On Thursday, I celebrated my 40th birthday. Birthdays are a big deal in NL, so when I got to work I found my office had been decorated for the occasion. Everyone who walked by noticed the flags and streamers and wished me a happy birthday and gave me the standard three kiss greeting. I brought home-made American cookies and brownies to share at tea time. These were very popular.
For dinner that evening, Dennis and I went to the restaurant just down the street from the house. They serve typical Dutch food, but it’s usually pretty good stuff. For dessert, we got the Crepes Suzette with a huge sparkler on top instead of candles. I was one of three people in the restaurant that evening getting fireworks on my dessert. The 5th must be a popular birthday!
The fireworks reminded me I spent my last birthday here in the Netherlands also. I was here for business meetings and then Dennis joined me for house hunting. I remember that I was completely jet-lagged and was struggling to stay awake during dinner with the group. I had never seen a sparkler as big as the one they put on my dessert. I can hardly believe that it was a year ago!
My cat gave me a lovely birthday present by pooping on the dining room floor. I think he’s still mad because we left him for a week. We hired the neighbor girl to feed him and I’m sure she spent some time petting him, but he was still angry. At least we didn’t have to send him to the kennel again after he got so sick there the last time! The cat continued his naughtiness last night by breaking into his food container. I really don’t know how much food he got, but he wasn’t hungry for breakfast this morning. And naturally, he just puked because he must have known I was writing about him. What a brat!
For this weekend, the weather forecast was for a sunny Sunday. Dennis and I decided to drive over to another town and walk along the lake shore. We wanted to start exploring a bit more by car and also get out for a hike. The sun was out early this morning, but just as we were leaving, it started to rain. We decided the weather would change four times before we got to our destination anyway, so we left. Driving was a pleasure with very few cars on the road. We went across the lake to the recently created Flevoland. Flevoland was reclaimed from the lake about 50 years ago. We had biked there before, but always avoided the cities. Today, we drove through the cities. The architecture was very modern – as you would expect from a city so young. There was a building that looked like a spaceship, and another that looked like it was tipped sideways. Crazy!
We finally made it to our start point for the hike and the sun was shining again. It was cold, but it IS February after all. We walked for about 20 minutes when it started raining. Another 10 minutes and the rain turned to snow. We turned around, deciding that it was a bit too miserable for hiking. We stopped for tea at a coffee shop along the beach and we laughed as the snow fell harder and harder. Once we were warm and dry again, we headed back to the car. The snow was almost done by then, but it was colder. Yuck! We’ll have to try another hike next week and hope for better weather!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Skiing in the Alps
Ski runs in the Alps.
One of the huge, bus-style gondolas.
Fancy-dress (this is really a guy).
Me with my new ski buddies.
Dennis and I had a lovely ski holiday in France. The ski resort, Le Trois Vallee, is the largest interconnected ski area in the world. We flew into Geneva Switzerland and the ski chalet staff picked us up in a mini-bus. We drove for a few hours to the chalet in the little town of La Tania. Once there, we started meeting the other people in the group and learning how the ski chalet works.
The chalet is like a big house with a dining room and family room with TVs. The bedrooms are very small, but have private bathrooms. Breakfast, afternoon tea, and dinner are served in the dining room. Lunch was the only meal we had to buy. The chalet holds 28 guests and there were about 5 staff members to take care of us. The staff took care of everything for us. They got our lift passes, reserved rental skis, and even took us on guided ski tours.
The group that we were with is a ski club from England. We got together with them through my co-worker, whose father organizes the trip. So, we didn’t know any of these people when we got there, but they knew each other. The ages ranged from 8 to 80, but Dennis and I were on the younger side of the average. It was a very friendly group and we felt included from the start.
On the day we arrived, it was snowing and it snowed the whole first night. In the morning, the sun was shining and we went out with the ski-guide to explore the mountain. There were only about 6 of us with the ski guide that day, including Heather, the octogenarian. Let me tell you, Heather is a darn good skier! I skied with her quite a bit through the week and she always had to wait for me at the bottom! Having a ski guide is a fantastic way to ski. He showed us the best ski runs, shortest lift lines, and the cheapest lunch options. Best of all, we didn’t waste any time looking at the ski map.
