"No problem"

     A recent study listed the Netherlands as the 5th happiest country in the world and just being here a few days, I already know why. "We need about a few hundred different things for our apartment - no problem." "Car just stalled - no problem." "Can you help me with... - no problem." "Can I get a refill of my ice cream? -no problem" (oh yea, ice cream refill, it was AWESOME.) "Will you take another picture for us? -no problem." "Thank you - no problem." The answer to near everything, no problem. Transitioning into a new place can be tough, but my new teammates and Dutch family have made the transition as stress free as possible while our apartment is really starting to take a homely turn.

     After a day of shopping in local Hengelo shopping spots to a familiar IKEA, Caitlin and I had almost everything we needed to fill our new home, even a new coffee maker which  Dutch Daddy and his daughter Jeltje insisted was a must if we ever wanted them, or anyone else to come over and visit. Apparently the only problem in Holland is no coffee maker! After a successful day of shopping we headed to Jeltje's beautiful home to have some pizza. Now, I must note that a previous night Caitlin and I went out with the team for a pancake dinner. Hmm maybe it was going to be like a Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles setup? not quite. You could have fruit, meat, vegetables, cheese, you name it baked in that pancake (maybe not all in the same pancake, but hey, to each their own!) The pancakes came out looking like giant pizzas and they were delicious! I got an apple and banana one which I split with Caitlin's veggie pancake. Thumbs up, we like! While waiting for the pizza to be delivered, which was a normal pizza, just in case you thought this story was leading to their pizza is actually an American pancake ha, Jetlje enlightened Caitlin and I about Holland's celebration in December with Sinterklaas. At the beginning of December Sinterklaas sails over on a boat from Spain and then travels on his white horse along with his helper, Black Pete, and fills the shoes of good children with candy...but if you are bad, he takes you back to Spain with him. I could see the wheels turning in Caitlin's head..'If we wind up on the naughty list, this could be our trip to Spain!' But with further thought we realized a shoe full of candy is much better then Spain, beside, we definitely didn't want to be Sinterklaas 'sticks in the mud'.... "Stick in the mud?" Not a saying the dinner table was familiar with but after a brief explanation we had taught our Dutch Family something new! Showing their understanding of the phrase, Jeltje was telling us all about Amsterdam, Oktoberfest, and jazz like that when Dutch Daddy chimed in saying "Whaaaat? None of which you will be doing, we have games to win!" and with perfect textbook application, Jetje's husband looks over at Dutch Daddy and says, "Hey! It's me. Stick in the mud!" Phrase mastered.

Pancake

                                                                                                or   Pizza ?

    "Um, we're here in Holland researching ice cream...so we must try every flavor, 3 times." Yea, that sounds       good.

    Oh, speaking of sticks, along with our new apartment came our VW Fox car 'Foxy'. Foxy was ready to tour the country but there was just one problem, stick shift. Caitlin had some experience before so we decided to head over to the stadium parking lot with a few of our teammates to work on our driving. "Maybe don't push so hard on the gas.." Stall. "Brake while you are turning in 2nd gear..." Stall. "Ease off the clutch..." Stall..."It's ok, no problem." After a a few laps and stalls, I was driving! Much to do with how calm Marlous stayed while I took 5 minutes to make it just once around the parking lot. Her positive tone did not change except to snicker a few times at the ridiculousness that was me driving. Thank goodness everything is walking and biking distance, but when the weather changes and we want to do some further exploring, driving will be, well, no problem :)

"Foxy"

Stalling.