One of the ladys in my group had a house-warming party on Friday night. She and her boyfriend recently bought a house in a nearby town. She also wanted to have a group party to welcome the two of us who recently arrived in the Netherlands.
Coming up to the party, we all had a very busy week. Our boss was in town from the US which meant meetings, and lunches, and dinner out. We were also interviewing several people for an open position in our group. By Friday, we were all ready for a bit of relaxing.
Dennis and I got a ride to the party with our expat neighbors, the Haywoods. The Haywoods have 3 children so just getting to the party was a bit of an adventure. All of them were vying for our attention and we were glad that it was a short drive. The three year old was all ready to party with her pink jewled tiara. At the party, there were six other children, all between 7 and 10 years old. Of course, the 3 year old was in her glory as the center of attention with all the older kids playing mommy and daddy to her.
The grown-ups sat outside on the deck overlooking the canal and had drinks and nibbles. I brought the Mounds Bar Brownies which were quite popular. I had to explain the name since they don't have Mounds Bars here. They something similar called Bounty Bars - so maybe I just need to adjust the name of my dessert for the local culture.
The canal was nice attraction for the house. The deck went right over the canal and they had a small row boat. I was surprised that there was no fence to keep people from falling into the water. The Dutch people explained that in a country with so much water, all children are taught how to swim from an early age.
While everyone at the party was able to speak English, much of the conversation was in Dutch. I know some people would think it rude of the group to speak Dutch when four of the guests do not. But it really doesn't bother me. I understand that it can be tiring to speak a foreign language and when you are relaxing at lunch or at a party, you may not want to work that hard. There are many times that someone will stop the conversation and fill me in on the topic. It's a good way for me to practice the language. I can listen and guess what they are talking about - many clues come from the body language and gestures - and then get a little confirmation at then end. I have not had the feeling they are talking about me - that seems so 7th grade!
The rest of the weekend is getting kind of boring. Dennis hurt his foot this week and can hardly walk on it. He's also getting ready to head back to the US on Monday. So, he's resting his sore foot in the hope that he'll be able to walk through the airport. We're just hanging around the house doing the laundry, cleaning, and packing.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Last week in England
I spent most of last week in England for a training program through work. I have been to London before, but I had never seen the rest of England. Judging England based on visiting London, is a bit like judging the US after seeing only New York City. For this trip, I flew into Manchester and then went by car to Port Sunlight which is near Liverpool. We also took a long drive to another production site near Coventry. This gave me a good opportunity to see the country side.
There was one big thing that struck me about England. It is very similar to the US. They have the urban sprawl, 24 hour grocery stores, fast food joints and loads of junk food. During our meetings, they brought pop and cookies along with the coffee and tea. The company cafeteria had lots of point-of-sale advertisements for candy and chips. And of course, the people in England are fat like Americans, too.
England is a 1 hour flight from Amsterdam and yet it’s a world away in terms of food and advertising. In the Netherlands, the food marketing is not as aggressive as what we see in the US or England. We’re used to seeing advertisements that play on our emotions: food is linked to pleasure, wealth, success, and health. There are lots of ways to entice you to buy larger packages (buy one, get one free, larger package is a better value, get free music downloads with each bottle of pop, etc.). As you know, when you have a larger package, you are more likely to use more of the product. That holds true whether it’s potato chips or laundry soap.
In the Netherlands, pack sizes are very small. Buy one get one free offers are limited to shoes. Most food advertising is for healthy products, like yogurt or fruit drinks. There are a few commercials for McDonalds and Burger King, but certainly not in the numbers that we’re used to seeing in the US. Another interesting note for advertising in the Netherlands, is the length of the ads. When the ads start playing on TV you have enough time to do all the dishes, or fold the whole load of laundry. That really invites you to walk away, rather than stick around and watch the ads.
