Sixth post from (back in) the Netherlands

[aadler]

 
Monday night before I went to bed, I checked and found that the deposit our son had made had been credited, giving us $200 to draw on from the account.

Tuesday morning, when I looked again, all of it was gone. All. A check we’d sent out weeks ago had come in immediately after the deposit, wiping out all the gain. So we were once again at nothing.

Susan and I checked out of the hotel in Gheel, and walked back to the train station to buy transport to our next lodgings. This necessitated taking a train to Antwerp, another to Rotterdam, a third to Amersfoort, a fourth to Apeldoorn, and then a bus to Leonen. At Apeldoorn I was able to find an ATM, and withdrew €20 from my account. When we arrived in Leonen, Susan and I trundled our suitcases up the street until we could find someone to ask the location of the hotel where she had scheduled the next two nights.

We got lucky; the young woman Susan asked said it was too far for us to walk, and drove us there in her car. (It was too far to walk — for Susan — and would have been a not particularly pleasant trip for me, given the luggage situation.) Having already ascertained that our benefactor was Catholic, Susan made a quick extraction from her suitcase and gave the young woman a small plaque she’d brought from Medjugorje, as an expression of gratitude. So there we were.

The woman at the front desk showed us to our room … and we promptly lay down and slept for three hours. After that time, I got up to do some work on the laptop; Susan watched a few hours’ television, and then went back to sleep. It had been a wearing day for both of us.

Okay. Where we are now, wireless Internet access is available, though at a rate we’ll have to manage carefully. Susan will have to go online tomorrow, to post some of this week’s assignments for her doctoral program, and at that time I’ll get a chance to see if our son has followed the request I shot to him by e-mail: putting into MY account rather than Susan’s the remainder of the cash he’d acquired for us. (There had been a little left over, and he’d held it out for his own use.) If he’s done so, and I can access it, we’ll probably be okay. If he didn’t, or if he followed earlier instructions and put it into her account and now it’s gone, too … well, we’ll still probably be okay, it’ll just involve us spending Thursday night in the airport.

It’s been an interesting last few days. Every part of our financial shortfall has been due to poor planning or bad judgment, and in almost every case the fault was mine.

First, we should have put away some extra in advance of this trip. That was as much Susan’s responsibility as mine, but we both knew the size of her earnings and allowed ourselves to rely on what we ‘knew’ would be coming in. So, when that last paycheck was $500 short of what she had expected it to be, that put us in a shortfall we hadn’t anticipated.

Second, she had told me the right way to go about changing dollars into euros, and I got it exactly backward. When I did the conversion at the airport, I paid somewhere between 16% and 25% more than necessary. That left us with less effective cash than we’d have had if I’d just made sure I understood what she was saying.

Third, when we knew we were coming up short, Susan acknowledged that we could cancel the reservation in Gheel. I assessed our remaining finances and decided we’d be okay. I was wrong, principally because I miscalculated how much travel from Amsterdam to Gheel would run us (in total, over €80, with another €45 to get back as far as we have), but partly because the confirmation Susan had from the hotel in Gheel made it look like our stay would cost us €130 total, while actually it was €130 per night.

Finally, worst of all, when we got our son to acquire extra funds for us, I should have had him put it all in my account to begin with. I’m not entirely clear on which automatic withdrawals Susan has in place — I’ve gone over them, but they didn’t really stick in my head since they weren’t mine — but I know exactly what touches my own account, and nothing was due for over a week.

Life is a learning process, and we generally learn best (if we learn at all) from our mistakes. I’ll definitely try to remember the lessons we picked up this time through.

*               *               *

After breakfast this morning, I spent some time with the woman at the front desk, checking train and bus schedules and costs. I bought a 50-minute Internet card (for €5,95), and did a quick online check. No new money in either account, which seems to determine how we’ll proceed from now on; Susan sent a quick e-mail to the person she’d planned to meet, canceling with apologies.

I did some offline laptop work, then went for a brief walk, but there really wasn’t much to see; our hotel seems to be toward the outskirts of Loenen, so it’s a nice place but not really close to anything. Susan had gone back to bed after breakfast, and remained there through the morning. The last several days have been a bit rough on her: not grueling, exactly, but taxing past what she normally has to deal with. It’s probably a good thing that she’ll have a few days to rest after we get home again, before she has to return to work. As it happens, her first shift is on the evening of Election Day … and, yes, we will both be voting.

