From holland

Just a small note from Holland.. things have gone pretty well here, and I return tomorrow, hopefully, in preparation for Sunday's trip to Hungary. It's interesting that I've actually picked up a few words in Dutch in this trip, something I haven't been able to do before.

Meetings are so much more effortless, even with foreigners. I can't believe that I'm holding meetings with 10 people, of whom 8 are foreigners. It's not easy, I do have to concentrate and at the end of the day I return to the hotel mentally exhausted but at least I'm getting along.

Something funny that I would not have caught before I did my implant. Yesterday we decided to go to Amsterdam as a change of scenery from our client location (which is pretty, but since it's in the countryside, it's completely dead). My friend knew of a good steakhouse and we decided to go there together. To get to this steakhouse, we had to cross the infamous Red Light District, in its seedy glory. My friend is pretty short and slightly corpulent in a cuddly kind of way I would say. As we were walking, a particular lady of the night called out to my friend, calling, 'Hey, the little one' with a strong Dutch accent (sort of Hei, da leetil wan!) and we found it hilarious. She didn't call him the bald one (He's also bald) or the short one, but the LITTLE one, as if he was some sort of pocket sized midget, and it was soooo funny in a manner that can't be depicted here. We just couldn't stop laughing. This was a humorous situation that I would have been oblivious to just a few short months before.

Football!

The English/worldwide version I mean, not the American one :) I had a wonderful experience this week. I have been a lifelong fan of Manchester United - the biggest, greatest football club on earth (Sir Alex Ferguson please do visit my blog - please??? :) ) Anyway, 2 weeks ago I saw them losing against AC Roma. Anyone here in Malta will know that there are fanatical supporters for Italian sides as well as English sides, with a smattering of people supporting others. Anyway, I watched the game on RAI, the Italian national TV, and my enjoyment of the first football game I've followed with a commentary in over 22 years was ruined somewhat by the biaised commentary from the Italian commentator. You would think only one team was on the pitch! What a great experience it was to see United thump Roma 7-1 on the return game.. it was AMAZING. Now I understand why my friends enjoy watching football games with commentaries. Before, I used to say, but can't you watch it on satellite, OK the commentary is in Arabic/Greek/Indonesian/whatever, but isn't the game what counts? Well, listening to the snippets of information coming out of the games (in Italian, of course) showed me how wrong I was :)

Back to Holland tomorrow. Looking forward to it again!

Phone practice

Recently I've been getting LOTS of phone practice. I'm currently liaising a great deal with people who prefer to do business over the phone, and thus phone calls are a necessity. It's amazing that each phone call I get, I develop more confidence and frankly understanding of what is being said. I'm even seeing a distinct improvement in quality via speakerphones which were unreachable for me even a few weeks ago. As I've said recently what I'm seeing regarding improvement is not new sounds as such but a better perception and quality of sound, it's a continual improvement.

I do think that the continual bombardment of sound I'm exposed to has alot to do with it. We Maltese are a very garrulous nationality, and we talk alot! In addition my work involves communicating morning till night with various people, so my mind and my implant have been getting alot of work. As it is, determination did have a part to play too.

What I'd love to do now is the last great barrier I've left - the mobile phone!

Spring is in the air...

There is something in the air in spring that I love so much.. warmish days, but not too warm, just nice enough to feel comfortable to go out. Brilliant blue skies with cotton wool clouds. Greenery in the countryside. And something else that I haven't heard for over 20 years.. birdsong. I marvel every morning to hear the birds greeting the sun. I didn't realise that there actually are such things as birds singing anymore! There are even particular birds I recognise - one particular bird seems pretty annoyed in the morning when I go out to feed Flopsy, Maria's rabbit, and chirps and chips his lungs out.

I have also noticed something else.. I don't really get new sounds anymore, but what I do get is a greater 'roundness' and fullness of sound. For instance, I've heard the sound of the shaving cream that I apply to my face for months now, but it's only recently that it has developed from a 'non specific' sound to one of a soft, creamy splat that it sounds like now. The fizzing sound water makes just before it reaches a rolling boil is also different from the sound that, say, Coke makes. Fascinating isn't it?

One other thing I've noticed - I haven't much of a difficulty with understanding people who have a foreign accent. As I've described before I've dealt with Dutch customers for instance, with their quite strong accent and sometimes incorrect pronounciation and, at times, emphasis at the wrong points in words. No problem. But for some reason I sometimes struggle with people speaking in my OWN language, Maltese, when they have a coarse, lower working class accent. The other day, a man came over to do some waterproofing treatment at our house and I barely could understand a word he said. Likewise when the handyman came, it was very difficult to follow. Isn't this strange?