Herdenkingsdag (Remembrance Day)

The word “herdenkingsdag”  literally translates to “memorial day”, and this day is on May 4; it honors and commemorates those who died during WWII and also subsequent conflicts. Given the fact I’m from the US, it was fascinating to see the contrast between the impact WWII had on the Netherlands. The US was mainly not involved […]

Bloemencorso (Flower parade)

The Netherlands is famous for their flower bulbs and Spring is the best time to see them! I went to Haarlem, about 30-45 minutes away from Amsterdam via train, to see a bloemencorso (flower parade); most of the floats were made from hyacinths and tulips. For more information, check out these links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloemencorso http://bloemencorso-bollenstreek.nl/nl/

My 1st Dutch power failure (stroomstoring)

Power failure disrupts Amsterdam-Zuid, trains cancelled – See more at: http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2014/04/power_failure_disrupts_amsterd.php#sthash.aKBJ5bKr.dpuf Yesterday afternoon a power failure affected parts of Amsterdam Zuid and Diemen, and I experienced my first Dutch blackout. It was another fascinating illustration of Dutch efficiency…

Koningsdag (King’s Day)

Today was my (and many other people’s) first Koningsdag, and it was pretty amazing! Koningsdag which translates to King’s Day is a national Dutch holiday, and is basically a celebration of King Willem-Alexander’s birthday. There is a fascinating history behind it and you can read more about on Wikipedia. So how do the Dutch celebrate […]

“Us Minus Mum” by Heather Butler

I recently had the privilege of reviewing a YA book for the American Book Center about cancer called “Us Minus Mum”. It is an amazing book that illustrates how a cancer diagnosis affects a family, especially from a child’s perspective. This book touched me especially because I had worked with brain tumor patients for several […]

Scandinavia (mainly Copenhagen)

It has been over month since I’ve been back from Copenhagen, and I’ve been meaning to type up my thoughts regarding that trip. I stayed in Copenhagen, Denmark for a month because my husband was there for work. This was the first time I had been to this part of the world and it was […]

Sint Maarten

November 11 is the feast day of Saint Martin, and the Dutch celebrate it by having small children (up to 11 years old) go around the neighborhood singing songs for candy. It is very similar to Halloween (minus the costumes). Today was my first Sint Maarten and I had purchased a ton of candy in […]

Biking

The Netherlands is a very bicycle friendly country and it is a convenient form of transportation. Growing up, one of my dreams was to bike to work because it would be more environmentally friendly. However, I lived in New York City and it is only recently that the implemented bike lanes and bike sharing programs. […]

“Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy’s most famous work “War & Peace” is really long and “Anna Karenina” is no exception. At 700+ pages, it may be one of the longest books I have read. “Anna Karenina” paints a world of Tsarist Russia where the noble elite control the world socially, politically and economically. The story centers around the […]