It’s the holiday season…in Holland

Hey everyone! As some of you may have noticed (or maybe not), Koen and I haven’t been around much in the cyber world lately due to our lack of internet in the new apartment and of course, all of the holiday chaos. Therefore I will catch you up on some recent encounters and experiences I’ve endured over the last few weeks in Holland via my blog.

Atjehhhhh

As most of you know, Koen and I just moved to our new apartment on Atjehstraat in Rotterdam earlier this month. Atjehstraat is located in Katendrecht (in the south of Rotterdam) which until recently was a hot spot for hookers (okay so it was back in the 80s but still pretty recent). The bridge I go over every day to get to work is called Hoerenloper meaning Hooker’s walk. Ironically enough, today it is one of the safest areas in Rotterdam and attracts lots of younger, “hip” people like ourselves. It is the home of over 4,000 people and like the rest of Rotterdam is very diverse.  Now I know what you’re thinking, why do I suddenly feel like I’m reading an article from Wikipedia? Well to be honest, I found a lot of this information on Wikipedia but that’s because there is a lot of interesting information about this area and it’s me and Koen’s first apartment together so I have the right to brag a little J Anyways, there are some other exciting attractions and benefits of living on this peninsula. Just to name a few:

1. The water cab running from the city center to Hotel New York (Right by Hooker’s Walk) Yep, now we can go out in style. Oh wait I’m 23 and poor.

2. Hotel New York- a classy bar/restaurant that has outdoor seating right on the river

3. Luxor Theater-reputed the most beautiful theater in Holland that offers various productions including musicals, shows, theater concerts, opera and dance.

4. Restaurants-Ketelbinkie and Wing Wah are the only ones we’ve eaten at so far but all of them seem very cool and many are located by the water.

5. Erasmus Bridge-if you google Rotterdam this is the white, modern looking bridge in the pictures. It’s only a 5 minute bike ride away (this is how I measure time now). And just to give you a funny visual, picture Koen and I riding the bike over this bridge. Koen standing up pedaling because it’s slightly uphill and me dying laughing while sitting comfortably on the back and enjoying the view. Only in Holland my friends… only in Holland.

For all of you history buffs there is one very interesting fact about Hotel New York. This is where ships on the Holland-America Line were docked. These ships carried passengers to New York and back. The first journey took place in 1872 and actually Koen’s mom’s uncle made this journey at some point to get to Boston where he lives now! Feel free to google this for more information. (That means you Dad even though you’ve probably already done it)

The only drawback of living here is the multiple forms of transportation I must use in order to get to work in the mornings. Bike to metro station (3 minutes), metro to train station (7 minutes), take train to bus station in Utrecht (40 minutes), and take bus to office (20 minutes). Eggshausting.

Sinterklaas

So I know I already gave you a brief introductory of this Dutch tradition but now I have a story of mine own to tell. Last weekend, I went to Deventer with Koen and family to celebrate the holiday with the Kuhnes (Hans’ family). First of all Deventer is pretty far from Rotterdam but nonetheless very quaint and exactly what you’d picture a small European town to look like. Not to mention the apartment we visited also had a euro style like I’ve never seen before. I loved it!!  Pit of the trip: cramming into the little Peugeot with Jelle and Koen crushing me in the back.

Now before leaving for the party, Koen’s mom (Jolanda) asked me if I was nervous and I didn’t understand why she would ask that. Yes, it´s a big family and I had anticipated meeting lots of people but to be honest I thought I could just blend in with the group and have small side conversations with family members all night long. I was sadly mistaken.

First of all, in preparation for this event, everyone has to create a present themselves and hide the actual present somewhere inside. This is a completely anonymous present so it is nerve-racking to open your own present but also watch someone open yours. And considering the family is even bigger than the Griffins and everyone was speaking Dutch while sitting in a giant circle, the wait made me even more nervous.

I was probably the 3^rd to last person to open my present so the anxiety of being next had reached its peak. Finally someone called my name so I went into the middle and began unwrapping my gift. Oh and I forgot to mention this, everyone has a witty poem that accompanies their present so I was happy to see that my poem was in English...or was I?

I open my present and find that the poems included with my present are more like instructions. First poem (which of course was written with poetic harmony): put on Zwarte Piet wig and collar and sing this song in front of everybody:

“Sinterklaas kapoentje, gooi wat in mijn schoentje.
Gooi wat in mijn laarsje.
Dank u Sinterklaááásje.’’

Then I had to throw kruidnoten (aka ginger snaps) at everyone like they did at the parade and do a puppet show with a Sinterklaas puppet and Americo (the white horse) puppet (thankfully I got out of doing this last part). Either way, the joke was on me and my face was crimson. However, I think that after this I can truly say I’ve immersed myself in the Dutch culture. I mean how many people get the chance to embarrass themselves in front of 30 Dutchies right?

In other news, this week is the week Pepi will be emasculated. He has commenced with spraying and action needs to be taken.

Stay tuned for the result. :)