Antwerp

Birthday Pictures

Homeward bound, Antwerp and birthdays . . .

Well it has been a while, but our European adventure continues. The blog was on break while Scott and I headed back to the states for the Jewish holidays. So let’s head back a few weeks to keep you up to date what we have been up to. First off we spent Rosh Hashana in The Hague. Was my first time not in Oceanside with my parents for the holiday. When packing to move here it never occurred to me to pack my Machzors (Jewish book special for holiday) as they are kept in Oceanside. Right before the holiday we realized this fact and thankfully the rabbi had one English/Hebrew machzor I could use, which made life much easier. All Machzors are in Dutch, so would have been hard to follow along. Thankfully Scott had a set here, so he was able to follow. The first night we had dinner at the Rabbi’s house, which was a great way to start of the holiday. Then I hosted a meal the first day and we went to friends the second day. Was a nice holiday even though we missed our loved ones at home. We thought we would see many more faces in shul over the holiday, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. We were told more people would appear during Yom Kippur because of Yizkor. As Rosh Hashana was during the week and these holidays are not as commonly known as in the US, maybe many people could just not take off during the week. Services were basically the same, but one big difference being there wasn’t much congregation repetition as I am used to. The Chazzan basically does the whole service himself. Scott had an interesting holiday as he is one of the only Kohan’s here, (In Judaism, there are three classes people find themselves in) he had learn how a new melody for the Kohan’s prayer and say it all by himself. In the states we are used to saying it only in an afternoon service, but here they say it is the morning as well. The Rabbi is a kohan, but on the second day he went to the other shul, so Scott was on his own. People were so impressed that he learned the local Dutch tune and did it all alone. He thought he was golden as he now knew the tune, but unfortunately every holiday has a different tune, so the study continues. Then early Sunday after Rosh Hashana ended I headed home (now I know this is home now, but the states will always be home to me.) I was sad to leave Scott for the week, but so excited to get my US fix of family, friends and food. Soon after I arrived we headed for good ole NJ pizza. Was very good and brought a huge smile to my face. Then headed back to my parents for a few days until the end of the week. I spent Mon-Wed in NYC seeing friends and meeting babies born to friends while I was away. Shout out to Ethan and Neta, very cute babies. Then Thursday Scott arrived and we stayed in NJ to spend time with his family. Yom Kippur was in Paramus and we were lucky that we were able to spend time with Scott’s mom, brother and his family, and Scott’s best friend who happened to be in town. Then Scott being a wonderful brother as he is flew to Michigan for two days to spent time with his sister and her family and meet his new niece. He had such a nice time there and in the meantime I stayed in NJ and saw more friends and hung out with more of my family. Then Scott came home and we were off to Oceanside for Sukkot. It was really great that all my siblings were home and we were able to spend a great deal of quality time together. Then the holiday ended and Sunday we saw some friends in NYC and Scott went back. I stayed an extra week and saw some more friends and then spent Simchat Torah with my sister in Teaneck. Was a great three weeks in NY eating some incredible kosher food, and seeing all my wonderful friends and family. I realize I am a lucky girl to have such great people in my life. I look forward to the next trip home hopefully within 6 months to see everyone again in person and see the people who I missed on this trip.

I arrived back to Holland on October 4th, just in time for a big event, my 30th birthday on October 6th. My wonderful husband knowing that it would be hard to be away from everyone on my birthday decorated our whole living room with birthday decorations and treated me to a night at the beach, where we got to watch a lovely sunset. Also was great that my parents called on Skype soon after 12 our time and Scott took a picture of me with them. My favorite little man Noah sang me happy birthday and I got nice cards. Shout out to Pam who made Scott and me an incredible collage card with Dutch phrases. Since my birthday and Scott’s are 1 week apart, we decided we wanted to go away the weekend in between to celebrate. Our friends in The Hague set us up with a lovely family in Antwerp and we decided to go. It was an incredible experience to be there for shabbos. Here in The Hague when you walk to shul, you can sometimes forget it is shabbos, since you usually don’t see anyone else who looks outwardly Jewish. In Antwerp it is just the opposite; everywhere you turn there are Jews. Our female host was from NY, so it was great to be able to relate to someone my experience and ask questions. She was able to fill me in on some pressing food questions, such as yes Salsa can be found. It was such a nice shabbos at their house. They had tons of people for dinner Friday night and since they knew it was our birthdays had a cake for us and wished us a happy birthday. They were so nice and we can’t wait to go again. Saturday night in honor of our birthdays, we went out for dinner to a kosher dairy restaurant called Mama Mia. The food was amazing. Huge portions and it was like being in a restaurant in NY. Now I know where we will be eating next time we are in Antwerp. On Sunday we started our day with fresh pastries from the local bakery called Heimishe bakery, got some Starbucks in the train station and then walked around Antwerp by the water. Was a great day. We finished up the day by having a late lunch at the famous Hoffy’s and then did some food shopping in the local grocery store. Sadly they had no American cheese, but wasn’t a problem because carried back some when I came back from the states. Yet I bought Salsa, enough pasta to last for months, and tons of other products so we are now stocked up.

