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.

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

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!