Funstuff

My week has gone well. On Memorial Day we went to my Great Aunt Elsie’s graveyard to put flowers there. We also planned on having a picnic at a church nearby but there was a funeral going on. Since that would be disrespectful, we decided to go to a nearby Edgar Evins State park next to Center Hill lake. It was pretty nice there. I took some nice pictures which you’ll see when I get back. Nothing too much happened the rest of the week.

I’ve been having fun but no tales to tell and such hehe. This week we’ve been figuring out when to go see Mema and the rest of the family. Aunt Rita invited us down to her place in Atlanta so we’re leaving to go there tomorrow. While I’m there I’ll be going to see my favorite K-pop group the Wonder Girls hehe. You can read more about them here if interested. Another one of my favorite groups will be there from the same company called 2pm. In any case, I’ll be in fangirl heaven hehe. I just don’t know anyone else who likes them but I don’t care. I’m old enough now where it doesn’t bother me to go alone if I enjoy something enough. I’ll be taking my laptop so I’ll most likely be online.

Yesterday we headed to Amsterdam to experience the ‘real’ Queen’s day according to many people hehe. We headed there a bit early though. We left on the 9 am train and there wasn’t much going on yet. There were a lot of booths and markets everywhere though. They had a carnival where the Dam is with a huge ferris wheel and other scary looking rides haha. We saw lots of people partying on boats though. But since we got there early, Mickel got too tired before the day really started. So he left and went home and me and Diana stayed and partied! hehe. But since he didn’t stay we don’t have as many pictures but we have them here. Diana and I walked everywhere and saw a lot. We danced a bit too to the various dancing stages. Then we headed to the Museum plein which probably wasn’t that great of an idea considering we couldn’t actually get into that crowd to see anything! We needed like a huge guy with us or something lol. Now I’m a fairly tall person, but Dutchies are seriously tall! I felt short a few times during the day and since Diana is shorter, I guess she felt short all day hehe. We had to come back through massive crowds from the Museum Plein so that was fun. Mickel says there were 750,000 extra people there for Queen’s Day. But that was the biggest problems we had with crowds. I think people here exaggerate too much on how crowded it can get. We wanted to go to Subway for dinner but it was too crowded for that. So we decided to head on home after getting some Starbucks first. Unfortunately, the train never came in. We waited around an hour before taking the bus back to Hoorn. Apparently, some assholes decided to pull the emergency breaks on the trains. So of course, the trains weren’t coming as often. This only happens between Amsterdam and Zaandam so someone from North Holland is doing this. Mickel also had to go home by bus because of the same problem. Anyway, we did get back after a busy day! Today my feet hurt with blisters on them but it was worth it hehe.

We headed to Amsterdam Gelderlandplein today to get some Korean groceries. While there, we looked around and got some coffee at the Coffee Company. They also have good coffee. I’d probably rate it second to Starbucks hehe. They also had a cooking store there and I was lusting after a food processor. After that, we headed to the Korean grocery store and I had a whole list to buy. I finally got some red pepper flakes so I can make more Korean dishes now, yay! I also got some rice cakes, dried anchovies, corn syrup, and we bought some Korean meat. We ate that tonight and it was good. We still have some left over in the freezer so we’ll enjoy that later.

After we were done grocery shopping, I thought we were headed home but Mickel had other plans. We headed over to the Makro, a huge store (like Super Walmart or Sams) where you can buy things in bulk. You can also buy televisions and clothes as well. I always feel like I’m in America when we go there lol. So I pretend a bit. We bought some laundry detergent in big containers, beerhop, kaassoufle (dutch snack/fast food), rice dish, etc. I was disappointed because I ordered a turkey from the local poultry shop for Thanksgiving but they had a whole one much cheaper at Makro. Too bad, but I’ll be sure to remember it for next year.

Then we headed over to another store Dekamarkt, to get some everyday goods lol. By the time we were done, we were pooped. But we headed over to Mickel’s parents for some coffee and to drop off the beerhop we bough for them. Then we headed home and I put everything in the freezer while Mickel organized the closet. After that we had the Korean barbecued meat ‘bulgogi’ with some rice. One dish was spicy, the other more sweet. They were both yummy!

After all that, I felt like making some kimchi so I just got done making that. I was thinking the red pepper powder would taste different than the chili powder that I’ve used before, but I don’t think it makes much of a difference. It does make it look pretty and red though. I think I made it right, except I should have added a bit more salt. I was experimenting quite a bit this time lol. In a few weeks, when it’s fermented, I’ll make some kimchi stew. Well that’s it for our busy day. Tomorrow we’ll be taking it easy.