Dutch Pecking Order

I have quickly learned the Dutch pecking order of the road - it is:  Trams, Bikes, Pedestrians, Cars.  Does not matter where you are or what you are doing that - that is the order.  A few people have asked if I have bought a bike yet and the answer is "no" for a few reasons.  1)  It is COLD and I am a fairweather biker.  Somehow I can't see me riding a bike in a toque, mitts, scarf and my winter boots  2)  I am not sure where I will store it for now.  I am sure I can haul it up in the elevator to my apartment, but for now I am fairly central and can pretty much walk everywhere.  3)  It scares me!  Riding your bike in the Netherlands is just not the same as back in Canada.  Big difference is that they rule the road (see above) and NO ONE wears a helmet!  I am just not sure I am confident and aggressive enough on a bike yet.  I am however asking around to see if anyone offers a biking 101 course.  Seriously though, my intention is to buy a bike once I have moved into my permanent home.

On my way home (I walk through the main train station) I was approached by a lovely girl with a rose who started to rattle on to me in Dutch to which I normally just smile and nod, but this time I said "I don't speak Dutch", at which point she launched into English (as most Dutch do when I say this) and she handed me a rose for Valentine's Day courtesy of some lingerie shop.

Stopped at the ol' Albert Heijn today on the way home to pick up some more groceries (as I have eaten through what I had previously bought) and experienced a new challenge today, on top of not knowing what it is that I am buying - directions/instruction.  Yep - they are in Dutch too!  I know that I said that I was going to take my iPad with me next time but I stopped on my way home and didn't have it with me.  I am not sure why I torture myself like this!  The oven still is giving me challenges but I haven't given up yet (and can't if I want to eat hot food!)

Here is some of what I bought today - I know what they are - kinda.  Or at least know that I could cook it!  LOL!

This I know how to make - even if the directions are in Dutch!

I have figured out the Kip is chicken - just not sure what kind of marinade this was - still not sure even after I have cooked it and ate it.  Kinda a cross b/w Mexican and Indian

How could I not buy this?!  The one thing they do have a lot of choice of his hazelnut spreads :-)  Not sure what the white flavour is yet though.

Damn It's Cold!!!!

Damn it's cold and this is coming from a born and bred Canadian who spent half of her life either living or working about North of 60 - so this qualifies me to be a good judge of cold!  Honestly, when you look at the temperature it is usually above 0 but when you throw in the 65% humidity and the wind, it bites right in to you.  Fortunately before I left, my friend Kathy gave me a lovely hand knit toque and scarf, and my Aunty Margaret knit me a lovely scarf/cowl - both of which have been getting a lot of use!  I am hoping that I have a warmer jacket packed in my air shipment.

Coffee maker mess!

Today I have been appliance challenged.  I wrongly assumed that this coffee maker came with a reusable filter in it so I just added my coffee grounds to it and turned it on - BIG MISTAKE.  After about 2 minutes I noticed that I had grounds in the coffee and then after about 3 minutes I had coffee all over the counter.  This is when I realized that I need to put a coffee filter into the coffee maker and because I didn't, everything was coming full force through the coffee maker.  So needless to say, there was no coffee this morning b/c I don't have any filters.

Another appliance (for the lack of a better word) is the towel warmer thing in the bathroom - can't figure out how to use that, so I just hang things off of it.  For 38 years I have lived without heated towels, so I am pretty sure that I will be able to live another 4 years without them as well.

The last appliance that challenged me today is the microwave/oven combo.  Yes - this is it.  There is no way that you could ever cook a turkey in this as it is TINY.  Firstly, who makes a microwave/convection oven combo?  The Dutch do.  I attempted to roast some vegetables and a chicken breast with limited success. Firstly, I couldn't figure out how to keep it cooking.   Sounds simple you say but it wasn't.  I had to restart it 3 times.  Secondly, it is in Celsius and I am a Fahrenheit girl when it comes to cooking.  Yes, I know it is as simple as going onto Google to convert, but still.  In the end, everything ended up cooked - maybe a little over cooked but it was still very good.

For fun today, I decided to ride one of the trams from one end of the line to the other and back.  I figured that this would give me a nice, warm opportunity to see more of the city, including passing through a couple of neighbourhoods that I am going to be looking in for a more permanent home.  In all, the tram ride took me about 2 hours and passed me through some beautiful neighbourhoods and some not so beautiful neighbourhoods - I think I found the 'hood!  Needless to say, I will not be looking at places there!  So what did this little escapade cost me - a grand total of .86 euros (I still have to figure out how to type euros properly).  I think because I got on and off at the same stop, my OV-chipkaart (my tram/train pass) read my chip as just getting on and off and it charged me the basic rate and no km charges.  Score one for me!  I found this to be a good way to see different parts of the city but also to work on some of my Dutch pronunciations, as every stop would be announced.  Lord only knows that I am bastardizing this poor language!

Yesterday I found the Dutch equivalent of Whole Paycheck, I mean Whole Foods and it is called Marqt (www.marqt.nl) and just like Whole Foods, you can spend A LOT of money there!  Once again, shopping in Dutch, however this time I decided to try and tackle the dairy department.  I would say that I was somewhat successful in that I was able to pick out 1L of milk but I can't tell you if it is 2%, 1% or Skim or if they even have those types - I just went for the ones with the lowest calorie count (that I can read).  Much of what they sell is either organic or local and very little is processed, so shopping was a little easier b/c a leek is a leek - it doesn't matter if I am in Calgary or The Hague.  Bread on the other hand, not sure what kind I bought - I was hoping it was a sourdough type but I was wrong.  Not sure what it is, kinda tastes like it has corn in it, but it definitely isn't sourdough!

One observation that I have had since I was here, I have yet to see a cemetery - I wonder what they do with their dead?  Not necessarily something that is keeping me awake at night but just something that I noticed.