I eavesdropped on Thalys
From Den Haag to Paris
After we ran to catch the train.
The man in batik
Was talking techniques
Of management while I yawned.
He groaned at our delay.
(I watched him in the mirror.)
"Je pourrais courir,"
He bragged the whole way.
But with the gut he was hiding
I knew why he was riding,
Not running, this September day.
9.29.2005
Extermination, Aggression, and a Lack of Sunlight
Neela stared at the roses wilting on her desk. "Everything I do during the day deals with death and destruction... Even the plant gets depressed."
9.23.2005
Just Amusing
Whoever decided to set up Willy’s Hot Dog Shop next to The Hague’s erotica exhibition gets major comedy points from me.
9.21.2005
Why I Slept Naked
(No, it wasn't for fun. It's cold in Holland, remember?)
I slept naked last night because I did my laundry yesterday.
(Still don't get it, do ya?)
Laundromat owners here are conniving, I tell you. I can go and do my laundry there for only 50 cents a kilo if I do it myself. What a bargain!, they advertise on their glass windows in orange spray paint. They drag you in. They dragged me in. The place was clean, well-kept. Detergent creeped up my nostrils, reminding me of Jenn and her almost OCD need to do laundry every week in Westwood. (What an awesome form of OCD.) They had won me over.
I was about ready to sprint home, shove dirty clothes into a bag and skip right on back, when everyone filed out of the place, the lights went off, and the door was closed with a very anticlimatic 'click.' Just like a gun with the silencer on. Just like that, my dreams of laundry were dead. It was 6 o'clock. The laundromat was closing, like every store and service in The Hague. And it wasn't going to open again until after I'd left for work the following morning.
How convenient.
So how do I do my laundry? Well, here comes the conniving bit.
The laundromats will wash your laundry for you! You can go to work or school or take care of your kids or whatever and they will do all the dirty work! Not such a bad deal, except for the fact that it costs 2.50 Euros per kilo. 2.50 Euro! That's five times as much the price of me doing my own laundry! That's outrageous. I have to pay more for my laundry just because the laundromats aren't open at convenient hours? Harumph.
I dropped my laundry off yesterday morning. Being the expat I am, I didn't realize that it would take them 3 days to do my laundry. I guess I am unaccustomed to the Dutch work ethic.
I slept naked last night. My pj's are still at the cleaners. And so are my towels. (After my shower, I dried myself off with an unused kitchen rag that was still in its plastic wrapping.) And I have one more night to go.
I slept naked last night because I did my laundry yesterday.
(Still don't get it, do ya?)
Laundromat owners here are conniving, I tell you. I can go and do my laundry there for only 50 cents a kilo if I do it myself. What a bargain!, they advertise on their glass windows in orange spray paint. They drag you in. They dragged me in. The place was clean, well-kept. Detergent creeped up my nostrils, reminding me of Jenn and her almost OCD need to do laundry every week in Westwood. (What an awesome form of OCD.) They had won me over.
I was about ready to sprint home, shove dirty clothes into a bag and skip right on back, when everyone filed out of the place, the lights went off, and the door was closed with a very anticlimatic 'click.' Just like a gun with the silencer on. Just like that, my dreams of laundry were dead. It was 6 o'clock. The laundromat was closing, like every store and service in The Hague. And it wasn't going to open again until after I'd left for work the following morning.
How convenient.
So how do I do my laundry? Well, here comes the conniving bit.
The laundromats will wash your laundry for you! You can go to work or school or take care of your kids or whatever and they will do all the dirty work! Not such a bad deal, except for the fact that it costs 2.50 Euros per kilo. 2.50 Euro! That's five times as much the price of me doing my own laundry! That's outrageous. I have to pay more for my laundry just because the laundromats aren't open at convenient hours? Harumph.
I dropped my laundry off yesterday morning. Being the expat I am, I didn't realize that it would take them 3 days to do my laundry. I guess I am unaccustomed to the Dutch work ethic.
I slept naked last night. My pj's are still at the cleaners. And so are my towels. (After my shower, I dried myself off with an unused kitchen rag that was still in its plastic wrapping.) And I have one more night to go.
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