A/K/A Hafid Rashidi

They actually put me to work today!

As I said earlier, everyone in the Netherlands must get a diploma or certificate of some sort after high school. So today I worked with the secretarial program at Noorderpoort. Secretaries must be able to speak and understand English. Today, as part of their final exams, each secretarial student was required to take a phone call from someone speaking English and write an accurate note about it. Speaking to someone on a phone is difficult; speaking to a stranger speaking another language is very difficult. There is no body language to assist in communication.

I was given a script and a list of names and phone numbers, and, working with an adjunct instructor named Joop ("Yoop"), we called students. They were all in the middle of another test when their phones rang. They were required to answer using the company name, and ask us to hold. This was done in Dutch, so Joop would tell me whether it had been done right. Then they had to leave the room where the other test was being administered, and listen to me tell them that my name was Hafid Rashidi, and I was calling in sick. Could they please cancel an appointment I had later that day, and fill in the paperwork for my sick day?

You could tell they were nervous, especially at the start of each call. But all of them rose to the occasion, and we all had fun with it.

I moved to new digs today. I am now residing at the Martini Hotel--named for the saint, not the drink. It's very nice and I'm on the top floor in the center of the city. I took pictures of my view, but they're not loading. I'll add them when they do.

Until tomorrow--