News from the Netherlands

Happy New Year

Happy 2001 to everyone!

     The New Year's Eve celebrations were quite a surprise! Here they sell fireworks (real fireworks) to anyone who wants them and they are set off on every street corner, parking lot, or 6 square feet of free space found. It was beautiful to watch from every window of the house. I just couldn't believe that real fireworks were set off within inches of buildings. It is illegal to have them or sell them at any other time, but on New Year's Eve it's a free-for-all!

Winter Weather

      This month has marked my first year of being in the Netherlands, so now I've gotten a chance to see the full cycle of the seasons. This winter has shown that Holland does not get the sort of devastating weather that many of our friends in the US and other parts of Europe get. We've had some snow, but it was short-lived. While it is here it is beautiful and makes the old buildings and surroundings resemble Christmas cards. We went out for a photo-op day and got some great pictures for you. Here is the link to it.

     **Snow in Amersfoort

School Days

       Still struggling with learning Dutch. One of the (many) problems is that you can't just learn words and make them work. Dutch seems to be a language made up of many idioms and they have a saying for just about everything that just cannot be translated one-for-one into English. I even saw a book of Dutch Idioms that was about 3 times thicker than a Dutch dictionary.

       People who come here from the US or England are not required by law to learn Dutch but if you really want to fit in with society it is necessary. I am constantly surprised, though, by the amount of English I encounter on advertisements, billboards, and even advertising on the TV. In a way it also makes learning the language a little harder because you just need to memorize which English/German/French words are used and where to use Dutch. Everyone tells me to be patient with myself because eventually the light will dawn and I'll be able to speak other than a few sentences.
       I had a little bit of fun with translating a Dutch pie mix and have included it in this site for those of you who might enjoy it.

       **Apple Crumble Tart

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New Additions

       Anything that we add to this site will be marked with a New tag on the Contents page. This should make your navigation around the site easy.
      **Site Contents

       A message board has been added for people in Holland, those visiting, and anyone who would like to make a comment. You can check it out at this link:
      Holland Voice

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       These newsletters will all remain on the site so that you can check back and see what new has been added.
      **First Issue

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