This is what the radar looks like in the Netherlands currently. Yes, the country is under that giant cloud, and we are somewhere near the red area in the middle...


This is what the radar looks like in Toronto currently...


Needless to say, I shouldn't have looked at this...

Today was another boring work day. The connection to my work servers was really slow, so it was tough to stay motivated. I did manage to get most of the things I wanted to do done, even though some were at the very last second. Thank goodness I'm 6 hours ahead of Toronto! I called in for my weekly team meeting, thanks to Google Chat's "Call Phone," which, right now, is letting me call overseas for free!  I'm still shocked about this - I was expecting to use skype credits, and I may still, since it appears as though I keep cutting out with Google Chat. That won't fly if I have to call a client!

R plays in a billiards league, and he had a game last night at Cafe Hogenboom. His mom has lent me her bike for the time I'm here, and we biked there in the crazy wind.

I had never seen this type of billiards before - there were no pockets, and only 3 balls; yours, your opponents and a 'communal' red one. The object is to hit both the red ball and your opponents ball with your ball as many times in a row as you can. Sounds easy, right? I can say with certainty that I would only score once, and it would be by fluke that I did. That's why I chose not to play!

A Game of Billiards by Jean Beraud (source)

If you're like me, and a description just isn't enough, check out this video.




The TVs were showing the football game between Ajax, the team from Amsterdam, and Real Madrid. Unfortunately Ajax lost, but had two goals called offside, even though the replay showed they were clearly not. It's hard not to care about football here!

I had a great time meeting some of R's friends. They were very nice, and spoke english with me! My Dutch is improving, but it's still not at a level where I can do much more than count and ask where the bathroom is!

Today was a much less interesting day to blog about, mostly because R went to work, and I stayed at his house to work. I am able to connect my laptop to my company's network, which means I could technically work from anywhere!

R usually eats dinner at his parent's house on Tuesday nights, and this week was no different.  He went directly there, and I managed to walk there without getting lost! No big surprise, I was a bit late, and he was worried I was lost.

His parents have a beautiful home. It was modest and cozy with lovely little details. I especially loved the collection of old photos hanging on one wall. They reminded me both of the photos my mom has hanging in her living room and the photos of my grandpa at the cottage.

We had a lovely evening with his mom. She made a simple and tasty dinner of mashed potatoes with sauerkraut zuurkool and rookworst (smoked sausage). She also served this delicious dessert that I can only describe as whipped raspberry yogurt. It was sweet and airy.

When we got home, we did some planning for an upcoming day trip to Antwerp, Belgium. I'm excited, it's one of the cities that I didn't visit when I was in Europe in 97/98.

We opted to take a day off work to visit Amsterdam. There is a park and ride program that costs 8 euros for parking at the olympic stadium and two two ride passes for the transit system, that we used to get downtown.

Our first stop was a cup of coffee for me! R had a hot chocolate that I was fascinated to see made.  The lady threw some chocolate chips into a cup, filled it with milk, and then put the steamer from the latte machine in to heat up the milk and chocolate chips! R let me try some, and it was amazing!! Mind = Blown.

We walked along Kalverstraat, and stopped at a bunch of stores. We had 3 things to get: some shoes for me (I have my mind set on some Campers, or similar brand), a winter coat for him, and a SIM card for my cell phone so that I can use it here if needed.

I found the Camper store to be intimidating, despite it being so small. I tried on some clothes at Vero Moda, Esprit and Only, but didn't buy anything. I found a blazer, sweater and long sleeve tee that I really liked, but decided to think about. Those stores are everywhere here, so if I decide that I want to buy them in the end, I can go somewhere closer.

We also went to the Madame Tussauds wax museum. I said that I would go if it was less than 15 Euros, and it was 16, so we went in. I was pleasantly surprised, I thought it might be creepy, but it was pretty neat. And it was on a high floor right by the Dam Square, so there was a nice view right by Madonna, Elle McPherson and Posh Spice.

View of the Dam Square

R found a winter jacket that he really liked, but it was pretty expensive, so he decided to keep looking. I told him that if he doesn't find one there'll likely be sales on in Toronto when he visits in February. Though until he finds one, he'll probably be pretty cold!

We forgot about getting a SIM card until the very last minute, but thankfully the Hi store was still open, and I got a pre-paid blackberry card for 20 Euros. It's nice to know that I can call or bbm the folks here if I ever get lost!

You may be wondering why I have not included many pictures.  Well, I forgot to charge R's sister-in-law's camera so when I went to turn it on to take a photo of the Olympic stadium, it turned right back off again.

Today R had his weekly football game, and I went to watch. I wore practically every piece if clothing that I brought because it was cold and windy. He plays on a team with his oldest brother, but his other brother and mom came out to watch as well. I suspect it was also to keep me company, which is super thoughtful.

The town's football club is called RKSV DOSR. They have a pretty sweet setup, if you ask me. There is a main, grass, field where the competitive teams generally play. There are some small bleachers where fans can watch. There are also two turf fields where the recreational teams play, one of which has sheltered benches. There are also some smaller, fenced in areas where kids can keep themselves occupied while there are other games going on. There is a clubhouse where the players congregate after games to have some beers and food. They also sell a yummy cup of coffee!


Kids start in level E and move up every 2 years until they're in A. From there they have the option of trying out for either team 1 or 2, both of which are competitive, or to play recreationally in one of the other teams. It's not surprising that the Netherlands has so many good footballers. I think it's similar to the hockey programs in Canada, though I admittedly never really paid attention.

R's team won their game, and R scored 2 goals! His teammates kept joking that I need to come to all of their games because he never plays that well. I suspect they are exaggerating. I was just happy that they were playing on the field with the sheltered benches!

