Zonsopgang in Amsterdam

I had almost forgotten how delightful the language of the Netherlands is. It's like a more adorable version of English, with more shushing and tsking strewn throughout. Thirteen sounds akin to "dirtteen", making it an unclean teen if I ever heard of one. I have never ever forgotten how delicious stroopwafels are, however, and had the sublime privilege of buying one from a vending machine here in Schipol Airport with Euro coinage I found in my room from way back when I went to Paris, in aught-six. I hope I always have enough foreign currency laying around in the dark corners of my dwelling spaces to buy myself coffee and country-specific pastries in situations like this. Speaking of coffee, hilariously enough, the Starbucks right outside my gate had a sign telling thirsty and sleep-deprived travelers, "Due to a technical difficulty, we regretfully cannot serve any beverages that are made with hot water." Oh-ho, how awkward!

Let me also take a moment while I have nothing better to do to relate my in-flight experience. Despite mad preparations for combating in-flight boredom wherein I got a bunch of subtitled Japanese movies (since reading the subtitles is much easier than listening over ambient airplane noise) and a monstrously large battery for my laptop, I actually never opened my computer (henceforth known by his true name, Lil' Brudda). Turns out the fine folks of KLM provide each of us back-of-the-plane cheapskates with our very own on-screen entertainment center! Each had a remote on a cord that, when turned sideways, became a control for various video games that one can opt to play rather than enjoying the many movies or TV shows from the lengthy onboard film library. This system even offered basic Berlitz language lessons complete with lame and ridiculous review games, which was totally the most awesome part of an already impressive piece of technology. I brushed up on my Turkish words for months, numbers, and some short sentences, and then I tried my hand at Russian for kicks. So, thanks for that, Dutch airline!