Summer time officially ended

It’s been fall here for weeks now, and it has definitely felt like it. Yet, summer time officially ended over the weekend. Summer time is what the Dutch and others in Europe call the time shift that the U.S. calls daylight savings time. So for a week, or however long the U.S. remains on daylight savings time now, we are one hour closer to you.

Last week I rode my bike to my Dutch conversation class. It was my first time using it for real transportation, and I have to admit that it was a little scary. The Dutch all ride so fast and there are so many people on bikes! So even though I was on a bike path most of the way, there was lots of traffic. I’m not sure the class is all that helpful. There’s usually only one native speaker to work with the various small groups, and since I used to be fluent in Dutch, my Dutch is stronger than that of most of the other participants. Still, it’s fun to get out, so I’m going to keep it up.

I’m making an effort, too, to speak Dutch with Dutch people. Most are patient. Some even seem a little relieved not to have to speak English. The Moroccan corner butcher is an example. When I went in to get some lamb shanks the other day, I asked him for recommendations on preparation. He quickly said his English wasn’t very good and asked about speaking French. We wisely continued in Dutch. The lamb shanks turned out great, and we had a lamb ragout with penne pasta for dinner last night. Yum.

The photo above is one I borrowed off of the Internet. It shows the store where we do our normal shopping on the left. The initials "AH" stand for Albert Heijn. The gray weather in the photo looks like what we're having lately, but it must be really early in the morning because the street and sidewalks are so empty. Normally they're jammed.