Who needs Taco Bell?

Bob and I visited the grocery store together for the first time. I've been going a few times a week for two months so I am rather used to it by now. There are still many things that I am not familiar with, but a lot of them are meat-based products that I steer clear of anyway. I do remember, however, my first trip to the grocery store, scrutinizing each package and trying to ascertain what it held. I've gotten into a bit of a grocery store rhythm, I know what I need and where it is and I buy many of the same things each week. I skip the Koffiemelk (condensed milk) and buy Vollemelk (whole milk) and Slagroom (heavy cream) to mix together for my own version of 1/2 and 1/2. I know where the reduced fat ice cream is. I know where to pick up a package of tortillas and how to weigh my own produce before getting to the register.

As Bob and I wander the aisles, me pointing out some things he might want to know about, his eyes glazing over a little bit as he sights the huge variety of meat. And we're at the little grocery store! Bob is the kind of guy who goes to the Hannaford at home maybe once a week or once every two weeks and just stocks up. Lately I've been going to the grocery store and buying a small basket worth of food every two days. It's a different style.

Bob picks out a box of taco dinner mix and we grab some veggies and chicken. We get it home and open the box. There are two taco shells and two different bags of seasoning. A bit different than what we were expecting. I turn over the box and look at the directions. Yep. Luckily the computer is already on and I fire up my new favorite program: Google Translate. I type in parts of the directions, or words here and there, trying to piece together the sequence of events that is going to yield the best, most delicious tacos. Unfortunately, we can't seem to figure out exactly what the two different packets of spices are, so we end up just winging it anyway. The result is a bit saucier than we might have hoped for, but the taste is good and we had a fun time trying to figure it all out.

The wonders of Ikea

I've been to Ikea a few times. By car. I've never tried to bike or take public transportation there. On a quiet Sunday, I knew it was finally time to try to be brave and attempt the trip. I got on the tram near my house, went to Rotterdam Central Station and took the train to Delft. Once in Delft, I waited a bit and took a bus over to Ikea. After browsing and eating a little bit in the Ikea cafe to fuel my journey, I began to fill my cart with the necessary pieces I've been thinking about to finish off my apartment.

My purchases included a few kitchen things, a larger comforter and a duvet so Bob's feet won't stick out when he gets here in a week, throw pillows, extra pillows for bed, a few posters, and new cushions for my inherited Ikea chairs. I cashed out and started to try to situate my packages to get them home. It was only then that I realized that I bought more than I could physically carry. Two bags... but then the two new cushions didn't fit. They wouldn't even fit under an arm, they were too big. I got back in line and bought a little cart, then loaded everything on the best I could. I waited for the bus, working to situate and re-situate the packages... it seemed no matter what I did they were in someone's way or falling over. I made if on the bus. From the bus to the train station, I kept getting caught on bushes, bikes, tight corners, and losing the balance of the car. I muscled my purchases down a set of stairs and up another to get on the right side of the platform for my train. Train to station, station to tram, tram to home... and up yet another set of stairs to get to my apartment. I made it, though! I spent a few hours decorating and putting everything together. The apartment looks great! Definitely worth the hassle and the temporary "bag lady" appearance.

Learning the Language

Phrase of the Day: Wat een prachtige dag! What a beautiful day!

The knowledge that I will be living here for at least two years has inspired me to learn the language. Most people speak at least some English, but I think it would be fairly selfish and ethnocentric of me to not learn as much as I can. I really want to be able to start conversations and understand a little bit, though for more in depth chats English will probably be necessary. I work with an English-speaking population at school, and so I spend the vast majority of my day surrounded by people that speak the same language as I do. While this is helpful, it also doesn't "force" me to learn the language to get around.

I joined a www.livemocha.com, an online community for language learners. I'm going to give it a try and see if it will give me a bit of a start on learning Dutch. It's not an easy language. The Livemocha community has online lessons, but then also pairs people with a local speaker to practice the language. I will be paired with people who speak Dutch and are learning English, so we can both practice. Best of all, it's free. I was hoping to acquire a copy of Rosetta Stone, but it's too expensive and I haven't been able to get a hold of it from anyone yet. I'm hoping Livemocha will push me in the right direction. I will be taking Dutch classes at some point also, but it probably won't be for another few weeks.

Tot ziens!

On TV

Watching television here is fun. In the US, all programs start and stop at either the 1/2 hour or hour. You know you can flip through the channels at 8 pm and shows will be starting. Not so in Holland. Programs just start and end at random times. There are fewer commercials breaks, and you can see when the American commercials would break in, but when there are breaks they are, for the most part, longer. I flip around and find something to watch. It ends, and then I flip around and find something else. I rarely catch the beginning of anything, unless I stay on the same channel.

To add to the variety, there are some Dutch channels. If I spoke the language, I'm sure I would actually watch them! There are actually a couple of Dutch sitcoms that look rather funny. All of the English programs have Dutch subtitles, which is actually helping me pick up words and phrases here and there. They aren't direct translations, so they actually use phrases that people use here sometimes. Any time a weight is mentioned, it is translated in kilos. When someone talks about dollars, the correct amount of money in euros is translated on the bottom of the screen. Maybe I'll get more familiar with weights, measures, and the language.

A Market Full of Beer

A beer market, you say? Something I can definitely get on board with. A square packed with people, all holding glasses of beer, their pockets full of tokens. It is crowded, loud, and progressively more drunk as the afternoon passes.

Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to visit this event with a crowd of Dutch friends. For those of you that know me well, I really like beer and wine. I became interested in beer partly because of father's love of Saranac and Long Trail, but even more because of a semester I spent in Ireland sampling all kinds of beer. While there, I was told it is easy to pick out an American girl in a bar because she is the one drinking the Guinness. A lot of women in Ireland paid €6 to drink Coors Light over ice. Not my thing... but I digress. So, I developed an interest in beers of the world a few years ago and I'm always excited to sample a new one. Giel and Remy, two lovely and interesting young gents that I've gotten to know since my visit to Holland last year, braved the crowds to pick out some interesting beers for us to sample. There was a nice refreshing white beer, an interesting and sweet rose beer, and a tart and slightly odd cherry beer. We finished our sampling with a traditional Dutch beer: Heineken.

After standing around the market for a while, our small crew walked a bit away from the square so we could rest and actually hear each other again. Sitting along the canal, discussing politics, language, and culture, my friends kindly spoke English so I could follow the conversation (as best I could given the beer). They also remarked that it is strange, of course, for them to talk to each other in English. I am at times embarrassed of my lack of foreign language skills, especially when surrounded by people who are fluent in at least two and sometimes more languages. I do plan to learn some Dutch, but it probably won't be enough to converse fluently anytime soon. After more talk, some pizza, and a nice walk back to the station, I was on a train back to Rotterdam and my little apartment. Quite honestly, this day was one of the best I've had since I got here. I definitely felt like I was in a foreign country, sitting along a canal drinking beer, but I was also surrounded by new friends and could be myself. Friends can make a place start to feel like a home.

Dutch Food

I must start by admitting that my eating habits are not terribly compatible with traditional Dutch cuisine. Lots of fried food and plenty of meat. Fried meat is also common. Just bread it and toss it in the hot oil. While I am not a vegetarian, I never eat any 4-legged creature and rarely cook chicken or turkey for myself. I have fish about once a week. I eat a lot of vegetables. Not so for the people of Rotterdam. Lot of shoarma and doner kebab with frites. And sausages. And meat spreads. Sign me up for a falafel! Acutally, I just do most of my own cooking.

The bread and pastries here are amazing. I've tried not to partake of too many, but anything I've had has been really wonderful. Even regular old grocery store whole wheat bread is moist, fresh, and delicious. I'm in love with stroop wafels, waffle-type cookies with a delicious caramel sauce in between. The grocery stores make them and package them, but the best way to have stroop wafels is fresh, warm, and HUGE from a street vendor. It's a heavenly diabetic coma waiting to happen.

I can say the one thing that the Dutch and I agree upon is coffee. Coffee is everywhere, and it's really quite good. Usually fairly strong, served with a single biscuit or cookie. The cups are certainly smaller than in the US, but I'll just have two. The one part of the coffee ritual here that I struggle to agree with is "koffiemilk." Essentially unsweetened, condensed milk, it doesn't need to be refrigerated and is bought in little cartons. I have always been a 1/2 and 1/2 kind of gal, but I really can't stomach the condensed milk. I'm trying to switch over to whole milk (volle melk) but it's difficult! I like my coffee just so. I think I'm going to end up making my own version with a mix of heavy cream and milk, but haven't quite gotten there yet. I'm glad that the Dutch like their coffee, though, because I existed for a semester in Dublin on instant coffee and it was ok, but just not the same.

Adventures in Laundry

Clean clothes are important. Unfortunately, for those of us that do not own a washer or dryer, clean clothes are hard to come by. After braving a very confusing aisle of laundry products, powders, tablets, liquid detergent, fabric softener, dryer sheets, other assorted things I don't recognize, I settled on "wasmiddel," thinking it looked the most like detergent. After I confirmed my hunch using my favorite new tool, Google Translate, I began to sort my laundry. Knowing that I have only a small sink and a dry rack to complete this exciting, necessary task, I end up with three piles. I paw through two and a half weeks of laundry, pulling out my favorite articles to wash right away, a pile of underwear and other essentials, and a mound of clothes that will just have to wait. I only have so much space on the dry rack.

I start by washing out the sink thoroughly and filling it with hot water and some detergent. I have no large wooden spoon or serving spoon, so I stir the detergent in with a large spatula. I put in the clothes and stir again with the spatula. I drain the sink, rinse the clothes, and hang them up. After repeating this ritual four times, I have watched all of my "favorite things" and a fair amount of the "necessary articles" pile as well. Though I've rung them out as best I could, they're still quite wet so I decide to place a large towel under the dry rack.

Cue my next attempt at laundry, a few weeks later. After being informed that I can use the all-in-one washer dryer at school, I decided to bring a big bag of dirty clothes with me to work today. I put them in the washer/dryer and couldn't figure out how it worked. There are three different knobs, about eight different buttons... not easy. I called our receptionist and she came and helped me, though she had no idea either. Well, I evidently didn't set a dryer cycle because after two hours of washing, it stopped. I tried to set it to just do a dry cycle. Not happening. I accidently hit a button and it starts a wash cycle again. And the door locks. I see my poor, wet clothes getting sloshed around again, and there is nothing I can do. I helplessly try to turn the machine off. It works, but the door is still locked. I turn it back on. It continues where it left off. I decide I've been defeated, so I set a dryer cycle to follow the wash and leave. Two and a half hours later I go upstairs again. My clothes are still being held hostage. What to do? So I hit a button that I think should shorten the dry cycle and leave. Upon my return fifteen minutes later, the contraption has finally stopped. My clothes are still wet. I haul them out, put them in my bag, carry them home and hang them on my dry rack. Ok, so that took all day.

I think I'll try to wash the other load tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. I just can't let that machine get the better of me.