Later in the afternoon, we went for a bike ride around Roelofarendsveen. It's pronounced rule-of-aaron's-vein, and it took me a week of practicing when R visited me in October to say it properly!

The wind was quite strong, which made biking beside the Braassemermeer a little tough, but it was still very beautiful. I think my mom and aunts would love this place - it's so close to the water!


As I said in my last post, I have been having some trouble with my camera. I will deal with it when I get back, because it's still in the warranty period. In the mean time, R's sister-in-law generously lent me her camera to use while I'm here. I promise to take some pictures of the town during my lunch break on a nice day (assuming we have one!)

I arrived in the Netherlands on Saturday morning via Frankfurt.  I couldn't really sleep on the flight from Toronto to Frankfurt, but had a nice little nap on the flight from Frankfurt to Amsterdam. I suspect it's because I had an emergency exit seat. If you've never experienced this before, it's amazing, especially in comparison to the cramped seating in the regular rows.

R let me nap while he finished off a few things for the Sinterklaas celebration later that night. Like writing his poems and getting paper to wrap his gifts... We were each instructed to bring two gifts under 5 Euros (I took that to mean $10) and one thing that we no longer wanted to have.  We put our shoes by the door, and left for his brother and sister in law's house.

I guess I should back-up a little bit, since those outside of the Netherlands probably don't know the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas! It was pretty new to me. Sinterklass, or De Sint, is celebrated on the evening of December 5th. He arrives in the Netherlands each year in mid-November by steamboat from Spain with his valet Zwarte Piet. This year, he arrived on the same day as the Santa Claus parade in Toronto!

Sinterklaas (source)		Santa Claus (source)

(As an aside, just as I was leaving, it was on the news that the Sinterklaas celebration in New Westminster had been cancelled (http://www.sinterklaas.ca/) due to the controversial nature of Zwarte Piet. I will admit the Zwarte Piet were a little shocking to me - I don't think I've ever seen anyone dress in blackface before.)

On December 5th, and sometimes in the weeks before, R tells me, children put their shoes next to the fireplace with a carrot or some hay in it and a bowl of water nearby for Sinterklaas' horse. Zwarte Piet enters homes through chimneys at night and takes the horse’s food from the shoes and exchange it for candy and other treats.  Very reminiscent of the stockings we leave out for Santa on Christmas, no?

Sinterklaas for grown-ups means a party of giving and receiving gifts, much like on Christmas. Gifts are accompanied by a poem which serves to embarrass the addressee by reminding him or her of some embarrassing moments in the past year, or to point out a general failure of character in a mocking way.

We went to R's brother and sister-in-law's house where sat down to talk. In total there were 12 adults and 2 children. His nephew just started learning English in school, but we're both too nervous to talk to each other yet! His niece is still young, and believes in Sinterklaas, and that made the celebration even more fun! She was enjoying a video of Zwarte Pieten singing and dancing. Each Piet has a different role to play, and this video had 'Magician Piet', 'Cool Piet', 'Tall Piet', and 'Singing Piet', who looked like Elvis!

The family began singing some songs, and suddenly there was banging on the door and windows. R's nephew went to the door to find a laundry basket full of gifts, mostly the kids. It was awesome to watch them open their gifts! His nephew got some awesome looking games, including a Lego strategy game (!!!!!!!) and anti-monopoly, both of which I want to play! The dog also came away with a sweet hoodie, which he was not too keen to wear at first.

The adults were instructed to get their gag gifts and put them in the centre of the table. We got ourselves seated at the table while R's aunt got out two ridiculously large novelty dice. The rules for the game were simple. Each person rolled the die. A roll of 1 or 6 meant pick a gift, read the poem and open the gift. A roll of 2 meant move one seat to the right, a roll of 4 meant move one seat to the left, leaving any unwrapped gifts with the seat. If you rolled a 1 or a 6 and there was already a gift in your seat, you picked a gift and gave it to someone who didn't have one.  After everyone had a gift, there was one last round, where a rolled 1 meant you had to exchange your gift with someone else, a rolled 6 meant you had to exchange two other peoples gifts. Rolls of 2 and 4 meant the same as in the first round. It was so much fun because you didn't know what you were going to end up with until the very last person rolled!

I was very lucky and managed to not roll a 1 or a 6 the whole time, meaning I didn't have to read any Dutch poems!


Just as the round of gift exchanges was ending, there was some more singing, and more banging on the window, but this time I could see two black faces! Two Zwarte Pieten had come to pay us a visit, and brought these delicious little gingerbread cookies, that they threw everywhere!!  R's nice was a little scared of them. R's family offered the Pieten some beers, and they did a bit of dancing and sat on the couch, and there were lots of pictures taken.  R told me that this was the first time this had been arranged. At one point, R's niece pointed out (quite accurately, I suspect) that 'Piet doesn't drink beer.' We though it was hilarious!

Me and the Zwarte Pieten

When the Pieten left, we continued the gift exchange with the non-gag gifts, but in the 2nd round, each person got two gifts.

I left with a playboy and two penthouse magazines from the gag-gift round, a lottery advent calendar and another playboy from the gift round. At least I can pack them all in my suitcase easily, though I wonder if I might have trouble getting the 100,000 Euro lottery winnings in! There was a live bird in the gag-gift round, but it went to someone who was happy to have it, which made me very happy.

I lasted until about midnight, at which time I don't think I could have paid attention to an English conversation, forget about trying to follow a Dutch one!

When we got home, we found that de Sint had left us each a clementine and a chocolate letter from our first names! I was surprised about this, and I still can't figure out when he did it!

I'm sorry for the lack of photos, I've had some camera trouble and have used my blackberry instead. I also stole some photos from R's cousin!