I finally got a bike here. With a good lock and everything, it was 108 euros. The bike works fairly well, tho it has an annoying catch to it. Sometimes, when I'm peddling, the chain or something will, all of a sudden, stop working. Therefore, I'll be peddling and nothing will happen. However, it does work sometimes. Consequently, when I took my bike to the shop to have it fixed, it worked just fine. If it gets worse, I'll have to take it back again. Anyone out there know what this problem might be and an easy way to fix it? The shop owner said the problem is not with the chain.
I started Dutch lessons yesterday. I think the language is fairly easy, but we are going at a fast clip. Our teacher said he does twice this fast in Delft, where he also teaches, but I think that would be too difficult. As it is, I'm having a hard time keeping up, and I'm fairly good with languages. There is a poor girl in our class who has never taken a language before, and Dutch is proving to be extremely difficult for her.
Mostly, Dutch is a mix between German and English. Much of it is quite intuitive (at least to me). I think my linguist brother could pick up conversational Dutch in a few days; it is that intuitive. Uit wat land kom jij? (Out vaht lahnd coome yay?) means "Where do you come from?", to which I reply "Ik kom uit de Verenigde Staten." If the formal form of "you" is used, then it would be "Uit wat land komt u?" So, the "t" is the only difference. If the pronoun is plural, you go to "en" -- "Uit wat land komen jullie?" (From where do y'all come?). It's pretty simple, like I said, but people have a hard time of it.
I'm enjoying Leiden. I just want to meet more people. One of my friends from school studied here, so she sent my numbers (phone, house, and email) to her friends in Leiden. So, hopefully I will meet some more people.
My mother comes to visit next week, and I'm quite excited to show her and our friend Martha around! Martha is a big fan of the pilgrims, which used to live in Leiden. More on history later, and on my town and living quarters.