Turkey Day in Holland

We couldn't make it back to the States for Thanksgiving this year, but Charles and I did have a nice little party for expats on Saturday at our apartment. Charles managed to find turkey at a gourmet grocoery store and we all overate like grateful Americans. Here are some pics...


Charles with the turkey


Remus hoping to get a bite


A shot of the party in the living room


A nice shot of the spread featuring our buddy Csaba


For the whole set, see here.

Poodle Passports

Today Remus and Berlin went to their first vet appointment in the Netherlands. They had to get a vaccination for a strange disease dogs get from swimming that affects the kidney. Both of the little guys were brave and took their shots well. The cute thing is that they get these little European Union dog passports signed by teh vet which keep track of their vaccinations and let them travel to other countries in the EU. They look like real passports too. See this one for Germany.

First trip to Copenhagen

More travel pictures! My friend Shannon was in Sweden for a conference this weekend so we decided to meet up in Copenhagen and have a fun little weekend. We stayed at this funky place called The Hotel Fox, made a chilly trip to The Ice Bar, had lunch at this tasty restaurant, and met up with some online friends to celebrate the Danish release of the Harry Potter books. Yes, we know we're geeks. Here's us at the ice bar...



And you can see here for some more.

Poodles and Paris

Last weekend we went to Paris with our friends Nathan and Liz from the States. The poodles also tagged along and enjoyed a visit to their home country.



Nathan and Liz did the whirlwind Paris in 2 days things, but Charles and I took it a bit easy since we have both been there before. We walked around the city adn went to some local art exhibits, did a dinner cruise, and visited The Catacombs which were pretty cool.

For some more pictures see here.

Understanding the Dutch

This week Charles and I took a two day course from the Royal Tropical Institute called Understanding the Dutch. This is something my work sponsors for expats and partners to help them get accustomed to Dutch culture.

All in all, the course reaffirmed a lot of the things I have already observed about Dutch culture: organization, equality, bluntness, and this idea that the service provider (not the customer) is king. We did some role playing (mostly focused on dealing with customer service situations) and had a Dutch lunch at De Lof der ZotHeid in Den Haag which included...

-Tomato soup
-Herring
-Croquettes
-Veal and mashed potatoes

We also looked at some of the main symptoms of culture chock. Apparently it is easier to adapt in a country where the culture is very different from your own as opposed to one which is very similar because your expectations are more realistic. Apparently the whole process takes about a year on average. So you will have to check back with us in a few months to see if we are on schedule.

One thing that were very fascinating to me were the history of the Dutch political system. It seems like this is really a time of change and this country is facing a lot of difficult issues. I am almost motivated to keep taking Dutch just so I can follow local politics.