Daedalian Adventures

The road ahead is rarely straight…

By Lynelle Barrett

Let’s Get Outta Town!

It’s a great time to be teaching Business English. My agenda is full. My school calls frequently to see if I am available to take on another class or workshop. I get emails from other language schools asking about my availability. There are not enough qualified English teachers to meet the demand, so I can afford to be choosy about which contracts I accept. It’s a nice position to be in.

Of course, because I have trouble saying no, I am a bit frazzled these days from working too much. So when a student rescheduled a Friday class in April and left a three day weekend open, I decided I should plan a mini-break.

One of the best things about living in Europe is how many cool places are in your own backyard. You can join me, via fantasy, for the length of this column. So…where should we go?

For this adventure, we have 3 days. We wouldn’t want to travel more than about 4 hours each way. We want to keep the travel expenses under €150 so the total with two nights hotel will be less than €300. Below are some of the options I have found. Prices can vary, of course, depending on details like date, airline, type of cabin, etc. What looks interesting to you?

By train from Amsterdam:

Nationale Spoorwegen (Dutch national railways), www.ns.nl

Thalys (hi-speed trains), www.thalys.com

• Paris, France- 4 hours and 10 minutes, €70 roundtrip fare.
• Düsseldorf, Germany- 2 hours and 15 minutes, €38 roundtrip fare.
• Frankfurt, Germany- 4 hours, €89 roundtrip fare.
• Brussels, Belgium- 2 hours and 30 minutes, €38 roundtrip fare.
• Antwerp, Belgium- 2 hours, €28 roundtrip fare.
• Ghent, Belgium- 3 hours, €74 roundtrip fare.
• Bruges, Belgium-3 hours and 30 minutes, €85 roundtrip fare.
• Maastricht, The Netherlands- 2 hours and 30 minutes, €40 roundtrip fare.

By boat:

DFDS Seaways, www.dfds.nl

Mini-cruise from IJmuiden, The Netherlands to Newcastle, England- Three day trip starting at €85 per person.

P & O Ferries, www.POFerries.nl

Mini-cruise from Rotterdam, The Netherlands to Hull, England- Three day trip €184 for two, inside cabin.

By Plane from Schiphol Airport:

• London, England- 1 hour and 20 minutes, €90.
• Edinburgh, Scotland- 1 hour and 30 minutes, €155.
• Vienna, Austria- 2 hours, €104.
• Prague, Czech Republic- 1 hour and 40 minutes, €108.
• Berlin, Germany- 1 hour and 20 minutes, €130.
• Copenhagen, Denmark- 1 hour and 20 minutes, €120.
• Milan, Italy- 1 hour and 50 minutes, €75.

So many choices! How can we decide? Let’s see what’s going on this month in some of these destinations.

§         Paris- Marie Antoinette, an exhibition on her life at the Grand Palais

§         Düsseldorf- Long Night of the Museums

§         Brussels- International Fantastic Film Festival, www.bifff.org

§         Antwerp- Diamond Divas, the world’s most dazzling diamond exhibition, www.diamonddivas.be

§         Newcastle- “From Plate to Poo: the Journey of Food”, Life Theatre, www.life.org.uk

§         Hull- “Paws for Thought: Animals Through Victorian Eyes”, Ferens Art Gallery

§         London- Royal Observatory’s Spring Sky Watch, National Maritime Museum

§         Edinburgh- Mary King’s Ghost Fest, a 10-day paranormal festival, www.marykingsghostfest.com

§         Vienna- “Afrika! Afrika!”, Zeltpaläste Wien

§         Prague- 14^th International Book Fair, Industrial Palace Prague, www.bookworld.cz

§         Berlin- Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art, on exhibit at four venues

§         Copenhagen- Tivoli Gardens, Summer season opens mid-April

They all sound good to me, I think I’ll let you decide where to go on our fantasy journey! Then we can pack our walking shoes and cameras. You should bring your passport, but you won’t have to go through immigration or customs if you travel within the EU. I’ll bring some travel snacks in my backpack. We’ll meet at the train station on Friday. Don’t be late!

Lynelle Barrett lives in The Netherlands, but it’s just as nice to get out of town. Check out photos of her adventures on her website at: http://lynelleinholland.spaces.live.com

A Sinterklaas story for my friend Bram...

Bram’s Destiny

Bram always knew he was different. He wasn’t like the other kids at school. They were mindless lemmings, following whatever trend the media was pushing to teenagers. But he knew he was meant for something better, that he had a higher purpose. The agonizing part was not knowing what this purpose was or when his real life would begin. He was now done with school, yet he still waited…waited for some direction…waited for his true destiny.

Late one night, he received a mysterious message on his computer. Someone who seemed to know a lot about him wrote that it was time to fulfill his destiny. He thought it was just a prank, just another loser on the internet. But then he realized that he was not online. In fact, his computer was not even logged on. He decided he must be imagining it and went to bed.

But his sleep was troubled by a strange dream. A beautiful and powerful goddess spoke to him. She explained that he had been born a twin soul and the other half of his soul was a dragon. Twin souls have been born throughout time, but their identity is always kept secret. These complete beings are the guardians of the world. They fight to preserve the order of things and devote their lives to the balance good and evil. The goddess told Bram that the time had come for him to be reunited with his twin soul so they could bond forever.

