In which our life abroad is revealed to be occasionally less than perfect

This is a quickie to let you all know I'm still alive. The south of France (Languedoc, to be exact) was fabu - even in unseasonably cold weather it is simply the most beautiful and charming area I have ever been. Pictures to come.


But even in the idyllic world that is our Semester Abroad, things are not always perfect. Amsterdam is in the midst of a sanitation workers' strike, which means our neighborhood is drowning in a mass of stinking, wet (it keeps raining) garbage and other household refuse. The city on garbage collection day is bad enough under normal circumstances, because people simply pile their garbage, some bagged and some not, on the curb. It's a trash-picker's haven -- I admit to furnishing our terrace this way -- but it's also downright gross. And at this point it is incredibly gross, about to become astonishingly so.

Add to this the fact that the construction project next door has kicked into high gear. To build anything in the soft, wet ground that is Amsterdam, you must drive giant steel pilings 30 feet into the ground. Many, many of them. You may or may not be able to imagine the sound and vibrations this produces, but suffice it to say, it is not possible to write in the house when this is going on. When it also results in the electricity being cut off all day, or -- worse! -- a loss of INTERNET CONNECTION on the eve of a four-day national holiday weekend, well, the situation can feel a little bit desperate.

I am going to post this before the hour of free wifi that comes with a purchase at my local cafe is up. I will try to remember that life was good before the internet and can be so again. I will take a hot bath and enjoy the quiet of a construction holiday. I will reassure my children that their friends will still be there when they can finally get back on facebook and AIM. We will play liar's dice again and continue reading aloud. When they go back to school on Monday, I will remind myself that the internet DISTRACTS me from my writing anyway. It will stop raining. The strike will end. And we will still be in an incredible city, with months of fun and travel still ahead.