Same Difference

10 things I've noticed about life here:

1)  Everyone wears shoes inside the house.  Because the town is so small, and there is no mud (everything is either stone or asphalt), shoes don't really get dirty.  They might get a little wet, but nothing a small rug can't handle.  This is also really handy, since all of the girls and women wear boots.  I don't think I have seen anyone in sneakers or shoes.
2)  There are no fans in the bathroom.
3)  The driver's door on cars only locks with a key.  That way, you never get locked out of your car.
4)  Neutral colours (black, grey, whites and shades of brown) are by far the most common for clothing.  Everything looks OK together, and you can make a lot of different outfits out of a few pieces of clothing.
5)  Bikes are cool.  Men ride bikes with baskets, in their suits.  More on bikes later...
6)  Actually, one more about bikes.  Bike insurance is just as important as car insurance.  We just got 3 yrs. worth of insurance for our bikes.
7)  Houses are heated with radiant heating, which is really nice for drying and warming towels.
8)  The weather is always changing, but it's never too bad for too long, and no one talks about it.- EDIT: apparently the Dutch DO talk about the weather a lot.  I guess the only Dutch people I have spoken with so far are Martin's family and good friends, and we talk about more personal things than weather.
9)  They have systems in place that issue automatic speeding tickets in certain areas.
10)  Here, we have two Christmas days.  The 25th is referred to as "the first Christmas day" an the 26th is the "second Christmas day."  Handy, eh?