from holland with love

2009-12-20T22:30:00.000+01:00

Let's face it, the Dutch are hardly world famous for their cuisine. But over the past year and some, I've come to hold many foods near and dear. This is hardly a list of all Dutch foods, but my most favorite (and most eaten)...

Dutch or Belgian Fries

Also called: Frites, Vlaamse Frites or Patat

Best eaten after or during a night of drinking. Served in a paper cone, or in a plastic tray (the former most certainly being messier than the latter), with a variety of sauces in a variety of combinations:

ketchup
mayo
curry sauce
pindasaus (peanut sauce)
pinda-mayo (with or without onions) (fave!)
mayo-ketchup (fave!)

Stroopwafels (pronounced strope-waffles)

Basically, two round, flat waffles glued together with Dutch syrup, called stroop. They're not that unheard of in Canada, sold in packs of 8 or so. But nothing beats the fresh, warm stroopwafels sold on the weekends in the centre of The Hague. If you're anywhere within a 1km radius of a stroopwafel truck, you're sure to smell their deliciousness wafting through the streets.

Oliebollen (pronounced oh-lee-boh-lin)

Literal translation: oil balls.

At donut shops in Canada, you can most likely find Dutchie donuts, which I think are actually North American knock-offs of oliebollen. They're basically deep fried balls of dough (hence "oil balls"), most traditionally with raisins. Some are plain, but they also come with many other delicious fillings: apples, pineapple, cherries, custard, pears, and even speculaas (we'll get to that soon enough). Served with or without powdered sugar.

The best olibollen (in my opinion) are those made by the professionals, at bakeries or oliebollen trucks. I thought for sure homemade is always better than store bought, but I guess not in all cases! Unfortunately, oliebollen only come around for a few months of the year, starting somewhere in October/November, and disappear after New Years (since they're traditionally eaten at midnight on New Years). You can also find them at carnivals any time of the year, if there so happens to be a carnival passing through.

Speculaas (pronounced spek-you-lass)

In short: those spiced windmill cookies that kinda, sorta taste like gingerbread. They're quite common in Canadian grocery stores (and I highly recommend you go out and buy a package if you've never had 'em!).

Pepernoten (pay-per-note-in)

Round, bite sized cookies made out of the same ingredients as speculaas cookies. They only come around Sinterklaas season, and are highly addictive. They come plain, or covered in chocolate (white, milk, and pure), or as an assortment with schuimpjes, a Dutch candy that comes in the shape of Sinterklaas figures.

Poffertjes (pof-er-chyus)

Basically bite-sized pancakes, served with powdered sugar, stroop, and a disgustingly huge dallop of butter.

There's a pancake house in Rotterdam with an open kitchen, and is it ever entertaining to watch the cooks make poffertjes! They can pour and flip at lightening speed! Well, ok, not quite that fast, but hell, it's pretty damn quick.

Appelflap (apple-flop)

Apple turnover sprinkled with large granules of sugar.

Ontbijtkoek (ont-bite-cook)

Literally translated to "breakfast cake."

A dense, spiced, yet sort of sweet type of bread. Eaten for breakfast (as the name implies) or a snack. Most delicious with a disgustingly thick layer of butter.

Hagelslag (I won't even try to spell this out phonetically)

Literal translation: hail stones (because they apparently look like hail).

Basically, sprinkles. But they come in so many flavours:

milk chocolate
pure chocolate
white chocolate
mocha chocolate
white and milk chocolate mixed
berry flavored (my favorite!)
citrus
anise (you know, that licorice sort of flavor)

There's also chocolate flakes, called vlokken, which come in all the chocolate flavors listed above. And also muisjes ("little mice"), which are small round sprinkles, flavored with aniseed, and are most commonly used to celebrate a new baby (pink and white for a girl, blue and white for a boy).

The most common way to eat hagelslag is on bread. Yep, that's right, on bread: as toast, or a sandwich, with a slathering of butter (to make the hagelslag stick, of course!). They're also commonly sprinkled on beschuit, which are basically large, think rounds of melba toast.

For more on hagelslag, here is a handy site on how to eat hagelslag.

The Dutch are big on putting things on bread... hagelslag, pindakaas (the Dutch version of peanut butter), chocolate spread (Nutella), jam, cream cheese, sandwich spread, appelstroop (apple jam) and last but certainly not least...

Speculoos (spek-you-lows)

I think this is actually a Belgian spread, because when I first came here I could only find it in Belgium, but it's finally made it's way to Dutch grocery stores. It's basically speculaas flavored spread, but much sweeter, and has the same sort of consistency as peanut butter. It is by far my favorite bread spread.

Goudse Kaas (ghowd-suh kass)

Everyone knows Gouda cheese, called Gouda after the city it's derived from. Gouda cheese in the Netherlands is basically what cheddar cheese is in Canada. It has a pretty mild taste, and is used in most dishes that require cheese: grilled cheese sandwiches (called tosties), tacos, lasagne, cheese sauce, pizza, etc. Unless a recipe requires a distinct cheese flavour, or a specific type of cheese for the texture, it's Gouda. It comes in several varieties, the most common being jong (young), jong belegen (slightly more matured), belegen (which is what I can determine to be the equivalent of "medium"), oud (old), and komijn (with cumin seeds... my fave!).

Stamppot (pronounced like it looks)

Basically means "mashed dish," and is exactly that. The main ingredient is always potatoes. You can really add any other sort of vegetable you like, but most common is kale, or carrots and onions (which is called hutspot), and then you mash 'em all together. It's not a very flavorful dish, but I still think it's really delicious. It's a really good winter dish, since it's hearty, and warm, and well, the main ingredients are winter veggies.

2009-09-16T23:04:00.011+02:00

10 MORE THINGS.
Continuing on with the differences between Canada and the Netherlands...

1. The recycling system is a bit more inconvenient than in Canada. There's no recycling for aluminum, so that just goes in the trash. Cardboard gets picked up separately on certain days (once every two weeks, I believe). Glass goes to the glass bank, which you have to transport yourself (so you better be sure not to let it build up too much, otherwise you'll be carrying quite a load on your bike, with bottles clanking the whole way), and then dropped into huge containers in the ground, separated into colored and clear glass.

2. Used clothing stores are next to non-existent. The closest thing would be either the Kringloop, which has a horrible selection of clothes, or trendy vintage stores such as Cheap Fashion in Rotterdam or Zippers in Amsterdam, where you can buy things such as used Adidas track suits or t-shirts from family vacations to Miami. But instead of costing 50 cents for that Miami shirt, they charge anywhere from 7,50 to 12 euros. Needless to say, I miss Value Village.

3. You actually have to pay to use the bathroom at bars here (and some other public places as well, such as department stores). So on top of spending money on drinks, and sometimes cover, you also have to factor in the 30-50 euro cents it costs per bathroom trip. Some places will bargain with you. Example: at the beginning of the night you might be able to cut a deal where you pay 2,50 euros for the whole night. If you go to the bathroom a lot, it ends up being a better deal, especially if you know you'll be there all night. The bonus to paying to use the bathroom is, these bathrooms usually stock up on toiletries that come in handy: hairspray, hand lotion, and even deodorant.

4. They don't use stick deodorant over here. As far as I know, they just started introducing it, but I rarely see it in shops. Luckily I was forewarned about the deodorant issue, and came stocked with several sticks. However, I just recently had to make the switch from stick to spray when my stock ran out. I've discovered that most of these sprays are actually just deodorant, meaning if I do any sort of physical activity (including cycling), you start sweating, and have to reapply within a couple hours of the first application. Some of the sprays are anti-perspirant, but leave your armpits sticky. And as far as their stick selection, well, I have to admit that one of the biggest things I look for in a stick is a nice scent, and I've yet to find a stick that comes in a pleasant smell. So for the time being, I'm using a combination of anti-perspirant stick, with a spray of deodorant.

5. Another great thing about the train system: students ride free! They can either choose to ride free on weekends and receive a 40% discount during the week, or vice versa.

6. A lot of restaurants/bars get fussy when you ask for tap water. If you don't specifically ask for tap water, they will give you bottled water (and of course charge you for it). Some places won't even allow you to order tap water, even if you've been giving them your business by buying drinks all night, or eating a meal. Personally, I think water is a right to life, and I shouldn't have to pay for it!

7. More [nearly] non-existent foods: Reeses, Kraft Dinner, maraschino cherries, Aunt Jemimah, food coloring, Butterfinger, most cereals (no Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, Cap'n Crunch, Honey Combs, Rice Krispies, Fruit Loops... you get the jist), Skittles (I only just seen them yesterday for the first time at the movie theater), salt and vinegar (yes, the entire flavor), English muffins.

8. This one may not be news to some or most of you, but it was one of the main things I had to get used to at first: they don't use AM and PM when referring to time. They use military time, and it was bit confusing at first to see all the digital clocks using a 24 hour clock. It used to take me a few seconds to figure out the time if it was between noon and midnight.

9. Obviously Dutch is the main language spoken in the Netherlands, but because the Netherlands is much closer to the UK than it is Canada, British English is more widely spoken. There are also a lot of British expats living in the Netherlands, so I've learned a few words along the way:

British English/Canadian English

Pants/Knickers = Underwear

Fit = Hot guy or girl

Wanker = Loser

Boot = Car Trunk

Courgette = Zucchini

Aubergine = Eggplant

Crisps = Chips

Iced Lolli = Popsicle

Fringe = Bangs

Cycling = Biking

Jumper = Sweater

Queue = Line (as in "waiting in line")

Cuddle = Hug

Nappy = Diaper

Candy Floss = Cotton Candy

Take Away = Take Out

Brilliant = Awesome

Chuffed = Proud

Cling Film = Saran Wrap

Plasters = Band-Aids

Fancy Dress = Costume

Pudding = Dessert

Pram = Stroller

Tea = Dinner

Bloke = Boy

Suss = To figure out

Lie in = Sleep in

10. Unlike Canada, it's not considered un-hygienic to bring a dog into a restaurant or bar. Of course, not all places allow animals, but it's definitely more acceptable here.

