lost in translation/ india & dutch mashup

this post has 2 parts, instead of breaking it up into 2 posts...

pt 1 - lost in translation
coming to the netherlands and looking like a local means that i get approached with folks speaking dutch to me - a lady at a cafe asking me what my lunch was...a bloke parking his bike behind me, telling me that I didn't need to move out of his way...people serving in stores. what's interesting about The Hague is the mix of people - Ive seen just about every representation of cultures here, all speaking Dutch, so the default is to speak Dutch...unlike India where I don't look Indian, so the default is whatever English the local can manage...

...something i bought over from India is the Indian head wobble, present in every conversation i had towards the end of my time there - consisting of a side to side and forward and backward motion of the head, it can mean - yes, no, maybe, thankyou, i'm not sure, i don't understand what you're saying, of course, don't be silly, congratulations, excellent, you're welcome, as reassurance that it is so...meaning, you can come away from a conversation feeling totally confused as to the conclusion. BUT, towards the end of my time in India, I was starting to get it - using my own head wobble to the correct effect, depending on the tone of the conversation, in conjunction with a facial expression to convey an unspoken message...however...

when translated into an office environment in The Hague, it didn't quite translate...someone asked me a question, which i answered with a yes and head wobble as reassurance, leaving the other person a bit bewildered, thinking maybe that i had some kind of nervous tick...

back to the office...like any other office, but i do enjoy the work..and my time in India has made the time in the office infinitely more bearable - some of the things i picked up from practising, the length of the time i had off...have refreshed me somewhat..and the prospect of heading back and taking a similar break soon makes the office more palatable as well...looking at the people in front of the computer screens, with shallow, impersonal interactions is a bit disheartening though...

i've found a permanent place to stay - well as permanent as 3 months worth anyway, pretty close to the hotel i'm in at the moment - just off downtown, in chinatown. nice walk to the office and a tram out to yoga and the beach

back to mysore - my last week was a real blur, though i got to say short or long goodbyes to most folks...and enjoy most of my time...i think i've still got some mysore words left to post...right now though i'm off to get a tram to a 915 yoga class - the dutch aren't really early risers, specially on a sunday - though some folks just rolled into the hotel, still primed after a night at the clubs and abusing the reception guy for champagne...