First week in Tulips, Clogs and Windmills (and Cows…) Land

As explained in my previous blog, we settled into our new home on Friday. By Sunday, the weather has turned warm and dry. It’s definitely not humid since we get easily parched whenever we step outside for our walks. From Monday to the following Saturday, the sunny condition helped to alleviate any pressure in adapting to the new environment, especially for Sadia.

On Monday, as I resumed my solo maternal duties at home, a few hiccups did occur. With Sadia now an avid beginner of crawling, I find attending to her whims and fancies at times nerve-racking. I think beforehand, I’ve been pampered by the fact that my husband is always around to take turns in holding or entertaining her whilst I do something else or take a much-needed break. Now, it’s full-time mommy duties until late at night when my husband comes back. On average, during the first week he comes home at 9-10 o’clock, with the exception of one night when he had forgone dinner with other fellow students. On Monday, I was only able to eat bread both for breakfast and lunch. On Tuesday, I was adamant to get something more nutritious and wholesome into my system. I went to Benjamin’s Bagel and Coffee – a café ran by what appeared to be, Indonesian-Dutch and got their tuna sandwich served on a bagel. This was followed, on Wednesday, by tuna sandwich on a ciabatta in Hema, a specialty store not dissimilar to IKEA, save for their ‘slightly’ more expensive price range and the fact they sell toiletries, clothes and stationeries. Oh yeah, the store doesn’t sell furniture though. Wait a minute – it’s a mixture of Marks & Spencer and IKEA. On Thursday, I had (surprise, surprise) tuna on a croissant at Delifrance (the same chain in Malaysia – they even have my fave Croque Monsieur but I doubt it’s halal turkey ham), so by Friday I was already sick of tuna. And by then, I had educated myself on the Dutch word for tuna – Tonijn. Other Dutch words have become part of my expanding vocabulary ever since I arrived, thanks to my necessary shopping rounds and invaluable Dutch subtitles on the telly. So without much further ado, here’s my brief yet essential list on Dutch words:

1) Jaa (Ya) – Yes 29) Morgen – Morning!
2) Nee (Nay) – No 30) Middag – Afternoon!
3) Moeder – Mother 31) Avond – Evening!
4) Vader (Darth Vader?) – Father 32) Vanavond - Tonight
5) Zoon – Son 33) Gisteren - Yesterday
6) Dochter – Daughter 34) Gisteravond – Last night
7) Kinder/Kinderen – Child/Children 35) Postkantoor – Post office
8) Vriend – Friend 36) Korting - Discount
9) Weken – Week 37) Vanaf – Starts from
10) Zaterdag – Saturday 38) Tonijn - Tuna
11) Zondag – Sunday 39) Koffie - Coffee
12) Hallo – Hello 40) Thee – Tea
13) Daag – Bye 41) Broodje/Brood - Bread
14) Open – Open 42) Ijs – Ice/Ice-cream
15) Gesloten – Close 43) Kaas – Cheese
16) Bel – Call 44) Melk - Milk
17) Nu – Now 45) Chocola - Chocolate
18) Straks – Next 46) Kip - Chicken
19) Goed (Ghoot) – Good 47) Rundvlees - Beef
20) Prima – That’s fine 48) Varkensvlees - Pork
21) Huis – House 49) Groeten - Vegetables
22) Ingang – Entrance 50) Vis (Fiss) - Fish
23) Uitgang – Exit 51) Rijst - Rice
24) Vhay Say – Toilet 52) Patat Frites – (Potato) Fries
25) Winkel – Shop 53) Gratis (No charge) - Free
26) Kapper – Hairdresser 54) Vrij (Unoccupied) – Free
27) Kamer – Room 55) Kassa - Cashier
28) Bakkerij - Bakery 56) Warenhuis - Department store

On Friday I decided to chuck tonijn for kip so I fried some – make that 3 chicken wings. We bought them at this Muslim Turkish grocery store which we stumbled upon during our Sunday stroll. We were earlier informed by a Malay student here that there are 3 places to buy halal meat – this one, another Turkish store and C1000, a Dutch version of Tesco which carries some halal produce.

