An oldfashioned concept, modernized.

When I was a growing up in the States it was just dead normal to dry your clothes on the line. I always loved the smell of sheets and towels after they had hung on the line all day. It smelled like sunshine. Sadly, unless you live out in the country, it is next to impossible to even be allowed to hang your laundry outside. Forget about trying to put them on a balcony in an appartment or in your back yard in a subdivision with HOA rules and regulations. No one cares anymore about fresh smelling sheets and such only about not wanting to see your skivvies hanging on the line, in your own yard (or on the balcony) where you pay your property taxes, morgage or rent.

It is quite the opposite in The Netherlands. You may be considered wasteful if you put all of your laundry in the dryer. It uses up costly energy and you can make free use of the sun and wind to dry your things. In the winter or on  cold and rainy days you can make double use of your heat indoors by hanging your clothes to dry. Its just down right economical! Its also made easy to do over here.

While I rarely see a clothes line (my downstairs neighbor actually has one) there are several different "drying racks" made available.. No matter where you live, you have a way to hang your clothing to dry. No excuses!

If you have a yard there is a fold up "drying mill" (sorry, no picture) that stands in a hole in the ground. It opens like an inverted umbrella, only square with line stretched between all four sides. There are also fold out standing racks (again, no picture) that you can use indoors or outdoors. I have one that fits on my balcony but it is kind of bulky. Which brings me to yesterdays purchace. Drying racks that hang on things!!

I can hang this one on my balcony or on a door. It is big enough to hold a couple of loads of clothes. I can also hang it over the railing that keeps me from falling out of the bedroom down into the living room. 

I still dont like hanging my unmentionables out for the world to see so I found a smaller one that is very convient to hang...........

On a radiator or.............

 also on the back of a door!!

I dont even own a dryer and do not plan on buying one. I feel like it would only make me lazy and I love that now spring is here and summer is coming. My clothing will all be smelling like SUNSHINE!

Spring......

Spring is here!! I know this not because of the beautiful weather for the last couple of days but by the apperance of buds on plants and BABIES!! I also know this by the abudance of dead ducks on the side of the road that they are on the make like a hormonal teen and just fly right out in front of a car chasing the gal down for a little action. Of course I wont show you a picture of the dead ducks but I will show you a picture of BABIES!!

I love spring in The Netherlands. All the new life and activity. We have a lot of wldlife that you can just come across while you are walking down the road. I will be definately on the lookout for baby ducks and swans this spring but for now I have spotted the first of the spring lambs just right down the road from me. This field full of mamas and babies looks like this farmer hit the jackpot with twins this year. 

Mama and babies haveing a mid afternoon nap

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The day after I spotted the lambs in the field I saw a clip on television over a sheep farmer and what his life is like during the 6 weeks that his 60+ sheep are "lambing". This old guy has a makeshift bed that is raised above the floor of the barn where he sleeps for that 6 weeks. His old crippled big hands are no longer fit to help a mama sheep out that may be having problems so his wife, who used to assist in human births, does this bit of work for him. I found it all pretty interesting. I also have much respect for these farmers who make sure we have something cute to watch as they grow up running and jumping around in the fields. I'll try not to mention growing up to become yummie food in a year...really, I'll try hard not to.

Yeah, I guess I didnt succeed.  I am just glad that when they do go to slaughter they dont look like these little darlings anymore.

                                     

Enjoying the afternoon sun     

                

I am excited about spring and think I will take a nice afternoon walk on this beautiful day.

Have a beautiful spring day everyone!     

Starting Over

Starting over in The Netherlands is pretty much the same as if you have to do it in the States. You either keep everything you had from your old life or you take what is important to you and leave the rest behind. In my case, if I was in the States I would have my family and a whole network of really good friends. In the Netherlands I have a small network of really good friends. Thank goodness for them and especially my Dutch bestie Arno. He and his lovely girlfriend Anke will get a great Thanksgiving dinner this year. Most of you reading this will know that I will be just fine on my own. I am a big strong willed gal who definately can take care of herself. Now on with a new start.

Shutting the door to my "in-between" dwelling and to my old life.

This one had to be shut, locked and the keys are in the mailbox for the landlord. The door to my old life is shut!

