Remembering Ireland

Sorry, I know this has nothing to do with the overall theme of this blog but I was feeling all "reminiscing like" this morning.  One year ago to the date, Vicki and I embarked on our first expat adventure in Ireland.

Never got around to completing an entire blog of our adventures there. #BiggestRegret But I tried;  see my tumblr: Polish Clover.  One day I might get around to documenting it.  In the meantime, here's a pic of the Guinness that launched my infamous "Guinness Count." I attempted to tally all the Guinness that I consumed during our time in Ireland.  I'd also write notes about where we were and who we were with that type of thing.  It became a pretty cool remembrance of our time there.

Final Guinness Count: 304 (+ or - a few).

Dear PA Dutch Readers...

Dear Pennsylvania Dutch Readers:

I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone for visiting Pennsylvania Dutch over the past few months.  I hope you enjoyed reading my ramblings as much as I enjoyed creating and documenting my embarrassing situations in the Netherlands.

On May 19, 2013 my wife, Vicki and I returned home to the USA ending a very fortunate year long expatriate experience. Looking back, we experienced an amazing "Irish Summer" in Malahide, Ireland with a beautiful beach, a castle, and a Jack Russell Terrier. We then moved on to marvel at the beauty and splendor of a "Dutch Winter" in Oss, The Netherlands. Where we had no beach, no castle, and no Jack Russell.  But we did have a bike; that was cool.  Both experiences were incredible but very different and I'm sure it's obvious which one we preferred; God I miss that bike.  

My only regret during our expat days was that I didn't start blogging sooner.  MY GOD! The stories I could have written in Ireland. I did start recounting some of those tales on my tumblr, Polish Clover but really never finished. Well, at least I was able to bring you our daily Dutch living adventures, like our multi-lingual washer and dryer, our Dutch-Polish Deli, and of course my grocery store experiences with Eftling coupons and an Afgan Olive Man.

Blogging allowed me to feel and stay connected with family and friends back home.  It also allowed me to join a worldwide community  by listing "PA Dutch" on various expat blog directories. Oh, and check this out one post even won a writing contest! Thanks for voting.

8,000 pageviews (and counting) later, I remain humbled that folks are still stopping by and reading and watching.  Thanks again to all.  But my repatriation does NOT mean PA Dutch is shutting down. I still have a few more posts and videos in the pipeline so keep checking back.  And who knows, I may start up a new blog documenting my zany misadventures in Norristown, PA.  You'd read that too wouldn't you?

Love,
DannyZ
xoxoxo

Wordless Wednesday: Beach Day

Bandit contemplating life or preparing to chase a seagull on Malahide Beach 

(Malahide, County Dublin, Ireland)




Wordless Wednesday: My Dog My Guinness

 July 13, 2012

Two things I miss most about Ireland: walks with Bandit to Malahide Castle and the Guinness.

Wordless Wednesday: King Bandit

Bandit & Malahide Castle; Malahide, Co Dublin.  July 5, 2012

Unfortunately, Bandit could not accompany Vicki and I on our latest expat journey to the Netherlands. He's still back in the States.  We certainly had a blast with him in Ireland.   Miss you Bandito.  

Catholic Means Universal? Tell that to my knees.

Okay, it was 5th grade, I'm pretty sure it was 5th grade when I was introduced to the infamous Baltimore Catechism.  Days and days of memorization followed.  The one thing I can still recall today is that the word "Catholic" means "Universal."  But does it really?

I'm sure you'll hear or you've heard the headlines today that "Catholics all over the world come together to begin the Lenten Season by celebrating Ash Wednesday or Aswoensdag (in Dutch)."  Well, I'm a Catholic, and I feel like a world away from home celebrating Ash Wednesday tonight.

My wife, Vicki, and I are living in the town of Oss, the Netherlands (approx 1hr 30min south of Amsterdam).  This whole "universal" thought struck me during Mass tonight.   If the Church is really "universal" why am I shaking hands during the Sign of Peace with an older Dutch gentlemen while still on my knees.  Vicki and I have been blessed to be able to attend Masses across the US and around the globe, and the only universal thing I've seen is that every diocese/country/continent does things different.

For some perspective, last summer in our Irish Church we hardly knelt at all during Mass.  Now tonight in our new Dutch church it seemed like we knelt all night.  Maybe not all night, but the zero padded kneelers made it seem like an eternity.

Despite the little differences it was a memorable experience celebrating Aswoensdag in a new Church, in a new country.

Maybe I should tweet the Pope about this whole universal thing before he leaves.

Adventures in Irish & Dutch Laundry

Laundry.  It's a love hate relationship.  

We love the scent and crispness of a freshly cleaned load .

We hate separating lights & darks, and figuring out the difference between delicates & permanent press

We love it when it's warm right out the dryer or straight off the sun kissed clothesline. 

We hate folding, no we really hate folding.

We also hate it when it does this....

