Here and there

Ahoyyy! It's been a long time since the last time I posted anything on here and I have so many things to write about that I don't know where to start!

I guess I will start with the fact that my very good friend Fotinh surprised me by coming to Amsterdam to see me with her sister and her friend two weeks ago. A couple days before she came she just messaged me saying "Are you going to be in Amsterdam from Monday to Thursday?" and of course the next thing she told me was that she was booking a ticket to come see me. With Fotinh we have been doing a lot of traveling and every time we see each other it is in a different place. We met a year and a half ago in Florence, then we did a trip to Sevilla, after that we met in Athens and now in Amsterdam! Our next destination hopefully is going to be Morocco or who knows where!

My first and my last time in a coffee shop and I can't say I enjoyed it that much. I don't smoke and in a way I don't understand why people would spend money on things like that, but oh well! I guess it's one thing you "have" to see in Amsterdam.

Going to Utrecht! Once we got there we randomly saw a Spanish guy Elias we had met the previous night in the bar of the picture above. He was there doing some paperwork so we took him with us and we explored Utrecht together :) such a small world!

Elias and the girls

 Walking around beautiful Utrecht! I must say I liked it more than Amsterdam because it wasn't so touristic and it felt more cozy in a way. The weather wasn't the best but still I think I will visit Utrecht again to have a better look of the city.

 Me and Fotinh

 Posing the Asian way

 You can see also a Finnish design shop in the back. Iittala is getting quite famous here!

After hours of walking in the rain it was time to stop for a coffee! The wet look is something that I need to get used to here in Holland. That's why I never really put too much effort on doing my hair because it's going to look like shit once I get out of the house.

Still posing! After a rainy, but wonderful day in Utrecht it was time to say goodbye to my Greek chicas and the Spanish chico.

Before I left though Fotinh and Elias kept making scenes like this in the street of Mexican telenovelas and we had a good laugh! (if you can't see the video please leave a comment...I'm trying to fix it)

Last week I had the week off so I decided to go to Greece to have some rest and see my boyfriend of course ! Unlike Utrecht the weather in Greece was so nice and warm the whole time I was there...I deeply regret that I didn't go swimming. As for the food...I am not even going to mention how much food I ate again.

The happy face of a guy who has to go back to the army after having four days off.

It's always hard leaving home and of course the people you love, but now I am back to my old routine and keeping myself busy helps from not thinking too much of other things.

Now I need to get back to my Dutch homework!

Tot snel

Karoliina

Waar is de chocolade?

Hello people! I know I am supposed to be writing about my exciting life in Amsterdam but sometimes life is not so exciting and adventurous all the time. I guess I have fallen into a routine and to be honest I kind of like having a routine even if that sounds strange to some of you. Obviously, I don't like waking up early every day and Mondays have become again my least favorite day of the week, but on the other hand that's life. Also my Dutch has been improving in one way or another and I finally can understand a bit what is going on around me...until of course they start talking really fast and then I am lost again.

Gladly I have the six year old at home telling me how to improve my pronunciation in Dutch. He is a pretty good teacher actually. I truly believe that learning a language from children can happen a lot faster than normally. Also the two year old has been saying lately "Ik ben superman" (I am superman) so now I also know how to say "Ik ben niet Karoliina, Ik ben superman!". Useful phrases you need to know in everyday life!

Talking about everyday life, it has become some sort of routine for my hostfather to buy chocolate once the kids are in bed. Then he ends up buying three different kinds and we compare which one is the best. Now he keeps giving me chocolate and I don't know what to do with it! No wonder why my clothes feel tighter lately...damn!

As when it comes to chocolate this weekend we had more than enough! We celebrated Joppe's sixth birthday and of course I made a Donald Duck themed chocolate cake...yes, more chocolate!

All the kids where so hyper after eating all this sweet stuff but we had them under control...or at least we tried. As long as all the kids went back home alive and tired that's a good sign of a good party.

Also I noticed that I haven't taken so many pictures while I have been here, so me and Laura went around Amsterdam to take some pictures of the city, which turned out to be a bit of a disaster since there were people everywhere blocking the view. I kind of hate walking in the city center during the weekend because you can barely walk through the crowd...ugh, what a difficult life I have! :P

 My salsa buddy Laura :)

 

I just can't get enough of the canals!

 I have been trying to take a picture of Iamsterdam without people for a while now but it's pretty hopeless.

 You realize that you have been in a place for a while when you start to see people you know on the street...what a strange feeling! I had that happening a couple of times and I never really thought that would happen in such a big city like Amsterdam.

I have also been starting to feel that autumn is getting closer and closer. To be honest I love autumn, but when I was cycling in the rain yesterday, I realized what I should be expecting for the months to come! Thanks rain for ruining my Saturday night by the way... -_-

Hopefully I will get some sun in Greece next week! Looking forward to go back home and eat some Greek food again :D

Tot snel!

