What Are You Doing in Netherlands?

Recently I have reconnected with a number of people from my past, "old" friends, co-workers and students, as well as made some new friends. Two questions are most often posed and also by and of fellow expats/immigrants upon meeting.

This post answers the most popular, "What are you doing in the Netherlands?"

Here goes:

Living a simpler life in a smaller living space located in a "disadvantaged" neighbor in Rotterdam.

Enjoying life and love.

Learning the Netherlands--language, country, Rotterdam.

Trying to remember English words!

Integrating into a new culture.

Watching my dollars fly away, waiting for a better exchange to get them all into Euros where I can earn much better interest at my bank here and stop seeing them vanish into thin air.

Seeing the Netherlands, US, Europe, Africa, the world with new eyes.

Praying more knowledgeably for the Netherlands.

Eating new foods and finding I like cauliflower, though still not raw, and will probably never grow to like haring/herring!

Eating an occasional hagelslag broodje...chocolate (or fruit flavored) sprinkled sandwich.

Walking--lots of walking.

Frequenting public transportation and loving it.

Experiencing freedom from an auto.

Mystery shopping throughout the country.

Visiting lots of different cities and towns.

Loving and being loved.

Spending more time at home.

Maintaining a sense of humor and appreciating more Dutch humor.

Going to the market once or twice a week, if just to check prices as grocery store sales are often cheaper.

Volunteering at Karel Vogelklas...the bird rehabilitation facility on the street next to us.

Participating in the American Women's Club of Den Haag.

Taking lots of pictures.

Using my Princess House glasses as everyday glassware. Love 'em and would have never done this in the US. Arjan even likes them!

Trying to find out where exactly I fit in here, realizing that may never really happen.

Did I say enjoying life? Here there's plenty of time for that, which is why some Netherlanders have no desire to move to the US.

Enjoying a cooler, moister, more temperate climate.

Then there's the usual reading, writing, attempting to keep in touch with friends via the internet and Facebook, while making new one's as well.

Think that about covers it.

Arjan Talks to the New Neighbor

Tuesday Arjan came home and found the new neighbor had left the key in the door. Oops...I've caught the neighbor below doing that as well. So, he rang the bell and the woman, who is there most, came to the door with no head covering making it clear to see they are Moroccans and not Turks. The daughter came to the door as well and helped her mother with Netherlands. I heard Arjan talking to them and telling them about our cats and me so decided I'd make an appearance. The woman was nice and even shook my hand. I was so surprised when the daughter told me her name is Sameera, now don't know if she spells it the same way my Indian "Sameera" spelled it.

It totally brought me back to the summer's of 1980 and 1981 when I worked at Four Seasons Day Care Center right near my house in Buffalo. Three Indian sisters really took to me, Sareena was 10, Yousara was 6, and Sameera was 2. They were so sweet. (I hope to remember to post a photo when I find the one of them, if it will scan ok from that long ago.) So, needless to say...the neighbor girl, who's probably 8, and I got on well.

Arjan also informed her that the residents are responsible to clean up after themselves and take care of their own mail. Some of the six places in our building have gotten lazy with their mail and anything they don't want or comes that is not for them they just throw on the ground beneath the post boxes. Someone even put a box down there now to hold it. Well, when these people opened their box, of course, it was chuck full and they just put it in the box, causing it to overflow and and it was all over the place. (They do not have change of address cards like they do in the US.) They do have stickers you can put on your box to not receive ads or the free weekly papers, it just the people don't do it...I'm thinking of getting some and just putting on their boxes.

That evening I went on a walk and when I went downstairs I found Sameera was emptying the box in the trash, granted there are still sunflower seeds and a piece of cable on the floor. The mother had water all over the floor in the storage area, where her and our storage areas are. Part of me thought she was cleaning up something another part of me thought she was cleaning the floor. When I returned they were gone, the floor in the entrance was dirty from stepping in on the wet floor then on it, and the storage hall floor felt sticky. What did I find yesterday when I opened our storage but whatever it was leaked onto our side, fortunately looking like only in the front. I think it's water and come up to get something to get it up with, only to find out that it is a sticky yellow substance. AARG! I'm hoping it will dry up and be ok.

The new neighbors are still not living there but the power and gas was turned on Wednesday and I saw a light in there yesterday, and there are drapes up in the living room, besides they've moved more things in. The problem is they don't come to do anything till late in the afternoon or early evening and last night they were still making noise in the hall after 11:30...I wanted to go out and remind them the children still have school for two more weeks in Rotterdam. They also have a thing with ringing the doorbell I'm probably going to have to at some point have to let them know that we hear it. I get the feeling these people may not be used to living so close to other people, at least other people that are not family or from their culture.

So, our building becomes more multi-cultural.

The Cat Days of Summer

Summer began a long time ago here but for over two weeks we have been nothing but sun, ok there was a 2 minute rain today, with a few mornings of June gloom...for the non-Southern Californians that means fog in the morning that typically the sun burns off as the day progresses caused from the colder ocean breeze coming over the warm land...and the temperature has warmed up considerably, actually getting over 85 yesterday, which is usually only for a few days in late July or August. In years past that was considered the Netherlands summer. Not any more...fortunately today the wind is blowing so it is causing it to feel cooler besides being cooler and not so oppressive as the last couple days. Sleeveless shirt and shorts are still called for.

