NYE

I am enjoying some hot tea and cookies after a nice afternoon walk with oma and opa. We explored some paths in the woods surrounding Annapolis High School, just a few minutes away from their neighborhood. My camera batteries have been dead from the start, so I snapped a few photos with Grandpa's camera.

This morning I went to the grocery store with Grandma. We spent an hour and a half milling around the store, finding items that Grandma is running low on and thinking ahead for what ingredients she'll need for cooking dinners this week. We also set out to find something fun to eat tonight for New Year's Eve. I steered the cart (a kartje in Dutch) to aisle 10, where hundreds of bags of pretzels, crackers, and other snacky food were on display. After much deliberation and scrutiny, Grandma tossed a bag of Frito's into the cart. "We'll try these, Lissie," she said. Grandma claims she only buys junk food (ie. chips, crackers, "packages" and packaged food) once every two years. I find this assertion to be a slight exaggeration; Grandma and Grandpa buy 4 packages of cookies per week on average. I suppose cookies comprise their own food group and merit daily consumption. Lesson #1 from the Dutch.

While looking for gouda cheese towards the end of our grocery store run, a store employee approached us and inquired if we needed any help finding what we needed. Grandma asserted: "No, no, we are fiiiiine, we don't need any help knowing our cheeses." The employee, rather taken aback, apologized gently. I thanked her for her thoughtfulness, noting that she looked a little uncomfortable. Grandma next began to teach the store employee all about the plethora of European cheeses present on the shelf before us. "Why don't you have light EDAM cheese?" Grandma asked. The young employee began to stammer a response, but Grandma continued. "Edam isn't just the name of a cheese -- it is foremost a Dutch city that lies north of Amsterdam and along the coast of the Markermeer..." Haha. You can always learn something new when you hang out with Grandma.

When we arrived home, I finished the vacuuming in the living room and set the table for lunch. Grandma took a nap. Before our meal, Grandpa showed me many of his diaries and journals from when he was a kid (more to share about that later). It made me excited to examine these journals because I find I am learning more and more Dutch and remembering a lot of vocabulary. One day, I hope to be able to translate my grandpa's writings.

bisous.