Adventures in Irish Laundry: Take #1

My first adventures in laundry began in college, where I learned that wool sweaters are powerless against dryers.  Once I was married, I assumed the role of launderer, not sure how exactly, just happened.  Naturally I carried my laundry responsibilities with me as my wife and I set out on our expat adventures, first in Ireland, now in the Netherlands.  

It's a simple process really.  Add clothes, add water, add soap and let the machine work it's magic.  Then take out clothes and but into the other machine to dry and boom, done.  But you see that second part about putting the clothes into another machine, well, that wasn't an option in our home in Ireland.  My wife and I assumed the property had one of those washer/dryer combo units, which apparently exist.  It wasn't until our walk through of the property that we realized the only function that this machine in OUR KITCHEN was to wash, not dry.

I loved my wife's question to the relocation agent.  "Well, how do we dry clothes in a place where it rains all the time?"  She then explained the "hot press" concept to us.  There was a closet or press, upstairs where the hot water pipes ran.  This was your hot press, and this is how you dried clothes.  Worked like a charm if you didn't need your jeans for about a week.    So I had to resort to stringing our clothes up on the line outside.  But you know that Irish weather.

Eventually I got the hang of things in Ireland.  Who knew that door jams and light fixtures made for great locations to hang drying clothes.  But the one thing I just could never get right was the washer.  Well, as a cousin of mine said, in response to this pic.  "Just grab a mop. 2 problems solved!"

"Just grab a mop. 2 problems solved!"

Flash forward to present day life in the Netherlands. The first question I asked before moving: " Does the apartment have a dryer?"  Well, it certainly does, BUT, I'm now faced with a whole new set of challenges, Dutch instructions.  Not only on the bottles of detergent but also on the machines (so I thought).  

So can you picture this? Me is a confined laundry room where the door closes behind you staring blankly at a washer & dryer.  I then grab a bottle of detergent and take out my iPhone. With the help of Google Translate I discover the purple label is for colors and the green is for active wear?
I don't know, I've just been using the purple bottle and crossing my fingers.  White technically is a color right?

Then I come to the challenge of actually using these machines.

Uh.........Goggle, little help?  So I try to translate "VAR PUUVILLA" from Dutch to English and I get, "VAR PUUVILLA." Son of a......  I try it again, maybe I missed spelled it.  Same thing "VAR PUUVILLA."  Then I think, this is Dutch right?  WRONG!  Turns out the machines speak Finnish.  At least that's the language Google detected.  So here's an English speaking American, living in a Dutch speaking country doing laundry with machines that speak Finnish.  What a world.  

Okay, I've figured out the Dutch detergent and the Finnish instructions but the one thing I simply CANNOT figure out is why it takes SO long to both wash and dry a load?  Yeah, that screen reads 1 HOUR and 25 minutes. 

Today, after 50 minutes in the dryer my clothes were still damp.  At this point I was ready to mail them to Ireland to dry.  But I could tell something was wrong.  I would set the timer then the dryer would shut off after a minute.  So,  I look closer at the screen then say to myself out loud "What the hell is 'BAC PLEIN'?"  GOOOOOGLE, HELP!  So I turn to my iPhone, translate "BAC PLEIN" from Finnish into English and get "BAC PLEIN" Son of a......  Alright Google, you tell me what language this is; it detected French.  So "BAC PLEIN" means "TANK FULL."  Oh, that clears things up.  WHERE THE HELL IS THE TANK!!  Luckily the owner of the apartment was around this afternoon and I inquired about the problem.  Turns out there is a tray that fills up with water and needs to be emptied.  I did not know that.  Alright, so I think I am finally prepared to do a load of laundry here in the Netherlands with my Finnish washer and my French dryer.  Am I right?  I shouldn't expect anymore surprises right?  That Irish hot press is looking really good right now.

Do you have any expat laundry stories to share?    Please tell me I'm not alone.  Thanks!

HERE WE GO AGAIN...

My wife, Vicki, and I touched down at Amsterdam Airport (midst the snow) on January 15th, 2013; ready to begin Chapter 2 of Temporary Expatdom.  

For those just joining in the fun, my wife and I spent last summer living in Ireland   She took a temporary assignment with her company’s site in Swords (just north of Dublin.)  Given the fact that I was in between jobs her assignment came at a perfect time; in addition, we looked at this temporary move as an opportunity to experience life in Europe, something we both regretted not taking advantage of while in college.  We spend a fabulous summer living in a beautiful seaside village (Malahide, County Dublin), traveling to 9 other countries, hosting family & friends and experiencing life outside our comfort zone of Norristown, PA.

At the tail end of our time in Ireland my wife was recruited again to assist with another of her company’s sites in the Netherlands.  So, here we were faced with the decision to uproot (once again) and spend a few months living in the Netherlands. Something, even as I type, I still can’t believe.  It was all thrilling and scary at the same time.  To be honest prior to our European excursions this past summer, I knew very little of the Netherlands; I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I might have even had trouble identifying it on a map.

Here we are; one week later, settled into our apartment in Oss (about an 1:30 southeast of Amsterdam) and adjusting to a new language and another new culture.  GULP!