Falling in Love with Rhenen

I’m liking our little town more and more. We have a windmill, a beautiful old church and steeple, and the Rhine. There are plenty of little shops and restaurants to make the downtown cute and fairly active. There is even a little fountain downtown, which after World Cup wins would overflow with bubbles! There a several buses and even a train station in town, so carless transport is relatively easy. And one of the best zoos in the country is just up the hill. “Up the hill” – that’s a topic for another blog entry.

I suppose it helps that The Basement couldn’t be in a more accessible spot – those shops are a mere 5 minute walk away. The steeple and the Rhine can be seen from the front of the house. Take a short walk, and we can be mooing with the cows, baaing with the sheep, and neighing with the horses in their fields, or giggling with the teenagers at the beach. Riding the bike a short ways, and we are following a path along the Rhine. The Rhine!

Dan asks me from time to time, “Do you know you're living in Europe?” Yes, I do, and Rhenen is good place to live in Europe.

Hup Holland Hup…in 2010

The Netherlands advanced from the group stage to the knockout stage, but had to face Portugal, a rival they have trouble beating. It was an exciting game to watch (we joined 95% of Holland and WATCHED the game last night!), with 26 shots by Holland. Sometimes it resembled an ice hockey game, with 16 yellow cards, and 4 red cards served, and at other times, a made-for-TV-movie, with the faked injuries and players using their Drama 101 skills (badly). But Holland couldn’t come through. Portugal’s loan goal was enough to advance them to the round of 8 and to send Holland home.

On our way home, there were no honking horns or festivities. And now the oranje banners and streamers decorating all the houses will come down.

Game 4 – Portugal 1 Netherlands 0
Game 3 – Netherlands 0 Argentina 0
Game 2 – Netherlands 2 Ivory Coast 1
Game 1 – Serbia and Montenegro 0 Netherlands 1

Language Lesson Part IV: Finding Teachers in Unexpected Places Continued

Sorry, folks, Blogger isn't too happy with my post today, so I'm splitting this post into two in hopes that the smaller size will satisfy him. Here are 4-6...start below if you haven't read 1-3 and the introduction!


4. Go to a church that has translation. From singing familiar worship songs that have been translated from English to Dutch to hearing prayers and sermons translated side-by-side, it’s great way to pick up a lot of vocabulary and hear the rhythm of the language. And there are other benefits, too.

5. Find people who don’t have much sympathy for my language handicap. One day, I called the hospital and started off, “Do you speak English?” “Yes,” she replied, “and you speak some Dutch?” “Yes, een bietje,” I answered. This unexpected language teacher had a plan. “OK, then, you speak Dutch and I answer in English. Otherwise you never learn.” “OK,” I said, and then began to explain my situation in Dutch. I even got an answer from her that related to my question, so I must have said something correctly.

6. Just speak, and find language teachers just about anywhere. OK, I know how to say an awful lot. If I just speak, I get the practice. And if I get the practice, I get better. And just about anybody I’ve met as the patience to try to understand what I mean. So I must get this through my head!

Language Lesson Part IV: Finding Teachers in Unexpected Places

I’ve taken a little break from worrying too much about learning Dutch. Things like, oh, finding a place to live, getting status here, and zwangerschap have taken priority. However, I’m getting back on track. And here is partly how I’m doing it:

1. Find a husband with an amazing ability in language. (Thankfully, I only had to look as far as the one I already have.) Dan is incredible! He keeps learning and absorbing words at such a fast rate. A lot of his learning has come from reading legal documents for our quest to get our status resolved, want ads for apartments, and talking to the people in the office. So his word bank complements mine quite well, which is based largely on Dr. Phil and Oprah shows and trips to the grocery store. (I, for instance, know how to say “My mother-in-law eats red peppers.” Dan could say, “I need to rent this apartment. Do you have an application?” Therefore, together we can say, “My mother-in-law needs an application to rent red peppers.”)

2. Read the want ads. Latest vocabulary addition? Kooi. This is from two want ads at the grocery store: hamsterkooi and vogelkooi. I knew from a trip to a bird park that bird is “vogel”. I think we all know what a “hamster” is. So kooi, we deduced, is a cage!

3. Move somewhere where there aren’t a lot of foreigners. In Rotterdam, it was hard to find someone who refused to speak English. Here, whew! At the question “Spreekt u engels?” I’ve had people start gasping for air, run away from me, and just simply say, "NO". (Funny thing is, NO isn’t Dutch.) Well, that means I better speak nederlands if I need to figure something out!

Lost in Translation

Today, our landlady asked me if I would like to go to the dump to look for things for the baby.

[Insert inquisitive pause here.]

Thankfully, from a previous conversation, I knew she was referring to something like an outlet store.