The warm weather definitely presents some problems for the cats in finding a cool place to hang out and sleep. Here are some of their choices:

Just plopping on the floor, Columbo and Oscar's place yesterday:


The dark under the bed/headboard spot Pim seems to be preferring:

On top of the plastic storage thingy right next to me, which Oscar captured this afternoon:

You Look Like Someone I Know

Somewhere I've been keeping track of all the people I see here that look like people I know/have known in the US. It still amazes me that this country is as much of a melting pot as the US, though the melting part doesn't quite happen in the same way here. Nothing exhibits this more than when I see someone here that looks like someone I know in the US...which I'll get to in a little bit after I tell you about the funniest thing that happened to me today.

I had gone on a walk to, first, ask at the belastingdenist, tax office set up till tomorrow near us if what Arjan got back included our medical costs, 200 just for my glasses, only to be told yes, meaning Arjan would have received a whooping 2 Euros back if it wasn't for our medical costs, which are not returnable as of next year; second, pick up the free papers; and, third, go to the other German store Aldi to get the 2.39 California wine Arjan likes. A couple checked out before me and were packing their things into their bakfiets, a bicycle with a box on wheels in front of it for carrying children or goods, when I popped into the store next door to look at a sale but the two lines in the store were way too long, they were having a buy 2, get 1 free sale and they are a discount/cheap store where you can find things you can't anywhere else--Wibra, think they have a German background as well.

So I just walked out of that store, it was much too hot in there anyways, and as I was walking the man with his bakfiets was going past, stopped, turned and said, "Komt u uit Amerika?" That's, "Do you come from America?" I was shocked...how could he know that, I sure didn't know him or his vrouw and I sure wasn't wearing or doing anything that would indicate I'm American. I asked how he knew that and he said because I look like someone he knows. He then asked me if I was the vrouw van Jim. I told him, "Nee, ik ben de vrouw van Arjan." Then he asked me if my name was Ann. How funny further as I told him what my name is. Then I asked him if I looked like her and he said yes. The entire time his vrouw was on her bike just smiling...which I imagine she does quite often because he told me he always has things happen like this where he sees someone who looks just like someone else he knows. I told him how that happens here for me.

The only person that I know of that I see here that is actually a 2nd generation 100% American Netherlander is Tom DeVries. He goes to Levend Woord church where I attended. Everyone else I see is not Dutch...there are three people I see quite often.

Thelma Layog, my former office manager at Subase Child Development Center. Someday I'm afraid I'm going to see her on the street and say, "Hi Thelma."

The one I see almost daily because she lives in the next block is Carol Maloney. Oh, Arjan loves Carol and he thinks this women looks like her as well...glasses, long blond hair in a ponytail that appears to be of the same texture and such, about the same size, the same age, and even the same walk. Now, of course, we don't know this women's name, though Zwemveld is the last name on their door. This woman is the perfect Nederlander not looking at you when you pass her by. I'm still trying to get a good pic of her, without her knowing, but it hasn't worked yet.

Then there's Carol's oldest son Jerry...a young Jerry is a Rotterdam police officer who used to walk in our neighborhood. One day I had a nice chat with him and his colleague, especially when they found out I was from the US, they wanted to know how I considered the safety here and what some differences were. (Unlike the Netherlanders that live here...including Arjan...who think it is unsafe but can't really pinpoint why--just because from other cultures live around them, I think it's very safe here.) The police get moved around so they experience the different neighborhoods in Rotterdam, which doesn't always make sense to me but it's their way of doing things, so I haven't seen him in a while.

Yep, I never know who I'm going to run into here that will trigger the memory of someone but this is only the second time in my life when someone has thought I looked like someone they know.

The Neighbors

The Winnie the Pooh wall paper is off the bedroom wall that has a door to the balconey, the one we can really see, and was strewn in the hall all down the stairs and on the balconey. That room is now purple with pink butterflies, guess that means it's the girl's room, and white trim. From what we can tell they painted everything else white. You can see wallpaper on one wall of the living room from beneath. It was most of the first week that men were here taking off the old and this week was putting on the new. Flooring was brought on Friday and on Saturday big items started to be moved in. There are still no window coverings so I'm sure they won't be living there till they're in, or, as some people do when they first move in, they will just cover the windows with sheets or newspaper, let's hope not.

Right there you have learned what is entailed when you rent a place. When moving out your walls have to be left in paintable or wallpaperable condition and your flooring and window covering are supposed to be removed. As a new renter, you are responsible for putting in flooring, putting up window covering, and doing whatever you want to the walls, except taking them down or damaging them. As Arjan said, that may be why it took so long to get renters in there because there's a lot to do in that place and that costs money.

We believe the family who will live next door consist of a mother, father, a son of 11ish and daughter of 8-9ish. How they have typically come is up to five Turks Muslim women with up to 8 children. Then numerous men coming but often when the women are gone. Arjan has watched the women struggle getting up the stairs, stopping at every landing to get their breathe, which they appear to be too young to be doing but probably aren't used to stairs. They typically don't show up till late in the afternoon and have stayed till after 10 p.m. Oh, we have to get used to the noise.

They enjoy ringing the doorbell, which drives me crazy. The kids will just ring the bell, guess they may not be used to it. When the bell from outside rings for them, the kids have run out and yelled down the stairwell, "Wie is het?" (Who is it?) Still trying to figure that one out as there's a phone you pick up and can talk to the people outside and ask who it is. It is unnecessary and if it continues after they move in I'll be going over to talk to them.

