Worldly Chatter

Ik ben ziek en ik ben moe! Echt ziek! I have the flu! All the achiness and tiredness, plus I go from hot to cold and things taste weird! I stayed home from work on Tuesday and tried to go back yesterday but I only lasted three hours. Now I sort mail into its post codes and after I sort it further into street and house number for delivery. It isn’t hard to do brain power wise but it does take a bit of body work because we all know paper, when in bulk, can be really heavy. After the original sorting into post code, we take the boxes to our little desk and sort it all. Can I tell you how heavy it all felt! Normally I don’t have any trouble but yesterday it hurt so bad to do it. I started to do it and got four or five streets in when I just couldn’t take it any longer and told work I was going home, I shouldn’t have come in after all.

I ride my bike to work every day and it takes ten minutes, twelve tops, but yesterday I actually had to stop to catch my breath and let my heart calm down before I could go on. Madness I tell you. I rarely get sick like this, a cold maybe but not like this so I feel worse than what I should. I keep telling myself I can go to work and do stuff, this is ridiculous! Yet all I did was the dishes and vacuum today and I wanted to die! I lay on the couch and wanted to die. And of course, I don’t have American medicine that masks the symptoms the Dutch just suck it up and does it the old fashioned way; soup, teas, vitamins and bed rest. Oh wait, I take stuff to help me sweat it out but other than that its teas and vitamins to kick this things butt. So I do as the Dutch do it, gently aid my body in fighting it on its own. I was spoiled as an American with all those lovely cold medicines!

Worldly Chatter, American medicine, Dutche remedies, Flu

Previous rambles here!

Irritable Bowel Syndrome, or IBS, is a nasty thing where certain things you eat affect how your large intestines function and how you ultimately go or do not go to the bathroom. There are a few or many things that trigger it depending on the person and further still, there are several symptoms, also depending on the person. It sounds like a more generalized disease where they slap all these symptoms and conditions into one category because it simply doesn’t fit anywhere else but that’s just my opinion but anyway. After months of Dutchie being sick, in and out of the doctor’s office and more tests than one should have to go through there was an intern who thinks she nailed it with IBS. Now, I am not a big fan of the Dutch medical system and this didn’t help causes any so I suppose I shouldn’t have been shocked when the intern was the one who finally came up with something constructive and useful to aiding Dutchie when two doctors danced around with test after test, determining what it wasn’t and appeared to not take her seriously at all. Ah, but just my humbled opinion on it but I digress in my complaints.

While the doctors were trying to figure Dutchie’s body out and make it better, they gave her two different things for her stomach and three things for her colon, one of which was a fiber supplement. This was a big no, no! You see, fiber, among other things, is one of those main triggers that gets the whole system backed up and leaves Dutchie in pain for days. Fiber, brilliant that the doctors thought this would help. When it first caused trouble Dutchie told them and while we aren’t doctors and didn’t know if it was that or something else they gave her, they should have. There also seems to have issue with a lot of processed stuff. There seems to be something that aggravates her when it comes to processed foods so we have to go more organic! Not a problem really. Eat fresh fruits and veggies, lots of white bread, take it easy with the dairy and stay away from Chinese food from the corner! There is one problem with our plan; at least there will be in six weeks…

We will be in America for two weeks! I know my American readers don’t know about European foods and prices just as my Euro readers don’t necessarily know American foods and prices but I am going to explain.

American foods are processed like crazy. Dutch foods are not, rather Europe as a whole has different standard than America. Our bread here does not last as long but that is because it is fresher, with less additives and preservatives. Our foods have different flavoring, it processes in our systems a lot easier than American foods. I know this well enough; my system functioned better once I moved here and when I went on holiday to America my system had a real hard time breaking down the foods I ate! American foods have more stuff in them to make them last longer, stay fresher and in doing this, the foods lose a lot of its natural flavor and texture. As my family learned while here, the breads feel and taste better. Dairy products, meats for lunches as well as dinner meats, fishes and chickens taste different. There are more flavors and in some cases the feel of it is slightly different than that of its American counterpart. Knowing this from visiting America so often, Dutchie is fully aware that she has to eat more organic. Stick to the fruits and veggies and not drink the milk, she knows she has to prepare a lot of it herself or else something will go wrong in her body. She can’t have the Taco Bell and Burger King and if she wants to eat pastas and salads, its best she make the dishes herself because food is not only different than here, it is prepared and cooked different. Yet this brings us to the second problem.