The fresh snow was brilliant, but with snow comes clouds. On the third day of skiing, the clouds were so thick that we could not even see the runs. They had poles marking the pistes (runs) set about 20 feet apart. At some points, we were only able to ski from one pole to the next. We tried to go up higher on the mountain to get above the clouds – no luck. We tried to go lower to get below the clouds – no luck. But, we still had fun and we only got lost once when we missed the turn-off to our chalet and had to ride up the list again to make it home.
The fourth day was completely clear and sunny. We decided to try to ski to the far side of the resort. The resort, despite the name, actually contains four valleys. When going this far, you have to remember to leave enough time to get back before the lifts close. We got out to the third valley by 2:00. We had a quick snack and headed back to the chalet. We really had to hurry to make it and I was really getting tired. To get where we wanted to go, we had to ski down into the valleys to catch the lift up to the next peak. As we got lower, the pistes became more crowded and more icy. One run was just a big ice slick that we slid down sideways. I was terrified! I was tired! And I was worried that I was going so slow we’d miss the last lift! But the group stayed supportive and encouraged me to hang in there. We finally made it up the last lift with a few minutes to spare. I started to ski towards the chalet and through my haze of exhaustion I noticed that we were headed right for the top of the gondola that we started from every morning. A quick check of my watch indicated that if I hurried, I could ride the gondola back down before it closed at 4:30. I was super-relieved to have an easy way down. My sister actually taught me this trick when we skied in Utah. The bottom of the mountain is usually icy and crowded as everyone is heading back down for the afternoon. When you are tired at the end of the day, it can be dangerous to ski in those conditions. Riding the gondola down is the safest option.
Dennis managed to find some people who wanted to ski hard stuff and I managed to find a group that I really enjoyed skiing with. We had tons of fun skiing. In the evenings, the group hung around the chalet talking and playing cards and stuff. One night, we did a quiz game in teams of 6. Dennis and I were recruited onto different teams. With most of the questions being British oriented, we were not very helpful. But there were a couple questions where Dennis and I were the only ones who knew the answer. See how you do:
What is the state animal of Wisconsin?
What sport is featured in the movie American Flyers?
What city is the headquarters of the Morman Church located in?
My team won the game and Dennis’ team was second place.
On the last night, the group did a “fancy dress” dinner. When we were first told about fancy dress, I was panicking because I didn’t want to pack formal clothes with all of our ski gear. A few days before we left, the guy who organizes the tour called to discuss the last minute details. He gave some examples of fancy dress: he had worn a kilt, one couple dressed as sumo wrestlers, men dressing as women etc. Dennis immediately decided that we should wear Hawaiian shirts and be American tourists. It ended up being a hilarious evening. The staff even dressed up and joined in the fun. The British are completely mad!
Now, we are back at home all safe and sound from our trip. We had so much fun that I’m afraid no other ski trip will ever be as good!
The chalet is like a big house with a dining room and family room with TVs. The bedrooms are very small, but have private bathrooms. Breakfast, afternoon tea, and dinner are served in the dining room. Lunch was the only meal we had to buy. The chalet holds 28 guests and there were about 5 staff members to take care of us. The staff took care of everything for us. They got our lift passes, reserved rental skis, and even took us on guided ski tours.
The group that we were with is a ski club from England. We got together with them through my co-worker, whose father organizes the trip. So, we didn’t know any of these people when we got there, but they knew each other. The ages ranged from 8 to 80, but Dennis and I were on the younger side of the average. It was a very friendly group and we felt included from the start.
On the day we arrived, it was snowing and it snowed the whole first night. In the morning, the sun was shining and we went out with the ski-guide to explore the mountain. There were only about 6 of us with the ski guide that day, including Heather, the octogenarian. Let me tell you, Heather is a darn good skier! I skied with her quite a bit through the week and she always had to wait for me at the bottom! Having a ski guide is a fantastic way to ski. He showed us the best ski runs, shortest lift lines, and the cheapest lunch options. Best of all, we didn’t waste any time looking at the ski map.
