Jetlagged, Dutch lessons, and Tea Oh My!

Hey, So I know it's been 3 days but even as I felt that I should write here in that time, I really didnt want too. This jetlag has been pretty brutal to me and thats where my energy is going to.

1. I had my first Dutch Lesson this past Saturday at 10am, and I cannot even tell you what I learned. The only thing I truly remember how to say is Ik ben Toni or Mijn Naam is Toni. And that mean I am Toni or my name is Toni. I'm dreading a bit of my homework which I should probably be doing now *sigh* My sleep schedule is still wonky meaning I am still on California time. Yesterday I was very proud of myself though, I managed to stay awake until 5:36pm before I went to sleep and woke up at 11:30pm. It sucks as in the wee hours of the morning I cannot stay sleep like now lol. Its very tiring as around 12:00pm I'll be sleeping or wanting to sleep. But enough on that.

2. Sunday was pretty chilled, we waited for my Host dad Bart to get off work(as hes been working the night shift these pass few nights) before we(my host mom and host kid and me) went for a walk around the whole neighborhood and then to the store. Its very countryside where they live, they arent that far from the city though. But I do see myself traveling by bike(I get one on Tuesday!) the train and the bus. Especially since I want to check out Amsterdam. I have been told for longer excursions as soon as we all get some time they want to teach to drive a stick shift which is awesome as that is a skill I can take back to America. As Manual cars are a heck of alot cheaper then automatics.  One more thing about the cars here, they are very tiny, I will take some pictures later I promise.

3. The food is one more thing I wanted to talk about. I am open-minded and trying new things, but some of the tastes of some of the food, just I do not like. Like some of the sweets and chocolate, I'm not a fan of, like they have this treat, I call it sandwich in a pouch lol, its this below and I cannot even tell you the flavor of it, only that I didnt really like it. It comes two slices with something inbetween in it. And you get two pouches for a total of two sandwiches...I recieved 2 bundles for a total of 4 sandwiches. I also received a dutch gift basket with a alot of goodies. I'll upload the video after I finish this post. My Host family are some amazing people, I feel really I dont know, lucky to have found them. Or they found me actually :)

  But there are other things, that I taste, and I'm like where have you been all my life lol. The way the Dutch eat meals and stuff is very different from my own. At home I do not eat breakfast really, not as early as I do here. Here since I'm already up, I eat between 7am-9am, and my breakfast is normally Toast with Nutella, or a warmed crossiant with Nutella, with a small bowl of non-dairy yogurt(which is very good) and a small cup of ice tea.

Yesterday I deviated from that breakfast because I ran out of yogurt, and I had a cereal, which had pieces of coconut, raisins, other things that looked that tree bark, and it was all natural and I ate most of it, but it wasnt very enjoyable. I really miss Frosted Rice Krispies Cereal. Lunch, well I'm never awake to eat it, so I couldnt really tell you much about it, but I just asked for lunch meat and bread to make a sandwich for future uses. Now the big one, dinner, thats really the only hot meal the dutch makes a day, and I noticed I look forward to it, as I'm used to at least 2 hot meals a day. Dinner is interesting, I took a picture of what dinner was the day before yesterday, I enjoyed most of it, just not the sausages.

Those are steamed tomatoes and steamed Zuccini or Italian squash whichever one you prefer. They tasted raw but at the same time cooked too. I didnt like it. I either like them raw or cooked, but not a mixture of both, oh and they had no seasoning on it, which I read in my dutch book is normal. It was alot of food, even though it doesnt look like much. The yellow in the bowl was cheese, and the two glass cups you see one had sugar and a tea bag. The Dutch really love their tea, and I find myself loving all of the flavors. Which reminds me, check this out!!

Who would have thought it right? The flavor I chose to take a chance at was this baby on the left. It's wierd but in a good way, I really do like it. Maybe, I'll get brave enough to try the other outrageous flavors, and trust me, they have many more then just those three>>>

I think thats all for right now, but I'm really enjoying my time here in the Netherlands. Later on today we have an appointment to head to the Goverment over here to go get a picture for my Visa. I got accepts for my visa they just didnt approve my pictures that I sent. And then in two weeks, I get a residence and I can finally get a bank account(as there is something I meant to by before I left the states and forgot, but they ship here to the Nederlands for free) but I digress.