Polders

So 1/3 of The Netherlands is actually below sea level. How crazy is that?! I would be scared to live there. Many dikes and dams (made out of land, not concrete) were built to empty the water and create land. Therefore, the country is made up in large of empty lake bottoms, called “polders.” Going to Volendam, we drove over many dikes filled with water, with the land being about 3 – 6 meters lower. There are also man-made ditches all over the land draining the water away into the dikes and then into the ocean. That’s where the windmills come in…to pump the water away. They were also used to crush cocoa beans for chocolate, wheat for flour, or nuts for oil. Because the land is so low and flat, there are no mountains. The tour guide joked that the dikes were the mountains. So the people of The Netherlands have to pay a special tax…a dam tax (meant both ways. haha!). In the past a couple of the dams broke and the people got very mad so now the dams are checked every 5 years. Well, that gets expensive so the people have to pay for it…a dam tax!

BELGIUM - Antwerp & Brussels

ANTWERP

In the native language of Flemish, it’s “Antwerpen.” This city is the home of the famous painter Peter Paul Rubens and also the #1 world diamond center. It is located inland on the river Scheldt, which connects it to the ocean. At one point under the rule of Napoleon, Antwerp had the 3rd largest port in the world after London and New York City. So there are cobblestone streets all over and is still a very medieval city center. It wasn’t my favorite European city, but worth seeing I guess.

In the Stadhuis (Town Hall), there was a wedding just ending when we got there.

The Grote Markt (Main Square) had little outdoor stands with tables selling some of Belgium’s finest beer and delicious bratwurst, just for Christmas. Since I didn’t make it to Germany this time, I had to treat myself! To the bratwurst that is, not the beer! The main square is lined with guildhalls, which are meeting places for a group of people in the same trade or pursuits.

This guildhall is the Vleeshuis, or Meat Hall. It is built with alternating stripes of brick and stone, which appropriately makes it look like a piece of bacon! Haha!

An old castle directly on the river which now houses the maritime museum.

The Cathedral of Our Lady (Onze Lieve Vrouwe Kathedraal) was closed to the public because the Minister of State had passed away so there was a funeral. There were all kinds of police and press about. You’ll notice the funeral car (what’s it called? I’m losing my English vocabulary…) in the lower left corner. Therefore, we didn’t get to go inside. There were supposed to be some works by Rubens inside as well. Pero, bueno…

Antwerp has an interesting legend of how it got its name…There once was a fierce giant who lived on the river Scheldt. Well, he charged a toll to all the sailors to pass. To those who couldn’t pay, he cut off their hands. A Roman soldier named Silvius Brabo came along and beat the giant. Likewise, he cut off its hands and threw them into the river. The word “hantwerpen” means “hand throwing” in Flemish and so without the “h” came the name of the city…Antwerpen. So in the main square there is a statue paying tribute to Silvius Brabo, which shows him throwing the giant’s hand.

BRUSSELS

In the native language it’s Bruxelles. I really liked Brussels!! The old center anyway and a lot more than Antwerp. It is a very modern city, being the headquarters for the European Union and the NATO. In fact, there is a section called “Little Manhattan” with all the skyscrapers and office buildings. So Brussels has two main symbols. The first one is the Atomium, which was built for the 1958 World Fair. It is an atom of iron magnified 165 billion times. It is to Brussels what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris.

The second symbol, and most popular, is Manneken Pis, a little boy relieving himself. Yes, it’s a fountain! There are many stories about about the statue, but one says that in the 12th century the son of a duke was caught relieving himself against a tree in the midst of a battle, and was thus commemorated in bronze as a symbol of the country’s military courage. Manneken Pis has 650 outfits and are on display in one of the many museums. For example, he has an Elvis outfit, as well as Mickey Mouse and Santa Clause. Most of the time he is naked, but was dressed in this outfit the day we were in Brussels. This is what he looks like normally without the outfit…

Grand Place
The magnificent square in Brussels is surrounded by many guildhalls. The Hôtel de Ville, the city’s town hall, was the only building spared by the 2-day bombings by the French in 1695. Everything else was rebuilt.

La Maison du Roi, which I’m guessing means “mansion of the king.” No King ever lived here, but instead was used as a jail and tax office. Nice jail!! Today it houses the museum with the outfits for Manneken Pis.

Different façades of the Grand Place.

Christmas
Brussels was the coolest place to visit for Christmas! The Grand Place was decorated with tons of Christmas lights and an enormous Christmas tree…real mind you! There were light shows at night, the cutest little Christmas market, an outdoor ice-skating rink, delicious Christmas goodies, etc. I wish I could have spent more time there.