The fresh snow was brilliant, but with snow comes clouds. On the third day of skiing, the clouds were so thick that we could not even see the runs. They had poles marking the pistes (runs) set about 20 feet apart. At some points, we were only able to ski from one pole to the next. We tried to go up higher on the mountain to get above the clouds – no luck. We tried to go lower to get below the clouds – no luck. But, we still had fun and we only got lost once when we missed the turn-off to our chalet and had to ride up the list again to make it home.
The fourth day was completely clear and sunny. We decided to try to ski to the far side of the resort. The resort, despite the name, actually contains four valleys. When going this far, you have to remember to leave enough time to get back before the lifts close. We got out to the third valley by 2:00. We had a quick snack and headed back to the chalet. We really had to hurry to make it and I was really getting tired. To get where we wanted to go, we had to ski down into the valleys to catch the lift up to the next peak. As we got lower, the pistes became more crowded and more icy. One run was just a big ice slick that we slid down sideways. I was terrified! I was tired! And I was worried that I was going so slow we’d miss the last lift! But the group stayed supportive and encouraged me to hang in there. We finally made it up the last lift with a few minutes to spare. I started to ski towards the chalet and through my haze of exhaustion I noticed that we were headed right for the top of the gondola that we started from every morning. A quick check of my watch indicated that if I hurried, I could ride the gondola back down before it closed at 4:30. I was super-relieved to have an easy way down. My sister actually taught me this trick when we skied in Utah. The bottom of the mountain is usually icy and crowded as everyone is heading back down for the afternoon. When you are tired at the end of the day, it can be dangerous to ski in those conditions. Riding the gondola down is the safest option.
Dennis managed to find some people who wanted to ski hard stuff and I managed to find a group that I really enjoyed skiing with. We had tons of fun skiing. In the evenings, the group hung around the chalet talking and playing cards and stuff. One night, we did a quiz game in teams of 6. Dennis and I were recruited onto different teams. With most of the questions being British oriented, we were not very helpful. But there were a couple questions where Dennis and I were the only ones who knew the answer. See how you do:
What is the state animal of Wisconsin?
What sport is featured in the movie American Flyers?
What city is the headquarters of the Morman Church located in?
My team won the game and Dennis’ team was second place.
On the last night, the group did a “fancy dress” dinner. When we were first told about fancy dress, I was panicking because I didn’t want to pack formal clothes with all of our ski gear. A few days before we left, the guy who organizes the tour called to discuss the last minute details. He gave some examples of fancy dress: he had worn a kilt, one couple dressed as sumo wrestlers, men dressing as women etc. Dennis immediately decided that we should wear Hawaiian shirts and be American tourists. It ended up being a hilarious evening. The staff even dressed up and joined in the fun. The British are completely mad!
Now, we are back at home all safe and sound from our trip. We had so much fun that I’m afraid no other ski trip will ever be as good!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
The next big trip - skiing in the Alps
Now that the ice skating craze is over and global warming is back in effect, it’s time to turn our attention to more important things, like vacation! Dennis and I are finalizing our plans for our ski trip in the French Alps. We are leaving next weekend and we’ll be gone for a whole week.
Dennis and I had been looking at various ski places around Europe, but we really had no idea which place would be good. We were asking around for advice and found out that Switzerland is good for hard, technical skiing, Austria is good for after ski partying, and France is good for intermediate skiing with a relaxed family-oriented atmosphere. Not being party animals, we decided that France would be fun. One of my coworkers told me that his dad runs a ski trip and he put us in contact.
The club ski trip is in Le Trois Vallee, which is the largest group of interconnected ski resorts in Europe. We will be staying in a chalet that serves dinner every night prepared by a French Chef. Of course, French wine is also served. Hopefully, it will be as good in real life as it sounds on paper (well, not really paper…).