I’m quite relieved that we needn’t go outside of Delft to purchase the meat. Actually, following our web surfing the first night we arrived in town, we discovered that Rotterdam port is a major exporter of halal meat. Wow! Yippee! We had then (wrongly) thought that we must commute all the way to Rotterdam for much vaunted grocery. Which however, shouldn’t cause a problem since our apartment is right behind the train/bus/tram depot. Further, Rotterdam is apparently closer to Delft than Amsterdam, but The Hague (Den Haag) is even closer – my husband told me that some of his professors actually cycle all the way from their house in The Hague to Delft! Frugal Nederlanders! (- this is another interesting topic for discussion).

Oh yeah, come Saturday, the town’s atmosphere became quite festive with street vendors seling a myriad of delicacies, fresh produce, flowers, trinkets, baubles, antiques, pottery and other hand-me-downs to pique your interest and entice you to part with your money. The market scene was familiar to the one in the previous Saturday when we had newly arrived but this Saturday the weather was mild and cooperative. Following a take-away lunch from Subway (Yay! There’s a Subway in Delft!), we rested for a while at home, much to Sadia’s benefit. We later ventured to IKEA on our inaugural bus trip that cost us each Euro1 (Sadia's was free). We needed some necessities to de-sterilise and personalize the modern apartment and to buy ‘human-size’ drinking receptacles (compared to the miniature ones at home that fail to quench our thirst), amongst others. Much to our chagrin and aching bodies, this IKEA doesn’t come equipped with an escalator! It’s either the small (again) lift or the stairs! Oh well, as my husband glibly commented, in a nation full of cyclists, an escalator is the last thing in their mind.

Other interesting observation that I have made for the last two weeks is that most Nederlanders smoke! There won’t be a street corner that I tread on without a whiff of tobacco in the air. They even smoke while cycling (talk about multi-tasking!). How about those who smoke, cycle and chat on their cell phones at the same time? (Isn’t there a law against that kind of thing?) Wow, I’m both impressed and bamboozled by such amazing Cirque-De-Soleil feats. Cycling is one thing. Eating is another. Here I was, quite happy that Hema’s café where I planned to eat my tonijn ciabatta has a designated non-smoking zone. But when I arrived that fateful afternoon, people were puffing away underneath the big glaring ‘No Smoking’ sign like nobody’s business. Old ladies, college boys and girls, housewives. Aaaaarrrggggghhhh! Luckily, one corner remained untarnished and I managed to WOLF down my sandwich relatively in peace before Sadia tried to snatch it away from me.

Oh, lest I forget, on a side note, the Dutch – smoking or otherwise – do have the decency to put away their trays into the tray remover stand after eating. That’s what happened to me in Hema when I was in turn, wondering where to stash my tray. When in doubt, do like the locals. I now believe, Malaysians are a spoilt lot – having service staff to take our dirty trays away. We ought to be ashamed of ourselves and strive to be more efficient and conscientious like the Dutch and the Americans! Hehe.

Smoking aside, my own weakness (or vice, if you may) would be coffee and much to my horror, the whole of Nederland doesn’t have Starbucks! Egad! How could they survive! Netherlands must be one of those few countries that succeed in blocking Starbucks’ global invasion. Oh well, I have to go to good old Great Britain for Starbucks then. Fortunately, other coffee chains like Kaldi and Moccamore offer some reprieve, especially the latter which has to-die-for big oatmeal & raisin chewy cookies. Yum! And it is one of the two places in Delft that I know of (believe me, I’ve scoured high and low) which sells donuts. Yes, sugared, chocolate and frosted ones. Of course, Amsterdam would have much more caffeine-IV-ed variety to choose from – which will be the subject of my upcoming blog where I will ruminate on our virgin trip to Amsterdam on the 23rd of September. Until then, have a glorious and soul-fulfilling Ramadan to my Muslim families, friends and readers!