Dutch Clean

The week I first moved here, there were some things I expected to find around the house, but couldn't.  One of the first was a broom for sweeping our kitchen and living area (the whole main floor is hardwood and tile.)  Martim assured m that he had one, but it was an old outdoor-style broom, with curled bristles.  Something like this (but after about 10 years of use)

I insisted that we go shopping for a broom.  I wanted a proper kitchen broom with angled bristles... the kind that is good for getting in the corners and under the cabinets.  Despite our disagreement about the importance if this, Martin took me out to look for a broom.  We went out to all the home and kitchen shops and department stores (at least 6 of them), and I was shocked to discover that all I could find was the outdoor-type of broom.  I couldn't find my angled kitchen broom anywhere, and I couldn't figure out why, so I decided that the old, curly outdoor broom would have to do until I solved this mystery.

At the same time, I was noticing that there was no carpet on the main floor of any house I had been in here, and their floors were always clean.  I'm sure that part of this is the fact that "you notice the imperfections more in your house than others", but I knew that there was more to it than that.

A few weeks later, I noticed a sound coming from the neighbours... I heard this sound at least 3-5 times a week, for about 5-10 minutes at a time, and it would come from both neighbours houses.   The vacuum!  People don't sweep here because they vacuum ALL the time!  But the nice thing is that it only takes 5-10 minutes to vacuum the whole level.

I still haven't found my nice angled kitchen broom, but I have embraced the vacuum.  It is fast, it means no need for the annoying dust pan that always seems to attract dust with static electricity, and it sucks the dust up instead of just moving it around (oddly enough, the direct translation for a vacuum cleaner in Dutch is "dust sucker.)

I had a doctor's appointment a couple days ago.  (Let me point out that it is fall, so there are piles of decomposing leaves on the sidewalks, and it rains almost every day.)  I walked into the doctor's office with a stroller (after walking to the office).  The office had dark blue carpet.  At the end of the appointment, as I was walking out, I noticed a strange look on the doctor's face.  I then followed his eyes... he was looking ah the tracks I had left all over the floor, and he said: "well, I guess I have to vacuum now."  I apologized, and felt very embarassed, and as I left, I saw him go find a vacuum cleaner, and I heard that all-familiar noise (the vacuum) coming from his office.

Never, in Canada, would an office be vacuumed between patients.  And never, in Canada, would the doctor, himself, do the vacuuming.

If you hear the term "Dutch clean", I would say you should believe it.

Balloon fiesta

 I feel like a real Barnevelder now.  I've experienced the annual "Balloon Fiesta".  This is four days where they launch a LOT of hot air balloons from the park each evening.  Here is what it looks like from around the neighbourhood:

And on Saturday, we went to the fiesta (or festival).  Martin wasn't thrilled about going, but I wanted to go, just to experience it, at least once.  We sat in the bleachers, and watched hot air balloons inflate, and take-off, while listening to an announcer give a play-by-play on the status of the balloons.  Ha!

If you look closely, you might see something a little unusual here:

Yes, these are people jumping out of the baskets!

Parachuting down, with orange smoke coming from their ankles...

And a small, hand-held balloon that we could touch... this is the backside of a bee.

I now understand why Martin wasn't thrilled about going, but I'm glad I got to go!  AND the best part was after dusk... the "lazer show".  They had 7 big balloons, and 6 or 7 small balloons set up, and "anchored" (with human weight, I believe) to the ground, as well as lazers set up around the park.  Anyone who knows how much I love lights may understand how much I enjoyed this part!  It was such a creative display!  I *think* the lights were supposed to be choreographed with the music, but I guess it's difficult when the sources are massive engines that are run by people who can't communicate with each other, and likely don't practise together.

That's a "woody woodpecker" hot air balloon in the middle... he came from Brazil to be part of this fiesta!

This certainly doesn't capture the experience, but it may give you a taste.  So cool!  I later discovered that they have done the lazer show for 29 years, and they have used the same music... for 29 years.  I really don't feel the need to go back again anytime soon, but I'm glad I got to exierience it :)

Dutch food options

Since finding rice krispies, ketchup chips and cottage cheese, I have managed to find pretty much everything that I have gone looking for.  The only exception is marble cheese, but there are so many other cheese options that I only think about marble cheese occasionally.

