanked it off. It was all red and moist looking like I’ve been scalped…and then random bits of hair standing on end. It was SO nasty.

And then the WORST part of it all…I dreamt tiny seeds embedded into my scalp and it started growing. So I had tiny plants growing out of my head! In my dream, I was looking at my scalp’s mirror image with a huge magnifying glass (which magnified a lot!) and the plants looked like the nettle plant. But when I pulled the magnifying glass away, and just looked at my “normal” mirror image, the plants on my head grew and looked just like hair, except I had patches of PURPLE hair which looked all dry and crusty. *goosebumps*

It’s really scary!! I’ve had a dream related to this, prior to last night. In that dream, I dreamt that seeds fell into my head and started embedding itself into my skull, but I quickly yanked out all the seeds with a tweezer or something. GROSS!

I’m glad I really don’t have plants for hair…but what does it mean?? To have a dream like this?! Last night, I did watch Star Trek: TNG, so that I might of helped with the bald imagery, but that’s all I can think of. And planting seeds in someone’s head… that is a saying…but goodness…it is a total nightmare for me and I’m still getting goosebumps thinking about this! Enough, I am done talking about it.

Yorick got a new job. I am happy for him, very. Better pay, better company (from what I hear), good position to move up the ladder, etc.

The weather has been really nice too! Finally, after 2 weeks of rain, the sun decides to shine in NL again, yay! But there is a shadow. Oh Yorick is very reactive of late. He gets so pissed off and upset and it scares me. He talks very mad-like, it makes me sad. I feel like he’s angry with me. But he says he’s not and he guess it’s because of him getting a new job…a lot of little things here and there. I guess as the woman that stands beside him, I am to help keep him sane. Console him as best I can…what else…I don’t know. :T

I just want Yorick to start being happier again. I don’t like it when he’s so reactive! The way he talks sometimes is like…bursting. It’s so hard to explain, but it’s like every word or sentence he says bursts out of his mouth like a gun being fired. I don’t know how to calm him down or ease his down. Just let him be? Perhaps…. :T

Oeoeoeoeoe…..

Yoho! I finally put up a foto gallery! Wee! The link is located on the top where it says, “Foto Gallery”. So now you can see all the pictures I’ve taken or other people have teken. :D Very random, rather boring, but I try to keep things lively with my lively comments! I love comments, but do people really take the time to read them all? Hmmm….

Anyway, I’ll eventually put more albums up and more pictures into that random gallery. Gee, I wonder when I’ll get that done…. *looks to her NDS* I love my NDS, so many games…*goes to play* <–simulation as to why it takes a long time for Emma to upload pictures. Though the Burgers’ Zoo gallery did take a while with the uploading of the pictures onto my slow laptop. But oh, I still love you lappy! When I first got my laptop, I gave it a name and it’s called “The coolest laptop ever!” Seriously, the name is embedded into the system that when you sign in, on the screen it says, “Login the coolest laptop ever!” Haha, I’m so wacky….

On other notes, I have a job! Wee! It’s not the job I was nervous about and mentioned in my last post. It’s another job, a teaching assistant one where I will be helping a child with epilepsy. I’m excited about the prospects of this job…however, as usual, it is not 100% that I will get it due to the little “problem” with obtaining my work permit. -_- Why is it so hard to get a freaking work permit? Especially for me since I’m not an EU citizen. Come on, I’m an American, grant me my dutiful rights! Ahahaha, I’m just joking. Not like America is “all big” (but America does go around thinking that way!)

Wellllllll, that’s it. I’m gonna play some games…and I promised I’ll do some exercise today. Tootles~

I want to put some pictures up.  I have pictures from Burger’s Zoo…but my computer is a RETARD.  It’s so slow, my granny can drop kick it faster.  I really need to get a new computer some day. ^_^  And, I don’t want to use Yorick’s pimped up flappy because all that pimpin’ got it slower than grass growing in the winter.

But I’ll think of something.  Not like I got anything else to do.

But tomorrow!  I do have something!  I got this interview tomorrow.  I am so nervous!  I have no idea what I’m worried about.  I’ll do fine…I know I will…but I don’t believe in myself.  What a total lack of confidence!  I have to teach a 15 minute trial lesson on poetry to the little kiddies.  SQUISH!