Next big thing we have going on is Scott’s birthday tomorrow. Not sure I can top what he did for me, but he is going to have his favorite food, tacos for dinner. Carried back me with about 12 packages of taco mix. Woohoo . . .



Pictures of all mentioned above will be in next post

Shana Tova

Scott and I just wanted to wish all our blog readers a Happy New Year filled with good health, happiness and sweet things. The New Year will give us many new things to blog about as we continue our adventure in Holland. Thanks for reading. The blog will be on break during the holidays, but will continue afterwards.

Shabbaton-Jewish Learning Seminar weekend

Last weekend we attended a Jewish learning seminar weekend organized by this organization called Arachim, who tries to renew authentic Jewish values and is involved with outreach programs. We thought would be a great opportunity to meet some fellow Dutch Jews and learn some interesting things. We heard from two great scholars Rabbi Yehudah Silver and Rabbi Akiva Tatz. Rabbi Tatz is an expert on Jewish ethics. The speeches were very interesting and we learned some new things. We also got to eat well as the catering was amazing and there was food galore. What was also great about the weekend is we made new friends. Most of the people came from Amstelveen, which is a town right outside Amsterdam, where most Jews live. We met a couple our age, the girl is British and the guy Dutch and I know we will spend time with them while we are here. We also met a rabbi originally from the states, who was so nice and said we can be in touch with him if we need anything and told us after the holidays he will have us over for shabbos. The whole weekend was in English, so if you didn’t know better you could think you were somewhere in the states. It was an amazing weekend overall. One story from the weekend is as follows: After hearing Rabbi Silver speak, we realized he was American, maybe even a New Yorker. So I decided to go up to him and ask if he was from New York and to say I was a fellow American. He said he wasn’t from New York, but his son lives in Cedarhurst, so he knows my hometown. He was like wow this must be an interesting experience to come from Long Island to the Netherlands. I was like yes and we actually just moved from Teaneck here and he said wow must be a real adjustment, I wish you all the best. It is always fun when we meet people here who know our hometowns and Teaneck. It is less than you may think.

Pictures from Amsterdam, Paris, Pizza

Interior of Starbucks in Paris, seriously!!!

Amsterdam/Portuguese Synagogue

Lisa and Paris!!!!