2009-06-21T20:59:00.006+02:00

I decided to start taking more videos. I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier, because it allows me to give you guys a better impression of things I see or experience, rather than trying to piece together a whole scene in photos.

So, on that note, here are a few videos I took recently:

This one is from last week, during The Hague Festivals, which is a 15 day music festival going on right now. Each night there is a concert at the Grote Markt with a different style of music. This was taken on African night:

This one is from Saturday. My friend Kristin and I were biking back from the train station (after spending the day in Leiden), when we discovered Prinsestraat (a normally driveable street) covered in grass, with hammocks, Fat Boys, and kids games. There were also small booths set up with clothes and jewelry, and this Latin band. I don't even know why they decided to set this up, but it was pretty neat to stumble upon!

And this last one is from last night at The Hague Festivals, which was titled "Skanking Around the Tramtunnel." This is a view of the Grote Markt from upstairs at Vavoom! Tiki Room, my favorite bar in Den Haag:

2009-06-02T15:38:00.009+02:00

I've been really horrible with taking photos lately. I dunno, it seems I've lost all motivation somewhere along the way. But I thought I would at least tell you about my latest adventure: hitchhiking to Groningen!

I know you might think I'm a little crazy for even thinking about hitchhiking, but I was itching for travel, and we were all a little short on funds. Plus, I think we all wanted a crazy adventure.

So, we went with a plan to hitchhike the 250km to Groningen, stay overnight, then head back the next day. I consulted a handy online hitchhiking manual for the Netherlands (here) to map our best route, and gather any tips to make the trek easier.

The three of us (Chelsea, Kate, and I) met up Saturday afternoon, prepared with cardboard and markers, and set out to find the liftersplaats, the official hitchhiking stand point. The website wasn't very clear on the location of the point, so we wandered around in the general area for some time before we gave up and stood by an on ramp to the highway.

I think we coaxed drivers for about 15 minutes before we got picked up by our first car, who took us to Utrecht. Then from Utrecht to Amersfoort, Amersfoort to Zwolle, and Zwolle to Groningen. Oddly enough, our only trouble was getting picked up in Zwolle, where we stood for about half an hour to 45 minutes, despite the fact that we were let off at a point that was busier than Utrecht and Amersfoort combined.

We made it to Groningen by about 7:30pm, so all in all, it took us about 4 hours from start to finish. Not bad!

I contacted a couple of people on Couch Surfing, both of whom replied saying they had a place for us to stay. Our last ride into Groningen was so kind as to drop us off at Albert's place, one of our hosts, who lives in a houseboat on a canal with his friend Else.

Once we met our first host, we quickly went to meet our other host, Thomas, and brought him back to the houseboat so we could all get acquainted with each other. I think we all felt really comfortable in each other's company right away, making jokes about Chewbacca and Canadians, and the rat that lives in the houseboat.

When I contacted Thomas, he mentioned that he had plans to go out on Saturday night, but that we were more than welcome to join. Turns out, his plans were to go to a club, Vera, that Albert happened to be working at that night. It was kinda neat how well things fell together.

Albert left for work, and Thomas took us to his friend's place for some pre-drinking, then we all headed to Vera. Kate, Chelsea, and I were all pretty pooped from our trek, so we went home earlier than the rest, and ended up all staying at Albert's since his roommate was gone for the evening.

Sunday was yet another holiday in the Netherlands, and for some reason no one seemed to know what the holiday was for. Nevertheless, it meant everything was closed, except for a few restaurants. We still took the opportunity to get acquainted with the city, and enjoy the absolutely gorgeous weather.

We grabbed a bite to eat, wandered around the city, then relaxed in the park while we waited for Albert (who was still sleeping when we left) and Ranko to meet up with us. We then continued our mini tour of the city, wandering around the center, and along the canals.

Albert then took us for a mini canal tour in his rowboat. On the way back, a man in a motorboat allowed us to hitch a ride back by throwing us some rope!

After our tour, we all had some more laughs on Albert's houseboat, then said our goodbyes, and made our way back to the highway. This time without as much luck.

We wandered around for quite a while, trying to find a good spot with a lot of traffic. We thought we got off lucky when a car pulled over within a few minutes, only to find out it was the police! I thought for sure they were going to tell us hitchhiking was illegal, but they only told us to head back to the intersection where it was safer.

We stood at that intersection for what seemed like forever, but we finally found a car going to Hoogeveen. We got dropped off a a gas station there, and from then on had much better luck, getting picked up within minutes at each stop. From Hoogeveen, we went back to Amersfoort, then Utrecht, finally getting dropped off in Voorburg where we were able to catch city transit back to Den Haag. All in all, from the time we left Albert's, to the time we reached Den Haag, it took us about 7 hours. Luckily we made it before nightfall!

I can't wait to go back to Groningen to see more of the city. I really loved it there! And we met some really great people, too. I think next time I'll take the train, though. That is, unless I'm low on funds again. ;)

And while I've been pretty lazy on the photo taking, I do have some to add (some stolen from Chelsea as well!):

2009-05-05T13:22:00.037+02:00

This update is long overdue. I hope I can summarize everything that's happened over the past month without writing a novel. Forgive me if it turns into one!

Well, first and foremost, Easter weekend was spent road tripping. A few friends and I (Adam, Kasey, Emily, and David) rented a car, and drove to Vienna, Austria, with a few stops along the way.

We started out on Friday morning, the 5 of us squished into a Jetta, and drove about 7 hours to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a really cute German village in the region of Bavaria. We made several stops along the way, at Dutch and German service stations, and marveled at how lucky we were to have such gorgeous weather: warm, sunny, and not a cloud in sight (this is a real treat for Dutch weather!)

We made pretty horrible time to Rothenburg, as we left later than we had planned, and stopped more often than planned. So, by the time we arrived, we only had a few hours to spare before we had to head on to our hostel in Regensburg (about an hour and a half from Rothenburg).

I'm not sure if it was because it was Good Friday, or because we arrived so late, but the only businesses that were open were restaurants. But that hardly put a damper on our time there. Rothenburg is apparently a very popular tourist destination because of its well preserved medieval old town, which is separated by a city wall that was built in the 13th century. I think we were all just as content in walking around because the city really is like something out of a fairy tale:

One of my favorite things to do in another country is experience the cuisine. We stopped for a sit down dinner before heading on to our hostel, and this being my second time in Germany, I have to say that I'm not a fan of German cuisine. I think it's mainly to do with the fact that there are very few vegetarian choices (which isn't very surprising, but can make things difficult). We probably looked at about 7 different restaurants before we found one with a vegetarian option. But one of my favorite things about Germany has to be the beer (they sure do know beer!), served in 0,5 and 1L units:

After dinner, we continued on to our hostel in Regensburg, Germany... my first hostel experience! I'd always been a bit leery about hostels, but we lucked out by getting private rooms for only about 20 euros per person, with breakfast included! The showers were a bit interesting, but if that was the only downfall, I'd say David good a pretty good job at picking the hostel.

After a much needed sleep, we woke up early to continue on to Vienna, which was about another 400km from Regensburg.

By this point, I started realizing how boring Dutch landscape is in comparison to Germany and Austria. I mean, it's a nice landscape with the farms and windmills and canals. But German and Austrian landscape is just breathtaking. It's so hilly, and green, with little clusters of villages set in the valleys of the hills, with the houses seemingly randomly placed with the red slanted roofs. And once in Austria, at our first rest stop, we realized we could see the Alps in the distance.

Once we settled ourselves in Vienna, our first stop was a Spanish tapas bar for some much needed food, and of course beer (another of my favorite things to do in a new country). Personally, I would have preferred a Viennese cafe, but this was the first place we saw that looked decent. And with the great weather holding out in our favor, it was really beautiful to sit on that patio.

We then decided to rent some bikes and bike down to the Nascht Markt, a market that boasted of food, clothing, antiques and the like.

The bike rentals sounded like a really great deal. The guide book said the first hour of the rental is free, then 1 euro for the 2nd hour, 2 euros for the 3rd, and so on. One of the bike rental kiosks happened to be right next to the tapas restaurant. Unfortunately, it turned out to be more time consuming that we thought, since none of us were registered, and you could only rent one bike per card. Then after 3 of us managed to obtain a bike, the kiosk conveniently decided to go out of service, leaving 2 of us without bikes.

We still had to drop by the hostel (which was within short walking distance), so Emily and Kasey walked, while Adam, David and I rode our bikes, hoping to find another bike kiosk along the way. Well, within about 3 minutes of riding, we realized how crappy the bikes were! Unfortunately, we didn't find another kiosk til we got to the Nascht Markt, where we were finally able to get rid of them.

While Adam, Emily, and Kasey dropped off the bikes, David and I got a head start on the market. Let me tell you: what a disappointment! We still can't figure out why this market got such great reviews. Or maybe we just chose a bad day to go.

The first portion of the market was all food (which is great for locals, but doesn't make much sense for tourists): produce, cheese, etc. Then we finally got to the "antique" part. It was essentially a parking lot filled with junk. Most of the vendors didn't even have tables, so the junk was just in heaps in the ground: dirty baby dolls without eyes, cell phones from 1992, computer chair wheels (yes, just the wheels), portraits of people no one knows, used DVDs, blank CDs without cases, etc. One woman tried to sell me a camera for 70 euros. I might have paid 5.

I felt pretty bad for selling everyone on the market, only to discover that's what it was. Especially because it was already around 5pm at this point, and we'd done practically nothing with the day.

But all was not lost! Kasey had a contact in Vienna, whom we met up with after the market. His name is Harvey, and he was so kind as to give us a little walking tour of Vienna.

He also took us to [in his opinion] the best gelato shop in town (which, I have to admit, I gobbled up in under 5 minutes), then recommended us a couple other nice places to go, one of which was a delicious Vietnamese restaurant we went to that night.

For our stay in Vienna, I contacted a girl on Couch Surfing who was able to host 3 of us. Unfortunately because I couldn't find another couch available for the weekend, we booked a hostel for the two others.