Besides the wallpaper on the balconey there is a wide putty knife that was dripping white water and has rusted, an empty spray bottle that has the nozzle screwed off, and molding was out there for days, with unused scraps that got left out there. So Friday afternoon two boys, one being from the family, were hitting a scrap on the ledge of the balconey to break it into smaller pieces. They then found great fun in throwing them over the balconey edge. One of the women found out what they were doing and came out yelling at them in Turks with a lot of Dutch, "Mag niet." That translates to "May not" and what is used to guide children...I learned that one and used it a lot when doing my language internship with the children's activities. When Arjan came home later that afternoon, I asked if he saw the wood on the sidewalk. No, but he did see two Turks women picking somethings off the sidewalk and take them to the trash. Good for them!

There was one piece left on the balconey and last night when so many children were here, that piece ended up in front of our front door. Obviously, the mothers didn't know it or see it, which I can't believe, when they left last night.

Arjan is a baffled because they have not done what good neighbors are supposed to do here. He said here the way it works is...when you rent a place, the first time you go to begin working you are supposed to introduce yourself to your neighbors. It isn't till you actually move in and are living there that the neighbors are supposed to come with a bouquet of flowers to welcome you to the neighborhood. Of course, being Turks, they probably don't do it the way the Netherlanders do.

Now we're just hoping they put up a barrier on their side of the balconey as the last Turks family did that lived there so the little girl could play outside in her bathing suit and the woman could be out without her head covering and Arjan wouldn't see them. Otherwise, we're going to have to do something so the cats can go out on our balconey and not get into their's.

Out With Old, In With the New

The old sofa was in pretty bad shape. It was only 6 years old but not well made and of fake leather. Arjan helped it along once it started ripping. After six months of looking for a new one, we decided on one. It successfully arrived the morning of the 19th.

Arjan saved a parking place for the lift for over a week. When they finally came there six spaces in a row free in front of our place so Arjan just had to move his auto down.

The lift was put into place while the delivery men from the store had a smoke before beginning the job.

The new sofa (3 zitsbankstel) comes up. Then the old one was taken out followed by the love seats (2 zitsbankstellen).

With the result looking like this:

We like the Dark Chocolate and leather, it's not sticking to us in the heat like the other did. It's higher than the last and the arm rests are lower and this week we should be looking for the some decent pillows for the arms, or just go with the extra American sleeping pillows. Arjan is also working on raising the coffee table, which was his Oma's, because it is now too low or he has said we'll look for something new at Ikea, which really surprised me.

I can't believe I forgot to snap a picture of the old stuff out for pick up before I left that day, especially to see what others had added to it and by time I arrived home they were just arriving in the next block from picking up ours, more than 3 hours earlier than the week before's pick up, which didn't happen till 6 p.m. (Think that's why I didn't take one before I left, I figured it would still be there with more things added by time I came home.)

As you can see, the sofa is a hit.

Verhuurd

Rented...finally the house next to us. The party is over for the cats and the quiet we've been able to experience up here. The good news is the renters are Turkish. Two Turks women entered the apartment this afternoon and opened up all the windows. It sounds as if they are friends with our neighbors below us, which they probably are from the moskee (mosque). With all to be done in the house to make it ready to live in it may be another 2 weeks or so before they move in. That should give us plenty of time to make the barrier so the cats can't get over there.

Rain and Rainbows

I think there's plenty of sun here and like to portray it as very sunny here, which it can be. Part of that is to dispel all those American Netherlander naysayers who "warned" me about how terrible the weather is here, they obviously never lived in Syracuse or Buffalo, NY--then we can talk "terrible" weather.

But, unlike in San Diego, the meteorologists/weather forecasters actually have work to do here because there is rain and Tuesday night we had two good rounds of thunder storms just as I was going to bed. Sunday was a hoot though because in the evening there was pouring rain.

But, the sun was brightly shining.

Producing a vivid, large rainbow that became a double.

A Typical Sunny Morning for the Boys

The morning sun shines in our back windows and as soon as he hears me get up, Columbo comes and waits for me to pull the blinds so he can lay, sit, or, as he did today, stretch out in the sun. Occasionally all the cats sit or lay in a line in the sun but most mornings are more like today.

Columbo in the sun in all his glory.

Oscar, who we call the Southern California cat because he prefers going outside only when it's warm, though he also prefers the dark. It must have been too warm for him this morning because he was laying on the floor in the shady hall which he does when it's too warm.

And Pim

my shadow, following me around.

Lidl goes USA!

That is the headline on this week's advertisement booklet from the supermarket Lidl. Lidl is one of the two German discount grocery stores with locations in the Netherlands, Aldi is the other. At Lidl you find brands you can't find at other stores, most I'm not familiar with. There is also a good aisle or two of non-food featured items. Every week has "highlight"s around a theme or two or more. This week you can find various cleaning supplies--up to a steam cleaner; hardware supplies including work clothing--a super mini Home Depot with marks including Stanley and Black & Decker; and women's clothing including under garments and shoes. To look at this and watch the store's weekly ad, you could plan it so you only had to shop at Lidl for most all your needs.

Then there's the food. There's a good fruit and vegetable section, with sale prices on a couple items, changing the items every Monday and Thursday, so you can often find cheaper fruits and vegetables there. In addition there's a frozen food section, a meat section--and they were rated as having the best and leanest ground meat/hamburg in the Netherlands but it's usually more expensive, cleaning products, dairy and cold cuts, wine, drinks, pet food, spices, and canned goods. Those items are always available. Then they focus on someplace or thing special and bring in products specifically to sell that week and they cycle through them about once a year. There has been China week, Greek week, Italian week and a British week--sure enjoyed some of those products as well.

But now, with summer and the 4th of July coming, this week's focus is on the USA. It is even being celebrated by saving stamps, or some such thing, to get a Grill Meister BBQ apron. There's even a cowboy on a horse with a lasso in that ad. You can also win a trip to Texas. Their USA mark is McEnnedy. I'm sure you noticed how close to Kennedy that is. There are other marks with "American" food but none I've ever seen in the US.