Karoliina

Sun, party, classes

Hallo! Here I am once again after a small break of blogging. I have been so busy with all this exploring and cycling, plus the weather has been really good so I needed to take advantage of that now that I still can.

Last week was full of new and interesting things! Last Sunday my friend invited me to a techno festival and I wasn't quite sure whether I was going to totally fit in...those of you who know me in real life techno and me just don't really get along that well. To my surprise though I had a good time and most of it was thanks to my awesome company! Now I can check out "Going to a techno party" off my list.

 Talking with my super tall Dutch friend, Geert and getting blind with the sun in my eyes

Some happy faces!

I also had my first Dutch lesson last Monday (which means that today is my second class) and I must say that my pronunciation is quite crappy. The whole week I have been trying to learn all these new words and I still feel like I forget them immediately! It's so different from the languages I already speak that it's going to be quite a challenge, but what the hell, I will learn it eventually! At least my life might get a bit easier with my communication with the kids at home.

 I also had my first art class on Saturday at the Rietveld Academie. I had the interview on Friday where they selected people and I was one of the lucky ones. The interviewer kind of disliked my drawings but she liked me so she let me in. I must say that showing my art for the first time to someone with a lot more experience in the field, was a very vulnerable moment for me and getting kind of harshly criticized, wasn't my best moment of the week. I guess it's something that I need to get used to.

I am also lucky to have found another salsa lover Laura and we have been going dancing together the last couple of times. My body is now complaining because of all the dancing and my feet are definitely suffering a bit, but it's good to be back on the dance floor showing off my super sexy moves again.

exploring the city with Laura 

The family is now coming back from their trip in Oslo and I need to be creative and cook something...I'm out of ideas! D:

ps. One of the many strange things I discovered in Holland: Why do they sell only carbonated ice tea? Real ice tea has no bubbles!

And with that last strange fact I end my post. Have a nice evening and greetings from Amsterdam!

Karoliina

Weekend fun and apple mousse

 Ahoy! Here we are once again in beautiful Amsterdam! After a splendid weekend I started my week with a cold and chicken soup...yey!
 The weekend included sitting in vondelpark with the other aupair girls, walking around the city, eating, eating, eating, drinking beer and listening to jazz. The weather wasn't the best on Saturday but that didn't stop us from having a good time.

 Sitting in museumplein

 Some enthusiastic street musicians

Sitting by the canal! Another one of my shoe selfies...

I know that everytime you people wonder what I always take with me and my bags are so big all the time. First of all my camera takes a lot of space and second I'm a woman. I guess I don't need to explain myself further.

 It would be cool to try that sometime!

 Last but not least Jazzz!

 

Today I tried to impress the family with my baking skills and as it always happens the one time that you want things to go right everything goes wrong. I decided to make an apple pie and everything was going well until the pie got into the oven and the whole thing just turned into a strange apple mess. In the end we had to sieve the extra butter from the "pie" and ate it as apple mousse. The kids seemed to love it, but for me it was a total failure...

Funny fact is that I forgot to write on the recepy the flour and of course the whole thing fell apart without it! Maybe next time I remember that tiny little detail...

 

Time to rest!

Groetjes

 

Karoliina

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

Nanny in action

Hallo!

It's been a while since the last time and so many things have been happening lately. Last week we celebrated my nephew's (who is the most beautiful baby in the world!) christening and almost a week later now I am in Amsterdam taking care of not one but three little ones.

I suppose there is always a first time for everything and as I was coming here my suitcase got lost in Copenhagen. Gladly I did get it a day later so I didn't need to go shopping for new clothes (even though that wouldn't have been so bad after all).

Once I arrived to meet my family I had three little ones jumping and running and being excited to see me which warmed my heart. I must say that I am lucky to have such a good family and they tried so hard to get me a bycicle since everything is designed for giants here. Now I am the proud owner of a bright pink bike and I couldn't be more happy to be able to move around. We went to so many bike shops and it started to get a bit frustrating, but one of the bike shop owners told me: " Don't worry you are going to find a bike out there that fits you". I guess finding the right bike is like looking for your soulmate :D

I am not going to lie that it isn't hard, but little by little I am getting to know new people and getting used to the routine of the family. The kids are very nice and I am glad that I found Mara from Italia who also works as an aupair close by so we can do things together with the children.

First step so far has been trying to find a Dutch course and I am looking forward to learn how to pronunciate all the khhaaa they use here.

So much to do but gladly I have a year to figure things out! Now I need to go cook something for the family and boy I am terrified that it will turn out to be a total mess! We shall see how it goes...

Groetjes,

Karoliina