At first, I noticed a lot of things that I couldn't find here, but now I'm discovering some things that I don't think are commonly found in Canada.

Bacon.  Yes, a good Canadian girl would notice bacon.  At first I couldn't find bacon here... at least not the thin, salty pieces of bacon that you fry and eat for breakfast, or add to your burger.  However, here, we have something that I think is even better:

Pre-cut little pieces of bacon... ready to be fried up, then added to your potatoes, eggs, soup or salad.  They're the perfect bacon bits... just the right size to add some flavour, but not so much that it's overwhelming.  These bacon bits also come in the perfect size of package.  Use one or two packages, based on the size of meal.  But no need to seal up the bacon and put it back in the fridge to be finished later.  Also, no need to try to cut raw strips of bacon!  Delightful!

Secondly, spreadable cheese, or "smeerkaas" is exactly that.  Cream cheese (or roomkaas) out of the fridge is easily spreadable, brie comes in a spreadable form (just a little thicker than flower honey)- perfect to put on small slices of a baguette.  Speaking of spreads, more than just cheese, this country has a HUGE variety of other things to spread on crackers or little pieces of baguettes.  Tapenades: pesto, herb and garlic butter, sundried tomato... so many great spreads to put on crackers or bread!

More on language

Most people here speak English... which has taken some pressure off me, so I felt like I could really try to adjust to a new home, new culture, and new people, before needing to learn and get by with a new language.

Now that my life feels much more "normal" (or maybe it's me that feels more normal), I find myself noticing, following and being a little more confident with the Dutch language.  I still have a very limited vocabulary, but I feel like a two-year-old, who keeps repeating words, and asking "what does this mean?", as I'm trying to learn new words each day.  I think this is a good exercise for my brain!

One thing that has surprised me is that I think I have learned some Dutch grammar by noticing some mistakes Dutch people have made when they speak English.  When a Dutch person makes a grammatical mistake in English, it's often because they are translating word-for word.  I know this is frustrating for some Dutch people who are trying to improve their English, but it's actually helpful for me, as it highlights some of the grammatical differences between our languages.

Two significant and notable differences are the way you address people, and nouns that have genders.  The word "you" is translated differently, based on your relationship with the person or people.  "U" is used to address people in a formal relationship, or elders.  "Je" is used to address friends or kids.  I'm still working on differentiating between these situations (for example, which do you use with a cashier at the supermarket?  What about a waitress that's serving you?)  I'm also working on pronouncing them clearly... apparently my "uw" and "je" sound almost the same.  I think in English, we use a much lazier "u"... to make the "uw" sound here, I think you actually have to purse your lips.... I think that's the trick.

One thing that has given me a chuckle is this phrase, which I have heard a few times: "I will take him for a wash tomorrow" (him, in this case, is a car.)  It reminds me that nouns have genders here.  I have to be careful not to laugh, though, because if you're speaking in Dutch, it's perfectly normal.  To me, it sounds like your car has become your personified prized possession.  Of course, this may be true of some people, but I don't believe it's true of the people who I have heard it from.  The nice thing is that I *think* you can also use "het" which means "it" to refer to something... so I think I can get by, for now, without knowing the genders... I think.

Milk

People drink milk here like it's going out of style.

Martin and I were at a friend's parents' house for lunch the other day.  The drink options were: halfvolle (1%) milk or karnemilk.  Of course we had tea and coffee after lunch, but milk only during lunch.  When we had lunch with his Oma and Opa, the drink options were: raspberry-flavoured yogurt drink, mango-flavoured yogurt drink, or plain milk.  Milk is not just meant to wash down your food, but it's meant to be enjoyed as part of the meal... and lots of it!

Karnemilk is probably Martin's favourite drink (it may even rival coffee.)  I have been scared off of this milk, because of the strange-looking streaks it leaves in a glass after being consumed.