Here's the available items in their USA week:

BBQ marinades-classic, honey, garlic

Hamburger Saus--that "gives hamburgers a typical American taste", looks like ketchup and mayo to me which I certainly didn't grow up having on my hamburgers and you don't find on a McDonald's or Burger King hamburger.

Cheese-Onion Baguettes--isn't that a French word?

T-Bone Steak for 1.99/100 grams, making it 10 Euros/pound--and I'm so tempted to buy one because you just can't get good steak here.

Chicken nuggets with saus

Onion Rings

Chicken Dippers with saus--chicken pieces rolled in corn flakes

Snackbox--??? where'd that come from? Packaged, complete in buns, mini hotdogs, mini hamburgers, American Rib burger, and I think it's like BBQed beef sandwich, shredded rib meat in saus on a bun. They go for 1.79 a piece. (I'll make my own, thank you, and wait for a trip to the US for a hot dog.)

Hot dogs in a jar--sounds so unappetizing to me.

Frozen rib burger that's "only" 1.69

American sauces--ketchup BBQ, ketchup hot dog--never heard of that in the US, and Sandwich sauce

Salad dressing--Ranch, Blue Cheese, Honey Mustard, American Caeser, and Thousand Island

American style mustard--I have come to prefer the French style popular here.

Ketchup flavored potato twists that appear to be curly potato sticks with a flavor added.

Easy cake mix for cranberry cake--that looks more like bread that you just add water to and bake in the pan, reminds me of Snack 'n Cake only a bread. (I'll wait for the fresh cranberries to appear in the regular grocery stores in the fall.)

Dried cranberries--which you can find here.

Cranberry Drink--The Aldi often has Trader's Joes cranberry drink, the only Trader Joe's product I've seen here.

American cookies--apple cookies with raisins or brownie cookies with chocolate--both the crispy/hard type. Where's the chocolate chip??????

Muffin mix--with chocolate pieces, chocolate with a chocolate glaze, or with a bluberry filling

Honey roasted almonds

Cashews and pecans

Microwave popcorn

BBQ marshmallows--Marshmallows have become more common to see in stores here but these are all white and only 1 Euro.

Ice cream sundaes--cups of soft ice cream with carmel, strawberry or chocolate sauce through it--I'll pay a little more for a McDonald's sundae when I want something like that, and better yet, wait till it's on McDonalds 1 Euro sale, think it's regularly 1.25. (Every few months McDonald's puts 6 products on sale for 1 or 2 Euros...from this time what I remember seeing advertised for 1 Euro was yogurt & fruit and 4 bitterballen--a Dutch food--I should pop in and get them to take a picture and tell you about them and a fish sandwich for 2 Euro.)

American peanut butter, crunchy or smooth--I'll keep buying the Skippy at Jumbo when I want American PB.

And these:



They're really Jelly Belly jelly beans. Ok, they don't say Jelly Belly so they must be a kick off, but they sure taste and look like Jelly Belly beans. What a treat and only one flavor I don't like--peach.

Update on The House Next Door

It has been a while...over 3 months to be exact since I wrote about the place next door, which remains vacant. I figured I better write before I have to write about the new neighbors.

Here is what transpired since the huis uitzetten on Feb 27th:

The following week two containers appeared on the sidewalk in front of our house. Workers followed who cleaned the place and their storage out. Everything was put into the containers... a broken chair, papers, used cans of paint...everything present in the house and storage. Arjan said it will be taken someplace where the owner can pay to get it back. If not, it will be gone through to see if there is anything worth selling and sorted to go to in the right refuse.

Next a man who inspects places after people move out came to see what repairs were needed in the house and removed the toilet and water fixtures. Within a few days a carpenter showed up and used our electricity to do something over there. Then the tile/bath/kitchen guys came, who also used our electricity and paid Arjan 10 Euros. They worked for a good week removing the tile from the kitchen wall and toilet and shower/laundry room walls and floor. (This is the exact tile we have which when were told we could pick new cabinets and a counter a few years ago, we were told our tile was still good so couldn't be changed--URGH!) Then they put the new in and it looks so much better. They used a natural, cream/white colored bigger tile on the walls and a light gray bigger tile on the floor--our floor is brick red. It lightened the toilet and shower room and kitchen up and looks so much better. Then with a new white toilet and new piping and fixtures, it really looks good. The house is at least double the size of ours with a nice living room that goes all the way through to the kitchen and there are 3 bedrooms, 2 small ones that are bigger than this little room--consider a 3/4 room, and one as big as our biggest.

Arjan and I dreamed of just being able to move over there. The one small room still has Winnie the Pooh paper on it from when the people before lived there who moved 5 years ago and opens to the balcony. That would be my computer room, and I think I could actually set up my card table in there as well to scrapbook. Then the other room would be for guests so they wouldn't have to sleep in the living room. We dreamed.

The what's for rent this 2 weeks paper/online came out, which I'll write about in another post, and the house appeared in it. That was the 3rd-4th week of March. The problem with what was advertised for the place showed a picture that was not it...from a much nicer neighborhood and a town house, Arjan says there is a street with this name in one of the neighboring suburbs advertising in this area and they picked the wrong picture. It also said that this place is from 1990. No way...these were built around 1911 and the last renovation was in 1986. I responded, which is the way it works here, and by the end of the two week period we were down to #123. The top 5, which they show, were all Urgent, which goes above everything else. We figure the false advertising led to so many responses. Around 400 for something like was presented is a steal in the Rotterdam area.

