This morning eating the breakfast in the restaurant of Dorint Sofitel in Eindhoven, I faced up to the fact that I am back to the Netherlands, with a mess biological clock. I have stayed in the Netherlands for more than 15 months since September 2004, and at least one third of the days in the past year was spent here as well. Now the Netherlands is kind of my second home country, but still in a distance somehow. Staring at the cheeses, I thought of the discussions about what and how people like and don’t like this country and culture. Sometimes what people experienced could be quite different from what I experienced, but so what? It’s like the discussion about any other country and culture; always diverse from people to people, but still interesting to share. :)
Yesterday the flight was nice because there were less than 50 passengers. I could lie down to sleep, wherever I like. The atmosphere was kind of relaxing and quiet in the passenger cabin. The returning flight is a charter flight so I was just lucky to take this one.
Today I decided to go nowhere, but take it easy to finish an English novel, based on a real story, "for one more day" which I hadn't finished in the airplane. It's a nice book and easy to read. The story starts from the point that a guy tried to kill himself. The reason he did so is that he couldn't forgive himself. Actually he didn't do anything horrible to the society, but just couldn't bear the fact that he didn't recognize and support the love from his mom and didn't treat her well. It's a novel to make people think who the ones really care and love you, what and who you really should treasure in your life, what you should do before it's too late, and etc.
Warren Buffet said “Money doesn't create man but it is the man who created money. Live your life as simple as you are. Listen to what others say, but do what you feel good.” While the world encourages people to be smart and successful, do we miss something critical essentially? As in the story, the leading character was shamed of his mother’s job, but later he realized that the greatness of his mom was the meaning and purpose of taking the job, not the job itself. Sometimes when we think we are smart, we actually miss something. That's why I always hope not to be smart in personal life. “Don’t focus on arguing the logic with your family, but share and support them emotionally.” Maybe I should start to write a letter... :)
Taking the boat to Volendam...
Eating the Dutch fish sandwich for lunch... ok. I know it's not professional introduction, but I don't know the name... :P
To me the separated lavatory with such a small sink is very Dutch. The height of this stool is considered as low. Sometimes you could experience a stool which you could rock your legs without touching the floor. Since the average height of Dutch is around 185cm, a high stool should be in fact a reasonable design, isn't it? :)
Of course we joined them, emptying the dark beers on the street.
There is a huge park next to the corner. Taking three minutes by feet, I could reach the park!
