Grumpy

[nephthys224]

I've totally wasted today.

I woke up at 7:30, showered, and ate half a can of Pringles for breakfast. I never eat junk like that (I don't even particularly like potato chips), but they were sitting there on the table and I didn't feel like cooking anything. Promptly regretted it, but by then it was too late.

I then spent the next six hours

Comments

[amscapecait]

I think your reaction is a typical American reaction. It's honestly NOT that you're just materialistic, part of it's tradition. It's what you're used to and you aren't getting it. Apart from the materialistic parts of it, Christmas DOES mean something to most Americans and you feel like you're missing it. That's understandable. Don't beat yourself up over it.
Any way to explain this to him? I know how you mean with the stereotypical Dutch boy & his wallet though... although honestly maybe I should find a Dutchie b/c I feel the samw ways about flowers ;-) Although... according to my crew coach in a few years I'll think they're sweet (she's like an 8 year older version of me, its scary sometimes).
Well.... at least you get 2 days of Kerst! :)

[ivo]

1. Have you tried paprika chips? I'm so annoyed that in the US, with its gazillion different flavors such as sourcream-onion-chives, you cannot find paprika chips

2. Heh, I guess I'm a typical Dutch boy, too. Although I try to take a mind of a) a US person and b) a girl, in mind. Oh, and yeah, gifts for Christmas is something that I have to get used to myself. I don't get it, Christmas is for celebrating the birth of Jesus, not for commercialized gift crap. We already have a holiday for that in the Netherlands. I don't like at all how the Dutch commerce is ruining the family and religious traditions of Christmas in favor of another money-swapping (I mean gift giving :) ) feast.

3. You think 6 months to get your permit is bad? I had to wait 6 months before I could actually travel to the US in the first place. At least you can be in the country while your application is pending.

Well, enough ranting. Vrolijk Kerstfeest!

[ivo]

I do like giving flowers and plants. I hope my gf concurs. :)

[nephthys224]

Especially since flowers and plants are sooooo cheap here in Holland! You can get a bouquet of 20 roses for like 3 or 4 Euros, and I bought myself 60 blue irises (my favorite flowers) for 4 Euros the other day. Just six of them cost that much in the US!

Rick's (very lame) excuse for never buying me flowers is that the flower shops are always closed by the time he starts heading home from work. I just rolled my eyes at him; that's all you can do when a guy says something that dumb. ;-)

[nephthys224]

I loooove the paprika flavoring, but I hate the standard Lay's potato chips-- they're thin and greasy and don't retain even the slightest bit of potato flavor. If I'm going to eat chips at all, I like the really thick and crunchy "kettle-cooked" kind-- you can actually tell they came from a potato at some point. So I need to scout around for paprika-flavored chips of that kind, I suppose. :)

And I can understand that Dutch people don't want their nice religious holiday getting ruined by commercialism-- I know a lot of Americans who feel the same way about Christmas, actually-- but most Dutch people don't have an American girl living in their house who feels homesick around the holidays and wants to retain at least a few of her American traditions. I mean, I don't expect or even want the whole country to start celebrating Christmas op z'n Amerikaans, but I would expect someone with an American girlfriend (ie. Rick) to at least take that into consideration. I spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week trying my very best to fit in here, learn

[bezigebij]

Clicked here via via...hope you don't mind.

"To be honest, I'm not all that surprised, since Rick is about the least romantic person I have ever met. A wonderful, loving boyfriend for sure, but he doesn't have a spontaneous bone in his body. He's also the stereotypical Dutch boy in that he is very careful with his wallet-- he finds flowers to be a "waste", and in his mind, a small paperback book is a wonderful Christmas or birthday gift for a girlfriend of three years."

For a second I thought you were describing my boyfriend...