Suffice it to say that living here has been great, however there are many need to knows that I wish I knew more about.
1. Free Water: You may be thinking.. what do you mean free water? Well, in the United States, whenever you go to a restaurant, you always get free water. Hi, yes, I’d like a glass of tap water to start… Yeah. Not here. Good luck finding any restaurants that give you a glass of water. Basically you pay for a bottle of water, whether it is barely 8 oz or you get a gigantic bottle, you still pay for your water. And one last thing… AMSTERDAM HAS GREAT DRINKING WATER. It really is a shame, because I’m a huge water drinker. It’s practically the only thing I drink. I have come around to carrying a huge water bottle with me at all times and get very sad when it’s empty.
2. Coffee (Koffie): If you’re not a coffee drinker (I will have to say I definitely was not a coffee drinker. I probably had one to three coffees a week if that before moving here, and that was only recently) you will become a coffee drinker. Wherever you go, whenever you go, you are always offered coffee. Coffee at your friend’s place, coffee with your parents, coffee at the bank, coffee for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert. At the Bijenkorf Nespresso counter, coffee for a snack… the list goes on. And I’m not sure if this last part is true, but saying no to coffee at least feels to me like a big no-no. So I just say yes..and then get really dehydrated because you can’t get water anywhere without paying.
3. The weather (in the winter): I would say that on average, at least in the winter, it will rain at some point every day. It is also severely windy, or at least has been, with howling winds every night that sometimes carry through the next day. The air here is humid and it hasn’t dropped below freezing since I landed. I have not seen snow like all of my friends and family on the east coast of the United States. I will just say that the type of rain it is is that spitty misty rain for the most part so it just makes my glasses really spotty and hard to see and makes my hair frizzy… in other words, I wish it were just actually raining. The best part of this rain is seeing the bicyclists attempting to bike with umbrellas and the like.
4. The grocery store: Albert Heijn, The Marqt, C1000…First off, you have to pay for a shopping cart. Edit: you get the money back… Job has this cool coin keychain thing that he can put in the shopping carts and we don’t have to pay which is great, but won’t be ours for much longer. I am going to look into seeing if we can find one somewhere. Anyways, i’m not sure on the price of carts, but basically, take a basket and hope you don’t need more than that, or go with someone and each of you take a basket. Also, bring your own bags because otherwise you will be paying for a bag to bag up your groceries, and be prepared to do it quickly and efficiently because the cashier will start sending the next customer’s things through and you will only be halfway done and if you’re like me, you’ll get frustrated. I now bring a backpack whenever I go to the supermarket and fill all of the outside pockets of my backpack with shopping bags to make sure that just in case it doesn’t all fit in my backpack, i’ve got extra bags and don’t have to pay!
5. Bicycles: Everyone here bikes. Everywhere. So that’s cool. I can do that. I brought my bike here from home. it’s good to go. You should bike here too. It’s the easiest way to get around. Things to know about cyclists: some are crazy and must cycle past you no matter how fast you’re going so that they can just go faster. Some are not paying attention to anything and bike 2km/h and don’t care that there are other bikers on the road. Tourists. Just look out for them because they’re probably the most unsafe thing about bicyclists. They don’t know where they can and cannot bike, or about the nifty bike traffic lights or the hand signals to let people know which way they’re going, or how to maneuver that turn because they’re not sure that you saw them make the hand signal. I promise I saw you now GO! Also, watch out for the motor bikes/vespa/scooter things on the bike path because sometimes they go really fast and it’s really scary when they pass. Just stay to the right and you should be fine. And make sure to go to the HEMA to purchase €3 bike lights because even though you bought really cool rechargeable ones from America, they’re not that cool.
6. Learn enough Dutch to be able to say sorry (sorry), excuse me (pardon), thanks (Dank U, dankuwel), please (Alstublieft), do you speak English (Spreekt u engels?), I don’t speak Dutch (Ik sprek geen nederlands), yes (ja), no (nee), bye (Dag, tot ziens), and hello (hallo). And if you’re going to be here for an extended time, when you’re at the supermarket, the last thing the cashier asks you is if you want your receipt. These few words/phrases will come in handy. I went to the bank the other day, and I really don’t like being a rude american, so I will always ask the person I need to talk to if they speak english. I think it’s more polite. Otherwise, you can just start speaking english to the Dutch. Most of them know it enough to answer your questions… Most of the time.
7. Get a map or a data plan for your phone (so you can use maps). The city is super old, full of canals, lots of little alleys, bridges and is curved. It’s really really really beyond helpful to have a map. And Google Maps is great for when you’re biking and lost because you can get bike directions.
8. Fries and other fried delights: There are snack bars on every corner. And it is AWESOME. They serve fries with pindasaus. It’s peanut sauce, or satay sauce. Fries here are double or triple fried for some extra crunchiness, and you can get them everywhere. The first week I was here, I’m pretty sure I ate fries with pindasaus every day. Also, croquetten, kaassouffles, and bitterballen. All amazing as well. Try them at least once. They’re usually served with mustard and the common fry topping here besides pindasaus is mayo. FEBO is your one stop shop for all of the above, however you can definitely find better fries around the city.
9. Waterlooplien: Go there. Go there any day but Sunday. There is a huge flea market every day with lots of cool things for very cheap prices and also some good food. Loempias. That is what I would suggest. They are spring rolls and I love them, and sometimes there is this awesome/ crazy lady who basically just sings to herself really loudly. She prepares the loempias.
10. Money: This is super important! BRING LOTS OF CASH. LOTS OF IT! It is very rare that any place here takes your american credit card. Even if you have the chip inside, because guess what America, Chip and signature isn’t a thing. And that is what is in the American Chip credit cards. No. It’s chip and pin here, and if you don’t have a pin to go with your chip (I promise you, you don’t) Then you won’t be able to purchase anything except for at huge retailers, like De Bijenkorf (basically a huge Nordstrom/Bloomingdales/Macys/Departmentstore-like place). So bring cash because if you don’t have a residence permit/are a citizen here/ have a BSN (the dutch equivalent to social security number), you also will not be able to obtain said chip and pin card (PINNEN is what it’s called here). Just bring cash.
Bonus! ChipKaart: This is what is used to ride the tram/busses/ and on occasion, trains depending on how much money you have on your chipkaart. You must tap your card every time you enter the train/bus/tram and also when you exit. This is very important. A)At some stations, you will not be able to enter, and you will not be allowed on a bus or tram without doing so, and you will also be yelled at by the tram driver. B) If you don’t check out, you’re immediately charged €6 because they assume you went as far as you could go. So remember to check in and check out by holding the beautifully holographic card to the card reader.
I will try to think of more helpful/insightful things later on. I know this is a bit out of the range of what I normally post about, but thought it was a bit of fun information to know.
Let me know what dutch things got you, or what other things you want to know about in terms of living here!
The Traveling Spoons 