Sunday, September 19, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Differences: Mammoth & Minute
The washcloths are little cloth bags with drawstrings you can put your hand inside. They don't have flat, one-sided wash clothes
Cereal is not popular for breakfast, except muesli, which is sort of like granola
Dutch folks eat yogurt with cereal more often than milk
Biking is the most common form of transportation, though most families do have at least one car. They only use them for long trips though (an hour or more.)
Most kids I have seen are blonde
Dutch families like to cook frequently. Most meals are homemade. Both husband and wife usually help each other prepare the meal, one cutting, the other stirring. The husbands or sons do the dishes. "It's a matter of educating them," one of my rotary hosts told me when I stayed with her family a few nights back.
Not as many wives work as in America. If they do, they usually work part time. They are more liberated than most American women because the society here is more egalitarian. However, the culture believes that someone should be home to watch the kids, and, the women here are usually happy to do this, and have time to garden and go to the myriad clubs and social groups they are apart of. It reminds me of America and the 50's (except the women have equal rights.) The social fabric is tightly knit. Mothers are very hands-on and support social programs for kids.
Community still exists. There are free community clubs, like singing groups and orchestra groups, sailing clubs and community soccer, football and basketball teams. Anyone in the community can join. Playgrounds are everywhere and little parks. Every evening dozens of kids come to these playgrounds and have fun. Within a mile you will probably see six to eight playgrounds. Instead of having an isolated playground in your own backyard, Dutch families usually have tiny backyards, this forces kids to meet other kids and create a sense of community. Parents come and push children on swings each night. They mingle with other parents.
During lunchtime, children bike or walk home to school (they are that close.) Mom's bicycle to school and then bike back with their children so they can eat lunch together.
In other ways, Holland reminds me of America in the 50's: no people are fat. And, as I mentioned, all the kids play outside all the time. Also, as I previously mentioned, families cook their own meals. There is very little packaged food here. Bread is bought fresh each day. (There is a bakery in every town, within five minutes walking.) Meat is slaughtered locally, cheese made nearby.
Another difference I like about Holland is the amount of color. Doors are painted red and blue. Even nursing homes have brightly colored doors and yellow wood window boxes. Green steps.
Cereal is not popular for breakfast, except muesli, which is sort of like granola
Dutch folks eat yogurt with cereal more often than milk
Biking is the most common form of transportation, though most families do have at least one car. They only use them for long trips though (an hour or more.)
Most kids I have seen are blonde
Dutch families like to cook frequently. Most meals are homemade. Both husband and wife usually help each other prepare the meal, one cutting, the other stirring. The husbands or sons do the dishes. "It's a matter of educating them," one of my rotary hosts told me when I stayed with her family a few nights back.
Not as many wives work as in America. If they do, they usually work part time. They are more liberated than most American women because the society here is more egalitarian. However, the culture believes that someone should be home to watch the kids, and, the women here are usually happy to do this, and have time to garden and go to the myriad clubs and social groups they are apart of. It reminds me of America and the 50's (except the women have equal rights.) The social fabric is tightly knit. Mothers are very hands-on and support social programs for kids.
Community still exists. There are free community clubs, like singing groups and orchestra groups, sailing clubs and community soccer, football and basketball teams. Anyone in the community can join. Playgrounds are everywhere and little parks. Every evening dozens of kids come to these playgrounds and have fun. Within a mile you will probably see six to eight playgrounds. Instead of having an isolated playground in your own backyard, Dutch families usually have tiny backyards, this forces kids to meet other kids and create a sense of community. Parents come and push children on swings each night. They mingle with other parents.
During lunchtime, children bike or walk home to school (they are that close.) Mom's bicycle to school and then bike back with their children so they can eat lunch together.
In other ways, Holland reminds me of America in the 50's: no people are fat. And, as I mentioned, all the kids play outside all the time. Also, as I previously mentioned, families cook their own meals. There is very little packaged food here. Bread is bought fresh each day. (There is a bakery in every town, within five minutes walking.) Meat is slaughtered locally, cheese made nearby.
Another difference I like about Holland is the amount of color. Doors are painted red and blue. Even nursing homes have brightly colored doors and yellow wood window boxes. Green steps.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Week 1-scams, rotary hospitality and cheese
Dear Friends,
Bike? check
Apartment? check
Food in refrigerator? check (two types of Dutch cheese and Dutch peach yogurt drink...)
Euros in my purse? check.
Passport? Check.
Friends made? check
Hospitable people encountered? check
Have I gotten lost at least twice each day? check
Have I, at the same time, made every appointment I needed to make? check
A week has passed and everything here still feels new. After losing enough money in a housing scam to buy a new macbook pro in the first week, I was homeless. Fortunately, benevolent Rotarians looked out for me and I was able to stay in their homes. Yay Rotary network. The Dutch rotary folks are as kind as the WV ones. They have been keeping an eye on me. They took me to the police so I could report the housing scam, and, then helped me find housing in Utrecht, one of the most difficult cities in the world for housing. Speaking of housing, I would like to share a few tips on my experience:
WHEN RENTING IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY
1. Always have someone go knock on the door of the place you are renting and check it out for you. Otherwise, the place might not exist.
