^^learning to use a spoon is tricky^^

Well, just like there are a lot of adorable and wonderful things about living in Amsterdam, there are a few things that are a little less… amazing. In the grand scheme of things, these are really minor and totally “first world” problems, but some of them I was kind of surprised by.

• It takes FOREVER to do laundry here. The machines hold about a quarter of a usual US-size load, and to wash and dry a single load takes 3 to 4 HOURS. Yeah… Let’s just say that even though I’m not currently “employed” here, I’m definitely going to be working. (On laundry. Forever.)
• Pedestrians do not have the right of way here. Obviously if you are at a stoplight and there’s a walk signal then you have the right of way as a pedestrian, but otherwise bikes and cars have the right of way. Totally weird.
• You have to bag your own groceries at the grocery store. This is super minor to complain about, but I’m terrible at bagging groceries so I feel like I’m always holding up the line. (And my brain is like, “Ok, put the eggs on the bottom. Yep, right next to that soft loaf of bread. And the heavy beers go on top. Perfect!”)
• You have to pack up your recycling and take it to where there are recycling bins (ours are about two blocks away). Being Californian, we generate way more recycling than actual trash (because everything can be recycled! Right??) so having to lug all of that a few blocks away multiple times a week is kind of annoying.
• Finding baking items can be kind of a pain. I still have yet to find real vanilla extract, and so much of the flour in the stores comes with leavener already in it. (What am I supposed to do with self-rising flour?? I’ve literally never used it.) Not to mention that there is no 5lb bag of flour, as far as I can tell. It seems to only come in 2kg packs (which is about 1lb). So basically I’m gonna have to buy like 16 bags of flour if I ever want to make anything substantial. The good news? 00 pizza flour is dirt cheap here!