I’ll be FINE, but I don’t feel fine.  Ooooohhhh………

Yorick’s parents and grandparents on his mother’s side are bikers!  Isn’t that neat?  No, no, not Harley’s and leather with embroidery and tatoos…though there may be tattoos in places I don’t know about and don’t want to know about.  Haha! 

Anyway, they all have these nice bikes and I said I wanted to ride on one. :)  So Yorick’s dad has 2 weeks vacation, and we had a few errands to run.  I got to ride on a motorbike for the first time! :D  As we were starting…he said to me, “I will take it easy.” 

In the beginning, I was scared!  The turns were scary and so were the bumps!  But after a while, the turns were okay, but the bumps still scared me because I am a lightweight and I bounce, haha!

We even went to Yori’s mom’s workplace.  I got to see the many scenic views of NL.  Many cows and flat green lands.  The Netherlands is so beautiful.  As we were going there, it started to rain.  Ouch!  The rain drops pelting on my knee (I was just wearing thin jeans) felt like needle stings!  I thought, “Maybe I should think of all this as a massage….”

Anyway, we arrive to the mom’s workplace, and she works in a police station!  I don’t recall ever being in a Police station before, not even an American one.  I got to meet a bunch of policemen and policewomen.  I also got a tour of jail cells, ho ho!  It’s fun, it’s fun.

Then we biked home.  We had to detour and we wet over the dike. ^_^  And that’s about it for my adventurous day.  Now, I need to finish cleaning up Yorick’s room.  Yori is a bum.  *rubs the bum*

Today, I went to chinatown with Yorick and his co-worker J.  It is located in Den Haag, not far from Dutch parliament and stuff.  We ate dim sum at Dim Sum Palace, and it was okay.  The cool thing about the dim sum was that it was made to order!  So everything was freshly fried and steamed.

We went shopping too, of course.  I bought myself a ramen bowl, porcelian spoon, and some chopsticks. I also found some of the stuff I can’t find in Gouda: Chicken powder, fishballs, fresh/raw egg noodles, E-mien, etc.  I was HAPPY!  I also got sesame oil and oyster sauce too for my egg noodles.  There were lots of instant ramen noodles, and the Korean Ramen I like was there.  It was 1,30 euro at this little asian grocery store (toko) in Gouda, and 75 cents there!

It was a good day.  I also had a small tour of the parliament buildings and such.  Just outside.  The rain was starting to come down more and more though.

But even though I said it is a good day, I was actually having a pretty “bad” day too.  I mean, it did rain…I did leave my bike lock’s key at home (so I couldn’t lock my bike), Yorick tried to bike home with my bike (to get the bike key)….and broke my foot pedal, the last dish that came at the dim sum restaurant wasn’t very good, etc. >,<  But even so, I had a fun day. 

Ah, I haven’t blogged in a while, and I forgot to mention that….I got a job!!  I am very happy now. :)  It is the job that I really wanted to get that I mentioned in previous postings.  I have been notified that I will be getting that job. :)  What good news!  Wee!!

Well, I am sleepy.  I think I had too much MSG today too. >,<  I’m feeling kind of thirsty.  I wonder if anyone reads my blog.  I’ve given like over 10 people the address to my blog now.  *ponders*

This blog is almost complete actually.  There is still one section that needs to be fixed, but I don’t feel like doing it.  I also want to get a gallery up, but I have yet to find the perfect web gallery that I want to use.  There’s always this huge gigantic problem about it.  Moo.

Well, I haven’t been posting much because I just haven’t.  There are lots of stuff I want to talk about, but I talk about it with so many people here, or email some people about stuff, that I think If I post it on my blog,I’m not sure if I already wrote about it before, or said it before or something.  It’s very confusing.

Ah well.  If I repeat myself, then I guess I will be!  It’s not a crime!  Hehehe.

Well, I got a bike last Wednesday.  I am very happy!  I can go biking to places now, instead of walking so slow.  When I had to walk to the train station a few times, I see people bike past me…zzzzooooooom.  :o  *Emma tries to walk as fast as her short little legs can*  zzzzooooooooommm.  No way~!