I bought the airline tickets directly on the KLM website. KLM, like their US partners, has instituted a strict luggage policy. At least the first piece of luggage is free, though. But I had to call to get approval to take the skis. The guy told me that the skis could count as my free luggage as long as I don’t have any other luggage. Is this guy for real? How can anyone go skiing with only skis and no other luggage? To get approval for the skis, he needed to know the exact dimensions and weight of the ski bag. In the end it took three phone calls to the airline to get it straight. The skis are nearly as inconvenient as taking the cat on the plane!
Speaking of the cat, we have asked the neighbor girl to watch Nova while we are gone. When we picked up the cat from the kennel after out trip to Spain, he was very sick. Have you ever seen a cat with a head-cold? He looked miserable and could not even breathe through is nose. He had to breathe through his mouth with his tongue hanging out! Anyway, it will be nice for the cat to be safe at home and the neighbor girl was pretty excited to earn some extra money. It turns out that she’s an experienced cat-sitter, too. She and her Mom will come over this weekend to see where we keep the cat food and stuff. My next chore (yes, writing the blog is actually procrastination for other chores) is to write the care instructions for the cat in English and in Dutch. The girl does not speak English although her Mom does and could translate. But writing the directions in Dutch will be good practice for me. I’ll get one of my coworkers to correct all my mistakes!
I learned a bit more Dutch this week at work. We were talking about hair styles. One lady was talking about her “pony” but she was pointing to her bangs. I said that in the US, a “pony” would be a ponytail and I pulled my hair back to show her. She said, yes that’s a ponytail, but ponies also have hair on their forehead, as in a forelock. In England, they call bangs a fringe. I think the word fringe is much more descriptive than bangs or pony. Does anyone know why Americans use the word bangs?
Dennis and I had been looking at various ski places around Europe, but we really had no idea which place would be good. We were asking around for advice and found out that Switzerland is good for hard, technical skiing, Austria is good for after ski partying, and France is good for intermediate skiing with a relaxed family-oriented atmosphere. Not being party animals, we decided that France would be fun. One of my coworkers told me that his dad runs a ski trip and he put us in contact.
The club ski trip is in Le Trois Vallee, which is the largest group of interconnected ski resorts in Europe. We will be staying in a chalet that serves dinner every night prepared by a French Chef. Of course, French wine is also served. Hopefully, it will be as good in real life as it sounds on paper (well, not really paper…).
I bought the airline tickets directly on the KLM website. KLM, like their US partners, has instituted a strict luggage policy. At least the first piece of luggage is free, though. But I had to call to get approval to take the skis. The guy told me that the skis could count as my free luggage as long as I don’t have any other luggage. Is this guy for real? How can anyone go skiing with only skis and no other luggage? To get approval for the skis, he needed to know the exact dimensions and weight of the ski bag. In the end it took three phone calls to the airline to get it straight. The skis are nearly as inconvenient as taking the cat on the plane!
Speaking of the cat, we have asked the neighbor girl to watch Nova while we are gone. When we picked up the cat from the kennel after out trip to Spain, he was very sick. Have you ever seen a cat with a head-cold? He looked miserable and could not even breathe through is nose. He had to breathe through his mouth with his tongue hanging out! Anyway, it will be nice for the cat to be safe at home and the neighbor girl was pretty excited to earn some extra money. It turns out that she’s an experienced cat-sitter, too. She and her Mom will come over this weekend to see where we keep the cat food and stuff. My next chore (yes, writing the blog is actually procrastination for other chores) is to write the care instructions for the cat in English and in Dutch. The girl does not speak English although her Mom does and could translate. But writing the directions in Dutch will be good practice for me. I’ll get one of my coworkers to correct all my mistakes!
I learned a bit more Dutch this week at work. We were talking about hair styles. One lady was talking about her “pony” but she was pointing to her bangs. I said that in the US, a “pony” would be a ponytail and I pulled my hair back to show her. She said, yes that’s a ponytail, but ponies also have hair on their forehead, as in a forelock. In England, they call bangs a fringe. I think the word fringe is much more descriptive than bangs or pony. Does anyone know why Americans use the word bangs?
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Happy New Year!
After getting back home only one day behind schedule, I was happy that I had the whole week off anyway. I spent some of my free time working on the last of my Christmas cards. Of course, they are now New Year's cards and since I haven't gotten them mailed yet, they are in danger of becoming Valentine's Day cards!
