Update: Wednesday 30 Apr

Happy I-haven't-updated-in-a-long-time Day!

Uhm, so hi. I haven't posted mostly because I haven't been doing much. I'm not sure if I mentioned that I passed my first year exam? I did. I passed. I was so happy. It took almost three weeks to get my results and I was so anxious. But then I got them, and I passed, and now I have only one more to pass and I know that I will.

Last weekend, the Netherlands had its first ever King's Day. King Willem-Alexander's birthday was Sunday, but they can't celebrate on a Sunday, so King's Day this year was April 26. This means that Friday, April 25 was King's night, and we happened to go to a movie that night without realizing/remembering that it was King's night. It was very crowded when we went to the movie, but that was nothing compared to after the movie. Try riding a bicycle through the city center at 11pm when most of the people are wandering down the main street towards the main bar area and they're too drunk to realize that bike paths are for BIKES. Bikes. Not people. It was kind of cool though, there were so many people out and a huge carnival over by the parliament building, and bands playing in various different places around the city center, so it was loud and crowded but nice to see that kind of patriotism for once. In general, extreme patriotism (outside of football aka soccer) is kind of frowned upon in Europe, following the two world wars… You don't see people hanging their Dutch flags outside their homes year-round. I've heard from a few people that they find that little fact kind of endearing about the USA. They think it's cool how proud people are to be American. I think that's kind of cool too. That's why I like King's Day. For once, people go out and hang Dutch flags, wear orange, celebrate their royal family. They get to show their pride.

What else did I want to write about today? Oh, right. For the past year or so, I've been trying really hard to like more foods. I figure that I might as well try to like as many foods as possible, because there's no harm in broadening my horizons, right? For example, I already mentioned that I tried and liked the Brussels sprouts, which I had never liked before. I have had them in the past; specifically, I remember one night staying at a friend's house, and her parents made Brussels sprouts for dinner. They told me I could eat just one and that was fine, but they made her eat a whole helping of them and we were at the dinner table for quite a while that night. That was a long time ago though, when I was 15, and I just remember how much I really didn't like the one that I ate (I did eat it though, because I have always made it a point to eat what I am given when I'm at someone's house). Anyway, other things. I never used to care for avocados unless it was in guacamole form, but now I buy one every once in a while and just put it on everything and I love it. Avocado sushi is delicious. Uhm. There are quite a few examples, but the main thing I wanted to talk about was pineapple.

I've never liked pineapple. My dad used to put canned pineapple in his sweet and sour stuff when he made it, and while I love his sweet and sour sauce, I could never eat the pineapple pieces. I would pawn those off on my sister. Anyway, for the past month or so I had been eyeing pineapples every time I was in the store. I couldn't rationalize buying a big pineapple for €2.50 though when I thought I didn't like them… But the main reason I resisted was because I had read that a pineapple is ripe when it smells sweet—when it smells like a pineapple even through the shell. It's hard to find a ripe pineapple around here, apparently. I also read that pineapples do not and can not shelf-ripen. Okay. So two weeks ago, I finally found one that was ripe. I bought it. I took it home. I chopped it up and put it in a container to stick in the fridge. It didn't work, though. I thought, a whole pineapple should last at least a few days right? I ate the whole thing that day. It was so good. And then I thought, I don't need to do that again, I just ate €2.50 in one sitting—which maybe doesn't seem too bad, but it's all sugar. Anyway, two days later I was in the store and found another ripe pineapple… I couldn't pass it up. I bought two pineapples in one week. The second one lasted me a few days, at least. Then I wasn't going to buy any more pineapples, but surprise! Last week, one of the grocery stores had pineapples on sale. They didn't have any ripe ones though, but I bought one anyway. I guess I learned my lesson—that one wasn't as delicious as the other ones. But still. In the last two weeks, I bought and consumed 3 whole pineapples. I guess I can't say I don't like pineapple anymore.