A post worth reading!

I realize that I've been a bit absent from the blog lately, and I do apologize and have a wonderful excuse! I have been tirelessly working on a video blog entry and the final product is finally ready for viewing! Enjoy!!

One Month Musings

One month ago, I embarked on one of the biggest adventures of my life.  Sure, I've lived here before, but never without a return date.  The emotions evoked by boarding a plane with a one-way ticket and no return date in mind is  a bit a lot different than a one year detour to live abroad.

The achy goodbyes still grasp my heart, but as each day passes I'm more accustomed to not being around.  Technology is an amazing thing and has made life so much easier.  Between Whatsapp and FaceTime, I've been able to keep up with the personality changes in Carter and Cash as well as the blooming flowers in Mom and Dad's yard.  It makes the distance simply an inconvenience rather than a debilitating factor of living a 9 hour flight away.

There are a few things I've noticed that I love here and miss at home.  I think it's time for a list!

Things I love in the Netherlands: 

The Newness: everything is still novel and beautiful to me. When I walk down the streets, I see it with the eye of a foreigner. I see the small details that we lack in Canada like small finishings on brick houses or simply brick houses for that matter!  Last weekend I shared this picture: 

A lot of Dutch people laughed and thought I was crazy for calling this is a cute street.  There are traffic signs everywhere and there were so many more beautiful spots I could have taken a picture of along that road.  But that's the beauty of the newness! Even the most ordinary things are different to me.  When I see this picture I see cobblestone streets, with bike lanes!  I see character houses with beautiful windows.  The street signs add to the feeling along with the bicycles on the side.  It's not ugly or ordinary to me.  Not yet, anyway!

Bicycles: I absolutely love taking my bike everywhere and how easy it is to get around.  Not once in the last month have I thought to myself "I wish we had a car".  I think we'll be perfectly fine without a vehicle.

Our Apartment: Sander and I had a beautiful place in Edmonton.  We really lucked out on finding it and it was everything we wanted.  In a very short amount of time, we got very comfortable living there.  It was heart-wrenching to leave it all behind.

I had this small fear that we'd never ever find another place we loved as much.  In truth though, I could not have been more wrong! Our apartment here is awesome!  I won't go as far as saying it's better, but it is definitely a perfect replacement! In even a shorter amount of time, we've both come to love it and have gotten quite comfortable.  It already feels like home, right down to the decorations.  I love the abundance of natural light, and even the shower in the kitchen isn't that odd anymore.  When I walk in the door, I can actually relax and feel like I am "home".

Cheap Food: groceries are so INSANELY cheap here.  Every time I go to the grocery store, my mind is blown. For example:

I suppose I should translate.  I bought 4 apples (which were actually really expensive! What kind of apples did I buy!?!), 4 bananas, a box of cherry tomatoes, a pack of mushrooms, 3 peppers, 4 beets, milk, tomato sauce, beef bullion, bread, granola bars, a bar of dark chocolate and 500g of ground beef.  Grand total: 13.16 (translation: $18.26 CAD).  You know what you can buy in Canada for that amount? Not even half of the stuff on that list.  And don't even get me started on how amazing and CHEAP beer is.  I'll just give you a hint, a six pack of the best Belgian brew you'll ever taste goes for about 5 euros.  YUP.

Dutch Dairy: Okay, so you know how Alberta beef is a thing.  It's famous in a way?  Well, I'm going to give Dutch Dairy the same fame because man o man, it is sooooo goooooood. I haven't yet pinpointed what the difference is, but it is indeed different and definitely for the better. It doesn't matter what type of dairy it is, the Dutch do it the best. Right now, my favorite dairy product is quark.  Technically it is cheese (it is made the same way as cottage cheese but quark has no lumps), but in my mind it is like Greek yogurt without the sourness.  It is thick, rich, high in protein (even higher than Greek yogurt) and even the 0% fat one is creamier than any fatty yogurt you've ever tasted.  I thoroughly enjoy mixing just plain quark with granola for breakfast.


