Soaking in the Sun on the Algarve Coast

We are on Crocus break holiday on the Algarve coast of Portugal. A much needed break for Pete who has been working his patootie off since Winter break. We left for the trip with the news of a tragedy back home weighing heavy on our hearts. A young husband and father taken too soon. A sad reminder to not take time with your loved ones for granted. The chance to spend the whole week as a family, having fun and making memories was much needed and we didn't waste any time. 

We checked into a resort in Albufeira, 30 minutes drive from the airport in Faro. I found an unbeatable rate for a 2 bedroom apartment during this off season time. We'll spend two nights here before heading to Sagres to our splurge at Martinhal resort. 

Today was one of the best weather days forecasted all week so after a cool morning spent grocery shopping and swimming in the indoor pool, we spent a long afternoon at the beach. The coast is stunning and we found a quiet spot in front of a cliff cave (perfect for bear hunting!). Lots of fun digging in the sand, running in the water, collecting rocks, soaking in the sun, and building sand slides. 

Fresh fish dinner at a local restaurant followed by some dancing with daddy rounded out a perfect first day of vacation. 

Oh, and tomorrow marks the beginning of the 3rd trimester (week 28)!!? All of a sudden, I am looking really pregnant :) 

Three Random Things

After living in the Netherlands for 18 months, things that once seemed odd are now commonplace. Having visitors and explaining things to them reminds me that indeed, some things here are strange. 

So here are some random things for the day:

Tandenstokers

Hate flossing? Feel guilt ridden every time the dentist asks if you are a regular flosser? Maybe you should consider moving to the Netherlands! Here, flossing is frowned upon. Instead, everyone is encouraged to stoke their tandens with this glorified toothpick. Pete is totally on the tandenstoker bandwagon and prefers his "extra dun" whatever the heck that means! I can't quit on flossing though so I may never be a true Dutchy.  

The Green Machine

So this nifty device isn't actually called the green machine. It is an "e.dentifier" provided by your bank when you sign up for an account. In this country, debit is king. This is good for our day to day budget management, but bad for our airline mile accrual. So anytime you want to buy anything online, instead of entering your debit card information, you are asked to use the green machine to make the transaction. It works like this:

1. Make purchase online
2. Select "IDeal" payment method
3. Insert your debit card into the top of the green machine and login with your pin code
4. Enter 8 digit code provided by merchant online
5. This generates another 8 digit response, which you then type into the merchant website
6. Confirm and voila! payment

Our recent visitor explained that this is a way to ensure 2 point encryption (or something like that). Yes, it is fun to use, but Jude likes to use these as "phones" so we often have a hard time finding one that works!

Alcohol-free Beer

So this product shouldn't require any explanation. It is not the alcohol-free beer that is strange, it is how I came to get it. At my first midwife appointment around 6 weeks, I was given a cardboard box full of goodies for pregnant people. Mostly literature and magazines in Dutch. But also, this non-alcoholic beer. So strange! The fact that 5+ months later, it is still in the fridge is a sign of how I feel about drinking beer that doesn't contain any alcohol! 

We were attending an outdoor festival this summer and I was horrified to see children drinking from beer cans being given away by a promo vendor. I looked at the nearby trashcan and saw it overflowing with alcohol-free Amstel beers. Phew. But seriously, giving it to children? So strange! 

This country is filled with plenty more strange things. I just need to remember what they are since things seem so normal now! I'll report back when they occur to me!

"Hema'nJames" Visit

I am coming off the high of hosting our latest set of visitors, grad school friend Heather and her husband James. Or "Hema'nJames" if you are Jude. When I visited with Heather this summer in NYC, we were talking about baby plans for the future and she mentioned how fun it would be to visit us this winter and both be pregnant. Of course we knew that there could be many barriers to this plan, but were both fortunate enough for the plan to work out! Heather is a month ahead of us and sporting an adorable belly. 

Heather studied abroad in the Netherlands (Maastricht) and it was her first trip back to the country. James took great pictures of their whole visit of which I have stolen many for this post (thanks, James!). 

To combat jet lag on the day they arrived, we biked out to the goat farm through the Bos. So many adorable baby goats! And the cutest baby chicks who liked to nestle under their mama. 

