What's Natasha up to in the Netherlands?

So unable to legally work and with Gearoid at his dream job (sarcasm aside- it is a very ideal work situation for him) I have been busy finding activities to keep me busy. The first month wasn’t so bad. I think I used that time to decompress from my former job and get used to my new country by sleeping in, reading many novels, and hunting for American shows on T.V. (btw- I am now addicted to the Dog Whisper which is on all the time).  Many of you may be astounded to think I was lazy and stayed inside after moving to exotic Europe! However, the weather was complete crap and I was tired. I had just made a huge life decision and had to catch up on rest so I could enjoy it fully when ready.

However, laziness only lasts so long and it did hit me that I was living in Europe! Plus, Gearoid can only deal with so many days of coming home with me in my PJs. By the end of the first month I had visited the volunteer center, researched Dutch classes, and got my paperwork situation straight (although I’m still waiting for results). We also moved into a new place and unpacking had to be done. With our house straight and no more excuses, I got busy.

This is what I’m doing:

Dutch Lessons- I found inexpensive Dutch lessons (only 90 Euros!) just a 20 minute bike ride away from my house.  On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, I bike over for my 2 hour lessons. The class began in October and I was 8 chapters behind but it was nice to be out of the house with people in similar situations as me. The first class was very overwhelming as my teacher Carla is of the mindset that if you are trying to learn Dutch, you must only be spoken to in Dutch. However, by studying my book and using the corresponding CDs and website I am becoming increasingly able to understand what she’s saying and understand what’s printed in the book. However, despite understanding I can’t respond to save my life! All those years of studying Spanish keep wanting to come out and I have to be reminded that I’m in Dutch not Spanish or English class. The class outwardly groans when it is my turn to read aloud because my pronunciations are horrible! Having moved around so much growing up, I really thought I had avoided some kind of accent. However, my American accent is very much present when I’m speaking Dutch and being a good teacher, Carla almost physically pushes the language out of my mouth.  After a grueling class today in which she had me ask the other students questions in Dutch, she told me in Dutch that I’m getting better (at least I think that’s what she said).

Speaking English with Asian Ladies- The place where I take my Dutch lessons is a community center in which other types of classes are offered. One day I was approached by a Taiwanese lady who overheard me speaking English and asked if I was American.  That conversation has sparked weekly meetings with her and a Japanese lady who want to improve their English conversation skills. We drink tea, eat tart, and struggle to converse. I say struggle not because their English is so bad but because I have little in common with two older Asian ladies who moved to the Netherlands before I was born with their Dutch husbands. We make it work somehow though and they are both very friendly and appreciate the help. I also appreciate having something to do!

Volunteering- Earlier in the blog I mentioned how a trip to the volunteer center yielded three possibilities:  working at a petting zoo, the botanical gardens, or teaching (other) foreign women how to ride bikes. Despite bruises on my legs and reminders from Gearoid that I sometimes struggle myself on the bike, I contacted the International Women’s Center (IVC- women is vrouwen in Dutch) about the bike lessons.  I contacted the IVC because I hope working there will lead to other opportunities. My work/volunteer experiences in the past have led me to enjoy working with people (women and children mostly) from other cultures. The bike riding was just an obstacle to overcome- I mean I’ve been riding since I was six. We meet once a week and provide (other) foreign women theory and technical lessons. The theory lessons include parts of the bike- which I actually taught in semi-Dutch! - road signs, rules of the road and that sort of thing. The technical lessons are on the bike. The women use shorter bikes so their feet can touch the ground. They learn to ride in a series of phases starting with their feet on the ground, one foot on the ground, both feet of the ground, stopping without falling, hand signals, etc. The most interesting thing for me about the experience is that some of these women have been in the country for over 20 years and have never learned to ride a bike. They must be very experienced bus riders because it seems to me that it would be difficult to function here without a bike.

Running Club- Gearoid and I bit the bullet and signed up for our first marathon (Dublin October 31, 2011). I really enjoyed having a running club while in DC so was happy to find one here to help jump start my training. We meet on Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings. There are some differences though. In the States, my running club would have a distance goal on Saturday mornings (i.e. 2 miles, 5 miles, 20 miles, etc). In DC we would do a few stretches, split into our groups (fast, medium, slow, and my group - the very slow), and run on a trail. When you finished you went home. Sometimes you would run faster than your group and other times you would be a lot slower.  My new group (also the very slow group) does everything together. Instead of distance we run for time so I have no idea how far I’m running. Before the other members took pity on me, I wouldn’t even know how long we were running for because not speaking Dutch I would just follow the trainer. We also do extensive stretching and warming up exercises. We do all of this in the neighborhoods around where we meet. So imagine you look out your window Tuesday night and see about 15 women in highlighter yellow vests pretending they’re apple picking or see them walking backwards down your street. What would you think? I don’t mind though and I like the group approach. I’m getting to know more people, can practice some Dutch, and know when we finish that we finish together and I am not the last person. Plus we usually get coffee afterwards.