In England, we went to a 24 hour grocery store called ASDA. As soon as we walked in, it reminded me of home. They sold clothes and household goods as well as groceries and had a cafeteria – just in case you work up an appetite with all that shopping. Later, I saw a truck that said, “ASDA – part of the Wal-Mart family.” That about sums it up, doesn’t it?
There was one big thing that struck me about England. It is very similar to the US. They have the urban sprawl, 24 hour grocery stores, fast food joints and loads of junk food. During our meetings, they brought pop and cookies along with the coffee and tea. The company cafeteria had lots of point-of-sale advertisements for candy and chips. And of course, the people in England are fat like Americans, too.
England is a 1 hour flight from Amsterdam and yet it’s a world away in terms of food and advertising. In the Netherlands, the food marketing is not as aggressive as what we see in the US or England. We’re used to seeing advertisements that play on our emotions: food is linked to pleasure, wealth, success, and health. There are lots of ways to entice you to buy larger packages (buy one, get one free, larger package is a better value, get free music downloads with each bottle of pop, etc.). As you know, when you have a larger package, you are more likely to use more of the product. That holds true whether it’s potato chips or laundry soap.
In the Netherlands, pack sizes are very small. Buy one get one free offers are limited to shoes. Most food advertising is for healthy products, like yogurt or fruit drinks. There are a few commercials for McDonalds and Burger King, but certainly not in the numbers that we’re used to seeing in the US. Another interesting note for advertising in the Netherlands, is the length of the ads. When the ads start playing on TV you have enough time to do all the dishes, or fold the whole load of laundry. That really invites you to walk away, rather than stick around and watch the ads.
In England, we went to a 24 hour grocery store called ASDA. As soon as we walked in, it reminded me of home. They sold clothes and household goods as well as groceries and had a cafeteria – just in case you work up an appetite with all that shopping. Later, I saw a truck that said, “ASDA – part of the Wal-Mart family.” That about sums it up, doesn’t it?
Monday, June 16, 2008
Food in the Netherlands
One of the blog readers asked for more information on weight and eating issues. Since this is a huge topic, I’ll only bore you in small bits.
True life conversation: I am telling a guy from work, “I ride my bike to work. I only live 3 kilometers from the office, so it’s very convenient.” He replies, “3 kilometers isn’t enough exercise for you.” Hmm, what DO you say to that?
At work we received some samples of food from the UK. One lady pulled out the package of Lunchables and declared it child abuse. We also received samples of snack chips from around Europe and the US. The group here was astonished that the bags from the US were so big – huge by local comparison. The price marked on the bag was $4.89 and this was also astonishing. Another shipment brought Twinkies, Rice Krispie Treats, and beef jerky.
The people at work now think that Americans (and British people) only eat large quantities of snack foods and serve their kids Lunchables. The Dutch people are very smug about their weight and healthy eating habits.
But they have junk food here in the Netherlands, too. There are stroopwafels, pannekoeken, apple pies, cheese, chocolate, and a bakery on every corner. They drink loads of milk and eat lots of bread. So, why does the US have an obesity problem and the Netherlands doesn’t? Obviously, it’s far more complicated than Lunchables and big bags of chips.
I’ll spare you the history lesson, but try to remember where our Puritan forefathers came from. You got it, a whole lot of them were Dutch. The Calvinists were the ones who thought that pleasure was the Devil’s work, so they worked hard to make life as uncomfortable as possible. While most modern Dutch people are not very religious, I think this Calivinst attitude kind of stuck.
Food is very much a utilitarian thing. It doesn’t have all the emotional power that we attach to it. Food doesn’t entertain you, or make you happy, or give you extra energy for the day. People don’t expect donuts for a morning meeting or cookies in an afternoon meeting. Fruit is sometimes served with the coffee and tea but most people just take one for later.
Another time, I’ll tell you about the restaurants and grocery stores.
True life conversation: I am telling a guy from work, “I ride my bike to work. I only live 3 kilometers from the office, so it’s very convenient.” He replies, “3 kilometers isn’t enough exercise for you.” Hmm, what DO you say to that?
