Thursday, September 4, 2014

Op de fiets

Hello lovely people!
The last week has been so hectic that I feel like I have missed days or something. Even though the beginning was quite difficult now things are getting better. On the weekend I also got to meet other aupair girls and it was good to be around people who understand your situation. Even though it feels kind of funny that we talked about how many children we "have". I understand now how difficult it is to raise children. Not an easy task I would say and I respect even more the hard work my parents had to do back then.
Like a proper tourist I had to get a picture with Iamsterdam
On Monday I also had my first proper day here which means that I stayed the whole day with the little one, picked the other two from school, bought groceries,cleaned and cooked. I feel like such a survivor! Also I know now that whenever the little one has a bad mood I put some music on and immediately the crying stops. God bless youtube!

From one thing to another I still need to get used to the cycling culture here. I see all this men with their business suits and the women with their 12 inch high heels cycling to work and it's a bit funny to look at. Here you are kind of a fool if you take the car because it's faster to go by bike and you don't need to wait in the traffic. Personally I still find it difficult to understand how bikes move here. What about the lights?? Which lights are for bikes? When it turns red for the cars do I need to stop or can I go with the green light which is for the pedestrians? And then there are seperate lights for bikes but they are not everywhere! Meeeh...I am confused! No big deal that I got almost hit by a car the other day...ooops! I don't know what I should be more afraid of, the cars or the bikes that come like crazy from every direction possible! Now I am trying to ride this monster they call bakfiets. Maybe by the end of the year I will know how to carry three children, groceries and maybe some extra children's bikes in there...or not!
Even thoug I like almost everything here there are two main things that kind of bother/surprise me:
1. No warm lunch during the day. Which means that basically they just have some sandwiches and then a big warm meal at 6 o'clock. The amount of bread they eat here is incredible. Breakfast: Bread, Lunch: Bread, Snack: Bread. There are so many wonderful things people can eat...why bread?
2. Paying for the toilets when you go to a bar. Yesterday I went salsa dancing and this lady started yelling at me because I didn't pay her for the toilet...which I didn't even use as I wanted to wash my hands. She wanted me to go tell her first what I wanted to do in the toilet and then asked for money which I refused to give. Does it cost more if I do something more than peeing? I don't get it. This system is just weird!

As promised I got a few pictures with my new pink bike! I was thinking to paint it something less bright but now that I think about it, a pink bike shall remain pink! Besides it stands out of the crowd. Especially the quote on the side "magic arrow" makes it even more magical haha


Have a nice day!
 
Karoliina

2 comments:

  1. Tsemppiä Karo! Sä osaat jo hiljentää lapsen, kyllä pyöräilykin rupeaa kohta sujumaan :) ja kiitos kortista! Se löysi tänään tiensä mun postilaatikkoon :)
    ~Hanna

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    1. Joo eiköhän tää tästä :D Hyvin menee toistaseks! Kiva että kortti tuli perille :)

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