I made it just before mass at the Cathédrale Sts-Michel et Gudule, the national church of Belgium. Inside there were displays of miniature Nativity scenes representing countries all over the world. Have you ever seen a Pacific Island representation of the birth of Christ? You have now!

We also took a tour on the bus through Parliament Quarter and saw the many connected office buildings of the European Union, the working Royal Palace of the king (lives in a different one…must be nice!).

There were soooo many people in Brussels. There was actually a terrorist threat about 2 weeks ago, so our tour guide told us anyway. I looked on the Internet and sure enough there has been a continuing terrorist threat in Brussels. Apparently, last week police detained 14 people suspected of plotting to help an accused Al-Qaida militant break out of jail. Scary! They actually even canceled the fireworks for New Year´s and closed the Christmas market early...the same one that I was at!

Belgium is well-known for its chocolate and lace. On part of the tour we got to taste some authentic Belgium chocolate at a famous chocolate shop called Leonidas. Delicious! Many of the other chocolate brands have moved to Switzerland, which is another country famous for chocolate. Belgium chocolate has a secret…there is less sugar and more cocoa. That’s why it tastes so dang good. Therefore, there is a rule for chocolate…it can only be called Belgium chocolate, which is the best, if there is 35% cocoa. Normally, there is only around 20%.

Belgium is also the #1 beer country. Bet you thought it was Germany, didn’t you? Well, maybe they drink the most. Belgium, however, produces the finest beers. I learned about a few interesting brands. “Duvel,” for example means “devil” and there is another brand which means “sudden death” and contains 9% alcohol! Yikes! Normally, there is only about 5%, for example in Budweiser. Don’t worry; I didn’t start drinking, just thought it interesting. Haha! Also, beer started in the beginning by being brewed in monasteries by monks. Ha! How funny is that…kind of ironic, eh? Well, there are only 7 brands of beer in the whole world that are still made by monks in monasteries, which is supposed to be the best, and 6 of those 7 are in Belgium. So there’s some useless info. for most of you!

Language

In The Netherlands the official language is Dutch, although most people speak English as well. Dutch is a mix between German and English (I didn’t believe you Dad, but I do now). For example, “wat is dat?” I’m sure you can guess what it means. Dutch is very guttural and sounds like a throat disease…the tour guide said it herself!

In Belgium, there are three official languages – Flemish, French and German. Flemish is exactly the same language as Dutch without the guttural sounds. It is more soft and smooth; that is the only difference. Belgium is divided into 3 major regions. The North is Flanders where they speak Flemish. The South is Wallonia where they speak French. The last region is Brussels, which is bilingual – Flemish and French. All the signs have to be in both languages. German is spoken among 5% of the population in the eastern part of the country.

History & Politics

The Netherlands means “low lands” and the name of the country is officially Kingdom of The Netherlands, not Holland. Holland is only 1 of 12 provinces in the Netherlands. In the 17th century, the country was a Republic called Holland, which was also during the time of the Dutch East and West India Trading Companies. However, in 1813, the country became a constitutional monarchy with a parliament and the official name became The Netherlands. Although the capital of the country is Amsterdam, the government is in another city, Den Haag (The Hague). This is where most of the country’s history occurred, which is in Holland. So Holland is the more historic name and has stuck ever since.

Belgium became independent in 1830; it was part of The Netherlands before that. The current Queen’s husband who has since passed was from Germany and their son, the crowned prince, is married to a princess from Argentina. What an intermixed family! But I guess if you’re royal you have to marry someone from another country since your options are limited.

Currently, Belgium is in a political crisis. Flanders wants to separate itself from Wallonia, but Wallonia doesn’t want to separate itself from Flanders. The language barrier makes it hard, as well as economic differences. About 170 days ago, there were elections for the new parliament, but they haven’t been able to form that new parliament yet or reach accordance. That is where the King comes in, playing a key role in unifying the country.

Delectable Food

My sister says I talk about food too much on my blog, therefore I’ve grouped it all together so if you don’t want your mouth watering all over then I suggest you don’t read. Haha! (Sonya, that’d be you!).
First of all, I was super excited to find Portman kebabs (made with falafel), called such because Natalie Portman was behind some of us in line in Madrid 2 yrs. ago. There were 3 different ones in the city, but this was my favorite…a ghetto shack next to Centraal Station. That’s the great thing about Europe…you can eat in a place like this without thinking twice. In Mexico there’s no way cause you would get so sick. Trust me, I know…a chicken avocado torta…so worth it!!

Vlaamse Frites are Flemish frys, not French. The people of Flanders in Belgium are the inventors. Except they eat them covered in mayonnaise, but it’s a lot better than the US mayonnaise. I didn’t know if I could stomach it, but it turned out to be pretty good. And you don’t eat them with your fingers…there is a little stick you use. I also tried them with Curry sauce.

