Just the Basics

So much has happened in the last 3 weeks that we have been living in Holland that I don't even know where to begin... but I suppose I'll start with the basics.  We arrived in the country on May 27 and moved into the house we are renting on the 29th.  Here are a few pics of the house:

This pic below is part of our "garden", which is really cool because it wraps all the way around the house.  Lots of places for seating when we finally start having guests. I'll put the rest of the pics of Facebook for anyone who is curious.

Once we settled in, we had to go out in search of groceries.  This was an interesting experience, to say the least, because I never really considered that I wouldn't be able to read the labels on the packages.  Thank goodness most of them had pictures or who knows what we would've come home with!  As it was there were still a few surprises, but we did fairly well considering.

We also did some exploring in our new little village.  Hellevoetsluis is situated on an inlet from the North Sea, so we have some beautiful views of the water just minutes from our house.

The town, among others in our area, was used in World War II, and there are signs of that scattered around the town...like the cannons pictured below.

The beach has become one of our favorite places to hang out.  The weather is finally starting to warm up enough so we can actually enjoy it, with temperatures right now in the high 60s to low 70s-- a little chilly for me to be on the beach, but the locals love it.  The homes and many public buildings don't have air conditioning because they seldom need it.  When the temps hit the high 70s to low 80s a few days ago, they actually cancelled school because it was too hot for the children.  My thought was that they don't have a clue what HOT is!

The pic below was taken on the walk between our house and the beach.  If I didn't know better, I'd almost think I was back in Concordia Parish...

Well, this is just a taste of what is to come.  Now that we are settled, I will be blogging more often so you can all experience Dutch living vicariously...which is much less complicated, trust me.