Dutch life

Yesterday ending up being a quiet day. The weather was cool, sun came and went and so it was decided we would do the usual Sat activities and head out for a day trip today. As it turned out, Saturdays here can look very much what they do at home. We took a trip to the local Home Depot which is called the Gamma and purchased a party tent for Koos's birthday party next weekend. It is a canopy tent, no netting like we have on our gazebo, mainly because they have very few bugs here. There is not really any need for screens on the windows, the bugs are so few. So the Gamma, was like a mini Home Depot with many of the same products. Franz and Koos did the party tent shopping while Dad and I scouted for deals. While you are scouting, you must keep in mind to Euro is 1.439 cents to the Canadian dollar so the "deal" is sometimes not what it appears to be! I managed to pick up a longer LAN cable as I have been unable to connect to Koos's WiFii, which they pronounce weefee (much to my amusement), and I am tired of sitting on the floor beside his router. I believe his firmware in the WeeFee needs updating but when I waqs on his pc, I found navigating Windows in Dutch too much for my vacationing brain. And he says if he cannot operate his pc without me, I am not allowed to go home. Of course, he said that this morning too after I made him French Toast with fresh raspberries and the maple syrup I brought from home!

After the Gamma, we headed to the supermarket. It was very much like a Sobey's at home. Beautiful fresh fruit and vegetables and most come from the local greenhouses. I noticed when we flew in the hundreds and hundreds of greenhouses in the country side. I left the oldies (Dad, Hettie and Koos) puttering around with their own baskets, while they sometimes argued in Dutch whether or not something was worth the price they were about to pay, while I took my own basket and wandered the aisles searching for what I wanted. I got my yogurt and berries and milk etc. Found some wine. Got a lecture from Koos that $7 Euro was too much to pay for that Merlot and I must put it back. I pointed out it was a nice wine from South Africa and this is the price I would pay at home. He said he could take me to a discount wine place and the prices were cheaper and marched me back to the wine aisle. When we got there, the sign in Dutch said TWO bottles for $7 Euro! Of course, I had missed that small detail and so once I chose a bottle of the South African Cabernet Sauvignon, it became a good enough deal! lol! From this supermarket, we headed to another. This time a discount one .... kind of  like a Price Chopper at home ... well, sort of .... you could buy in bulk and frozen goods, a few fresh foods but you could also be wandering down an aisle of snack foods and from a stand in the center of the aisle you could pick up a hedge trimmer or a t-shirt or two!  Hmmmmmm .... a Liquidation World meets Giant Tiger meets Price Chopper .... what fun!  :-)

We spent quite a bit time in the grocery stores examining the different kinds of cheese. I am in cheese HEAVEN and I kid you not. I love Dutch cheese. Love, love, love it! This is my first trip here although I have flown through the Amsterdam airport on a few occasions, and every time I did, I would buy some of the cheese to bring home. For them here, it is the price of the local cheese we would buy at home. Well maybe a little cheaper than our local cheese. That being said, if I buy THIS cheese in Ontario (and some of it I can), I pay double what I pay here, even after taking the exchange from Euro to Cdn dollar into account. You can be sure there will be cheese in my suitcase coming home! I brought about 8 lbs of maple syrup I am leaving behind with relatives, that means I can return with 8 lbs of cheese without even noticing. Well ok ... maybe 5 lbs of cheese and 3 lbs of chocolate??  :-)

So, after all the work of the shopping,  we returned home to unpack and then it was time for beer while we contemplated assembling the party tent. It was decided we should wait for Franz to come over for that job. He would be bringing his tools and I was a little daunted by the Dutch directions. So it turned out that I was able to sit and visit and have a drink while we supervised Dad and Franz assembling the tent and that worked for me! Afterwards, we walked over to Marie Christine's (Koos's daughter) for a fantastic greek meal. Then later in the evening back here where I used Koos's computer to sign on to Facebook and show everyone pictures of family and from life at home. As a result of my slideshow, Hettie and Koos are ready to book a trip to Cuba some time next winter.

And no discussion about Dutch life would be complete without a comment on their water closets. They call them water closets for a reason. In all the older homes I have been in so far, they are very much a closet and they are quite specific for their use. And by that I mean you have a closet that contains a toilet and a teeny weeny little sink. And so far, the 4 homes I have been in, you could sit on the toilet and wash your hands at the same time if that is what you would like to do! So, I was not kidding about the teeny weeny part!  :-)  And there is a variety of ways to flush said toilets, chains from the ceiling to pull or a button on the tank or the wall. Then you usually have another water closet that contains a sink and a shower. And, I also have a sink in my bedroom, which I quite like.

I must say, one of the things I love about travelling is observing and absorbing the different cultures. I  particularly enjoy observing how other cultures live their day to day lives and so yesterday we got into many discussions about how the Dutch differ in health care and taxes and politics and such. At one point, I did think I would need a referee whistle because the discussion got quite animated about economics and how China and their cheap electronics and labour will be the ruination of earth as we know it. Don't ask, just know that the situation was diffused with more beer and a change of topic! LOL!

I think we are heading out soon. The sun is shining and the camera is packed and I am sure I will have more to report tomorrow!  ;-)

Have a great day! Ciao!

p.s. Oh! and on the topic of prices and shopping, the gas here is $1.60 a litre. The litres are the same size of course, but the Euro is $1.439 to our dollar, so just in case you cannot do the math, that equates to $2.30 per litre. Think about that next time you fill up at the pumps!