Boots!

Today I had a day to myself and spent it shopping. I know, not very original, but I had to just the same because the boots the women wear here are amazing, and I'm determined to take that bit of Holland home with me, along with a fabulous bag. So, I went into just about every shoe store in Utrecht to fulfil this goal. It was actually pretty fun, and I had a good time just going into whatever shops I saw and getting a general sense of the fashion around here. By the end of the day, I had gotten the hang of it and was trying on a pair of boots at one store where the salesgirl spoke really good English. I told her that the reason for my quest was the recent, painful loss of my favorite boots from Spain that served me very well until the soles completely wore out last winter, and I had been trying all day to find a pair that would replace those ones I lost. She finally sat me down after we went through several pair, and told me in the best broken English ever that I should stop thinking of those old boots and comparing them to the new ones I was looking at. She was right, and that pep talk snapped me out of my one track way of thinking.

I didn't buy any boots there, for those of you cynical ones who think she was just being a good salesgirl. I know that at that moment she was speaking to me woman to woman, and it was a good message about not being stuck in old ways and expectations, so there!

Emma and I hit the town tomorrow and I think I will finally make a boot purchase. One thing that I have loved about this trip though are the Emma and Kate late night antics. For whatever reason, Em and I can't get to bed at a respectable hour and instead end up staying awake watching Euro Animal Planet and laughing at the weird commercials that come on. I have to be careful not to keep her up and watching tv after midnight though, because that's when all the soft porn ads come on with the naked ladies advertising all kinds of different ways to get the people off who call 55 2020 or whatever. There must be some kind of thing that happens at midnight to unleash the ads, because they really go non stop at the strike of 12 midnight. When we can't watch tv, Emma and I just laugh about stupid things and look at the people walking the canal or try to spy on who has just come in to the giant house we live in. Sometimes we try to find the rat that lives here in the house too, which is a little more dodgy.

Tomorrow marks the official halfway point. We leave the Sunday after this coming one. I know I'm going to do that typical Kate thing where I take forever to get used to something and then I don't want to leave. What is wrong with me anyway?

Don't really answer that.

Van Gogh and refugee Chileans

Yesterday we went to Amsterdam and visited the Van Gogh museum. I have to say I left that museum with a new appreciation for Van Gogh. I read every piece of information available about the collection, and I enjoyed looking at the real paintings from that particular master up close. If you ever go to Amsterdam, the museum is definitely a must see, and that's all I can really say about that.

We also walked around Amsterdam quite a bit, but avoided the red light district as there is a 10 year old involved in the trip. I think the sloppy British football fans stuffing their stoned faces full of frites and talking about peep shows coupled with the trip through the whore boats of Utrecht is enough exposure for this couple of days.

Speaking of football, apparently Emma is now a big fan of something called Holland Beach Soccer. It was set up in the middle of some giant square in Amsterdam, which was no small feat, because these people played in a giant ring of sand. The game worked just like soccer (football) but the players were all barefoot. It was really cool, and the goalie on the team that ended up winning was really, really good. Emma watched a good portion of a game and wouldn't let us leave. It was actually pretty great.

Anyway, after watching Holland Beach Soccer, visiting, then leaving the museum and watching a heated game of chess at Max Euewelsplien, played by two drunk guys. (one of them was making eyes at me, SCORE!) we were really hungry and didn't want to wait the 30 minute train ride to home base, so we stopped off as a gamble at Alberto's Uruguayan Steak house. It was such a good gamble! We got steaks and a great salad, and were able to speak Spanish, which was welcome after so much unintelligible Dutch. Emma, who was feeling adventurous, ordered Alberto's Supreso, or Alberto's surprise for dessert. When she ordered it, the waitress smiled and said, "well, okay!" with a wink. We waited a long time, and eventually, the surprise arrived, complete with a sparkler festively burning away on the top of it, which would violate several fire codes in California. The surprise itself was half of a pineapple cut up and topped with vanilla ice cream and all kinds of exotic fruits and whipped cream. The whole dessert was heavenly. After dessert, we talked for a while with the waitress, who escaped to Holland from Chile 20 years ago when Pinochet was in power, and with all the conversation and good food, it was quite a a lovely evening.