Book Club- Gearoid found an English-speaking book club for me. There are themes for each month and books I would never usually consider are chosen. I’ve only met with the group once but once again it is nice to meet people in a similar situation as me. Last month we read “The Doors of Perception” and this month it is Master and Margarita. They’re a far cry from some of the chick lit I usually devour and almost homework-like. It doesn’t hurt to stimulate yourself intellectually though. I mean other than trying to learn a third language I am watching a lot of The Dog Whisperer so some 20^th century Russian literature won’t hurt me.

The gym- Before in the States I always had the excuse of work keeping me too busy/making me too tired to go to the gym. I have no excuse now and we found a gym within the first month. It is right around the corner from my house so I can literally walk there. Normally, talking about going to the gym is not very interesting but this is an interesting gym. I never miss a gym class because they are taught via video every hour and half hour. I can take power pump, zumba, spinning, stretching and/or abs class every day. They do offer live spinning classes and I did try one, thinking I could just pay really close attention since I wouldn’t understand the Dutch instructions. However, I was wrong. The instructor literally got off her bike in the middle of the lesson to ask what was wrong with me. I explained I didn’t speak Dutch and she gave me one of the sad understanding looks I’ve become used to and told me in English to stick out my butt more. The other very interesting thing about the gym is that it has a room completely designed and devoted to Dance Dance Revolution.  There are about 20 dance pads installed on the floor. Gearoid and I tried it once after some teenagers had had it set to an impossible level. After we figured out how to set it to “old people” level and found some music we knew Gearoid promptly out danced me.  Overall, the gym’s not bad if we can avoid teenagers not mocking us in Dutch.

The Blog- For those of you who are interested I really want to share our experiences with you. Life is life here. It’s a little different and those differences can be interesting but a lot of it is our regular boring day to day lives. Gearoid joked the other day that the most interesting thing we had to say for our Saturday was that we got the last loaf of our favorite type of bread. Gearoid’s job still consists of reading, writing, and the occasional lecture and my life is now filled with non-stop hobbies. However, in order to not overlook the small interesting differences I think it’s good to document them. So here they are in the blog which surprisingly takes up more time than you think. 

Road Trip

Gearoid and my modes of transportation here in the Netherlands include bikes, trains, buses, and recently rented car. We had been in Nijmegen for 6 weeks before I suggested we take advantage of living in Europe and visit neighboring countries.

We rented a tiny car for an affordable price (although we paid exorbitant gas prices for the tiny gas tank) and set off early on a Saturday morning. We started by driving south to Maastricht a Dutch town on the Southern border. We spent a couple of hours walking around the town which was preparing itself for Carnival by festooning the streets in banners and flags and had shops advertising adult princess costumes for the festivities. We warmed up with coffee in a café on the main square before heading off to visit the sites. I know we saw a lot of tiny European streets, old buildings, and some cannons but the most memorable stop was a book store. This book store was built in an old Dominican Church and had amazing arches and artwork. It was quiet like a church inside and Gearoid commented that is seemed unnatural that people were eating cheesecake in the café in the back of the store.

After Maastricht, we drove quickly through Belgium mostly because we had to pass through to get to other places. We do have plans to visit other parts of Belgium in the future but this time we just enjoyed a nice drive through the countryside. We did stop for a coffee to say we did do something in the country.

The next stop was Clervaux in Luxembourg where the Battle of the Bulge was fought during WW2. It was a very nice but quiet little town. We arrived 2 weeks before the tourist attractions (i.e. museum and castle) were open to the public.

We ended the night in Luxembourg City. We visited the city center to find a place for dinner and I was astounded by the many Americans I overheard as well as the chain restaurants that had made their way over the Atlantic. We saw an actual Chi-Chi’s restaurant! Haven’t most of these restaurants been closed in the States?

