Yes.

Cafe Dub

I love how inclusive Dutch people can be. I find that generally, if you put yourself with other Dutch people and aren't entirely socially backwards, they'll make an effort to bring you into the conversation. I had dinner with my Anthropology class last night. I'm the only American in the class. Instead of just talking to each other, they ask me how my courses are going like we've known each other forever. It wasn't hard to imagine them saying "Oh, you're from another planet, cool. How is that? Holland must be pretty different." This cute girl with big eyes invited me to an anthropology student party afterwards. I've wanted to be friends with her all semester because I like her jacket. I showed up, not knowing a single person besides her. I expected it to be supremely awkward because no matter how hard I try, I can't understand Dutch at parties over the music. That problem was solved because no one was talking, just dancing. They were such enormous dorks! There was a pole in the middle of the dance floor. Instead of being inappropriate with it, they decided it would be fun to skip around it in a sort of maypole dance. They had honest to goodness can can lines going on at 4 different points in the night. I saw a goth kid (Dutch goths crack me up by the way. Especially on bikes.) with a Marilyn Manson shirt and a spiked collar absolutely dancing his heart out to "Barbie Girl." N'Sync remixes, the songs Weird Al parodies. Everyone was bouncing around like 10 year olds at a sock hop or people in a New Pornographers music video. It was super. I wonder if other departments are as dorky. I can't imagine the law students wearing rugrats shirts to parties. 

(More) Bikes & Italy

I'm starting to feel like this blog is losing its function. I started it so I could record my funny cross-cultural stories, but this isn't feeling quite so cross-cultural any more. Now I just feel like, duh, of course you have to pay for your ketchup, and by the way, mayonaise is the most natural thing in the world to put on your fries. I don't even notice girls biking in miniskirts and 4 inch stilettos anymore. That said, I do still have a couple of impressions that make me smile. Today I had to do some very unpleasant errands in the rain. Every time I walk out to my bike, I carefully wipe down my bike seat (I'm not Dutch enough to have one of those creative, seat-shaped plastic covers and I'm not desperate enough to use a plastic bag) and I hop on very quickly, before the seat gets wet again. I've learned the art of quick seat hopping after sitting through several uncomfortable lectures with a wet butt. Another thing that makes me smile about Holland is the fact that they have special machines to dredge the old bikes out of canals. Holland has so many bikes, and so many canals, that they needed a solution.

I got back from Italy on Monday. I had one of the best weekends of my life. Everyone reading this has probably already heard me rave endlessly about the gelato and the blooming trees lining the streets, so I won't put you through it again. I am so happy that it worked out to go, and so grateful to Oma for making it possible. All the same, it felt great to be home again. I just took a deep breath getting off the train in Leiden, found my beautiful bike in the bike lot, and marvelled at how great it was to be in a small town without pickpockets, where the men never catcall, where the lights reflect on the canals at night.

I'm still waiting for tulips…

Groceries

I amaze myself sometimes. Today I made a mental note that I needed more yogurt (which happens a lot, actually. I go through a liter every three days on average.). My brain has created a little excel spreadsheet of 1. availabe grocery stores (Albert Heijn for specialty items, Hoogvliet for everyday things, Super de Boer for bread, C1000 is open late, the outdoor market for veg & fish), 2. comparative prices 3. brands & which stores carry them 4. opening times 5. how close they are to where I live & my classes. So when I need to buy something I have to remember where I bought it last (my favorite kind of cream cheese is only available at Hoogvliet. Parmesan cheese lives exclusively at Albert Heijn) and which brand I like (melkan yogurt is GROSS). I feel so domestic! Over the summer Lauren and I only had one grocery store (I miss you, Star Market).

There's so much variety in grocery shopping, and so little variety in cafe food: ham sandwich, cheese sandwich, ham and cheese sandwich.

On a cooking tangent: if you are American and planning on studying abroad, do not leave without your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. You'll find friends in unexpected places, I promise.

Pronouns

I'm not good at dealing with things that don't make sense. Like Dutch pronouns. I've been happily using Dutch pronouns most of my life, without thinking too much of it. I think I get them right about 2/3 of the time, and most of the rest of the time I can make myself understood. Last night I started thinking about them and got myself so wound up and mad about pronouns that I couldn't sleep until 4am. At around 3:30 I think I actually wished that they existed in a form I could punch. 

I have no complaints with Ik-mij-mijn. So then I got to you, and you is a terrible mess. "Jij" and "jou" both mean "you." I think it's a subject-object difference.Everyone goes around saying "je" all the time, (including me), and I will never be able to figure out what "je" actually means, although I use it all the time. Is it a lazy way of saying "jou?" "Jouw" means "your," but it sounds exactly like "jou." Now we have she/he/they." As far as I can tell, "zij" means either "she" or "they," depending on context when the person is the subject. "Hij" means "he." "Haar" and "hem" also mean "her" and "him." (not possesive) So you'd think "zijn" would mean "her" (posessive). Nope! "Zijn" means "his." "Haar" means her (posessive). (it also means "hair" unless it's spelled differently, but it sounds exactly the same). Don't even get me started on "hun."