Viimasel ajal olen ma juba enam-vähem kohaliku elukorraldusega harjuda suutnud, ent kui hollandlased mulle pidevalt kaikaid kodaratesse loobivad, läheb neil vahel ikka korda mind rööpast välja viia. Neljapäev tõi endaga kaasa paar head näidet.
Päev algas sellega, et istusin kell 9 arvuti ees valmis sooritama eksamit Euroopa integratsiooni erinevatel teemadel. Pool tundi peale üheksat ei olnud eksam veel nähtavale ilmunud. Kui eksam polnud ka kaks tundi hiljem netis avalikustatud, mõtlesin ma, et ohhoo, vaba päev. Päris oli. Umbes sellel hetkel teatas Margus mulle, et Uva oli mulle järjekordse kirja saatnud. Hoiatusega, et kui ma neile panga väljavõtet hiljemalt 30. septembril ei saada, siis head aega ülikool. Kiire pilk kalendrisse näitas, et parajasti oli käes 30. september. Esialgu lootsin ma asja telefoni teel korda ajada, kuid kõik telefoninumbrid, mis kirjas mainitud, olid parasjagu automaatvastaja peal.
Kogemus ütles mulle, et e-maili saatmine pole ka eriti mõttekas, sest eelmised e-mailid said vastuse a la “Ära muretse, oota järgmist kirja.” seega ei jäänud mul muud üle kui UvA infopunkti kimada. Seal oli muidugi metsik järjekord, aga nähes kuidas mu ülikool oma asju ajab, ei üllatanud see mind karvavõrdki. Kui ma lõpuks leti äärde jõudsin, võttis mu probleemi lahendamine ühel šokolaadivärvi preilil umbes 10 minutit ja enamuse sellest ajast rippus ta telefoni otsas. Selgeks sai muidugi ka probleem, miks UvA mu peale vimma kannab. Õppemaksu üle kandes olin ma mingil kummalisel kombel suutnud umbes 50€ vähem maksta. (Tegelikult, ei ole siin midagi kummalist, kui UvA oma kodulehel ütleb, et Euroopa tudengid maksavad sellise summa, siis ma ka kannan üle sellise summa, mitte “igaks juhuks veel 50€”.) Maksin siis oma raha ära ja küsisin umbes kümme korda üle, et kas nüüd on kõik korras. Tundub et on, sest siiani mind veel välja visatud ei ole.
Siiski ei saa ma kogu selle korralageduse mõttekusest aru ja tuleb tunnistada, et need hollandlased ikka teavad, kuidas mind närvi ajada. Selle asemel, et mulle öelda: “Halloo, tule maksa oma 50€ ära”, saadavad nad mulle Eestisse ähvardavaid kirju ja igaks juhuks ei maini ka, milles probleem on.
Eksamist rääkides veel nii palju, et netti pandi see üles alles kell 16 ning tänu sellele anti meile terve nädalavahetus aega selle kallal päid murda.
Enne siia kolimist olin ma muidugi kursis kõikide uue kultuuriga kohanemise staadiumitega. Et kõigepealt on mesinädalad, kus ma armastan kõike hollandipärast ja seejärel tuleb kultuurišokk, kus ma hakkan kõike hollandipärast vihkama. Mulle tundub, et selleks, et kukkumine liiga karm ei oleks, eelistavad hollandlased mesinädalad ära jätta ja sind kohe šokeerida. Kolmas staadium on kohanemine, kus hollandlaste imelik käitumine mind teooria järgi enam ei üllata. Mõistma ma neid ilmselt ei hakka, aga ma loodan, et mingil hetkel olen ma nii treenitud, et ei kergita enam kulmugi, kui nad mind näiteks maalt lahkuma sunnivad. Olemas on ka neljas ja viies staadium, ent mind ei üllataks, kui hollandlased otsustaks need vahele jätta.
I would say that I have almost adjusted to the Dutch way of living, but as the locals are continuously trying to sidetrack me, they must succeed at some point. And they were extremely successful this Thursday.