After dinner, we all went to meet our hostess, Tea. She met us near her flat, and took us back, where we all chatted and enjoyed some wine. We all loved her right away. She was so nice and welcoming and hospitable, sharing her own wine, and making us feel right at home in her cute little flat. Unfortunately we were all really wiped from the past couple days, so we went to bed pretty early.

The next day I made a solo venture to Bratislava, Slovakia while the others explored Vienna some more. Bratislava is only about an hour train ride from Vienna, and I knew I probably wouldn't be back in that area before going back to Canada, so I scooped up the opportunity. My first taste of Eastern Europe!

It's really amazing how different two countries can be even when they're right next to each other. Especially the difference between an Eastern European country bordering a Western European country. As soon as I entered the country, I knew it was Slovakia, without even checking my phone. Mainly because of the amount of garbage littered everywhere, and the run down houses along the tracks.

I basically went to Bratislava solely with the intentions of walking around, trying the food, and listening to the language (another of my favorite things to do). The extent of the research I did on Bratislava before I left was looking up the address of the tourist office, and looking into some guided tours.

Once in Bratislava, I made my way to the old town, which is what I was mostly interested in seeing. I lucked out in finding out that there was a deal on this Bratislava City Card, which gave you discounts at several places throughout the city, but also included a guided tour: all for 6 euros! In the end, I totally forgot to use the card for the discounts, but it still beat paying 30 euros for another tour.

Our tour guide was this funny Slovakian girl, who must have memorized the tour word for word because it really sounded recited, taking many pauses to catch her breath. I think I was a little distracted by her awkwardness and accent, but in my opinion, these were the most interesting parts of the tour (mainly because of the story behind them):

That is a normal drinking water fountain, but she explained that every year on Coronation Day (in September, to commemorate the coronation of the kings and queens of former Austro-Hungary), the fountain dispenses wine!

That is Bratislava's most famous statue. Apparently the statue has many different interpretations, but I liked hers the best. She said it depicts a typical Slovakian man: sitting around all day, peering up women's skirts.

Some more of Bratislava:

After the tour, I asked her where to go for the most typical and traditional Slovakian food. She directed me to a place called 1. Slovak Pub, which ended up being a bit of a walk to a not so nice looking part of town (and since it was Easter Sunday, a pretty dead part of town). But according to the website, it's probably the only pub in the world where you get a free bowl of soup for getting an A on an exam!

After deliberating over an almost entirely meat based menu, I finally decided to get bryndzové halušky, which is one of Slovakia's national meals. It's basically potato dumplings that look kind of like gnocchi, with melted bryndza, which is a traditional Slovakian sheep cheese. I gotta say, it was quite good! Really, really filling, though. I couldn't even finish the plate. Oh, and of course I had to try the beer, Zlatý Bažant.

Then it was time to head back to Vienna to meet up with the rest of the group.

The sun was starting to set by the time I got back, so we took advantage of the rest of the daylight by walking around the center, looking at the art and street performances, and browsing the souvenir shops.

Then, at another suggestion by Harvey, we went to this really chic cocktail lounge called Du&Co. It was situated several stories above the ground with panoramic windows, so we had a great aerial view of Stephansplatz (a main square in Vienna), and a gorgeous view of St. Stephan's cathedral right across the way, it's spires all lit up.

After our fancy cocktails, we started to make our way back to Tea's flat, then decided to stop at a small pub we found on a quiet side street. We grabbed a table in a very back corner of the candle lit bar, and drank wine while playing "never have I ever."

After a couple rounds, we finally met up with Tea and her friends, and they took us to an Irish pub. It was this sort of hole in the wall, underground pub. It seemed really dead from the outside, but once down in the basement, there were actually quite a lot of people. I like that no matter what city I go to, you can always count on having an Irish pub to go to.

By this point, it was getting quite late, and we had to be up early the next day to make our way back to the Netherlands, so we only stayed for a couple hours. We all said our goodbyes, as we knew we wouldn't see Tea again before leaving the next morning.

On our last day, we had one last stop to make before home: Mauthausen concentration camp.

One of the biggest things I've been wanting to see while in Europe is a concentration camp. I never even knew this one existed until David pointed it out in his travel guide, and it happened to be right on the way home.

The camp is up on a hill, with a gorgeous view of Austria. And with the weather still gorgeous, it was really bizarre to think that something so horrible happened in such a beautiful place.

We spent a couple hours there, listening to the audio guide, reflecting, and remembering.

Then it was finally time to head "home." Several, several hours later (with many stops, some games, and sing alongs), we were finally back in the Netherlands. It was really hard to believe that our trip was only 4 days, because we crammed so much into those days. We definitely didn't waste a single minute!

Well, it looks like I've already written a novel, and I still have quite a bit more to update you all on. So, for now, I'll leave the rest to another entry, and let you sit on this until then.

2009-03-30T14:06:00.023+02:00

This past weekend was the funnest, most random and unexpected weekends I've had in a while.

Kristin, Chelsea and I went to Amsterdam on Saturday with intentions of checking out some tattoo shops and the Richard Avedon exhibit at FOAM, the Fotomuseum Amsterdam.

We had no idea that there was a big football game going on in Amsterdam: the Scotland vs. Netherlands qualifier for the World Cup. We found out from some Scots that 15,000 people flew over from Scotland to watch the game. So, that's 15,000 men walking around in kilts, Scottish flags, and painted faces (like Braveheart). Plus, all the Dutch who were wearing orange, and Dutch flags, and clogs. And some guys were even wearing kilts plus the Dutch colors. One dude was even wearing a kilt, with one clog and one regular shoe.

One man in a kilt tried to eat my ice-cream cone, then offered to trade me the ice cream for his beer.

So basically, our plans to hit up the museum went right out the window.

People were drinking everywhere: on the streets, and outside the pubs. When we wandered over to Dam Sqaure, it was just a sea of people, and stacks of Heineken bottles and cans everywhere. Some guys even had shopping carts full of beer. I think it was about 2pm when we went to Dam Square, and already most of these guys were rip roaring drunk. The police actually barricaded the streets off around Dam Square so cars couldn't drive down the streets.

There was one group of guys we met that were around our age, so we went to this pub with them, and it was really hilarious to just watch them get drunker and drunker. The pub was so packed that most of them had to hang out on the street (there was about 75 people hanging out in the middle of this little side street next to a canal), and they all kept singing these Scottish jigs. Every time a car would try to pass on the street, they would all start singing and slapping the cars. They turned every song into a big thing... like they even all started singing "Doe a deer" at one point (that one I actually knew, so I could join in).

Once everyone started heading to the game, we headed back to Dam Square where the entire area was just littered with bottles and cans.

We decided to stay to wait for our friends who were coming to Amsterdam for drinks, so we went to this pub in Dam Square. It was absolutely packed with Dutch and Scottish football fans, and the pub kept playing traditional Dutch and Scottish songs that everyone sang and danced along to.

Once Adam and Tom and their friends got to Amsterdam we we went to this really chic gay/lounge/cocktail bar. Then we ended up going to play pool til 3am at this pub called "Balls."

So, even though we got back to the Hague pretty late, we still got up early to go on our bike trip. There were 8 of us this time, and our plan was to head to Honselersdijk, Naaldwijk, and Hoek van Holland, then ride along the coast on the way back.

Our first stop was the house my dad was born in. Once we got to Honselersdijk, we found the house pretty easily. I knocked on the door, but no one answered. An older couple a few doors down peaked their head out the door to see what was going on, so I asked them if they knew who lives in #11. Turns out they own the block of townhouses and had just moved out so it could be renovated. As soon as I told the man my dad was born in that house, he grabbed his keys and gave us a tour.

I didn't get many photos because the house still has some of the couple's stuff in it, and I felt like I'd be invading their privacy by taking photos. But the house was actually bigger than I imagined it would be. Two floors, with an attic, a fairly large living area with a small kitchen off to the back, very steep Dutch stairs with worn carpeting leading to the second floor, a couple bedrooms and a bathroom.

I think this old man lived on the same street all his life. He told us that he had 15 brothers and sisters, and they all lived in a townhouse just like that. I can't even imagine where they all slept. Luckily, my dad only has 4 brothers and sisters!

After giving us all a tour, he took me to the townhouse on the end of the street, and introduced me to an old man who had lived on the street since I believe 1913. He didn't speak any English, so the man who gave us the tour acted as translator, and told me that the old man remembers my Oma and Opa, and knows of other Baljeu's living in Honselersdijk. I might go back sometime and see if I can find the other Baljeu's living there.

So, after that was all said and done, we all headed to a pub in the center of town and had some beer and pub grub, and rested up before continuing our journey.

(From left to right, a bit of an introduction: Kristin from New York, Kasey and Emily from North Carolina, Yan from China, Tom, Adam, and Ian from England)

Once in Hoek van Holland, we stopped at a skate park so everyone could play on the ramps with their bikes, and play on the slides. Then we came across a petting farm with goats, sheep, birds, guinea pigs, rabbits, and peacocks. Of course we stopped to pet them, and go "awww" over all the newborn animals. I also had some quality time with a cat that I found. It really made me miss my cats back home.

On the way back to Den Haag we took the North Sea route through the dunes, past rows and rows of greenhouses, and through Kijkduin, a beach suburb of Den Haag.

We were all pretty famished after our trip, so we went to an Italian restaurant near Kijkduin at Emily's suggestion, then to a pub in the center for some more beer. All in all, it was a about a 12 hour day, and I was completely exhausted by the time I got home. But I can't wait to do it all again on our next bike trip.

2009-03-16T11:12:00.010+01:00

The weather has been consistently warm lately, and with warm weather comes more biking! Yesterday was the first of [I think] many bike adventures.

It started out with Kristin and I, and a plan to bike to Delft, grab a bite to eat, then bike back. Delft is a cute little town about 15 km from Den Haag, and was a surprisingly short bike ride. I think it only took us about half an hour to get there. We took some back streets, riding through small towns along the way, and along the canal that leads into Delft.

We parked our bikes at the Oude Kerk, wandered around Delft, looked at the Delft Blue Souvenirs, then settled on lunch at this restaurant called Vrij. And also with warm weather comes patios! Unfortunately by this point the sun had completely disappeared.

