Politics

Recently it seems I have been having a lot of political conversations with internationals. I know, I know, they say don't talk about politics or religion but trust me, it's bound to come up when you're an American living abroad. It's very interesting to be living in Europe and see/hear what the rest of the world thinks of American politics. People have very strong opinions here about it but don't really seem to know the whole story. Just like a lot of things in life, they view things through their own world lens. To most Dutch people, it seems outrageous that we don't have universal healthcare and that we have poverty in America. They can't understand the way our government operates because they don't know any different. My impression so far is that most Europeans think that republicans are from the devil, our government just needs to raise the taxes to pay for things (like healthcare), and conservative people are crazy. They don't understand how our economy works. They are used to their government taking care of them  and when I try to explain to them that that is not the foundation that America was built on and is in fact the very opposite of what America stands for, they get a blank look on their face.

I feel very fortunate to claim citizenship to a country where I have these freedoms, where I don't have to depend on the government for all my needs and where I have the ability to climb up the proverbial ladder if I so choose. It gets very frustrating to discuss American politics with others when all they hear is one side of the story and that is ususally the very liberal side. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the government is doing a great job and that nothing needs to change. But what a lot of Europeans think America needs to change, is the very thing that makes us America. They are comfortable with all the power being in the hands of the government, not the people. That is not America.

Tales from Dutch class

So, I wanted to expand a little bit more on my Dutch class. We have a very diverse class, which always makes for interesting stories. There is one other American girl, who is 20 and  here for a semester abroad. We have people from India, Indoneisa, Thailand, Nepal, Singapore, France, Nigeria, Somalia, Jordan, and Iraq. There is also one person from a country I had never heard of.  The first day of class, we went around and siad who we were, where we were from and why we were taking the class. When this classmate said where he was from, I was sure that maybe I just didnt' understand because of his accent. But then later, the teacher passed out a piece of paper with all of our nationalities on it and I still didn't recognize the country!!  Eritrea anybody?? Has anyone heard of that? Apparently it's a small country in the horn of Africa. See, I had already learned something new!! Everyone is really nice, although I have had a problem with a girl who sits a few seats away, who talks incessantly. I mean, she is talking when the teacher is talking, giving all the answers, reading outloud when someone else is reading, etc. I thought I was going to go crazy that first week. She is married to a Dutchman so she already has a good understanding of Dutch, hence her answering everything. It was really touch and go there for awhile but now that we are getting to harder things, she has quieted down considerably.
A few highlights of my class so far have included the following:

1. I made chocolate chip cookies for the entire class the other day. They were a big hit! You can't go wrong with cookies.
2. That same day, I fell out of my chair and onto the floor during class. Yes, it is true. We have rolling chairs and I was sitting on the edge of it and I leaned forward to hand someone something and it rolled back, I fell down and also knocked someone's coffee over. My shoulder is still sore. That was not a good day for me.
3. We were discussing family tree's, in an attempt to learn the Dutch names of different family members. The teacher appeared like he was done discussing the tree but had not talked about the words for step-people. So I asked him about it and was reminded that divorce is not as prevalent in other parts of the world. I don't think half the class understood what a step-sibling was and possibly thought that my mom had two husbands. 4. Sometimes the teacher will defer to me and the American girl to confirm English phrases. For example, he might be trying to compare something in Dutch with English and he'll say, "In English you would say this.." I feel not so good". Uhh...actually no, we don't say that in English. Sometimes we'll correct him, other times we just nod our head sheepishly.

Overall, it's a fun class with a good group of people. It is very frustrating at times and I'd be lying if I said tears never welled up in frustration but I do feel like I'm learning and I feel like I'm making progress! Now I just need some friends to practice with!!

Goed Morgen!!

Wow, it has been a few weeks since I posted last but life has been a whirlwind. I started my intensive Dutch language classes 2 weeks ago. This class is 5 days a week, 5 hours a day with 3 hours of homework at night. They were not lying when they said it was intense! It is very fast paced  and sometimes I feel like my head is just spinning around. I go to sleep thinking about Dutch words and I wake up thinking about them. Apparently I even sometimes talk in Dutch in my sleep. I have two and 1/2 more weeks left of class and I'm hoping I'll be speaking Dutch by then..at least enough to get around. It's difficult when you try to practice, like at the market or a store, because when someone sees that you are struggling to come up with the words, they switch to English.  At this point, it takes me a little bit to process what I want to say and then how to say as well as processing what they say back to me.  I am getting better though!

