I just googled this. It means something about cattle. I was excited to see some wild roosters!!

I was excited to have Internet on the fast train to the Netherlands (Holland? Which is it?!). But that was wishful thinking. Luckily, there’s Internet in my hotel. I have blogging to do! Meanwhile, I’ve been blogging on paper this week. I guess it’s called “journaling” or “keeping a diary”. I think it’s what people did before the Internet.

This week, I got a call from the work doctor.

I’ll just let that statement sink in.

Apparently, there is some sort of doctor who has to meet with every new employee. He asked if I had time to meet with him next week. I kept asking, “why?” and, “for what?” And kept getting, “it’s just something new employees must do.”

No explanation.

So I kept repeating that I don’t understand and asking what he needed to see me for.

Finally, at some point, he told me he needed to check my eyes. I begrudgingly gave him an available time that we could meet, still not fully understanding what was going on.

When I asked my coworkers, they told me that in Germany you have to get your eyes checked when you start a job. I’m still not exactly sure, but I think the country might pay for glasses to wear at work if my eyes are bad (and replace “country” with “I” as it’s starting to become clear why I pay so much tax). We’ll see what happens at my appointment.

Another interesting call was one I received from my Internet provider. They called twice previously, each time saying they don’t speak English and hanging up. On the third call, I asked my co-worker to jump in. I believe it was a call to try to upsell my plan, but I asked her to ask when my Internet would be arriving (yesterday was the two week mark since I placed my order).

They told her I already had Internet—that it had been delivered a week ago.

We went through about three back and forth calls until they were finally able to figure out that the package was not delivered because no one was home to sign for it.

At this point, I tried really hard not to focus on if I had not asked, would I just be waiting forever? Now they’re sending it to work and the wait continues.

On a related note, I think it’s humorous that every single restaurant or bar has a TV hooked up outside for the World Cup, but I still can’t get Internet.

Spending tonight in Apeldoorn and tomorrow in Utrecht. Holland! The land of windmills, wooden shoes, blonde braids and funny hats.