While we were waiting for our food to arrive, we got a call from a few friends saying they were also on their way to Delft via bike. So the five of us (Kristin, Tom, Adam, Jamie, and myself) ate lunch, then decided to continue our bike journey to Den Hoorn (about 4km from Delft), and then to Wateringen (about 10 km from Den Hoorn).

It was so nice to bike through all these little Dutch towns, looking at all the cute little Dutch houses with red slanted roofs, and the countryside with all the farm animals wandering around in the fields, and to pass windmills and rows and rows of greenhouses. There was one point between Den Hoorn and Wateringen that I thought was really neat, where there were rows of greenhouses on our left, and the highway on our right (many Dutch highways have bike lanes), and then we round the corner to this little side street and there's a farm with chickens and hens wandering around in the road. It's always these little things that make me love Holland.

In Wateringen, Tom's bike chain snapped, and we were nowhere near a tram stop or train station. Since it was a Sunday there was nothing open, so he had to call his dad to pick him up. It sounds like a pretty crappy situation, but we all had a great laugh out of it. We stopped in a frites and ice cream shop for some sundays while we waited, then the four of us continued back to Den Haag on our bikes (which was about another 10km).

Next stop: Leiden!

2009-03-08T19:38:00.004+01:00

So, I was on my way to Centraal Station today, and I just had to stop to take a photo:

Spring is definitely in the air!

2009-03-02T20:36:00.015+01:00

Today ended my much needed week long vacation. I'm sure by now you're already sick of me saying how fast time is going by, but I really can't believe it's already March. Seems like March 1st hit, and already the days are getting longer (I woke up this morning, and it was actually light out!), and if you can believe it, the flowers are already blooming! Today it was about 9 degrees (Celsius), and sunny. I loved the smell of the fresh air flowing through the house. I really can't wait for springtime in Holland... it's going to be so beautiful!

But, what I really came to blog about is Paris!

Late Thursday night, Chelsea and I board the Eurolines bus from Rotterdam. And I tell you, within minutes of the bus arriving, I knew I'd never be traveling with Eurolines again. First off, it was nearly the worst customer service I have ever experienced in my life. The bus driver basically started yelling at us as soon as he opened the doors. And to make matters worse, he didn't speak a word of English or Dutch, so we had quite a hard time figuring out what he was yelling at us for (turns out it had something to do with our tickets?).

Aside from Chelsea and I, there was also a family waiting at our stop, which the bus driver had a huge beef with. He absolutely refused to allow them on the bus with the package they had. After many minutes of arguing, all the family members except one boarded the bus. The man with the package ripped it open, which ended up being quite a large cake, and tried desperately to give it to random passengers on the street. Finally, a guy on a bike took it, but not before the bus driver tried to pull away without him.

And just to add to that, there was no bathroom on the bus (on a 7 hour trip). Luckily, the driver made a few stops along the way.

We took the overnight bus intending to sleep on the way, so we could arrive early and get more out of the day, but the seats were way too close together to even begin to get comfortable. Surprisingly, the bus ride went surprisingly fast, despite the fact that Chelsea and I didn't get a single wink of sleep.

In the future, I am sticking to train travel. It's faster (compare 7 hours on a bus to Paris, to 3 hours on the train), more comfortable, and not much more expensive if you book in advance. Plus there's always a bathroom.

We arrived in Paris at 6am, and had a couple hours to spare before we were to be at our host's flat, so we took the opportunity to check out the Eiffel Tower. I gotta be honest, it was kind of disappointing! It's much smaller in person, kind of dull and rusty, and since it was first thing in the morning, it wasn't lit up like it is at night.

After that, we made our way to our hosts' flat. We decided to couch surf for the weekend, and were hosted by two French girls, Anne Laure and Marie. After saying our hellos, having coffee, and a bit of a chat, we headed off to meet Emily and her friend Stef at their hotel. Oddly enough, they ended up being on the same metro line, so it worked out perfectly.

While they got ready, Chelsea and I took a walk around the neighborhood to find some breakfast, and settled on a creperie... our first tastes of real Parisian crepes! And let me tell you, I've never tasted a crepe so damn good! They make them with all sorts of toppings and fillings, and fold them into a neat little cone so you can eat on the go. Banana Nutella crepes ended up being my addiction of the weekend.

And then we made our way to the Arc de Triomph. I never knew it was so big! Of course I'd seen photos, but they're always from a distance, and I never took into consideration the size of things near it. I was pretty blown away when we stepped out of the metro station. I was even more amazed when we were actually standing under it, and realized that it's almost entirely carved.

A 35mm lens does almost nothing to capture things of this size.

And then Avenue Champs Elysees, Paris' most famous street, which starts at the Arc de Triomph. The street is most popular for it's high fashion shops, though the only one we stopped in was the Louis Vuitton store.

Emily and Stef went their separate ways, while Chelsea and I headed to Montmarte, which we both ended up falling in love with. It's this really cute, artsy area of town, with lots of cute restaurants, pubs, art galleries and neat clothing and jewelry stores. There were also tons of street artists, selling art or making art.

Montmartre is also home to Sacré-Cœur Basilica, a gorgeous cathedral on Montmartre hill that we took a tour of. And after seeing the amazing view of Paris from the hill, we opted out of the 12 euros it would have cost to climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower. (It's a shame it was such a foggy day, because it really was much more beautiful in person than in the photo).

If there was anywhere I'd want to live in Paris, Montmartre would be it. It just seemed so relaxed.

Even though we were both feeling pretty sketchy after not sleeping for about 36 hours at this point, we had one more stop to make: the Louvre.

I had always been told how humongous this museum is, but I really wasn't expecting it to be the size of a small city. It is just MASSIVE, and ridiculously gorgeous. There was no way we would have been able to survive. We went in, saw the Mona Lisa, and left. The Louvre will be left for another trip.

After a good 12 hours of sleep, we were ready for another day. Our hostesses, Anne Laure and Marie, took us to an Indian restaurant for lunch, then this cute little vintage shop, with goods from the 1930s-1980s. Even though I didn't find anything I wanted to buy, it was fun to poke our noses in everything.

Then we went our separate ways, and Chelsea and I went to check out St. Sulpice (the church where The Davinci Code was filmed), St. Eustache, and Notre Dame Cathedral.

Since we loved Montmartre so much, we headed back for some food (we went to this cute little fondue restaurant), and another much needed to see:

Sunday was our last day, and since our bus left in the afternoon, we only had time to check out one last thing: The Catacombs of Paris. This was Chelsea's suggestion, and I'm glad she put me on the idea because it was the neatest thing we saw.

We walked many steps underground, then walked through long stretches of hallways before we finally reached the bones.

And then there were just bones upon bones. There must have been millions of bones lying there.

So, after more banana nutella crepes, it was time to catch the bus, which we nearly missed. We were supposed to be at the station by 3pm to catch the 4pm bus. We made it to the station at about 3:57pm, and ran as fast as we could (til it hurt!) to the bus terminal. And since we didn't have to check in at the stop in Rotterdam, we had no idea we had to actually register before we could board the bus. The bus driver was not impressed (but at least he spoke English!). Funny enough, the same people from our stop in Rotterdam (with the cake), were also running for the same bus. And of course, the attendant registering us took his sweet time lecturing us about being late.

But, we made it!

It was a pretty eventful weekend, and even though we saw a lot in those 3 days, I still feel like there's SO much more to see. It was totally the unexpected things that made the weekend, though. I think those are always the things that I love the most about seeing a new city. I mean, there's always a little planning involved, but I love stumbling across things that I never knew about.

And now I have to decide where to go to next! But once I do, I'll be sure to let you know! Bye for now!

2009-02-11T13:34:00.008+01:00

Well, it's about that time again. I think mainly because today marks 5 months since I arrived in the Netherlands. I can't believe that in a month I'll have already been here half a year. I'm really amazed at how fast time is flying.

This month also marks 10 years of being a vegetarian. I know this has nothing to do with Europe, but I just wanted to mention it because it's a pretty big milestone for me.

Anyway, what's happened since my last update? I think the most important thing is that I finally met some relatives here! My dad passed on some info to me months ago about a cousin I have who owns a hair salon in Koog aan de Zaan (which is about an hour and a bit from here, past Amsterdam). He knew I was itching to get my hair done, and suggested I go see her. Apparently they were anxiously awaiting my call, because they knew exactly who I was the moment I opened my mouth to ask for Nanette.

So, we made an appointment for the middle of January, and I went up to meet my cousin for the first time. (Just a side note: Nanette is actually a 3rd cousin, our grandmothers are sisters). To be honest, I wasn't expecting much at all. My dad's side of the family is quite conservative, and with her living in a small Dutch town, well, I'm sure you can get the idea of my expectations. But I was pleasantly surprised at how well we hit it off.

Her and her husband, Wilbur, own a really chic hairsalon, where she cut and dyed my hair "out of love" (her words, not mine). She dyed my hair a dark chocolaty brown, and did a really amazing job at trimming up my very uneven (but growing) hair. And she even understands the concept of blunt bangs! (Most hair dressers always want to make them wispy.) AND she's even going to continue doing my hair!

So, after my hair was all done, they took me to their house, with a bit of a scenic detour.

Koog aan de Zaan is pretty much the cutest most Dutch town I've seen yet. I really wish I had had time to take photos so you could see what I mean. Cobblestones, windmills, bright green houses with red slanted roofs. And their house was SO gorgeous! They completely renovated the whole house to their liking. It's a townhouse situated right on the lake, where they have a view of windmills across the way, and the interior is very turn of the century European.

We sat and chatted for a while - talked about our cats, and families and other random tidbits. Then they took me out for dinner in Amsterdam, to this cute little Italian restaurant, and afterwards we parted ways. I can't wait til I can go and visit them again!

Well, to be honest, not a whole lot has been happening since my last update. However, this weekend I'm off to Paris! We leave Thursday night, and return Sunday. Although, I'm thinking about stopping over in Belgium on my way back, since I have all next week off. I've yet to see Brussels, and I'd also like to see more of Antwerp.

