Marcie, part 4

I will not describe every day in great detail, I do not remember exactly. What I do know is that I had a nice week with Marcie, and so did she with me. .No sex, but every night that kiss on the lips and "I love you".And we did fun things together, but if Marcie had to work, she worked half days, I did something on my own.  

When I arrived on Saturday afternoon Ashley, Marcie's daughter,  was not there, she was with her father in a village / town about 40 miles further North. Marcie and I went to pick up Ashley on Sunday. And of course I brought another woman to tears, though I never do that in a mean way, but in the car when we were just on our way I saw her face and I said to Marcie: "You miss Ashley, don't  you? "
Well, that was just the push she needed. But I had comforted her again soon, we were finally on the way to pick up Ashley.
A brief sideway, Marcie's ex-husband hit her during their marriage and had also forced her to have sex with other men. So that also played a role with the emotions. And the new girlfriend of her ex said the most terrible things about Marcie in front of Ashley.

After we picked up Ashley both were happy.

We went to a "native American postal outlet"  in West Virginia (Washington, PA is where the states Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia come together). In addition, you must imagine a shop in "Native American" style with all native american souvenirs (such as dream catchers), but also, which had my interest, fridge magnets from all over America. And since I was there I bought a few: Michigan (I had to change planes in Detroit), Pennsylvania (Marcie lived in that state), West Virginia (we were there at that time) and Ohio (which is only a 4km drive which I would do later that week, so that refrigerator magnet was earned). 

We are essentially drinking coffee in downtown Washington, PA at a coffee shop and unlike here in the Netherlands  you order and drink your coffee actually. And of course followed by a nice conversation about the difference between coffee shops in the U.S. and coffeeshops in the Netherlands.We also ate real American hot dogs  (the onions were ok, but the sauerkraut, I do really thank you, but no thank you).  
We also visited the courthouse and a judge present there told us to go into a courtroom. As you perhaps know, the U.S. has a jury system, so the layout of a courtroom is different than here in the Netherlands.
So that was very interesting.Our conversations were not just small talk, but also about politics and society, and especially the differences between the United States and laws of the Netherlands / Europe. 
Marcie was, for a U.S. citizen very European minded.  
What was very good for my ego was that Marcie told me I knew more about U.S. history than the average American.
One evening we had pizza, that was on Monday, while Marcie went to get the pizza I helped Ashley with her homework (yes, 6 years old and homework) and we had dinner with friends of Marcie's at a Chinese restaurant. That was quite a challenge, because if you go here (Netherlands) to the Chinese you can go more or less blind on the Indonesian names of the dishes, but it doesn't work like that in the U.S.. And now I've known for a long time that fried rice is the same as nasi, but the rest was more challenging.
But I worked it out and ordered something I liked, at least I thought that, but it worked out fine!
I also made my famous pancakes. 
Just like me Marcie loved music and "Live", popular at that time  and that band is from Pittsburgh, so that gave us another thing to talk about
And talk we did, for hours and hours.

Marcie, part 3

But the receipt by Marcie was very pleasant and it did not take a long time before I sat beside her on the couch and we talked like we knew each other for years. I instantly liked her very much and she liked me. A little while  later she had to pick her daughter Ashley from the school bus and Ashley found me awesome.
Marcie and I were even holding hands while talking.Not much later her parents came home and also that meeting was pleasant.To Marcie's surprise really, because her stepfather was not exactly the kindest man on earth and her surprise was even greater when he went looking for an affordable motel for me. Something he had never done for a friend of Marcie.It was the Washington Motor Inn, on the other side of Washington where Marcie lived, but Washington, PA  not so big, it was maybe 5 minutes. The motel was close to the entrances and exits from the Interstate to Pittsburgh in the North and in the other direction you would end up in Philadelphia, Baltimore or Washington DC . But I'm talking about distances of 350 to 500 kilometers.  
Moments later there was a call from the courier service of NorthWest Airlines, they had my luggage, but some troubole to find the address. Marcie's stepfather gave them instructions how to drive and moments later there was the luggage. Marcie and I went to the hotel, I did not know where it was so Marcie would serve as a guide, I would check in and put my luggage in the room turn and then I drove Marcie  back, said goodbye for the night and went back to the motel.With that goodbye Marcie surprised me somewhat by kissing me on the mouth. Just on the lips, no dna exchange, but still. And she said "I love you". Now I know that I love you has more than 1 meaning, but a man and a woman who like each other, a kiss on the lips and "I love you"..... I went,  to say in American style, with jelly in my knees back to the car.Oh, I have not mentioned Marcie's age.It was late 1999, so I was 36 and if I'm not mistaken, Marcie 29, but it may also have been 31. 

