Day 3& 4

Okay I lied. What sucks about this trip is that I have nothing to do! I really need structure or a purpose. I really need to beg for an internship or job or, better yet, both. My routine so far has been to wake up around 11 a.m. and then get on my laptop to do random shit, maybe make a sandwich and eat lunch then...nothing really. I've gone grocery shopping, to a wedding, and to the shopping markets but I'm really feeling helpless and bored. I've seen quite a few architectures and buildings in Rotterdam. There are plenty more but not nearly interesting enough for me to venture out past walking/biking distance. My cousin is letting me borrow one of their bikes, so I've been riding it around. We don't have a lock to attach it to a pole or anything. There's a hole where you put your key so that the bike can move and isn't locked, but other than that they don't take any other safety precautions. It's all about trust. I really enjoy this mode of transportation. I want to get a bike in Austin for next year.
Anyways here's what I've been up to the past couple days...
We went to my cousin's friends wedding who kindly let me go at last minute. It was an Asian wedding so not much was different than an Asian wedding back in Texas. The food was eh but I'm just happy to eat any Asian food at this point. It's been over 5 months. So I noticed in Europe people wear their rings on their right hand. You've probably seen my ring where I wear on my right hand, ring finger all the time. I guess everyone will think I'm married. It'll be my device to ward off creepers. Also when you greet people here in Holland you kiss each others cheeks 3x (right cheek,left check,right cheek). I had a problem with these because in Spain you only kiss twice so I've had a couple awkward encounters where I stopped kissing and they continued with the last kiss. Oops. The wedding overall was fun. I enjoyed it. I just hate that I can't understand a damn thing. It's not like Spanish where if I can at least pick up parts of the conversation if I don't understand everything but Dutch is so difficult. How did I ever speak this language?! None of it sounds like real words to me. What trips me out even more is when Asians speak Dutch haha.

My Cousin and I at the wedding
I also when grocery shopping with my cousin to Albert heijn. Don't ask me how it's pronounced. I have no clue. I'm not sure if Albert is a typical grocery store or if it's a specialized one like Whole foods or something, but it was really clean and organized. Everything was neat and packaged. I took a few pictures but I didn't want to look like a weirdo so I didn't take many. I did take a picture of the carts. In order to get on you have to put 50 cents to release it. It's an incentive to return to the cart I guess. I remember these from growing up though. Little things are popping up and stirring up memories from growing up in Holland. It's kinda fun and a game to see how much I remember from my childhood.

Aisles in the Albert heijn

The carts

On Tuesdays and Saturdays, there is an outdoor market that happens in some square outside this large library. I rode my bike out there Tuesday and checked it out. If I remember correctly, my mom used to take us to these occasionally. It reminded me of the one I went to in Milan. You can find fresh fruit, clothes, second hand shoes, random trinkets, candy, fresh seafood, pretty much anything. I went around 3 a couple of hours before it closes. It was really packed. I was surprised at how many people were there doing casual shopping. There were tons of herring stands. I have yet to try one since arriving but I will soon. I watched some people buy a couple of fried herrings and eat it from the sack like it's french fries. I'll have to try it out soon. I really want to try the raw one with onions like you see on travel shows. I actually prefer raw fish to fried but we'll see if I can eat either.

Cheese stands at the market. I love Gouda!!

I also saw the cube houses. They are oddly built apartments that people actually live in. They are pretty well known in Rotterdam and I happened to stumble upon them. I'm not sure how people live in them because they are so angled, but they are fun to look at from the outside.




I really need to find something to do asap. I hope next week I have a place to be. I hate just waking up and roaming around. I know it sounds like a dream vacation but I much rather be doing busy work. What's been nice so far is that I've been able to watch TV but I'm not big on TV anymore. I went around yesterday alone to buy shampoo and such and everyone spoke Dutch to me. I really like the fact that I'm treated like a local. It just sucks I don't understand a damn thing.

View from my cousin's apartment. pretty sweet.