Plenty of people have come to see it, two just last week, but so far no takers. I think they see it and know they can find something a bit nicer without climbing so many stairs for around the same price or a bit more. We'll see if they make it to our number or readvertise it, not sure what happens after a certain amount of time. We do know that some places are quickly rented...just happened with a place across the street but they're newer, bigger, and this one is on the ground and has a back yard.

Of course, one look out on the balcony and people may decide this isn't for them when this is what they see:



That is a bucket left by the tile workers, who were very friendly young men. It is unbelievable to me that with all the people there after the work was done, including the man that comes to let the people in to see the place, that no one has picked this bucket up and taken out to the trash. Who knows, maybe they haven't even looked out onto the balcony, let alone stepped out there.

I'll tell you...the cats are sure enjoying having so much space and we're enjoying not having to worry if they're wandering into that house and it is just overall nice not to have someone next door, much quieter.

The Bridge to Dublin

Back the first Sunday of May a bridge built in a Rotterdam suburb made it's way to it's home in Dublin where my understanding is it's a foot/bike bridge connecting two places. Many people came out to see this spectacular event.

The Koninginnebrug opens to let it through:




Then it stopped for a long time right in front of where I was standing. They had to bring another barge to help it move forward. And you guessed right, it's called the Harp Bridge and supposed to look like a harp, Ireland's "symbol" according to the news.



The barge has been attached on the side and it began it's move to the Erasmusburg.


The bridge approaches the open Erasmusburg:


And at this point my camera batteries ran out and I forgot to bring extras, something I usually always have with me. Oh well, I saw it and got both bridges together with the open bridge. I do hope to see it in place in Dublin one of these days.

P.S. For any of you computer challenged, such as myself, you can click on pictures and they'll fill your screen so you can see them up close and personal.

Cats

Some of you have known me since way back when I didn't like cats, except the kitten that my roommate snuck in our sophomore year and we hid in the sink room till she found a home for him, used to joke that they should be run over, and then in my early 30's developed such an allergy to them I would be forced to leave the homes of people with cats. That all changed in 2002, and now I feel like the cat woman. On my walk home a couple weeks ago I ran into this cuddly looking black kitty living under a mostly torn down building, that's been that way for three years now.

It's the first seeming unclaimed cat I've seen here, the few others I've run into outside have a collar with a tag. As people would approach and walk by he'd run back in his "house" then come and look out like this:

After the people had walked by, he'd come out and sit on the sidewalk again. I was NOT so tempted to get a bowl of cat food and return to try to get him to come out so I could pick him up and bring him home to join the three here. No, I wouldn't do a thing like that...but I sure thought about it. Good thing I haven't seen him since. I'm hoping someone else is giving him a good home.

Why would I need another cat when I've got these three beauties:

But wouldn't a black cat go well with the color mix?

The Return of Beautiful Weather

It didn't take long for the perfect San Diego weather to return. It has been so nice, and expected through Tuesday. It has resulted in some long walks and sitting at my favorite place, Eva Cohen Hartogkade, writing or reading...or just watching the boats/ships go by and the bridges going up and down letting them through! Yesterday I walked all the way to the Stadhuis and back. Here are some photos from that trip:

Nederlandse sort of geese with their 8 gooslings

Across from the stadhuis was a campaign to encourage people to throw chewing gum in the trash cans rather than throw it on the sidewalk.

Here's a large trash can with the slogan--Together we make Rotterdam chewing gum free.

Two guys were dressed to look like gum and followed close behind people to tell them how gum sticks to your shoes. Then there were two gals in pink dresses with blazers, which I can't believe I didn't get a picture of, who were giving out packs of gum wrapping papers...pretty neat. She gave me a couple so I'll keep them in my bag as I travel.

This is the guy that followed me...he wanted his picture taken.

These are the artistic flowers in front of the Stadhuis.

The Maastoren from coming back over the Erasmusburg. It reached it's highest point this week making it the highest building in the Netherlands. Construction workers were even working on it yesterday!

And now it's late and I'm falling asleep so more will have to wait for tomorrow and you know why I love walking around this city...you never know what you're going to find or who you're going to run into.

Storm Ends the Sunny Days

Well, I do have many pictures and some to write about the summer weather we've been having here, but first...yesterday was warm, humid and not so sunny. It was also very quiet and still. It's so weird when it's like that because there are so many people around but it's quiet. All I thought was it is the calm before the storm.

First around 9ish last night a strong wind came through. People in back still had wash out and were scrambling to get it inside, along with other items they may have left on their balconey, before the rain came. That strong wind was pushing these black clouds over. It is so neat to be up high and be in a flat place to see it all happening. The rain started and there was some thunder and lightening. It didn't last long and then really cleared up, including drying up. But that wasn't all...

We went to bed and when I got up to give the cats more food at around 2 (Yes they get me up usually at least 2x at night, I can easily ignore them but Arjan can't thus I have this problem.) I saw plenty of lightening in the distance and heard no thunder. 3:48 a.m. it hit and was one of the worst storms I've seen. I just couldn't believe how much lightening was flashing, over 200,000 flashes in the country, 3-4 flashes at a time, over 75,000 bolts to the ground, the wind was blowing so strong I expected to see trees falling over--which they did in some places, and it was just pouring rain and hail. We had to quick put towels at the front windows because, even though they were replaced and fixed to prevent this and we haven't had a problem since then, this rain and wind was just too hard. The meterologists say this is a once in 5 year occurence.

