2009 Thanksgiving in Canada

Charles and I decided to spend the holiday weekend in Canada. We packed up the poodles and drove across the border to Vancouver, BC for a relaxing weekend at the Pan Pacific Hotel. The idea was to take it easy, eat good food, and relax.

We spent most of Thursday driving. The traffic in the States was terrible. However I planned ahead and already had a massage booked at Spa Utopia.

I wasn't the only one getting spoiled though. Upon checking into the hotel, the poodles were presented with this gift basket including treats, a food dish, beds, mats, and other dog amenities.

Friday was gorgeous! We took the poodles for a long walk around the sea wall and had dinner at La Crocodile. I also checked out the Miraj Hammam on South Granville which was fabulous.

The weather on Saturday was miserable, but that didn't stop us from driving out to Richmond to visit a friend. I bet you're wondering why this post has a "dutch culture" tag. It's because there is a pannekoeken house in Richmond! The place is called De Dutch. Charles and I both agreed that it lived up to its name and appreciated some good pannekoeken!

We didn't take many pictures during our trip, but the set can be found here if you are interested.

The story of the iTouch from Otter to Bamboo

Just in case anyone ever receives an iTouch with the inscription "To Bamboo from her Otter" on it, we thought we would post this little story...

For Christmas in 2007, Charles gave Rachael an iPod Touch for Christmas. At the time they were in England visiting Uncle Mark, Aunt Marylin, and Elliot (yay, Elliot gets another tag in the blog). You can see the pictures here.

The iTouch has a funny engraving on the back which is an inside joke between Rachael and Charles. Because Charles likes to lay on his back in bed with his laptop on his belly like an otter, Rachael sometimes calls him Otter. Because Rachael was obsessed with this cute picture of a puppy on a piece of bamboo, Charles sometimes calls her Bamboo. Thus, the iTouch was given to Bamboo from Otter.

So that's the story. Our wedding rings also have references to these wacky names.

Broken Elbow

I am typing this one-handed because Charles and I decided to take a weekend trip to go to the Christmas market in Antwerp and I decided I could ice skate after a glass of champagne and a gluhwein. Charles (who had to wear size 46 skates on his size 49 feet) even managed a lap, but I fell hard after about 3/4 of the way. Truly i am so bad at ice skating I probably would have managed to injure myself without the influence of holiday spirits. I got up and didn't think I was that badly injured. My hand was numb, but I ignored it, took some Advil, took the poodles (who made the trip with us) for a walk and had a fabulous dinner at Rooden Hoed. I thought it was just a sprain and it would feel better in the morning.

We stayed at the Hilton on Groenplaats last night and I slept OK, but when I woke up I could not bend my arm at all. We called the doctor in Rotterdam, but had to take the train all the way back home to see someone. So we took the hour long ride home with the whiny poodles and a really sore arm and made it to the MCRZ in Rotterdam around 14:30. After 2 hours of poking, prodding, and xrays, we were told that the bone in my left elbow which allows my arm to twist is broken. All in all the experience was very much like how it would go in the US...just more people involved who are specialized in certain areas.

So now I have this huge pink cast that almost reaches my shoulder and a sling. I have to go back to the hospitaltomorrow morning to get my circulation checked. In a week or so I go back to get a new cast but the whole thing will probably take a few weeks to heal. Charles is being a good husband and babying me.

I would stay home from work for a while, but the end of the year is busy. The main problem with working is that none of my clothes fit over this huge cast. I will have to post a picture soon along with others from our fun time in Belgium because we did have a great weekend despite this minor mishap. Last day of work before my holiday break is 20 December so there should be time.

First Dutch Movie Experience

Last night Charles and I went to see The Golden Compass (from the His Dark Materials series which we both recently finished) at the Pathe theater in the Rotterdam city center. This was my first time seeing a movie in a theater since moving to the Netherlands so I thought a review would be appropriate.

I have heard from a number of people that Dutch theaters--at least this particular chain--are very nice. I have to agree that the building is very spacious and modern. It is decorated in a somewhat IKEA style, but the seats are comfy and the screen is large. The previews are just as lengthy as American films, but I did notice that the sound system is not as loud. I am used to getting my eardrums blown out at the movies. The popcorn was great too, but no condiment stand allowing you the opportunity to cover your tub with butter...which is probably a good thing. You can also get beer and Ben and Jerry's ice cream! One interesting thing is that this particular theater offers an unlimited pass for 18 Euro per month. Our movie tickets were something like 8 Euro a piece so I suppose if you see more than 2 movies per month this is a good deal.

Also this theater is right next to The American Dream Cafe so Charles and I thought it might be cool to organize a trip for expats where we go see a cheesy movie and then eat greasy American food. ;)

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.

Whiskey tasting and health care

Last night Charles and I went to a Whiskey Tasting in Leiden at this pub with a coworker and some other random people. It was really a lot of fun. I have done wine tastings before, but never whiskey. It was different, but definitely enjoyable.

In other news, I had my first experience with the Dutch health care. On Friday I went to the doctor because last week Charles had a skin infection and he seemed to have passed on a bit of it to me. Charles had a good experience with this doctor and I figured it would be best to get acquainted so I decided to go in.

In the US, I probably would have made an appointment with my dermatologist straight away, but here you have to see a general practitioner first who will refer you to a specialist. The office about a 5 minute walk from our apartment and it was quite nice although the building and equipment seemed older than my doctor's office in the US. The doctor prescribed me some antibiotics for the skin infection and also filled some prescriptions for daily stuff I took while in the States. Afterwards I walked about 2 minutes to the pharmacy and was pleased to find out how cheap filling all my prescriptions were. Even though this pharmacy did not take my health insurance, everything was much cheaper than in the US. So there might be something to this whole socialized health care thing after all.

Today's Art Pictures

We've been super busy this week because we FINALLY received our sea shipment of furniture and other miscellaneous stuff from the US. We've been unpacking almost nonstop but this place is starting to feel like home.

During the last post, I promised pictures from the Today's Art festival in Den Haag. I didn't take many but here we go...


Projections on the buildings = art


A pretty neat installation near the Spui


A crazy gold machine that functioned like a mechanical bull


Charles having a beer on the Spui


For the full set (not too many more) see here.