Last week in June and Leiden

Last week in June-

This week was relatively quiet for me, so little to report. The most exciting thing though was we received the keys to our new home. We did a walkthrough with the brokers and they did a great job of making sure walls were painted, we had new curtains and whole place was cleaned. We also got a brand new stainless steel fridge, which is still small, as most European appliances are not what we are used to in the states. But our broker arranged to have the old fridge placed in a shed outside and now we have two fridge/freezers. The extra one also has a huge freezer which is awesome to have, so we can stock up on frozen foods and have a place to store them. This is what I have been told most European religious Jews do, when they don’t live in a place where kosher meat is easily accessible. You stock up so you are always good to go. We hope to go to Antwerp, Belgium next week to stock up on stuff. We are very happy with our permanent housing. It is a classic Holland row house, 3 levels, 4 bedrooms, windy stairs (though not as bad as we saw) a lovely garden in the back and best of all a walk in closet, which is very unusual for Holland.

We also did some walking around the town at night, which was so great and hung out with Scott’s coworker and her husband who also just moved here.

On Friday I met with a career advisor, who basically told me that the job search process here is very similar to the states. One thing different is a resume or CV as they call it, require a birth date, marital status, visa status and hobbies. A few things which you would rarely find on a resume in the states. She also said the interview process is extremely rigorous. You have to take multiple tests and have extensive interviews before you are hired. Since it is difficult to fire people here, they want to ensure they hire the best and most qualified talent. I will start job searching and hope to find something.

This week we had another great shabbos. Services in the synagogue are very similar to home. They are in Hebrew but the biggest challenge is every sermon or speech is in Dutch, which we can’t understand. I have to be honest, it is really boring to sit there and not understand a word being said. This would be an impetus for trying to learn the language. After services was another great Kiddush. This time they had really yummy pastries and cakes. Then we went out to lunch to members of the community. We had such a great time and were there past 5 or so. These people were so nice and it is great to know we now have friends in the community who live by us and we can share shabboses with. We had cholent there which I know Scott would agree was some of the best cholent we have ever eaten in our lives. It was such a nice day and when this happens, I can feel like ok, I can live here.

Sunday on advice from our shabbos hosts we decided to head to Leiden. It is a nearby town famous for its university. We started the day with some Starbucks, which was our way to celebrate the 4th and have something American. It is interesting that unlike the states, there is not a Starbucks on every corner. I don’t think there is one in The Hague and this is the first we have seen since we are here. Then we went on a lovely canal tour through the city. It was lots of fun. Then we walked to the Botanical Gardens and walked around which was really nice. After this as we read there was a street fair going on, we went and walked around. The best part was Scott purchased a case for his cell phone for 5 Euro. Little things are exciting for us and now he is all set and won’t be scrambling how to protect his phone. After the fair we decided to visit one museum called National Museum of Ethnology. This museum houses world famous collections on diverse non-western cultures. Was actually fairly boring, except for a video on the exploration of Mayan cities. Then we headed to the local supermarket to see if we could find any kosher food. Supermarket shopping here is the absolute worst, as nothing has a symbol, so can’t just automatically know what you can eat. I have to use the kosher book, so grocery shopping takes forever. We found some sauces, but all had MSG which Scott can’t eat, which was a bummer. But did find some salad dressings which was great. One was even honey mustard so can use on fish and chicken, which is great. Then we headed home after a long day and were working on planning our upcoming European vacation, details which will follow.

There is a link I will post after this with pictures from Leiden.