Who Hello noelwr!

[noelwr]

what is American sign language as opposed to other sign language? or does each country have its own sign language?

my husband and I love to travel, go to the shooting range on the weekends and watch tv. I''ve got my knitting and he is quite the IT guy. he does all the downloading of tv shows/movies and streaming via the PS3. I didn''t get him a Christmas present (bad wife, I know), so I bought him the new google phone which I am going to pick up from my friend in the States in 2 weeks. he''s quite excited about that. when he talks to me about computer stuff or about his day at the office, sometimes it''s like he''s speaking to me another language... and I find it difficult to concentrate on the conversation! my other hobby is shopping

, but not in Holland. so another reason I am going to the States.

one of the many things I absolutely love about my husband is that he is not into sports. we NEVER have to watch sports on tv. YAY! when I lived in the States, all the guys I dated were into some sports or other and I would really just lose them every time a game was on, plus they also continued talking about it the whole season. I like to experience a game live, so I''ve been to NHL, NASCAR, NFL, World Cup (soccer), rugby games and a horse racing event... but it''s something I like to do once every few years, not all the time. however, hubby is into more tv shows than I watch, so he will watch his own shows (Entourage, Chuck, Californication, True Blood, Supernatural, Ugly Betty, Greek, the list goes on and on) while I''m doing other things in the house. or he puts them on his Archos and watches them on his hours train rides back and forth to Amsterdam (office) every day.

I booked our April vacation and we are going on a 10-day Caribbean cruise! we absolutely love to snorkel (so I guess you could call it a hobby, but we don''t really get to do it in Holland). I don''t dive underwater because I''m sure I''d just end sucking water through the snorkel, but hubby does it. we''re not into scuba diving because I think it''s just scary having all that water above my head and hubby is epileptic (though suffers from a seizure "only" once every 2 years) so it wouldn''t be good for him.

may I ask where you live? do you go ice-skating inside or outside? I don''t know how to ice-skate. how unDutch of me!

let me know what the guy in charge of your study comes back with.

 

[IloveAsschers13]

American Sign language is sign language here in the U.S. that deaf people use to speak to each other and others. Yes, every country is different. Even the UK has British Sign Language, which is different! When I was on a bus going to Köln in the summer, there was a couple who were signing to each other. My friend has a deaf sister and she can sign pretty well and they were signing ASL and I just find that so interesting!

Yeah, that is lucky of you to go shopping in the US, awesome exchange rate compared to us going over to you. Lucky!

I am so jealous that you are going on a cruise! I think I read about that somewhere on another thread. It seems like so much fun but I am scared of getting sea sick. I have never been on a cruise. When is it? Speaking of vacations, do you get a lot of vacation time for your work?

I live in MI. Currently it is -5 degrees Celsius, so it''s pretty cold. I can go ice skating outside. A lot of people walk to class on the River that we have that runs through campus. We are supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow tonight, which is going to SUCK on my walk to class (about 40 minutes) tomorrow morning. Sometimes I catch the bus but it is soooo unreliable. Sometimes it comes when it is supposed to and sometimes it''s so off I am late to class.

I haven''t heard anything yet, but I do know that he doesn''t check his computer HALF as much as everyone else I know. That was something I really enjoyed while I was on my trip was being cut off from everything. Here, especially on campus, you will see NEVER see anyone without headphones and also everyone has a blackberry now, so they are on the internet even when they don''t have their computers. I will admit, I just got a used ipod touch and it sure is addictive.

I love it though. But I liked it much better not seeing people on their computers everywhere. I guess I am in a college town though. It''s funny, we have like 50,000 students, and it''s the biggest campus in the U.S. I also looove to brag about the fact I am going to the #1 teaching school in the United States for 12 years rolling. woo-hoo!

 

[noelwr]

we get 25 days of leave a year, not including public holidays, but there aren''t many of those and none in the 2nd half of the year except for Christmas. We have 2 days of Christmas and 2 days of Easter. I am also on a project and we had to put in a lot late hours and weekend work, so we also got 7 extra leave days from the project, which is fantastic. they try to scare you into thinking that you will lose any unused days at the end of of the year, but they can''t legally do that so I often carry over days to the next year.

the cruise is in April. can''t wait!

40 minute walk to class! that is true dedication. I walk for 50 minutes every morning on the treadmill, but I am inside where it''s warm and I watch Animal Planet, and I get to take a hot shower directly after. I can''t imagine walking 40 minutes in the snow and cold. but like you say, it the #1 teaching school and you''re proud of it, so I can understand your motivation.

are you at all affected by the snow storm? I hope my trip to Phoenix next week isn''t affected by weather. in Phoenix I see it''s going to be in the 20s and sunny, but I hope I don''t get stuck at Memphis airport on the way in or Atlanta on the way out. I purposely chose more southern airports for the transferring.

it is freezing again outside here. last week was above zero, but yesterday and today below. no snow, though I do think it''s snowing everywhere else in Holland, as usual. I drive to work and it takes a while for my heater to work, but I don''t have to wait outside for the tram or the bus so I can''t complain.

Holland is a very mobile-phone oriented country, but I don''t often see people on their laptops. when I was in Singapore, all the fast food type places like MacDonald''s or Starbucks had students sitting around with the laptops and textbooks. I guess that''s because they can get wireless everywhere. I have a BlackBerry Bold, but I hate the thing. it''s given to me by my company so I have to use it to be on call. however, given a choice I''d rather not be on call, not check my e-mail at home, not have a work laptop to log-in from home, etc. some people even browse the web on their BBs, but to me it''s such a small screen it''s not worth it. so I don''t think an iphone would be my thing either, but my mom has one and loves it.

boo... the euro is getting weaker. well, even so at least things are much cheaper in the States, anyway.

 

[somethingshiny]

Noel~ I just wanted to pop in and say that your weekly thread in Newlyweds is great! I''ve been following the threads for several weeks now and I just love your ideas and all the great photos that the ladies probably wouldn''t be sharing if not for the themes.

I hope all is going well with you!

 

[noelwr]

thanks Shiny! I''m glad you enjoy them as much as you do.

all is going well with me, thanks.

 

[Arkteia]

Hi Noelwr! I am pleased to meet a person from Holland in PS. My forum is Colored Stones, and I was looking from someone from Holland but I was told that the person was on another forum. So it is you! I absolutely loved Holland. I have traveled a lot and felt that the Dutch were in fact more polite than people in other places that I saw. Perhaps because I visited large cities and Holland is so small. In general, I enjoyed being there. I am also in awe of their school system.

 

[noelwr]

hi crasru. why were you looking for someone from Holland? I also can''t possibly be the only person from Holland in PS?!?

a lot of people have said that they think Dutch people are polite. overall, I think they are rude, and that forces me to be rude because otherwise I''ll get walked all over. I am referring to driving, waiting in line, restaurant service, etc.

did you hear how our government has collapsed as they couldn''t agree on whether to leave troops in Afghanistan or not? this is also not the first time we haven''t had a government.... and our country keeps going on its merry way, so guess they aren''t that importnat.

 

[Arkteia]

This is so funny. Rude? I should invite you to Moscow once - just for fun. I just started typing a story about HOW LACK OF PUBLIC TOILETS MOLDS THE PERSONALITY OF AN AVERAGE MUSCOVITE but then decided that it would be too smelly...even the seasoned PS-ers won''t find it enticing.
The only place in Holland where I did not feel safe was on these roads meant for bikers. (Near the sidewalks - from time to time you need to cross them). Now, bikers were really insensitive. As to governments...do they fight in Dutch parliament? I mean, physically?