Viva Ikea!

Nothing gets a European's blood pumping like saying the word Ikea (pronounced e-Kay-a in Holland).

Seriously, they are not shy about their love affair with the cheap semi-disposable Swedish furniture. If you go on a Sunday, expect there to be a long line of cars on the highway next to the Ikea exit. I don't know if it's because it is one of the only stores open on a Sunday, or because they sell 75 cent ice cream cones, or because it is just a great place for a family outing, but they flock here by the thousands. And if the weather is bad, forget about it. You can wait for up to an hour to get into the parking lot (unless you are smart and take the tram).

No matter how you look at it, this store has revolutionized home design in Europe. Almost every 'modern' apartment and home now has the sleek, designer lines of a space ship.  Personally, it is not my taste. Give me an antique oak cabinet over a white square box any day. However, I am forever grateful to this mamouth size store for furnishing our Dutch apartment for 3 years for less than 1000 euro. So, I guess they have a little something to meet everyone's needs.

When I am able to assemble almost all of the furniture myself, that tells you something. ;)

And, I don't think it looked half bad in the end (although the couch leaves a bit to be desired when it comes to comfy movie watching).

I'm waiting for the monster-truck rally-style show down of Ikea versus Wal-Mart. My money is on Ikea, because Wal-Mart will be so distracted trying to pronounce the names of the furniture in Ikea that it won't even see the fork lift until it's too late. Those sneaky Sweeds. ;)

-S

Kanick Parents Visit Holland

October 17-27, 2008

Steve and Sharon made the long trip overseas to visit us!  We had fun showing them around, and having family visit us overseas really made it feel like more of a home to us.  We walked all over Rotterdam, showing them Het Park, and the bridges and canals. 

We went into the Cube Houses, and to our favorite restaurant, Bazar.  One of the things that I think was the most shocking to them was how we were able to walk up (and carry groceries up) those steep stairs every day! (second to that, maybe the 'coffee shops' on every corner) ;)

They really enjoyed one of our favorite little towns, Delft.  It's character is so well preserved, it feels like you're stepping back 300 years.  They liked the large "New Church" in the town square, which had tons of shops where you can find tons of the blue and white pottery and souvenirs.

We spent a day exploring Amsterdam.  We took Steve and Sharon to our favorite Dutch pancake house, where we sat outside along the canal.  They like the Dutch coffee!

We toured the old church, which had an interesting photography exhibit.  We took the touristy, but actually really informative, boat tour, to see all of the various parts of the city.  And, last but not least, no trip to Amsterdam would be complete without a trip to Wynand Fockink to sample the liquors.

One day while I was at work, Chad took his parents to Antwerp, in Belgium.  There are tons of cute pictures of them, but I just love this one. ;)

Then we were off to France. We spent a couple nights in Paris, then rented a car (which is quite an experience) and drove up to Normandy.  Paris was amazing, as always. We walked for miles and miles, to see the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Arc, and the Eiffel Tour.

We also explored The Cimetière de Passy for the first time, which is a beautiful cemetery up on the hill that has views of the Eiffel Tour in the background.  There they go again... I love it.




We rented a car and drove up to see Normandy.  Steve's uncle is buried in the American Cemetery there, having died during the early days of the D-Day invasions.  We stayed in a lovely little town called Bayeux, at a beautiful bed and breakfast.  We went to a museum, to brush up on our history, then drove to Omaha Beach.  It was stunning to see the steep cliffs that flank the shoreline, and to imagine the task of all of those men trying to get up the hill to overtake the foxholes.  Really sobering.

The American Cemetery was one of the most beautiful cemeteries I have every seen. It is so pristine, and so peacefully quiet, overlooking the ocean. It was strange to see a white cross with the name Kanick on it.  We were all silent, and crying.  It was a really meaningful and memorable.  Chad's Great Uncle Walter has a beautiful view of the ocean.

We are so happy that the Kanick parents got the chance to make the big trip overseas.  It was probably a once-in-a-lifetime trip for them, and it meant a lot to us to have family visit us so far away.

