First Week of Work

I got in from Germany Tuesday evening and Kelly was there (in her exhausted zombie state) to pick me up from the Amsterdam Schipol airport. She got in earlier in the day and had a full day of meeting everyone, grocery shopping, and dinner at one of our co-workers house. She was brave! I don't think I could have handled all of that after stepping off the plane. We got our car, and I was nominated to drive. We both went into work for a half day on Wed. and got to experience the worst snow they have had here in over a decade. Lucky us. Our drive to work (from Haarlem to Beverwijk) should only be 20 minutes. The morning it took us 45 (we got lost) and on the way home, 2 hours (weather). I have not only been learning how to drive in Holland, but also on snow and ice in a little Opel. We have fun none the less. They also provided us with a TomTom. It has been decided that she knows the way around here better than I do. I am no longer allowed to over-ride.

Our apartment in Haarlem is HUGE. It is a wonderful 2 bedroom apartment with a nice, open living room and dining room. Our kitchen is adequate (especially since neither of us are chefs). We have a great little frozen pond behind our apartment and the Canal is across the street. Surrounded by (frozen) water.

There is a grocery store across the street where we walked to to get the last of our necessities that we couldn't find at our first stop. We also got a much needed hair dryer and straightener. We no longer have to go out into the freezing weather with wet hair! But, since we were so actively in buying things, we learned a very important lesson. America is behind the times in credit cards! Apparently, Dutch vendors only accept the cards that have the built in chips (Smart cards). American companies don't "have the technology" (said the Wells Fargo person). So unless we can find somewhere to accept the old fashion "swipe" cards, we are stuck to using cash for all of our purchases. Not fun! I guess you can't win them all. We walked down the shopping street (stores are open late on Thursday) and saw everything that Haarlem had to offer. It is a beautiful city...even in the dark (the only time Kelly and I are home).

We are slowly getting into the swing of things around the office, trying to learn every one's names and what they do. It has been a long week that is for sure! They try and teach us a new dutch word or two a day to enhance our learning. Today was "Zonder" (without), yesterday was "Verkoop" (sale), and "Klompen" (wooden shoe)was Wednesday. We are making progress. Hopefully the alphabet is next week!

Friday afternoon tradition here in the office is beer and chips. I am waiting patiently to experience this. They also gave us a giant grapefruit/orange like fruit from China called Honey Pomelo. We have a huge Baazar area next to the office where they have giant markets on the weekends and the Chinese market Thursday - Sunday. We also learned you can buy cheap eggs there as well. Maybe next week :)

This weekend Kelly and I are excited to see the city in the daylight and maybe venture out a bit more. It's supposed to be cold, windy, and snowy though so who knows how that will go. We'll try though! We are both looking forward to getting home and curling up on the couch for some English television. Its a cold, grey, frozen, foggy day out with lots of ice. Not enjoyable!

Dag! (See ya later)