Comfort zones

If there’s one thing that being taken out of your comfort zone is good at highlighting, it has to be our reliance (or lack of) on God. Many times now I have moved from a situation that has become familiar, and therefore comfortable, into a place where uncertainties about my life (day-to-day living, future etc) abound. While the most dramatic change in comfort zone was my move to Tanzania in January 2008, my move here to Leiden only a few weeks ago had the same predictable effect of showing me where my contentment really lay.

While living in England, I was challenged to grow in my faith, yes, but I also had life down to a comfortable rhythm that helped to lull me into thinking that I was really, finally, learning contentment in God. While it is probably true to some extent (at least I hope so!) that I had grown in my ability to trust God with my future and be content in whatever He was calling me to, it only took a change in circumstances to show me that I wasn’t quite so content as I’d deluded myself into thinking; I was only comfortable. Real godly contentment does not waver when circumstances change! It was easy, while in Sheffield, to say with Paul, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances” (Philippians 4:11) because I felt I could cope with the circumstances; that they were within my control. It’s only in being ‘out of control’ in a new place that I am reminded not to trust in my own strength but to trust in God’s; not to look forward to the future that I assume God will give me, but to be content with His amazing plan for my life, whatever that means.

I don’t enjoy the revelation particularly, it’s a frustrating realisation to come to, but I am so grateful that God has shown me (once again) my need for renewed trust in Him rather than let me continue in my ignorance! I don’t know how long it will take for me to finally learn this lesson (probably my whole lifetime), but I pray that God will never stop reminding me of my need for Him and of my own weakness, even if He has to do it through my moving country. What a great God He is!

Supermarket stress!

So, here in the Netherlands pretty much everyone speaks great English - fantastic for me who knows almost zilch.  My courses are taught in English - also fab, since I barely know enough about linguistics in English, let alone a second language. So, I probably don't need to bother with learning Dutch then? (Here I'm ignoring my inner linguist who is cringing with shame at the idea of not 'bothering' to learn the language of the country I'm living in!)
Here enter-eth the problem that while everyone may speak English, very little Dutch produce has labels written in English. 
My first encounter with this issue happened when, hunting for cumin and tumeric (like anyone normal might do!), I stood for a good five minutes in front of the spice shelf trying to determine by colour and shape whether I held cumin seeds and tumeric.  'Curcuma' I read on the little bottle of yellow powder (after cleverly having discounting the yellow 'kerrie poeder' since it sounded suspiciously like 'curry powder').  Apart from sounding like 'cucumber', which didn't help, I had no clues from the name so I decided to risk it.  Next, I held a bottle of cumin-lookalike seeds labelled 'anijs'. Hmm, too suspiciously like 'anise' to make a tasty curry.  After bewildering two poor supermarket assistants with my demands for cumin, I cut my losses and settled for just turmeric.
Now, one would think that said first experience might make one more sensible next time and look up terminology in a dictionary beforehand, but noooo, apparently not! My next indecision, thankfully only lasting a few minutes, was this time over whether the muesli I wanted to buy contained nuts.  I was pretty clued up that 'noot' and 'noten' meant 'nut' and 'nuts' respectively, but beyond that I was just reduced to scanning the ingredients and guessing! I guess I'll find out tomorrow morning whether some nuts go by names in Dutch that don't include 'noot' in the title (not unlikely given that 'almonds' aren't obviously nuts by the name).
My conclusion therefore, is that I'll probably have a good food-related vocabulary by the time I return, even if I do indeed fail to learn any more Dutch.

Settling in...

Snow.  That has been my first impression! Arriving on the continent via the channel tunnel on Friday afternoon, it took my parents and I an extra three hours or so to get to Leiden, all due to the mad weather that had suddenly hit Europe.  Since then it hasn't snowed again, but the temperatures have remained colder than I've ever experienced.  I've even been wearing a woolly hat to stay warm (for those who know me, that is a great concession to the cold, almost unheard of in regular winter temperatures!) 

The canals are beautiful at the moment, almost all are under a thick layer of ice, safe enough to walk and skate on.  The Dutch around me are all getting very excited about the prospect of holding the Elfstedentocht, or 11 cities tour; 200km of speed or leisure skating around the rivers, canals and lakes in Friesland.  I believe the decision about it taking place will happen later today, a choice dependent on the safety of the route since the ice must be 15cm thick all along it.  The last tour was held in 1997, so it's a very exciting time for those interested!

Other than that, life goes on as normal around here, except in the little world of Hazel that is.  Once again I have been plunged into a new culture, and the inevitable feeling is one of complete ignorance as I try to navigate around a new city, new language, new university system and even a new currency.  My Dutch, it has to be said, is at best basic, and while most people speak excellent English, I don't think I'll ever stop being embarrassed when someone talks to me in Dutch and I have to admit that I have no idea what they just said!

Having said that, I have started to learn my way around Leiden.  I'll even try cycling round it soon (I've been putting it off while the snow has been bad) which will go some way to helping me feel more Dutch!  The walk to the university takes around 35 minutes, which isn't bad, but in these cold temperatures that is about 20 minutes longer than I'd like to be spending outside.  The cycle paths are more or less free of snow now, so at least I won't drift off-course by mistake!

I'll end there with a couple of pictures.  For those interested who have my address, do find me on earth-scout.com street view, then you'll get an idea of what the place looks like (minus snow!)