We spent a bit more than a month back in Canada, and then came back here the first week of January. I have to say, I was a bit paranoid that they'd be all pissy about letting me back in the country: a Canadian citizen can stay in Europe for three months out of any six-month period without a visa, and I was at exactly three months. As it turned out, passport control barely glanced at my passport before waving me through. So nice having a Canadian passport. And now that I have a residence card (finally), they have to let me back in!
Today's pictures are from the Christmas box we got from the university. The university here gives all faculty and staff (which, in the Netherlands, including PhD students) a Christmas box of random goodies. I expected a small gift basket with a few random things in it. What we got...
... was this, spread out across the kitchen table (which is not tiny -- that's about half the table: say four feet by four feet?). The contents were indeed very random and extensive, so here's the list:
A vast array of food: a bottle of (very nice) prosecco, a bottle of rose wine, a bag of kids' candy (including pixie sticks), chocolates, crackers, muesli, juice, jam, two different types of cakes...
... pancake mix and pancake syrup. The pancake mix here tastes much different than what you buy in Canada: it's much heavier and doesn't make such fluffy pancakes. The syrup, too, is different. It's not maple syrup, of course (we brought some back with us). This particular bottle is basically caramel syrup like you'd put on ice cream or in a caramel macchiato... which is what I use it for. They have a plain pancake syrup as well, which may in fact be the sweetest food I've ever eaten. So far as I can tell, it's just sugar syrup.
Then...
... sandwich spread. No, we don't know what it is either. Some sort of relish thing, we think. I could fill a whole blog post with the insane things the Dutch put in sandwiches (chocolate bars are not, in my opinion, an acceptable lunch).
And that was just the food. Then there was a set of dishes (dinner plates, coffee cups, and saucers), plus matching placemats, egg cups, salt and pepper shakers, and napkins in a truly obnoxious pattern:
And a matching fleece blanket and reusable bag, too. They're really into design in Eindhoven (there are a few art and architecture schools), and these were commissioned specifically for the university's Christmas box. I presume next year we'll get something equally obnoxious.
There was more stuff for the house: a pancake pan and egg timer, both of which are pretty handy, an extra little basket, and some of those reusable ice cubes. Stefan is pretty pleased with these:
Last Sunday, he made himself heart- and star-shaped eggs and was really happy with himself. I think they'll work for pancakes too.
Finally, for the kids...
Colour-your-own apron thing? It's sitting in a corner right now until I get bored enough to decide to colour it ;)
And for the grand finale, a colour-your-own birdhouse. The odd thing was that a few days later, when I went to register with city hall and immigration (being now legally here and all), they gave me a welcome package too, with a notepad and pen and city map and various little brochures about Eindhoven... and a paper birdhouse. Apparently it's some sort of theme this year. Who knew?
I really couldn't believe how much stuff there was in that box. It must have cost a fair amount, even buying it all in bulk for a sizeable staff. There are all sorts of stereotypes about the Dutch being cheap, sayings like "going Dutch" (and to be fair, I know about a dozen different words for "sale"), but when it comes to giving people things, they're very generous (offices and banks and such offer you coffee the second you sit down in the waiting room), which is so nice to see.
That's about all for today... and I promise I'll be better about posting regularly from now on! Oh, and if you want to see the photos from Christmas at home, I didn't take a ton of them, but what I did take is here.
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