Hey guys, so I thought I'd save the month of July from not appearing on this blog for this year...
It's been a while, AGAIN, and the reason for that is that I have lost all sense of rhythm and, quite frankly, life's been a little crazy for me lately.
First of all I passed the HOC course's professionalism check the twelfth of June, or profcheck as we refer to it. (HOC is the certificate needed to be in the SIGMA, the medical assistance team for disasters for the Red Cross) It was an exam on practical skill, being given a case where the disaster victim is already on a stretcher in the supposed field hospital we set up. So it was purely assisting the paramedic and off-field medical actions we get to perform. Very basic stuff and I was far more nervous for it then necessary. But I passed it and so did my 15 fellow students, which is very rare (the previous HOC started with about the same number of students, of which only 5 made it through to the end).
Shortly after that I had two days of ambulance internships. Which were amazing, though we didn't come across a lot of interesting casualties. I really am looking forward to the academy of Nursing now... I had great colleagues who knew no bounds as to what they should or shouldn't teach me and I had a great time with them as well as with most of the patients we transported. I'm definitely at home in the sector, and think I'll go on a mission for the Red Cross, or the army if there is no other way; abroad. As a nurse of course.
Then there were all these shifts for the Red Cross and this crash-visit of a school where a boy had come out of the closet whose parents were in denial of their son's sexuality, before I got robbed on the morning of the 4th of July. I was walking home from a First Aid shift I did for the MES (not the Red Cross, a scouting-originated First Aid provider), which had kindly asked for my assistance during this pretty cool music event. We had a few brews after the event had ended and decided it would be great to go out into the city for a few more drinks. We had a ball and it was about 04:00 that I decided I had to go home because the plan was to join two other scoutsleaders in setting out the hike for the approaching Summer Camp (which was just 7 days away). I was walking, because my bike was with a repairman (and still is actually), in casual clothing (the MES doesn't have a uniform, like the Red Cross has). Around 5 I arrived at this crossing, I was almost home, when I suddenly heard running behind me. There wasn't a soul on the street besides me, so I turned around to see and I saw these two figures running towards me in white sports clothing. I didn't think too much of it, being the laconic guy I am, but afterwards some concern would have been appropriate. I was quite buzzed, mind you. So just on the crossing I was held firmly and felt something long and cold against my throat, as well as something pricking my side. One of the boys (they were about 16 y.o.) demanded repeatedly that I'd empty my pockets, so I complied by giving the guy behind me, whom I then got to realize was blond, had blue eyes and would make a great fuck; my wallet. The other guy kept demanding his demands and suddenly pulled my arm out of my left pocket (which was for some reason still there, probably shut down by adrenaline) and took my phone and knife. I bartered briefly for my keychain, which was also in the pocket, I held on to it and they didn't really answer. Then they ran off from where they had come.
I took a breath and decided looking where they would go might pose a risk and so I walked to the nearest house I could find (about ten metres away) and rang the door, thinking I had two objectives: bring myself into safety and call the police. Of course no one opened but I did hear this voice from across the main street. It belonged to this guy who must have been about my age and a girl who were just leaving their home. The guy saw the whole thing and first thought we were just messing around, because I remained so calm. I used his phone to call the cops and they gave me some water. While waiting for the cops I blocked my bank card and SIM card. When they finally arrived they took me to the nearest office and I laid down the official statement on the matter. I got home about 6:30. I mailed my fellow scoutsleaders that I wasn't really in the mood for the hike and went to bed. In the afternoon I went to my parent's home, because I needed to make a few phone calls and was in need of money.
It is strange how the sudden stress shuts down most rationality and has you fall back into just this sense of self-defence. The event really changed my view of young people and of the city I live in, where crimes like these are really rare. Or so I thought. It really pulled me into a depression for my empathatic and social self. I realized how dangerous this was for the foundation of my being. It felt like it must feel for a Christian to learn Jesus is a fake after worshipping him for 40 years. I was so certain that I lived for the good of others. Fortunately I still am. What was most shocking about it, which I still really struggle with, is the fact that one of the boys was blond. The look in his eyes as well... he didn't belong there.
I rediscovered Tom Waits...
I hope the police will take good care of him... and the other boy as well.
My mom freaked out of course. While I was sleeping over at the gay preacher's house (after a great night with him, his partner and three other boys) (nothing sexual, by the way), she came along, left one of those weird notes and a can of Pepperspray. Pepperspray is a cat.2 weapon in the Arms and Munition law of the Netherlands and it is therefore illegal to have on you. Besides that it was 5 years past the expiration date... I mailed her that I'd like for her to take the can back to wherever she had acquired it. Probably my uncle or granddad, who are/were cops.
