Black and White People

i hope everyone' sunday has been relaxing.

i went to my friend anna's birthday party yesterday. she's from hungary, and another one of her friends who's been living in nijmegen a couple years and was an exchange student too from hungary made traditional hungarian pancakes and gluhwein for lunch. the pancakes are more like crepes, very very thin, and layered with jams or kakao (chocolate, like nutella...kind of, sort of). we also had traditional dutch apple cake that anna's dutch mentor made from scratch, that you eat with coffee or tea (i had coffee). and then...we had a traditional dutch soup that's eaten when it's cold outside, it's very similar to split pea soup, with carrots, potatoes, green onions, and of course...sausage. and you eat rye bread with butter and meat with it as well. and then her mentor wanted to make us another dessert, because that would be very dutch.

but we were so incredibly full, there was no way to eat anything else. i've noticed how the dutch are so concerned with balancing their salty and sweet foods. i don't really think about that when i eat, it's more of the whole food pyramid, veggies, fruits, breads, protein...but i've even heard people say, like anna's mentor yesterday--we should have pea soup, something salty after all the sweet. like all the different types of licorice (drops...it's not called licorice here, they wouldn't know what it was if you asked for licorice). there's salty, sweet, whatever kind you want. but this salty sweet seems to be more of a concern here i've noticed.
today it snowed in the afternoon, when i decided to actually go outside...very very cold biking, the gauge says it's 31 degrees fahrenheit, 0 degrees celsius. i heard it's supposed to snow till wednesday, and then after that just be cold.
i've been looking into what i'm going to do in dublin (not sure how much i should plan for london since i'll be with my friend). so...i'm going to get a pass that lets me use the day and night bus for all 3 days, a shuttle to and from the airport into the city, and a hop on/hop off bus tour. i was also looking into doing other tours, and came across a ghost bus tour that (at night) takes you to a castle and a cemetary, and is given by actors. it might be fun, i'm just not sure i want to spend the money they want for it. it looks like i can see the whole city in a day, i wouldn't really even need to use the hop on/off bus, it looks like everything is within 3 or 4 miles of each other and would be easy to just walk, but i think the bus tour will give me more history and information that i wouldn't get otherwise. i don't like reading and walking. ; ) so i was looking at maybe taking a train or bus to another city closeish by on the other days. i get there in the morning, so ill probably do the bus tour first thing to get more acquainted with the city and the second day maybe go someplace outside of dublin.

i got a christmas tree yesterday, unfortunately it doesn't light up like it's supposed to, but that's okay, because i decorated it and it looks super cute anyway! i also took some pictures today on my way back home.

enjoy! doei!
p.s. title song by matchbox twenty