New Year is a pretty big deal around the Netherlands. All the bike stores improve their winter sales figures by selling fire works. The liquor stores also do a big business. Being boring, Dennis and I stayed home and planned to be fast asleep by midnight. People were setting off fireworks all evening, but we finally drifted off to sleep around eleven. At midnight, we were startled awake by the noise of a million fireworks. We opened the curtains to watch. It sounded like a war-zone! Everyone was out in the streets with everything from firecrackers to Roman candles to professional style rockets. All the way around the house, we could see the fireworks. It went on for more than an hour.
We were surprised that the normally very reserved and conservative Dutch people would spend so much money on fireworks! In the morning, the streets were covered in red papers and other debris from the fireworks. I wondered how many people were missing fingers - but we still don't catch all the news around here!
Dennis had Thursday and Friday off work and it was nice to spend a few days just relaxing. We went to Ikea and bought some stuff for the house. We also got out for some long walks around the neighborhood. It was pretty cold, but the sun was out which is a special occasion around here. On Saturday, it was cold enough that people were out ice skating on some of the canals. It's been at least five years since the canals have frozen around here, so this was a very special occasion! The deeper waterways were still not frozen and a rain shower on Sunday morning caused a lot more thawing. But it's been cold enough since then to get everything good and frozen. People left work early today to go skating in the daylight and I expect a lot of people will take off on Friday to skate. It might be the last chance for another five years!
Dennis and I probably will not take part in the skating. While the idea of skating around the lakes is more appealing than going in a circle around an ice rink, I'm not sure its very safe. Remember, the Dutch think it's prefectly safe to ride a bike with a kid in the child seat while talking on the cell phone with no helmets on. I had one memorable skating incident in college that left me with a broken elbow, so it's not just thin ice that worries me!
New Year is a pretty big deal around the Netherlands. All the bike stores improve their winter sales figures by selling fire works. The liquor stores also do a big business. Being boring, Dennis and I stayed home and planned to be fast asleep by midnight. People were setting off fireworks all evening, but we finally drifted off to sleep around eleven. At midnight, we were startled awake by the noise of a million fireworks. We opened the curtains to watch. It sounded like a war-zone! Everyone was out in the streets with everything from firecrackers to Roman candles to professional style rockets. All the way around the house, we could see the fireworks. It went on for more than an hour.
We were surprised that the normally very reserved and conservative Dutch people would spend so much money on fireworks! In the morning, the streets were covered in red papers and other debris from the fireworks. I wondered how many people were missing fingers - but we still don't catch all the news around here!
Dennis had Thursday and Friday off work and it was nice to spend a few days just relaxing. We went to Ikea and bought some stuff for the house. We also got out for some long walks around the neighborhood. It was pretty cold, but the sun was out which is a special occasion around here. On Saturday, it was cold enough that people were out ice skating on some of the canals. It's been at least five years since the canals have frozen around here, so this was a very special occasion! The deeper waterways were still not frozen and a rain shower on Sunday morning caused a lot more thawing. But it's been cold enough since then to get everything good and frozen. People left work early today to go skating in the daylight and I expect a lot of people will take off on Friday to skate. It might be the last chance for another five years!
Dennis and I probably will not take part in the skating. While the idea of skating around the lakes is more appealing than going in a circle around an ice rink, I'm not sure its very safe. Remember, the Dutch think it's prefectly safe to ride a bike with a kid in the child seat while talking on the cell phone with no helmets on. I had one memorable skating incident in college that left me with a broken elbow, so it's not just thin ice that worries me!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Flying at Christmas
“Attention in the waiting area. Please note that flight 666 will be departing out of gate B3, not A21 as listed on the airport monitors. The airport is in charge of the monitors and they are not updating the information properly. Also, the flight is delayed by an hour and a half. Thank you for flying Satan’s Airline and have a nice day!”
“Welcome on board Satan’s Airline Flight 666. Due to bad weather at our destination, we will not be able to take-off for another 2 hours.”
