Old School

We have been in Holland 5 weeks now, and our life has been very different from what I expected.  Before we left the States, I pictured us on excursions to exotic locations and day trips to France, Belgium, and Germany.  Silly me to expect anything other than the mundane chores that come with setting up a home.  Dishes have to be washed, dinner has be cooked, mounds of laundry must be washed, dried, and folded... And then Sara is still working to finish up her second grade schoolwork.  She got a late start on the material from the very beginning, and moving around slowed us down even more.  So for the most part, we have just been trying to get into a routine and have some semblance of normalcy in our lives.

Of course, with the settling in comes obstacles.  Most days I feel like we have not only moved across the planet but that we have time warped back at least 25 years, maybe more.  For instance, I've been kickin' it old school on my snazzy new Dutch bike.  The Dutch ride bikes that look like this one everywhere...I guess when you're country is roughly the size of Maryland in land area but nearly 3 times the population, parking can be a problem. 

And whoever said you never forget how to ride a bike obviously never had to learn to ride a Dutch one 15 years after his most recent biking experience.  I never actually fell off, but let's just say that relearning wasn't pretty.
And then I'm making ice in ice trays again...something I haven't done in probably 10 years.  Oh and let me not forget that gone are the days of other modern conveniences.  I can actually say that I miss Walmart and its 24 hour availability.  I never thought I would say those words, but it's true.  Stores here are open from about 9 or 10 am until 5 pm.  If you're lucky, they're open later on Thursday and Friday evenings, but you can forget about them being open on Sundays at all.  What is this...the 1970's?  It's bad enough that I'm having to learn to enjoy a big juicy hamburger without French's mustard or dill pickle slices, but what happens if I have a true emergency...like a craving for peanut butter and chocolate ice cream at 10 pm?

As usual, I feel I must counter these trials with some bright points from our travels.  One in particular was our trip to Zaandam, which is a quaint little touristy town northwest of Amsterdam.

We climbed through an operational windmill that was constructed in the 1700s.  We watched it make dye for paint.

We also visited a cheese farm, and of course, sampled cheese...

And we watched a man who made the iconic wooden clogs.  A process that used to take hours has been modernized with a machine that can make a pair in 5 minutes.

 Sara and Levi tried on a pair...

It seems that I always end with some form of an apology so that I don't sound like some grumpy, ungrateful expat's wife.  My goal is to give you all a glimpse into what it's really like living here.  Life is never easy, and living the expat life is no exception.  The idea of living abroad can seem a bit glamorous, and frankly, I was so excited about the prospect of a year-long adventure that I didn't stop to consider the inconveniences we would encounter.  We are adjusting and we will be fine, but just remember all of this so when I post pictures of our trips to France, Belgium, and Germany, you'll know I earned it.  ;)