So, you should be hearing from me again soon, and with more photos. Sorry for the lacking update, but I think I'll have a lot more to say next time around.

For now, I'll leave you with a photo I took last weekend:

That's the Vredespaleis in the background, or the Peace Palace. This building is about a 3 minute bike ride from my house, and if I walk a block to the end of the road, I can see the back of it. Aside from being an amazingly gorgeous building, it's also a really important building as it's the home of the International Court of Justice and the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Pretty neat that such important things go on just around the corner.

Anyway, til next time... xxx

2009-01-15T22:55:00.007+01:00

10 THINGS I'VE LEARNED SO FAR...

Well, it's been just over four months now, and I've been meaning to make a list of things that I find interesting or different about the Netherlands, in comparison to Canada. I think this will be a work in progress.

1. First and foremost, peanut butter! I was warned about this before I left, and it really is not the same. North American peanut butter is much sweeter, and has a smoother texture (and no I'm not trying to compare smooth to chunky). But now that I've been here for a while, I've managed to adapt to the taste, and even like it.

2. There's so many varieties of toilets. Now, I know you probably think this is a weird thing to notice, but I can't help but not. In Canada, almost every single toilet has the exact same handle you push down to flush. Here, there's always a new flushing mechanism to try and spot or figure out: a big square button on the wall, a small round one in the corner, a chain hanging from the ceiling, a plunger to pull. And a lot of toilets have two flushers: one that distributes a lot of water, and one that distributes a smaller amount (you know, depending on what sort of "business "you're doing). And while we're still on the topic of toilets, they're usually in a separate room - hence "water closet." Some of these toilets really are in a room the size of a small closet. There might be a sink in there, or there might not, but more often than not, the bathtub and/or shower is in a separate room. And I've never seen a bathtub/shower combination. If a house or apartment does have a bathtub, it's always separate.

3. Ranch dressing is pretty much non-existent. Same with pie crust. I never had so many confused looks in one day as when I biked all around town trying to find a pie crust to make chocolate pudding pie for Christmas. "Do you have pie crust? Yeah, you know what a pie is, right? Well, just the crust. No filling, just the crust."
And I say pretty much non-existent because these sorts of things are sometimes available at the British shops, but they don't come cheap.

4. Breakfast. I really miss a good greasy breakfast. You know, 5$ greasy spoon diner type deals, with toast, home fries, and 3 eggs over easy (and a choice of bacon, ham, or sausage for you meat-eaters). The closest thing I've found to that are uitsmijters, which are basically over easy or sunny side-up eggs on bread. Not toast, but plain white bread. Not even any butter. And apparently they can't toast the bread, even if you ask.

5. People don't tip. Not at bars, restaurants, anywhere. People in the service industry make better money than back at home, so they don't thrive on the tips. I still feel like a cheapskate by not tipping, but it's just not customary.

(I actually want to edit that last one, because I now realize that people DO tip. When I first arrived, I was told people don't tip. Since then, I've learned that they do, just not as much as back home. And now do I ever feel bad for never tipping!)

6. But on that note, there is no sense of customer service here. There is no "Hello" when you walk in, and rarely even a glance to show that you were acknowledged. The positive of that is that there is no pushy salesperson on your ass. But there's no friendliness on check out, either. Well, rarely. The other weird thing is there are rarely any employees guarding the changing rooms: you just walk in, BUT you also return your own clothes when you're done trying them on.

7. The same lack of friendliness also holds for the general public. There are no friendly smiles or hellos to the person passing on the street or standing next to you in line, and sometimes even no excuse me's if someone bumps into you. That was one of the biggest things that made me homesick when I first came here. Apparently people here see our Canadian friendliness as being fake. But on the flip note, once someone knows you (like say you are being introduced as someone's friend) people are incredibly welcoming and hospitable, and will instantly take you in as their own friend.

8. Contrary to popular belief, they do not drive on the other side of the road.

9. Red light districts are not limited to Amsterdam. They're in many cities, including Den Haag, and they're even in Belgium. I guess Amsterdam's is just the most well known because it's the largest.

10. The train system is fantastic. Really, Canada ought to learn a thing or two. First of all, train fare is dirt cheap (well, compared to Canada anyway). Trains run to most cities, and they run all day long (and throughout the night as well... just not as frequent). And your ticket is good for the entire day, or for the entire weekend if you purchase a weekend ticket. So basically you can hop on whatever train you want, and if you miss your train, chances are the next one is leaving in 10 minutes. And they're almost always right on time (to the minute), and they're quicker than driving (which is definitely not the case in Canada).

More to come!

2009-01-14T22:22:00.002+01:00

I was browsing my friend Amy's blog, and I came across this old beer commercial.

This is for all of you who ask me to say "about." Enjoy. =)

2009-01-11T23:29:00.004+01:00

Today was my first time ice skating in about 15 years, and my first time ever on natural ice. We went up to Warmond, a small town about 20 minutes or so from Den Haag, and went skating on Kager Plassen (the Kaag Lakes). Apparently this is the first time in many years that it's been cold enough in the Netherlands for the water to freeze. Max, Floppy, and Thommy had never been ice skating ever, if that gives you any indication.

Volkert, Karin and I did a pretty big lap around the lakes, and by the time we were finished, my ankles kept buckling and my feet were tingling with pain. But it was worth every minute. This really is the true Dutch experience.

2009-01-07T14:18:00.004+01:00

Well, I promised you all a blog update after the holidays, and I guess the time has come. I'll try to summarize as best as possible. Unfortunately I took next to no photos, so I don't have much for you to look at this time around. I'm going to try my best to take more photos, because there's always these wonderful things I want to share, and I have a hard time expressing them in words.

First of all, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I don't think I could have asked for a better Christmas here.

I ended up celebrating with three Christmas dinners. The first was on the 24th with some friends here in Den Haag. Annie, a fellow au pair, was the hostess, and she organized an amazing gourmet dinner. There were about 10 of us, and basically everyone brought their own dinner, and grilled it on griddles she set up in the middle of the table. But she also had chocolates, and bread, and wine for everyone, and she had a homemade Christmas ornament waiting for everyone on their plates. She really went all out!

After dinner we all had some homemade dessert, drank more wine, sang Christmas carols, and got a little silly.

The really neat thing about the people I've met in Den Haag is that most of us are foreigners (au pairs and expats alike), so I get to meet people from all over the world. And they're really welcoming of new people, so there's always a new face. I love the diversity.

Anyway, Christmas Day was spent with Melissa's host family in Rotterdam. It wasn't anything too fancy - just me, Jess, Melissa, and her host family. Just like a regular family dinner because Christmas isn't a big holiday here in the Netherlands (Sinterklaas is the big celebration). Ineke (Melissa's host mom) had presents waiting for us under the tree when we arrived. We each got a Delft Blue Christmas ball... What a great reminder of my Christmas here!

Then on Second Christmas Day (which is what they call Boxing Day here), we did dinner at Ineke's sister's place here in Den Haag. There were appetizers and wine, a pre-dinner game of Twister with the kids, then a multiple course meal with champagne, and delicious dessert.

Seriously, I haven't eaten so good during those three days since I lived at home! Thank you to everyone who had me over... it really made my Christmas a great one!

After dinner at Ineke's sister's, Melissa, Jess and I went out for some drinks. We went to this bar, Vavoom! Tiki Room, which has become one of my favorite places to be in Den Haag. It's this tiny little tiki bar with a lounge type atmosphere in the Grote Markt. It's all done up with tiki (obviously), Hawaiian decor, and leopard prints, and they most often play tunes from the 50s. Plus the bar staff are really nice welcoming. It's really the type of bar you go to and feel like it's summer time, even in the middle of the winter.

Then we went our separate ways, and I met up with some friends at De Paap, another regular stop in Den Haag. I really like this place as well because of a few reasons: they're always open really late (5am, I believe), there's such a diverse crowd of people that hang out there, and they have free live music every weekend. Plus, once the bands are done playing, they throw on dance music, so you get to hear different types of music at the same place in one night. That night there happened to be a Beatles cover band playing, and I must admit, they sounded pretty similar!

New Years was spent in Cologne, Germany with Jess, Melissa, Chelsea, and Jeroen. I somehow managed to book a gorgeous hotel room at a really amazing rate. The room was originally about 750 euros per night, and for whatever reason it was discounted to less than 100 euros per night. I was pretty skeptical, but photos of the hotel looked really beautiful, so I took the chance and booked. And when we got there, we were pleasantly surprised at how nice it ended up being.

The hotel was only three months old, so even though Jeroen convinced me to take a smoking room, it didn't smell at all. Everything looked and smelled brand spanking new. And the room was huge, too! I mean, European hotel rooms are generally pretty teensy, but this was even a good size for North American standards.

So, naturally, everyone came to our hotel room for the pre-midnight festivities. We watched cheesy German TV, a dubbed version of Forrest Gump, drank wine and champagne, then headed down to the center of the city at about 11pm. We didn't really have any set plan in mind, but we knew we wouldn't be at a lack of things to do.

The big thing in Germany is to watch the fireworks at midnight, so everyone gathered near Cologne Cathedral to ring in the new year. There was no count down, but at midnight the church bells started ringing and everyone started lighting off fireworks everywhere. It's the only day of the year you're allowed to light them off anywhere you want (there were firecrackers going off all day, in both Den Haag and Cologne). Since we're used to the countdown tradition, we did our own.

It was a really beautiful way to ring in the new year, what with the fireworks and this huge, gorgeous cathedral looming over us. The bells are so loud that, even though you couldn't hear them that well over the fireworks, you could feel them resonating through the ground.

After that, we headed to a sports bar for some drinks, then called it an early night.

Since almost everything was closed on New Years Day, there wasn't a whole lot for us to do, so we did a little walking tour of the city. We headed down to the center, looked in some souvenir shops, took a peak inside the cathedral (which was actually open, but was just about to start mass when we got there, so we couldn't see the whole thing), walked over the Rhine and then back again, and had some drinks in a couple pubs.

