Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Landlady

Today I will meet my land lady for the first time. I've been a little stressed about getting the house clean, although I can't figure out why I am trying to impress this lady. We already paid the rent, plus it's not like she would kick us out of the house for being a little bit messy. Nontheless, I spend a few minutes in the girls' room this morning, chucking all of their personal (and discarded on the floor) items, into their closet, with a stern warning that they are NEVER allowed to clean their own room in such a manner. Do as I say, not as I do! As I am finishing up the clean up, I start stressing on how to address her. Will I need to say "u" (a formal form of you), or can we be on familiar terms and call each other "jij" ? Another worry: when we made the appointment for her to come and meet me, she said: I'll come at 10am, around coffee time, so we'll just have a cup together. Should I have told her right then that we don't drink coffee? Well, I didn't, so I guess now I have to deal with it today. I can offer her juice or tea, and if she asks for coffee, I guess I can tell her we don't drink that. And from there... I'm probably just overreacting. All of a sudden I thought of another typical Dutch thing to do, which is offering your guest something yummy to eat with the coffee/tea. Like breakfast cake, or a special kind of cookie. Should I run to the store and grab some? How many different kinds? But then I just have to put myself back into check, and ask: why am I trying to impress this lady? You would think she expects me to get it all wrong, since we came from the USA!

2 comments:

Nancy Sabina said...

I totally do the same thing - stressing about something that there's really just no reason to stress over. I'm sure your meeting went great. She'll think you're great!

Unknown said...

Look at me... I decided since it's so hard to call you now, I'd better start reading your blog:). I think you're stressing over the landlady thing way too much. Can we say ANXIETY?:)

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