2. Never send money over the internet.
3. I told you to never send money over the internet when renting housing in a foreign country, but particularly never give more than a one month down payment and deposit. Never pay lawyer fees (this is probably a scam, and, if the person says they are on holiday in another country, watch out for this.) Also, never send money via western union (money cannot be tracked this way.) Use a bank account.
4. Stay with friends or in a hostel until you yourself can personally go to the place you want to rent so you can check it out.
So, now I am in a stellar apartment (which I am renting from the Rotary club in Utrecht.) I have my own bedroom and sitting area (in the same large room) and share a kitchen and bathroom with another Dutch student who is my age and from the northern part of the country.
I would post pictures at this time, however, I cannot. I left my camera charger in one of the three family's homes I stayed in last week. I still need to find it...
Food is an essential part of any traveler's experience. In the following posts I will include one section on food.
DAIRY
It is easy to see why (according to a Dutch person) average Dutch males are 6 1' and women usually equally tall. Dutch refrigerators burst with cheese. Markets sell hundreds of varieties. The cheese is sharp, much stronger that I am accustomed to. Yogurt is eaten with everything--poured over cereal in the mornings; drizzled over frozen fruit for dessert, drunk in a liquid form for snacks. And then there is the milk and ice cream...milk is far cheaper here that in the U.S. fifty-two cents for a half gallon. (Even if you make the conversion from euros to dollars it is cheaper.) And ice cream is everywhere, dozens of varieties eaten in little waffle cones by old and young alike as they peddle past on their bicycles, baby in the back, cellphone in one hand, flowers in a shopping bag over the bicycle handle bars, ice cream in the other. Yay for cows...Speaking of which, black and white spotted dairy cows are everywhere in Holland--beside the schoolyard lounging in pastures, in fields by canals, along the highways. They are beautiful.
Stay tuned, my next three posts will talk about the real Dutch families I stayed with, their quirks, what their homes were like, their food and hospitality.
Doei! as we say in Dutch (Pronounced, 'do-we') or, goodbye!
P.S
I am still in school orientation. I begin classes next week.
Bike? check
Apartment? check
Food in refrigerator? check (two types of Dutch cheese and Dutch peach yogurt drink...)
Euros in my purse? check.
Passport? Check.
Friends made? check
Hospitable people encountered? check
Have I gotten lost at least twice each day? check
Have I, at the same time, made every appointment I needed to make? check
A week has passed and everything here still feels new. After losing enough money in a housing scam to buy a new macbook pro in the first week, I was homeless. Fortunately, benevolent Rotarians looked out for me and I was able to stay in their homes. Yay Rotary network. The Dutch rotary folks are as kind as the WV ones. They have been keeping an eye on me. They took me to the police so I could report the housing scam, and, then helped me find housing in Utrecht, one of the most difficult cities in the world for housing. Speaking of housing, I would like to share a few tips on my experience:
WHEN RENTING IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY
1. Always have someone go knock on the door of the place you are renting and check it out for you. Otherwise, the place might not exist.
2. Never send money over the internet.
3. I told you to never send money over the internet when renting housing in a foreign country, but particularly never give more than a one month down payment and deposit. Never pay lawyer fees (this is probably a scam, and, if the person says they are on holiday in another country, watch out for this.) Also, never send money via western union (money cannot be tracked this way.) Use a bank account.
4. Stay with friends or in a hostel until you yourself can personally go to the place you want to rent so you can check it out.
So, now I am in a stellar apartment (which I am renting from the Rotary club in Utrecht.) I have my own bedroom and sitting area (in the same large room) and share a kitchen and bathroom with another Dutch student who is my age and from the northern part of the country.
I would post pictures at this time, however, I cannot. I left my camera charger in one of the three family's homes I stayed in last week. I still need to find it...
Food is an essential part of any traveler's experience. In the following posts I will include one section on food.
DAIRY
It is easy to see why (according to a Dutch person) average Dutch males are 6 1' and women usually equally tall. Dutch refrigerators burst with cheese. Markets sell hundreds of varieties. The cheese is sharp, much stronger that I am accustomed to. Yogurt is eaten with everything--poured over cereal in the mornings; drizzled over frozen fruit for dessert, drunk in a liquid form for snacks. And then there is the milk and ice cream...milk is far cheaper here that in the U.S. fifty-two cents for a half gallon. (Even if you make the conversion from euros to dollars it is cheaper.) And ice cream is everywhere, dozens of varieties eaten in little waffle cones by old and young alike as they peddle past on their bicycles, baby in the back, cellphone in one hand, flowers in a shopping bag over the bicycle handle bars, ice cream in the other. Yay for cows...Speaking of which, black and white spotted dairy cows are everywhere in Holland--beside the schoolyard lounging in pastures, in fields by canals, along the highways. They are beautiful.
Stay tuned, my next three posts will talk about the real Dutch families I stayed with, their quirks, what their homes were like, their food and hospitality.
Doei! as we say in Dutch (Pronounced, 'do-we') or, goodbye!
P.S
I am still in school orientation. I begin classes next week.
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