At work we received some samples of food from the UK. One lady pulled out the package of Lunchables and declared it child abuse. We also received samples of snack chips from around Europe and the US. The group here was astonished that the bags from the US were so big – huge by local comparison. The price marked on the bag was $4.89 and this was also astonishing. Another shipment brought Twinkies, Rice Krispie Treats, and beef jerky.
The people at work now think that Americans (and British people) only eat large quantities of snack foods and serve their kids Lunchables. The Dutch people are very smug about their weight and healthy eating habits.
But they have junk food here in the Netherlands, too. There are stroopwafels, pannekoeken, apple pies, cheese, chocolate, and a bakery on every corner. They drink loads of milk and eat lots of bread. So, why does the US have an obesity problem and the Netherlands doesn’t? Obviously, it’s far more complicated than Lunchables and big bags of chips.
I’ll spare you the history lesson, but try to remember where our Puritan forefathers came from. You got it, a whole lot of them were Dutch. The Calvinists were the ones who thought that pleasure was the Devil’s work, so they worked hard to make life as uncomfortable as possible. While most modern Dutch people are not very religious, I think this Calivinst attitude kind of stuck.
Food is very much a utilitarian thing. It doesn’t have all the emotional power that we attach to it. Food doesn’t entertain you, or make you happy, or give you extra energy for the day. People don’t expect donuts for a morning meeting or cookies in an afternoon meeting. Fruit is sometimes served with the coffee and tea but most people just take one for later.
Another time, I’ll tell you about the restaurants and grocery stores.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Epic Bike Ride
Saturday morning and the weather forecast called for 70 degrees. We decided we didn’t have too many errands to run, so we’d go for a bike ride. Besides riding to and from work, I’ve been out on the road bike only about once a week and only for 20 miles or so. Our rides have been pretty slow because there are so many little towns around here. The bike route system is fantastic until you get into a town and the signs disappear. We end up doing lots of map checks to get back on track. But Dennis had found an area where there are not very many towns and there are some nice long stretches to build up our speed.
Our route took us out of our town, past my workplace, and through the neighboring town of Huizen. Huizen is along the lakeshore and we rode along the beaches, beachfront homes, and restaurants. Most of the in-town routes are brick roads with speed bumps and it’s hard to get going very fast. But soon, we left Huizen via the crushed limestone path along the lake. This section is short and worth taking to avoid more of the city streets. It’s a pretty direct way to the bridge across the lake.
The bridge offers one of the few “hills” in the area. Otherwise, the landscape is seriously flat. It makes Chicago appear mountainous by comparison. On the other side of the bridge is the newly created Flevoland. This is land reclaimed from the lake. I’m older than this land which was dried out in the 70’s. The few towns in Flevoland are also very new. For young families, it offers new, large homes for lower prices than the older more established cities. It’s a bit like Plainfield and Romeoville that way.
As we crossed the bridge, we followed one of the bike routes into a forest preserve (yeah, that’s funny because the trees were planted and they are only about 30 years old). The path was nicely paved, but wove around the woods with lots of twists and turns. There was some sort of organized roller blade event going on, so we also had to dodge roller bladers.
Finally, we got out of the forest and got on a small road that ran parallel to a canal. This is what we were looking for – a long stretch of smooth pavement with few cars. There were plenty of other riders, too. By this point in the day, the sun had come out and the wind was almost non-existent, but the temperature was only around 70. Dennis and I hammered a bit out here, but as my speedometer said we were already 20 miles from home, I was concerned about having enough energy to make it back. Even so, it was really fun to get in the aerobars and really cruise! When we got to the group of huge windmills, we stopped for a snack. Stroopwaffels make very good biking treats. These are thin wafer cookies stuck together with caramelized sugar syrup. They are tasty and they travel well. We took some time to read the signs about the windmills and the land reclamation. These windmills are huge modern things, not the old-fashioned historic ones. Unfortunately, the signs were all in Dutch and our language skills are not good enough for full appreciation of the subject.