I finally googled it, and discovered that it's the equivalent to buttermilk!  Seriously!?  Since it's so popular here, it's also really cheap (relative to CDN prices).  Bring on the baking!!

No wonder the Dutch are so tall :)

Fashion...

More specifically, men's fashion.

I now live in a land where men wear appropriate-sized pants, fastened with belts, around the waist; the actual waist. And boys are taught to be men.... hence, they also wear their pants, with belts, around the waist.  It's quite refreshing, actually!

More differences

1) Going to the movies is a special way to spend the evening.  The women are dressed up, the cinema is very clean, and there's a pauze half way through the movie, for a 15 minute coffee break!  I'm guessing that the average adult would go to the movies an average of 2 or 3 times a year.

2) All public bathroom stalls are fully enclosed.  The doors reach the floor.  It would take some quantum physics for a child to play the "crawl out from underneath the locked door" trick.

3) Digit groupings are different.  There are a lot more "two digit" groupings here.  In Canada, we would give our phone numbers like this : 1-234-567-8901.  Over here, I give my number like this: 12-34-56-78-90.

4)  At the store, change is rounded to the nearest 5 cents.  If your bill comes to 1.97, you pay 2.00, and get 0.05 back.  0.01 coins are hardly used.   AND tax is included in posted prices... no surprises at check-out.

5)  Stop signs are scarce.  I apologize if I've written about this before, but it still shocks me a bit.  I think I know where one stop sign is in Barneveld.  But as I'm sitting here, I'm not 100% sure if it's a stop sign.   Instead of stop signs, you always know who has the right of way, slow down as you approach an intersection, be very alert to possible traffic (four-wheeled and two-wheeled traffic), and continue if it's clear.  No need to stop if there's no traffic.  This is actually quite nice, especially on a bicycle (stopping and starting on a bike just breaks the flow of the ride.)  However, it's actually dangerous if you stop  when you shouldn't, and I found it intimidating when I first started riding around town.

6)  Squeeges are probably the cleaning item of choice.

7) You only pay for phone calls that you initiate (no fees for "airtime" for an incoming call.)

8)  There are no fans in the bathrooms.

9)  Most "powder rooms" (1/2 bathrooms) have only a single cold water tap.  Every time I wash my hands, I think "wash with soap and warm water..."

10)  There are more doors inside the house, containing each living space.  This makes it easy to heat only rooms that are used during the day, and keep the entrances as buffer zones.

Flavours

I think the Dutch- and every culture or nationality, for that matter- have some specific flavours that they prefer.

Peach and apple are common fruit flavours.  (Red peach is the "red" flavour of gatorade here- not fruit punch or cherry.)
Sweet pepper (or paprika).  Almost all chip flavours have something to do with either pepper, onion or garlic.  The variety of chips sounds something like this:  paprika & onion, paprika and garlic, paprika and onion and garlic, sweet chili paprika, paprika and chili paprika... I haven't found ketchup chips or all dressed chips yet.  Too bad for me!

Almost all cookies or desserts are either apple or almond-flavoured.

Cinnamon and nutmeg can be used to flavour anything.   I have been served potatoes, brussel sprouts and red beets, all flavoured with nutmeg, and I've been told of other vegetables that are to be served with nutmeg or cinnamon.  For me, cinnamon is for baking, and nutmeg for baking or for on oatmeal.  (They also don't eat oatmeal or porridge here.  Breakfast is always a cold meal, mostly with bread, cheese, apple spread, peanut butter, and maybe some yogurt.)

Applesauce is like gravy.  It's the perfect topping for beef, mashed potatoes, or whatever you'd like!  (I haven't adjusted to this yet.)

Chocolate?  Well, yes, there is chocolate here, and is it ever delicious!  I'm talking melt-in-your-mouth milk chocolate that you can buy at any store!  But there's nowhere near the option of chocolate-flavoured desserts.  I have had some of the best ice cream cake here (mixed-berry) but it couldn't replace a DQ cake.  "Red fruits" or "forest fruits" is a typical flavour for teas, juices and ice cream cakes.  It seems that tiramisu and strawberry are more popular flavours for puddings and icecream, than chocolate.  Layered cakes also seem to be more common.  Layers of crunchy mixed with layers of pudding and whipping cream.  Yum!

