Here in Rotterdam, the sun is shining and the temperature has reached into the upper 50’s and that can only mean one thing: the people are out in droves.  The outdoor seating is filled with people, street musicians are out playing and the masses are stopped to listen.  Now don’t get me wrong, the Dutch were never hidden away for fear of the cold and dreary days.  Quite to the contrary, people are out walking and cycling in all sorts of weather, and, regardless of the weather, they still sit outside to dine thanks to portable heaters and blankets on every seat.  But, there were definitely more people out and the mood was definitely lighter and more celebratory on these “first sign of Spring days.”  In fact, it was almost as if everyone had stopped work early on a recent Friday just to sit around the cafes and restaurants, socialize and soak up the sun (which very well may be the case with the Dutch attitude toward personal and family time).  We were able to join the rest of the city in sitting outside for a meal and enjoying some time in the great outdoors by venturing to a park and checking out these Highland cows and their babies.

Who knows what the weather will bring before Spring and Summer are actually here but flowers are blooming, ducks are coupling up (there are going to be lots of babies soon!), people are out and about and the mood is noticeably lighter.  Bring on Spring!

It’s been several weeks since my last post and some of you may be wondering what we’ve been up to.  The truth of the matter is that, while we live in Europe, it’s not fun and adventure all the time.  Since New Year’s, we’ve just been in the trenches of life for the most part.  The kids have gone back to school and, consequently, we are back to homework and afterschool activities.  Post-holiday work life has resumed as well as the normal household chores.  So, basically, life abroad is just like life in the US!

But, just like I’m sure many of you are doing, we have tried to do a few things to pass the cold, dull winter days.

First, I went to the movie theater (first time here) with some friends.  There were a few things that were a little different than the theater back home.  The main one-we biked there!  It’s not like you have to bike there, but, of course, there is no parking lot at the theater; it’s good old garage or meter parking if you drive so we figured why add to the cost when we could get a little exercise in for free (added bonus-it was sunny that day so we got to enjoy the weather)!  Just like at home, we bought our tickets from a self-service machine, but (and this is my favorite part) the concessions were also self-service (I’m not sure if they always are or if they have people to assist and check you out on weekends when it would be busier).  The concessions look like a small convenience store.  There are displays with candy dispensers.  There is a refrigerated section with drinks (including alcoholic beverages).  There is a salsa bar, an ice cream machine, a bar for wine, a Starbucks counter, an Icee machine and various other snacks.  And then there is the popcorn.  There are different choices like salty, sweet and salty and deluxe as well as different sizes, but they are all already dispensed into buckets and you just open the door to a warmer section and pull out what you want.  And aside from the extra butter that I usually add at the theater back home, it tasted just the same.  After you have made your selections (what, you are having a Smirnoff Ice with your popcorn?? ), you move to a self-checkout machine, scan your items, and pay.  Now you can head to your seat.  And for those wondering, the movie was in English with Dutch subtitles.  They also have movies in Dutch.  The theater was a bit pricier than at home (no matinee pricing) but otherwise very nice.

In addition to the movie outing, our family has gone to several museums (indoor locations being preferable right now).  We went to a couple of modern art museums and a natural history museum as well as a museum focusing on William the Silent (remember when we learned about him way back in the summer and fall when we visited Delft and Dordrecht?) and a museum with works of the Dutch masters such as Rembrandt, Vermeer and Rubens.  We really like the William the Silent museum which is called the Prisenhof.  It had some interesting history and you can see the bullet holes in the wall where William the Silent was assassinated back in the 1500s.  They also had a section on the Delft blue pottery which was nice.  The Dutch Masters museum which is called the Maurithuis was also nice.  It was small but that seemed to be just the right size for younger folks not to lose interest.  We were able to see several well-known works of art including the Girl with the Pearl Earring.

Finally, this past week, we’ve engaged in a little snow time.  There was not a lot of accumulation but enough snow on the ground for the kids to build a snowman and it was cold enough for the canals and the lake to freeze (at least on the surface).  We also had our first experience with biking in the snow.  It wasn’t too bad except for the residential streets that were basically just packed down ice.  I may or may not have taken a tumble when I had to turn the wheel to get out of a car’s way prompting us to instead walk to school the next day.  The beauty of that is that now, in addition to the time we walked in the rain, the kids can also tell their children that they had to walk to school in the snow (and there is a small portion that is uphill though we did not attempt it barefoot!).

So, there you have it.  Nothing too exciting, but we’re still here trying to make the most of our life in The Netherlands even amidst the humdrum days of normal life and cloudy, cold winters.  Here’s hoping Spring is just around the corner (I’ll drink a Smirnoff Ice and eat some popcorn to that)!!

