So, I've been here exactly a week now and what have I learnt so far?
Good things:
I could spend hours going around the supermarkets and canteens, the food here is fascinating and I want to try it all.
People have been really, really friendly.
I've tried out a fair number of sports clubs, all great fun so far.
I went to my first ever Thanksgiving Dinner.
Not so good things:
I was told my birth certificate is too old to be valid here... should I be insulted?
Online banking is a palaver.. they give you an enormous calculator type device which you plug your card into and then you plug it all into your pc. Every 2 minutes you get an error message. It took me three days of trying to buy a train ticket.
I got turned away from the volunteer Dutch conversational buddying place because I couldn't speak good enough Dutch... it's not my fault that Rossetta Stone taught me to say "The white horse doesn't swim, the white horse runs". Besides, I've taken to only saying things that rhyme so I'd feel sorry for my conversational partner.. I like to order white wine (witte wijn - pronounced vit-er vain) and tell people wij kommen uit Rome (we come from Rome - pronounced Vie Voner In Romer). Never mind!
My favourite Dutch words so far:
Stropdas - Tie
Grootsteen - sink
Oh yeah, and I love the fact that they don't have gloves here, they have hand shoes! Very cute.