People think I'm crazy if they discover that I like peanut butter with my banana.  This must be a Canadian thing!

I made two batches of chocolate chip cookies, and of course, the people who ate them said "they're good", but it was nothing compared to the reactions I got for oatmeal raisin cookies!  I think the Dutch people love their cinnamon and raisins.  I also think the Dutch prefer spice to sweet.  I think in Canada, we like very rich sweets.  But this is all just in my personal opinion, based on the limited number of Dutch people who I have conversed with about food.

Directions

I still don't have very good bearings over here.  Whenever we drive through and out of town, I recognize everything, but I generally can't tell you which direction is N, and I don't know which way we should leave town when heading towards ____.  I often know "the fastest route from point a to point b" in town, but outside of the comfort zone of Barneveld, I'm useless.

I study my map (thank you google maps), but I still get confused.

There's a big difference in how the towns and cities are built here compared to North America.  In NA, most cities are designed like a grid.  Streets run East-West or N-S.  Of course there are some exceptions (like Hamilton Rd. in London, ON).  In Canada there are also a lot more areas of town.  While there may be a center, there are certainly other subdivisions that each have their own "center" as well.

Here, the cities are built around the center.  I think it's often a church that's at the center.  Most of the main streets in town start at the center, and head out.  Then, there is a "ring" around that-- a main street, that circles the center of the town.  Hardly any of the intersections here are 90 degree angles.  If you look at a map, it looks like a round (slightly deformed) pizza with a major road on the outskirts of town.  Take a look at Paris (France), Brussels (Belgium) or Amsterdam (The Netherlands) on googlemaps.  In Canada, we would say "head West on Commissioner's Rd., then go North on Wonderland Rd....".  Here, if you head North on one street, it's likely that you'll be heading East within a couple minutes, and you'll probably end up heading South shortly after that, mind you, I probably wouldn't notice, since I can't figure out the directions.

The same thing is true of a lot of highways.  In Ontario, we know that the 401 runs E-W (mostly), 400 runs N-S... etc.  But here, it doesn't work that way.  You either follow the signs towards the town of your destination, you know which highways to take, or you use a TomTom.  I think TomTom (or a GPS) is one of man's best friends over here... at least that's true of me!

Here's Barneveld on googlemaps, with the red arrow very close to the church that's in the center of town.  You can see the "pizza" much better with larger cities, though.

Cheaper buy the dozen?

I remember Tim Horton's advertising their snack wrappers as "$1.99 or two for $3.98!"  Wait a second... what kind of a deal is that?

In the NL, there seems to be no such thing as a deal for purchasing a larger quantity.

You want 1kg of flour?  $0.30    You would like 10 kg?  Buy 10 bags of 1kg = $3.00

If your one-way ticket costs $2.40, then your return ticket will cost $4.80.  Easy math.

If you eat at a restaurant, you pay for the food that you order (kids don't ever eat free.)

Sure,  there are sales at the supermarket for meat that's nearing the expiration date, or large bins of inventory that wasn't as popular as expected.  But that's to be expected.

I've actually been caught in this a couple times-- I bought a return train ticket, because I knew I needed to go both ways.  But it turned out that I got a ride the second way, AND I could have just as easily, bought one ticket just before each trip.  Ah, I think I've learned my lesson.

Despite the lack of "deals" here, I think most food is actually cheaper than in Canada.  At least a lot of fresh produce is!  I can get a little package (about 500g I think) of pre-washed and chopped veggies for 1 Euro.  Yes, that's about $1.30 CDN, but it's a  1/2 KG of washed and chopped leeks, mushrooms, red onion and red peppers.  Perfect to add to pasta sauce!  I get 1 kg of cheese for $4-$5 (Euros, of course, but I still haven't figured out how to make the Euro sign on this computer.)  I just found cream cheese for $0.60 for 200g!

