Holiday season continues. . .

Well winter had been in full force here in Holland. During the Chanukah holiday we had our first batch of snow. It is something to get used to living in a place where people do not shovel their walkways and the plows do a terrible job on the streets. After a snow storm the ground is very icy and it is hard to get around.

Chanukah was nice as we celebrated with friends. We went to one friend’s house and had fresh potato pancakes and jelly donuts. Yum, yum. Then on one of the last days of Chanukah, the town held its community Chanukah celebration and candle lighting. It was held in the city hall and was very nice. The rabbi and his wife organized. They made the menorah out of food cans (see picture) and had the American and Israeli Ambassador on site to help light the candles. They also had some of the kids of the community sing Chanukah songs. It was a nice turnout and a very lovely event. Unlike what we are used to at home, in town there were no Chanukah decorations or even menorahs in people’s windows. Therefore this event was so nice to be able to feel the Chanukah spirit. After the event we had to go to Dutch class and bought in some Chanukah chocolate coins to tell about the holiday. Then on another night Scott and I went to see the 25th anniversary of Les Miserables in the movie theater. It was our Chanukah gift to each other. As we both like musicals, I knew this would be fun for us. Since Les Miserables recently turned 25th, the producers put on the show in a huge stadium in London and recorded it to be seen all over the world. Was so great. I recommend to anyone who likes Les Miserables.

Recently my aunt and dad told me that my grandpa had a friend who lived in Holland and maybe I could call him and see if he was still around. My grandpa had worked with a Dutch company, so he found himself in Holland a few times and become close with this man named Ferdi. Over the years they had stayed in touch and even after my grandpa passed away, my aunt stayed in touch. I called Ferdi and he lives about a half hour from The Hague, so I made plans to go over and meet him. I brought pictures of my family as I knew he would be interested. We met in the train station and he was this cute old man. He was 92 years old and had fond memories of time spent with my grandpa. We went back to his house and I showed him pictures of my family and he was able to show me a picture he had of my grandparents. It was such a nice experience for me to meet him and was a pleasure to spend the afternoon with him. My aunt and my dad really enjoyed hearing about my time with him. My very cute because Ferdi referred to my aunt by her nickname. It was so heartwarming because it meant that my grandpa referred to my aunt that way. I hope to visit him again soon.

Then a funny thing happened the next day. Scott called me early in the morning and asked if I wanted to meet up with my cousin. I was so confused, but he explained my cousin was traveling around Europe and happened to have a meeting in The Hague so wanted to see if we were free. Turns out my cousin got stuck by the snow in Europe, so ended up sleeping in the airport in Munich and then found himself early in Amsterdam, so he had some free time that wasn’t expected. Was so nice to meet up and spend time with family. Was ironic because the day before I had spend the entire afternoon talking about my family and then the next day a member of the family showed up. We took a picture to share with everyone at home. See above.

Then over the weekend we had friends come from Amsterdam to hang out. We were able to show them our pizza making skills, and they said the pizza was good and then we headed over to see an IMAX movie in town. We were a bit worried as we read the movie would be in Dutch, but were happy to see when we arrived that they had headphones you could use if you wanted English. See this is why it has been so hard to learn Dutch. You really never need to use it when living in this country. Was a great movie about the ocean floor and was such a fun time.

Now a classic story about living in Holland and medical care-As some of you may know I arrived here with a herniated disc and have been dealing with it since last spring. I had gone to a doctor in September and she recommended Physical therapy and said to come back in time to see if it was helping. So I made an appointment and went back. I arrived and started asking questions about my back and then proceeded to be insulted by the doctor. She told me I was asking too many questions and said she couldn’t give me a proper diagnosis because I had not been back in months (every though she had not told me to come back for a while.) She told me she needed to review my MRI (which I had given her the first time I saw her) with the radiologist and would call me back Friday night. I told her that would not work and she said ok I will call you back next Friday night. I explained to her she could not call me back because I do not speak on the phone after sundown on Friday. She had no idea what I was talking about and looked at me like I had three heads. Was one of the worst doctor visits I had ever had. I called Scott hysterically crying afterwards and he assured me was a one time event and I wouldn’t have to go back. I have never been told by a doctor I was asking to many questions. Thankfully she called me on a Friday afternoon and prescribed more physical therapy and I am going to schedule follow ups with a different doctor as I never want to see her again.