The next day we drove into Germany. We were pleased to see just enough snow to make the landscape idyllic but not enough to impair our driving.  Our first stop of the day was Trier, a German town with a lot of history. We walked to the Porta Nigra left by the Romans, a pink palace, a cathedral, and the house where Karl Marx grew up.  We also stopped to get (more) coffee at a café that reminded Gearoid of coffee shops in the States where he completed much of his dissertation.

Afterwards we hopped in the car and got lost on our way to the next location.  We ended up stopping in a little town and waiting over an hour for a pizza and salad at a local restaurant. After FINALLY eating (I really miss the quick and efficient service you get in the States- especially when all you have sustaining you is some European Cocoa Puffs and half a bag of rice cakes)we then got on our way and drove up a big mountain just to drive down it and enjoy the beautiful scenery of farms and vineyards.  Our destination was Bacharat, Germany, a cute town with fairy tale looking homes. It was quite nice and reminded me of my visits of Busch Gardens, Williamsburg.  (By the way- I’m sorry Europe for comparing a cheesy (yet fun) beer-run themed park with the real thing!) We then drove along the Rhine and enjoyed views of many castles dotting the river on both sides. At first we stopped at every castle to get a picture but after the 4^th or 5^th we realized there were going to be many more. After our scenic ride along the Rhine, we hopped on the interstate and headed back to Nijmegen. We originally planned on visiting Bonn, where Gearoid studied German over half a decade ago but after getting lost and waiting about half a decade for pizza it was getting late and Gearoid had to work the next morning. The view on the interstate was significantly less scenic but we did find a very ritzy McDonalds with its own coffee bar. As a person who doesn’t even eat McDonalds in the country of its origin and as a rule avoids American restaurants in foreign countries, I felt a little sinful stopping. However, I really wanted an “orange soda”- aka Hi-C orange drink-only to find out that the McDonalds in Europe actually serve orange soda- Fanta.

Overall, it was nice to get out of town and we’re excited to do it again.

Adventures in Paperwork

Gearoid and I had this romantic notion that we would move here and after a month I would be able to get a job. All we had to do was register as partners and fill out some immigration paperwork. It would be easy and in the month or so I would be able to find a job I really enjoyed.

Reality is less romantic and more bureaucratic. We went to the city hall our first week here to “take care of everything.” All we were able to do was secure Gearoid a Dutch social security number and get the beginning of a list of things I needed to do.

For our registered partnership we told that we had to go to our separate consulates (mine is in Amsterdam and Gearoid’s is at the Hague) and get declarations of non-marriage. While at the US consulate, I paid my $50, raised my right hand and promised I wasn’t married. I was then instructed to go to the Hague to get my declaration “legalized.” Luckily we hadn’t gone there yet.

Along with our statements of non-marriage, Gearoid and I have to provide copies of our birth certificates with apostilles affixed on them. Gearoid, again having an easier time, sent his birth certificate to Dublin and within a couple of weeks received it back. I had to get a notarized letter requesting an apostille and mailed the letter with a big American check to Washington DC. At this point it has been 2 months and I have not yet received my birth certificate with an apostille affixed. My check, however, has been cashed.

Hint: To anyone who wants to live in a country that is not their own- get an apostille on any relevant documents (i.e. birth certificates). For  your information: An apostille is a special seal applied by an authority to certify that a document is a true copy of an original. Apostilles are available in countries, which signed the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization of Foreign Public Documents, popularly known as The Hague Convention. This convention, created in 1961, replaces the time consuming chain certification process used so far, where you had to go to four different authorities to get a document certified.

So Gearoid and I still have not been able to register for a partnership and our immigration visit has come and gone. Originally we thought we needed proof of a legal partnership but some stained and torn copies of leases proving we have lived together before in the States turned out to be sufficient. Just to make our case a little stronger, Gearoid also brought pictures of one of our first dates-skydiving.

Now we are just playing the waiting game. My application is in process to be approved for me to legally live and work in the Netherlands. It can take anywhere between one and three months before it arrives. I have finally received a Dutch social security number (BSN) meaning I can have access to our bank account and get insurance.

Despite our complaints, we have had it so much easier than other people and friends we know going through the immigration process here. We were also lucky to have our immigration meeting in Den Bosch- a beautiful city with an impressive cathedral and rich desserts.

Our Dutch Home

On February 1^st we were lucky to move into a very nice furnished apartment. The guesthouse we had been staying in was nice enough but felt too much like living in an Ikea display model (and not the lush comfortable ones).

