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Well, at least I am working! I have started a job over at a vocational school and university of applied sciences in Rotterdam. Since I have only had one shift and this is something completely new for me…well, I guess I am “Earning My Ears”. Ok, of course this is another Disney related phrase, after all you can spot the newbie by this little banner underneath the name tag with that phrase.

I am new to all this as well over at that school, and I am sitting mostly on opposite side of what I am used to, you know…the teacher’s chair (I do not teach a class though). It felt strange to be there and to be called Mr. Habnit, and suddenly other teachers are colleagues. Teaching though will probably not be my chosen career path even though this first day of work was kinda fun.

There is no resting on my laurels though, got to keep on the look-out for that next great job! That reminds me, I have to call a certain Mouse!

In other new things, I made a random walk through The Hague yesterday. I walked from home, with a stop-over, to Schevening beach. Boy, I can tell you I walked through some pretty fancy neighborhoods. Now, some say this is random, others say it is because somehow of something that takes place in your mind, and some believe it means something; I walked passed the residence of the ambassador of Finland. Of all the roads I could’ve picked, of all the embassy residencies I could’ve walked by…it was the one from Finland!
I grinned when I saw the coat of arms on the facade of the building, but what was more interesting was the Finnish lion engraved in the fence. Looked really nice! Well, if anything can be sought behind this encounter I am sure I will learn in the future. And hey, if not, it is a nice reminder of good friends in a country to the North.

Click to Enlarge | Source: Google Maps

Well, at least I am working! I have started a job over at a vocational school and university of applied sciences in Rotterdam. Since I have only had one shift and this is something completely new for me…well, I guess I am “Earning My Ears”. Ok, of course this is another Disney related phrase, after all you can spot the newbie by this little banner underneath the name tag with that phrase.

I am new to all this as well over at that school, and I am sitting mostly on opposite side of what I am used to, you know…the teacher’s chair (I do not teach a class though). It felt strange to be there and to be called Mr. Habnit, and suddenly other teachers are colleagues. Teaching though will probably not be my chosen career path even though this first day of work was kinda fun.

There is no resting on my laurels though, got to keep on the look-out for that next great job! That reminds me, I have to call a certain Mouse!

In other new things, I made a random walk through The Hague yesterday. I walked from home, with a stop-over, to Schevening beach. Boy, I can tell you I walked through some pretty fancy neighborhoods. Now, some say this is random, others say it is because somehow of something that takes place in your mind, and some believe it means something; I walked passed the residence of the ambassador of Finland. Of all the roads I could’ve picked, of all the embassy residencies I could’ve walked by…it was the one from Finland!
I grinned when I saw the coat of arms on the facade of the building, but what was more interesting was the Finnish lion engraved in the fence. Looked really nice! Well, if anything can be sought behind this encounter I am sure I will learn in the future. And hey, if not, it is a nice reminder of good friends in a country to the North.

Click to Enlarge | Source: Google Maps

A friend in Sweden has posted a video clip on her Facebook account the other day, it is striking sometimes how a song can be filled with so much melancholy.

When I came back to The Netherlands after the internship at Walt Disney World I absolutely hated being back, sometimes I thought: “What on earth am I doing here?” That ‘magical’ life was gone, and to make matters worse I came back to a Dutch winter (gray skies, rain, windy). Of course you instantly miss Florida, probably most people would. Thankfully, over the course of time, I have found that The Netherlands is not so bad at all. Admittedly I have had this feeling of missing places now more than once, but coming home to Holland is now a pleasure. It is just like the song says.

In this job-search process so many factors are unknown; will I stay, will I go. If I do go, where will it be? I mean, you just don’t really know. You send out your application to places where you think you will feel at home, in that sense you try to steer your destiny, but in the end there is no guarantee. Because of that song I have been pondering about that subject. I have probably said it before: “home is where the heart is”, and mine often seems to be all over the place.

For now my goal still is with the Mouse Company, but of course that might take a while before I can find a job opening. In the mean time I am looking for work nearby, and I may just have found something temporary. You know, you can’t sit still and do nothing forever.

P.s. The Netherlands just had its wettest August in 100 years, one day we had the equivalent of rain that would normally come down in the whole month. Usually though, summer in The Netherlands is so wonderful. You should try it some time if you haven’t (oh, and if you don’t mind the occasional summer rain).

A friend in Sweden has posted a video clip on her Facebook account the other day, it is striking sometimes how a song can be filled with so much melancholy.

