Living abroad sometimes makes for strange bedfellows as one has a sense of being on perpetual vacation while simultaneously living one's regular life, replete with jobs, school, and household chores. In addition, there's the challenging process of figuring out how to all those things in a different country with a language barrier and different customs. Getting your cable hooked up is hard enough, much less in Dutch. We didn't make things easier for ourselves when we brought our 2-year old chocolate lab along for the ride.
We were told by many an ex pat that it takes about seven months to adjust to life abroad and to acclimate to a different culture. Indeed this turned out to be true for us too. I clearly remember back in March feeling an ease in my daily routine, as if I could now really enjoy all the "enjoying" I'd been doing since last June. By the turn of the year, we had finally completed things like the residency process and acquiring our Dutch driver's license.
During this time, I realized I had stopped cooking like I used to back in the States. I love to cook, but since we arrived in Amsterdam it's felt like a chore. I was too drained at the end of each day to care much about we all ate. As long it was balanced and nutritious, simple and uncreative did the job.
But as things have become easier, like grocery shopping and biking crazy Amsterdam streets, I'm feeling increasingly inspired in the kitchen. It feels good. Life is normalizing.
Last night a friend from Seattle passed through Amsterdam and had dinner with us. I may have cooked an old standby, but it felt brand new to me.
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