Rested and fueled by stroopwafels, we continued on our way. Dennis led us around one of the few towns and onward back toward the lakeshore. We took a slight detour where the bike route was closed for constructions, but the detour took us on another really nice road. I was really having fun with the roads and the great weather, but was still wondering how much further we had to go. A check of the map indicated that all we needed to do was go along the lakeshore back to the bridge we came over on. Conveniently, there is a bike path all the way.
We started along the bike path and we were making good time, when the pavement ended and it became a crushed limestone trail. We normally don’t like such trails when we’re on the road bikes because the skinny tires don’t have much traction and the bikes just weren’t designed for this kind of surface. But, it seemed like it was in good condition and we figured the pavement would start up again soon. As we continued, the path became quite narrow – single track actually. Because we were near the shore, there were lots of hikers and people out sunbathing. One guy, about 60 years old, was crossing the path dressed in a Speedo and knee-high socks, no shoes. He was quite pale and plump and that’s an image you just don’t want seared on your retinas. Yikes!
As the path degraded, there were more and more patches of deep sand. If you hit those on road bike, the tires get mired down and your body lurches forward in a classis example of the laws of physics. We were almost 40 miles into the ride and my shoulders were aching, my butt was getting sore, and my legs were tired. When is this going to end?
About this time, we hit the bugs. Swarms and swarms of gnats seemed to never end. We had to slow down to keep from breathing too hard. If you open your mouth, you’d have gnats on your tonsils. Even breathing through my nose, I’m sure I inhaled several little guys. We both ride with sunglasses, but the bugs were still getting in our eyes. But you can’t take your eyes off the trail, or you’ll hit one of those treacherous sandy patches. OK, I’m not having fun anymore! Are we there yet?
Finally, we emerged from the nature area and onto a paved path. The little headwind we encountered here was a welcome relief from the bugs. I had Dennis help me fish a bug out of my eye. Once I could see again, I noticed that he was literally coated in bugs! His arms and legs were black as the gnats got trapped in his body hair. Boy I’m glad I shaved my legs!
About this point, I spotted an ice cream truck parked along the beach where a bunch of people were fishing. I told Dennis I wanted to stop for ice cream. “Do you have any money?” he asked. “Of course, I always have 20 bucks in case of emergencies. This was definitely an emergency! So we each had an ice cream bar as we watched the sailboats on the lake.
With a fresh burst of energy, we were off again. I was quite relieved when we were able to see our bridge in the distance. By this time, we had more than 45 miles on the speedometer and quite a few miles still to go. This was getting hard. We stopped a couple more times just to stretch and shake loose. We finally got home after 4 hours and 53 miles.
I’m hoping we can check the maps and GPS and figure out a way to find the sweet roads without having to take the single track. I’d also like to find a route that’s a bit shorter!
Our route took us out of our town, past my workplace, and through the neighboring town of Huizen. Huizen is along the lakeshore and we rode along the beaches, beachfront homes, and restaurants. Most of the in-town routes are brick roads with speed bumps and it’s hard to get going very fast. But soon, we left Huizen via the crushed limestone path along the lake. This section is short and worth taking to avoid more of the city streets. It’s a pretty direct way to the bridge across the lake.
The bridge offers one of the few “hills” in the area. Otherwise, the landscape is seriously flat. It makes Chicago appear mountainous by comparison. On the other side of the bridge is the newly created Flevoland. This is land reclaimed from the lake. I’m older than this land which was dried out in the 70’s. The few towns in Flevoland are also very new. For young families, it offers new, large homes for lower prices than the older more established cities. It’s a bit like Plainfield and Romeoville that way.
As we crossed the bridge, we followed one of the bike routes into a forest preserve (yeah, that’s funny because the trees were planted and they are only about 30 years old). The path was nicely paved, but wove around the woods with lots of twists and turns. There was some sort of organized roller blade event going on, so we also had to dodge roller bladers.
