Basic Info I've Learned in 6 weeks- A brief reflection probably more for me than anyone else

• It can be rainy, sunny, windy or cloudy in a 2 hour period (up to 12 times a day)
• Some famous artist (Vermeer, Van Gogh) lived and painted in Holland
• William the Orange was assassinated and buried in Delft
• Kids start school at 4 years old and daycare (vs. preschool) is available from 0-4
• Almost every person I’ve met can speak English
• Everyone is riding a bike (fast) and has somewhere to go
• Stores are open for about 40 hours max, so 9-5 and 10-6 are common shop hours. A few grocery stores are the exception and Friday nights most stores in Delft stay open until 9.
• I love to walk around the market. Stands set up for Thursday and Saturday offer a great variety of fruits, vegetables, cheese, meats (most are a mystery to me), fish, bread, candy, & nuts; in addition toiletries, clothing, purses, artwork, jewelry, antiques, toys, dishes, records & whatever else people think they can sell are also displayed at stands or along the canal/road.
• I live in a great row house (town house)- it’s 3 floors, has a view of the Oude Kerk (Old Church)
  It’s in the city center and I can hear live music on the weekends from it
  There is a canal 11 feet from my royal blue front door,
  There are 2 toilet closets (w/sinks), a bathtub paired with the washer dryer, and a toilet/shower combo on the 3rd floor
  Laundry cycles take 1 ½ hours to complete and the washer/dryer cannot be run simultaneously
  Running water temperature reaches boiling in an instant
• There are no telephone poles and electricity is run underground
• American sitcoms & movies have Dutch subtitles but cartoons are dubbed in Dutch
• A few random stores carry a blue & white "P" sign for legal parking in blue line zones- the trick is finding the store, but the pass only cost 1 euro vs. a 60 euro ticket!
• Motorists generally obey speed limits, you only pass on the left, and cameras catch you speeding and spendy tickets are sent a month later for traffic offenses
• The Dutch are sharp dressers- jackets & shoes are particularly smart and funky
• Dollars do not equal Euros
• There are flies but only occasional mosquitoes near our house, which is surprising because there is water (standing and flowing) everywhere and it does get humid
• People seem to really like kids and are generally amused by their antics (good or bad)
• Customer Service is not really a "service", no one is in a hurry to help and you must usually insist on getting what you want
• The streets are pretty clean and I've not seen any homeless people or anyone asking for hand-outs
• Teenagers have respected the kids and I by purposely not smoking in front of us
• The Delft Ikea stock EVERY item in its catalog
• The vanilla soft-serve ice cream here rivals any I've ever tasted