This week was another good week. On Wednesday went to Leiden with Nomi (friend living in Amsterdam) and Elisheva, who came in from the states. Scott and I had been there before, but looked interesting to Nomi and Elisheva, so worked for me. Though not sure if it was the Starbucks in the train station that was enticing me:-) We first went to the Naturalis museum, which is similar to the Natural History Museum in NYC. They have some great stuffed animals and Elisheva provided good commentary as she is a science teacher. Then we stopped in the botanical gardens to walk around. Was great weather, so was really nice. Then we just walked around the town and had a great time together. Was a lot of fun. I miss spending time with all my friends from home, so was great to spend time with a new and old friend. Then headed back to The Hague to meet up with Scott as we were heading that night to Amsterdam to shop for kosher food and get some pizza in the one pizza place in Amsterdam. We were excited to find kosher cheese, frozen foods and a kosher aisle in the supermarket. Not at all like the selection you may find in Stop and Shop or Shoprite, but grateful that this exists. We did really well getting all we needed to host our first houseguest and shabbos meal in The Hague. Then we headed to the pizza place. Not at all like NY pizza. Everyone gets their own individual pizza, but we enjoyed eating. Scott and I each ate a mini pizza and a half. Was the first pizza I ate in over two months, so was very exciting. Then Thursday spent the day cooking for our shabbos meal. As I had no warming tray, all the food I made had to be served cold, so was an interesting experience coming up with the menu. Lots of salads, cold chicken, apple muffins, etc. Then Friday Lisa arrived. Was so amazing to see a face from home and as Lisa is like family was a great feeling. She brought lots of goodies from home, which was awesome. Saturday we went to the synagogue and introduced Lisa to all the new friends we have made. Then we headed home to host some friends for lunch. Was a great afternoon and felt like being back in the states. Sunday we headed to Amsterdam to see the sites. We started the day in the Portuguese Synagogue, which was beautiful and then headed over to the Jewish museum. Is so interesting to hear about Jewish history in the place we are now living. It is sad to realize how there were so many small Jewish communities all around the Netherlands before the War, but afterwards many did not return and the communities no longer exist. Then we went to the Rembrandt museum to see the place where Rembrandt lived and painted. After we headed to the Anne Frank House. This was an exceptional experience to see the place where Anne and her family hid for over two years. We started the tour with a 30 minute introduction lecture and were lucky to have in the group a rabbi who knew Otto Frank very well. Then we did some souvenir shopping and walked along the canals. Was a great afternoon. Finally wrapped up the day by taking Lisa to a kosher restaurant which has been in Amsterdam for many years and serves classic Dutch food. Yum, yum.

Monday we got up early and headed back to Amsterdam to meet up with two friends, Vanessa from Amsterdam and Elisheva from the states, to start our road trip to Paris. Took us about 6 hours, which included the two stops we made and arrived in Paris in time for dinner. Was great to be in a place with so many options for kosher food. We picked a dairy place, and was yummy. On Tuesday got up early and started on a tour of the city and then to the Eiffel Tour. We walked around to see Napoleons tomb, Notre Dame and then after a great steak dinner back to the Eiffel Tower for a night cruise down the Seine. Was a jam packed day seeing all of Paris' famous sites. On Wednesday we headed over to Versailles to spend the day exploring the palaces and gardens. I had been to Versailles before, but still amazing to see a second time. Then we headed out in search of another great kosher restaurant in Paris. We checked out one street which is known to have many kosher places. We found one place that seemed to have food which everyone liked. We sat down and ordered chicken sandwiches, only to be told they had no sandwiches, wraps, only sushi, salads and hotdogs, which was ok. As we were eating the first course, we noticed the waiter get on his bike and drive off. Then a few minutes later he returned with what seemed was our bread for the hot dogs. Was a funny meal experience. Food though was good, so was all worth it. Then after dinner we headed to the top of the Arch de Triumph. Was beautiful to see the entire Paris skyline from high above at night. Then to top off the night we went for a drink on Champ Elysees. Thursday turned out to be a beautiful sunny day of about 80 degrees. We started the day at Montmartre to see the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur and the surrounding city on the hill. Many famous painters spent time there working on their craft. After heading down the mountain, I went in search of kosher food. I headed over to La Villette and found the Jewish section and starting stocking up on as much as I could carry back such as cheese and some other essential items. I was also in search of a crock pot, and warming tray for shabbos, so headed over to a Judaica shop and there right in front was everything I needed. So now we are all set for hot food on shabbos, which is very exciting. Then after dropping off all my purchases in the hotel, headed over to Rue Rosiers for dinner. I had an amazing schnitzel sandwich and then we started our drive back to The Hague. Was a great trip and had so much fun with my friends. Shout out to Lisa, Vanessa and Elisheva for helping me have such a great vacation. Really had a great time spending the week with you.

The weekend after I returned was the first weekend we had no plans at all. It was great to be able to relax and enjoy the time in our new home. We had pancakes for breakfast on Sunday. Thanks Pincus family. In the afternoon, we headed to a goodbye party of someone we met in The Hague, who is moving to Israel and had a chance to make some new friends which was great. Then most exciting of all was for dinner we made homemade pizza. We had the cheese and sauce, so all we had to do was make the crust. Was actually very easy and tasted good. Now we can keep working to perfect it and by the time we get home we will be pizza experts.