The day started with me sitting in front of my laptop at 9 am ready to write my exam about the theories of European integration. If the exam hadn't been published in the Internet 2 hours later, I thought: wohoo, someone's having a free day. Boy I was wrong.
Around that time my brother told me that UvA had sent me another letter with a warning that if I don't send them the proof of bank transfer on the 30th September the latest, I will be expelled. A quick look at the calendar confirmed my suspicions: it was indeed the 30th of September. At first I hoped that a couple of phone calls would fix the problem, but quite conveniently the numbers marked in the letter weren't working.
As I am already quite experienced in dealing with UvA, I knew that sending an e-mail wouldn't do much good either as in the best case I would just get a reply saying “Don't worry, let us know when you get another letter!” So I jumped on my bike to go to the UvA information centre. The queue there was quite impressive, but seeing how the university manages it's documents, I wasn't surprised at all. When it was finally my turn to complain, it took the girl about 10 minutes to fix my problem. So finally after all the suffering I fould out, why UvA didn't like me. Namely, I managed to pay 50€ less while transferring my tuition fee. (Actually, I would still blame UvA in this as if they state in their webpage, that European students pay this amount, then I will pay this amount, not “50€ more to be sure”.) So I paid and asked the girl about 10 times if everything's alright now. I guess it is, as they haven't expelled me yet.
Nevertheless, I really have to admit that the Dutch know how to push my buttons. Instead of telling me “Come on, pay your 50€”, they keep sending some threatening letters to Estonia and to be totally sure, never really say what is the problem.
About the exam – it was uploaded in the Internet only at 4 pm and therefore we got some extra time to work on it.
Before moving here I knew about the different stages of getting acquainted with the new culture. That first I will be in the honeymoon phase, where I love everything Dutch and then the culture shock arrives where I'll start hating everything Dutch. I guess the Dutch are really worried that the shock might be too big after the initial 'perfectness', so they prefer to skip the honeymoon and start with shocking straight away. The third phase should be getting used to the culture and their weird behaviour shouldn't surprise me much any more. I don't think I will ever get them, but I hope that at some point I am so trained that I won't even raise an eyebrow when they're trying to make me leave the country. Surely there are also the 4th and the 5th stages, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Dutch would just decide to skip them.
Päev algas sellega, et istusin kell 9 arvuti ees valmis sooritama eksamit Euroopa integratsiooni erinevatel teemadel. Pool tundi peale üheksat ei olnud eksam veel nähtavale ilmunud. Kui eksam polnud ka kaks tundi hiljem netis avalikustatud, mõtlesin ma, et ohhoo, vaba päev. Päris oli. Umbes sellel hetkel teatas Margus mulle, et Uva oli mulle järjekordse kirja saatnud. Hoiatusega, et kui ma neile panga väljavõtet hiljemalt 30. septembril ei saada, siis head aega ülikool. Kiire pilk kalendrisse näitas, et parajasti oli käes 30. september. Esialgu lootsin ma asja telefoni teel korda ajada, kuid kõik telefoninumbrid, mis kirjas mainitud, olid parasjagu automaatvastaja peal.
Kogemus ütles mulle, et e-maili saatmine pole ka eriti mõttekas, sest eelmised e-mailid said vastuse a la “Ära muretse, oota järgmist kirja.” seega ei jäänud mul muud üle kui UvA infopunkti kimada. Seal oli muidugi metsik järjekord, aga nähes kuidas mu ülikool oma asju ajab, ei üllatanud see mind karvavõrdki. Kui ma lõpuks leti äärde jõudsin, võttis mu probleemi lahendamine ühel šokolaadivärvi preilil umbes 10 minutit ja enamuse sellest ajast rippus ta telefoni otsas. Selgeks sai muidugi ka probleem, miks UvA mu peale vimma kannab. Õppemaksu üle kandes olin ma mingil kummalisel kombel suutnud umbes 50€ vähem maksta. (Tegelikult, ei ole siin midagi kummalist, kui UvA oma kodulehel ütleb, et Euroopa tudengid maksavad sellise summa, siis ma ka kannan üle sellise summa, mitte “igaks juhuks veel 50€”.) Maksin siis oma raha ära ja küsisin umbes kümme korda üle, et kas nüüd on kõik korras. Tundub et on, sest siiani mind veel välja visatud ei ole.
