No, not of a quack that has gone to the dogs- but just an update on what we have been up to. Its amazing the differences even a week make in James. He seems taller- he can now reach the higher cabinet knobs, the countertop and the table top though he can't see what he is pulling off- he has new favorite books- he likes eating egg from a fork if you stick it on there for him- he can do puzzles that frustrated him a week ago. Yesterday, I rolled a tennis ball to him and it went between his legs and he did a somersault trying to get it-pretty funny. He also hid from me for the first time- we have played that game for ages but yesterday I was writing an email in the 'office' (our house is really just one big room) and actually couldn't find him when I turned around- I thought I had left a gate open or something and he jumped out from behind the couch and scared the crap out of me.
Here are some pictures for anyone who forgot what he looks like-
Like I started to say, my trip went really well and we are certainly sold on western Mass as top of the 2007/8 potential destination list.
It is always interesting flying out of Amsterdam. The crew are usually a mix of Dutch and American; if you can figure out who is who and speak Dutch at the appropriate times you find that the level of service goes up just that tiny little bit (finding a Grolsch for you as opposed to Miller Lite, bringing back some newspapers from 1st class, smiles etc.). I sat in front of an American expat who has lived in Amsterdam for 12 years. He had been a lawyer and a lobbyist in NY and Washington and had a really interesting perspective on how people explain the differences between the two cultures. He said Holland was like a big family business (implying, I think, that you had to be connected to be truly accepted); there is a social contract where people have agreed that everyone will be taken care of and guaranteed a comfortable job and lifestyle- not extravagant but egalitarian. A long history of negotiated agreements on a continent whose past includes hundreds of years of protracted and bloody warfare has led to a society that can look, to people raised on 'can-do' American optimism, stifling and unmotivated. America, on the other hand, was set up as a for-profit colony by its European conqueror/founders and independent, motivated (and often disgruntled) citizens were encouraged to move there and this attitude persists. Europeans see the
economic inequality in America as the perpetuation of the myth that anyone can strike it rich if you only work hard enough. An interesting conversation for what was really just two tall guys negotiating seating in the exit row. We compromised, I took the exit row with the seat that doesn't recline, he had two seats to himself. Actually I was lucky; neither long flight was full.
Airports are always odd places to me; people being shuttled far and near, rushing around in various states of distress. Are there any airports that are finished? I have been through JFK a couple times now and am always amazed at the degree of chaos. Parts of it truly resemble the third world. My new found friend also had a couple hours layover and he offered to take me to the 'Business Class Elite Fancypants Lounge' or whatever it is. I was always curious so I joined him- I imagine it is different in other places but in JFK there was literally a bag of garbage sitting in the dingy hall leading to the VIP elevator. Inside, though they had courtesy phones and a bar and even showers, it was pretty much like a Holiday Inn lobby. I guess I expected people would be wearing top hats, drinking whiskey and smoking big cigars...
It was nice to be 'home' at any rate. I have to concentrate on listening to Dutch conversation (making it easy to tune out when you want) and it was actually bizarre to be around so many people speaking comprehensibly; it got to where I couldn't stop listening and I was afraid people would think I was (more of) a weirdo. Houses and cars in America: still enormous.
The morning of my interview there was six inches of snow; I guess they have been waiting for it because people were out enthusiastically shoveling and snowblowing first thing. I made my way up to Washington, one of the tiny 'hill towns' in the Berkshires- not even a stop light, sometimes a town hall and a church and a few houses. Twice people saw me looking confused with a map and offered help. We walked around the old farm where the school is and talked about the facility and the summer program and what the position entailed and my experience and the history of the area. We ended up at Will's house nearby. Every building was timberframed and so well designed- efficient, beautiful, big enough for its purpose. It was about 10F outside and inside his house was about 70F with no heat on- all passive solar and the remnants of woodstove heat from the previous day.
I think I was enchanted just coming from so far away and I had looked forward to taking this step for so long- but it was a really beautiful spot and everything I had hoped it would be- which is pretty rare. I should know in about a month what our summer plans will shape up to be.