Life at the Office - Football Break

It’s not quite like being nearly trampled during a lunch hour rush to play soccer, but the three guys in the office today are burning off their brownies with a nice round of “kick the football”. Preparation (mental, at least) for tomorrow’s game against Argentina, I suppose.

I can only imagine how productive everyone will be tomorrow around 9 p.m.

Hup, hup Holland.

Did you know - hup translates as "hop." Makes almost as much sense to me as hip, hip hooray.

Hup Holland Hup

No need to watch the real-time updates of Dutch World Cup football matches. Just wait until the hoards of orange-clad fans come streaming out of pubs, homes, and gardens, whooping, hollering, and blaring their horns. Then you know they won.

Not sure what happens when they lose.

Game 2 - Netherlands 2 Ivory Coast 1
Game 1 - Serbia and Montenegro 0 Netherlands 1

Hup Holland Hup!

Zwanger Moments I

Dinner tonight was with a Dutch woman, mother of four, who knows very well that I am zwanger.

I was offered lunch meat for an appetizer (listerosis), wine with dinner (alcohol), and coffee (caffeine) afterwards. The way different cultures approach zwangerschap is fascinating! I've never been zwanger in the States, but it seems like over yonder there is a lot more concern over what to eat and what not to eat during zwangerschap .

Based on the facts that Dan and I are both still wide awake at midnight, the blazing speed at which I'm churning out e-mails and blog entries, and the general hyperactivity of Little One as well, I don't think that coffee was decaf...ha! decaf coffee in Holland. That's a good one.

Care Packages

My infatuation with food continues. Or should I say, Little One’s ability to keep Mom as hungry as a teenage boy continues.

Today we received a most welcome surprise, a care package! Since we’ve been here, we’ve received a few – three from people flying here and one sent especially to alleviate my first-trimester eating woes. I have to say, there is just nothing like receiving a box full goodies that are unattainable here.

I’m still working on the Mac ‘n’ Cheese, Cheerios, and Mt. Dew from earlier shipments. And the newest care package contains such prized possessions as cheesecake mix with a GRAHAM CRACKER crust, gravy packets, and more Cheerios. (I’m now in a Cheerios-induced paradise, since this latest box reduces my need to ration dramatically. I think I will go have a bowl now.)

It made me think about what other American expats have mentioned really missing – food wise, especially. Some of my favorites, including where the expat expat-ed to: maple syrup – Germany; peanut butter – Moldova; cheese – China; blueberries – China; breakfast cereal – Taiwan and Holland, chocolate cake – Holland; chocolate chip cookies – Holland; minced garlic-in-a-jar - Holland; Jack Daniels – Holland.

And then I began thinking, what are those things we miss from the places we’ve been? From his childhood in Taiwan, Dan misses the Chinese noodles, mangoes, and the general ability to get authentic Chinese food. He missed Magnum ice creams bars after his trips to Hong Kong and his summer in Europe. From my summers in Taiwan and Moldova, I miss the abundance of fruit. We miss Andy’s pizza, goat cheese, and cheese cake bars from Moldova. And if we leave Holland, we'll miss the cheese, stroopwafels, and chocolate.

So, I guess there is a lesson here – enjoy what you have when you have it. And when you don’t have it, import!

Oreos

The big news here in Holland is that Oreos are available! Packaged in Britian, and as tasty and the ones we found in Spain. Had we known, we could have sacrificed the Oreos we brought back from Spain and taken more Chinese noodles, Cream of Chicken soup, or Cheerios. Oh well, we comforted ourselves by seeing that we saved 10 cents by buying them in Spain.

Hup Holland

World Cup fever can't be quite as bad here as it is in neighboring Germany. Nonetheless, the Dutch fans are decked out in their beloved oranje, and stores are selling crazy orange hats, orange sashes, orange streamers, orange banners, orange balloons, orange flags, and other random orange World Cup fan trinkets. If Holland does well in their difficult bracket, I can only imagine how the hype will escalate.

Hup Holland!
Hup USA, too!

What on earth does hup mean?

Golden Arches

Since moving to Rhenen, I haven’t seen (of course, I haven’t been looking, either) a McDonald’s or a Burger King that I can get to without boarding a train. I did see someone with a Burger King bag at the bus station in the nearby “big” town, but I don’t know where the restaurant actually is.

Today, however, cresting the hill near the A15, I spotted the Golden Arches. Bicycle accessible and only 7 km from Rhenen! I figure a 14 km round trip bike ride to have an air conditioned place, some American “culture”, more than 250 ml of Coke at a time, and a hamburger without beets and fried eggs on it is worth it.


Photo courtesy of my dad, whose second attempt at a hamburger in Holland was as interesting as his first.