The prices! By the heavens above, eating healthy in American can leave you broke! When I lived in NY as a teenager, I hadn’t a care in the world when I worked so I ate what I wanted without thinking and since I was a kid; my father took on the food bill. Dad is a bit of a health nut so I grew up on salads, fruits and the like. It was what I ate when I went out with my friends and never thought of it… That is, until I moved out on my own. Imagine this; you pay €1 for a bag of salad and that same bag of salad costs you $3. How about a loaf of white bread costing you €, 75 and that same loaf in America costing you $2 or $3? When we were there, Dutchie wanted stuff to cook them an Indonesian dish, we will normally spend €15-€20 on the ingredients but in American we spent $60 and couldn’t get all of it. It is a lot cheaper to eat here in Holland. We spend €, 34 for a liter of milk, can Americans say they spend less than a dollar for that? It isn’t a problem to eat healthy here. Dutchie can eat what she needs without breaking the bank but to keep that up when we go on vacation is going to cost us!

We have been putting aside money for spending while we are there and we are going to make a good chunk of money on the exchange rate but we are going to need the dollars we gain just to afford the food! Madness, I tell you! I wonder if Americans know how much better it could be? I know I didn’t before I stepped off the continent.

To learn some tips, myths and healthy ways of eating, check out Earthly Eating!  

IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, American foods verses European foods, Dutch cost of food, American cost of food, worldly chatter

Goede Morgen! Hoe gaat het met jou? Of, hoe gaat het? Morgen! Is er koffie? Pretty much this is how my day starts. I hear chattering about, people saying morgen as the employees walk in and people going on about coffee. Today was slightly different. Is er koffie? Er is geen koffie! What do you mean there is no coffee! First thing in the morning, this is ten to eight, and there is no coffee! Our coffee machine is broken! We have this machine where there is like, five different kinds of coffee and hot water and some other neat features. A contraption is what it really is and it cannot give us coffee! So we were all going er is geen koffie! By ten this morning we had a pot brewing so we could have coffee on our coffee break. Someone bellowed coffee and we stared at him with an evil eye until he told us there really was coffee made. I tell you, I have never seen people move so fast up the stairs to the kitchen! The face of the machine was open and all of its guts exposed. I think we all glared at the evil thing, all we wanted was coffee and it decided that no, there was no coffee to be had today. How dare the thing!

Let me tell you something about the Dutch and their coffee. It is like the English and their tea; it is necessary and you can be sure that at ten, twelve and three there are Dutchies and Brits have their coffee and tea. In some work places, they allow coffee on a constant basis, such as Dutchies job. She is always having coffee at her desk. Now do not assume its just coffee with the Dutch, they love their tea just as much. Tea and coffee is offered at nearly home you go to and it looks as though everyone around you is drinking something all the time! Brilliant I say until the contraption malfunctions and I have no coffee! I love our Senseo Machine. A coffee pad and some water and I have coffee. No contraption required! We have coffee pads, instant coffee and coffee for a coffee pot we no longer own in our home. I broke the pot, why we have the Senseo Machine. We have a variety of teas to choose from and believe me we drink them all.

It is ALL about the coffee! The Dutch and Brits have it right. Coffee breaks are a must and literally the entire warehouse shuts down to have a cup! Coffee, coffee, coffee! Is er koffie? Ja, tuurlijk!

coffee, coffee breaks, Dutch coffee, Senseo Coffee Worldly Chatter, British tea

There are things I have been hesitant to try here in the Netherlands. Not much is on this list but I saw them as huge hurdles to overcome. One such thing was haring. Oh how the idea of eating raw fish freaked me out! The first birthday for Dutchie that I was here we went to her mom’s house and her sister was there as well. She brought with her haring, chopped onions and buns. Brootje haring met uien. I didn’t dare have any that day as I was new to all things Dutch and raw fish was simply not going in my mouth! That was ten years ago and I hadn’t been bold enough to try this Dutch delight until this weekend. Now while you can find this virtually everywhere not all Dutch like the idea of eating raw fish. You can eat haring as a standalone, as a sandwich, broodje haring, and with or without onion, uien, also raw. I am not a fan of raw onion so I got a broodje haring zonder uien.
We were at the market on Saturday, a beautiful day and we were in need of some fruit and vegetables. With our purchases in hand Dutchie got the idea that this day would be the day I tried haring since we were passing a fish stand. Dutchie was by my side for this huge event, placed some napkins in case this wasn’t such a good idea and I needed to get the thing out of my mouth asap as well as her phone to capture the whole thing on video. I literally prayed so that the taste would be wondrous and I could say, ‘yes I like it!’
I don’t think God accepts personal requests for taste bud changes in an instant.
It’s cold with a sea water flavor and a slimy film that clings to your tongue and the back of your throat. Even with dry bread the texture of fish, slimy, raw and cold with this flavor of sea water and something all together new to my taste buds cannot be masked. It sits in your mouth and only after you have sucked on a strong minty cough drop can you breathe a sigh of relief that the experience is over. The napkins that Dutchie put by my side came in handy as the one bite I did manage to take was taken out of my mouth, or what was left of it as I actually did swallow some of this stuff. Dutchie in the meantime captured the silent prayer, the only bite and every facial expression my face was capable of making in a video that is less than a minute long. She then took the broodje haring and ate it for me as we cannot let it go to waste you see. She is a Dutchie who likes her haring, preferably with uien.
The lesson in all this is simple. Do not be afraid to try new things when traveling. Do not expect to like everything you put in your mouth but be open enough to like it. And if you put in a silent prayer before trying such delights, could you put one up for me?