You know what they say. When one door closes another one opens.

The view from the (balcony) door of my new life.

Now...one of those things that I left behind was an oven. A Southern gal with out an oven is a disaster indeed. However, I still need to paint and put in flooring in my appartment so until I do that I wont be running out for a new oven. I did however take the microwave so I could have some way of heating up some grub for myself. That only took once to think "Yuck, I want fresh food". So I went out today and found myself a little table top grill.

Cute little thing, isnt it?

I can grill with it closed for small meals or....

It opens up flat for bigger meals. I can actually feed company a healthy meal with this thing.

Speaking of healthy, it will help with losing weight because I wont be trying to fix pasta, rice or taters with this thing. Fish and seafood and yummie veggies it is.

Tonights menu....Scallops and Shrimp with grilled courgette, mushrooms and onion slices.

Now off for a nice spring walk in my new neighborhood. I better not forget my camera!!

Old fashioned ways

The Netherlands is still pretty much an old fashioned country. The shops all close at 6pm. The grocery stores usually stay open until 8pm. There is usually one evening a week that everything stays open until 9pm. Every holiday is a bank holiday and Sundays are still sacred. The sidewalks dont completely roll up though. The restaurants and bars are open on Sundays, holidays and until late in the evening. The bars can stay open until 2am if they choose and on Saturday night there is a 2/6 rule. The bars stay open until 6am but cannot let anyone in after 2.

We still have butchers and bakers. We have produce stores and fish markets. Cheese shops and various specialty stores. You will not find a Wal-mart here.

I know some of my friends remember things in the States being this way and I think they probably were even when I was young. Getting used to this way of life has been nice. It really isnt a rat race here. 

One thing I remember hearing about in the States but never actually saw was the collecting of "green stamps". A practice that is long gone where you collected the stamps and could redeem them for items. That practice, or somithing similar still happens in the Netherlands and I love it!!

My favorite grocery store had a promotion recently where with every 10 euro spent you recieved a stamp. 15 stamps made a full card. A full card gets you about 75% off a really nice knife. The set has 5 knives, a steel, a knife block and a cutting board. I completed my set on the day I moved into my new place.

 I just love that block and cutting board.

Nice complete set of blades for me!

I didnt have to actually earn my stamps by buying all those groceries. A friend of mine saved hers for me and I was standing at checkout one day and the lady in front of me handed me about 45 out of her wallet. It was enough to complete my cards for my set and I have passed on any extras to someone who was standing in line behind me that could use them.

The Housing Process. Its a long one and so is this blog!!

Renting a place to live in The Netherlands differs greatly from the US. In the States there is pleanty of affordable housing. Here there is way more people than houses. Younger people ready to leave home and move out on their own, people with roomates that want to break away from the situation or people, like myself, who winds up getting divorced. Those are just a few examples of people looking for housing that I can think of off the top of my head. Of the latter, someone has to move. That is exactly what I did about a year and a half ago.

I was lucky enough to hear of someone who was renting an (privately owned) appartment that he actually wasnt living in but needed to keep the place in his name. A friend of mine is this guys employer and she negotiated on my behalf and I was offered the place at a really good rate, after all, it was helping us both out. I had a roof over my head until I came up on the "list" of the social housing process and he could re-coup some of his money each month. I jumped at the chance. In this appartment I have a neighbor who shares the entryway and hall. He also shares the toilet (I do have my own shower).This can lead to some interesting situations as I have gone to the toilet and just after unlocking the door it came open and there stood my very nekkid neighbor. He screamed like a girl and I had a laughing fit for about 10 minutes. He is a little hard of hearing and didnt hear me in there. The other thing that happens occasionally is if he has had one too many and has to "go" in the middle of the night he tends to NOT hit the bowl. Thank goodness I grew up with boys and learned to look before squatting or this could have lead to a rash of profanities as that is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. The last 15 months have been interesting, to say the least but it was what I needed to do while I waited to climb the "list".

