Peonies

I have a new mobile now and officially have a Dutch mobile number. No I feel European. I also bought a pink phone temporarily that was under the "ladyphone" tab on the tmobile.nl website. I managed to find the menu to change the menu settings to English but not all of the settings, (the settings I don't really understand yet) are still in Dutch.

After getting my phone I was off to the market for salt and ricemilk. I was happy to find some avocados. It was interesting to see that all produce had their country of origin stamped on them. The avocados were from South Africa. They were especially creamy. I went to the market, I was told, had more American products. They did along with many European products. They did have a greater produce section and they had my ricemilk...on sale!

I was half way home when I saw a street vendor with several flower bouquets. I had passed him on the way to the phone shop. I was lured in by the scent of the peonies. I couldn't resist buying some. I bought them in white and pink. I have to tell you, before I knew it, the entire conversation with the vendor was in Dutch. As it was at the end of the day, the vendor threw in an extra 10. So I ended up with twice as many as I had planned. I still managed to lug them home with 2 bags of groceries. On my way home I couldn't help think to myself that my mom would love them. For a moment I had to remind myself that she wouldn't be there. Just as it was hitting me I also ran into someone I knew. It was as if the universe was trying to remind me that although I don't have mom near me, I do have a growing group of people around me. She'll get to see pictures of them on skype. Within an hour I ran into 3 people I had already met, that's almost half the people I know in Leiden!