Classes & Groceries

Phew. First week of classes are done! I've finally settled on the two classes that I want to take this semester: Identities in Popular Culture & Media Worlds. The former is all about understanding representation and identity within everyday interactions and ideas while the latter is about the kinds of places and spaces that create meaning. I'm not entirely certain about it yet myself, but seeing as I've only had one class, I think there's plenty of time to learn. I'll let you know when I find out more information.

A lot of my friends are taking a Dutch Language class, but I opted out of it. I would love to be fluent in another language (I'm not sure my current Spanish skills qualify as fluent), but I think for now I'm just going to stick to my phrase book. I can manage simple words and phrases for the time being to get me by, I hope.

In my spare time (I have Monday/Wednesday/Thursday and the weekends off!) I've been going to some museums. Most recently I went to the EYE Film Institute to see the Stanley Kubrick exhibition the day it was closing. I now feel much more acquainted with his films (A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove) and want to watch off the them right now. I haven't made it to a movie theater yet, but that's definitely on my list. Perhaps that'll be a weekend adventure. 

I still find myself in awkward situations every time I go to the grocery store. For starters, you have to weight and label your own produce. Say for example you buy a clove of garlic (knoflook in Dutch!). You might put it in a bag, but you next bring it over to the scale. You find the picture/name of your food and either manually type in the price or just click the button to print out a sticker. In the long run it makes check-out a lot faster--the cashiers just have to scan it instead of remembering 27739472 numbers for produce--but forgetting to do it makes you stand out as a non-local. 1) you have to know the name of your food in Dutch and 2) you have to remember to do it. In contrast, places like Trader Joe's in the US do all the weighing at the counter, and places like Whole Foods have you write down a code that'll translate into a price at the register. Different customs, different systems.

But it isn't just produce that gets me into trouble, it's also everything else! One moment I might be looking at four different labels for butter, or I might be looking at fabric softeners instead of laundry detergents! While it might be frustrating at first, I don't really mind that much. I just need to have a little bit of extra time and patience and I can usually figure out what I'm looking at. Usually. I'm just going to casually forget to mention how quickly the bread (and other fresh items like cheese and meats) goes moldy and thus how frequently it is necessary to go grocery shopping.

In other news, hazelnut and chocolate go very well together. It's the Dutch version of Nutella (hazelnootpasta) and it's delicious. I've also bought some hazelnut chocolate bars, and my roommate has some hazelnut chocolate puff cereal. 

Now on to the pictures!

Salad: the important part here is that I made the salad dressing first at the bottom of the bowl using olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.

Trip to store: Sunrise orange & rum drink (yum!), a strawberry yogurt drink I haven' t tried yet, and the chocolate and hazelnut bar I mentioned above.

@ Van Gogh Museum

@ Football Game!

Marching Band @ Football Game!

The Netherlands (in orange) won 2-0 against Turkey!

The beautiful EYE Film Institute building.

A Dutch tradition: bitterballen on bread...

...properly eaten by smashing them on buttered bread and adding mustard!

Sesame Chicken in Chinatown! It was so delicate, I'd love to go again.

The hazelnut chocolate spread, some random (hit & miss) alcohol mixed drinks, a cork screw, and my breakfast yogurts.

One day for lunch I went with my friend Grace to this little snack bar. I got a cheeseburger with egg and some kind of tropical smoothie; Grace had a "Hawaiburger" and Sprite. Both were lovely albeit messy.

Last night Gabby made this delicious curry with sweat potatoes, spinach, tofu and coconut milk. I had made rice earlier (for the first time ever!) and we combined them together for a delicious dinner.

It's been a great couple of weeks so far and we're just getting started! I'm off to class now! Enjoy.