My Favorite Dutch Things

We were very fortunate in our first two years here to have so many visits from friends and family. At the time, we only planned to stay two years so people who were serious about visiting made it happen. And with each visit came the goodies from the US, the things we felt we could not live without. Lately, our visitors have just been family and in general are few and far between. So we are learning to live on what we can get here and to do away with our American dependency (take that, Trump!). Although I was very happy that an expat friend recently accepted my request to bring over some liquid infant Tylenol. Suppositories just aren't for everyone...

Now I tend to think about all of the things I love here that I will miss when the time comes to go back home. A mentality shift for sure.

So here are a few of my Dutch favs:

Cheap Flowers

As in the States, it is suggested to bring something to your hosts/hostess and flowers are one of the most common gifts. Due, I suppose, to the large number of growing fields and the world famous flower auction, flowers here are really cheap so this kind gesture does not have to break the bank. This beautiful bouquet above set us back 10 euros this weekend. At my local flower stall on Wednesday there was a promotion to buy 50 tulips for 5 euro! And now, to be really Dutch, you can strap your bouquet to your bike as you cycle to your friend's house. Or better yet, carry the bouquet in one hand while talking on your cell phone in the other. DUTCH!

Tosti (AKA a grilled cheese sandwich)

http://www.lekkerensimpel.com/slanke-tosti/

I adore grilled cheese (tostis), always have, and of course these are easy to come by/make in America, but what I particularly love is how you can find a super affordable tosti on almost any menu of your typical Dutch cafe. It will set you back 2.50-4 euros and is guaranteed to please Jude (and me) while we are out and about. No expensive kids' menus here, just simple, cheesy deliciousness.

Verse Muntthee (Fresh Mint Tea)

http://www.kortwijk.nl/verse-muntthee/

I'm not sure how this idea never came to me before. You make delicious mint tea by simply pouring hot water over fresh mint leaves. You can keep your own mint plant and whip this up easy peasy. Add a bit of honey- lekker (yummy)! This is also available at all cafes and is my drink of choice since I'm not a coffee drinker.

Tony's Chocolonely

A bar of this amazingness came in Pete's welcome basket from his ISA buddy when we first arrived. This is a sea salt caramel chocolate bar by Tony's Chocolonely. Apparently the company was started by a Dutch TV celeb (exec?) who was appalled to learn about the working conditions that go into other bars of chocolate. So these are yummy in your tummy and good for the soul. Semi sweet chocolate chips are not sold here (or at least not in a non-expat jacked-up price shop), so I just chop up a bar of this and add it to our cookies instead. When these go on sale at the grocery store for ~2 euros, I buy them by the dozen and keep them in with all of the baking goods. Time to make another batch now...

Cheap babysitters
This may be the thing I will miss the most some day. We pay our high school babysitters the going rate of between 5.50-6.50 euro an hour. The going rate!! A friend confided that they pay a Dutch student 3.50 an hour!! When I babysat in New York from 2007-2009, I was making $14 an hour and that was not considered much at the time. I shudder to think what the going rate is now in NYC. Why is this so cheap? Partly because that is the culture here. Also because there are strict labor laws that limit the minimum wage for young adults so that they are less incentivized to work and more likely to study (or at least that is the rationale). So the minimum wage for a 16 year old is much less than for a 20 year old, 21 year old, etc. And 5.50-6.50 is better than what the minimum wage would be.

No photo to show here, but image the smiling faces of our Portuguese, Spanish, Israeli, British and Czech high school baby sitters.

Amsterdam Light Fest Boat Ride

Make new friends with boats, but keep the old.

One is silver and the other's gold.

That's how the saying goes, right?! Making new friends is a big part of our new expat life. We are in a very transitory community and we've been crestfallen with the news of each close friend ending their Amsterdam chapter and heading home (I miss you Britt, Valerie and Tennae!). Most expats come for 2-3 year gigs so the comings and goings are just part of life now. It has made me very bold about making friends, knowing that it is a constant project. I'll meet someone once and then arrange a playdate the following week. No holding back. There's no time for that. I also really enjoy meeting new people and making my world feel smaller and smaller. I met Audra a few months ago at a close friend's baby shower. She also became a "trailing spouse" and full time SAHM after having a successful career so we had good common ground to start our friendship on. And then I learned that she and her husband had a boat. :) They invited us to tour around the Amsterdam Light Festival, which ended last night.

