My new normal.

This morning, I was able to get up and get ready to go to work. It was a beautiful, sunny day in the Netherlands, something that I am beginning to understand is really quite rare for this time of year. I joined my colleagues at the European office and was more than thrilled to have such a warm welcome from them. Check out my decorated desk! So fun!

After reuniting with some old friends and meeting some new ones, several of us went upstairs for lunch. This was an experience! The salads! The bread! The food was a beautiful display, very unique. Unfortunately, today I can only enjoy the French onion soup as my stomach is still somewhat unhappy, but it was absolutely delicious and very different from most French onion soup that I've had before.

The view from the outside patio is absolutely stunning. It was definitely the best background I've had for lunch at work! The city scene was beautiful and the smell of salty sea air made me long for beach days! It was a gorgeous summer day in Rotterdam.

Transportation has many options here. My managers had decided that I should have a car just for the time that I am here so that I can travel around and have some independence to get to know the city a bit. Typically, most people here travel on bicycle or by public transit. I'm excited to explore these methods of transportation soon as well. Meanwhile, the sweet ride that showed up on my doorstep was a welcome surprise!

I AM SPOILED!!!!! :) :) :) and I'm ok with that!

After work, I was in for a bit of a culture shock in a place that I never thought I would find one- the grocery store! I visited the local Albert Heijne supermarket for the first time this evening. I explored the store with a lot of curiosity and what I'm sure was entertaining confusion for the natives. There are many foods that I have never seen before, and there are many foods that I know well but are a bit different here. For instance- eggs. Back home in the US, everyone refrigerates eggs. In fact, it's considered a health hazard to not refrigerate your eggs, and most of our refrigerators have an egg tray in them. In the Netherlands however, the eggs are simply on a shelf, un-refrigerated. I asked a Dutch friend about this, and his reply amused me- "never thought of refrigerated eggs, they are so fresh, no need for cooling!" Hmmm... Well, that works I suppose! :)

I'm not terribly brave with driving on the roads yet. Some of the signs and directions still confuse me a little. It's not hard, I'm sure, but there are little things that still I need to learn. For instance, here, no one can turn right on red. Also, bicycle riders have the right-of-way, always. For any US drivers, you know those two rules alone could cause me to find myself with a Dutch traffic fine!!

I did decide to drive around the neighborhood just for a few minutes to get an idea of stores and restaurants in the area within walking distance. The good news is there are lots of very cool things nearby. I can't wait to explore just this little area of Rotterdam a little more. 

Tomorrow will be a fun day. I will join one of my coworkers as they go to the market in downtown Rotterdam. For my benefit, she is also going to show me how to use the metro tram systems here in the city so that I can learn to start taking public transportation since gas is nearly $10 a gallon! So far, I am incredibly grateful for the hospitality that I have been shown by the Dutch people. Everyone has been very kind and accommodating to a nearly helpless American girl who may put on a brave face, but feels very much far away from home. I'm looking forward to more adventures this weekend!