Open cut – Political opinion

I’ve done what I could to keep up with political news over here, but — not understanding Dutch, French, or Flemish — I’ve been limited as to my inputs. In some places we could get BBC on the television, in some CNN International. Neither version of CNN has my confidence when it comes to slant-free news, and Europe has its own biases (people over here, those who’ve expressed an opinion, have said how much they prefer Obama, and I keep telling them I wish we could make Obama the President of Europe). When possible, I’ve supplemented what I hear through television with information from various online news magazines I follow regularly.

I don’t think the presidential race is the done deal that the MSM keeps trying to sell us. This is exactly the type of election to defy trends, or at least make them unreliable; for my own part, it was a bit startling to realize that — since I was born during the Eisenhower administration — this is the first presidential election in my lifetime without an incumbent president or vice-president on the ticket. (That’s right: Eisenhower [P] in 1956, Nixon [VP] in 1960, Johnson [P] in 1964, Humphrey [VP] in 1968, Nixon [P] in 1972, Ford [P] in 1976, Carter [P] in 1980, Reagan [P] in 1984, Bush [VP] in 1988 and [P] in 1992, Clinton [P] in 1996, Gore [VP] in 2000, and Bush [P] in 2004.)

There are multiple polls. The polls disagree with each other, and each side naturally highlights the ones that seem most favorable to itself. Since media prejudice always favors the Democratic Party, the media can legitimately be suspected of sidelining or downplaying any polls that argue against ‘their’ message. Despite all the partisan shadings, however, reports from all sides consistently show a tightening race.

There’s almost a week left, and the gap continues to shrink. This isn’t over.

Close cut

Susan got her latest online lesson submission prepared, and we logged on long enough to post it. I arranged at the front desk for a ride to the bus station in Leonen tomorrow morning; we’ll go the airport in Amsterdam, confirm our flight out … and wait, probably for nearly a day, until time to leave.

This may be my last post from Europe, on this trip at least. Doing okay, and intend to do better next time out.

Comments

Maybe Obama should apply for EU citizenship?

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

I picked up Reader's Digest in the doctor's office just this morning, and according to the poll they quoted, Obama is the overwhelming favorite in every other country, ranging from 65% to 90% over McCain. To their credit, the article acknowledges that media bias is one of the major factors, along with the simple fact that America is a very different place from the rest of the world.

I've been surfing the TV news quite a bit (I'm going to have to detox for a month when this is over), and if you compare Fox to, say, CNN or MSNBC, you'd swear it was two different elections.

I'm glad you're managing to squeak you way along! You're braver than I am, to continue on with so few resources.

Re: Maybe Obama should apply for EU citizenship?

[aadler]

I’ve kept following the races. I deeply wish we had one more week before the actual election, but I’m still feeling hopeful.

As far as squeaking by, it isn’t brave if you have no choice. Still, I’m ready to recognize and respect the fortitude Susan showed. Physically she’s nowhere near as tough as me, but in the core of her character she just never stops.

Re: Maybe Obama should apply for EU citizenship?

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

I guess I was thinking you could just pack it in and fly home early, if you had to. Just the same, soldiering on is still braver than curling up in a ball of despair, as all too many people would.

One more week would be good, wouldn't it? Everything did seem to be trending our way.

Re: Maybe Obama should apply for EU citizenship?

[aadler]

And may yet. I could be happier — I could be much happier — but not all the omens are against us.

Do lots of praying.

Re: Maybe Obama should apply for EU citizenship?

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

the praying didn't work.

[aadler]

Prayers are always answered. Sometimes the answer is, “Sorry, bud, you’re just going to have to gut your way through this one.”

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but I get that answer all the time. *whines*

[texanfan.livejournal.com]

I think some of the best things from traveling are the wonderful people who go out of their way to help. god really does watch out for us wherever we go.

I'm sorry these money difficulties have plagued you. Safe return home!

[aadler]

The difficulties worked themselves out … or rather, we found our way through them. It’s not the first time I’ve slept on an airport floor, but I know it’s been a good long while since Susan faced that necessity.

We got here, though. We’re good.