So check it out, there is this fast food place called FEBO. Instead of ordering at the counter, you just put your money in the slot and you get your fresh burger or fries without waiting.

Oliobollen are Dutch donuts and quite delicious. It’s just a big ball of fried dough covered in sugar, or you can get ones filled with custard, apples, bananas, chocolate, etc. This booth was set up just for Christmas in Amsterdam.

So I discovered these Stroopwaffels. It is two very thin circular waffles with a thin layer of caramel in between. Yummy!

And the last thing that I’m going to talk about is Belgian waffles!! The best for last! Look at all your options! I didn’t know what to get, but settled with…can anybody guess? Yes, the chocolate banana waffle. So these waffles are quite different than the ones in the US. They are much thicker and have lots more sugar. I was watching the girl putting them on the waffle iron and they are the consistency of a ball of bread dough – super thick. I LOVE THEM!!!! Ok, I’m done with food now. In fact, I’m finally done with my trip. I think I wrote a little too much, ok, a lot too much. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Well, minus the food of course! Sorry…

one moment, please.

That's what Martin always says. I think it's the only thing he can say!! No, not really. Martin is a 10-year-old boy who I started teaching today. His grades in English aren't as good as his parents would like and that's where I come in. I'll be teaching him once a week. It's going to be kind of hard though...I can already tell. He's not very focused. He wants to say everything in Spanish and not take the time to learn how or understand in English. I've never taught someone so young so we'll see how it goes. The first thing he said when he saw me was, "es altisima!"


Today we played Monopoly for a whole hour. I can do that - getting paid to play games!! Haha! Since the game is in Spanish, I translated all the cards into English. Apparently it is his favorite game and he loves to play. I can see why too - the kid takes all the luck and money away from me! It was fun translating though. I always used to think that the translation had to be word for word the same, but if that were true, it wouldn't make sense. In Spanish, you are free to mix up the sentence any way you want, but not so in English. So in translating, it doesn't come out word for word at all, but you have to really think how the sentence would be said. I enjoyed it!

Merry Christmas from the Anderson girls!!

Click on the link below:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1559718836

This is dedicated to our favorite Christmas movie....."It's just nice to meet another human who shares my affinity for elf culture."

Besos,
Elise, Sonya, Kristina, Maranda

Cena de Navidad

Oh my goodness!! I've never spent so much at a restaurant before. Que loco! So I had a Christmas dinner last night with all the teachers from my school. And I don't know, I guess I just assumed that the school would pay for it, since that's how it usually works in the U.S., at the school I taught at before anyway. Or at least, I thought we would have a menu to choose from and it wouldn't cost more than about 20 euros. Well, I thought wrong...

We ate at the Hotel Catedral, probably the most expensive and fancy restaurant in all of Almeria, and right next to the Cathedral of course. So we each had to pay for ourselves - 42 euros!! Yikes! That's like 60 dollars!! Well, you can imagine the quality of food for that price - delicious! Sorry, this is the last time that I'm going to talk about food...ok, until my trip to the Netherlands that is! Hehe! Here is the menu that we had, and I ate everything!! We started off with some tapas - sliced cured ham, duck with jam, octopus (suction cups!), mini chicken shish kebabs, fried zuccini, and gazpacho made from apples. Ok, so I hate gazpacho, but this was absolutely divine! They served it in little shot glasses so I had to make sure I knew what it was. Next, we had fish (sea bass) with shrimp and vegetables. By this time I was getting pretty full, but then we had the next round of food - beef with vegetables (artichokes, tomatoes, etc.). For dessert, a crepe cannalloni filled with creme and drizzled with chocolate. And to finish, an assortment of Christmas treats. Unfortunately, I didn't have any room at all to try them. I wanted to sneak them into my purse for later....bummer! It was by far the best food I have eaten yet. It better be for that price too!!

Dinner didn't start until 11pm and it was a 3 hour event. Everyone was so stuffed afterwards that there was no way anyone was going to be able to sleep so many of us stayed downtown for a couple more hours. Man, it amazes me...the Spanish like to stay up so late! Here there was this older lady who was 67 (former director of the school) out on the town until 4 am. Crazy!!

Peluqueria

So I was a little scared to get my hair cut since I always see so many mullets and super short bangs - I didn't want to end up with either! It turned out ok, though, thankgoodness, just a trim. Spending 3 and 1/2 hours to get your hair cut and colored isn't my idea of fun though. Pero bueno...
I did get to watch a girl brave enough to get her dredlocks cut off. She had a hard time at first watching them fall to the ground, but now she looks so much better!