I remember mentioning Sint-Pieterskerk in one of my previous entries - the church I saw in Gent that was the hugest most gorgeous I had ever seen in real life. Well, Cologne Cathedral officially tops that. This cathedral is MASSIVE, and every square inch of it is carved with intricate detail.

The next day (and our last), we headed back to the cathedral, where we walked the 509 steps up to the top of the tower. Not an easy task! But luckily there was a bit of a break near the top where we could check out one of the massive cathedral bells. And then we continued to the top where we got a pretty amazing view of the city.

After that we headed back to Hohenzollern bridge. The day before, when we were crossing the bridge, we noticed a bunch of locks spanning the chain link fence that separates the walkway from the train tracks. Most of them were spaced out, but some were in clusters, and upon closer inspection we discovered that people had these locks engraved (with their names, or a phrase) and locked them to the fence. We thought it was a pretty neat idea, so we bought a huge lock and wrote all of our names on it with the date. We had a pretty tough time getting the lock on the fence, as we bought a huge lock to fit all our names on it. We had to kick it a few times, and then when we finally got the lock through the chain links, we couldn't lock it because we had bent it. But knowing how hard it was to get the lock on in the first place, we knew it wasn't going anywhere. Then we threw the keys to the lock in the Rhine.

(Jeroen and Melissa wrote their names on each side of the lock).

It would be pretty neat to go back to Cologne someday, say in a few years, and find the lock still there.

Our last stop was the Ludwig Museum, a modern art museum. A lot of it was a little too conceptual for me, but there was still some really great art, and I was delighted to find out the museum houses some original Warhol paintings.

And then back in Holland, Amy came to visit! She's a friend from Canada, but living in England, and Melissa, Jess and I gave her a little tour of Delft, Den Haag and Amsterdam. In Delft, we did a tour of the Oude Kerk (which holds the tomb of Vermeer) and Nieuwe Kerk (which holds the tombs of the royal family), checked out some souvenir shops in the square, and had a bite to eat before heading back to Den Haag to have some drinks.

The final day of my vacation was spent in Amsterdam with Amy, Melissa, and Jess. Amy and I went to the Van Gogh museum while Jess and Melissa got the finishing touches on their tattoos. I'm a pretty big fan of Van Gogh, so I'm glad that I was finally able to check out the museum. Apparently a lot of people had the brilliant idea to check out the museum that day as well because it was packed. It took us quite a while to get through the whole museum (about 3 hours, I think), and we only breezed through the 2nd and 3rd floors. But it was really neat to see some original Van Gogh paintings, and learn little tidbits about them too.

After that, we just walked around a bit, checked out some stores, had a bite to eat, and then I headed back to Den Haag.

Unfortunately, Melissa and Jess head back to Canada on Saturday, and I'm quite bummed to see them leave. We all said our proper goodbyes yesterday (and Amy as well, since she went back to England today). It's been a fun 4 months with those girls, and I'll really miss them. Good luck to both of you in Toronto!

Next up: I've just decided to start planning a trip to Paris for February. I have a lot of research to do, as I know almost nothing about the city - I mean, aside from the most obvious: Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Arc de Triomph, etc.

Well, that's about it for now, so I'll end it on this. Til next time...

xxx

2008-12-11T20:03:00.018+01:00

I just realized today marks three months. I still can't believe how quickly time is flying by. And it's only beginning to feel like Christmas, with exactly two weeks left. I gotta say, this year just won't be the same...

BUT, what I really came here to blog about was another amazing weekend in Belgium. So, let's start at the beginning!

Friday afternoon I left for Antwerp with intentions of spending a few hours there before heading to Gent. I made plans with my friend Emily to meet at Antwerp station, as she lives about an hour from me, in Zeist.

My train kept stopping after Rotterdam due to technical difficulties, and after realizing I was going to be pretty late, I grabbed my cell phone to let Emily know. When I checked my phone, there was a text waiting for me from her letting me know her train was having problems as well. So I called her, and I hear a phone ringing somewhere behind me. Turns out, she's sitting just a few seats back, and I didn't even know it!

Anyway, at the station we met a pretty cool guy, Jeff, after he approached us and asked if we were Canadian (Emily is a fellow Canadian, for the record). He was only in Antwerp for the night, and we all had a bit of time to spare, so naturally we went for a drink and some eats at a nearby pub.

We didn't really have a whole lot of time to explore Antwerp, so we took a mini tour of the area around the station. Seeing Antwerp all decorated at night was just absolutely gorgeous. It was the first time it really felt like Christmas was coming.

And then we continued our journey to Gent, where we met Jeroen, our host for the weekend.

After dropping our stuff off, we headed to the center for some drinks. We went to a few places, most notably the Damberd (a jazz bar Jeroen took me to last time I visited that I've grown to really like), and this really chill lounge that I can't remember the name of. But I also really liked the lounge because it was really atmospheric with the lighting and music, and there were tons of bean bag chairs to chill out on. Once I sat my butt down with a cocktail in hand, I just didn't want to get up!

Saturday was spent lounging around, mostly - had some good laughs, picked up some groceries for homemade breakfast (eggs, cheese, toast, wine, and lekker lekker speculoos pasta... the breakfast of champions!), checked out a flea market next to the grocery store (I always love poking my nose in those places... I always come across the weirdest things!) - until the evening when we did a bit of shopping in the center.

(Just a side note: "pasta" is the Dutch word for spread. And speculoos pasta is this absolutely delicious, and very sweet spread flavored like speculaas cookies, that at the moment can only be found in Belgium.We managed to go through an entire jar of it in one day).

Once all the stores closed, we took a bit of a tour before heading back to Jeroen's. I didn't think Gent could be any more gorgeous than when I saw it the first time, but the city became even more picturesque with all the Christmas lights:

There was also an ice rink set up in the center, near the carousel, which was about 100x more pretty than any outdoor skating rink I've seen with all the medieval buildings and churches surrounding. And of course, leave it to the Belgians to have an alcohol tent set up for such an occasion!

Later, we went to an 80s and 90s party Jeroen's friends were putting on. It was in this warehouse, and it was kind of a mix between a rave and a cocktail party, with 80s and 90s dance hits. I had so much fun rippin' it up to all the dance mix 90s tracks! I could've danced all night, but we opted to leave after a couple hours to head back to the Damberd where we had some more drinks and good laughs.

Aside from the fact that we had two really late nights, I was up pretty early on Sunday, so I took advantage of it by going to Brugge for the day while Jeroen and Emily slept in. I went there with having done almost no research on the city, so I basically just wandered around for a few hours. Nothing too exciting, but worth every minute. Brugge is equally as gorgeous as Gent, maybe even a little more so. And there were SO many people everywhere. Normally a lot of cities here completely close down on Sundays, but with Christmas approaching, the stores were open and there were Christmas markets set up in the center.

There were chocolate shops EVERYWHERE in Brugge. It seemed as if every other store was a chocolate shop. Some even had people lined up around the corner... I'm not sure if because it was a world famous shop, or because it was right in the center. But I definitely didn't intend on standing in line that long, even if it was the world's best chocolate.

I'd really like to go back on a Saturday so I can check out the interiors of some of the churches, and take a peak at the Salvador Dali museum.

So, yes, that's my weekend in a nutshell!

I always thought Belgium would just be the country that I had to visit because it's right next door. You know, to put it on the list of places I've seen. I never really had that much interest in seeing Belgium... I knew practically nothing about the country or culture, but I figure it's so damn close there's no reason NOT to go. I certainly didn't expect to love it there as much as I do. But I also don't think I would have had such an amazing weekend without the company I had.

Anyway, this Saturday I start my vacation! My host family is off to Switzerland for holidays, which means I get two weeks to myself! I've been so kindly invited to spend Christmas with my friend Melissa's host family (on the 25th in Rotterdam, and on the 26th here in Den Haag), and New Years will be spent in Köln, Germany! I'll be sure to give an update after the holidays, if not during. Until then, I hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday season! I'll be missing you guys more than ever this month.

xxx

2008-11-28T19:49:00.006+01:00

I've been a bit MIA lately, so I just thought I'd make a quick blog to keep you all updated.

First, and I guess most important, is that I recently changed families. I really don't want to get into all the specifics because these past several weeks have been pretty stressful. I've been here for 2 weeks now, and getting myself settled all over again. But the good thing is, I still live in the same city AND on the same road (weird, yes I know), so I'm already familiar with my neighborhood.

So, I'm now living with a family of 5: Volkert (dad), Karin (mom), and three boys: Floppy (Floris), Thommy, and Max. Oh, and a black lab, Bo. And they are very Dutch, which is great for me because now I can immerse myself in the language and culture even more.

But I'm not even really an au pair anymore because the boys are in highschool, and they have a house cleaner, so I don't clean either. Essentially, I make sure everything runs properly in the house... I run errands, make dinner, make sure the boys go to school and hockey practice on time, etc. Sounds easy, but things are actually quite hectic around here. Although, now that I'm getting used to things around here, it doesn't seem so chaotic.

What else... well, it's now Sinterklaas season here. He rode in on his steamboat on November 15th to all the port cities in the Netherlands, and paraded through the streets with his Zwarte Pieten. I'm sure many of you are wondering who in the hell Sinterklaas is, so I found a pretty good description, which you can read here.

And along with Sinterklaas comes the wonderful (lekker!) Dutch goodies: oliebollen, pepernoten, chocolade letters, speculaas... I can't keep my hands off! Especially because there are oliebollen stands set up in the cities now, and the wonderful smells waft through the streets.

Oh yes, and it actually SNOWED here. And it even stayed on the ground overnight! I'm sure this doesn't surprise most of you from Canada (since I know southern Ontario has been getting dumped on), but snow is a rare thing in the Netherlands. And I must say, it's much prettier over here than in Canada. I think mainly because Den Haag is such a beautiful city, especially now that it's all decorated with lights for the holidays. Mental note: another thing I have to get photos of.

AND, I've been in contact with one of my relatives here in the Netherlands. She's a bit of a distant relative (my dad's cousin's daughter), but I've been very interested in meeting some of my relatives here. And she owns a hair salon (which is what originally prompted my dad to get me in contact with her, as I was mentioning I need a haircut), so we've made arrangements to have my hair cut, and possibly dyed, and then have dinner together. And perhaps she can direct me to other relatives here, maybe some who are my age. It'll be really nice to finally meet some blood here.