Today we went to Madurodam, the best miniature display in all of Europe. It is a tiny version of Holland itself and contains most of the landmark buildings found in the country. In fact, when a new building is built in Holland now, you can bet they are also making it in miniature at Madurodam. It was actually pretty amazing to see the buildings, which average about 3 to four feet high. It was pretty fun, and I especially liked the model of the Schipol airport complete with big KLM jets taxiing out to the runway.

After miniature heaven, we went to Den Haag (The Hague) and saw houses of the diplomats. It's actually a lovely city, my favorite so far. We also went to the beach/Monte Carlo area of Holland, some town I could never hope to spell, but it had its own Casino complete with dress code. It was pretty cold today, 17 celsius (you do the math, I'm tired!) and super windy, so Rob didn't get to pick up on any topless bathers. Poor him.

The best part of today is that we figured out a way back in to our home base by car that gets us to a good parking place without acting like two pit bulls in a cage, so that's great!

Tomorrow we stay around Utrecht and will probably climb the dome tower to get a great look at Holland. It's a fun trip, I'm glad I came, now that we are reaching the halfway point.

We are learning lots of Dutch via subtitles on Animal Planet. I have found a source of Haribo Happy Cola bottles, Rob is happy with his black licorice drops (disgusting) and there is plenty of inexpensive French wine. Yeah, the trip is improving.

Bloemen!

First, on reading my last post, I realize it is sort of crass. I'm sorry for my more sensitive readers, but it's just where I was yesterday. I also apologize for the typos. I don't catch them until after I've posted and everything is in Dutch, so I don't really know what I'm doing. Forgive me.

Anyway...

Today we went to the giant open air market in Utrecht. It was good, mostly because there were rows and rows of fresh flowers, and it doesn't cost much to get some that are super beautiful. I actually wish I wasn't so lame about putting photos on my blog. I am taking a bunch, so hopefully when I finally work out how to post photos, I will post them, and without any more lengthy writings, either, so it's a win win! I was able to buy a giant bunch of sunflowers and a florist quality cut flower arrangement for just 10 euro at the market. I am such a huge fan of flowers that this made my day. We brought the flowers home, had a beer and I arranged all the blooms.

After flower arranging we went to the Centraal Museum here in Utrecht, which just a stone's throw from where we are living for two more weeks. There I saw a lot of religious art that featured Utrecht, strangely enough, which is cool, because it just goes to show how old things can be in Europe. No 1848 for us here! The art was pretty amazing, painted very much in the hyper realistic style characteristic of the time. When we were finished with that, we went across the street to the Dick Bruna museum. If you have never heard of Dick Bruna, and you appreciate graphic design, you owe it to yourself to visit the official site, www.miffy.com. We left with a huge appreciation of not only the way this man has made a living with a simple bunny drawing, but also the way he stayed true to using simple, pleasing shapes that still maintain a high standard of quality.

Tonight, for dinner, we had frozen pizza. It was funny because obviously frozen pizza is not the same here as it is at say, Raley's or something, but the picture on the box tells a different, more deceptive story. The false advertising was not lost on Emma, as you may expect from a sharp cookie like herself. When a piece of the pizza was placed in front of Emma, she said, "what did you do to it?" I had to tell her that the Dutch did it, and it had nothing to do with the chef.

Tomorrow we go to Amsterdam. I can't believe we haven't actually been there yet. Looking at the map, it seems huge. I'm looking forward to it.

Let's talk about s...

Okay, so it was off on bikes today to the country to shake whatever weird funk I've developed. I hate to be unfair to the Dutch because I'm some kind of fucked up American who can't get over herself and have a good time, so I set out today, determined to turn it all around.

You know, it might have worked, because I think I'm better today, well tonight, actually, after the ride. For starters, it was finally a sunny day, so that made me immediately happier. Then, I got out of the mouth house, which could only be helpful. I love the Dutch bike I ride too, which is also a plus. The bike has a ton of black electrical tape on nearly every part of it, for reasons still unknown to me, and to ride it I have to sit completely upright, which is quite different from the road bike I normally ride. I also get to grip the gigantic mustache handle bars, which are so fun. Also, even though its only one gear and loaded down with saddlebags, it's surprisingly nimble and fun to ride around.