“As we reach our cruising altitude, we will turn off the fasten seat belt sign. At this time, the flight attendants will go through the cabin to sell beverages and snacks. Everything costs $3.64 and exact change is required. The flight attendants are here for your safety, not to provide you with change.”
“Sorry to cut the beverage service short, but we are experiencing some serious turbulence. For your safety, please return to your seats and fasten your seat belts. The turbulence will be a problem for about 40 minutes.”
“Air sickness bags can be found in the seat back pockets. If you do not need your air sickness bag, please pass it to the rear of the aircraft where extra bags are desperately needed. Thank you!”
“As you can tell, we have started circling the airport. They are changing the runway configuration in response to the changing weather conditions. We estimate landing in about 30 minutes. Sorry for the turbulence, we will be on the ground just as soon as we can.”
“Satan’s Airline would like to welcome you to the 9th circle of Hell. For those of trying to make a connection, please check the monitors in the terminal for flight information. Since we are about 4 hours late, you have probably already missed your connection. To get rescheduled, go to the customer service desk in the main terminal. Expect the lines to be really long because we laid off most of our employees and the rest called in sick. If this is your final destination, you can collect your bags at baggage claim 5. Please be aware that the airport is experiencing serious baggage delays because of the lay-offs and the bad weather.”
“Thank you for flying Satan’s Airline. We know you have a choice in airlines, and through our code-share arrangements, no matter which one you choose, you still end up flying with us.”
(Yes, most of this true...)
“Welcome on board Satan’s Airline Flight 666. Due to bad weather at our destination, we will not be able to take-off for another 2 hours.”
“As we reach our cruising altitude, we will turn off the fasten seat belt sign. At this time, the flight attendants will go through the cabin to sell beverages and snacks. Everything costs $3.64 and exact change is required. The flight attendants are here for your safety, not to provide you with change.”
“Sorry to cut the beverage service short, but we are experiencing some serious turbulence. For your safety, please return to your seats and fasten your seat belts. The turbulence will be a problem for about 40 minutes.”
“Air sickness bags can be found in the seat back pockets. If you do not need your air sickness bag, please pass it to the rear of the aircraft where extra bags are desperately needed. Thank you!”
“As you can tell, we have started circling the airport. They are changing the runway configuration in response to the changing weather conditions. We estimate landing in about 30 minutes. Sorry for the turbulence, we will be on the ground just as soon as we can.”
“Satan’s Airline would like to welcome you to the 9th circle of Hell. For those of trying to make a connection, please check the monitors in the terminal for flight information. Since we are about 4 hours late, you have probably already missed your connection. To get rescheduled, go to the customer service desk in the main terminal. Expect the lines to be really long because we laid off most of our employees and the rest called in sick. If this is your final destination, you can collect your bags at baggage claim 5. Please be aware that the airport is experiencing serious baggage delays because of the lay-offs and the bad weather.”
“Thank you for flying Satan’s Airline. We know you have a choice in airlines, and through our code-share arrangements, no matter which one you choose, you still end up flying with us.”
(Yes, most of this true...)
Monday, December 15, 2008
Getting ready for Christmas
Dennis and I are going through another stretch of boringness as we prepare for the holidays. We are both spending far too much time at work. It’s easy to get caught up in work when you don’t really want to spend time outside. The weather has turned a bit colder – right around freezing – and the days are so very short. Remind me never to move any further north!
In the mornings, I find myself procrastinating about getting to work. I hate the idea of riding my bike to work in the pitch blackness. By about 8:15, it’s just light enough to go. I seem to have no trouble riding home in the dark, though. It gets really dark around 5:00. A quick check on the internet indicates that the shortest day here is one full hour shorter than in Minnesota. Of course, we get the long days in the spring and summer that help to make up for this horrible darkness.
For Christmas, I am going to Salt Lake City to visit my sister and her family. Our parents are going to be there as well. Dennis is still too new with his job to have any vacation time, so he has to stay home. Feeling bad for him, I arranged to be back in the Netherlands so we can celebrate the New Year together. A one week trip to the US is going to be tiring, but I’m still pretty excited to go.