Well, I haven't been doing anything too exciting lately (not exciting enough to blog about), so I'll end it on this. I really miss you all back home, and I hope you're all enjoying the beginning of the Christmas season.

xxx

2008-11-11T16:15:00.006+01:00

Here are my favorite photos from the weekend, which was spent in Utrecht and Delft. Except the first one, which was taken in Amsterdam a while back. I've also posted more on my Flickr page.

On a side note, today marks two months since my arrival in the Netherlands. I feel like time is flying by way too fast... I feel like I've barely even begun exploring. But yet, I look back on these past two months and realize I've done quite a lot. So, let's hope these next two months will be just as eventful, if not more.

Well, that's all I have for now. Til next time... xxx

2008-11-02T17:12:00.007+01:00

Yesterday I made my first trip to Rotterdam, where my friend Melissa lives. Her, Jess, and I spent the day walking around the city: we made our way through the shopping district, stopping in all the swoon worthy stores. Then stopped in 101 Pannekoeken (which was located right on the corner of Pancake Street!) for some world famous pancakes. It was kind of neat because the kitchen was right out in the open, and we had a table next to it, so we could watch the chef make all the pancakes and poffertjes. Boy, was he ever skilled! He flipped those pancakes and poffertjes with such ease! (For those back home, poffertjes are bite sized pancakes that are generally served with a dollop of butter and icing sugar, but you can also eat them with other toppings).

We took a peak at a market, where I found some great deals on souvenirs. Took a tour of Kubus Woningen (the cubic houses), which are exactly what they sound like: cube shaped houses! While they're really neat, aesthetically, they don't look like a very cozy place to live. But perhaps it was because the show version had no carpets or comfy looking furniture.

After looking around the shopping district a little more, we headed back to Melissa's for a very delicious home cooked meal by her host parents, Robert and Ineke, followed by the best of the best olliebollen (the first of the season!), and pepernotjes, both very traditional Dutch holiday goodies.

And then we got ourselves ready to party!

A while ago, we bought tickets for Full on Ferry, a masquerade party hosted by Ferry Corsten. Being a lover of trance, I was really looking forward to this party, especially knowing the magnitude of trance parties in Europe.

Since it fell on Halloween weekend, we figured it was a Halloween party, and got ourselves all dressed up: I as a 50s housewife, Melissa as a soccer player, and Jess as a cop. We found out pretty quickly that we were one of the only ones dressed up. Mostly people came in normal clothes and masquerade masks, and very few were actually dressed up. A lot of people were very confused as to why we were dressed up. We got a lot of comments and stares, and by the end of the night, we were all pretty annoyed with it. We decided that it was just a coincidence they decided to hold this party on Halloween weekend, even though it was advertised as a masquerade party. (For those who don't know, Halloween is a very very new concept in Europe, having only started to make its way over within the past few years. It's not nearly as celebrated here, but we made the assumption that this would be a costume party for Halloween).

So anyway, the stage show was AMAZING. There was fire, and visuals, and the stage actually floated! It was this UFO looking stage surrounded by lights, anchored to the ceiling, which actually lifted off the ground and floated over the audience. And the platform that the DJs were standing on inside the floating stage rotated as well. It was really neat to just stand at the back of the room and watch all this happening, while thousands of people danced and threw their hands in the air. It's really unfortunate that my camera decided to die just as the stage was taking off. I really wanted to capture it on film because I knew trying to explain it wouldn't give it any justice. So as soon as I can find a video, I'll post it for you all to see!

And aside from the stage show, the music was incredible. It's too bad dancing in heels is next to impossible! I normally don't wear heels out dancing, but it was part of the costume, and it just wouldn't look the same in sneakers. ;)

I think, though, that they ripped us off on the drinks. They must have watered down the drinks, or have been serving non-alcoholic booze, because none of us had even a buzz! Those cheap bastards!

Well, that is my weekend in a nutshell. I hope I can make it back to Rotterdam soon, preferably on a nicer day as it was pretty cold and rainy yesterday. I'd love to check out some more of the interesting architecture, and see more of the city.

I uploaded a few photos to Flickr, but not many. For now, I will leave you with a photo of us girls taken at the party last night. I hope everyone back home had a safe and fun Halloween!

2008-10-27T14:37:00.004+01:00

Not much to report at the moment, but I just wanted to take a quick second to post a few of the photos I just uploaded to Flickr.

That last one is of Lauren and I in Amsterdam (she's from Canada, too!). It was quite wet outside (as I'm sure you can tell by the umbrellas), so we couldn't actually sit in the shoe. It was great to see a familiar Canadian face, and I wish Lauren the best of luck on her journey in Ghana!

2008-10-20T19:14:00.002+02:00

I just got back from the most amazing weekend I've had since I've been in Europe. I would just first like to mention how astounded I am with how genuinely kind and hospitable Belgian people are. I couldn't have been left with a better opinion of my time there, and I really can't wait to go back again (hopefully soon!)

So anyway, we started out on Friday afternoon for Lochristi (a small town just outside of Gent), where Jurgen's parents live. After meeting everyone, Jurgen offered to drive me into Gent while the family had their time together (and since his family doesn't speak English very well, I wouldn't have been able to really join in the conversation anyway).

He dropped me off at the edge of the center, and I made my way down the main shopping road, stopping in shops and taking photos. Oh, and of course trying Belgian chocolates... I just couldn't go to Belgium without having my first tastes of real Belgian chocolate. (Ps. Every bit as amazing as they say). Oh yes, and the Belgian frites, too. While waiting for a ride back to Jurgen's parents, I stopped in the coolest frites shop, where they served wine and beer, and were blaring hardcore on the radio. It was just a very different atmosphere than your typical Canadian greasy fast food joint. I loved it!

Just as I got back to Jurgen's parents', Jurgen decided he wanted to go into town for some beer... great idea! Jurgen, Joanna, and I went to this pub called the Dulle Griet, a pub with 200 different types of beer, and where they serve the biggest beers I've ever seen... 1.2 litres in a huge test tube looking glass that has to be propped up with a wooden frame. Before you get that beer, though, you have to give one of your shoes as collateral (I guess because the glass is so expensive, they want to make sure you give the glass back). They take your shoe, and put it in this wire basket that gets hoisted up to the ceiling. When you return the glass, you get your shoe back. It would kinda suck if you accidentally break the glass, and you have to walk out of the bar with only one shoe! ;)

After our drinks, we took a walk around town, which was so gorgeous at night. Gent is a very old city, with buildings dating back to medieval times. At one point, when we were walking down some small side streets, it actually felt like we were in medieval times... the roads were dark, with these huge old buildings, and just with the way our feet sounded on the cobblestone roads. It was really cool to know that we were walking down roads that were built hundreds and hundreds of years ago.

We then made our way to this pub that specializes in jenever, a type of alcohol I've never heard of til this past weekend. That's all that was sold in the pub, just many many different flavors of jenever. After a few shots, we made our way to find some frites, then back to Jurgen's parents'.

Jurgens' parents were really nice in offering me a place to stay at their house for Friday night, and knowing that this was my first time to Belgium, Jurgen's dad dug up maps and booklets for me to use on my trip. They were also so kind to offer me a place to stay if I decided I wanted to stay longer in Belgium, and even to take me to Brugge themselves! I just thought it was so nice that, not even knowing me, they opened up their home to me, and did what they could to make my stay there enjoyable.

The next morning, after Jurgen, Joanna, and the kids left for England, I had a typical Flemish breakfast with Jurgen's parents (bread, pastries, jams and other spreads), then they dropped me off in town (but not without leaving me their phone numbers in case I needed to call for help, or for a place to stay, or whatever!)

Earlier in the week, Jurgen hooked me up with my own personal tour guide for Saturday... his cousin Jeroen who lives in Gent (who was also so kind to offer me a place to stay on Saturday night). So, Saturday was spent being given the royal tour of Gent, and because he's lived there his entire life, he knew all these little tidbits that he shared with me. It was pretty much as good as a paid tour guide, except funner, and I had more input into where we went! We went to the Gravensteen (my first castle experience!), complete with a torture museum. We went for a beer at a pub he used to work at, walked around the center, checked out the inside of a couple churches, including Sint-Pieterskerk (the hugest most gorgeous church I have ever seen in real life), and then of course stopped for more Belgian chocolates and some Belgian waffles. Oddly enough, we searched high and low for a Belgian waffle place, and couldn't find any. Just as we were about to give up and get pancakes, we walked into a place with both! Worked out perfectly!

Later on we went to a party his friends were throwing, and ended up staying out til 6am! It's been quite a long time since I've been up partying that late, but I must say, it was a blast! I met some really great people, danced to some great tunes, and before I knew it, I was checking my phone to see it said 6am.

I originally went to Belgium with hopes of seeing Brugge in the same weekend, but since we stayed out so late, Sunday was pretty much a write off. But I'm not at all disappointed I didn't pack everything into one weekend because I know I'll be back (hopefully sooner than later!)

The only really lousy part about my weekend (which I could have done without), was missing my connecting train in Antwerp. I searched everywhere for a train schedule that told me which train to take to Den Haag. I could only find a train going to Amsterdam, so I headed for that track, and tried to find someone to ask about getting back to Den Haag. By the time I found an attendant, he was getting on the train, and told me that this was the train... as it was pulling away. "Sorry," he says. I slowly started to piece together that I had infact missed the last train out of Belgium that night. I had a minor freakout, then decided to just get a hotel for the night... 55 euros later. I guess that's what credit cards are for, right? Emergencies, such as this.

And then the kicker is, I called Jeroen from the hotel to tell him I was safe (as texting and calling in Belgium almost completely ate up the minutes on my phone, and I thought I'd save the last few euros if I really needed them), and at checkout this morning, I was charged 4,50 euros for the call. Who would have thought that local calls would cost so damn much?! I should have just used the cell phone.

