Dutchness...

Do this! Right now, pretend there is a plate in front of you with a nice big juicy steak on it or for you veggies out there maybe a little gardenburger riblet. Anyway, now how do you eat it? Like pretend to pick up your fork and knife, cut it and then take a bite. Please pay attention to which hand you are holding your fork with and if it stays in that hand throughout the cutting and eating process or moves to the other hand.

So, on my second day here in Rotterdam I was taught the proper way to eat. You see, Dutch people eat like this...



The fork is always kept in your left hand, even while bringing the food up and into your mouth. This makes me feel like I'm forcing myself to be left handed. But, now that I'm Dutch (lol)...I eat like this too :)

Tonight I was talking to another American girl about all the "weird" or different things we noticed about the Dutch (or maybe European) culture. It was really cool to be able to talk to someone that understood how these little things could be so weird. Paying to use the toilet, paying for a cup of water, left handed eating, no ice, warmish beverages, lots of sweets :) and cheese, and way more that just aren't coming to me right now. Keep in mind, I still totally love it here, even with all these new weirdo things I'm having to get used to :)

Anyway, on to other things...

My lovely, big, bright room :)....


And my lovely, BIG, comfy deck...


And this is what you see when you turn around...


look down and see our backyard...


This little one looked soooo cold!!...


I'm not so sure Morten was all that happy with me taking pictures of him...


This wasn't no canal or little stream...this was a FROZEN LAKE!!...




Now MAYBE it's worth 800 dollars if you can do this with it...


My first Dutch windmill...


Timo and his fancy etiquette...


And finally, Rotterdam...



And now for your Dutch lesson (on the left is how it sounds in Dutch, right is English)...
Lekker = many different forms of "good" and "yummy"
Donkuvel = thank you
Pindakaas = peanut butter
Chocolate pasta = Chocolate spread (Nutella)
Kip = Chicken
Hack = ground, as in ground beef
Mondag = Monday (not sure why I remember that one)
Ik = I
Pusay = Kitty
I start my dutch class tomorrow (Wednesday) night. Hopefully it goes better than Spanish...probably wont though.

Note: I should probably add "and Kinder Chocolate" to the title, after "Nutella".