Our Friends Mal and Sy

When we moved here I contacted a friend from Andrew's high school days, Mallory, who lived in Belgium. We are both Americans living in neighboring European countries with a working husband and babies that are 10 days apart. We had so many things in common and started video chatting and texting throughout our days. It helps when a friend is in your same time zone. It is so nice to have someone who totally understands exactly what you are going through and who you can ask anything to (from baby poop questions to how we are going to change ourselves to be the best mom we can).

Mallory is a painter. She is super stylish, beautiful, ever so generous and thoughtful. She is genuinely interested in me and my life. She listens so well and we try to help each other with the tough things that come with motherhood. My only problem with her is that she lives too far away to hang out with on a regular basis. She lives in Brussels, Belgium and she sends me French kid stuff and chocolates cuz she gets me.

It has been hard to make friends since moving to Zaandam. Most of my contacts through the mothering group I am apart of live and meet in Amsterdam and it is too much money for me to go there on a regular basis. We usually bike there but I am not too excited about biking that far every time I want company. It takes me over an hour on bike to get to the city center and the total commute itself takes up most of the time that Colin is happy and awake. I  am currently working on other options. Colin doesn't play with other kids that often and he is missing out.

Mallory and Silas came to visit last week and I was so excited to spend time in person with my new friend and see how Colin interacts with another boy. Silas is pretty active and enthusiastic when he plays. He is more physical and Colin is very chill, even when Silas pulled his hair or got in his face. It was very interesting to see that part of Colin.

I showed Mal the city and a lovely park nearby that had a slide and swing. Silas had never swung or slid down a slide before and seemed to enjoy it. Mallory loved the zip line that is a common park toy here.

They might have matching pants

I loved having a guest over and cooking her yummy food. We ate chocolate and talked until way too late.

I took her to Zaanse Schans and we got to go inside a saw mill. All of the mills are still in use today and make oils, paints, lumber, etc. This guy started playing accordion music outside the mill.

The village is just too adorable and had some great finds.

We couldn't stay away from the wooden shoes.

Isn't she adorable?!

By the way, if a photo looks awesome on this blog post, Mallory took it and put an awesome filter on it. Not me. She's cool like that.

It was a short visit but it was so nice to have a companion throughout the day. Adult friendships can be hard to make but having at least one good friend can make all the difference. When you live far away from family and most of the people around you speak a different language and have a totally different culture, it can be even harder to make adult friendships. I love her. I think I'll keep her around! We are already planning a trip to visit her in Belgium in a couple of weeks and I cannot wait to be back in a French-speaking country where I can actually understand what's going on around me.

Koningsdag 2014

The Netherlands has had a Queen since 1890 and always celebrated her birthday in Spring, calling it Queen's Day. Last year Queen Beatrix stepped down and gave the throne to her son, Willem-Alexander.  We celebrated the first King's day this past Saturday and let me just say that it was an enormous party with music, dancing, food, and of course alcohol and drugs, as always though.

Usually you would get work off but this year the birthday was unfortunately on a Saturday. They celebrate 2nd Easter in Europe and take the Monday after Easter off, probably because Easter is always on a Sunday and you don't get to take off from work that day. Too bad there isn't a 3rd King's Day. They are really serious about their holidays here. Stuff is really closed on holidays unlike in the U.S. where people still work on holidays, even the minor ones.

The name change was a bummer for the Gay community who has adapted it as a huge day for celebrating their homosexuality.

King's day revolves around everyone wearing mostly orange, and then blue as the complementary color. I felt a bit like I was at a University of Florida tailgate party. The biggest party is in Amsterdam so we grabbed any orange things we had (not our favorite color so our choices were limited) and took to the streets like everyone else, even with a baby.

The city is a huge yard sale because I think there is no personal sales tax or something that day. Everyone sells their stuff on the streets. The kids usually try to perform or sell art for money.

The canals are full of party boats. We wondered how people got on them and saw people jumping on whenever the boat went under a bridge. There was one guy who was zip lining across the canal. 

The city set up public urinals on the streets and I was taken aback a bit  by them.

We came across a nice Cannabis Ice Cream stand. Only in Amsterdam.

It was lively and really fun to watch everyone go crazy! Some would say that King's Day is the most epic party in the world.  It is said that "King’s Day is the great equalizer. Unlike other countries’ national day’s, April 27th (or 26th, this year) is not about in-your-face patriotism or royal worshiping, it’s about oneness. Everyone can participate, everyone can partake, everyone can carve out their own way to celebrate, and everyone can do so with the simple act of throwing on an orange t-shirt and joining the gezellig crowds." The Dutch love the word "Gezellig". Andrew learned it right when he got here. It has no english translation and would be close to combining the words cozy, familiar, nice atmosphere, or fun time. Alas, it is not a word but rather a feeling when all those things are experienced. 

King's Day was quite Gezellig!

Zaanse Schans

Just a 15 minute bike ride from our house, is a lovely village called Zaanse Schans. There are many chocolate factories here so the air smells divine. 

There was a small petting zoo, and a place showing how chocolate is made and also a cheese-making place. We didn't have time to see if we could go inside a windmill but we will go back for sure.

We learned about wooden clogs.

This cutie wanted to show you his yellow balloon.

I am so excited about warm weather and beautiful flowers.