Ik ben Marj

Gli olandesi usano l'espressione "Ik ben Bob" per indicare quelli che durante la serata tra amici non bevono, per poter poi guidare la macchina sulla via del ritorno. (vedete i commento di Neli qui sotto...vi spiega tutto!)
Ieri sono diventata ufficialmente una volontaria di Home Start, una associazione che si occupa di mamme e famiglie con bimbi piccoli (sotto i 5 anni). No, non faccio l'assistente sociale (Dio mi scampi) e non faccio l'infermiera del consultorio...faccio...faccio come Marj!
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Quando la levatrice ci ha detto che era ora di andare in ospedale a partorire, e' Marj che ho voluto alla guida della macchina. Marj e' stata la prima a vedere il piccolo mostricciattolo nella sua culla. Marj e' stata quella che un giorno mi si e' presentata sulla porta di casa con un vaso, del terriccio e due petunie viola...cosi' che il mio balcone avesse un po' di colore, visto che era l'unica cosa che potevo osservare mentre allattavo. Marj era l'unica che sapeva dire le parole giuste al momento giusto, rigirare i mobili per rendere l'appartamento piu' "guardabile"...ci sono un sacco di difficolta' quando si diventa mamme....difficolta' che solo chi CI E" PASSATO puo' capire. la sottoscritta era ossessionata dalle barre della culla...perche' qualche stupido dottore del consultorio aveva detto che dovevano essere piu' di 5cm ma meno di 8 cm una dall'altra. lo so, se ci penso adesso mi vien da ridere...ma allora, con gli ormoni pompati a mille, mi sembrava la cosa piu' importante del mondo: il lettino per la mia creaturina doveva essere "quello giusto", con le sbarre distanti 5,1-7,9 cm. Per fortuna che c'era Marj...non so come avrei fatto senza di lei.
e cosi', dopo tre anni di gavetta, dopo aver appurato che la mia creaturina, nonostante le mie cavolate e le mie paturnie, pare essere personcina felice e birichina...ho deciso di diventare una Marj anche io. Una Marj in erba, ma le intenzioni sono buone...
I'm Marj
Ik ben Marj


The dutch use the expression "Ik ben Bob" when they are the one who doesn't drink when going out with friends, so that he can drive the lot safely home (Neli explains it all in her comment here below).
Yesterday I officially became a volunteer for Home Start, an association who focuses on youg mothers/families with little children (up to 5 years of age). No, I don't do the job of a social worker (God forbid!) and I am not the annoying nurse of the family-clinic...I'm...I'm like Marj!
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When my midwife said that it was time to go to the hospital to deliver my baby, I called Marj and she drove me up there. Marj was the first to see our little cutey-monkey in her cot. Marj was the one that once arrived at my front door holding a pot, a lot of soil and two beautiful purple petunias...so that my balcony could benefit from a bit of colour, 'cause it was the only thing I could look at while breastfeeding. Marj was (and is) the only one who knows what to say, when to say it ...and how to say it right! She is the only one who was able to rearrange my furniture to make the flat "less ugly".
There are a lot of difficulties when you become a mother...and those are difficulties that can be understood ONLY by those who have been there before you. I myself was obessed with the cot, and the distance between the rails of the cot. Some IDIOT of a doctor at the baby clinic had said taht those rails needed to be more than 5 but less than 8 cm apart. I know, if I think about it now, I just laugh...but back then, with huge levels of hormones pumping through my veins, the distance between those rails was all I could think about...the cot for my baby had to be the right one, with rails which were PRECISELY 5,1-7,9cm apart. Luckily there was Marj...I don't know how I would have survived without her.
and here we are: three years down the line, after having estabilished that my cutey-monkey grew into a beatiful, cheeky and happy little person...I decided to become a "Marj" myself...a wannabe-Marj, to be more precise...'cause I know I am far from perfect, but I had a good example in front of me.
I'm Marj
Ik ben Marj

de avond rolt de dag op als een krant

La mia prima esperienza letteraria olandese, full-immersion! Questa, in confornto a certi allenamenti, sara' la maratona delle lumache, anche se sono gia' a pagina 24.
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Invece di un libro mi tocca portarmene dietro due, piu' una matitina: da brava studentessa pignola e perfezionista, sottolineo tutte le parole "x" e me le cerco sul dizionario. dire che le prime pagine sono tutte matitate e' un eufemismo.
Pero' il MGP e' contento...la lentezza della lettura e l'entusiasmo (mio) per ogni nuova parola, modo di dire, espressione buffa implicano che io voglia condividere tutte queste mie scoperte...risultato? senza nessuna fatica (a parte quella di dovermi ascoltare) e' anche lui a pagina 24...forse questa volta non gli tocca aspettare che esca il film!
che cattiva che sono...in realta' e' stato lui a trovare FINALMENTE il titolo di questo libro che ho cercato per tanti mesi...e me l'ha pure regalato.
La lettura di questo libro e' un vero lavoro di squadra...mi sento vagamente come una vignetta di "LOVE IS..."


My very first dutch literature experience! this, if compared to other wordly trainings, is the marathon of the snails...but I'm already on page 24
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I have to carry not one but two books AND one tiny pencil: like the good picky and perfectionist student that I am, I tend to mark all the words that I don't know and faithfully look them all up on the dictionary. To say that those first 24 pages are all scribbled is an understatement.
But MFJ is happy...the slow reading combined with my enthusiasm with every new discovery (new word, idiom...sometimes I cna even get the joke!) means that I have this unbearable urge to share my knowledge...result? With no effort on his part, HE is also at page 24...maybe this time he won't need to wait for themovie to come out...
but this is very unkind of me: HE finally found the title of the book I was so eager to read...and got it for me.
So...this is truly a team effort, I feel a "LOVE IS..." cartoon coming up!