The canals have frozen over for the first time since we moved here! Horay for the lovely Dutch sight of people skating on every frozen body of water, with cozy bonfires alongside. Boo for the persistent cold temps that have made this possible. The main canal rings of central Amsterdam have not frozen yet, but we still weren't sure if the boat trip would go off. The morning of, Audra sent me a video message showing this one brave swan pushing its way through the thin top layer of ice to move along the canal where their boat is moored. So we have the swan to thank for forging the path for us! It was an eerie start to the trip with the sound of breaking ice as we maneuvered onto the Amstel! But then the waters were so calm and the canals were largely empty due to the cold so it ended up a perfect night for it! 

Brave swan

The festival showcases light installations from artists around the world who compete for a spot along the canals. There is a "water colors" route that boats can take and then there is a separate installation on land that you can walk around (this ended a few weeks ago).

Highlights were the overgrown tulips (a sign that spring must be on its way!), the rainbow (love is love is love), the tea light changing color display, the bikes falling into the canals and this suspended lace project that my textile-loving aunt had told me to see.

Cruising the Amsterdam canals never gets old no matter the season! Thank you Audra and Brad for a memorable night!

Women's March Amsterdam

All of the activism I see on social media today is making my heart swell! I've lost count of the friends and family we have representing marches all across the US and the world of course! Marching to show that Women's rights, minority rights, LGQBT rights and immigrant rights are important. I feel really proud of our country again.

The organization of the Women's March in Amsterdam has helped me feel connected to home during this difficult time. Our March was small by comparison, an estimated 3,000 people. We gathered on Museumplein in front of the iconic IAMSTERDAM sign in the shadows of the Rijks museum. The "march" just took us across Museumplein, ending in front of the US Consulate, where Maeve was sworn in just 7 months ago. We bumped into friends at every corner and the spirit was uplifting despite having very sad undertones. To those we were there and we didn't see- I felt your energy and love! Jude really got into the protesting spirit. Upset when we didn't have a sign, he waved around one of Maeve's pink burp cloths. Then, we found a few abandoned signs and Jude was so happy carrying one around (Love is love- one of my favorite slogans)! At one point, we got separated and Jude came back chanting, "hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go." Too much!

We made a fun day of it in the city and found a playground and pancake house. We may have been feeling All-American, but we aren't going to turn down poffertjes on any day! We stopped at one of our favorite pizza places in the city for dinner and Jude charmed the waitstaff chanting his new anti-Trump slogan all around the restaurant and then during the entire tram ride home! Protesting is hard work and he has crashed hard!

The Dutch news coverage of Today's Event: De Telegraaf

Keep up the good work everyone as we know there is much work left to be done!
xoxo

Pete's coworker's dog was a bit hit

is love, is love, is love

Why I march

Dutch Spaing (That's a Word, Right?)

On Friday, I succumbed to Maeve's stomach bug and have been down for the count along with her all weekend. The silver lining was that it hit the morning after my birthday so I was at least able to enjoy my day and nice dinner out with Pete. Thank you to everyone who sent warm birthday greetings, they were all appreciated!

I've been wanting to share our experience at a Dutch Spa, so stomach bug be darned, here it goes!

My initial research into Amstelveen before our move abroad revealed that there was a nice spa in the forrest near our old apartment. It took nearly 2 years to make it there, for a few prenatal massages pre-Maeve. While waiting for the treatments to begin, I would see people in their robes, coming and going into the spa area. I dropped a not-so-subtle hint to Pete that a trip to the spa together would make a nice Christmas gift and was so happy that he took note and upgraded me to an Enjoy package including a massage. I was even more happy that he booked on a Tuesday evening as Tuesdays, along with Thursdays, are bathing suit mandatory days. That's right, most days (Tuesdays were only recently added) as complete, coed nude days at the spa. I would have found a trip to a coed nude spa a punishment, not a present! A friend had similarly warned Pete about visiting the spa rooms attached to the gym near ISA where he gets a complementary membership. He was told that it would not be unusual to run into students and parents, of both sexes, in the coed, nude spa. Such a crazy concept for us American prudes!!

So back to the spa, it was even more lovely than I imagined. The complex is massive with at least 12 different sauna/steam rooms and hot tubs, inside and out. There is one large pool that goes outside, maybe nice in the warmer months. The top floor is a Relax Bar, which looks like a trendy restaurant, but there are as many comfy lounge beds as there are tables/chairs. We stayed inside the main building until after my massage and then ventured outside. It was getting close to closing time and we had the music sauna, fireplace burning sauna and Finish sauna's all to ourselves! Then we stepped outside and a worker asked if we would like some gluhwein! Pinch me! Finally, we took a dip in the outdoor whirlpool, which would be heavenly under a clear-star lit sky.