The American Couple Now Needs Friends

We’ve been in our new town for 1 month now. We’ve attended our new church, which is a 30-45 minute bike ride away (30 for Dan, 45 for me!), three times. We are meeting people who attend the church, interacting with people at the office, and maintaining contact with our friends from other parts of the country. But we live far enough away from those people that we are still quite isolated.

The problem is, our new town just doesn’t have an abundance of expats and we don’t know of any social groups or other ways to meet Dutch people. We’ve looked at city hall for groups, I’ve torn apart expat sites looking for anyone who is writing that might be from nearby, we’ve been in contact with a couple families here but things aren’t clicking very fast. (One man said, “I would invite you for coffee, but my English is not so good.” Despite our attempts to convince him that between our poor Dutch and his decent English, it could work, clearly that was end of possible relationship #1.) We’ve asked people we know from other parts of the country if they know people in Rhenen. Despite these efforts, no fruit. So here is the plan I’m proposing:

Plan B: Advertise at the grocery store: normally, a quite popular way to sell bicycles, furniture, etc. Our advertisement would read quite simply: “Wanted: Friendship. Two Americans, new to Rhenen, need a few friends. Call 06-xxxx-xxxx.” Any ideas how much I should be willing to PAY?

Plan C: Advertise in THE newspaper again. “The American Couple found a home. Now they need friends. They prefer that the proposed friends live in or very close to Rhenen or have car and are willing to do most of the transport.”

Plan D: On a nice day, I will go to one of the outdoor cafes that line the main street, find a couple who look to be in our age range, and sit down with them. I thought about doing this yesterday as I passed by a young-ish couple at the swanky restaurant near our house. But I didn’t think I would be able to get my overloaded grocery cart up the stairs or that it would fit very well under their table. And my chicken might have started to smell…

The really funny thing is, I know our situation isn’t very different than what a lot of Americans go through in America. Certainly, there are limitations we encounter here that wouldn’t be problems in the States. Nonetheless, I know there are a lot of isolated or lonely people in America and a lot of people wondering how to form friendships. What is it about our Western lives that cause us to be so isolated and make relationships so difficult to find?

P.S. If you are reading this and you live in Rhenen, you are my Plan A! Please comment!

Customer Service

1. Hum through lips, causing them to vibrate.
2. Lift index finger to lips, continuing to hum.
3. Move index finger up and down from top lip to bottom lip, continuing to hum.

That’s us after a session with Dutch “customer service”.

Customer un-service is a favorite topic of conversation among expats, whether over dinner or in on-line forums. Even the editor of Expatica, in a recent subscriber newsletter, commented on the gumption it takes to call any customer service number here and the necessary recovery time one must take after each experience.

So, if you’ll excuse me now, I must go recover from my most recent customer service experience.

Have the Cats Adjusted?

Have the cats adjusted to their 5th home in 18 months? I’m sure it’s your burning question, so I’ll answer it. Yes, I dare say they have.

I say this based on the empirical evidence that their habits and customs are similar here in The Basement to what they were like in Birmingham, The Attic, and two other assorted, un-named living places:

Every morning we wake up to stuffed toys scattered throughout the living room and hallway. Culprit: Madeline, who takes them out of the toy basket and meows as she carries them to Spot X. She started this as a kitten and continues to do it wherever we reside.

We are greeted by a cat, perched on the stairway, whenever we exit the bathroom. Culprit: Abby, who bats her paw at us if we ignore her in our passing. She began this perching ritual a few years ago, moving her perch from dresser to cabinet to stairs, depending on the most convenient place in the home.

For both cats, it takes some time to “warm-up” to the new home and begin the ritual again, so it is always nice to see perched cat and stuffed animals throughout the house after a move.

Also, they both still "me-eh-eh-eh" at birds through the windows, wishing for an extra meal, even though they haven’t a clue what to do with even a housefly. They both found new favorite spots (when our laps aren’t available) and go there after their morning and evening meals. They still cuddle up together, get excited at the rattle of the treat bag, and have their playful times. All in all, they’re both quite the same cats as they were in Birmingham, their first adoptive home.

Zwangerschap Dreams

I woke up with my first “I’m zwanger” panic attack a few days ago. Funny that it had nothing to do with the concerns about being zwanger and becoming a moeder I would have expected, though, like “Will I wake up when the baby is crying” (as in, I've been known sleep through fire alarms...more than once) or “I have to give BIRTH?!?!” (as in, I have to give birth).

It had a lot more to do with navigating the differences between the Dutch and the American approach to zwangerschap and moederschap (OK, I don’t know if moederschap is a real word, but it sounds good.) This expat-zwangerschap-panic-attack-nightmare was founded on my deeply embedded and highly important concerns of giving birth while the midwife refused to speak English to me, trying to convert grams to ounces so I knew how much the baby weighed, and not knowing how to use the Dutch stollers/prams/buggies/kinderwagens.