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labrats

this one is for all the people with whom I shared lab-time.
The original list comes from here...I deleted a few things…

You know you're a lab rat when:

1. You open the toothpaste with one hand
Depends on the toothpaste! When I started here I did keep a falcon (see number 18) in the pocket of my jacket so I could practice…
2. When you hear tween, you think of the surfactant not the age group.
I immediately thought that next to the tween bottle we have the tritonX100, does that count?
3. For you, media is something which increases your culture.
What else? Oh…I see…newspapers, radio, TV? Those are no good for my Streptomyces, sorry…
4. You have a callus on your thumb.
Worse: I wanted to use a pipette to apply slip to my ceramic pot (never told you that, Marj: sorry! Those brushes are really difficult to hold!)
5. You use the word "aliquot" in regular sentences.
Why, don’t you?
6. Sometimes you momentarily vanish from social activities because of a timepoint.
I vanish for entire weeks
7. You've never worn a clean lab coat.
Why would I?
8. You say "orders of magnitude" in regular sentences.
Guilty
9. You flinch when you hear the word "significant".
Yes…especially now that I am looking at my data…
10. You're very good at diluting things.
yes
11. You're also very good at transferring small amounts of liquid between containers.
Only with the right tools
12. You are fed up of people saying alcohol, when they mean ethanol.
Absolutely!
13. You hear the word ‘Molar’ and teeth are the last thing on your mind.
yes
14. You say "mills" and "megs".
Oh yeah…and megs-per-mill too!
15. No-one in your family has any idea what you do.
I also have no idea what my relatives do…they never tell me! They are too busy reading out their blood test results to me…
16. You can make a short film in power point.
At some point there was a secret competition going on during those useless work discussions
17. You consider a green laser pointer to be science bling.
Can you have it GREEN?! Mine is red…
18. A falcon is not a bird....And you have 5 of them with different types of water.
“types of water”? no, in my case is different buffers, different solutions, different pH…
19. When your fruits go bad and you get fruit flies, you can't help but check their eye colour
Yes…but I am not alone in this one: MFJ does it too!
20. You've suffered carpal tunnel from the pipetman.
No, but I get pneumonia after each protein prep, and my back is sore after carrying all of that weight into the cold room.
21. A timer clipped to the hip is not only practical, but dead sexy.
Depends who wears it ;-)
22. You've played Battleship using tip boxes.
No, but I made a very frashionable handbag with those tip-racks
23. The front pages of Science is your light reading.
Actually, Nature-Methods
24. You think the following is a quality insult: "I've seen cells more competent than you!".
I’ll add it to my list…it’s awsome
25. You're looking for a cooking book by maniatis.
how about a collection of protocols by Delia Smith?
26. You've used, "I'd like to get into your genes" as a pickup line.
No…but I’ll leave this one as a suggestion for the nerdy ones
27. You've made dry ice grenades
28. You've lost many friends to ice grenades...
No…can anyone explain? Might be useful
29. You pick fights with quacks and creationists :)
Yes…but they are a stubborn bunch
30. you read this list to see how many applied to you.
I lost count
31. You need an electronic security card to move between floors
I nick my husbands’
32. Your computer is worth more than your car
No car…
33. You wonder how many g's set your washing machine to before doing laundry.
Yes, and get stuck ‘cause I don’t know the specifics of the rotor and cannot
convert the rpm
34. you check the meniscus when measuring liquids in the kitchen
sometimes…
35. You want to use a magnetic stirrer in your kitchen
YES!!!! Oh YES!!! Can I also have an incubator? And a little fermentor? Then I can incubate my yeast cultures (i.e. bread) and make yoghurt with scientific precision!
36. You don't put YOUR "gel" in your hair.
I think I finally understood the inquisitive faces of my neighbors when I mentioned “staining my gel” to them…
37. Your best jigsaw was a 20 piece S. Blot.
I played with it for the good part of one year
38. You know what an S. Blot is.
Duh!
39. You use et al. outside of science writing
Afraid so…
40. You subconsciously reach for your 70% ethanol bottle after touching things in the kitchen.
No, but I’d like a squeezing bottle instead of those spray bottles you buy at supermarkets.
41. You have to turn off shows like CSI in disgust when they pipet bubbles or get HPLC results in 30 seconds.
I am safe here: no telly!
42. You name your "Rock Band" the In Vitro Gentlemen and honestly think it is an awesome name for a band
Might get good money from the sponsor…
43. You name your triathlon relay team the wild types and think it's an awesome name
Where’s the sponsor?!
44. You know exactly what 10 microliters of liquid looks like
Yep…I can tell you if the pipette needs calibrating!
45. When you get yogurt or sour cream from a container at home you barely open the lid and use a *really* clean spoon.
Well, no…but I got my mum all confused when one morning I mentioned the importance of avoiding cross-contamination between jam and peanutbutter
46. On Fridays, you enjoy high-throuhgput drinking.
No, that’s a good one!
47. You've taken a microscope camping.
Not yet…but I do know of people who take the microscope home…or their sealed plates to take good pictures…
48. You name your pets / children after your favorite molecules
Nope…but there are scientists that name proteins after their wives!

Ok, when you finish laughing you can leave a comment…I really would like to see how many apply to you!
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