Required stop at the goat farm cafe. The soft serve goat's milk ice cream machine was shut down for the season so we had to settle for poffertjes! Sad day :)

We planned to take a day trip on Sunday and Heather suggested Madurodam, a theme park of sorts with miniatures of all of the major Dutch landmarks. So essentially, they saw all of the Netherlands within 1 day of arriving! It was cool to see a lot of castles, museums and towns that we still have on our list. I'm excited for more Dutch exploration now!

Palace Het Loo- High on my list now!

Wheels of Gouda are heavy! "Is that the best you can do, daddy?"

Honey I shrunk Amsterdam

When I figure out what this is, I want to go there, too!

 The indoor soccer experience was a hit for the kids, young and old.

Heather and James prepared themselves for parenthood with a night of babysitting while Pete and I went to see The Tallest Man on Earth at the very cool Carre theater. 

On Tuesday morning, we drove over to Oudekerk on the Amstel to check out the cute town and have lunch. We made a stop at the Eisenhove goat farm on the way because you can never see enough goats when you visit Holland :)

"Een biertje, alstublieft"

We got take out Indonesian food from down the street to sample some local specialties. 

On Wednesday, I took the day off from work to have a kid-free day in the city with Heather and James. It was a day of indulgence: lunch at my favorite Italian deli shop, free lunchtime concert at the Concertgebouw, frozen yogurt and snack at the Food Hallen and an afternoon movie, The Big Short, at the Film Hallen. Later that night, we got a babysitter and chowed down on burgers and ribs at Cannibal Royale, rounding out a pregnant mama's perfect day :)

And then they were off, to continue their baby moon in Lisbon, leaving Jude asking daily, "Hema'nJames?"

Being Pregnant Abroad

I am really thankful that I had Jude back in the States so that my first pregnancy/childbirth experience didn't have the added anxiety of being in a different country/culture. There are enough things to worry about the first time around!

So, now pregnant in a new country, I am learning how things are different over here. There are plenty of serious things to discuss on this topic and I will probably get to them in another post, but for now something a little light hearted...

Pregnancy Cravings.

Like clockwork around week 7 (exactly the same as with Jude), I HAD to have Cheetos. Never mind that I couldn't keep food down in general and never mind that I really could care less about Cheetos normally, for my entire extended 1st trimester I needed Cheetos. Big problem. You can't get Cheetos here! Well ok, you can get some cheese puff version, but not the odd shaped, crunchy, bright orange ones that I craved. During this craving period, we went to three different countries (France, Turkey and Greece) and I scoured grocery stores and airport kiosks for my beloved Cheetos to no avail. Oh the sadness of unfulfilled pregnancy cravings! When my friend Jen came over, I had already shared with her that I was pregnant and could she please, please bring me some Cheetos?! She obliged and the bag was obliterated in 2 days flat.

Lucky Charms. Another craving so strong that I started dreaming I was in Albert Heijn (the grocery store chain here) and found them on the shelf! Oh happy day! Until I woke up and realized I didn't have any! Now, I have been told that you can find them in the American specialty food store in Amsterdam, but 1. it is far away and 2. they are astronomically expensive. When we arrived in Miami over the holidays, Pete and I went grocery shopping and I bought the largest box I could find and proceeded to have Lucky Charms every morning for the entire trip. Jude wanted them too, and hey, it was vacation so Lucky Charms for all!

When Jude was born and the midwife was surprised at how big he was, I told her that I wasn't. Apart from being a big baby myself, I consumed mint chocolate chip ice cream by the gallon durning pregnancy, eating around the chocolate chips as they exacerbated my already bothersome heartburn. I have wanted mint chocolate chip ice cream here before, but now I NEED it. So I did what any savvy ex-pat in Amsterdam would do. I went to the facebook page of the prolific Amsterdam Mamas group and searched "mint chocolate chip ice cream." A thread on this exact topic not more than 6 months old. Bingo! 12 thoughtful replies from other mint chocolate chip lovers. Some suggested a few gelato shops including one in the mall near us. I went last week. No luck. Others suggested a magnum mint ice cream bar sold in the grocery stores. Not our grocery stores. Ben and Jerry's sells it? Can't find it. Buy an ice cream maker and make it yourself. I'm not that desperate (yet!). The only mint chocolate anything I can find here are After Eight chocolates. So tonight, I crumbed two chocolates into a glass with some milk and vanilla ice cream. Voila! A mint chocolate chip milkshake! I'm in business! Let's see if baby girl gets into the 9+ lb club :)