I do miss the thrill that comes with getting a really good deal on cheese (when 500g costs less than $4... or even $5), or other foods.  But I do really like the fact that we don't keep months worth of food in the house, and we eat a lot of fresh produce.

The only downside, is that there are some products (mostly frozen products) that I can't find.  Their replacements are canned... like mixed veggies.  Peas or green beans just don't look as nice when they come out of a can.  They're also MUCH more expensive (and dare I say less nutritional... there must be some salt or preservatives in that can).  So, now my job is to figure out fresh substitutes for what I would normally use frozen.  I think I will always miss my frozen mixed veggies, though.

Fun in the snow!

(Beware, this is a long post with lots of pictures.)

It snowed.  Yaaaay!  It looks beautiful here!  This also means that Martin has no work- which is a nice treat for me :)  We went on a very last-minute ski-trip to Germany for two days of skiing.  

I learned that the Germans, Dutch and British have particular ways of serving their beer- specifically the foam.  The German way allows for this:

And of course, we had some schnitzel. 

We went to Winterberg, which is not in the alps, and it's not especially high, but it was skiing.  We had talked a lot about skiing since we met, but this was our first chance to ski together.  It was lovely!

And a little taste of the chalet- notice the German pub song.

It's beautiful here!

Then, a few days later, the snow followed us back to Barneveld.  But, even with this much snow, nothing stops people from riding their bikes...

Gas prices?

Everything about this picture is normal-- except for the snow. (That's 5 bikes together.)

The snow just adds to the beauty-- typical view in Barneveld: train car and bikes. 

THEN to top off fun in the snow, we went out to Martin's Oma and Opa's, and showed up JUST in time to be invited to join a sleigh ride!

And finally, I had to include some pictures of canal-skating!  And yes, I did join in on "Elfstedentoch fever", and I was disappointed to hear the ijsmaster announce that he had "geen goed niews".

In the park that's near our house.

The park

Beautiful in the summer and winter!

As we were driving along the highway in the Western part of the NL.  This was a beautiful, big canal, and I missed the best photo-op, but you can see some skaters if you look closely.

These "canals" are more like big ditches-- everywhere in town!  They're beautiful to walk around in the summer, and perfect for skating in the winter.  I think everyone in town could walk to a skate-able canal within 10 minutes... probably even 5.

I'm not sure if you can see in these pictures, but the most popular household skates here seem to be speed-skates, but I've also seen home hockey-style skates and figure-skating skates.  You know you live in a skating country, when they have a special word for "walking on skates off the ice" (klunen.)

I LOVE winter, and the beauty and peace that seems to accompany it, but can I say that I'm enjoying the lack of snow-shovelling, and minimal car-windshield-scraping, and I'm looking forward to spring!  (We saw some narcissus about 3 weeks ago... and the birds are chirping.)

Grocery Shopping

Is the food any different here than in Canada?

Not really... I can find almost everything in the grocery stores (except chocolate chips, catalina salad dressing, thin salty bacon, and dry mustard),  but there certainly is a difference in how some of the products are packaged,  stored and prepared.  There's a difference in variety, and what products have a lot of competition- which leads to a difference in price.  I think this is the main contributor to food, meal and menu differences between the Netherlands and Canada.

Get ready for lots of pictures from the grocery store I visit most.  Please excuse the pictures... I didn't want to be noticed as I was documenting my shopping trip, so I didn't pay enough attention to the quality.

The produce is mostly the same- except it comes in smaller quantities here.

Breads: you can buy fresh breads at the local bakery, at the bakery section in the supermarket, or you can buy partially-prepared bread products like these.  Ciabatta buns, french baguette, rolls, pitas-- whatever you'd like, in a sealed, airtight bag.  Store it at home, then put it in the oven for 4-15 minutes (depending on what it is), then you have fresh bread!

Canned vegetables: green, red, brown or white beans, carrots, corn, peas, peas & carrot mixture, beets... I'm sure these are all in stores in Canada too, but based on the size of this store, I was surprised to see such a large variety of canned veggies.