Finally, we got out of the forest and got on a small road that ran parallel to a canal. This is what we were looking for – a long stretch of smooth pavement with few cars. There were plenty of other riders, too. By this point in the day, the sun had come out and the wind was almost non-existent, but the temperature was only around 70. Dennis and I hammered a bit out here, but as my speedometer said we were already 20 miles from home, I was concerned about having enough energy to make it back. Even so, it was really fun to get in the aerobars and really cruise! When we got to the group of huge windmills, we stopped for a snack. Stroopwaffels make very good biking treats. These are thin wafer cookies stuck together with caramelized sugar syrup. They are tasty and they travel well. We took some time to read the signs about the windmills and the land reclamation. These windmills are huge modern things, not the old-fashioned historic ones. Unfortunately, the signs were all in Dutch and our language skills are not good enough for full appreciation of the subject.
Rested and fueled by stroopwafels, we continued on our way. Dennis led us around one of the few towns and onward back toward the lakeshore. We took a slight detour where the bike route was closed for constructions, but the detour took us on another really nice road. I was really having fun with the roads and the great weather, but was still wondering how much further we had to go. A check of the map indicated that all we needed to do was go along the lakeshore back to the bridge we came over on. Conveniently, there is a bike path all the way.
We started along the bike path and we were making good time, when the pavement ended and it became a crushed limestone trail. We normally don’t like such trails when we’re on the road bikes because the skinny tires don’t have much traction and the bikes just weren’t designed for this kind of surface. But, it seemed like it was in good condition and we figured the pavement would start up again soon. As we continued, the path became quite narrow – single track actually. Because we were near the shore, there were lots of hikers and people out sunbathing. One guy, about 60 years old, was crossing the path dressed in a Speedo and knee-high socks, no shoes. He was quite pale and plump and that’s an image you just don’t want seared on your retinas. Yikes!
As the path degraded, there were more and more patches of deep sand. If you hit those on road bike, the tires get mired down and your body lurches forward in a classis example of the laws of physics. We were almost 40 miles into the ride and my shoulders were aching, my butt was getting sore, and my legs were tired. When is this going to end?
About this time, we hit the bugs. Swarms and swarms of gnats seemed to never end. We had to slow down to keep from breathing too hard. If you open your mouth, you’d have gnats on your tonsils. Even breathing through my nose, I’m sure I inhaled several little guys. We both ride with sunglasses, but the bugs were still getting in our eyes. But you can’t take your eyes off the trail, or you’ll hit one of those treacherous sandy patches. OK, I’m not having fun anymore! Are we there yet?
Finally, we emerged from the nature area and onto a paved path. The little headwind we encountered here was a welcome relief from the bugs. I had Dennis help me fish a bug out of my eye. Once I could see again, I noticed that he was literally coated in bugs! His arms and legs were black as the gnats got trapped in his body hair. Boy I’m glad I shaved my legs!
About this point, I spotted an ice cream truck parked along the beach where a bunch of people were fishing. I told Dennis I wanted to stop for ice cream. “Do you have any money?” he asked. “Of course, I always have 20 bucks in case of emergencies. This was definitely an emergency! So we each had an ice cream bar as we watched the sailboats on the lake.
With a fresh burst of energy, we were off again. I was quite relieved when we were able to see our bridge in the distance. By this time, we had more than 45 miles on the speedometer and quite a few miles still to go. This was getting hard. We stopped a couple more times just to stretch and shake loose. We finally got home after 4 hours and 53 miles.
I’m hoping we can check the maps and GPS and figure out a way to find the sweet roads without having to take the single track. I’d also like to find a route that’s a bit shorter!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Got Milk?
I haven’t forgotten about my blog, I just haven’t had much that interesting to say. After months of living in a hotel and being away from my husband, my cat, and my belongings, I am in fact just enjoying “playing house.” Shopping, cooking, and cleaning don’t make for interesting blog posts, though.