So that has been consuming our lives here the past few weeks. I employ Dan to help me study my vocab sometimes but for those who have ever heard Dan speak Dutch, I think it might be more detrimental to me than helpful:)

In other sad news, my bike has been in the shop for the last week and apparently may be there for up to 2 more weeks! We took it in to get its tune up and found out that the wheel was broken...whoops. So I will be bike-less for awhile.

OH! and we are scheduled to do our scuba diving lessons the week of August 29 here in the Netherlands. I can't wait! It just means we are one step close to our Bahama's trip in November! We should be booking our tickets back home soon!! IT will be nice to be back on American soil for a bit.

 ok well, ik moet boodschappen op de markt gaan!! Tot ziens!!!

Updates

I apologize for the lack of posts and length of time between posts lately, life has been moving at full speed. After returning from Italy, we had guests, I went to a European spa, and then started babysitting full time for these last two weeks. It's amazing how tiring working full time is when you haven't done it in a year. Which, by the way, can you believe it's been a year since I quit my job back in the States? I can't.

I'd like to take a few lines to discuss this European spa I went to with my friend Suzanne. She is a wonderful mother to two small children and deserved a break away for a night so we headed to the East of the country to relax. We had discovered prior to getting there that this was an all nude spa. Yes, NUDE. Except for Tuesdays, which was swimwear day. So, naturally, we went on Friday. :) Just kidding! It was a very cute hotel with the gigantic spa across the street. We arrived to be given robes and directions to the changing rooms. We realized that the locker rooms were co-ed and completely open to the hall. Awkward. So we went to the bathroom and changed there. When changing back to our clothes later, we just went for it because there were no guys in the locker room. Then we spent the next several hours walking around the grounds, trying out the different pools, sauna's and relaxing rooms. They literally had beds where you could just sleep(which we took advantage of). They had gigantic pools, hot and cold. Hot tubs, jacuzzi's, musical sauna's, ice sauna's and lots of lawn chairs to relax on and order food or drinks. The whole time I just kept saying, " I CANNOT believe people do all this stuff naked 6 days of the week!!" I was convinced that the next day when we checked out, we would see only a few cars in the parking lot.  Oh how wrong I was!! The next day we had to go to the spa to check out and it was packed! The parking lot was packed, there were people packing out the lobby, and it appeared even busier than the day before! They were all ages too!! It was bizarre. But a nice getaway and a relaxing time!!


Next week I start my Dutch classes. They are 5 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 5 weeks. It's complete immersion. I am nervous and excited at the same time. Hopefully by the end, I will have a good base of Dutch and be able to build from there.

And last but not least, today I went to Risjwik to get my residency permit! I have been waiting for my renewal for 3 months, mostly because I applied for a job with the American School and they need proof that I'm legal. This permit was supposed to be for the remaining 3 years that we'll be here. After walking out the wrong end of the train station and having no clue where I was, I finally made it to the Immigration building. They handed me my permit and I realized that it was only valid until May of 2012. Of course. So I had to go back out, get a new number and come back in and wait until I could speak with someone in information. Turns out, before you can have a 5 year residency permit, you have to have one for at least a year. I've only had mine for 5 months. I am so frustrated because this will probably doom my chances for getting this job. Ugh. But we'll see. we. will. see.

Visitors!

We had visitors a few weeks ago! Amy and Brennan Delaney came and stayed with us for a few days on their Tour De Europe! We trekked to the airport at 530am to pick them up and it was soo good to see familiar faces!! They were understandably tired after flying all night but we wanted to try and keep them awake as much as possible to help them adjust to the time difference. When we got back to Leiden, I made pancakes and eggs for breakfast and introduced them to pancake syrup, which is not like the syrup we have back home. It's disgusting. But Dan and Brennan liked it. ugh.

Anyways, we then headed out to the market in Leiden, to show them what it's like on a Saturday morning and to show them a little bit of our town. Naturally, it was raining so it was definitely a real inauguration to Holland. Finally when it really started downpouring, we headed back to the apartment for some R & R. They took a short nap and so did we (hey, we were up at 430 am!)  We then decided to head to Amsterdam to show them the city and all the craziness that is there.

