Dear Theo,
Within my stay here in the Netherlands I wish I would have known some things. I'm not as much in a culture shock anymore, but I've gotten used to the ideas that now lay before me. I wish I could of read the tram schedule. There was a terrible language barrier. I never really needed to learn how to read a bus or a tram schedule. I eventually learned how many stops I had to take in order to know how to get to where I needed to go. I wish I could have know how to walk. I know it sounds crazy and strange, but one really needed to understand how to move around. First thing, there isn't a lot of personal space when walking. I was literally walking on the heels of everybody else as everybody else was walking on my heels. Also, bike paths. They are right next to the sidewalk. If you'd walk on the outside of the side walk too far, then you ran the risk of getting hit. If you ever hear a bike bell, it doesn't mean "get out of the way." It means "I'm hitting you going full speed on my bike!"I wish I would have known that their aren't any free refills. When first arriving in Amsterdam we stopped for lunch at a pizza place and I got a soda. I finished the soda anticipating getting a refill, but it never came. If you ask what the procedure for free refills is, they will get mad and not want to serve you your food.I wish I could have known how delicious their sodas are. Coke Light (Diet Coke) and Fanta are the soda of choice among everyone in the group. I have no idea why it tastes so good. It's fairy magic or something.I'd now like to have a brief intermission from the blog to give you a haiku about
Coca-Cola Light: To my gut I pull delicious Coke Light I drink.
Why does it taste so good?
Posted at 9:28 AM by Andrew Rutherford