WAGENIGEN, Netherlands

Travelog date: Wednesday Feb 4, 2009

 WAGENIGEN

Yeay, its snowing. I thought I have brought sunshine from the land of sun and sea, but then rupanya, it’s the grey, cold weather yang menunggu kat sini. The land of windmill and the country of tulips ni rupanya tengah dilanda cold spell, just like the rest of Europe.

It was not so bad masa mula2 arrive at Schipol Airport coz the weather was quite ok, walaupun dalam airplane lagi tengok locals sini dah siap tukar baju tebal and keluarkan jaket yang agaknya berat dah berkilo2. Cuak jugak tengok – I knew then it must be freezing kat sini, ye lah kalau locals yang rambut blonde kulit putih merah dan hidung buat tongkat baju pun dah start pakai berlapis2, apatah lagi kita yang…kulit sawo matang yang bukan di jadikan utk hidup di cuaca mencecah paras beku (walaupun sebenarnya kulit mereka pun dah lebih kurang sama ngan kita coz dah puas berjemur kat beaches di Thailand agaknya). Tapi ingat takpe lah, its not my first time anyway untuk menghadapi pertukaran cuaca dari above 30 degree kepada below freezing line overnight.

After about 12 hours of flight from Bangkok Swarnabhumi airport, the plane landed in Schipol Airport, Amsterdam. Not much of a hassle with the immigration and airport authority, despite the warning given by friends who had to put up with thorough inspection from the officers.

Mungkin kerana I got all the papers to show that I am here for business, meeting to be exact, not as a tourist. (I did see some foreign tourists had to put up with grueling questions from both the immigrations and customs officers)

So the routine went – with the questions – where are you going, and I struggled to pronounce the city confidently even after much practice , “Ede Wagenigen” …and somehow, he frowned, he looked at me again, “where?” he said.

“Ede-Wagenigen”, I said in an attempt to respond to his question. He leaned closer to the glass mirror that separate us, trying to catch what I said and leaning, showing his ears to me. We were so close that I could almost smell his minted breath, “Ede-Wagenigen” was my last attempt in pronouncing the name of the city that I was going to. He gave me a baffled look instead and asked with a sincere look on his face, "is it here in the Netherlands?”

And I almost burst into laughter, if I did not realize that he might think that I was ridiculing him, and he could have made me ‘pay’ for doing so. So kept my mouth shut. And showed him the letter of invitation. I know I shouldnt make a fool outta myself by trying to repeat the same pronounciation and waited for him to tell me the right way to say it.

He nodded his head, and said…ahhh… “Baa-ghenigen” he said, almost in a tone of mockery.

Yow, macamni lah agaknya dia orang ni rasa bila dating ke Malaysia dan cuba nak cakap ke mana mereka pergi. They are having as much trouble saying Se-pang, Pe-ta-ling Jaya as much as Wagenigen. But then again, we would have said that our cities are much easier to pronounce than these… yang membuatkan lidah terbelit dan almost terbelahak nak sebut. Tu baru Wagenigen belum lagi Utretch ….try to pronouce that, it doesn’t sound at all macam ejaan dia. Well of course the English people can escape with pronouncing it with U-track. Just like they do to some of our cities as well and has become a new word altogether and would make even an angry man laugh.

Then there goes the train ride from Schipol Airport to Ede Wagenigen. The man behind the train counter said it would take about 80min to get there. There are several train line, which may take us all the way to another country all together, a pleasant thought (as we can see other countries) but then again, might end up traveling up and down. The man said we should go to platform 3, which would take us straight to our destination for EU14.20 (try not to convert). Off we went with our luggage, thank goodness everyone was not carrying too big of a bag anyway. So boleh lah angkat bila terpaksa naik tangga.

We made it to terminal 3. Then we heard announcement about power problem throughout the country, due to bad weather of course. So there were several changes in train schedule, some was even cancelled.

I do believe in a credo – malu bertanya sesat jalan especially in a foreign country where I don’t understand the language made on the PA (announcement). And boy how glad I was to have done just that.

The schedule has changed and our train was arriving at terminal 5, and was arriving in 5 minutes (duh) and that terminal was located on the other side of the airport. (The lady who I asked also complaint about the system and how the announcement should have been done in English as well in perfect cogny accent (British accent). I thanked her for the crucial information and nodded in agreement about the lack of English announcement despite Netherlands being an EU country.

