In some ways it is hard to believe we have been in the Netherlands for one week already. In some ways it seems like an eternity ago that we got here.
Our apartment is in downtown Goes. The locals call downtown the “Centrum”, or Center in English. We live on the second floor above stores, although I don’t think there is a business currently in the space under us. There is a bakery on one side of us, and a plant store on the other side. What could be better?
The picture on the right is our street. I circled our front door on the right of the picture. This is after business hours, so the street is nice and quiet. It is very different during the day! Anyway, when you go in the front door, there is a lobby with mailboxes and storage units. There are also stairs up to our apartment. The stairs are spiraled and very narrow. I am told this is a Dutch style. The stairs could be dangerous for some people. Glad we are so young and able! (wink, wink)
I think the stairs are worth climbing for the apartment. It is small but very clean and nicely kept up. We have two bedrooms. Our room has a queen bed and the spare room has a single bed. The spare room is now covered with all our extra stuff. We still have to organize. See messy picture below.
The toilet and shower are in different rooms, another thing that I am told is common here but obviously different than I am used to. One tiny room has the toilet with a small sink. And down the hall is a larger room with a shower and larger sink. This could be handy for large families. One person could easily use the toilet while someone else is down the hall in the shower. For Jeremy and I, the only handy part is the two sinks. We can brush our teeth at the same time before bed.
My favorite part of the apartment though is the back terrace deck. It overlooks some business around us, but also some beautiful churches. There are some bushes out there that are part of the property, and I added a few plants of my own. At the Market on Saturday (we would call it the Farmer’s Market), I bought a flowering plant for the eating table outside, and some herb plants for cooking.
The part of living downtown that is the biggest adjustment for us is the noise. The shoppers and business people come out in the morning with kids, dogs, motorbikes, and loud voices. This lasts until 5pm or so. But some might call the church bells even more noticeable. There are three churches behind us that all chime on the hour and half hour. Sometimes they play a song in between. Sometimes they chime for 15 minutes at a time. There is no getting away from these bells. No closed windows or doors are going to block them out. We bought a fan to help drown out the noise at night, and I’ve gotten to the point during the day that I don’t even notice them anymore. So for us they aren’t a problem.
I mentioned this on the home page, but the beds only have a fitted sheet and a duvet cover. No top sheet and no blanket. One of Jeremy’s coworkers told him that Dutch people only use the duvet as a cover when sleeping. Take the quilt out of the inside during the summer, and put it back in for warmth during the winter.
The toilets here are much smaller than ours in the U.S. The seat isn’t as big in circumference, and there is no tank on the back. There are also two buttons on the wall for flushing. I will let you imagine what they are for.
The homes in the Netherlands generally don’t have central air conditioning. The climate here doesn’t have the extremes that we have in Iowa, so it doesn’t get hot enough here to warrant air conditioning. We do have a air conditioning unit that hangs on our living room wall, but we don’t need to use it often. This week the highs are in the low 70s.
Our apartment doesn’t have an oven in the kitchen. And our refrigerator is dorm sized. I am not sure if these two things are common in Dutch homes, or if our kitchen is just too small for these appliances. We do have a stove top, microwave, and dishwasher. So far I don’t miss the oven, but I’ve only been here a week. 🙂
The windows don’t have screens on them because, get this, bugs aren’t an issue. I don’t know why. When we open the windows we can wave our arms out of them if we want. You know, because everyone does that. We can prop the French doors to the deck open all evening with no bugs coming in. We can sit out on the deck anytime without being eaten alive. It’s almost bizarre for these Iowans.
I’m thankful that tap water is safe to drink here. And I don’t think it tastes bad either.
We do have one car that we are using. We park it in a nearby parking garage. It only takes a minute or less to walk down the street to the car.
Well, I think that’s it for our living situation here in Goes, Netherlands. Hope you found it interesting. Until next blog.
Love all these details! Really helps me picture you there!