*just for the record, I had coconut flavored water with my popcorn, not Smirnoff Ice-but I could have!

Our typical New Year’s Eve is pretty quiet.  We have spent many New Years doing nothing at all and some hanging out with a small group of friends who generally go home well before midnight.  This year we decided to stay home and have a private party for our family.  We decided to let the kids stay up until midnight for the first time ever as we were informed that there was no way they would be able to sleep through the multitude of explosions at midnight.

To say that the Dutch love their fireworks for New Year’s Eve would be an understatement.  Early in the day on New Year’s Eve, our neighbor came by to warn us about the evening and explain what typically happens in our area.  She said they would be moving their cars to another location as there would be a lot of fireworks in the street out front but since ours’ are in the garage, we would be fine.  Around midday, we biked to the store.  There were tons of people on the street: much more than normal as many were on holiday.  As we were biking away from the store, an explosion went off right in front of the door to the store.  Apparently, grocery storefronts are a popular area for teenage boys to set off fireworks.  After that, we stayed safe inside our house and enjoyed our family party.  We snacked on Dutch food and prepared oliebollen, a fried donut type treat, to have with champagne-a Dutch tradition for New Year.

All evening we could hear fireworks going off and we wisely decided to medicate one of our animals, but there were no scares other than when we were walking upstairs and a firework exploded right in front of our hallway window between our house and the neighbor’s.  As midnight approached, we headed upstairs to see what we could see out of our windows.  We were not disappointed!  At midnight, massive fireworks commenced all around the area.  From our windows, we had a panoramic view that was awesome!

Our animals, however, were less than thrilled.  Even the medicated one was hiding and another urinated all over himself.   We opened our window to lean out and look at the display and one of our neighbors saw us and invited us to come out front.  In the front, many of the neighbors were out walking around and wishing each other a Happy New Year.  They were also setting off large fireworks very close to all of us, the houses and cars.

At times it felt like the sparks were going to rain down on us.  Some of the people were wearing special glasses to protect their eyes from the light, but I think they might have needed protective wear for their ears as the booms and pops were nearly deafening at times.  After watching the show out front, people wandered back inside, and while we were told that there is only a twenty-minute window for setting off the fireworks, the booms continued until 1-2am.  And much like in the US, we continue to hear some each evening.  All in all, it was a festive and fun way to start the new year (dogs, cats, birds and other animals likely disagree) and one of the kids said New Year is a lot more fun here than in the US.  So here’s to bringing 2019 in with a bang (a hopefully safe one)!

Happy New Year from The Netherlands!!

This past week, I had a moment of clarity in which I finally started to know where I am, what direction I’m going and how to navigate my path.  And I’m not talking figuratively, but literally-how to navigate my way through the maze of seemingly identical, twisting streets here in Rotterdam.  Coming from a place where the streets are laid out in a perfect square grid with every turn a right angle, adjusting to Rotterdam, where almost no streets are straight, the buildings all look pretty similar and the name of a street changes every couple of blocks you travel, has been a bit of a challenge.  For the first several months I basically had no idea how to get anywhere unless the GPS was on (and that’s driving, cycling and walking).  But then, suddenly, I recognized where I was and I knew what was further down the road if I kept going or what I would run into if I turned a certain direction.  I knew how to bike to the stores I wanted to get to.  I also successfully took a tram into downtown, got off at the right place, knew when my stop was coming up without looking, wandered around without getting lost and found another tram stop to go the opposite direction back toward home.  And finally, I was able to drive to our weekly violin lesson without needing the GPS.  Now, this may not seem like much to people who are used to navigating new cities or have moved often and had to learn a new town, but for someone who has basically lived in two very easy to navigate towns in their life and who never drives in cities that we visit, this is a big deal.  Now, I can say- I know where I am!

While the Christmas season is fast approaching, the Dutch are already busy celebrating Sinterklaas.  Sinterklaas is similar to Santa (in fact we told our kids that he is his cousin) but he definitely has his own methods and traditions.

In a nutshell, Sinterklaas, who is very tall, skinny, old and stoic, lives in Spain (used to be Turkey) and each year he travels to The Netherlands by steamboat along with his helper, Zwarte Piet, and his horse.  We happened to stumble upon a celebration of the arrival of Sinterklaas a week ago as you can see in these pictures.

