Weird and wonderful (2)

This is for our hot water in the kitchen. It looks a bit like a mini-boiler, but it isn't. It heats the water as it goes through. We used to have a boiler (5 liter), but you had to wait until the water was hot and then hope you didn't use that much water for the dishes. This works okay, but to get really hot water you have to keep the pressure down - so it becomes a game to see if you can get the water hot enough with enough pressure. I am always ready for a game.

These are our electrical outlets. My brother might find these pretty interesting, considering he is an electrician. But these are NOT Belgian outlets. The person who did the electricity in our house was wise. You see, the Belgian outlets have a pin sticking out of them. Only a Belgian plug will fit. But a Dutch outlet will take a Dutch, German, French or Belgian plug. But don't plug your American hair-dryer into these - it still won't work. Not because I don't want you to have dry hair, of course, but simply because it works with 220v and your hair-dryer (if it comes from the States) runs on 110v. Your dryer will blow up and my electricity and your hair will go on the frizzle.

The weird and wonderful

I just wanted to take you on a short tour of some of the weird (have you ever noticed how weirdly this word is spelled?) and "different" things you might find in our house, compared to yours. Then again - I have been in some of your houses!



This is a birthday calendar. Every Dutch house will have one. Of course we live in Belgium, but a lot of my "upbringing" is Dutch and we work with the church in Maastricht - the Netherlands. One puts all important birthdays on this calendar - family, uncles and aunts, special friends. The interesting thing is where you will always (or most often) find this calendar. Care to guess? It is where you will always be able to see it and be reminded.

Sometimes our visitors, when asking where the milk might be, search our kitchen for the refrigerator. It is right in front of them, hidden in the kitchen cabinet.


This is not that different from many homes. The size might surprise many of our friends from the US. We had to learn quickly how to pack efficiently.


But they don't sell supersizes over here either - so that is a plus. And if you are looking for the milk, you may not find it in our refrigerator anyway - we use sterilized milk which can be stored in the cabinet without refrigeration. (not very Dutch - they hate the stuff - but very efficient)
More later.