Holidays are Here Again

Thanks to a huge snowstorm, flights from Edinburgh were delayed and cancelled the entire weekend after exams ended.  I am so lucky I had decided to go the the Netherlands instead of the US!  A lot of my friends barely made it home for Christmas day.  My flight was only delayed a few hours, so I had a full week with my cousins :)

They live in a village about an hour from Amsterdam, and I had a lot of fun walking in the snow with Aunt Lynn and their dog Eva.

 They had gotten a lot of snow too!  This is the shopping center in town.

 There are several churches in their village, but this one is in the central area, and is used by several groups.  According to John, my uncle, the top of the church isn't very high because is was destroyed during World War II.  I learned a lot from John and Lynn about the WWII history of the Netherlands.  I love learning surrounded by the effects of the past-it makes it so much more tangible.
We also attended my younger cousin's school Christmas play here.  It was in Dutch, so I didn't understand much, but Lynn explained that it was about two children experiencing Christmas in the future.  I was excited because we sang some Christmas carols (my favorite holiday tradition!) and I learned "Silent Night" and "O Come All Ye Faithful" in Dutch!

As we walked around town Lynn explained some of the traditions and fairs that the village has throughout the year.  In the spring there will be a festival around this pond in the center of town.

Lynn has learned to make a lot of Dutch recipes in her time in the Netherlands, and she made a few of them for me!  Everything was delicious :)  We went to the grocery store in town to pick up ingredients, and I looked like a crazy person taking pictures of the displays.  I'm pretty sure someone is cursing the "crazy American tourists" right now...I'll just consider it karma for all the times I've cursed tourists who cause traffic jams on my way to work!

The large variety of chocolate and flavored spreads available for toast.  So many more choices than Nutella!

Kaas means cheese-yum!  I loved that the wheels of cheese were sitting behind the counter...it seems a lot more natural than the processed blocks of American at the supermarket.

Lynn and John introduced me to many dutch foods, including brussel sprouts (which I really liked!).  One dish Lynn made was called "Stamppot" (pronounced st-ohm-pote).  It was basically mashed potatoes with vegetables and sausage in it.  I'm going to make it myself this week!

YUM

At home for Christmas my mom and I always make Russian Teacakes: round cookies with chopped nuts rolled in powdered sugar.  My favorite part is licking the warm melted-sugar-paste off my fingers...don't worry, I was my hands!  I offered to make them for Christmas day, and my cousin helped!  She also taught me how to count to five in Dutch, which was useful when we played board games.

Rolling the cookies in powdered sugar

the finished batch!

Christmas Eve is also my aunt and uncle's wedding anniversary, so they always go out for dinner to the restaurant where the had the wedding reception.  It was really yummy, and it was fun to get dressed up for a night out.  Students don't do that very often...
The restaurant also gave us little desk calendars with pictures of different places in the Netherlands.  Mine is currently sitting on my windowsill with Cu, my stuffed sheep.

they are always fooling around :)

the restaurant

We took a break from eating to watch movies and dance.  John used to take ballroom lessons, and even did a couple of competitions!  He and Lynn have taken lessons together, so I got them to show me a few steps and John taught me Viennese Waltz.  Now I just have to keep the centuries straight in my head...

By the way-their Christmas tree is in the background of this shot.  It was actually alive and in a pot-after the holidays Lynn is going to plant it in the front yard.  I thought this was a great idea!  Unfortunately, our tree at home is plastic and probably wouldn't do very well in the garden.

One night we tried a table grill, which Lynn said were popular in the Netherlands.  There was an assortment of meat and sauces, and we got to grill our selections to go with different salads and toppings.  It was a really nice way to all sit and eat together-and I didn't burn myself! yay!

I learned a lot of new things while I was away-another was Wii Sports.  I'm terrible at it, but it was really fun. John took several embarrassing pictures of me attempting to play.  For the sake of my own ego, I'm only sharing one.

 I also got to try Oliebollen and Appleflappen-fried treats traditionally served on New Years Eve.  We ate the Appleflappen too quickly for me to get a picture, but here are the Oliebollen:

In case you were wondering, I did do other things besides eat.  It's just that internship applications and class selections are a lot less interesting as blog topics.

Alstublieft, Libert family! and Happy Holidays everyone!