I was so glad I didn't have to go anywhere today, especially because train and tram service was pretty messed up. It has been windy most of the day and didn't rain here for a good part of the morning and early afternoon. So, I went out to get a couple groceries and the free newspapers and to access the damage. (One storm the first fall I was here broke a tree down on cars a street over.) My camera batteries were gone so I only got the picture of the where the tree broke.

This is some of the damage in my walk today, all just trees.

Lots of big branches all the way down, fortunately in the grass and not on the cars.

Three young trees fell over on this street...crews were already a couple streets over putting the trees that had fallen over on there back up with big poles on each side to hold them in place.

I saw two trees like this with a huge entire limb broken off.

Thankfully, the weather will be getting better, with little rain predicted. It is evidenced again today by the sun making it's appearance this evening, and still setting, yes the sunset is almost 10 p.m. already. This is just one more reason I tell people this is the new San Diego...even if it rains, the sun seems to make an appearance at least once in that day.

Here's the picture from about half an hour ago.

Verjaardagen in Netherlands

Birthday's in Netherlands are yet another event that has many differences than in the US. First off, there is no:

"Gelukkig Verjaardag"/"Happy Birthday".

singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out candles on a cake. They do sell candles, but I have yet to attend a birthday where someone blew out a candle on their b'day so I don't think their Dutch.
ice cream, again there may be some people that have it but it has not been at any I've been to.

freebies of free ice cream or meal or so much percent off because it's your b'day--one reason I'd like to spend my b'day in the US this year!

party games or favors.

helium balloons.

picture taking.

"extravagent" children's parties, though I did see one in KFC one day but they were probably allochtoonen/foreigners, which the Dutch call anyone who is not white and born in the Netherlands. (A subject for another post!)

family, friends, or co-workers taking the b'day person out for anything or surprising them at work with a cake.

How a birthday is celebrated in Netherlands...

"Gefeliciteerd" or "Hartelijk gefeliciteerd" is the birthday greeting offered and heard. It means "Congratulations" or "Warm/Hearty congratulations". This is said to family members, friends, and everyone in attendance at a birthday gathering.

Sometimes it involves decorations, which you'll see in the pictures, and it's not uncommon to be walking and see in windows or on doors possibly a few blow up balloons taped with the age that a child it turning or the age an adult is turning when it's an important one. Often you'll see the name. I've also seen something printed from the computer, along with the photo of the birthday person announcing the birthday, taped to windows.

The birthday person is supposed to host everyone. For children this means preparing a treat and party bag for their class in addition to taking something to share with all the teachers and administration at the school. Now, you can imagine how some of the American mom's here have responded to this when they're making something like Rice Krispie Treats, which is costly here, or fancy cupcakes. BUT, it is ok to just bring a common cookie for the rest of the teachers and staff on a plate to share.

For a working person it involves providing a cake or treat for all your co-workers. I keep trying to explain, even with my pictures, of how it's the other way around in the US.

For any birthday person it means hosting family, and maybe some friends and/or neighbors, at the birthday person's house for what many expats call the "Birthday Circle". Basically everyone sits around the living room, or outside if it's nice, after they have walked around, done the 3 fake kisses or a handshake and "Gefeliciteerd" everyone already in attendance. Then you are asked what you want to drink and offered a piece of tart which translates to cake but also means a pie here. What you receive is 99% of the time a store or bakery bought cake, which sometimes isn't much like any cake I'm used to, or an appel tart, or sometimes a tompouce. A cake typically has a large filling of cream and often fruit between two layers of a cake with a thick whipped cream frosting then sometimes a thin layer of another type of icing that has a decoration painted on it. You never see the full cake because it has already been cut into, and looking at the whipped cream on top, I think a candle would sink right down into it.

Note to Americans: Remain seated during the entire time at the b'day. It is ok to change seats or get up to use the bathroom but DO NOT offer help to the birthday person and/or their parents if it's a child's b'day. The birthday person or their parents and grandparents do everything and they do not like to be helped. Also remember this as you have people over for your b'day, you will be doing all the work, noone will be taking their dishes to the kitchen or offering to help. Disclaimer: I am almost certain there'd be one woman at the American Club who has a Dutchie man disagree with this and proceed to tell me how helpful her Dutch family is so it may happen, but Arjan's family is about as Dutch as they get so I'm basing it on my experience with a very Dutch, little English speaking, family.

After enough people have arrived the host(ess) begins with the rounds of appetitizers, I'll call them. No, they are not put on a table and people go around and pick what they want--I attempted that on Arjan's b'day the first year I was here and they didn't know what to do. Instead, the host walks around with a plate or two offering it to every guest. Note to Americans: You may only take 1 item from what is offered. After making the rounds, what's left is often put on a coffee table in the middle at which time you are welcome to partake in more, though most Dutch don't so that plate will make another round later.

The appetitizers can consist of pieces of various sausages and cheese with mustard to dip them in, cucumbers, ham rolled with cream cheese in the middle, ham rolled with a pickle in the middle, Melba toast with cheese or some sort of salad--which is bought in the deli section of a supermarket, nuts, when there are kids typically thin pretzel sticks, and sometimes some of the special items the supermarkets are now making. For instance, on Sunday we had olives, little sweet peppers filled with cheese, and sun dried tomatoes with now I forget what but I was almost the only person who ate these "strange", new to NL items. Plates with one or two different items are brought around every 10 minutes or so till they are all served. At that time if there are plates on the table with a lot left on, those plates are taken around one by one for another round.

In cases of birthday's for children, expect to see little of the birthday child...they will either be in their room playing or where the computer is playing games with the other children who have come to the birthday, which are typically no more than a handful. Some parents do actually have a separate children's party, inviting children over for lunch, a piece of cake, and to play.

