Update: Tuesday 23 Oct

Right. So I said I wasn't going to come back to the US for Thanksgiving.  Because I don't need to spend that much on a ticket right now. And I shouldn't miss a week of classes. And I miss my mommy. And my daddy. And my kitty. And my puppies. Oh wait, those are reasons to go back. I changed my mind. I'm going back to the US.

So then... How not to gain back a bunch of weight when spending a week in the US again... It's only a week, what's the worst that can happen?  A better question (or perhaps just an equally good question) is what food do I want to eat when I go home that I can't get so easily here? Hmmm. Much to think about. I could make a long list of things that I'd be happy to eat but then they would probably not go very well with question number one about gaining weight. Like, I'd kill for some ribs smothered in barbeque sauce, or a huge plate of pad thai...  On the other hand, I'd be perfectly happy with making an entire meal out of nothing but baked potatoes with butter, sour cream, cheese, green onions and bacon.  I could do that here if I tried really hard; but I don't have an oven, they don't have massive baking potatoes, they don't have cheddar cheese (if they do, it's expensive and hard to find), and bacon (enough said).

I suppose if I'm really that worried about it, I will just grab a dog or two and go for a two hour walk.

Anyway, yesterday I went to de Haagse Markt (the Hague Market) which claims to be the biggest market in Europe. I'm not sure if that is true, but it is huge. Enormous. I had intended to get food there for lunch, so I bought fries at the entrance. They were very crispy. I think she might have overcooked them... Oh well, they were good. I was there to see what I could buy in the way of vegetables, and everything on the end that I started at was clothing. No, really. Slot after slot full of clothing, shoes, watches, things like that. And every once in a while, a random slot selling things like pots and pans, or textiles, or phone cases, or books.  Finally after I found my way through the crowd on that end, I found the food.

Okay, so I had gone to the market in hopes of finding things that I couldn't get in a typical grocery store. That is definitely what I found. I wasn't paying too close attention--it was very crowded. They had small buckets full of vegetables, and you could get the whole bucket for one euro.  That was mostly for garlic, bell peppers, hot peppers, green beans, things like that. Or you could get 10 tomatoes for one euro. Or two mangoes for one euro. Or six oranges for a euro. (I started writing this list and got tired of putting parenthesis so * on things that aren't in a typical grocery store) Eggplants*, bananas, apples, lemons*, limes*, habanero peppers*, Moroccan peppers* (those were skinny and red), Turkish peppers* (skinny but not as skinny and a light green), some bigger yellowish-green peppers which I never saw a label for, avocados, plums*, melons*, lettuce, summer squash*, zucchini, cucumbers, and a lot of other things that I now can't remember. I also saw a table with pallets and pallets full of eggs. Then one completely covered in piled-high trays of Greek olives. Another table with piled-high trays, this time with various different types of nuts. Seasoned and unseasoned. The market was fun. I didn't buy anything but those fries. Sara said she'd go with me next time, one euro for a bin of bell peppers is nice but how am I going to eat 10 bell peppers before they go bad? Next time, I will go earlier when there are fewer people (because that was intimidating and made it difficult to see anything, or move) and I will take someone with me to share shopping.

Okay. This week we have study break. Eh, I don't know how to study. I feel that I'm not going to learn anything new in the next week anyway, and I already know the things that I already know. So there's no point in stressing out over it because that's just going to make the exams more difficult. I'll do fine! I think. And if not, we have resits. Yay for Dutch universities, you always get two chances to pass your exams. I don't want to do resits... I will pass my exams. I'm confident. Even if I shouldn't be.

Picture!