Viva Argentina!!

Today I was invited over to the house of an Argentine family after church. They live in a small village up in the mountains about 30 minutes from Almeria called Alhama, a typical Spanish pueblo. Narrow one-way cobble-stone streets. I wish I had my camera to take pictures...it was beautiful up in the mountains, a lot colder as well!! So one thing that I really like about Spanish houses, flats, whatever they are...is that most of them have a roof terrace where you can go outside and there is an excellent view. I love that!! I realized one thing why all the houses are connected and so close to together - to keep in the heat!

So I ate the best meal, as always, especially the best tortilla ever (Spanish tortilla that is, not Mexican) with green beans and spinach. I also drank Mate, which is a typical drink from Argentina...not too bad! So my sister says that I talk about food too much on my blog. Well, for those of you who know me well know how much I LOVE food! My first favorite thing is traveling, then eating delicious food, then talking about delicious food, en serio!! Haha! Anyway, so sorry for talking about food so much....just one of my many delights here in Spain.

This family was very fun and out of all the people I have eaten with so far, I think I like this family the best...because....they are the most parecido (similar) to my own family. The daughter who is 12, talks like nonstop so I got plenty of practice with my Spanish!! Her father always teases her about it, kind of funny.

Además de practicar mi español, I also learned lots of good stuff about Spaniards. For example, the Spanish are very proud of their bananas. Spanish bananas are grown in the Canary Islands and are called plátanos, while the other, lesser, and not as good bananas from Ecuador are just called bananas. So they are both pretty much the same, except the bananas from the Canary Islands are bigger. I prefer the ones from Ecuador myslef.

Tapas & Bullfights

Jamón serrano, pan tomaca, lomo al pimiento...these are typical tapas, small portions of food. Last night I went out with one of my students to taste some delicious tapas and those are some of the ones I ate. We then ran into some other teachers and students from my school so we hung out with them for a while. So they were talking with me about the cities I have been to in Spain (42 and counting to be exact). They kept saying cities to see if I had been there and it lasted a while as you can imagine. Finally, they said one I hadn't been to!! They said I know Spain better than they do themselves!!

So the student that I had tapas with explained to me a little more about bullfights in Spain. Tonka, you can tell me if this is accurate or not. The Spanish love the toros (bulls). Over the years, they have perfected the raza (breed) for the fiercest (toros bravos). English bulls, for example, are more calm and have longer hair. The fiercest bull of 1 bull is bred with the fiercest bull of another bull, and so on. The same is true for Latin America and southern France. So why do they kill the bull? That was my question. It is a glorious death and an honor for the bull to be killed at its prime instead of when it is old. A rare few bulls are pardoned from death in a corrida (bullfight) by the voice of the people for being so valiant and fierce, but it's not very common. Bullfights have turned into a business to make money nowadays. Many of the bulls are injected with drugs and therefore is easier to kill it and less dangerous for the matador. The more corridas a matador is in, the more famous and the more money he makes. The people even know about the injection of drugs as well. When the bull falls down, it is evidence of drugs because it wouldn't happen otherwise. These are the strongest and best bred toros bravos! so because of this, even though the Spanish love bulls, many of them don't like to watch bullfights. Interesting...

Anatomy & Physiology II

Wow, what a class to take online! Well, I successfully completed my Anatomy class! Man, am I glad to be done with it too. It was kind of nice to have though, because it took up a lot of my free time. But now that I am done, I am free as a bird (that one goes out to you Allison! Thought you´d like that...hehe)! Anatomy was my last class to take for Physician Assistant school and I already applied and had my interview...way back in September!! Aaaah! I´m still waiting to hear and it´s aggravating. Pero bueno, I don´t have very high hopes. In fact hardly any hope at all. Pero no pasa nada because I don´t even know if that´s what I want to do anyway. I´d rather go to Greece!! (If I get accepted, I start the first part of June and that means no travel time).

MY SISTER IS COMING TO SPAIN!!!!

Aaaaaaaah!! That´s what I wanted to do (shout for joy) when I read the email from my sister, Sonya, saying that she had been accepted to the BYU Spain Study Abroad. But seeing as I was in the locutorio and probably would have been ushered from the building, I refrained myself. Then I called her after I left and wanted to scream again, but was surrounded by too many Spaniards. It was hard to contain, let me tell you!

I AM SO EXCITED!!!!! She will be coming the end of April and stay til the middle of June. Sweet! Back to Alcala de Henares...the good ´ol days!! We will have to visit each other for sure. She is going to have a blast! So here is a picture of me and my sis before I took off to Spain...and yes, we ARE sisters....haha!!