I’m now trying to figure out what to take along and what I need to buy while I’m back. I’m planning to take the Christmas cards with me. I can address envelopes on the plane. I’m making Dennis write the Christmas letter this year too, so you’ll hear his perspective for a change. Of course, this means that all the cards will be a bit late – sorry for that! I’m also carrying the Christmas gifts that need to be shipped. Shipping from Salt Lake will be much easier than from the Netherlands. You have no idea how complicated the Homeland Security department has made it to ship things to the US. And I better not even start about import duties and taxes! As it turns out, it’s really difficult to find things here in the Netherlands that you can’t get in the US anyway. Next year, I’m going back to my usual internet shopping for Christmas!
For the return trip, I have a long and strange list of things that are difficult to get in the Netherlands. Mostly, I have a hard time finding good cold medicine here. But I also desperately want to go to Eddie Bauer.
Other things that have kept us busy are house projects and Dutch lessons. The house here was fitted with very minimal light fixtures. We installed a couple new fixtures when we moved in, but it was hard in the spring to judge how much light we would need in the winter. It also is a bit of a pain to buy light fixtures for a house you don’t own. Oh well, I’d rather have the lights! With our new lights, it’s much easier to study our Dutch lessons at the dining room table. We’ve been reading and watching Dutch TV programs. Our vocabulary is getting bigger, but we still struggle to speak. It’s going to take a while!
So that’s our boring life: work, groceries, laundry, study etc. We moved halfway around the world to get a taste of a foreign lifestyle and so much of life still boils down to work, groceries, and laundry!
In the mornings, I find myself procrastinating about getting to work. I hate the idea of riding my bike to work in the pitch blackness. By about 8:15, it’s just light enough to go. I seem to have no trouble riding home in the dark, though. It gets really dark around 5:00. A quick check on the internet indicates that the shortest day here is one full hour shorter than in Minnesota. Of course, we get the long days in the spring and summer that help to make up for this horrible darkness.
For Christmas, I am going to Salt Lake City to visit my sister and her family. Our parents are going to be there as well. Dennis is still too new with his job to have any vacation time, so he has to stay home. Feeling bad for him, I arranged to be back in the Netherlands so we can celebrate the New Year together. A one week trip to the US is going to be tiring, but I’m still pretty excited to go.
I’m now trying to figure out what to take along and what I need to buy while I’m back. I’m planning to take the Christmas cards with me. I can address envelopes on the plane. I’m making Dennis write the Christmas letter this year too, so you’ll hear his perspective for a change. Of course, this means that all the cards will be a bit late – sorry for that! I’m also carrying the Christmas gifts that need to be shipped. Shipping from Salt Lake will be much easier than from the Netherlands. You have no idea how complicated the Homeland Security department has made it to ship things to the US. And I better not even start about import duties and taxes! As it turns out, it’s really difficult to find things here in the Netherlands that you can’t get in the US anyway. Next year, I’m going back to my usual internet shopping for Christmas!
For the return trip, I have a long and strange list of things that are difficult to get in the Netherlands. Mostly, I have a hard time finding good cold medicine here. But I also desperately want to go to Eddie Bauer.
Other things that have kept us busy are house projects and Dutch lessons. The house here was fitted with very minimal light fixtures. We installed a couple new fixtures when we moved in, but it was hard in the spring to judge how much light we would need in the winter. It also is a bit of a pain to buy light fixtures for a house you don’t own. Oh well, I’d rather have the lights! With our new lights, it’s much easier to study our Dutch lessons at the dining room table. We’ve been reading and watching Dutch TV programs. Our vocabulary is getting bigger, but we still struggle to speak. It’s going to take a while!
So that’s our boring life: work, groceries, laundry, study etc. We moved halfway around the world to get a taste of a foreign lifestyle and so much of life still boils down to work, groceries, and laundry!
Sunday, December 7, 2008
German Swine
Christmas stuff for sale at the Dusseldorf Christmas Market.
A booth with crepes and other sweet treats.
Dusseldorf from the observation tower. This is the Rhine River.
You can see the tower behind the bridge. Fortunately, it was sunny when we went up.
