Today was a looooong day. Just trust me. At the root of it all, there is just not enough time in the day. Scratch that. There is time in the day, but barely; from 6 am to 8 pm, everything is rushed. Or at least today it was...
Mistake number one: I skipped breakfast. In opting for 5 extra minutes of sleep this morning, I gave up my cereal time in order to get the kids fed, lunches packed, and everyone out the door. What was I thinking? I just figured I'd come in and grab a light lunch a little while after I returned from dropping the kids off in Groningen. Wrong...
When I arrived home, Amanda was still sick. She has been since Monday night, and she wasn't feeling any better today. So instead of taking her to the family doctor that would take at least 4 hours--or at least that is what Esther was told on the phone--we felt it would be better to just go straight to the Emergency Room. So at 10 after 10, Amanda and I left for the hospital. We were immediately directed to a room in the ER as soon as we got there, and I thought "Hey, this might not be too bad". Wrong... First a nurse came in; Amanda explained all her symptoms, the nurse took her temperature, blood pressure, etc., and then left the room. A bit later, a doctor came in. Oh wait, no. It was a doctor-in-training. Amanda explained her symptoms a second time and the Dr-in-training left. A few minutes later, the Dr-in-training came back in with a series of more questions. Seeming satisfied with the answers, she left again. A while later, the real doctor came in with the Dr-in-training. Amanda explained everything again. They left... And then came back for more trivial questions, offering no significant information with each visit. This charade went on for at least two hours until finally they had this to offer. "You should have first gone to the general practioner. Where this visit would be routine in America, here [in Holland], it is customary to see a family doctor first. So we will refer you to him." Are you freakin' kidding me?! So after two hours with nothing to show (but a prescription for rehydration salts), I loaded up a very sick Amanda and headed to the family doctor.
Did I mention I am starving by now?
So (after having to parallel park--something I am apparetly going to get very good at), we arrived at the family doctor. We walked in, announced ourselves to the receptionist behind the glass window (that had to be opened with a key--wierd), and were recieved with blank a stare. Apparently even after both Esther and the hopsital had called ahead, they had no idea to expect us. WTF? After more explaining, we were hit with the paperwork. Of course! To make a long(er) story short(er), we were finally back home at 10 after 2. Luckily for me, though, I did not have to leave for Groningen and pick up the kids from school at 3 because they had play-dates with friends.
And just wait for it. The best part has yet to come...
So after a bit of down-time and a good refreshing shower, it was time to venture to the super market (alone) for my first time. As a big part of the story to come, you must know that I had to park on the second level of a parking garage above the store. So after getting there, parking, and making it in, I took a cart. The carts in the grocery stores here are locked together, and in order to get one, you have to have what I refer to as a "cart coin". Thanks to Amanda, I already had one of these that I put on my keycahin next to my value card. To unlock the cart, you have to insert the coin into a little slip on the handle which unlocks the chain and frees the cart. After 3 minutes, I finally realized this. So I now have cart! But what I did not realize was that the cart coin stayed in the cart until you locked it back. So also dangling from the cart are my keys and value card which are attached the coin. Good one. Onto the shopping... Let me just say that people here are serious shoppers. They don't have time to wait on you to glance at your grocery list. They know what they need and they are out to get it as quick as they can. So the fast-paced environment of the store itself was making me anxious. But I managed to find everything I needed despite the fact everything is written in Dutch. Now to check out... I unloaded my items (including the 20 cartons of boxed milk) and luckily had the most helpful cashier. In pointing out several of my mistakes, she also helped me locate the bags so I could bag my own groceries. (Because here, you bag your own things.) In looking around, I noticed everyone but myself was super fast at this. So after what seemed like and eternity (especially to those in line behind me), I finally paid and was on my merry way...
Unbeknowst to me, doom lied ahead.
I made it back to the car and, after wrangling the car key from the cart coin still in the cart, I loaded the groceries and returned the cart. Finally I had the rest of my keys back! So in starting the car and glancing at the time, I realized I needed to leave ASAP to go pick up the kids. I was so rushed that I would just have to take the groceries with me to Groningen and put them away when we returned. So I had my parking ticket ready and I drove down the level straight to the exit. I took my card and entered it into the machine outside my window in hopes to pay for my parking and leave. I inserted my ticket and, what I can only assume was "read error" in Dutch flashed on the screen. I took it out and inserted it the other way. Error. Took it out, and tried another way. Error. And another way. Error. So entering panic mode, I called Amanda. After a few minutes of my frantic babel, she realized what I had done wrong. I was supposed to pay for my parking at a machine located on the level I was parked on. That machine would have given me the ticket to leave. Oops. What now? Was I suppose to reverse it all the way back up the ramp to level 2?! I don't think so! So with no cars around--thank God!--I reversed into a turn. Then I pulled up. And I turned in reverse some more. Pulled up again. And then reversed again. And so on and so forth until I had finally turned the MPV into the right lane and headed back up to the second level. In a race against time at this point, I ran to the machine, inserted my ticket, and started to pay my total. Oh wait. It costs .50 euros and I only have .35 and a 20 euro bill. Shit. At this point, I started asking anyone and eveyone if they spoke English. Luckily there was a man within the first couple people I asked who did, and he was kind enough to spare the .15 cents. (Remind me to thank God for him tonight.)
Finally! I was able to make it out of the garage alive! Granted I was majorly stresssed, but that is nothing compared to being trapped in a parking garage with places to be!
I'll spare you the rest of my day, but as you can tell, it was quite eventful. On the bright side, tomorrow is Friday. And that means I will have survived my first week au pairing--if I survive tomorrow...
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