Well, at the very least, I can take this as a learning experience, and try not to feel too bad about the 60 euros I had to spend unexpectedly.

So, yes, aside from that, most amazing weekend! I know those I met this weekend will probably never read this, but thank you so so so much for being so accommodating to me. It really made my weekend, and it just warms my heart to know that there are such caring people in the world.

Well, that's all for now. If you made it this far, thanks for reading, and I promise to update soon! Oh, and ps. For more photos of Gent, check out my Flickr page!

2008-10-14T15:31:00.005+02:00

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to pop on to give you all a quick update, and to let you all know that I'm still alive! Sad to say, I don't have any pictures for you guys this time, but there will be more soon. I promise!

The Dutch lessons are finally starting to get more difficult. Because I already had previous Dutch knowledge, the first few weeks have been a bit of a review (while learning new things at the same time), but now it's come to the point where EVERYTHING is new. It's time to start really studying, so I can start speaking! The good news is, I'm really noticing an improvement in how much I can actually read. Understanding spoken is still a bit difficult because people speak so fast, but I'm starting to understand Kasper better when he talks in Dutch. If only everyone talked like a child! ;)

This past weekend, I made my first trip out to Utrecht. That is by far the most gorgeous city I've ever seen in real life, thus making it my new favorite city! I wish I had photos to show you guys, but next time I go, I'll be sure to take lots.

It's a university city, so there are a lot of young people that live there, making it a pretty happening place on a Saturday night! It's very picturesque at night, as well, with all the canal side patios, and lights reflecting off the water. It's really neat, because there is an upper portion of the canal where the road is, and then there is a lower portion which many of the restaurants and pubs use as their patios. It's really gorgeous to sit out on the water like that.

I never cease to be amazed at how beautiful the pubs are in the Netherlands. Every time I step foot into a new pub, I always say I've never seen a pub as beautiful, until I step foot into the next one! The only complaint I would make about the pubs here is the limited selection of beer! I would figure with so many different types of beer across Europe, there would be more selection in bars. But sometimes they have only one kind, which is a little absurd to me. But at least I'm trying new things, right? ;)

So, anyway, next week is Autumn break here in Holland, and my host family is on vacation as of this Friday. Because my Dutch classes are also taking a break for the holiday, I have the week to myself! SO, this weekend I'm making my first out of country trip, to Belgium! My host family is heading to England next week, with a stopover in Belgium to visit Jurgen's family, and they've invited me to come along. I've barely started planning, aside from knowing that I want to see Ghent (Jurgen's family lives just outside Ghent), and Brugge. These next couple days will be spent researching, so if you guys have any suggestions, please let me know!

Well, I think that gives you a little idea of what I've been up to lately. I have to try to update more often, but sometimes its hard to take a moment to just sit down and write.

I hope everyone in Canada is doing well, and having fun. I miss you all!

2008-09-30T16:09:00.005+02:00

My first Dutch lesson started yesterday. The school is right around the corner, a 5 minute bike ride at most. It's a rather small class, with a very diverse group of people, all of different backgrounds in the Netherlands for different reasons.

My teacher said my pronunciation is very good, and asked whether I needed to be in the beginner's class. I really think I do, but it was nice to hear that I am doing well so far.

My next class is on Thursday, and I can't wait! I'm happy to finally be learning something again, and hopefully it won't take me too long to get into the swing of things. I really want to start speaking Dutch soon!

I also went to Amsterdam for the first time this past weekend. I've been meeting some au pairs in the Netherlands through some groups on Facebook, and a couple of us took a day trip.

Amsterdam is so different than Den Haag. I'm not sure which I like better. Den Haag is more beautiful, but Amsterdam has a more diverse population. And so many more people out and about, too! In Den Haag, I feel like I stand out as a foreigner, but not in Amsterdam (I guess because there ARE so many foreigners there).

And I can't believe how CHEAP it is to travel here. It only cost about 11 euros for a round trip to Amsterdam. So, it IS possible to do Europe on a budget (so if any of you are thinking about coming for a visit...)

So, anyway, our first stop was a pancake house. Neither Kelly nor Chloe had experienced the real Dutch pancake yet, so we made it one of our missions of the day. Needless to say, I had never seen so many different kinds of pancakes on one menu before. Sweet, savory, special sweet, special savory, American, Canadian, Hawaiian, the list goes on and on.

We stopped in many cheesy souvenir shops, then made our way to the Anne Frank Huis. It was really weird knowing that we were in the house Anne Frank hid, and seeing some of the original stuff that was in the house when they were in hiding. It's also much bigger than I had thought! The only disappointment was not seeing the original diary. They temporarily replaced it with a copy while they restored the original, or something to that effect.

After that, we just wandered around, stopped in more cheesy souvenir shops, had a bite to eat, then wandered through the Noorderkerk Market.

I didn't get many photos, but I'm hoping to get some good ones when I go back this weekend. I'm not sure what's on the agenda yet, but there's still so much to see that I'm sure whatever we end up doing will be fun.

For now, I will leave you with a photo Kelly took of Chloe and I in the Dam.

2008-09-26T20:00:00.005+02:00

I would just like to make a quick entry to post two amusing things I came across these past couple days.

The first is a video of a self cleaning toilet Tara found at a pub when we were in Naaldwijk:

The second amusing thing I witnessed was a mobile PUB! Joanna, Jurgen, Kasper, Charlotte, and I were standing outside when we heard this pumpin' music coming from down the road. Then this mobile bar rolls around the corner! There were like 10 people on it, all sitting around this bar in the middle, with a bartender and everything. And it was PEDAL POWERED! Each person had a set of pedals to pedal this thing down the road. They were all laughing, and raising their mugs. It looked like so much fun! Check it out for yourself!

I definitely want to try to get a group of people together to do this before I go back to Canada. I love that drinking in public is legal here!

Well, that is all for now. I hope that some of you found these tidbits as amusing as I did. =D

2008-09-24T20:59:00.022+02:00

Ok, so I am finally getting around to starting this blog up. I guess I needed to feel more comfortable before I could sit down and really write anything. This first blog will be a sort of introductory, so it may be a little boring for some, but I'm sure some of you are wondering about the specifics of my stay in the Netherlands... so here we go!

First thing's first: in case you hadn't already figured it out, I arrived safe and sound. The flight was really long and uncomfortable. Very little leg room, and we were literally shoulder to shoulder. I didn't get a wink of sleep, even though I had been up for quite a while on very little sleep. Next time I fly for an extended distance, I think I'm going to upgrade to club class. Long legs and cramped seats don't mesh well!

I've been here almost two weeks now (two weeks tomorrow, to be exact), and I'm just starting to get over this jet lag. I really didn't think I'd even get jet lag, because I didn't travel THAT far, but I've been so incessantly tired since I got here. But I'm finally starting to feel like myself again.

So, anyway, a bit about where I live and the family I live with: I live on a gorgeous street in a rather wealthy neighborhood of Den Haag, Netherlands. I live about a 10-15 minute bike ride from the city centre, where there are lots of neat shops, restaurants, pubs, cafes, etc. I'm also about the same distance from Scheveningen, a gorgeous beach on the North Sea which attracts a lot of tourists in the summertime (the photos below are a few neat scultpures I came across at Scheveningen the other day).

I live in a huge three floor townhouse that is at least 100 years old (and I'm pretty sure it hasn't been changed since!). It's quite a bit different than your typical Canadian home. For one, the toilets are in a separate room than the showers (which is pretty standard in Europe, I'm learning). The first floor consists of a dining room, which leads into the living room/play room, and then a kitchen and WC. There is a spiral staircase that leads to the second floor (another thing that I'm finding very common in Holland), where there is Kasper's room, Charlotte's room which leads into the master bedroom, which leads into the computer room/office, and another WC and a large bathroom. Then there is another spiral staircase leading to the third and top floor, which holds my room, another WC, the laundry room, a kitchenette, and two guest rooms (one very large, and the other about the same size as my room). The top floor is basically my living space, unless there are guests, which isn't very often.

(My street!)

(The fountain at the end of my street.)

I live with a family of four: Joanna (mom), Jurgen (dad), Kasper (4), and Charlotte (1). Jurgen works at home for an IT company based out of the UK, and Joanna is a British diplomat. Jurgen is Belgian, so he speaks Flemish and Dutch, Joanna is British so of course she speaks English (and she's also fluent in Dutch), and Kasper speaks both Dutch and English. And Charlotte, well, she barely speaks at all. Although she's learning to say a few things here and there.

Just to give you an idea of what my job entails, here is a typical day so far: be downstairs for 7am to get everyone's morning drinks ready, set out the breakfast stuff, then help get Charlotte and Kasper dressed, eat breakfast, then take them to nursery school for 8:30am. Then I come back to clean up breakfast, the play room if needed, and the children's laundry when needed. Then I have the afternoons to myself. I start cooking dinner around 4:30pm, pick up the kids from nursery school, help with eating dinner, and that's it! Unless Jurgen or Joanna (or both) is gone for the evening, then I help with bath and bed. Then I have the evening off. I also have weekends off, so I have tons of time to explore!

Den Haag is a really gorgeous city, with lots of stuff to do. And everyone bikes here. I've never seen so many bikes in one spot in my life! I mean, I've seen pictures, but it's pretty amazing to see it with your own eyes. And bicyclists actually have the right of way over pedestrians and cars (legally, I'm not sure, but that's just how it goes here). It's really weird to get used to, and people get pretty angry here if you don't know/obey the rules of biking, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.

Well, I think that basically explains things so far. I haven't done anything too exciting yet to really blog about. I've basically spent that past couple weeks getting acquainted with my new city - went to a couple museums (including the Maurtishuis, where the original Girl With the Pearl Earring lives! And yes, I did see it!), took lots of bike rides, did some shopping, had my first tastes of real Dutch foods (including fresh stroopwafles, pannekoeken, olliebollen... which I might add are WAY better than the Canadian versions!). Oh, and I saw my first windmills, too. =)

So, that's it for now. I will be posting all photos I take on Flickr, so please check frequently for updates!

Bye for now, and thanks for reading!