So, we set out, riding out of Utrecht for the countyside. I was happy enough, enjoying the day with my daughter in front of me, the only person in the Netherlands wearing a helmet, when I noticed some little houseboats on the canal. I thought how great it would be to live by the canal, on a fun little house boat. I was thinking this, much like Winnie the Pooh, when I wondered out loud why a hot lady in Barbarella underwear was out hanging her laundry. Then, I wondered why every woman in the area seemed to be without any clothing. It was only when I saw the enormous dildos in the window of one of the charming houseboats and the woman with the thigh high boots and thong when I realized that I was in the red light district of Utrecht.

Now, ordinarily, I would have exclaimed in glee, because I am a huge fan of prostitutes, as anyone who knows me will attest. I don't know why, I just find them so fascinating. In fact, one of my favorite ways to "play around" is to play prostitute, complete with fancy underwear, high heels and the like. It just does something for me.

However, today, it left me flat. There was also a sister tragedy associated with it, in that I lost a little of my once abundant love for the male sex. This happened because in this particular red light district, men drove around in cars in a long line, in circles, picking out which houseboat to go to. Sheesh, even as I write this, I should be turned on given my proclivities, but it was just so gross to have it in my face that way. The men just seemed like any other dog looking to stick it in something, anything, and the girls just looked like they were incredibly bored.

I have to sit with this more to see what it really means to me, but for now it's just filed under 'interesting.' I'm sure I'll have more comments on it. I haven't even been to Amsterdam's red light district yet. I was excited in talking about it at home, but now I don't know...

At least the ride was fun, windmills, little perfect towns and lots of goats and cattle. I may be improving.

a down day

Okay, I have to come out and say it, and it's not as a judgement or anything, just a statement of fact. If anything it's more a testament to my weak powers of adaptation, but Holland is not the most friendly country. In fact, I'll take Abbot Kinney road in Venice, Ca. any day over ordering questionable fried fish in windy, unhospitable Zeeland, which is where we went today. We spent a lot of time in the car today, driving from Utrecht to Rotterdam and then to Zeeland which is beautiful, and also amazing because of the wind and kite surfing opportunities. It was rainy and windy, so beach time was sort of out, and we could have paid 100 USD to get in to some place that looks like Monterey Bay Aquarium but is probably nowhere near it, so we just kind of ended up doing the American thing, driving.

Maybe that's why I'm so depressed.

I don't know, it just hit me today, literally over the head. I was unloading the dishwasher and putting things away in the extremely cluttered house we are calling home for two and a half more weeks, and I straightened too soon, banging my head healthily against the open cabinet door. I immediately started crying without hope of stopping any time soon. It was hard to describe, and if the house swap cameras had been rolling it would have been GOLD, but I just missed my house, my familiar things, my cat to hold after banging my head. It was an odd feeling, and everyone acted like I was crazy, except now, because Emma has confessed a similar kind of homesickness. For both of us, I prescribed watching videos I took on my cell phone of our house and animals last Christmas Eve after a little champagne, which is also something I miss, as long as I'm being honest.(not Christmas Eve, but champagne). We also watched some bad Dutch television, which helped a little too.

I also think that I am some kind of autistic when it comes to smells, to change the subject. Like, for reals, I can't stand the smells of some of the things around here. For instance, the tiny bathroom, which I like to call the quarter bath, because it isn't a half bath, it's something...else. It reeks. I have to credit my best friend Samantha with unwittingly saving the day on this one, by giving me a green datura candle just prior to our coming here. I had the foresight to put it in my luggage and it's been burning away in the miniscule sink of the quarter bath, dispelling the demon scents that are lingering there. It's weird, everything just kind of smells like...well....mouth, if I can say it, and it takes a lot to get over it. I'm tackling it though, really, and I do think it would be different if we were staying in hotels where they would be working round the clock to get rid of the mouth smell, but maybe not. Tomorrow we ride bikes, and I'm sure it will be great.

Finally

Well, last night I finally got enough sleep, and today I felt much less fatalistic and weird. I spent the morning answering emails and reading, and I went out and wandered around town in the afternoon with Emma when she came back from a day with her new friend. Apparently the childcare system here is pretty outrageous. There is a program in town here, called Cumulus, which looks like a designer version of daycare in the states, where kids just show up throughout the day and participate in whatever programs are offered. Today, Emma and Simone were part of some water themed thing, which somehow involved a boat tour around the town and popsicles. She and her friend were out until about 3 p.m., and came rushing in talking of many cats I had to see.

