In search of he exotic...

Last weekend at a party some one asked me if I was still enjoying living in Holland. Since I've now been here 8 months the "honey moon" period should definitely be over, and I should now be seeing my surroundings not through sweet strawberry haze but as they really are.

This made me think, and actually, I don't think I ever looked at Holland as being super sweet and rosy. In fact, I was a bit disappointed that it WASN'T really exotic. I was all pumped to deal with "issues" and "dilemmas" and "strange foods" and "weirdo people"... and well, honestly non of these came up.

My biggest issue so far was that supermarkets are closed on Sundays and I refuse to make my dinner decisions a day in advance since it totally ruins the suspense. My biggest dilemma was the fact that I have to GO to a bank in order to get my credit card when this is the country that produced ING bank which is an exclusively ONLINE bank in the US.

"Strange foods"? Well apparently Dutch people think that eating herring should be considered "strange" by the foreigners. Sorry to disappoint you kids, but in my family herring is on the table at every gathering (and then some, and a whole lot stranger too!)

Weirdo's? Nah! In one our of commuting on the NYC public transportation I'd pretty much see as many weirdo's as there are people in the entire country of Holland.

But to answer our original question. "Am I still enjoying Holland?" I absolutely am! But has Holland ever surprised me? Or has it ever disappointed me? Nah and hah.. But I would like to say that every day I see more and more quietly good things about Holland. How everyone's homes are wonderfully cozy and cute. How everyone enjoys their friends. How people work hard but still go home at a decent hour. How everyone still has fun and goes out to do sports, shop or to dinner even though it's pouring rain. How everyone comes out for a walk on the weekend. I'm sure as time goes on I will find more of these, and that makes me happy.

...Or... maybe Vito is just really hot!... and exotic ;)