My biggest excitement yesterday was not buying the car from my friend, but getting the vacuum cleaner and microwave oven. I will probably be using these appliances more often than the car anyway. I did drive to work this morning because it was raining. I can hardly believe that for the 2 weeks I didn’t have a car, I did not get rained on once! It rained plenty, but not when I was biking to and from work. How lucky is that?
At any rate, I have another Dutch observation for you. This time, it’s about milk. The Dutch people drink tons of milk. I’m not sure if I believe that drinking milk makes you grow taller, but there seems to be a positive correlation here in the Netherlands. In the US, I’m considered a bit short. Here, I’m freakishly short – bordering on midget. As an example, the built-in microwave oven in my kitchen is at the height of my nose making it impossible to see the food. My husband on the other hand, who is considered quite tall in the US, is just plain normal here.
At this point I must let everyone know that my Mom tried very hard to get us kids to drink our milk. She dutifully served us milk with every meal and despite our constant complaining, never gave up the fight. Of course, since my Mom is shorter than me, all the milk in the world wouldn’t have made me tall.
I still don’t like milk very much. It’s OK on cereal and for cooking, but I cannot bring myself to drink a glass of milk. Yuck! Like most Americans, I drink pop with my lunch and water at dinner. Despite the high cost of Diet Coke, I allow myself the luxury every day at lunch. I’m definitely in the minority on this one.
A couple weeks ago, I attended a training program at work that included lunch. I was shocked to see that milk was the only beverage supplied at lunch, no iced tea, no pop, no bottled water. And no complaints about it either! In the US, there would have been a mutiny!
Most people drink half-fat milk which is about 1.5% fat. Buttermilk is also a popular option. You can get skim milk, but it’s hard to find. At the grocery store, we can only get skim milk in 1 liter containers, which is about 1 quart. Yogurt and yogurt smoothie drinks are common also. Some of them are quite good – but I’m still attached to my Diet Coke!
My biggest excitement yesterday was not buying the car from my friend, but getting the vacuum cleaner and microwave oven. I will probably be using these appliances more often than the car anyway. I did drive to work this morning because it was raining. I can hardly believe that for the 2 weeks I didn’t have a car, I did not get rained on once! It rained plenty, but not when I was biking to and from work. How lucky is that?
At any rate, I have another Dutch observation for you. This time, it’s about milk. The Dutch people drink tons of milk. I’m not sure if I believe that drinking milk makes you grow taller, but there seems to be a positive correlation here in the Netherlands. In the US, I’m considered a bit short. Here, I’m freakishly short – bordering on midget. As an example, the built-in microwave oven in my kitchen is at the height of my nose making it impossible to see the food. My husband on the other hand, who is considered quite tall in the US, is just plain normal here.
At this point I must let everyone know that my Mom tried very hard to get us kids to drink our milk. She dutifully served us milk with every meal and despite our constant complaining, never gave up the fight. Of course, since my Mom is shorter than me, all the milk in the world wouldn’t have made me tall.
I still don’t like milk very much. It’s OK on cereal and for cooking, but I cannot bring myself to drink a glass of milk. Yuck! Like most Americans, I drink pop with my lunch and water at dinner. Despite the high cost of Diet Coke, I allow myself the luxury every day at lunch. I’m definitely in the minority on this one.
A couple weeks ago, I attended a training program at work that included lunch. I was shocked to see that milk was the only beverage supplied at lunch, no iced tea, no pop, no bottled water. And no complaints about it either! In the US, there would have been a mutiny!
Most people drink half-fat milk which is about 1.5% fat. Buttermilk is also a popular option. You can get skim milk, but it’s hard to find. At the grocery store, we can only get skim milk in 1 liter containers, which is about 1 quart. Yogurt and yogurt smoothie drinks are common also. Some of them are quite good – but I’m still attached to my Diet Coke!
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