We (meaning 80% Gearoid who looked at housing websites every 5 minutes thinking something might have changed and 20% me with the usual optimistic belief that things will work out) were nervous about finding a place in the month we were at the guesthouse.  We registered with the equivalent of a real estate agent who would then email us apartments that met our qualifications. We would then arrange appointments to look at the apartments. We saw two apartments (one in which we had to share a hallway with neighbors meaning no late night trips to the bathroom in anything less than being fully clothed and another in which you practically had to climb a ladder to the bathroom) before Gearoid’s worries led him to staying up late checking out the equivalent of Craig’s List. This was risky because we didn’t know Dutch laws/regulation on renting.

However, we found this place on the website and set up an appointment. The landlords rent other apartments and the place was furnished and inclusive (meaning all utilities and extra little Dutch taxes are included in the rent).  We only had a couple of hours to decide. Gearoid was nervous but I was pushy and we ended up with a place that we both very much enjoy. The location is close to Gearoid’s work and the center of town. It is furnished just enough- meaning we didn’t have to buy the furniture we don’t have (i.e. kitchen table, bookshelves, living room set up) and had room for the furniture we do own (i.e. bedroom furniture, spare bed, random bookshelves and desks). We were also lucky because we found this place on our own without the real estate agent that we didn’t have to pay them a fee equivalent to one month’s rent.

Most importantly we have space! Typical housing here is small and cramped unless you live in the country. Other places we looked at had a bedroom and a livingroom/kitchen. We have a living room, a bedroom, a spare room, and upstairs office with attic space, a kitchen, and an outside garage.  Plenty of space for Gearoid and me to separate as necessary and still live together!

Baking Attempts in My New Home

As most of my friends and family know, I love to bake.  It is a huge stress reliever for me, I love having people tell me how delicious my creations are, and honestly I love to eat- especially sweet stuff.

I’m not biased in what I bake. I bought a wonderful cookie scoop to help me dish out no-bakes or oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  I love buying fruit so I can put it in a pie. Most recently, I have been experimenting (as well as fulfilling friendly requests) with making cheesecakes- triple chocolate, peanut butter, eggnog, key lime, and my favorite pumpkin.  A good friend of mine treated me to the Cheesecake Bible which I have been looking forward to using and adapting to my own recipes. However, her gift came right before my sudden move to the Netherlands and alas, no beautiful sweet or savory cheesecakes have graced my springform pan since the move.

There have been many logistical issues while pursing my baking hobby here in the Netherlands. The first issue is ingredients. Instead of the extra large, lighted, and air conditioned grocery stores with entire aisles devoted to those who bake from a box and those who prefer to bake from scratch, I now frequent small 4-aisle stores with a small bookshelf sized portion for baking. Some ingredients, after much searching, are easy to figure out. For example, bags of flour look like flour. However, other ingredients have been more elusive. I have not been able to find baking soda. When I translated it into Dutch with the handy app on my phone, I was led to household cleaning items and handed a bag of toilet cleaner. Some ingredients are much more expensive here and therefore will only be purchased for the most special of occasions. For example, the cheesecakes I enjoyed presenting to my friends usually use 3-4 blocks of cream cheese. Although Philadelphia cream cheese is available here, it comes in much smaller packages for a higher price. I might have to learn to make cheesecake with the ever present Gouda.

Another issue I’m facing is my missing baking instruments. My cookie sheets, muffin tins, cake pans are all missing. They could very well be in a box that immediately got placed in our attic storage space but they could also be in an old banana box back in the States at my old place.

It doesn’t matter where they are though because they wouldn’t fit in my tiny microwave/convection oven combo. The sad fact is that I don’t have an oven! We have a tiny contraption that frozen pizzas struggle to fit into.  So far it has been a scary contraption that when used as a microwave can’t have metal in it but any other time it can. One day it briefly caught on fire when I forgot to turn the microwave function off while making toast.

I have made some attempts to bake despite the logistical issues. I bought a small round pan that fits nicely in the tiny oven contraption.  The first attempt was an apple crisp to bring to Gearoid’s work colleague’s house for dinner.  After pressing what I thought was the right combination of buttons to “bake” the crisp, the apples were underdone and the oatmeal topping was a little overdone. I ended up buying an apple tart. It didn’t stop us from enjoying the less than perfect desserts ourselves.