A week later I went on the annual Summer Camp with the scouts. It was great, apart from the fact that, due to the intense heat, we were not allowed to make any fires in the open air (so we had to cook centrally and on gas), and much of the day-to-day program was lost because we needed regular breaks from the heat. Fortunately there was a river just behind our campsite where we could swim, and did swim every day. Besides the heat, we had three days of lightning storms. The first storm wrecked two of our tents, after patching those up for as far as possible we immediately strengthened the others because more bad weather was to be expected. The lightning was very intense, we even saw 'great balls of fire', being red flashes in the sky. It also tore a tree in half which crashed down near the tent where the 18+ people smoke and drink beer in the evenings. Fortunately no one was badly injured during the camp. We also watched the Dutch team lose the world soccer cup, I couldn't care less. But we did watch it with another Dutch scouting group which was stationed near our campsite who had some really gorgeous leaders on it. The last night of the camp I pulled through the night with them, strange, because everyone else of my group was long gone to bed - which is usually my part.
We had a ball, really. And there were some struggles (like a debate about whether our kids should get more than two hours of shopping instead of building a raft and floating it back to the campsite as part of the hike), but I'm not in the mood to touch upon that now. I was the main theme figure and also the main theme leader, the theme for the camp was Medical Centre East, a parody on a Dutch television series. This was also the first year when the 'old' camp staff had resigned and a new staff had arisen. I had a seat in that too.
After the summer camp I really had a week of doing hardly anything. I only went to the bank to request a new card as well as going to the police station to finish up on the report. I decided that Prince Harry was very attractive and signed up for a forum for helpers (there is no satisfactory word for the Dutch "hulpverlener", it basically encompasses First Aid, Police, Firemen, Officials, Ambulance workers, Hospitals, Trauma doctors, the SIGMA, etc.). I also picked up on my work for Humanitas, where I was a didactic coach about a year-and-a-half back.
Now the aftermath of the Summer Camp, some problems of the past year and the coming year of scouting is dominating my life. Organizing meetings and writing a lot of reports to just keep things clear and simple for everybody and arrange a good start for this season. People say I should be the 'group chairman' because of my objective look on issues and my organizational skill. What I think is that we need a chairman who actually has time to work to make things run smoothly. And I can't just leave my scouts, not yet at least. We might have to quit if no replacement for the two leaving leaders is found. The scouts have to be run by me and a fellow scoutsleader.
That's all for now. I'll find some time to write again next week.
It's been a while, AGAIN, and the reason for that is that I have lost all sense of rhythm and, quite frankly, life's been a little crazy for me lately.
First of all I passed the HOC course's professionalism check the twelfth of June, or profcheck as we refer to it. (HOC is the certificate needed to be in the SIGMA, the medical assistance team for disasters for the Red Cross) It was an exam on practical skill, being given a case where the disaster victim is already on a stretcher in the supposed field hospital we set up. So it was purely assisting the paramedic and off-field medical actions we get to perform. Very basic stuff and I was far more nervous for it then necessary. But I passed it and so did my 15 fellow students, which is very rare (the previous HOC started with about the same number of students, of which only 5 made it through to the end).
Shortly after that I had two days of ambulance internships. Which were amazing, though we didn't come across a lot of interesting casualties. I really am looking forward to the academy of Nursing now... I had great colleagues who knew no bounds as to what they should or shouldn't teach me and I had a great time with them as well as with most of the patients we transported. I'm definitely at home in the sector, and think I'll go on a mission for the Red Cross, or the army if there is no other way; abroad. As a nurse of course.
Then there were all these shifts for the Red Cross and this crash-visit of a school where a boy had come out of the closet whose parents were in denial of their son's sexuality, before I got robbed on the morning of the 4th of July. I was walking home from a First Aid shift I did for the MES (not the Red Cross, a scouting-originated First Aid provider), which had kindly asked for my assistance during this pretty cool music event. We had a few brews after the event had ended and decided it would be great to go out into the city for a few more drinks. We had a ball and it was about 04:00 that I decided I had to go home because the plan was to join two other scoutsleaders in setting out the hike for the approaching Summer Camp (which was just 7 days away). I was walking, because my bike was with a repairman (and still is actually), in casual clothing (the MES doesn't have a uniform, like the Red Cross has). Around 5 I arrived at this crossing, I was almost home, when I suddenly heard running behind me. There wasn't a soul on the street besides me, so I turned around to see and I saw these two figures running towards me in white sports clothing. I didn't think too much of it, being the laconic guy I am, but afterwards some concern would have been appropriate. I was quite buzzed, mind you. So just on the crossing I was held firmly and felt something long and cold against my throat, as well as something pricking my side. One of the boys (they were about 16 y.o.) demanded repeatedly that I'd empty my pockets, so I complied by giving the guy behind me, whom I then got to realize was blond, had blue eyes and would make a great fuck; my wallet. The other guy kept demanding his demands and suddenly pulled my arm out of my left pocket (which was for some reason still there, probably shut down by adrenaline) and took my phone and knife. I bartered briefly for my keychain, which was also in the pocket, I held on to it and they didn't really answer. Then they ran off from where they had come.