Things I Miss in Canada:

Family and Friends: I feel like it's time for a family dinner on Sunday.  Mom and Dad, can I request marinated steak?  We had steak here last weekend and it was good, but not nearly as good as yours!  Al and Nora, Wine Room on Friday? Anybody up for a walk down Whyte on Saturday afternoon? Maybe we could hit up the farmer's market! I miss these random things and the friendships!  I miss the company of our family and friends in Canada.  It feels like it has been way longer than a month and I feel like we have so much catching up to do already!

Summer Weather: Okay, so it has been pretty solid here the last week, so I really shouldn't complain, but our summer weather here has been more like "yay, we broke 20C" instead of "wow I need to buy an air conditioner". I love the heat, and hearing of the +30 weather at home makes me really jealous!  I could really go for a weekend lounging on the boat and swimming! Often, the sky here is clouded over (again, the last few days have been an exception to this).  It is mostly threatens rain but never actually does anything, and that is what drives me nuts.  If it's going to rain, just rain.  If not, I want clear blue skies and beautiful sunshine.  None of this half in, half out nonsense.  And please, no rain for days.  It's just depressing (though I believe that's more of a winter thing because we've only had a handful of rainy days since we've moved).

My Job: {Hello cytology peeps! Hope you are all doing well!}  I really enjoy cytology and miss looking at cells (as dorky as that sounds).  I also miss the whole having a job part too.  Having places to go and things to do make me feel productive!  I'm really looking forward to starting my Dutch classes in July.  Hopefully it will help me gain the confidence to speak Dutch to people other than Sander!


That's all for now.  This weekend we're heading to a music festival in the south part of the country.  I'll leave you with a song to listen to.  I've never heard of these guys until I saw their name on the program list, but based off this one song, I'm pretty excited to see them! On the list of artists performing, we'll be seeing Foo Fighters, Counting Crows, One Republic, Rise Against and many others!  Should be a good time.  Fingers crossed the predicted rain stays away!

 

A good day for a bike ride

Well, it appears that we've been hit with a wave of SUMMER.  There are a few wisps of white, but other than that, clear blue skies and glorious sunshine all day long.  I swear, I'm solar powered.  When the sun is out, my energy peaks!

Anyway, I was feeling a bit restless studying all day, so I decided to take a little trip into the center of Utrecht (as it is called in Dutch, Centrum) to hand in the last form for my residency application.  I took the scenic route along the canal and enjoyed the warm breeze as a tootled along.  I usually bike with purpose because I have places to be and things to do, but today, I just enjoyed the sights, smells and sunshine!  

On the way back, I made a wrong turn near central station and ended up at the entrance to the monitored bike racks.  It never ceases to amaze me how many bikes are in this teeny little country.

This goes on for rows and rows and rows

While I'm talking about bikes, I feel this is an appropriate time to share my forever scarring bike experience in Amsterdam.  Sander and I were on our way back from our appointment at the Immigration Office and had to pass through a busy part of Amsterdam.  Let me sum it up for you: there are cars, buses, trams, bikes and tourists everywhere!  Each mode of transportation has it's designated area to drive in-- a concept tourists have a really hard time understanding as you're almost always ringing your bell at someone who is walking on the bike path.  Basically, it's annoying and for an non-native Dutchie like myself, quite stressful.  There are too many things to be aware of all at once.  In these situations, I usually like to follow Sander because I get overwhelmed.  However, it so happened that we were waiting at a light to turn left and I was in front.  I was kind of nervous as it was super busy but I figured it would be okay.  I was the first person and the lane was clearly marked on the road.  There was no way I could end up going the wrong direction.  Well, guess again.  As I was crossing the intersection (which has bike lanes, traffic lanes, and tram tracks) I got a bit spooked by the big van next to me.  I was 100% focused on what was happening around me that I forgot we were crossing the tram tracks at a shallow angle and BOOM-- my tire gets stuck in the rut of the tracks!  I fell off my bike, and instinct kicked in.  By some miracle, I managed to stay on my two feet, albeit some flailing, run my bike to the corner of the intersection and hop back on like nothing happened.  

It was terrifying at the time, but now it'll always be the funny story of Sander and I biking in Amsterdam.  Never ever will I forget about tram tracks!