New Favorite Thing

I love getting on my bike on a summer day when the seat is warm from the sun. It's such a great feeling. I'm so attatched to my bike. It feels like an extension of my legs. My walking muscles have completely deteriorated because I bike anywhere further than a block away. I love how you really feel like you're going somewhere on a bike. When I walk I don't get a sense of motion or satisfaction the way i do on a bike. It also fits me likes a glove. Most Dutch bikes are way too tall for me since I'm about as tall as a Dutch 12 year old girl. (As a sidenote, why do the 6'2" women here still wear heels?) It's hard to believe I have to give it away on tuesday. It's my pal. We've been a lot of places together. It's nice days like this that remind me why I love this country. 

Soccer

There, now my blog is appropriately dressed for the WK. Orange is everywhere. It started in Blokker, which always seems to have a lot of orange so I didn't notice it. Then, it spread to costume shops and gag stores. Now, it's a full-fledge epidemic in V&D, C&A and countless other stores. Whole houses are dressed up in orange, and some are even wrapped. More later, finals now.

X-treme Parking

Tante Ans brought something funny to my attention. If parallel parking makes you nervous, do not ever try to parallel park alongside a canal. With no railing. Canals may be be cute and the cobbled roads are certainly picturesque, but this system unfortunately predates cars and the need to park. I feel bad for those cars: perching inches away from a watery death on one side, while trying desperately to hold onto their rear-view mirrors despite reckless bikers on the other.