Siiski ei saa ma kogu selle korralageduse mõttekusest aru ja tuleb tunnistada, et need hollandlased ikka teavad, kuidas mind närvi ajada. Selle asemel, et mulle öelda: “Halloo, tule maksa oma 50€ ära”, saadavad nad mulle Eestisse ähvardavaid kirju ja igaks juhuks ei maini ka, milles probleem on.
Eksamist rääkides veel nii palju, et netti pandi see üles alles kell 16 ning tänu sellele anti meile terve nädalavahetus aega selle kallal päid murda.
Enne siia kolimist olin ma muidugi kursis kõikide uue kultuuriga kohanemise staadiumitega. Et kõigepealt on mesinädalad, kus ma armastan kõike hollandipärast ja seejärel tuleb kultuurišokk, kus ma hakkan kõike hollandipärast vihkama. Mulle tundub, et selleks, et kukkumine liiga karm ei oleks, eelistavad hollandlased mesinädalad ära jätta ja sind kohe šokeerida. Kolmas staadium on kohanemine, kus hollandlaste imelik käitumine mind teooria järgi enam ei üllata. Mõistma ma neid ilmselt ei hakka, aga ma loodan, et mingil hetkel olen ma nii treenitud, et ei kergita enam kulmugi, kui nad mind näiteks maalt lahkuma sunnivad. Olemas on ka neljas ja viies staadium, ent mind ei üllataks, kui hollandlased otsustaks need vahele jätta.
I would say that I have almost adjusted to the Dutch way of living, but as the locals are continuously trying to sidetrack me, they must succeed at some point. And they were extremely successful this Thursday.
The day started with me sitting in front of my laptop at 9 am ready to write my exam about the theories of European integration. If the exam hadn't been published in the Internet 2 hours later, I thought: wohoo, someone's having a free day. Boy I was wrong.
Around that time my brother told me that UvA had sent me another letter with a warning that if I don't send them the proof of bank transfer on the 30th September the latest, I will be expelled. A quick look at the calendar confirmed my suspicions: it was indeed the 30th of September. At first I hoped that a couple of phone calls would fix the problem, but quite conveniently the numbers marked in the letter weren't working.
As I am already quite experienced in dealing with UvA, I knew that sending an e-mail wouldn't do much good either as in the best case I would just get a reply saying “Don't worry, let us know when you get another letter!” So I jumped on my bike to go to the UvA information centre. The queue there was quite impressive, but seeing how the university manages it's documents, I wasn't surprised at all. When it was finally my turn to complain, it took the girl about 10 minutes to fix my problem. So finally after all the suffering I fould out, why UvA didn't like me. Namely, I managed to pay 50€ less while transferring my tuition fee. (Actually, I would still blame UvA in this as if they state in their webpage, that European students pay this amount, then I will pay this amount, not “50€ more to be sure”.) So I paid and asked the girl about 10 times if everything's alright now. I guess it is, as they haven't expelled me yet.
Nevertheless, I really have to admit that the Dutch know how to push my buttons. Instead of telling me “Come on, pay your 50€”, they keep sending some threatening letters to Estonia and to be totally sure, never really say what is the problem.
About the exam – it was uploaded in the Internet only at 4 pm and therefore we got some extra time to work on it.
Before moving here I knew about the different stages of getting acquainted with the new culture. That first I will be in the honeymoon phase, where I love everything Dutch and then the culture shock arrives where I'll start hating everything Dutch. I guess the Dutch are really worried that the shock might be too big after the initial 'perfectness', so they prefer to skip the honeymoon and start with shocking straight away. The third phase should be getting used to the culture and their weird behaviour shouldn't surprise me much any more. I don't think I will ever get them, but I hope that at some point I am so trained that I won't even raise an eyebrow when they're trying to make me leave the country. Surely there are also the 4th and the 5th stages, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Dutch would just decide to skip them.
No comments:
Post a Comment