Milestones

Yesterday was a day of milestones. I turned a quarter century old, celebrated an anniversary in a new country, and completed (almost) all of my errands in Dutch. If it weren't for confusion involving the free distribution of promotional Wall-E movie toys and pens at the checkout at the Etos, I could have done it all in Dutch. I also got to use the phrase "Ik ben jarig!" which literally means I am celebrating my birthday. Birthdays are such a big deal here that they have one adjective to describe the entire phenomena! Without the word jarig, the sentence would become "Ik ben vandaag mijn verjaardag vieren"...obviously much longer.

You know what else they are obsessed with here? Spray deodorant. It supposedly invisible on dark clothes and easier on white ones. They have these crazy ads on television in which people use the cans to decorate an entire city neon fluorescent at night. I decided to try it (the deodorant, not using the cans to decorate), but after spraying myself in the eye and nearly having my first asthma attack choking on the fumes, I am completely disillusioned. You heard it here first.

A huge gray cloud has been floating over Amsterdam for the entire month of August, spitting rain at us on a daily basis and keeping the temperature unseasonably (so they tell me) cool. I would take Minnesota snow over this, so it is hard not to suffer from a severe case of homesickness. One bonus I anticipated living here was the close proximity to the ocean, but I have no desire to go the ocean and be cold and get rained on! (Unless I am contracted on a Deadliest Catch boat and am anticipating a Deadliest Catch size paycheck!) Send me some sun!

My first language course ended on Friday, and we had a grand time celebrating after our surprisingly difficult final exam. I'm hoping to get together for more socializing with the group this weekend in Amsterdam. I should get my results of the exam later this week, and if all goes as planned I will start the next course in 2 weeks.

Thank you everyone for the sweet birthday wishes. I miss you so much!