-C

Pictures from their visit:
Holland: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kanickmoses/sets/72157608414834136/
Belgium: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kanickmoses/sets/72157608415276392/
Paris: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kanickmoses/sets/72157608421661577/
Omaha Beach: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kanickmoses/sets/72157608426625107/
Bayeux: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kanickmoses/sets/72157610554227055/

Football Game - Netherlands vs. Iceland

October 11, 2008

One of the advantages of working with a lot of Expats, is that everyone is always eager to organize a party or activity. Most people are away from home, and they don’t have families or friends nearby, so it is fun to hang out with each other. This is how we landed tickets to the Netherlands vs. Iceland football game (a.k.a. soccer for us Americans). About 15-20 people from Maersk (Simo, Marianna, Saif, Rusa, Perry, etc) got tickets to the game. We met up at Cabrinus (the "office" pub) for a couple drinks before the game, then hopped on the tram to go to Feynord Stadium, home to Rotterdam's local football team. We wore our orange shirts and orange Holland scarves that someone had given us at a pub during the Euro Cup that summer. It was very funny riding the tram to the game because everyone had crazy orange hats on, their faces were painted, and people would spontaneously burst into a chant or team song.

We had a really good time at the game. It was nice to be in that sort of atmosphere again, since we weren't able to go to any American Football games this year. :( But, I liked seeing everyone get excited for their team, and cheer when they scored. People took their game programs and tore them up into tiny pieces, and when their team scored, they would throw the paper in the air like confetti. They also had some chants/songs that the whole stadium would start singing. The Netherlands won the game 2-0. It was good to go to a game with other people who knew where they were going. Now, if we go again, we'll at least have a slight idea about what is going on. Hopefully we get to see another game while we are here.

-S

Some pics & a video from other football fun in Rotterdam watching the Euro Cup:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kanickmoses/sets/72157606890762990/

Ray's visit

By the time Raymond came out to visit, we had discovered a few more cool places to go in Rotterdam than we had known about when Feet and Jarod were here. Raymond was going to Italy to work on the startup for a new Shell plant, so he flew in to see us for a couple days before heading down there. We spent the days strolling around Rotteram, Delft, & Amsterdam, getting a personal tour of the Pelgrim brewery in Delfshaven, and biking around the city & Kralingen lake.

Of course, Ray is an amazing photographer. One of the benefits of having a friend like this is that he took some great shots while he was here, such as this one that he snapped of Chad and I in Amsterdam.


-S

PS: for more pics from Ray's trip, check out the Flickr folder:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kanickmoses/sets/72157610554568283/

Ahh... weekends in Europe

Thought I would take a minute to describe what a weekend might be like when you live in Europe (that is when you are not traveling to another country or city). To start things off, on Friday evening my department at Maersk had a "team building event." Normally in the States, this can be a bland and possibly "safe" but slightly boring event, but in Europe, it is quite the opposite. We started by going to a go-cart race track in Rotterdam. It was an indoor track that spanned 3 floors. The cars went quite fast, and it actually hurt when you hit a wall, or cut a corner too short, or if another car hit you. I found, just 12 hrs later, that I am covered in deep blue and purple bruises all over my body. But, I'm considering them battle scars, and I had good lap times, so it's all worth it. ;)

After the go-carts, the entire department (and their sig. others) went to "Steen's" house for dinner. Steen is our supervisor, from Denmark, who is normally a very mild mannered, soft spoken guy. But, get a couple beers in him (the Danish LOVE to drink), and he is absolutely hilarious, and an entertaining guy to talk to about any subject. Also, keep in mind that our group is extremely diverse, and we have people from not only Holland, but Poland, Denmark, Germany, Georgia (the country, not the state, of course), China, India, Finland, Canada, and of course us from the US. Everyone has such a different perspective, and different opinions of other countries, so it makes for some really funny & interesting conversations. So, while we weren't sure what to expect, we had a great time that evening.

Contrary to what I thought before, Europeans do have a very strong opinion about "other" countries. They have the same stereotypes of countries here as we in America may have of people from certain states in the US. It's funny to listen to them go on about this type of thing, though, because I guess I naively thought that they would be very "diplomatic" or understanding of other people or cultures. But, the truth is that people are the same no matter where you go. They are critical of people and places that are different than where they come from and what they are used to, and they want to let you know that they feel that their traditions are really the best, or make the most sense.

.

