You know you're integrating (commercially or materially) into a culture when all your toiletries have the native language on them. I know there are supermarkets here too, but I always bring bottles of my shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, toothpaste, face wash, lotions, and maybe some hair products with me from home. I know its not the most efficient way of packing, but I still do it. But this past week my toothpaste and my lotion ran out. My beloved Aveeno non-scented ultra-moisture body lotion with oatmeal extract. Then you know have a new lotion that isn't quite the same. It may say Vaseline on it (a known brand in the US), but for "droge en gevoelige huid" that is 'hype-allergeen & ongeparfumeerd'. Hey, at least I found a lotion for my dry and sensitive skin and is unscented!
Goodbye 'american' products, hello 'dutch/belgian/french' products
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Sunday, June 24, 2007
The perfect cappuccino
just wanted to show and prove that i can make a cappuccino--that's two in a row where the milk foamed! :-)
this past wednesday was a sort of 'staff night' at the hostel. i thought it was going to be just a party in the garden...but it ended up being a going out to dinner at an indonesian place, where i had my first ever traditional dutch "rijst tafel" (rice table)...basically just putting all the different dishes out on the table and everyone can choose what they want, an all you can eat buffet but at your table. then we went to a pool hall nearby and played pool for 2 hours. i was out of practice and not so great. but the building the pool hall is in was really neat- an old swimming pool used to be there, but they filled the zwembad in. But it still has the old brick in there and they added some chandeliers. As a gift, everyone got a kite and a swim tube ...cheap little type gag gifts, but I'm actually excited about the kite! i havent flown a kite in years and years- it should bring hours of excitement.
Thursday I saw Ocean's 13. Fun movie!
this past wednesday was a sort of 'staff night' at the hostel. i thought it was going to be just a party in the garden...but it ended up being a going out to dinner at an indonesian place, where i had my first ever traditional dutch "rijst tafel" (rice table)...basically just putting all the different dishes out on the table and everyone can choose what they want, an all you can eat buffet but at your table. then we went to a pool hall nearby and played pool for 2 hours. i was out of practice and not so great. but the building the pool hall is in was really neat- an old swimming pool used to be there, but they filled the zwembad in. But it still has the old brick in there and they added some chandeliers. As a gift, everyone got a kite and a swim tube ...cheap little type gag gifts, but I'm actually excited about the kite! i havent flown a kite in years and years- it should bring hours of excitement.
Thursday I saw Ocean's 13. Fun movie!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
weekend of world music
One of the fun things of a summer in holland...are all the music festivals. this past weekend we went to two of them, both centering on 'world music'. On saturday we went to Festival Mundial in Tilburg. Quite a popular festival, with 3 or 4 stages and many other booths set up either selling 'worldly items' (aka hippie things)...or tents to promote supporting a good cause- mostly related to world health and charities and the such. The only name I knew of the musicians was Gabriel Rios, and I only knew one song of his. We also listened to a Ukrainian Folk band, which ended up being a rock band with an accordian and a metal sword, but they were fun. We heard of course some raggae and more often spanish/salsa music. It was a fun day, however it rained over half the time and the ground was quite muddy. But we didn't let that stop us from having fun and enjoying drinks to numb the pain in our feet from standing the whole day.
On Sunday, M and I went to Amsterdam with the intent to see a traditional Korean drumming group at the Roots Festival in the Oosterpark. In the early afternoon we went to the Tropen Museum, which chronicles life and cultures of those societies that live in the tropics. Pretty interesting...didn't get to see quite everything. Then we went to the park and walked around. Not quite as organized as well as Festival Mundial, but still ok. We saw this group perform traditional Javanese music on this large wooden xylophone type instrument. It was really neat and really good. About 10 men were playing at one time. It was very beautifully decorated as well (the instrument). Then at 430 when we thought the Korean group would play...they didn't. We finally asked someone at the info point and they said they were playing at 7 instead. We were getting rather tired, and would have been home after 10 if we stayed, so we decided to go home. Too bad, but hopefully there will be another opportunity in the future.
