My First Post

Hello and welcome to my blog. I plan on posting my pictures, stories, thoughts and musings on this thing while I am here in the Netherlands.

Arrival Day (Friday Jan 9th):
On Jan 9th, my plane landed in Amsterdam, where I got my bags (weighing in at a combined weight of 165 lbs) and took the train to the town of Roosendaal. Roosendaal is the town I work in, but I chose to live in a nearby city called Breda. Nothing against Roosendaal, its a charming little town, but Breda has more modern ammentities, like a movie theater, shopping distirict, and bus system.

My boss, Arjen, drove me to Breda after I arrived in Roosendaal. My apartment is very modern (pictures coming soon) It even came with a Bravia flat screen tv, which is nice because I just sold my US Bravia to my brother and was missing it. I got my Playstation 3 working on the TV, which does work as long as I use an HDMI cable for the picture and sound.

Saturday (Jan 10th):
After spending Friday night dining on what I could get from the local gas station down the road, I decided that I needed to start buying real food. I walked about 2 km to the local Alberts, which is your standard grocery store in the Netherlands. Here are the major differences:
-50 cent deposit to unlock shopping cart
-20 cents per plastic bag
-only 10 types of cereral (instead of 250)
-weird looking fruit that is spikey
-Deli makes it own sausage right there on the spot
-Fanta Zero is awesome
-about 6 isles, no toy isle, no dvd isle, no hallmark card isle

I bought some food, spent 50 euro, and then realized I had to carry the grocies 2 km home (Shouldn't have purchased that laudry detergent so soon) Later I walked downtown and went to a pub, which was okay, but not worth the 4 km there and back.

Sunday (Jan 11th):
Then Sunday came, you know how some stores are closed on Sundays and its really annoying. Well in the Netherlands, every store is closed on Sundays. Gas stations are all that I saw with a light on. It was a good time to unpack.