So last year around this time I decided to put an end to my blog (If you're curious). I was jobless or as they call it here "in-between jobs". Living in a different culture can be challenging, other people may or may not accept your behaviour and cultural background. It can be very easy to loose yourself and what you were proud of when you encounter such a different culture from what you are used to. So for about a year I stopped blogging. I needed to settle with the idea that no matter where you go or where you live there will be challenges and resistance.
This Easter there are good news from last year! I have since july 2013 been working for a great shelter in the cat department. I love my job and the team is great and I can tell you getting back to the roots of what I love in life was just the most amazing feeling in the world.
Easter over here is somewhat different that the Norwegian ones. First of all let's talk chocolate eggs! In the Netherlands the Albert Heijn or AH as they call it sells Easter eggs in February till late May. In some settings it is just a normal grocery shop and in some places it is equal to supermarkets in the UK such as Tesco and Asda. Easter comes early in AH so that we will forget about our New-Years vow to eat healthy and maybe loose the 1 kg of the Christmas fat that we feel guilty about....I am telling you those Easter eggs are so damb tasty that if they had them in Norway all Norwegians would be obese by now.
In the UK I remember similar tendencies but at least their chocolate tasted horrible so my goal of loosing christmas fat was well within reach! Well I think Dutch people have a will-power of steal. They say to me "it is all in your head" if you have a bad habit, they are not afraid to share their view most of the time ;)
If you get fat or gain weight they WILL tell you and so will the integrated chinese people....nothing to fear there! Yet the eggs are there telling me they are small and if I only eat one then no extra weight will come of it....but after one cup of coffee and a chocolate Easter egg....I give in to the chocolate monster in me and indeed my mind and hunger for chocolate gets the best of me. In Norway I just avoided temptations, which was really easy since the supermarket was far far faaaaaaaaaar away from my doorstep...now I live about 50 meters away from one...
Easter in Norway is all about the mountains.First we start off with Easter breakfast, which is nice with painted eggs that the children made. Then we get into our cars, go to the mountains with our skis and we set out for a sunburned and snow-blind adventure. We have a small chocolate in our rug-sack and a small sandwich as well as an orange. Sometimes we have sausage to heat above a fire or similar things, but the point is we are burning off that Christmas fat and are far far away from temptation! When we have done cross-country skiing for miles and miles we go back to our car and drive home where the Easter egg hunt is awaiting us. In the Easter egg hunt you also move a lot, up and down the hills and further....some people will even listen to mass on the radio so they can keep moving. Why move so much? Well because eventually we WILL find the Easter egg and it WILL be filled with candy and sometimes really nice fruit and nuts! Most of us will share our prey with family members and some of us will eat it all in one go, others will keep it for weeks before it gets empty. HA! I guess that is not healthy either, but point is we compensate for our darn choco-feast!
In England while doing my study Easter was about chocolate as well, yet Guiness and vodka also seemed to play a great part of "Easter fun". I loved England, loved the people and loved the country, their beautiful language and soft way of saying things. Yet I cannot believe the amount of alcohol that people would consume! It is my favourite country to date, however I remembered even as a "lass" who likes a good party thinking that some people had lost the plot when it came to Easter. While I thought it was about family mainly coming from Norway, well the English soon showed me they thought otherwise about it (There are of course exceptions to these observations). I enjoyed the fact that easter could be fun and party with friends, yet somehow on hang-over day I remember missing getting up with my family and painting eggs with my siblings and all the mountain fun we had with our granny and granddad with nature all around us for miles.
In Utrecht I feel Easter is just another holiday people want to get through although they do tend to be more with the family here as well in Easter. Not as much as we do in Norway but I guess it has to do with their hard work-ethics more than anything. This country have a lot of hard workers and ambitious people which I can admire at times and at times I think....there is a time for work and there is a time for family or friends or both. Some people try to squeeze in everything and the answer to that calculation looks somewhat like this : work+family dinner x going out with friends/ spending quality time with the kids = BURNOUT!
I am so glad I do not feel this pressure at the moment, it would drive met bonkers. Not that I am perfect what so ever, but maybe when it comes to this I think I might just have a healthy way of thinking when it comes to working. It was not always like that, but maybe I am getting older ;)
Today I am planning to walk my dog and see the family of my boyfriend. They are really good chefs so I am looking forward to it , besides I haven't seen them so much this year due to actually being employed hahah.
So long and happy Eater everyone wherever you are!
x Annie
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