He awoke the next morning disturbed and distracted. His dream had seemed so real. But it couldn’t be real...could it?

The next night he was visited by an ancient man with a long white beard. The man said he was Bram’s mentor and that it was time to learn the ways of the dragon. He said, “Take my hand and you shall have complete awareness and knowledge of everything.” He took the old man’s hand. A burst of shimmering light appeared in the middle of his bedroom. The old man disappeared into it and Bram followed, afraid yet somehow knowing he was safe. It all felt right, like this was what he had been waiting for his whole life.

Then everything looked different. He could see the world as he knew it, see his bedroom, but it was like looking through the other side of a mirror. Everything seemed magnified, yet at the same time, far away. “It takes time to get used to it,” said the old man. “You are seeing through the eyes of a dragon. This perspective will give you the insight and objectivity to see the right path.”

“Now it is time to join with your twin soul,” declared his new mentor. Then Bram felt a warm sensation throughout his body. He felt something comforting and familiar, from some long ago time. He felt strong. His muscles surged with power. He felt heavy, yet light at the same time. He rolled his shoulders, enjoying the feel of his new strength, and he realized he had wings. He was still himself, only very, very different.

“I thought I would be able to see my dragon soul,“ Bram said tentatively to the old man. “No,” declared the old man, “he is a part of you. You are not separate beings anymore. You will never be the same as you were before.” Bram realized the old man was right. He didn’t know how he knew, he just did.

Suddenly, Bram was back in his bedroom and it was morning. He was home, and everything looked the way it always had before. But he knew that this was the last time he would see his world this way. He logged on to his computer. He sent a few farewell emails to friends and closed his internet poker account. He took a shower and washed his hair. He got dressed and put on his favorite dragon pendant. Now he knew why he was always fascinated by dragons. So many things made sense to him.

He let his mother brush his long hair into a ponytail one last time. Then he hugged her tight. He looked in her eyes and said, “Thanks for everything, Mom.” She wondered what had come over him, he was acting so strange.

He knew this was the last time he would see her and it squeezed at his heart. He went in his bedroom and used his new awareness to find the portal. A brilliant light filled the room. And he stepped into it.

Daedalian Adventures

The road ahead is rarely straight…

Deep Thoughts

A couple of weeks ago I was giving an English lesson to one of my favorite students, a friendly, charismatic man from Turkey. He said there was something he wanted to ask me about. Then, he wrote down “deep throat” on a piece of paper. “What is this?”, he asked innocently. A bit taken aback, I asked where he had seen this. It ended up that I was behind on the local news.

There has been quite a fuss going on in The Netherlands for the last few weeks about the decision to broadcast the 1972 pornography classic Deep Throat on public television.

Public reaction to this has been mixed. The Dutch are used to very little censorship on television. Even though the film will be aired after midnight and be part of a themed night on the history of pornographic films, some Christian political parties asked for steps to be taken.

Trying to stop a show before it has been aired is seen as preventive censorship and that is counter to Dutch culture. Most politicians do not want to get involved with censoring the media. One liberal politician has pointed out that the television does have an on/off switch.

I have a lot of fun with my students and news stories like this just make class more interesting. However, some of the things that students have wanted to talk about in class are much heavier than this. I am starting to think I need to be trained in more than just teaching. I think I may need to do some research on psychology.

In a class last week, one of the students talked about her husband’s fight with testicular cancer. When these deeply personal issues are brought up in class, I am never quite sure what the student expects from me or the rest of the students. Is it a request for support or just getting it out in the open? Most of my classes include people from different countries, so I am sure there are also cultural differences on how these things are handled. So far, this is one of the most difficult aspects of teaching. If a student doesn’t know when to use the present continuous tense, I know just what to say. But what do you say to a student who tells you she is not feeling well today because her best friend wants to commit suicide?

In the six months I have been teaching Business English, I have had students tell me about upcoming surgeries, the inability to have children, divorce, losing a spouse after a 10-year battle with breast cancer, the death of a beloved pet, problems fitting in to Dutch culture, difficulties adopting a child from China, impending job layoffs and the demands of raising a special needs child. I am glad that my students feel they can share such important parts of their lives. I just hope it is helpful for them.

It’s not all bad news, though. Students have also discussed wedding plans, new houses, pregnancy and the wonder of holding their newborn child for the first time. I have heard descriptions of beautiful places around the world: Mersin, Turkey where the air smells like lemons, Venezuela where the people are warm and friendly, Cape Verde where there is always plenty of food on the table in case someone drops by at dinnertime. Each student is with me for about 3 or 4 months, so I get to share a small slice of their lives. I’m just fortunate to have such interesting people pass through my life.

In the end, Deep Throat did air on public television. With all the publicity surrounding the broadcast, I imagine lots of viewers tuned in just to see what all the commotion was about. I watched for a while, but the 70’s hair, clothes and music was more corny than sexy. I finally did utilize my television’s off switch, not because the film was offensive, but because the dialogue and music were so horrible!

Lynelle Barrett lives in The Netherlands, where you can pretty much do what you want, as long as you don’t bother anyone else. Check out photos of her adventures on her website at: http://lynelleinholland.spaces.live.com