Settling into Holland

So, this week has been nice and relaxing. It's good that I don't feel like doing much of anything, because the weather is consistently inconsistent. Mostly cloudy with intermittent rain showers. And cool. It's nice to wear a long-sleeve shirt, though, I tell you what. Sorry about that, my NYC friends, I know you guys are experiencing a hot spell over there...

Most of the days this week have been waking up with Xander at 5:50 AM (gulp!) when he gets up to go to the base, and then falling back asleep until 8 or 9. Coffee, breakfast (today I had the chocolate sprinkles on toast, done in the new toaster I got in Rotterdam! Exciting!), CNN International solely for the English language dose. I'm, not surprisingly I suppose, totally disinterested in world events. I slowly just disengaged from society over the course of the past month, and am enjoying the coccoon of Uranusstraat 40d. Then some email/bill paying/blogging, and it's at least lunch time. A run around the area, or some yoga, lunch, and then to the grocery store to try to decipher the labels. I've gotten pretty good, with my new vocabulary including kaas (cheese), groen paprika (green pepper), kip (chicken), and zalm (salmon). I've worked out a new trick of writing my shopping list in English, then looking up the Dutch words and writing them next to the English. It's actually fun.

So at about 5 I start dinner and Xander usually gets home around 5:45 or 6 PM, with a big grin on his face, so happy to be home. His grin, of course, matches mine, as I've done not much else but pine for him all day. We eat my surprisingly good meals (considering that I am using American measurements usually and have to convert them to grams and liters) and then flop on the couch or chat. It's really lovely, and the cooking has given me a bit of structure to the day. I knew I would need that in some form or other, and am happy to say that cooking has provided it. I love cooking, and I love to do it for someone who is so damn cute.

Today Xander's mum came by. We bonded in Rotterdam on Tuesday, having a fun time chatting (as best we could with the language barrier, but she was enjoying "practicing her English" on me) and buying things for Xander's apartment. I still have a few items to purchase, but we're slowly getting there! She also bought me a "Dutch for Dummies" book w/audio CD and said that next time we hung out I could speak Dutch to her. Gulp. Anyway, so today she brought me by an old cell phone of Xander's brother Martijn that I can use to call Xander and her, etc. It's great because I feel a bit cut off and it's very expensive to use my phone and for people here to call it. So that was really nice of her.

Must go and shower (no, haven't done so yet at 4:40 PM ha ha) before I begin dinner...more soon!