Besides drinking and eating in this circle, everyone talks, and when I say everyone, I mean everyone, except those who don't know the language well and have noone to speak their language with. Honestly, the Dutch are talkers and talk at the same time so there can easily be 3 or 4 conversations going on at the same time, enough to leave my brain aching when I first came and didn't know much Nederlands. For some, like our family who really only see each other on birthday's and the New Year, it's a time to catch up with family, for others it's comparing what your children are doing in school or your past or future vacation.

People come and go throughout the afternoon and most often immediate family stays for dinner, which may consist of soup and a sandwich, nothing special. Gifts are often money for children, flowers for women, wine or beer for a man and then sometimes a little something else, like special teas or cologne and opened as they are received, not all at one time.

Special yeared b'days can be a whole other ball game. These years it is custom for the birthday person to treat family and friends to a big party or dinner out. I couldn't believe it...that's expensive but in Arjan's case, he saves up for it as he expects it. Gifts are more "extravagant" these years as well, like the family coming together to get a decent sized gift certificate for a store or a big gift the birthday person has wanted.

Now you know why I would like to be in the US this year for my 50th! When that day comes, I'll tell you all about the big 5-0 in Netherlands. I cannot believe that my bestest bestest friend is going to be turning it tomorrow--the first friend in "my" year to do so! Happy, happy 50th b'day, ME!

Here are photos from the birthday of our great nephew Dennis' 10th b'day we celebrated on Sunday.


The Birthday Boy--the only time he sat down in the circle.


His brother Casper talking with Arjan about how he's doing in soccer, he got to move up a divison.


Casper, Arjan, and Casper & Dennis' father Ronald listening to Ronald's mother tell some story.


She was probably telling the story of this man, her boyfriend Giel, and how he was almost sleeping till I came in. He got so excited, said, "The Belle is here," and he was the only one on the sofa so I went and sat with him and he again told me more about his two trips to the US, where his sister has lived for over 53 years near Palm Springs. One time he bought Amtrak's 6 week rail pass and really travelled the country. He has been to Holland, MI and to Iowa where the Dutch live, surprised so many Dutchies would live in such a place. In this picture he's waving to me as he is on his way out the door to go home and take a nap.


One of, if not the, newest members of our family, Amber sitting on Ingrid, Ronald's sister's, lap having a conversation with me, now wondering where my face went. She was born in November to Simone, our niece, and Roel.


Amber with her family--Oma--Sjanet, Arjan's youngest sibling, and the b'day boy's Oma, Papa Roel, and Mama Simone. (The Dutch equivalient to Daddy and Mommy.)

A Trip to the Library

Today was so much fun. After attempting to do a visit in Ijsselmonde, a Rotterdam neighborhood south of us, only to find the business has gone out of business, nice so I don't have to write much in Netherlands, I went to Rotterdam's Central Library to meet Laurie. I've mentioned Laurie before and we are getting to be very good friends, we are each other's kind of people/friends. It is so neat hearing her tell me about her friends in the US she'd like to introduce me to because we'd get along so well, and likewise I feel the same about her. I am so thankful to God for bringing Laurie to Rotterdam. So, she'd never been to the library and her husband is on a week's business trip leaving her here alone so we got together and I showed her the library.

A few of you, or I should say I only actually know for sure one of you, have been in Rotterdam's Central Bibliotheek. It is a modern 7 story building and the absolute nicest libary I have ever been in. It has totally been renewed since I was last there last summer making it that much nicer. The first floor still has the giant chess game and you checking your books, CD's, and DVD's out is now self-service. In the large magazine/newspaper area there are individual desks that slant and are big to hold a large newspaper and open it up and there's a light directly above providing excellent lighting for reading. Instead of one computer room they now have computers on levels 2-7 and they are now free for 30 minutes or if noone's waiting you can continue to log on for 30 minutes. There are so many around now, there were plenty available today. It used to be you had to pay to use the computers.

One of the differences here in NL and a shock to Americans is that library cards aren't free. Part of the library's funding comes from the yearly membership dues, which are needed to check out books. The current fee is 30 Euros per year. It allows you to check out 10 library items at a time and gives you a 3 week due date. For 46 Euros you can check out 15 library items for up to 6 weeks.

Laurie wanted to look at the children's books...yes, for those of you who know my love for children's books, you know we hit it off even more. Laurie used to work in a children's book store. Plus, it is an easy way to practice and learn some Netherlands. So she read a book and I helped her with the words she didn't know. It took a while but was so fun. Unfortunately the picture I took of her holding the book turned out blurry...looking forward to getting a new camera with a bigger screen! We'll have to restage it when we return there on Tuesday, as there is no Sit & Stitch this week. I did get one from behind her, showing very little of her.

After our library stunt we went across the way to Bagels & Beans. I used to go to this place quite a bit but haven't been there in probably a year and the owner recognized me, was so happy to see me, and remembered what I most often got...a cinnamon raisin bagel with honey walnut cream cheese and a cappuccino. Today we both needed more substantial food so we both got the tuna melt on a whole wheat bagel. It was delicious. When the gal that waited on us first came to our table to take our drink orders, we only spoke in Nederlands. Laurie needed to use the back part of the menu that is in English and when the gal came for our order, Laurie spoke first in English and the gal looked totally shocked, asked if we were English, said she thought we were Netherlanders, and when Laurie told her that she only speaks a "klein beetje", meaning a little bit, but I speak much more and could pass, the gal said that we both did great and she would have never known. Yes, Laurie is doing really well teaching herself and just interested in learning the language so loves to hear me say things and teach her new words and such, something else that's so nice as so many Americans are just here for a short time, they don't care about learning much of the language.

