Time flies :)

Today I went on my first field job in holland! Biggest job site ever!

 

At least in America, we are not allowed to release photos of the site so here is an ambiguous photo of me next to a giant reamer :) the giant jacket is a loan... Lol. I also got a new sticker for my hAt! 

Driving around town

We spent this weekend driving to explore places we could actually park! We saw the biggest ikea ever! It was packed as always and exactly the same as ikea there! We even ate a hot dog and it was soo delicious! Sadly preservatives do taste like home....mmm mm good

Wanted to show how packed it was... Just like Houston.

We also went to an actual mall! Magna plaza in Amsterdam. I've loved it here so far, but trust me this three story mall was a sight for sore eyes! Sadly there was no h&m in there, but a place to window shop nonetheless! We did see a store called America today, it was so cute. Definitely our typical fashions.. Hard to explain but nice to know we have our style- flip flops included! 

As a treat for the food followers, here is a typical 'free bread' scenario ... They really don't eat much here.

 

One for each member of the table haha. 

For dinner we chose a steakhouse, but I have so been craving chicken! Everything here is meat and potatoes.

There was roasted potatoes, hummus, and applesauce! But the tiny size of the chicken shocked my mom into thinking it was actually a pigeon haha (they are plentiful here... And fatties). Either way, it was superb.

 

Finally the long sought after horses in jackets!

Signing off, Kuri! 

 (One more new scarf!)

Mozart was here

An awesome thing about Europe (wherever you go) is that you can see how old it is, and imagine that famous historical figures were there, walking the same paths.

We went to Grote kerk in Haarlem, translation "big church". There is a giant organ that was once played by a 10 year old MOZART himself :)

The church itself was quite beautiful and we even witnessed a concert by a church choir. 

Bikini bottom?

(Biggest snail on earth... Should be my pet).

Working Girl

Work started! I work in Ijmuiden which is a big port city of holland. This is the regular view during the drive in: 

 There are also some nice each views. My office looks out on a lighthouse, it's all very nautical. 

 As you can see I work in a plant and do have to wear safety boots and a helmet. 

In Houston, helmet stickers are a thing... Drillers trade them, companies give them out.. It's a hot commodity. One colleague even told me he could sell an old one for over $100. No comment on the sanity of the buyer, but it's no joke.

Here, all helmets are sticker free! So alas, my hat is now contraband and I'm breakin the mold... Just like an American! 

In other news, my rental car is an automatic/standard mix. You have to brake and go to neutral before going to drive or reverse and it has an 'auto' feature as well as some sort of gear shift... I thought it stalled and had to call a coworker (already very nice) to drive back from home just to teach me you have to brake while turning the key on!! Its a fiat 500, but maybe I DON'T want the Italians to be here. 

Ciao!  

 

Bloemen!! aka flowers galore

 Welcome to Keukenhof, land of flowers galore! It is a park that is open for a limited time each year in order to show the beautiful booms! 

They also have typical Dutch food and stands since it is quite touristy. I ventured to try the raw Dutch herring... Soooo good. 

 Got to have Heineken too....

 

My mom wanted the world t know I ate raw fish from a kart but I've had sashimi!!!

We also saw lots of cute entertainment ::::

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2SA5SbCtfY&sns=em

And finally, Here are a ton of flower pictures!! They look fake! 

Eurovision update

Okay so this show was awesome. Every country calls in with votes and DENMARK won for 2013. "Only teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Shout out to the Schmidt family, my uncle is Danish :)

Btw the French speaking countries are the only ones that didn't vote in English... Many people around here have already commented to me that they think they are quite arrogant. So I guess that's not an American notion BUT I love the French language so I am torn cause I think they should speak as often as possible so I can hear :) 

Au revoir, mes Amis! 

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=k59E7T0H-Us&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dk59E7T0H-Us

Share a coke with Laura!