You can get housing here one of three ways, buy, which is expensive, rent from a private individule, which is also very expensive or "sign up" for social housing, which is controlled by the government (basically) and is much more affordable. The latter can take a good long time. I have been signed in since Sept. 2009. What happens is you sign in and start earning points. You recieve 1 point everyday that you are signed in, 5 points for every house you apply for and 365 points for applying for a house in your preferred area. You preferred area has to be the city or village that you are registered in. In my case that is Waarland, where I lived with my ex. You can apply for up to three houses every 2 weeks. The key is at first to apply for every house you possibly can to build up those points. After awhile you will be higher on the list of applicants for certain houses because of your point level. You want to eventually be number 1 on that list so when your points start getting high you have to be more careful about applying for a house in an area where you dont want to live because if you apply and deny you lose some points, do that 3 times in one year and you loose ALL points that you have built up. However, you dont always have to be number 1 on the list. My ex and I were number 3 when we got our house. People apply to build up points, hence my point earlier...you have to be careful about applying for houses where you dont want to live. At this point, however, when I apply for a house it is in an area where I dont mind living. I applied for a house on Dec. 10 2010 and saw after 2 weeks that I was number 14 on the list of applicants. No way was that one mine. In the last week of Jan. 2011, I got a phone call from the housing company about just that house and was I interested. Of course I was, I didnt really need to go look at it but I did anyway. There is a LOT of work to be done, but I accepted it. The work brings me to my second big difference.

In the States, you rent an appartment and it has some kind of flooring....wood, pergo, carpet, ect. The walls are painted a neutral color and it has the basic appliances, i.e stove and fridge, sometimes even a diswasher. It always has heat and depending on where you live, airconditioning, usually central.

In The Netherlands central heating is always there, no airconditioning (not really needed here) BUT you have to either live with the color choices of the former resident and the flooring of their choice IF they didnt yank it out of there. While kitchen cabinets and a sink are included, appliances are not. In the case of my new appartment, the colors are horrible and someone ripped out the flooring. So it is re-decoration time for me!!

Below are some before pictures. After pictures will be a future blog.

 The kitchen, while very small, has brand new cabinets, sink and counter top.

 The livingroom (and Arnos head) with some really ugly green paint. I love green and one of my walls will be green, just not this puke color. I have since stripped the wallpaper in this room.

 Looking up into the bedroom from the livingroom. Notice the two different colors of red. The wallpaper on the ends would be acceptable, even pretty but the shiny paint in the middle iis really bad. Both just simply have to go.

 Balcony. I am sooooooooooo happy to have a place to sit outside with my morning coffee or my evening glass of spirits. It's small, but that is fine by me!

 The hall, coming in the front door. That red wallpaper again. Actually pretty, but old and faded in places so it iis going. Since the appartment is pretty much open it will be one color scheme throughout.

 Shower area of the bath..actually a wet room with a sink and toilet. Kind of reminds me of a girls locker room shower at school! To the left (you cant see it) is my very own toilet that I dont have to share with anyone (except the occasional invited guest) !!!!!

 Bathroom sink and that thing to the right is the "central heating". That is also where the hot water comes from. You can pretty much stand under the shower all day and never lose hot water. But since the hot water is going to the shower none is going to the radiators so if you do that your house is going to be pretty chilly after your all day shower!!

 Hall from the stairs going to the bedroom. Left door is bathroom, right door is storage that runs behind the bathroom. Pretty big storage. I was suprised!

 Bedroom. See what I mean about the two different red colors. TACKY!! Comes complete with orbs as well! I am glad they took out the flooring as I found proof of carpet upstairs and I hate carpet. It houses dust mites that shed cells and pooh both of which I am allergic to!!

Looking downstairs from the bedroom. Arno was already attacking the wallpaper for me. What a guy!!

I now have my keys, am registered with the "county" at this address. Internet, cable and telephone is ordered. Gas, electric and water has been switched over to my name. On Feb 28. Arno and some other burly guys are going to help me move the rest of my belongings in and I can finally get on with the rest of my life and get the hell out of limbo, where I have felt like I have been living for the last 15 months.

I hope you all enjoyed  and didnt get the headache that I could sometimes get while going through this process. It is over and no more headache for me....or maybe so.....I have lots and lots of stuff to do!!!