Once Sinterklaas arrives, he travels around the country on his horse.  Children leave their shoes by the fireplace (or radiator should you find yourself without a fireplace) and put treats such as carrots and hay in the shoe for Sinterklaas’s horse.  Then the Zwarte Piet comes down the fireplace, collects the treats and leaves a treat for the child such as a small toy or candy.  Two popular food items for children to find in their shoe are kruidnoten, a small spice cookie, and solid chocolate letters, generally the child’s initial.  Children also sing Sinterklaas songs up the fireplace to encourage the visit.  Then on December 5th or 6th, the family gathers for a meal and while they are eating there is a knock at the door.  When the children go to the door, they find a sack of gifts from Sinterklaas.

Now, this sounds like a fun tradition for children and adults alike, but poor old Sinterklaas is not without his controversy.  The trouble is Zwarte Piet is portrayed by white people in blackface, often with exaggerated African features.  Apparently, this goes back to a story that was written in the 1800s in which Sinterklaas arrived with his “helpter” who seemed very much to be a representation of a slave in the Dutch colonies at the time.  Currently, this practice is very emotionally charged here in The Netherlands.  Some Dutch folk say it’s tradition and it’s not meant to be racist, it’s just in good fun for the holiday.  Others say it is racist and that the Piet should either simply be smudged with black smears because they are covered in soot from the fireplace or they should remove the Piet from the holiday altogether.  It is impossible not to stumble upon (often heated) debate on this topic.

In our house, we are trying the Sinterklaas tradition this year, but with a few modifications.  We have talked about the Piet and what that means and we have decided anyone can be a helper-any color, any gender, any size, shape, etc.  Also, we are not putting our shoe out every night for 3 weeks-nobody needs that much junk!  Instead, we put them out 2 times each week.  So far, Sinterklaas has been a fun addition to the holidays and we’ve enjoyed the cultural lesson.  And parents, let me just say that there is as much excitement and anticipation about getting something small or candy on several nights as there is with a big item just one night a year- just in case you were wondering!

We have been recyclers for years.  We collected magazines and catalogs and some school papers as well as plastic jugs and bottles.  We also recycled cardboard, some glass and batteries.  We had bins in our garage for these items and every month or so, we would take paper, cardboard and plastic bottles to a bin up the street and glass and batteries to the recycling center.  I thought we were doing pretty good.  But recycling in The Netherlands is a different game.  It is not mandatory to recycle here though I feel like most people do make an effort (at least around our neighborhood) as the city has made it pretty easy to do.

In my kitchen, I have 4 trash cans-1 is very small right next to the sink for greens (food and plant material).  Then I have one average size trash for actual trash (I also have very small cans for trash in the bathrooms and laundry).  I have two larger ones-one for paper and one for plastics.  Then in the garage, I have a container for glass.  Every Friday, the city comes to the house to collect from large bins that are stored to the side of our house.  One week they come for trash and the next week they come for green waste.  Then once a month, they pick up paper from another large bin.  We are responsible for taking the plastics and glass to recycling locations throughout the city.  Some glass can be recycled inside the grocery store for money back.  In addition, inside some stores, they have bins for recycling lightbulbs and batteries.  There are large bins all over the city for recycling plastics (which now includes plastic items as well as milk boxes and aluminum/tin cans.  In addition, there are bins all over the city for all recycling categories to promote recycling and for people that live in apartments that can’t use home bins.  They even have those bins for recycling clothing, shoes, and home goods for the Salvation Army throughout the city.

As the trash needs to fit into the bin, when we have large items, we have two options.  We can either take the items to a recycling park ourselves and they will tell us which portion of the park it should be sorted into, or we can contact the city to come pick it up.  For example, when we moved in, we had a lot of cardboard.  We went on the city website, scheduled a pickup day and drug all of the cardboard to the end of our driveway.  When I got home from dropping the kids at school, it was gone.  We will have to schedule another pickup soon as we have both cardboard and a broken suitcase that we need to get rid of.

It takes a little extra work to empty four trashes into the bins outside or to haul items to a recycling bin in the city, but we generally don’t have to do it more than once a week.  Our biggest complaint would be that they should have a bin for plastics at the house that they pick up as it seems the majority of our trash is plastic (especially now that it includes milk containers and cans).  I understand that it’s a fairly recent change that allows all of those items in plastics though, so maybe at some point, they will do home pick up.  In the meantime, we just drive our bags to one of the bins every week or two.

The recycling program in The Netherlands seems pretty solid, though I know that they still have discussions about what improvements can be made.  We enjoy recycling our items and don’t feel that it’s too demanding.  And surprisingly, when we have separated plastics, greens, glass and paper out, we have very little actual trash (though we do seem to need a lot of trash bags!).