We wandered around town late in the afternoon and looked in shops, where I found some amazing Turkish boots, which cost 160 euros but are pretty fabulous, and had a lovely conversation with the 17 year old girl running the shop who also works next door at her family's Greek restaurant. She and I bonded over Lily Allen songs and talking about Hollywood's wayward stars. She wanted to know where I was from and I told her deliberately (it's a trick my love and I share) that I was from California, which I had to explain was different from the United States as a whole. It was great because she was super friendly even though I explained that I probably wasn't going to buy the boots at all (cause what is that, like 250 usd? I don't know) just thought they were cool, yet she chatted with me anyway. After that, we got gelato from a little van thing in the square, and listened to a guy play accordion. It really started to feel like Europe today, and I think it was because I finally got out of the house for real and was lucid enough to appreciate it.

When we were done wandering around town, Emma and I went to the store and got the makings for Dutch macaroni and cheese. I studied up on different cheeses this morning to find the best type to use, so then we got that and some penne. I made a salad of cucumbers, peppers and cherry tomatoes with a balsamic vinegar dressing, and I have to say it was an epic mac and cheese, one for the greatest hits food album of my chefness, even though it is such a white trash food. I made it gourmet though, I really did!

Back at home, things seem like they are okay, but tenuous. Andy called to say that he had spent the morning with the family after they arrived at 10 last night. I guess that Daisy the kitten is already in the cabin because Anne Pauline was sneezing, and Tuvik already made the boy cry because she's such a skittish and weird dog and also because the boy was attacked when he was young. I knew the animals would be trouble. We haven't actually heard from the family ourselves so that we could apologize profusely for how lame it is that we have a zoo at our house, which sort of makes me nervous but there is nothing I can do from here.

Tomorrow we go in the Peugeot to the beach to check it out. We have to get up early, so I must try to go to bed. I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Joppiesauce

So, it's our second real day in Utrecht, and instead of waking up at 1:00 p.m. like I did yesterday, I woke up at 9 a.m. It would seem that I was improving, but sadly, I was only up and functioning for a couple of hours. We ended up taking a walk and then falling asleep in these fantastic lounge chair things at a local park. I've never really experienced jet lag before, and it's super weird. I mean, it's not like I'm falling asleep standing up or anything, it's just more of a dull fatigue that makes everything seem monumental. For instance, I was trying to find sugar in the supermarket, known as Albert Hein, and I ended up throwing my hands up in despair because I simply could not locate it. Someone else had to end up getting it for me.

The sugar debaucle occurred after a lengthy stay at a local cafe where one of our sandwiches was forgotten by the staff and we ended up staying there for hours playing chess and then a completely ridiculous game of Scrabble. Apparently it is a language specific game, which would explain why there are 18 e's and 10 n's in the version we played.

One valuable lesson learned about Holland today is that it is far more economical to buy your food and cook it, which is one reason why the exchange is such a sweet deal. We purchased bread, wine, hagen slag ( a chocolate sprinkle thing for bread which Emma is wild about) licorice, some randomly weird milky juice, and many other things including this magical sauce known as joppiesauce, and it was far less than the lunch we had at the 3 hour cafe. I have no earthly idea what is in joppiesauce, but I love it. We dipped cheese in it, apples, all kinds of things to see if it jived, and it did. It's a magical sauce we have decided, and I wish I could bring home a vat of it.

My daughter has rediscovered board games. It's hilarious because she keeps bringing out these games for us to play that could be really great, but the instructions are all in Dutch and make no sense. If we are lucky, instructions will be in French, which is a lot easier for me to deal with, and we actually have a chance of playing the game properly. The board game cake topper came today though, in the form of this game called MEXICA that was at the cafe. It was some sort of Aztec empire game, but it was really confusing and there were no instructions at all. She tried to make a go of it. but it didn't really work out.

I do wish that we had put together some kind of reality show based on this experience. Things come up every day that I think Joe American would find interesting. Also, I'm dying to see the Dutch family's reaction to our house, which they will be getting to at about 10:00 California time. I am really scared that they won't like it, due to the pesky animals that populate it. I got an email from Andy saying that the kitten, Daisy, attacks and destroys anything he is reading. She will be the only animal in the house, but I just know she will drive them crazy. Also, my heart breaks for our dog, Tuvik. Apparently Andy, who is watching our house, tries to take her on walks, but she keeps coming back to the house hoping that we will have returned. How sad will it be for her when she sees my car roll up in the driveway and four strange (to her) Dutch people get out?