No fewer than 3 times did Pete turn to me and say, "can you imagine how weird this would be if everyone was naked!?" Yes, yes, I can. Thank goodness for Tuesday and Thursdays. The spa now has a 2 for 1 entry promotion until the end of February so we plan to go back to help make it through these dark, winter months!

For any local friends that want to check it out: http://www.zuiveramsterdam.nl/spa-en/

Promo photo from the website

The End of 2016 and Ringing in the New Year (Earplugs Recommended)

Things didn't exactly slow down around here after Christmas was over. We had a lot of friends staying in Amsterdam for Christmas this year so we hosted a Boxing Day/Tweede Kerstdag (2nd Christmas) brunch. The grandparents were a huge help with the prep and clean-up, which made hosting 30+ people manageable! We have very thoughtful friends here who brought homemade bagels, muffins, beautiful cookies (good thing as we had decimated our supply!), flowers and chocolates. A great way to keep the merry season going. And also a good use of our 30 champagne glasses we got for free from expats leaving the country! In the chaos of hosting, I didn't take any pictures, but my mom snapped a few of Maeve and I in her gorgeous new party dress from Nonnie. 

Oma and Opa left the following day so that they could celebrate a belated Christmas with Pete's brother's family. The house felt empty missing two! The remaining crew went to the Stadelijk modern art museum. The toddler tour of the new Tinguely exhibit was canceled at the last minute, but the machine spectacular was still spectacular!

Jude's house made of brick and Pops, the big bad wolf. 

We showed Nana and Pops our local playgrounds.

Some quiet time at home, where Nana got to experience the Jude lunch time ritual of sitting on someone's lap and falling asleep eating :)

It was back to work for me on Wednesday, so Pete took the crew to Utrecht to go to a museum dedicated to large, self-playing instruments. 

Before they left, Nana and Pops left their mark by planting our tulips and crocuses. I can't wait for them to bloom this spring and be reminded of our wonderful holiday visit!

And then it was just the four of us for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks. It definitely felt quiet then! Just in time for our "quiet" New Year's Eve in...

Let me tell you about NYE in the Netherlands. It is the one day where it is legal to set off fireworks (from 6pm til 2am though people do not adhere to this law). And people go crazy. We were definitely warned about how loud it would be, but nothing prepares you until you are here. There were numerous forums on Facebook on places to go within an 1-2 hours drive to avoid the noise! For good reason! Even in our quiet suburban neighborhood, there were non-stop fireworks shows during the allowed time. Just boom after boom after boom. Around 10pm there was a beautiful amateur show right in front of our house, but otherwise the whole thing was just too noisy! Jude didn't wake up, though he told us the next morning that the fireworks woke him up and he had bags under his eyes. Maeve was on and off awake from 10-1 however, which made for a long night. She made up for it with a 2 1/2 hour nap the next morning, which Pete let me take as well so 2017 was still off to a refreshing start :)

We know that 2016 was not the best year in history, far from it, but it was a very happy and prosperous year for us with the addition of Maeve to our family, travels throughout Europe, buying our first house and having Jude successfully start school. We hope that our blessings continue and that there is more Peace and Love in 2017.

Christmas Joy in Amstelveen

Twas the night before Christmas, and at Belle Van Zuylenlaan, number 35
All our family was excited waiting for Santa to arrive.

Maeve was obsessed with ornaments and the beautiful Christmas tree
And her numerous Christmas outfits brought me much glee.

Jude was so animated, would he hear Santa come?
Will he eat all the cookies, leaving just crumbs?

 The sushi was laid on the table with care.

And cookies and milk in hopes that Santa would be there.

Nana was nestled all snug on the chaise.
The lights were all lit, the fireplace ablaze.

Santa, he came! Down the chimney, never mind his big tummy.

And he ate all the treats, he found them quite yummy!

First were the stockings, carefully taken from the shelf.

Then presents passed around by Santa's little elf.

So many fun presents, so much to do!

Santa brought gifts for the big people, too.

 A quick break for brunch, Jude patient as can be.

Then more presents to open for "me, me, me"!

Some gifts sweet, others quite funny (Vincent van Toe)

The big surprise, a new sandbox and house, "Woah!"

 A "fireman's house" and "firetruck" (are you sensing a theme)?

And Maeve in that dress, what a beauty, what a dream!

 A fine Christmas feast to end the most wonderful day.

And bedtime for the little ones, much to their dismay. 

Celebrating with children made it all so merry and bright.  

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!