So coke has this awesome campaign that features my name! Well at least at the movies my name was in the center of the ad lol.. It's the share a coke campaign in Europe and so cute!! 

I had to buy it :) 

Along with more boots haha.. Don't judge I need cute warm accessories! 

Here is the cute building McDonalds is in.. I like how Mickey D tries to fit in where they are... Like in Times Square, its all in lights lol.

And here is a sneak peak to my neighborhood but I don't want to jinx it so pics of my actual place to come later :)

And no dAy is complete without coffee in cute mugs! Every coffee shop (no not that kind) has such cute collections. 

Horses in jackets

Yes i assume they get cold too, although I have been unable to snag a pic!!

We experienced our first rainy couple of days. Apparently it rains a lot in holland, I guess like Seattle. But I have my handy raincoat and bought this cute umbrella at h&m. H&M here is better than at willowbrook and my new go to store lol... 

Rain makes you shop! I found my new favorite store V&D... People kept telling me to go to a place called Fay and day... I finally figured it out. It's 6 stories, kind of like a department store and with an amazing view of haarlem www.vd.nl

 Also this cute little cafe that I wanted to show my first boss Dr. Charlie who I hope is reading this every now and then too... 

It's amazing how everyone here speaks English but its also because it would be really annoying to have to dub all their shows I guess! I'm lucky because tv shows and movies and music are mainly in English. There is this show called Eurovision 2013. It's the biggest hit in Europe At the moment, and each country picked a band or musician and they are competing ... All the songs they sing are mainly in English too lol. It's so funny and provides my reality tv fix..I miss the voice. 

We also ventured over to the Pathe which is their version of AMC. I was imagining a small theatre like Dobie or river oaks but these are decently large (average American) theaters. We saw the great gatsby which was in English and subtitled in Dutch. Let's just say Leonardo makes Dutch women just as happy as American women... There was a definite gasp when he first showed up. I mean come on.. I want a man like Leo as Gatsby who doesn't die. And I want Daisy's wedding ring too. 

I bought my own ring for now.. Opal. Anyone remember that campaign? Women of the world raise your right hand? Or how about independent woman? I bought it... Lol 

But here is the part that you want to know about--- the theatre had the best concession store ever! Ben and Jerry's, chips, nachos, popcorn, candy, any drink you could want, kettle corn!!!! It was like a CVS inside the movies! 

Yes I'll be working too...

Thursday we went to the office where I will be working - cebo holland! For those of you who are not sure what ill be doing... here is a very nice memo that the managing director of cebo wrote about my arrival:

They were very kind and showed me my office, gave my mom and I a tour of the plant, and gave me some Dutch tips!! For instance to read this book:

Ill be starting work next Tuesday so ill give a full run down then :) I look forward to this new chapter in my career! 

So that's where all the men have been....

Today, we went into Amsterdam again and to Anna frankhuis. They have a museum dedicated to Anne frank in the house where her family and her were in hiding. It was a very moving experience. 

Afterwards we noticed the city was a little more crowded than usual.... And all men... 

So I realized I've been wearing the same jacket because all my other jackets were packed and not delivered yet... Today I ventured out and wore my red raincoat... I knew I would stand out because they wear neutral colors here... Yet later I realized a lot of other ppl were wearing red too... Odd... Then we rounded a corner and it was like BAM 

Apparently today was the euro final... Chelsea vs Benfica (red team)..and it was being hosted here in Amsterdam.  And suddenly English and Portuguese accents were everywhere ppl were signing, men were already drunk, people in the streets! Men everywhere! Man it was an experience... These ppl go nuts! My mom and I were watching the game at a bar and I laughed at some soccer dramatics (we know its true) and I swear I got 30 death glares!!! 

Haha live to see another game folks! Congrats, Chelsea! 

 

Oh and those cheese sticks are filled with Gouda... Odd...

I asked for a light beer ad it was delightful... Although I was judged! 

Tot ziens!