I also attempted peanut butter cookies to thank Gearoid’s work colleagues for their hospitality. Despite the pure peanut butter (no hydrogenated oil and trans-fats in the PB here) and being able to bake only 4 cookies at a time, I was able to produce tasty yet crumbly cookies.

The baking will hopefully get better and we may treat ourselves to a proper oven if and when I finally am allowed to get a paying job here (more news on that later). 

Move to the Netherlands- January 5, 2011

Big life changes have happened for Gearoid and me- and no we’re not married and don’t have babies-but we have moved out of the country again.

For those of you don’t know here is a quick recap of our lives for the past year and a half. When we got back from Sierra Leone in the summer of 2009, I moved to the DC area and got a job as a Cluster Director with a Head Start program in Alexandria, VA. Gearoid moved back to Syracuse to finish the last year of his PhD program. He finished in May 2010 and is now officially Dr. Millar! Unfortunately, the job market was tight for persons of his field so he didn’t find a job in the DC area but instead got a fellowship in very rural Vermont (i.e. people don’t shave and they carry knives). It was a good opportunity for him but unfortunately there were no jobs for me in Vermont so we decided to continue living apart. In the meantime he was looking for jobs in places we could live together beginning in August 2011. He applied everywhere and actually had a few phone interviews. In mid-October he had a phone interview with Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands. Two weeks later they invited him to visit and have a second interview. Two weeks after that, he had an offer. Two weeks after that- around Thanksgiving- we made it official that we were both moving to the Netherlands where Gearoid would start work Jan 1^st. It was all very quick but we were both ready for change and wanted to live in the same building together again.

So now, we’re here in Nijmegen. Most people assume we live in Amsterdam, but there are more places than that in the Netherlands. We live on the Eastern part of the country right next to Germany. However, Amsterdam is less than a 2 hour train ride away.

Gearoid is enjoying his new position as an Assistant Professor. He will only teach 3-4 classes the entire year. He gets the summer off and one of what they call “periods” off from teaching to work on his research. He gets 8 weeks of vacation and can only work a 40 hour week. This mindset of working to live rather than living to work is actually pretty hard for Gearoid. They kick him out of his office at 6 PM and often encourage drinks at 4 PM (at least once a week). The buildings are closed on the weekends. This is especially hard for Gearoid because his work habits include working through the night, on the weekends, and when most people are sleeping. However, he’s adjusting so far and they are excited to have his knowledge, experience, and expertise. In addition to teaching he also will help create classes, extend his research of Western Africa and conflict resolution, and must get at least 2 articles published. His contract is for 2 years but may extend depending on his performance. Gearoid has of course already sought out a soccer person and is looking into a recreational team to join.

So what am I doing? Right now I’m looking for stuff to do. The last two weeks I have enjoyed living a life of leisure- sleeping in, reading, looking for American shows on the tv, etc. However, I’m ready for something else. This is proving to be harder than we both expected. I have to register with the city of Nijmegen and immigration in order to get a work permit. In order to register, I have to have a registered partnership with Gearoid (he is ultimately going to be my sponsor to stay in this country because he was hired to move here). This is similar to marriage except no ceremony and if I have kids they are not automatically assumed to be Gearoid’s. I would have to register them as belonging to him. If we decide we don’t want to be partners we just have to get a notarized letter. It is a less scary situation for Gearoid and seemed easy enough. However, it is proving not to be so. We each have to get a notarized statement from our embassies stating we’re not married. I actually had to raise my right hand and swear that I wasn’t married. Then we have to get these notarized documents legitimized by the Dutch. We also have to get these special stamps on our birth certificates called apostilles so that the Dutch can recognize them as official documents. Gearoid’s can only be done in Dublin and mine can only be done in DC (didn’t I just live miles from there a month ago?). We didn’t know anything about these forms, stamps, signatures and of course none of them can be done in the same place. We have to visit Amsterdam, then visit the Hague, possibly Rotterdam, and then back to Nijmegen where we think they will surprise us with another stamp/signature/form. However, when frustrated we try to remind ourselves that we are lucky we are from English speaking countries and most of the Dutch speak English. We also don’t have to bribe anyone which was always a possibility in Sierra Leone (although in the long run it may be cheaper to bribe someone). Going through my own immigration process really makes me sympathize with people who try to move to my own country. You really have no idea how difficult it is until you try to do it yourself.