food phobias, broodje haring, haring

You don’t realize you can’t have something until someone tells you oh no, not here, you can’t have that! Well, my head cold that I have had since Thursday is reminding me of the medicine I used to take in the United States and how I can’t have them anymore. With my first landing I brought with me Benadryl, I took it for my allergies and thought; it will be helpful there too so in it went. No, it didn’t help. The air and pollen is different, more potent and the Benadryl failed to ease my suffering like it did in the states. Yet on an entirely different note I learned that not only does it not work, it isn’t allowed. Sedatives are added to the mix, albeit small, they are still in there and a big no, no in the Netherlands.
You see, the drugs that you buy over the counter in Holland are weaker than what you buy in America. For one thing, anything with sedatives in it of any kind is prescription only so that means stuff like Vicks NyQuill or Tylenol PM are out of the question! Some of the extra strength drugs that you can buy in any drug store in American may not necessarily be found here over our counters. Extra strength isn’t something you see a whole lot of and if you feel you need to get something stronger than what is available then you need to see a doctor, which brings me to my next point on having a cold here in the Netherlands.
In living with another expat for a time while here I watched her interacting with doctors and pharmacists and how her Dutchman interacted with those very same people. The difference was astonishing to me. If you can recall, my fellow American readers, a typical pharmacy and what you can get there. Stuff for your head, stomach, back, allergies and just about anything you can think of. You can get it in mild doses to extra strength doses; you don’t need to pour your agony out to a doctor to get something to ease your suffering. The range of antidotes is large and the FDA has approved all of it for our consumption. We have doctors to get the stronger stuff or tend to the issues we have that a CVS can’t cure. They write out little prescriptions like giving candy to a five year old and off we go. I remember how easy it was to get pain killers after my surgery. I wasn’t in agony, two Tylenol and I was dealing fine but my doctor gave me a prescription, just in case. It expired before I used the pills but they were there, just in case.
Now let us get back to my expat friend and her Dutchman. Dutchman had an issue with his neck, a bad case of whiplash from a car accident. There were days when he wasn’t getting up it hurt that bad. He was informed that he could try working out the surrounding muscles so that his neck can get stronger, acupuncture and physical therapy. When it first happened they gave him something for his pain but when I was there I never saw him actually take anything. Not one pill. Alright I thought. The expat was a different matter. She had some aches and pains in her back and knees. Nothing life threatening, just her body telling her she was a tad overweight and needed to stop putting all this pressure on her knees. She went to the Dutch doctors here and asked for something stringer to help. The over the counter stuff was not helping her knees and her back wasn’t getting any better. She fought with them, tried bringing up every point under the sun to express her need. The Dutch doctors wanted her to walk more, her joints were stiff. Lose some weight and the problem should fix itself. The Dutch are direct, remember this. A dear friend she was but I personally didn’t see the need to get drugs when all she had to do was heed the advice of the doctors. No, she ranted on until she pushed hard enough they gave up and gave them to her. It isn’t as easy to get medication here in Holland as it is in America.
Mind you, if you have something serious, they will take care of you. Take for example the Dutchman. He had a serious case and they tried to tend to him as best they could; advice and pills for the pain, anti-inflammatory pills and other such treatments. Yet they are not big on just tossing prescriptions around, after all, it isn’t candy. Remembering how things worked in America and learning how they work here I can see a distinct difference. The difference between being dependent on quick fixes, over the counter stuff and doctors verses taking only when it is necessary.
Now I admit it, I miss my Vicks Dayquil and NyQuil. It kicked butt when it came to cold and flues. Going to the drug store for tissues, Vicks and a bag of cough drops was rather handy. Now I have stuff to help me sweat it out, make me cough to get the gunk out, sprays for my nose and the endless supplies of tissues. Let us not forget the cough drops to sooth the throat! Actually finding something to suppress the cold is a rather challenging feat. The medicine you find here forces your body to get it out. It helps your body fight it rather than make you feel better and have the cold fester and slowly die.
I am finishing my hot liquids to make me sweat and going to read a book. This cold has had me since Thursday but it is actually getting better. My body is fighting it now, not just suppressing it.

American expats, Netherlands, FDA, over the counter meds in Holland