The hat, it is done. And it is beeeyoootiful. Some days I impress myself 🙂 The nice part is that I finished it at the Eindhoven Stitch’n’Bitch night, so it got lots of nice comments from other people too. However, I dont have a camera so probably no pictures until I get home (unless I decide I just can’t wait and take crappy cell phone pics). It’s blocking now, with two water glasses weighing it down to try to counteract the brim’s tendency to fold up (I know I shouldn’t have included two plain rows in a row among the tvaandstickning – it folds on that line).
I keep alternating between “Why on earth did I want to move back here again?” and “Hey, this is fun!” Oddly, most of the latter has been at work. But I did have a great time at knitting tonight, and I think I’ve got a dinner with coworkers tomorrow. It has been getting colder since I’ve been here, and the short northern days mean I’m driving to and from work in the dark. (I’m not working long days either, mostly around 8:30-5:30.) On the other hand, today I pulled into work beneath the sort of beautiful sunrise that’s routine here and very rare in Taiwan.
And I’ve been enjoying the cafeteria food here, which is downright disturbing. It’s mostly about having choices, and having bread and potatoes available, drinks with the meal instead of as dessert, and tasty soups. Last night’s dinner and tonight’s gathering were nice too; the restaurants around here are gezellig (cozy, homey) in winter.
My meeting with the VP was better than expected (he didn’t tell me he hated my department’s quality setup, and what he wants from me is a bit clearer, if not in complete alignement with what the department wants. And it’s been fun seeing all my colleagues here again. However, outside of work I am missing ted, and that’s a taste of what moving here will be like.
Two surreal moments so far: on the train, the conductor who punched my ticket said “alstublieft” to everyone else, and “thank you” to me. I didn’t say a word to her or anyone, and I have no idea how she knew. The size of my suitcase? The other odd moment was this morning at breakfast. The hotel has a breakfast buffet but waiters come around with tea and coffee. This morning one walked up to me and asked “tea?” without even offering coffee. I don’t think he just happened to have the teapot, because I’m pretty sure there was another pot in his other hand. Did he recognize me and remember? I’ve certainly stayed here enough, but my last visit was at least a year ago.
Speaking of my suitcase, I appear to have packed with remarkable efficiency. The suitcase is big only because I don’t have a medium sized one, and it was far from full, but I could stay another week and wear a different outfit each day. It’s all in shades of gray and black except a rose-red double-faced wool blazer and tights of (nearly) that shade. I could have brought more jewelry – the jacket has tiny holes in the lapel and I forgot to bring a pin to cover them so bought one at Swarovski in the Hong Kong airport. A colored scarf would be nice too. I still want one that’s nice, soft, narrow, but heavy enough to hang down even when I walk. I will probably need to knit one.