I spent this Saturday at a typical Dutch birthday party (or fairly typical anyway...no sitting in a circle at this one).  At such an event, family and friends of the "jarige" (person celebrating) are invited to come and eat cake, drink coffee and chit chat for a few hours.  The polite thing to do when you arrive is to congratulate the person whose birthday it is...but also everyone else who's there.  I found this pretty strange the first time.  My boyfriend started going around the room, shaking everyone's hand and saying "gefeliciteerd", of course without warning me that this was the custom.  

At this birthday party, I had a bit of a chat with one of my boyfriend's uncles.  I've met him before, but he seemed to forget where I was from etc...so I had to give the usual explanation about what I was doing here and where I came from/why etc.  When I told him I was Canadian, he began to tell me how he remembers being freed by the Canadians at the end of WWII.  Hearing these sorts of stories never fails to bring me to tears.  (I cry easily...but still.)  Being here, and meeting people who lived through that time, makes you realize that that time wasn't so long ago.  It also makes me realize how lucky I am to have been born at the time and place I was.  I have met people here who were literally in concentration camps or prison camps during the war, and it is amazing to see how resilient they are.  They have gone on to make wonderful lives for themselves, despite all they have seen and been through.   

Boswandeling

We took a great little walk in the forest today.  I think this is going to become part of our normal weekend routine.  I'm so looking forward to the days getting longer so that we can enjoy the nearby forest after work too.  I never thought of the Netherlands as being a forest-rich country, but really there are tonnes of great spots for walking or biking.  I also think one of the great things about this country is the amount of bike paths.  Running and biking is so much safer with these paths.  Last summer we spent a couple of weeks in the south of France for vacation, and I nearly risked my life trying to run along the road there.  Though it's only mid-February, you can really notice that the days are getting longer and warmer. Here are some photos from our walk today.

This last photo is of what the Dutch call "heide".  I am pretty sure that it would be called heather in English.  When it's in bloom it's beautiful!  (see below)

Big City Love

I went into Amsterdam today to run a few errands, taking the train from where I live in the East.  (Actually, due to work on the train tracks, I actually had to drive to Amersfoort first...but that's beside the point.)  I was slightly shocked at how happy it made me to be in a big city for a little while.  I always treat myself to a starbucks drink when arriving, and as I exited Amsterdam Centraal latte with my latte, I thought to myself "heerlijk".  Seriously...I actually thought it in Dutch.  These things have been happening more and more often lately.  Last week while driving, I started yelling at another driver in Dutch.  I suppose it's a sign I've integrated. 

My boyfriend has exactly the opposite reaction to the busy feel of a city like Amsterdam.  He would much rather live in a smaller, quieter place.  That's actually a big reason why we've chosen to live really close to the national forest here (The Veluwe).  I on the other hand, loooooove the convenience of being in a large centre.  There are a million fun things about Amsterdam, but I think what I really enjoy most is that there I can find basically everything I could ever want or need.  The last few years that I lived in Canada, I lived in Toronto and I loved that too.  Toronto has lots of great little neighbourhoods and tonnes of amazing shops and after a few years, I knew exactly where to go for whatever I needed.  I had a favourite card store, clothing store, coffeeshop etc.  Unfortunately, where we live is so small that none of those things exist here.  So today, with my Starbucks in hand...I almost felt like I was at home!   The only thing missing was my Canadian girlfriends.