Dennis and I went to the Christmas Market in Dusseldorf Germany for the weekend. Dusseldorf is only two hours away by train, just across the border. While this trip can be done in one day, we decided to spend the night and make it a bit of a vacation.
The first part of the adventure is getting there, of course. Dennis bought our train tickets earlier in the week directly at the train station. The train left at 11:00 am so we even had time to sleep in! Everything was going well on the train. We had our assigned seats and I packed sandwiches. When they announced that the next stop would be Dusseldorf, we got ready to get off. As we slowed into the station, we thought something was wrong because the sign said Duisburg. Knowing the city names can be quite different depending on the language (example being Cologne Germany, which appears is Koln in German), I decided to ask one of the other passengers getting off the train. “Is this Dusselfdorf?” I asked. “Yes, this is Dusselfdorf,” was the answer. So, we got off and the train zipped away. WE headed into the station in search of the tourist information office. We waited in line for a few minutes only to find out that we were at the ticketing office, not tourist information. But, still thinking there was something amiss, I asked the lady at the counter, “Is this Dusseldorf?” “No, this is Duisburg,” she answered. “Oh shit, we just got off the train at the wrong station,” I said. Rather than telling us we are stupid idiots who cannot even handle riding a train, she simply looked up the next train to Dusseldorf and told us which track to go to. We didn’t even have to buy another ticket because we had already paid to go to Dusseldorf! With true German efficiency, we arrived in Dusseldorf only 10 minutes behind schedule!
In the real city of Dusseldorf, the tourist information office gave us a map and marked the location of our hotel and the Christmas markets. Everything was within walking distance – although it was A LOT of walking! So, we headed off the hotel, dropped our luggage and went to the market.
The Christmas Market on Saturday afternoon is a very popular place. The food and drink booths were especially crowded. The traditional drink is Gluwein, spiced wine which is served hot to ward off the winter chill. I could only tolerate a few sips – it was very strong and very sweet. I don’t like sweet wine, but Dennis thought it was pretty good. Another local treat is pork roasted on a spit. Rather than wait in line and eat standing up, we found a near-by restaurant that specialized in roasted pork. The pork came on a plate with French Fries. No bread, no vegetable, not even some parsley. But the pork was divine! It was tender and succulent, with a lovely pork flavor not masked by anything but a bit of salt. Along with the fries, this was a meal to clog every artery in the body. So long heart – pass the pork! By the way, in German, they refer to pork as schwein, or swine, hence the title of the blog.
With full tummies, we walked around the rest of the market. It was easy to get in the Christmas spirit with all the booths selling Christmas decorations, gifts, and holiday treats. I’m not sure how much of the stuff was hand-made, or even German-made, and how much was from China, but it was cool nonetheless. We found a few cute things for us and a few for gifts.
The next morning, we were able to sleep late again. Without the cat, who wakes us up at 6:00 am or before every morning, we were able to sleep in peace. The hotel served breakfast until 11:00, so we didn’t even have to hurry for breakfast. When we did make it down for breakfast, we were pleasantly surprised. Not just bread and cheese, this was a full spread including fresh fruit and make-your-own waffles. It’s nice to be in a country where food is appreciated. The highlight of breakfast was the bacon, which was beyond delicious. These people really know their pork products!
As we had already seen most of the Christmas markets, we decided to go up to the observation deck of the tower (see picture). The day ended up being sunny so we had really good views of the city and the Rhine River. We made a note that the Rhine River is probably nice to see in the summer, too.
After the tower, we spent the rest of our time at the Christmas market tasting more of the treats. We tried the egg nog, but we were surprised at how much alcohol they managed to get into it. It was also served hot, which seems wrong for egg nog. The crepes were really good, though. And we got some sugar-roasted almonds to eat on the train back home.
By the time we got to the train station, we had been walking for four hours and I was seriously looking forward to sitting down for two hours. The train was super-crowded, but Dennis had paid a little bit extra to get assigned seats. It was worth the extra six euros especially since we were hauling all the stuff we bought! Needless to say, we managed to get back home without further mishaps and we deemed it a very successful trip.
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