So now I have a bike and can taunt some walkers too.  No, I’m just kidding.  But it’s definitely great that I have a bicycle.  I think I will go and Karaoke Queen’s Bicycle Races later.  I want ot ride my bicycle, I want to ride my biiiiike~. Today, I cannot ride though, because I don’t have the key for the house.  Yorick has it because he left his own keys at his friend’s house.

Speaking of his friend’s (parent’s) house, we were there for his birthday get-together on Friday.  Wait, let’s back up a little.   B lives out in the middle of nowhere.  Because the guys all wanted to drink some beer (drinking and driving is bad), and now that I have a bike, Yorick says we bike to B’s house.  o_O  It’s like 30 minutes of biking!  Maybe more because I got a slow bike that have 1 gear!  Gyah!  I haven’t biked in 4 years and I’m not an exercise conscious gal, so….you do the math!

Anyway, we bike allll the way out there to my poor leg’s demise.  Yorick helped by pushing me on the back a few times, and when going home, his friend helped pull me too, haha.  So we get to B’s house and it’s my first time…and holy crap!  His backyard is…3 backyards.  You go back there, and then there’s water, so you cross the bridge, and there’s more backyard/garden…. and a little house.  Then you walk some more and there’s water again, so you go over the bridge…and there’s more backyard, and that’s where the party is too because it’s so far from the houses, it doesn’t bother other people so the party can be as loud and crazy as you want.  And he has chickens that his family shares with the neighbors so he can have fresh eggs everyday (lucky…) and a little garden which I stepped on.  Oops!  He said I costed him 1 week’s worth of food. XD  So, that has got to be the most amazing backyards i’ve ever been in.  He even said you can swim in the waters.  I’m like, “That water that you can also fish in?  And put your boat in?  Eeww….”  He says, “It’s not very deep.”  That’s not the point….

The “party” wasn’t very exciting.  Knowing how B is, there is a lot of beer….and I thought people would be a little more wild and crazy.  Maybe smoking pot or somethign too.  But no, we just sat around, drinking beer (and there was lots of it), eating marshmallows.  I didn’t drink or eat anything though.  At one point in the party, one of Yorick’s friend tried to feed me a marshmallow.  I just stared at it like, “Huh? Why you feeding me?” But Yorick immediately told him off in Dutch.  The friend was like, “woops!”  I asked Yorick what he said, and he’s says, “Oh…the usual stuff I say to people….”  I guess what he said was not meant for my ears…or it just couldn’t be translated…or he forgot?   >_>

So we biked home and my poor legs….  Though my legs weren’t as sore as I expected the next day.  Just some small aches as I go up and down the stairs.

Lately, I’ve been going out to the movies with Yorick (and his friends) a lot.  We have an unlimited pass that allows you to see unlimited movies.  It’s 18 euros a month, and 2 movies at night already pays for your pass.  So, I’ve seen: 21, Sex and the City, What Happens in Vegas, The Happening, El Orphanato….I think that’s it.  In 3 weeks, I’ve seen mroe movies than I would in 1 year.  Haha.

Too bad the movie theater is so far.  It’s in Rotterdam.  Yorick and I both really like Rotterdam and would love to live there.  :)  Then the movie theater won’t be so far, and so will many other things too.  Gasoline here is so expensive.  Yorick fills up the car with 60 euros.  That’s about 80 dollars.  And he doesn’t drive an SUV!

The other day, we went out to eat at a Balkan restaurant.  I had a Salmon Filet, or Zalmfilet.  *swoons*  Lekker!  Yes, I’m on my favorite topic. FOOD.  Here, things are done in kilograms so everything looks so expensive, haha.  1 kg is about 2.2 lbs.  So I look at the price (prijs) of things… WHAT?!  17 Euro for 1 kilo?!  Oh wait…That’s $8.50/lb.  Hoho, okay, that’s about normal.  Have to keep remembering to divide by 2 or multiply by 2.  But hooo, I want some fish (vis)!

I told Yorick yesterday, “I think I can be a waitress here Holland.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because I only know waitress words.”
“Like?”
“‘Wat wil je drinken?’ and ‘Asjeblijf’.” (Not sure if I spelled that right.)
Yorick says, “There you go!”

But I don’t want to be a waitress….  ;_;

Well, I better get som yummy in my tummy.  Later people.