We walked down the main street out of the train station, that is lined with pot shops and sex museums. We made our way to the Anne Frank house. It was really fascinating. It was my first time there as well. It was really amazing to go up into the annex and imagine what it was like for the Frank family and their friends. We saw the pictures on the wall that Anne had put up, pencil markings where they measured the girls' height, and even the bookcase that hid the entrance to their annex. It was a very somber experience. Unfortunately, they don't let you take pictures inside the house so I don't have any pictures. Guess you'll just have to come visit and see it for yourself!:)

Next we headed into some shops to look for souvenirs. There is a plethora of wooden shoes, delft blue items, and tulip things to choose from. We worked our way over to the Red Light District, just to walk through it. It's pretty much like you would imagine. Lots of sex shops, sex shows,and ladies in windows. I think Brennan described it best by saying it was kind of like being at the zoo. These women were standing in windows in lingerie, waving or reading, basically waiting for customers. It was an interesting experience but we were glad to have only walked one block of it before getting out of there.

We finally headed back to Leiden, where I cooked dinner and we all went to bed pretty early. The next morning we got up to go to church. I was excited about this because this was going to be their chance to ride bikes (we borrowed some from our friends who were out of town) and really experience the Dutch life. I think it was pretty intimidating at first, with the traffic and whatnot but they caught on quickly. It was fun to introduce them to our friends at church. Afterwards we went to lunch on a canal and sat out, enjoying the sun and the boats cruising by. That evening we made dinner and played Phase 10!! Yes, it transcends continents.

On Monday, Dan and I had to work (me in the morning) so Amy and Brennan bravely ventured the train system to get to Den Hague to see the International Court (which was not allowing tours at that time, boo!) They made it back safe and sound, although tired from all the walking. We met a few friends for dinner, out near the canal again and enjoyed time chatting. Afterwards, we went and got drinks on another barge, just to be able to hang out and talk a little more. We finished out the night with the completion of our Phase 10 game. The next morning I saw them off on the bus and they were off to Paris.

It was really nice having visitors. It was cool to be able to show them around our city and for them to be able to see how we live here and what life is like. I can't wait for our next visitors!! Any takers??

South African Braai

This past weekend, instead of celebrating the 4th of July, we cultured it up a little bit and had a South African Braai with our small group. Two of our friends are from Cape Town and helped us figure out how to have a braai. It's basically a bbq but with the focus being on the meat. The way to judge if you had a successful braai is if people get "meat sweats". Yep, it's disgusting. :) Also, there should be a rugby match on the tv (or in our case, the computer). We had a great time. I could not just let 4th of July go completely unnoticed so I made 4th of July cupcakes that Amy and Brennan had brought to me when they visited(that is for another post). I also brought baked beans that were also sent from the States.

We spent a little time jumping on a miniature trampoline in the backyard. That produced laughter like no other.While it was no 4th of July bbq (because there were fireworks and hotdogs missing) it was still a really fun time.

Holidays

People often ask me how I've adjusted to moving abroad or if I'm really happy here. The majority of the time I can say that I've adjusted really well and that I'm very happy here. It's exciting living in a different country, a different continent even!  I love the experiences that I am getting to have and the new friends that I have made. I love figuring out marriage with my husband and the attitude that it's us against the Netherlands we have to have to survive. But it never fails, every holiday that approaches, I get a little emotional.

I know that I am missing out on birthdays and easter basket hunts and 4th of July barbeques. This is cherished time with family and friends. Memories are made over games of washers and watching everybody take off running when your brothers light fireworks off in the wrong direction. It's wondering every year if the rain will hold off long enough for us to shoot fireworks but desperately wanting a little rain to cool off the 100 degree temps.

Holidays are times where differences are set aside and everyone gathers to be together. Holidays are times of traditions. People might say we are making our own traditions here and we are, to an extent. But what if you like some of your old traditions, like eating homemade mac and cheese and celebrating the 4th of July? Things you can't do here. Some of the new traditions we make here, we may not be able to re-create when we move back to the States. I'm a big holiday person and traditions are important to me.


This weekend we will head off to our South African Braai (kind of like a bbq) with our small group and I'll bring along some 4th of July cupcakes. Only half the people there will really appreciate them and there won't be any fireworks to shoot off or homemade mac and cheese to be eaten.

So eat a hot dog and write my name in sparkler lights for me. Celebrate your independence and cherish the time you are spending with family and friends. Miss you all and Happy 4th of July!!