Yay kosher food . . .

Wed-
I decided this week as my days are very free to volunteer at the Jewish community center, who was hosting a one week camp for children. I volunteered for two days. Was great to be able to offer my help with the kids. The camp was organized by the Rebbetzin and her eldest daughter and two of her friends, plus two other adults. The days I was there, we had about 20 kids from 2 ½ to 10. Most were Israeli, so spoke Dutch and Hebrew, which made it very hard to communicate. Only 4 kids spoke fluent English, so they were my buddies for the two days. The kids did arts and crafts projects both days. The first day we went to a Gymboree like location, where the kids went wild jumping and running all around. The most exciting part of this day was I discovered a certain type of ices was kosher. Go Rocket Pops. Very exciting. The second day we went to a petting zoo. Now anyone who knows me and my love or shall we say hate of animals, will know this is not how I would want to spend my free time. I was assigned two kids, one two and a half year old who was scared of the animals and one older one who wanted to see the animals. So it was a challenge keeping an eye on the two. Finally the older one went with another group and we just hung out in the playground. It was a very hot day, but I know not according to what has been in NY.

My most favorite story of the two day experience is as follows: The first day there were not enough spots for everyone to go at once to the Gymboree, so they kept me there with the one other adult who did not speak a word of English. I tried communicating with her in the Hebrew I know, but wasn’t working. She had a question for me, so to figure out what she wanted we played telephone. She spoke in Hebrew to one of the children who knew Hebrew and Dutch and then that child translated in Dutch what the Israeli said to a kid who knew English and Dutch and then he relayed the message to me in English. All she wanted to know was when they were coming to pick us up?

This next shabbos was very uneventful as I think I caught a cold from one of the kids, so was sick all shabbos.

Sunday though was probably one of the most exciting days so far we have had on our European adventure. No, we were not happy the Dutch team lost the World Cup, but rather we went to Antwerp to buy kosher food. Woohooo. Antwerp is only an hr and half drive away, so we packed our coolers and we went off. First we started the day at the Diamond Museum, as Antwerp is the capital of the Diamond trade. I think almost 80% of the Worlds diamonds pass thru there. Funny to think this may be the second time the diamonds in my engagement ring have passed thru this city. Then we went off for lunch to a kosher restaurant. We ate at Hoffy’s which had an enormous selection of meat. I went a bit crazy and ordered so much. But I started the meal off with a huge bowl of chicken soup, so Scott had to finish what I couldn’t. The food was amazing and we were so excited to be back eating in a kosher restaurant. Then we went off in search of a kosher market. Some lady on the street directed us to a place. We walked in and it was like we were in Heaven. They had tons of products we recognized. I bought three packages of American cheese and also string cheese. I have never been so happy to see cheese. Then we bought dressings, marinades, candy, chips, spices, and American hot dogs. This was so exciting. Now we can feel better about things.

Then we came home to watch the game. We found a comfortable spot within a bar, to avoid the craziness we figured would commence in the main square in The Hague where we were. It was a very uneventful game and we were on edge and then when they lost, was so sad. People just had such horrible looks on their faces, was very sad to witness. It was very sad even to us, who were not born here, but were rooting all along.

Pictures to follow. . .

Monday- Today was exciting because I made us fresh onion soup. Came out amazing. Been wanting to do this since we have been here, but was missing some ingredients. Finally picked up yesterday and was good to go. The warm soup was good, since we both now have colds and hoping next time I write, we will be back to 100%.