1st week, Rainy days, and trying new foods!

Alright, well it's been 3 days, I think I'll make a new post every 3 days or so it seems like a good amount of time between when I'm doing new things and what not. I have offically been in the Netherlands for one whole week. Longest week of my life, and until I get the last of California time off of me(which takes two weeks!) I'll feel awesome. This past week was pretty uneventful, in case anyone is wondering I did get my luggage sometime this past Saturday... I wasnt sure if you guys were interested but I mentioned in my last post what a typical dutch breakfast looked like. Here is the picture however. It's not unpleasant, just a bit different.

At the moment however, it's raining or it stopped raining a bit. Well it's going on an off, and the wind is horrible. I was pretty productive today actually. First we headed to the bank where I could finally get my american dollars exchanged, and if I hadnt mentally prepared myself I would have sobbed. I had managed to save $400, and was very proud of that fact but believe me when I tell you that the dollar truly has fallen. I got E280, for that., which is nothing. Everything is horribly expensive here, and I'm not trying to buy any clothes, except for a sweatshirt that says Netherlands.



Today I tried new things, food wise among some things, My host dad Bart comes from an Indonesian family and he has foods that he really likes and incorporates it into his home. So today for lunch we had something called Lempers. Which is this right here below on the right.

And basically its; sticky rice with some type of filling, it was quite good. 

Another treat I tried was called Glutinous rice balls and I didnt like it. It was an extremely sticky rice ball full of sesame seeds which were sweetened, check it out, its too the left.

Like eggnog it is an acquired taste so is the sesame balls, I managed one of the balls out of the three I had and gave the rest to my host mom. Yay for trying new things!

Today was also the day where regardless of the weather I was able to check out the bike that I'll be riding this year. It's a traditional dutch bike, and has 3 gears and its upright so it's great for your back and your not bending over like on a mountain bike.. It's really my host mom and I thought I was tall but she is VERY tall. And the bike was made for her, I feel so short every time I ride it. It's here if you're interested its just below.

But I'm steady on it, and I like it. I'm still a bit weary of riding in the street as biking in California has taught me to be aware. Bicycles here have the right-away and drivers are extremely careful on the road with you but I'm still horrified. The Netherlands is all flat, so it's perfect for bike riding, the only bad thing is I remember that I'm totally out of shape, and that riding against the wind and rain, is horrible. Note to self:: Buy a windbreaker asap!


I also was given a bit of Au Pair work, well yesterday more-so. My host parents trusted me with Brian as Jacequelien, my host mom went to drop off my Host dad Bart at work. And it was a half hour, and I was left home alone with Brian. I did well because he didnt cry. And believe me when he doesnt like something he will more then make his displeasure known. Then today she showed me how she gave him a bath and got him ready for the day. 

He's an extremely active baby, and he absolutely hates it when he has to sit still in one space. He has this shriek, or a wail really. It's very baby like, and it's hard on the ears. But thankfully I think, Chuck E Cheese, has me immune to baby cries, like they dont hurt my ears. I can usually think through it and focus on making him not cry or something. I'm very good at distracting him so that he forgets his displeasure for a few minutes. Which let me tell you, every little bit helps.



Oh, I took a few pictures of what I see just outside of our home here, it's very countryside, in a way it reminds me of Ohio. And one other thing, for everyone that I promised a postcard, I get to check those out this weekend. I'm excited!

To the left is the view from my bedroom.

And to the right and the 2 pictures after that is directly behind the houses, on a bit of a cycling path. There are a couple of farms just a bit further as well.



One more lasting picture and I will finish up this post, when I arrived here, I was informed that the Netherlands has a plethora of fast food places like in America. They have all the popular ones except for Taco Bell. They of course have Mcdonalds, and I was told that here,  you have to buy your own ketchup, of all things, and it's 50 eurocents, I would rather bring my own or eat them plain me personally. One more thing, check out this sign, they actually sell this. My host parents were very surprised that in America we dont have one of those items. I'm not looking forward to trying it.

I do however wish to compare if they taste the time, the food I mean. I'm a bit tired at the moment, it's only 7:30pm here but I'm beat. So I'm going to head off, to bed. Next month my agency is having a 2 day excursion to Berlin, with other Au pairs. And I think I would like to go. I have until January 13, which is next Monday and also my birthday to think about it. It's pretty perfect because my host parents will be gone that weekend anyway, and I would have been home alone which is.....pretty creepy. I'll continue to think about it, Until Next time,