So off we went, up the lift, across the airport, and down again using the lift just in time for the train. Again I made sure that it was the right train by asking around, with a plastered smile on my face of course in gratitude.

Dragged our bags, and managed to find a seat somewhere.

There the grey side of the country was revealed. Grey houses, grey trees, grey farm and the people, uhhh, were wearing grey and black. Black is beauty, black is elegant - esp on the fair complexion people. I remember a friendly reminder from my boss in Thailand that black should be avoided for a function as it was considered as the colour for mourning. I closed my eyes and think about pleasant thought - ah yes those bright, colourful tulips.

“Usually when the weather's like this, temperature like this, it’s a sign that it will snow,” I said to the lady seated across me, trying to break the deafening silence. She smiled. Yeah, she probably would have thought that I was trying to tunjuk pandai. Afterall, what does a gal from a tropical country know about four season weather?

“It is not too cold, humidity is just about right,” I added, recalling years of experience in such condition during my stay in the Midwestern states of the US of A. But then again, yeah right!

People come and people go, the train ride seems like forever, especially when there is no route map anywhere to show the destination or where we were. There was also no announcement made as the location or which station is next. Thus who are not familiar with the train route would be left in the dark to figure out where they were or when to get off. I asked again, this time the victim was the lady sitting next to me.

Yes she was getting off at the same station as well. Phew! We ended up talking about overseas trip and about her husband being in India to get some specialists from the country to come over to Netherlands to work. The conversation lead from immigration matters to traveling experience and public transport.

From Ede Wagenigen train station (yes we arrived safely at the right station), we had to take a bus. For Euro2.40 we saw almost the whole of the township.Small roads, few small cars and bicycles, plenty of bicycles…yes even in this cold winter weather.

From the bus station, we walked another 5 min (yes dragged our luggage on the sidewalk) to the WICC (Wagenigen International Convention Centre).

Its not a bad place. Small (as everything here is smaller, except the people I guess), but nice considering the cost of living in the country. It is a studio apartment. Measuring maybe about 400kaki persegi, dengan small bathroom, small kitchen, a dining table, a closet, study table, bed..all cramped in the simply white 4x4 wall.

Finally, after about 24 hours since I left home, I managed to lay my head down in bed. Although at the moment the bed seemed to be making the sweetest call I had to drag my feet to the bathroom and do whatever necessary. Hot shower etc, etc…. off to slumberland. Local time was 4pm. (Malaysia time –11pm)

When I opened my eyes, it was already 8pm local time. And it was snowing…. Snowing and snowing! And I was right about the weather.

All of us went out to play with the virgin snow (when the snow is still fresh, before being tainted with dirt. When the white fluffy flakes cover the ground like a blanket – no foot prints, no tyre prints on it).

It reminded me of the time when I first landed in Chicago, so many years ago…its like a dejavou! The different is that I am in a different country, different time… and im not here as a student, but an older and wiser person, I hope! 

View from my window

Sitting here on my study table, I could see the sundry shop right infront of this place, owned by a family from the middle eastern I believe. (He looked like one anyway though I haven’t got a chance to ask his origin yet). Had a chance to check it out yesterday. Got fruits, vegetables as well as canned food. Cheese, milk and bread. And yes, it even has Indomee (instant noodles from Indonesia).

Got myself 2 raisins bread rings, a litre of orange juice, a bag of cupcakes and a half-kilo packet of dried apricot for Euro10 (try not to convert). I don’t need the instant noodles yet. Maybe later on this week it would come in handy.

There is a Chinese Restaurant next to it – Hao Yuan.

Was watching the local tv… watching East Wing. Then the commercial break, series of commercials and commercials…and commercials….then voila…ada iklan Maggie… hehehe but dia punya pronounciation …Ma-rgh-khe hahahha… ada iklan penaja lagi tu.

 3pm (local time ) 10pm Msian time

yeayyyy…its snowing again…just like I thought. Again…I was right hehehee….to expect more snow.. thank goodness I have brought my boots…instead of those high heels...and how some of my friends regretted not listening to me..hehehe when I told them that its gonna be cold out here…that its still too early to think about spring coz its still winter and its cold n wet.

Its snowing, its snowing…its snowing again! I am out to make.....angels on the snow!

photos by SALINA KHALID