I took a breath and decided looking where they would go might pose a risk and so I walked to the nearest house I could find (about ten metres away) and rang the door, thinking I had two objectives: bring myself into safety and call the police. Of course no one opened but I did hear this voice from across the main street. It belonged to this guy who must have been about my age and a girl who were just leaving their home. The guy saw the whole thing and first thought we were just messing around, because I remained so calm. I used his phone to call the cops and they gave me some water. While waiting for the cops I blocked my bank card and SIM card. When they finally arrived they took me to the nearest office and I laid down the official statement on the matter. I got home about 6:30. I mailed my fellow scoutsleaders that I wasn't really in the mood for the hike and went to bed. In the afternoon I went to my parent's home, because I needed to make a few phone calls and was in need of money.
It is strange how the sudden stress shuts down most rationality and has you fall back into just this sense of self-defence. The event really changed my view of young people and of the city I live in, where crimes like these are really rare. Or so I thought. It really pulled me into a depression for my empathatic and social self. I realized how dangerous this was for the foundation of my being. It felt like it must feel for a Christian to learn Jesus is a fake after worshipping him for 40 years. I was so certain that I lived for the good of others. Fortunately I still am. What was most shocking about it, which I still really struggle with, is the fact that one of the boys was blond. The look in his eyes as well... he didn't belong there.
I rediscovered Tom Waits...
I hope the police will take good care of him... and the other boy as well.
My mom freaked out of course. While I was sleeping over at the gay preacher's house (after a great night with him, his partner and three other boys) (nothing sexual, by the way), she came along, left one of those weird notes and a can of Pepperspray. Pepperspray is a cat.2 weapon in the Arms and Munition law of the Netherlands and it is therefore illegal to have on you. Besides that it was 5 years past the expiration date... I mailed her that I'd like for her to take the can back to wherever she had acquired it. Probably my uncle or granddad, who are/were cops.
A week later I went on the annual Summer Camp with the scouts. It was great, apart from the fact that, due to the intense heat, we were not allowed to make any fires in the open air (so we had to cook centrally and on gas), and much of the day-to-day program was lost because we needed regular breaks from the heat. Fortunately there was a river just behind our campsite where we could swim, and did swim every day. Besides the heat, we had three days of lightning storms. The first storm wrecked two of our tents, after patching those up for as far as possible we immediately strengthened the others because more bad weather was to be expected. The lightning was very intense, we even saw 'great balls of fire', being red flashes in the sky. It also tore a tree in half which crashed down near the tent where the 18+ people smoke and drink beer in the evenings. Fortunately no one was badly injured during the camp. We also watched the Dutch team lose the world soccer cup, I couldn't care less. But we did watch it with another Dutch scouting group which was stationed near our campsite who had some really gorgeous leaders on it. The last night of the camp I pulled through the night with them, strange, because everyone else of my group was long gone to bed - which is usually my part.
We had a ball, really. And there were some struggles (like a debate about whether our kids should get more than two hours of shopping instead of building a raft and floating it back to the campsite as part of the hike), but I'm not in the mood to touch upon that now. I was the main theme figure and also the main theme leader, the theme for the camp was Medical Centre East, a parody on a Dutch television series. This was also the first year when the 'old' camp staff had resigned and a new staff had arisen. I had a seat in that too.
After the summer camp I really had a week of doing hardly anything. I only went to the bank to request a new card as well as going to the police station to finish up on the report. I decided that Prince Harry was very attractive and signed up for a forum for helpers (there is no satisfactory word for the Dutch "hulpverlener", it basically encompasses First Aid, Police, Firemen, Officials, Ambulance workers, Hospitals, Trauma doctors, the SIGMA, etc.). I also picked up on my work for Humanitas, where I was a didactic coach about a year-and-a-half back.
Now the aftermath of the Summer Camp, some problems of the past year and the coming year of scouting is dominating my life. Organizing meetings and writing a lot of reports to just keep things clear and simple for everybody and arrange a good start for this season. People say I should be the 'group chairman' because of my objective look on issues and my organizational skill. What I think is that we need a chairman who actually has time to work to make things run smoothly. And I can't just leave my scouts, not yet at least. We might have to quit if no replacement for the two leaving leaders is found. The scouts have to be run by me and a fellow scoutsleader.
That's all for now. I'll find some time to write again next week.
3 comments:
My other half made that same mistake also a few months ago. Stayed at the bar until about 02:00 and decided to walk home instead of spending a dollar to take one of the collective taxis that run all night to get home. (Reinforcement that too much alcohol impairs good judgement). As he was passing by the park, two "malandros" as we call them in Mexico mugged him with a knife, but fortunately didn't harm him.
Very few cities in the world nowadays are safe enough to be walking around alone at that hour. If there's no public transportation available at that hour, it's worth your safety to invest in a ride home by taxi.
"Hulpverlener" on the google translator comes out at "helper" and on FreeTranslation.com comes out as "relief worker".
I was glad to see you posting (I stop by regularly to see if you are 'home') but was jumpy to read your tale. Yikes!
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