Well in the weeks right before Christmas we had another massive snowstorm and almost a foot of snow. Again made travel a mess. Everywhere it has been icy and has been really annoying. Also since has been so cold, all the pipes outside our house froze. Since the water wasn’t draining we had a minor flood into the house. Scott took off all the pipes and we de-iced them in the house. I am attaching pictures of the big icicles that came from inside the pipes. Everyone we have spoken to has told us they also have had minor leaks from this weather. The people here are not set up for this type of weather, since it was not usually like this, though as has been for a few years I think this is now the norm, not the exception.

Now we are in the midst of Christmas weekend here in The Hague. Most everything was closed so we stayed in and made some yummy egg drop soup and a chicken stir fry.

That is the latest for now. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Holiday pictures

Holiday Season Begins!!!

So the turkey defrosted and turned out great. See pictures above. Everyone came and they really enjoyed themselves. It was a pleasure for us to be celebrating thanksgiving with new friends and some of them are not American, so this was their first Thanksgiving. We had all the American staples, turkey, stuffing, cranberry, sweet potato, apple pie, etc. We received nice compliments on the food and everyone was amazed at the spread. This is Scott’s favorite holiday, so it was nice that we were still able to celebrate it outside the US. Then on the actual Thanksgiving Day, I was able to watch the Macy’s Parade in real time. This was very nice, but did make me a bit homesick and then later that day skyping with my whole family who were together celebrating made it a bit more difficult. It was nice though because my brother took the computer around the house, so Scott and I were able to say hi to all my relatives. After I watched the parade I had to start cooking because we were lucky to have our second set of visitors coming over from the US. We had some friends who decided to spend Thanksgiving in Amsterdam. We told them if they wanted they could spend Shabbos with us, so they wouldn’t have to worry about any plans. They came in Friday afternoon and Scott and I gave them a quick whirlwind tour of The Hague. Shabbos is starting early these days, so Friday ends up being a very short day. We started at Madurodam. For those of you who have never heard of this place, Madurodam is a miniature Holland. It is a very neat place that has recreated many famous sites in Holland in miniature. Scott and I had decided to wait until guests come to see this place. Was fun to see, but that day was a bitter cold day, so we look forward to going back in warmer weather. Then I gave our friends Debbie and Daniel a quick tour of the main city center of The Hague. They were happy to see I knew my way around. Then we jetted home for Shabbos and was great Daniel was here because he made the 10th person for the minyan in shul. Since we had guests over who were willing to play games, we played Apples to Apples and had a great time. Shabbos morning we went to shul and introduced our NY friends to our friends here in The Hague. Then we had over about 9 people for lunch including ourselves and Debbie and Daniel and was a great Shabbos afternoon. Before we knew it Shabbos was over and our friends left to head back to Amsterdam. It was great to have friends from home to show them our life here. It is always so nice for us having visitors and we welcome whoever wants to come. Please give us some advance warning.

Now we are in the midst of Chanukah. We started off the holiday with Scott making yummy latkes and we are picking up jelly donuts on Sunday. We have plans to celebrate the holiday with friends and should be fun. My only complaint is that it is so cold here and had been snowing. Not ready for real winter yet, but what can you do.

Happy Chanukah to all my friends reading who celebrate this holiday.

Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen, Denmark

Nov 20th-Copenhagen

Since I last wrote, Scott and I visited Copenhagen, Denmark. Scott had to go for a work training and I went for fun. I spent a few days exploring the city, despite it being cold and windy. November is not the perfect time to visit, but at least there was no waiting on lines for museums. I visited the Jewish museum, Museum of Resistance, three of the royal palaces, Museum of Copenhagen, Museum of Denmark, and the Geology museum. Unfortunately the famous landmark of the city, The Little Mermaid is in China for 2010, so I couldn’t see her. They had a copy in the airport so we took pictures. See above. I took the hop of hop off bus tour and for one of the routes; I was actually the only one of the bus. Interesting experience to be on a huge bus all alone going around the city. I was very impressed with all the palaces. We even were able to see some of the royal jewels, which they have on display. On Thursday night I arranged us to see a comedy/musical show at Tivoli, which is an amusement park with restaurants and theaters, and very famous in Copenhagen. It was put on by an English speaking theater company and was hysterical. We didn’t understand all the jokes as they made fun of some Danish things, but overall we had a great time. I was unimpressed with the Jewish museum. It was designed the by famous architect Daniel Libeskind, but I thought it was a weird setup and there actually wasn’t many artifacts to see. The Museum of Resistance was much more interesting and showed what the Danish did to resist the Nazis during WWII. Amazing how they helped save the Jews and only a small amount were killed. Makes you think what other countries could have done to help save people during the war. As we decided to stay for Shabbos, I got in touch with the local Chabad to see if we could join them for meals. What an experience we had. There is an active Jewish community in the city, with two shuls. The shul near chabad doesn’t get so many people on Shabbos, but the other has at least 100 active families. The chabad is very active with many ongoing activities and every shabbos they get close to 100 people and in the summer the number is even higher. They feed people for free and just ask you to give a donation. The chabad rabbi and his wife were so nice and friendly and we enjoyed their company. The rabbi had just come back from a Chabad conference in NY, so we got to hear about his experience. We were even fortunate to meet an elderly man who grew up in Copenhagen visiting from Israel. He shared his experiences of being in the City during the war. He spoke in Hebrew and most I was able to understand, but thankfully the rabbi translated all afterwards. We had a very lovely Shabbos and I am sure will go back again.

Now we are getting ready for our first Thanksgiving outside the US. We arranged for a turkey from Amsterdam and are having 10 adults and 4 kids for dinner tomorrow. Should be fun!!! Just hoping our turkey defrosts by tomorrow!!

Pictures from party

Mid-October

I know it has been a while since I have updated my blog, but thankfully things have been busy. On the Sunday after Scott’s birthday we headed to Amsterdam, to find mozzarella cheese to make pizzas for the birthday party we were planning. We also ordered a large birthday cake for the occasion. See it just took a while, but now we have figured out this whole kosher food situation. We were also fortunate to spend time with some of Scott’s fellow American expat coworkers and their families. The wives have been so friendly and helpful to me, which has been great. So now back to birthday celebrations. On the 23rd, we had a big party at our house in honor of my birthday, Scott’s birthday and Diego’s birthday. (Scott’s coworker’s husband who also just turned 30). Diego came over the Thursday before to help Scott make the pizzas. Now he is an expert pizza maker. We also filled him in on Diego from Dora the Explorer. He had never heard of him. I guess they don’t show Dora in Argentina, where he is from. The party was so much fun. We had Argentinean friends of Diego, our friends from shul, some of Scott’s coworkers, some friends I have already made while here and our neighbors. Everyone had a great time eating homemade pizza, and the big birthday cake. (pictures posted above) This was the first time I felt like we were settled here and things will be ok. It was so nice to see in such a short time all the people we have met and can share happy occasions. It was great that the party was so multicultural because then happy birthday could be sung to us in three languages. It was also great to spend time with our neighbors, an expat from Canada and a young Dutch family, renovating the house next store. Good thing I am used to construction nearby from my NYC days, so doesn’t faze me. Our neighbors are really friendly, which is very nice.

Now that we are also more settled we have been able to host more shabbos meals. Last weekend, we even hosted Friday night and shabbos day. People are so happy to know they can trust our kashrus and eat in our house. And on the flip side we are happy that we can have people over to celebrate the Sabbath with us. We have also been hanging out socially with some of the people we have met here. Just last Sunday we went to Amsterdam and met up with a nice young couple whom we had met weeks before at the Jewish learning weekend. We ate in a kosher Mediterranean meat restaurant. Food was great. We have decided this is our new favorite Amsterdam kosher spot.

Recently I started knitting lessons with my friend Sasha, who is stuck at home in bed after an unfortunate carting accident, led to two broken ankles. Word to the wise, try and avoid carting. We had a teacher, who owns a cute knit shop in the town center come to Sasha’s house. She gave us basic lessons and now we are off knitting. I can tell you here that I am planning to start with a scarf for Scott and as he doesn’t read this blog, it will still be a surprise.

Scott and I also started Dutch lessons. We go to class twice a week at night. There are 6 students including us in the class. They come from Poland, Ethiopia, China and Israel/South Africa, so we are a diverse bunch. Has been an interesting experience. Many words are similar to English, it is just a question of getting pronunciation and grammar, which can be difficult. We need to memorize the words we don’t know and practice, practice, practice. Hopefully next time we are home to the states, we will be able to speak to you in Dutch.

So that’s the latest for now dear friends . . .