When I came back to The Netherlands after the internship at Walt Disney World I absolutely hated being back, sometimes I thought: “What on earth am I doing here?” That ‘magical’ life was gone, and to make matters worse I came back to a Dutch winter (gray skies, rain, windy). Of course you instantly miss Florida, probably most people would. Thankfully, over the course of time, I have found that The Netherlands is not so bad at all. Admittedly I have had this feeling of missing places now more than once, but coming home to Holland is now a pleasure. It is just like the song says.

In this job-search process so many factors are unknown; will I stay, will I go. If I do go, where will it be? I mean, you just don’t really know. You send out your application to places where you think you will feel at home, in that sense you try to steer your destiny, but in the end there is no guarantee. Because of that song I have been pondering about that subject. I have probably said it before: “home is where the heart is”, and mine often seems to be all over the place.

For now my goal still is with the Mouse Company, but of course that might take a while before I can find a job opening. In the mean time I am looking for work nearby, and I may just have found something temporary. You know, you can’t sit still and do nothing forever.

P.s. The Netherlands just had its wettest August in 100 years, one day we had the equivalent of rain that would normally come down in the whole month. Usually though, summer in The Netherlands is so wonderful. You should try it some time if you haven’t (oh, and if you don’t mind the occasional summer rain).

Since a couple of months I have all my news and article feeds neatly organized in Google Reader. This nice gadget keeps you up to date with…well…whatever RSS feed you have added.

Of course there are also many people who write stuff about Disney Parks & Resorts whether they are the Orlando Sentinel newspaper’s Disney pages or people just blogging about it all. Disney Parks even has its own blog (and RSS feed) which is great but sometimes seeing stuff made by people who make stuff out of own appreciation is just as awesome!

So, below I have 3 clips for ‘ya. The "Boom De Ya Da" movies from some Disney World fanatics, which is well done! Aparently they took the sound from commercials made by Discovery Channel, but it fits perfectly somehow. And also, just because it is cool to entertain people if you want to do it, how to draw Mickey (which is surprisingly simple!!) Enjoy!

P.s. Notice that my blog has an RSS feed as well

Since a couple of months I have all my news and article feeds neatly organized in Google Reader. This nice gadget keeps you up to date with…well…whatever RSS feed you have added.

Of course there are also many people who write stuff about Disney Parks & Resorts whether they are the Orlando Sentinel newspaper’s Disney pages or people just blogging about it all. Disney Parks even has its own blog (and RSS feed) which is great but sometimes seeing stuff made by people who make stuff out of own appreciation is just as awesome!

So, below I have 3 clips for ‘ya. The "Boom De Ya Da" movies from some Disney World fanatics, which is well done! Aparently they took the sound from commercials made by Discovery Channel, but it fits perfectly somehow. And also, just because it is cool to entertain people if you want to do it, how to draw Mickey (which is surprisingly simple!!) Enjoy!

P.s. Notice that my blog has an RSS feed as well

When it was still 2009 friends of mine from Tennessee, whom I worked with at Walt Disney World and became great friends, announced that they would spend some of their vacation time after Christmas in Europe. They would also spend a couple of days in Paris, a great prospect as that fabulous city is only 5-6 hours away.

Unfortunately the whole puzzle didn’t add up. After not having seen them for almost 3 years you’d think that it would be about time and with such close proximity it had to work somehow. Even meeting at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, which is only 25 minutes away from my parents place, on their transfer didn’t seem like an option because some crazy person tried to blow up an aircraft on Christmas Day, security got too tight in order for them to leave the sterile zone.

January 4^th I spent in absolute laziness, I wore my pajamas all day long. I had checked their flight on the website of the airport, which was completely redesigned. Didn’t notice anything too weird and no bells started to ring when the same flight number was also listed with destination "Amsterdam". Technical error, right? I mean…it was a new website after all.

At 19:12 I get a text message: "We are delayed in amsterdam and awaiting more info. We’ll call with more details soon." Again I am thinking that there must be a technical error, I mean after all their flight had departed at 14:00. I noticed a slight delay and I was guessing the message was delayed as well. Somehow it is just one of those things I’d expect to happen with a US phone in Europe or a European phone in the US.

I patiently waited for the call and decided to check out other sources to discover if the message was delayed or the plane. Thankfully in Europe we still have the bright source of information called Teletext (or Ceefax in the UK), which mentioned that the flight would be postponed until the next day. Could this be a belated Christmas miracle ?