Work and the Holidays

At some point during the Christmas Season your employer will usually plan a time for a party of some sort. This can range from a cocktail party with snacks to a full blown dinner or any and everything in between. Usually at this time the employees are given a "kerstpakket" or Christmas Package. These usually come in a decorative box , although I did get one one year that was a carry on suitcase. They mostly consist of snack type foods, coffee or tea, a bottle of something fun and depending on the theme of the contents, something you can use year round. I got one last year from my ex-employer with an italian dinner theme with all the makings for spaghetti, complete with pasta plates.

I have worked for my current employer in various positions for going on 6 years now and Miranda is very good at putting together her own packages while most companies buy them pre-made from a company over here. She loves doing it and takes pride in her creations. Last year our company went to the ice skating rink and our packages were a nice pan filled with the ingredients for a "stampot borenkool" consisting of a potato masher, potatoes, curly kale and smoked sausage. A really nice traditional dutch cold weather dish.

 This year however, our restaurant/hotel was very busy and she simply did not have the time to shop and put together around 25 or so packages so, for the first time ever, they ordered them. This morning we had a nice brunch together and recieved our Christmas packages. This years package consited of various candies, cookies, a cookie tin, chips, nuts crackers, shrimp spread, a bottle of water and a bottle of wine. There is also a cute little reindeer and a really cool kitchen clock. At least I think it needs to go in the kitchen with those spoons and forks its made out of.

I hope my family and friends have had a wonderful Christmas season and I am wishing a wonderful 2011 for you all!

The Good Sint

November is a fun month for the kiddies and the young at heart. Around the middle of the month Sinterklaas comes to The Netherlands to celebrate his birthday on Dec.5. This year he arrived on Nov 17.

Sint (as we call him) travels with his "Zwarte Piets" by steam boat from Turkey. His arrival is a very big event and he is always welcomed with a parade and lots of singing. He brings a big book of names of all the boys and girls and can look in that book to see what they have been up to all year. One year the Piets lost the book!! It was almost a disaster, but they found it just in the nick of time.

After getting off the boat Sint rides around Holland on his beautiful white horse "Amerigo" and the Piets walk along with him, taking care of all of The Good Sints needs. They are pretty much his personal assistants. The Piets also give candy and "pepernoten" (a very small nut formed ginger cookie) to everyone they see. I wouldnt want to act bad in fron of a Piet though, as you are likely to end up stuffed in a bag and taken kicking and screaming back to Turkey to learn how to be good! Sint arrived in my city today. He first went to the shopping center and talked to and sang songs with the childeren. He also did a question and answer session. I didnt stay long as I needed to get to work and it was very busy in the shopping center. I did stay long enough to hear one very adorable question from a child......

"Sinterklaas, how old are you"?

Sint couldnt really answer with a year number but he told us that he is older than "ALL the grandmothers". I imagine that is pretty dang old considering that all grandmothers also had grandmothers who also had grandmothers and so forth. WOW, that is one old, still going strong dude!! The Piets pretty much thought the same thing!

Obivously not every child and their parents can fit into the shopping center so Sint also comes to Markt 15, where I work, to have a little get together there. The childeren all sit on the floor in front of him and you wouldnt believe the looks of amazement on their faces. He then calls a child up and pulls him/her onto his lap and talks with them. He always asks the child what song they want to sing and all the childeren sing along. It is just too cute. Today he called Jerome, age 5 (a child of one of my co-workers) and told him how he had seen him swimming on Wednesday and how very proud he was of his swimming. The only thing Jerome could say was "Ja" (yes). Too stinkin adorable. The Piets generally pick childeren at random but Sint called Jerome out by name. I think that will be a cherished memory for him for years to come.

Jerome and Sinterklaas

The childeren had a wonderful time today and will be waiting for Sinterklaas's birthday Dec.5 when they set their shoes out and the Zwarte Piets fill them with treats.

You see, Christmas here is Jesus birthday and a very religious holiday. The Dutch do not generally do the gift under the tree thing. Instead on December 5, we all get together, have hot chocolate and lots of sweet treats and do what we call "pakjesavond" or little gift evening. It sometimes includes a couple of big gifts or a whole bunch of small ones. It usually always includes a poem about the gift and what the meaning behind it is. The gifts are officially from Sint and the Piets but you can usually guess where they really came from.

Here is a link to the Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas page of Wikipedia on Sinterklass