It was interesting to note that the tropical cultures we saw in the museum- from indonesian to african to latin- were the cultures and music that were highlighted at the Roots Festival, just down the street from the museum. It was a good combination.
On Sunday, M and I went to Amsterdam with the intent to see a traditional Korean drumming group at the Roots Festival in the Oosterpark. In the early afternoon we went to the Tropen Museum, which chronicles life and cultures of those societies that live in the tropics. Pretty interesting...didn't get to see quite everything. Then we went to the park and walked around. Not quite as organized as well as Festival Mundial, but still ok. We saw this group perform traditional Javanese music on this large wooden xylophone type instrument. It was really neat and really good. About 10 men were playing at one time. It was very beautifully decorated as well (the instrument). Then at 430 when we thought the Korean group would play...they didn't. We finally asked someone at the info point and they said they were playing at 7 instead. We were getting rather tired, and would have been home after 10 if we stayed, so we decided to go home. Too bad, but hopefully there will be another opportunity in the future.
It was interesting to note that the tropical cultures we saw in the museum- from indonesian to african to latin- were the cultures and music that were highlighted at the Roots Festival, just down the street from the museum. It was a good combination.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
who stole my cheese?
Besides working at the hostel, not too much going on this week. history seems to be repeating itself in that I am having another run-in with a mouse. there is a house-mouse at strowis that has made itself known to me today for the first time. but i heard about him from some guests last weekend. they think there is only one, and he's a pretty bold mouse. i saw him behind the bar running around by the floorboards. he doesnt seem like a scared mouse. he even went in the bag of a co-worker of mine because she had some cheese in there to take home. what a hungry little one! she said she was considering leaving the cheese out for him to eat anyways instead of him stealing it from her bag.
i'm continuing with my integration by watching dr.phil and Lizzy maguire (with hilary duff) on tv. yes, TV shows I never watch in the US I am watching here. The topic yesterday was 'my boyfriend/fiance won't commit to marrying me!' Quality tv.
i'm continuing with my integration by watching dr.phil and Lizzy maguire (with hilary duff) on tv. yes, TV shows I never watch in the US I am watching here. The topic yesterday was 'my boyfriend/fiance won't commit to marrying me!' Quality tv.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Finally...I made a cappuccino!
The biggest news of last week I forgot to include in my post from Saturday---I made a cappuccino and the milk actually foamed! woohoo! It looked so nice. I was really excited. funny how little things make me so excited now.
Saturday night we were at M's parents' house for his sister's birthday. We left on the 11pm train back to Utrecht. By some odd, random chance that I cannot explain, we happened to run into this woman who is staying at the hostel now. She's from the US with a study group, and has talked to M about housing markets and stuff like that in the NL. Apparently she fell asleep between Delft and den Haag on the train, and then woke up when it was continuing on ...somehow I dont quite understand this b/c Den Haag would have been the end of the line. But in any case, I heard some woman speaking English to the train ticket person saying she thought she was going den haag and when he said its going to Utrecht, she said well that's ok, I want to go to Utrecht. Then she walked in the car, and I couldn't believe it. That was too weird for me.
Yesterday we went on a 16km hike/walk through some forested areas between Ede and Wageningen. It took like 4 hours, so I wonder if it was really longer than 16 km. it was nice, but my feet were killing me after that.
Saturday night we were at M's parents' house for his sister's birthday. We left on the 11pm train back to Utrecht. By some odd, random chance that I cannot explain, we happened to run into this woman who is staying at the hostel now. She's from the US with a study group, and has talked to M about housing markets and stuff like that in the NL. Apparently she fell asleep between Delft and den Haag on the train, and then woke up when it was continuing on ...somehow I dont quite understand this b/c Den Haag would have been the end of the line. But in any case, I heard some woman speaking English to the train ticket person saying she thought she was going den haag and when he said its going to Utrecht, she said well that's ok, I want to go to Utrecht. Then she walked in the car, and I couldn't believe it. That was too weird for me.
Yesterday we went on a 16km hike/walk through some forested areas between Ede and Wageningen. It took like 4 hours, so I wonder if it was really longer than 16 km. it was nice, but my feet were killing me after that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