Daar zit je dan......

Ja, daar zit je dan in de trein. Die nog redelijk vol zit, in ogenschouw genomen dat het de trein van 23:23 uur van Utrecht naar Arnhem is. Toegegeven, het is vrijdagavond....

23:23 uur  + 37 minuten, dat wordt dus precies middernacht aankomen op Arnhem-Centraal. En dan heb ik de keuze uit 24 minuten wachten op de bus (de laatste) of in zo'n 24 minuten naar huis lopen.
Door de kou met flink de pas erin lijkt op dit moment aantrekkelijker dan 24 minuten wachten op het nogal tochtige busstation waar zo laat ook niets meer te beleven is.

En ik doe het vaak, lopen van station naar huis, ik kom nog weleens in Arnhem aan nadat de laatste bus al is vertrokken.

Ik hoor jullie al denken: waar ben je geweest dan?

In Leiden, mijn goede vriendin Martina wat eten gebracht. Want Martina heeft het moeilijk. Geen adres, dus geen uitkering en dan wordt eten ook een probleem.
En nu kook ik meestal toch voor een weeshuis, maar ik heb vandaag speciaal voor Martina staan koken. En wanneer je niet alleen voor jezelf kookt maar ook voor een ander wordt dat koken ineens een stuk leuker!
Waarschijnlijk ook omdat Martina zo dankbaar is en omdat ze me vertelt hoe ze ervan genoten heeft.

Even een tussen-tip: hiernaast, aan de rechterkant in de bloglijst staat ook het blog van Martina, Gedroomde Levens, absoluut de moeite waard, dus allemaal lezen!!!

Martina is een leuke, lieve, dappere en inspirerende vrouw. IRL kennen we elkaar minder dan een week, maar elke ontmoeting was leuk en gezellig. En ik vind het leuk om samen met Martina tijd door te brengen!

Dat wilde ik even gezegd hebben.

PS  Het werd geen lopen, bus ging al om 00:09.

Batterij leeg en andere probleempjes

De laatste tijd houdt de batterij van mijn Nokia C7 het niet zo lang meer uit. Zo ook vandaag (lees gisteren, dinsdag 1 mei), met een omweg per trein vanwege een aanrijding  en geen mogelijkheid om tussendoor op te laden.. Die batterij is nu (dinsdag 1 mei. 's avonds  in de trein naar huis aan papier toevertrouwd) helemaal leeg en ik ben nog niet thuis.

Daarvoor zat ik in een trein met wifi, maar als je nu denkt dat ik daar gebruik van kon maken....nee. En ook niet meer van mobiel internet. Blijkbaar hadden de verschillende access points op mijn phone wat onenigheid want na een klassieke uit en weer aan werkte het weer. Had ik daar maar eerder aan gedacht.....

Maar wat voel je je ineens buitengesloten wanneer internet op je phone het niet meer doet.wanneer je onderweg bent.

Een paar jaar geleden maakte je daar nog niet druk over. Die éne keer dat je in de Efteling even wilde kijken of je salaris gestort was (nog een heel gepriegel op zo'n klein schermpje) veel meer deed je er ook niet mee.

Ja, zo brengen moderne tijden en moderne gadgets ook moderne probleempjes met zich mee.
Terwijl ik 10 jaar geleden een mobiele telefoon had waarmee je alleen kon bellen en sms-en. En ja, ok, een rekenmachine, wereldklok en snake.
Daarna een toestel met WAP, maar na 1 poging monochroom internet op een klein scherm hield ik dat voor gezien.

En dit blogje is dus gekomen omdat de batterij van mijn phone leeg was. Gelukkig heb ik wel altijd een schrijfblok en een pen bij me.