Oh well. I'll just keep riding my 3 speed Dutch bike, drinking killer, creamy Dutch beer and hope for the best.

Holland!

First, it's pretty funny that I'm visiting my blogger account and everything is in Dutch. I had some crash courses in it, but I feel confused by it mostly. I was just talking to the woman who we are doing the exchange with, (they leave for our house early tomorrow morning) and she was explaining the difference in the keypads for computers here versus my own keypad. Luckily, my computer gets an internet connection here, so I won't be making weird words with a foreign key pad. Seriously, when I was using their computer to send emails earlier, it was like I was learning how to type all over again. It took forever.

So, we are here at the house we got in the exchange and it couldn't be more different from our own. It is giant, for one thing, and extremely old (circa 1500's!). I've already gone on and on about the marble tiles to my loved ones, so if they are reading this they already know that there are like slabs of marble as the flooring in the kitchen and hallway. I never knew I was such a fan of marble...There are so many little rooms in the house I can't keep track. I tried to draw a floorplan in my journal today, but I ended up only drawing the first floor, and somewhat badly, I might add. There is a canal right across the street from the house. The streets are all brick and very small. In fact, when one leaves the house, they have to be careful not to be run over by bikes, which I think is a fantastic problem to have. There are flowers and plants everywhere and the cheese we have already had almost makes me tear up a little. It is old, salty and really, really good.

On another, even more Holland related note, the largest and oldest hash dealer in the Netherlands is a stone's (or stoners) throw from our house. When we got the tour yesterday, our hosts made sure to point it out, along with the meaty security guard who seems to always be there keeping an eye on things. Mostly he was keeping an eye on people who to me were a walking advertisment for not doing drugs because everyone who stumbled out of there was completely out of their minds and just looked really limp and stupified, but I guess you never know when things may go awry.

Tomorrow it is supposed to rain buckets so we will go to museums. Emma has already made a friend named Simone. She is really fun and speaks pretty good english. I think she is coming over on woendag. I have to say that even though it was a tremendous amount of work, I am thrilled that we did a house exchange. I just really hope that our house matches up to their expectations.

LDN

So, I'm on summer vacation, and currently enjoying my first ever trip to Europe. After 10 hours on a united flight where they never picked up my trash (so I was surrounded by empty gin bottles and spent cans of tonic water) we finally landed in London. We are only here for a few hours while we wait for our flight to Amsterdam, so we are hangin' in the mall area by our gate for the connecting bmi flight. I'm freakin' tired. Emma and I watched a woman from India throw up into a number of trash cans around the area where we are sitting. It felt weird. I mean it really is the middle of the night at home. My friend told me to stay awake as long as possible so that the jet lag wouldn't be as bad. I hope that is sound advice.

What's fun though is that with my shiny new green ipod, I have taken myself and my daughter on a small musical tour of the area. We listened to Feist's My Moon My Man as we danced around on the people mover here at Heathrow, and I'm really enjoying listening to Lily Allen sing about London as I'm sitting in London. We are all having fun at the moment, watching a tiny kid destroy a stray laptop and then move on to damaging furniture while his mom is talking on her cell phone.

So, we are here because we did a house exchange, and if one more person asks me, "oh like that movie, Holiday?" I'll kill them with my bare hands. Yes. Exactly like that movie. I'm Cameron Fucking Diaz (is that who is in that movie?). Actually, because I didn't have the power of Hollywood set dressers, the hapless family that comes to our house is going to have to deal with a lot of red dirt and ground in cat hair, not a charming ex boyfriend. The family is actually going to pick us up at Schipol in Amsterdam because they don't leave until Monday, whenever that is. I'm scared for them to see us like this, our hair greasy and all of us hallucinating and using swear words. We have to put ourselves together.

I know this post seems negative, but it actually is great fun, just being in the airport, travelling, etc... I know this trip will be fun. It was so great just to fly over the Thames, see the giant ferris wheel, and know that I am really far away from all that troubles me at home. More when we get to Amsterdam!