The baking section: this is the entire baking section (except sugar and cinnamon are found elsewhere). Icing sugar is used to sprinkle on top of fruit bread, oliebollen or other breads, so it is sold in shakers, not bags.  I bought 3 different kinds of what I thought was "brown sugar" before I got the right one.  Flour only comes in bags of 1000g (that's 1 kg... no bigger).  Vanilla only comes in bottles of 38 mL, and I have only found 3 other artificial flavours between the 3 big supermarkets in town (almond, rum and lemon).  They're all made by the same brand so no competition for price.  I couldn't find rolled oats in this supermarket, but I found them at two others-- in 500g bags, no bigger.

I'm not sure what came first, a very small variety of baking supplies or a very small amount of people who bake.  In any case, I think it's a special thing to have homemade baking here.

Alcohol:  the wine and beer section is bigger than the fruit juice section.  And they sell beer with 0% alcohol.

Cereals:  this corner is the entire cereal section.  Complete with Corn Flakes, Special K, Bran Flakes and Muesli (or Cruesli).  No Rice Krispies!  Look just beyond the cereal though...

Chocolate toppings:  chocolate spreads and sprinkles, made to top off your breakfast toast, or add some flavour to your lunch-time sandwich.  Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, shavings, sprinkles, spread, or combinations... there are even pink ones (I think they're fruit-flavoured.... more healthy?)  Notice the number of different brands, and the fact that this is not the whole section (top shelf is cut off).

Deli meats and cheeses:  yep this whole aisle's fridge is just meats and cheeses.  Smoked sausage and Gouda cheese are staples here.

The "International" section:  Well, I think it's more like the Mexican section, with some Thai.  The bottom shelf has the only tortilla chips in the store, and up higher there is one can of mild salsa and one can of hot salsa.  No brand competition, so this is much more expensive than salsa in Canada.

 Canned meats: on the left of this shelf is canned meatballs, and on the right is canned hotdogs (knacks).  Dump the can and the liquid contents into a pot, turn on the stove, heat up, and ta da!  I think these are eaten (with mayonnaise and ketchup and other sauces) like we eat chips and salsa or chips and dip.

Oil and vinegar:  this is mostly for the oil... apparently there are lots of different kinds of oil, that are for different kinds of deep-frying?

Seasonings:  you're making meatballs?  Use meatball seasoning.  Making chicken?  Use chicken seasoning?  Fish seasoning, beef seasoning, pork seasoning.... the specific seasonings come in much bigger packages than individual spices.

Sauces and dips:  mostly mayonnaise and ketchup.  But ketchup and mayonnaise are used much more as dips than as ingredients.  I think all those big white bottles are different kinds of mayonnaise, that are used for different things, or with different flavours.  There is also a lot of garlic dip and garlic sauce here.  Sometimes, you even dip cheese into a dip!  Cheese becomes the base, and the dip adds flavour.  I still can't get my head around that one.

Ketchup and mayonnaise even come in tubes.

Butter and substitutes:  I can successfully distinguish between real butter with salt, unsalted, and margarine (halvarine), but there are a lot of other butter substitutes that I can't figure out (well, I haven't put much effort into it yet.)  I know that one of these products looks like butter, but you use it to make gravy.  You put about 1/4c of this "chroma" into a fry pan, once it's melted, add the meat, then as it mixes with the juices, it makes some kind of gravy-like sauce.  I'm still not sure what I think of it.  But I think some of these products could be treasures... could be.  Although, I'm a little nervous of a butter product in a squeeze bottle.

Frozen veggies:  these three doors are the entire frozen vegetable section.  This may be what I miss most!  It's mostly spinach, beans and peas, with some mixed vegetables... but even those are different.  Oh.

Potatoes:  I totally forgot about the well-loved potato!  There is always a large selection of potatoes in any grocery store.  Of course, you can get your 5 kg bag of potatoes (I get mine for $1.50 Euros), you can get smaller amounts, OR you can get fully washed and peeled potatoes, in almost any size, packaged like pre-washed lettuce.  The frozen potatoes (mostly french fries) take up more space than all of these frozen veggies combined.

Welcome to my world of adventures in the kitchen!