from holland with love

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