Relaxing on the terrace at the Witte Aap

But... I digress with all of this international dialog. Back to our great weekend. Today, we slept in (yes!), woke up and cooked ourselves an "American" breakfast of French Toast, with a European flare (Nutella and banana's for toppings... Yum!). A little while later we went to the gym, for a quick workout, since we are now trying to burn enough calories to compensate for our intake of calories in the form of Belgium beer and chocolate. After a couple more hours of relaxing, we decide to bike over to Delfshaven to enjoy the beautiful sunny day while it lasted. It's the quaint little historic area beside Rotterdam that I've described before, complete with canals and a wind mil. We went to our favorite Rotterdam Brewery (yes, that's right, a Rotterdam micro brew), Pelgrim, and sat outside at a table on the sidewalk and drank some coffee and beer, read our books, and soaked up the sun. This may be some of the last sunny days we have before our rainy fall/winter kicks in, so we are trying to savor it as much as possible.

There are so many things that are easy to take for granted here in Europe. Such as being able to ride your bike to so many interesting places, and being able to sit outside at a cafe or restaurant. We try to remember to appreciate these things, but it so easily becomes part of your everyday routine. This is nice for us, as it is a pleasant way of life, but it also makes us wonder... what will we do when we move back to the States?

-S

Cambridge & London, UK

August 13-19, 2008

My first trip to the UK was to visit Joel and Jill in Cambridge. Cambridge is a quaint little town full of winding roads and beautiful old buildings & colleges. We really enjoyed walking around the campuses and seeing all of the buildings. I felt like I was in the middle of a Harry Potter story (well, I did find platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross station in London!).

We went "punting," which is when you get in a little boat in the river and the punter has a long stick pole which they use to push and steer the boat. Joel and Chad took turns punting while Jill and I "helped" with the tiny oars. It was nice, relaxing, and a great way to see some of the back lawn areas of the colleges. Beautiful! Later on we went to a nice park near town, Chad and Joel bought an American football to toss around. They were like two boys with a new toy. ;)

Chad and I took the train into London a couple times to romp around the city, since it's only about an hour and a half away. It was my first time there, Chad's second. He loved London the first time he visited, so I enjoyed having him show me around (as I am usually the leader/organizer when we visit a new city). We saw Big Ben and Parliament, London Tower and Tower Bridge, & Buckingham Palace. The parks and gardens were all very well maintained. We also found a great market in Covent Gardens. They had unique art and jewelry vendors, and we even found a booth in the market that sold oysters and champagne! Mmmmm!

One day, Joel and Jill joined us in London, and we all met up with my friend Dennis, an old FedEx'er from Pittsburgh. We went to see Avenue Q, Chad's favorite play, basically an R-rated puppet show. Haha. It was hilarious. We walked around SoHo, and found a fabulous Indian restaurant for dinner. The food was delicious. It was a fun night, and nice to meet up with an old friend from home. We can't wait to come back to London, and hopefully Cambridge again!

-S

Pics from Cambridge & London:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kanickmoses/sets/72157606893197821/

Bombs over Rotterdam

There are interesting reminders every now and then about the history of our fair city. Some are subtle, and some, not so much... like the bomb sirens that just went off all over the city. Huh? You heard me right, folks. It starts with just one soft siren in the distance, and grows increasingly intense and loud as others join in across the city. Don't worry, the War on Terror has not extended into The Netherlands, yet. Some group of cloggies somewhere decided that it was important to keep the old bomb warnings in tact, and in order to do so it requires that they test the system every month or so. It was a bit strange, and eerie, but at least "this is only a test."

On the more subtle side of the reminders of the past are the quaint, more typically Dutch, towns that line the city center of Rotterdam. Chad and I took a nice bike ride after work today to nearby Delfshaven. It's a small town consisting of only two to three old streets that are split by canals and topped off with a windmill at end of the inlet. The wall-to-wall buildings are marked with old metal signs swinging from hangers over the doors naming the tavern, taylor, or art gallary inside. It's a stark contrast to the modern, industrial city that can literally be seen over the tops of these old buildings. These modern city buildings owe their existence to the bombings in the 40's that leveled the city center, sparing only a few bordering villages to preserve the legacy of the area. This statue on the right represents Rotterdam after the WWII bombings leveled the entire city center. It's called "The City Without a Heart." While change can sometimes bring progress, as it has to the industry in Rotterdam, it's nice to have areas like Delfshaven that preserve a piece of the past.

-S