After our late lunch we went through Rotterdam's big market, right by the library, in search of two bouquets that I needed to get for the birthday's Arjan and I have to go to tomorrow and I found a 5 bunches for 2.50 deal. They are so nice but I forgot to take a picture and Arjan has set them outside for the night so the cats don't eat them then I'll make 2 bouquets in the morning and the rest for us! Then I found other great deals there...unfortunately I didn't buy the raspberries 2/2 Euros but I did get a nice head of andive for 65 Euro cents, over a pound of beautiful looking green beans for 50 Euro cents, and 2 lent onions for 30 Euro cents. You can not go wrong at the end of the day at the market and I found in the Centrum they let you get just a couple things...the market by us usually won't sell less than a kilo at the end of the day which is usually too much for us and Arjan gets upset because we'll end up not using some, even if it was so cheap. I told him I'm going to the Centrum market for the deals on Saturday. Our kaas (cheese) man is also at that market on Saturday's, though we are in routine of getting the kaas on Wednesday's when he's at the market by us.

Oh, yeah, and as I was walking to the library from Beurs, there at the C & A, a clothing store, there was a mob of people that I had to take a picture of because it was so American looking. From what was painted on the windows, apparently smoke had infiltrated the store so they were having a 50% off pretty much everything due to the smoke damage. The store wasn't opening till 1:30 and it was 12 someone inside the store needed an ambulance and stretcher and when the worker opened the door to direct the ambulance, the people pushed in the door and the ambulance workers ended up having to go round another way and I left as the male workers and police were getting the people out. I really didn't expect to see such a sight. When I walked back when I was going home, there were signs on the windows that they were not able to open today and would be tomorrow. Another madhouse I'm sure.

Ok, time for bed and hopefully tomorrow will bring you photos from the infamous Dutch "birthday circle", most English speaking expats call it.





The mob in front of C & A.

The ambulance arrives.

Koninginnedag Rommelmarkt

Oranjetompouce/poes (Albert Hein spelled it the first way, my dictionary the second) is a treat for the day being it's orange. It's a bit like a thick eclair that's square with an icing on top. Most often you see it in pink and can see it at birthday's. But all the stores had orange for Queen's Day.



April 30 is Koninginnedag (Queen's Day) in Netherlands. It is a feest (party) day when the royal family visits typically a small town and a larger city. Here they walk the streets and/or through a park and/or on a boat. The idea is that they shake hands with people and participate in normal party life with the community. It begins with the royal family arriving and all the females in the royal family are given a bunch of flowers by 6-9ish year girls chosen from the community. Along the way some people give gifts to the family which can be a bunch of flowers, a letter or drawing from a child, to something like a small painting someone has painted for them. Old and new games are played. Like this year there was hitting a golf ball and trying to get it in the hole of a golf mound that was floating in the water, one prince accomplished that. Then there was another activity, not sure what it's called, but bikes are attached some how to a pole and as you pedal, the bike goes up and the first person to the top wins, so you have to pedal hard, again another prince was very adapt at this. One prince races cars so they had a race car there and had contests as to who could put the new tires onto the car. Apeldoorn, where Queen's Day was held this year, has the nation's champion volleyball team so volleyball was played as the family went through the park. You typically see people dressed in the area's traditional clothing, which doesn't all look like the pictures most of us grew up seeing, old vehicles, bikes, and other interesting items from days past. It's a good learning experience.


Then this year the terrible accident happened that ended killing seven people. There are six people of ten wounded still in the hospital, two are children and only one woman remains in serious condition. Today it was announced that Queen's Day will continue as it has for the past 30 years. I'm sure there will be more security measures in place, like for the remembrance service last night in Amsterdam, they placed police vehicles blocking all road entrances possible into the area, and extended that area. In this announcement they stressed that is is very important for the royal family to remain visible to the people and interact with the people, saying this royal family is the most visible with it's people.

Besides what the royal family does, most of the country isn't there so they have their own party. It begins with the rommelmarkt flea market. In Netherlands it is illegal for people to have garage or yard sales, and I don't think you can openly have that sort of sale inside your house either, except for one day and that is April 30th. Some places people just lay a blanket in front of their house and sell their junk, which most of it is. In larger cities it's more organized with the marking off a street for everyone to claim a spot to sell. Actually in Utrecht this event happens the night before, a night where there can be other parties, mostly for young people. There's typically Queen's Day celebrations orgainized in cities with rides for kids and big music festivals and fire works. With the tragedy this year, most of these bigger events were called off or scaled why down. (Rumor was that Rotterdam was going to do it's fireworks tonight, Liberation/ Freedom Day, but it's rainy and very windy so it may get postponed till yet another date.)


Right near us here on "Boulevard Zuid"--Beijerlandselaan that turns into Groenhilledijk--which stores line, is the designated rommelmarkt, along with a more typical type street event that happens about four times a year. They reroute the tram so it doesn't go down the street, block off the street, and vendors buy tables to sell their goods/food, as well as stores along the way had sale merchandise/things they're trying to get rid of, out on the sidewalk for sale as well. There were a couple carnival rides and pony rides for children. I made my way down there in the afternoon and got these pictures, most of which I call "What do you see in this picture you could have had?" They also do a great job of showing the ethnicity that makes up the area.















In front of McDonald's





People were making and selling food or, like this man, BBQing food for family or friends.


Pony rides on the tram tracks

These guys, with a couple gals, were seen in Rotterdam Centraal station the day before Queen's Day on their way to the night's celebration in the city.