                There are more downfalls though. Until I’m registered I can’t get the equivalent of a social security number here which means I can’t get a bank account or cell phone. Gearoid being an EU citizen has had an easier time and was able to get his number, bank account, and will get a cell phone. I just have to remind myself to be nice to the man with access to our moneyJ 

                I can’t work right now but I’m looking for jobs anyway. If I get a job before being registered they can help me with my immigration process.  It’s a race between a job and bureaucracy right now. Volunteering is going to be harder than I thought as well because I don’t speak Dutch. My options at the moment are teaching foreign women to ride bikes (I however might need this assistance myself), working at a petting zoo, or working at a botanical garden. I have also been researching taking Dutch lessons as well as taking an online certification course to teach English. 

                Along with my personal research on how to have a fulfilling busy life, I have been playing homemaker in our guesthouse. We have a guesthouse until Feb. 2^nd but were lucky to find a place (renting is more difficult than expected here) for Feb. 1^st. It is a very nice and furnished 3 bedroom place. Most of the places we looked at were small with only a bedroom and living room/kitchen. One place even had us sharing our hallway with another apartment. We originally wanted unfurnished but quickly learned that unfurnished here means no floor (i.e no carpet or proper flooring), appliances (fridge, oven) and other necessities- light fixtures. We are very happy with our place (knock on wood) and have room for visitors.

                What do I mean by homemaking for Gearoid and myself? Well, we left our cars behind and got bikes. Grocery shopping is difficult on a bike- especially in the rain- so we make frequent small trips. Also, our washer and drier are very tiny and only take a third of the load I’m used to. It also takes the washer 1.5-2 hours to wash a tiny load of laundry. I thought I was doing something wrong but a Dutchman confirmed that was how long it took. Laundry has become a daily affair. We don’t have a dishwasher and our current kitchen area is small so they need to be dealt with quickly. Former roommates- I promise it’s not my OCD. The dishes here really need to be done regularly. The Dutch overall, are very tidy people and keep a tidy house. The guesthouse comes equip with a vacuum, mop, and bucket which they expect you to use. I honestly don’t mind though. I just remind myself that I have running water, electricity, constant internet and cable, and don’t have lock things up when a houseboy comes and cleans my house.

Other Dutch things:

  1) We got bikes. We just got secondhand bikes but they are our main way of transportation. The buses are very nice but get expensive. I have some bruises and we’re still learning bike etiquette but the Dutch ride bikes. There are 16 million people in the Netherlands and 20 million bikes. There are 3 story bike parking garages. The bike accessories are crazy. Yesterday I saw a woman with 3 children’s seats on her bike. All of my friends with kids, can you imagine bringing your child to the grocery store via bike? It’s life here.

  2) The Dutch eat chocolate sprinkles on their bread. Gearoid and I were welcomed to the guesthouse by his co-worker Maarten who had stocked the place with groceries and had flowers and classical music to welcome us.  He got us some basic things : bread, cheese, milk; as well as some traditional Dutch items: beer, black licorice (yuck!) and chocolate sprinkles. Gearoid and I have decided the sprinkles taste better directly in our mouths or in our morning cereal rather than on bread.

3)  Kaas- or cheese! We have discovered heaven on earth also known as the cheese shop. Weekly people go and get huge hunks of gouda from the cheese shops. Gearoid and I have had to make a pact to not eat the fancy cheese without the other present. We want to be fair and me being at home for most of the day puts the cheese at risk. I promise to send a picture of this wonderful place in the future.     4)The weather is gray and rainy. They are having a particularly warm winter and the only snow we saw was melting from a December snowfall. Please forgive me for not sending pictures this time but taking pictures in the rain is not fun. But life doesn’t stop with rain. We still ride our bikes, walk to the cafes, and live life when it’s raining. This leads to the next item…

 5)  We drink a lot of coffee, tea, and beer to stay warm. This mostly happens at cafes which tend to be cozy, welcoming and what you imagine seeing in Europe. The biggest problem with visiting cafes is the lack of public restrooms.

   6) Amsterdam- We went there yesterday for my birthday and had a nice time walking around (in the rain). It is a very nice looking city and we’re sure we’ll enjoy it more in the spring/summer. We did not visit the famous red light district but read on a visitor map to not assume all the “women” are women. We have also not visited a Coffee Shop (where you can meet Mary Jane) but we smelled and saw a lot of them while walking around.

I will keep everyone posted though. Things have been more difficult than expected but as we know from our previous experience in Sierra Leone that it can be a lot worse and a lot less comfortable.