At 19:34 the phone rang, my friend said that they were going to be in a hotel at the airport. Perfect! I rushed on some clothes, suddenly my pajama-day was no longer! All the sudden excitement had to be tempered though because the weather outside was awful and I still had to drive. I made my way to their hotel through the snow and fog, and parked my car by the hotel.

Dusty was waiting for me by the hotel entrance, after greeting each other we went up where Becca was waiting for us. As part of a Disney magical moment it felt like the 3 years had never passed. It seemed like we saw each other last yesterday. Sometimes it is good to feel like nothing changed, and this was one of those moments. Everything felt so normal, incredible! Glad to report I wasn’t the only one feeling like that.

Since there was only little time to spare, we made a brief visit to Amsterdam after their dinner at the hotel. We just spent some time around Dam and Damplein (Dam Square). I had them try some Bitterballen and a Kroket. I also dragged them through a small part of the red light district, and they almost got hit by a bicycle to make the Amsterdam experience complete. Altogether a really fun couple of hours.

I dropped them off at their hotel again, it must have been around or after midnight. Just as they waved me good-bye by my hotel room in Orlando 3 years earlier, I waved them good-bye at theirs in Amsterdam. It was weird, the roles were reversed but it seemed like something had come full circle. At the same time it made me wonder: "will this be another 3 years before we see each other next?" I guess it is just one of those moments only time will tell. One thing I am confident of is this: it will be like time never passed.

When it was still 2009 friends of mine from Tennessee, whom I worked with at Walt Disney World and became great friends, announced that they would spend some of their vacation time after Christmas in Europe. They would also spend a couple of days in Paris, a great prospect as that fabulous city is only 5-6 hours away.

Unfortunately the whole puzzle didn’t add up. After not having seen them for almost 3 years you’d think that it would be about time and with such close proximity it had to work somehow. Even meeting at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, which is only 25 minutes away from my parents place, on their transfer didn’t seem like an option because some crazy person tried to blow up an aircraft on Christmas Day, security got too tight in order for them to leave the sterile zone.

January 4^th I spent in absolute laziness, I wore my pajamas all day long. I had checked their flight on the website of the airport, which was completely redesigned. Didn’t notice anything too weird and no bells started to ring when the same flight number was also listed with destination "Amsterdam". Technical error, right? I mean…it was a new website after all.

At 19:12 I get a text message: "We are delayed in amsterdam and awaiting more info. We’ll call with more details soon." Again I am thinking that there must be a technical error, I mean after all their flight had departed at 14:00. I noticed a slight delay and I was guessing the message was delayed as well. Somehow it is just one of those things I’d expect to happen with a US phone in Europe or a European phone in the US.

I patiently waited for the call and decided to check out other sources to discover if the message was delayed or the plane. Thankfully in Europe we still have the bright source of information called Teletext (or Ceefax in the UK), which mentioned that the flight would be postponed until the next day. Could this be a belated Christmas miracle ?

At 19:34 the phone rang, my friend said that they were going to be in a hotel at the airport. Perfect! I rushed on some clothes, suddenly my pajama-day was no longer! All the sudden excitement had to be tempered though because the weather outside was awful and I still had to drive. I made my way to their hotel through the snow and fog, and parked my car by the hotel.

Dusty was waiting for me by the hotel entrance, after greeting each other we went up where Becca was waiting for us. As part of a Disney magical moment it felt like the 3 years had never passed. It seemed like we saw each other last yesterday. Sometimes it is good to feel like nothing changed, and this was one of those moments. Everything felt so normal, incredible! Glad to report I wasn’t the only one feeling like that.

Since there was only little time to spare, we made a brief visit to Amsterdam after their dinner at the hotel. We just spent some time around Dam and Damplein (Dam Square). I had them try some Bitterballen and a Kroket. I also dragged them through a small part of the red light district, and they almost got hit by a bicycle to make the Amsterdam experience complete. Altogether a really fun couple of hours.

I dropped them off at their hotel again, it must have been around or after midnight. Just as they waved me good-bye by my hotel room in Orlando 3 years earlier, I waved them good-bye at theirs in Amsterdam. It was weird, the roles were reversed but it seemed like something had come full circle. At the same time it made me wonder: "will this be another 3 years before we see each other next?" I guess it is just one of those moments only time will tell. One thing I am confident of is this: it will be like time never passed.