It's been 2 weeks since I arrived to my new home Belfast.
Due to the student season I had a hard time finding a place to stay but after a short hotel and even shorter hostel stay I found my permanent home for the next few month. There is no real end date on my lease so I can find out what my expenses are before I look for something more private and permanent after my probation ends which would be around the end of December.
I passed my training and I am getting in the swing of working full time and trying to solve the problems on my own so I won't go much into detail about work here.
Culture shocked? Yes in some points I am culture shocked in Belfast. Strange isn't it? But you find out the small things you didn't pay attention to when you lived in your own country, you notice now.
I'll name a few of them that I noticed and you can laugh with me on them ;).
The faucet: Why are they separate? I burnt my hands a couple of times by forgetting the cold one. I know not every household in the Netherlands has the shiny auto-temp faucets I have at home but still...
Flush button: I was looking for it but all the toilets here mostly have a handle, I really dislike the handles because most of them are broken and I have to jank it twice or three times to get the rotten toilet to flush.
Vegetables: I think Irish just hate them, the choice in veggies at the supermarket are very limited same as at the market. Oh yea you have your Brussels sprouts and your beets but when I wanted to make my pasta sauce they didn't have an Italian veggiemix at hand. I had to buy each ingredient separately and seeing that I don't cook for an army I left a few out. The stir fry mix is also very lacking...I might just make my own freezer packs.
Herbs, spices: None of the foreign spices I use, I can find here. Your basic stuff like Garlic, Cumin or Oregano is found it most stores but when I want my Indonesian spices I can't find anything. Hopefully I will run into an Asian Market or look at my mother for a supply ration.
The bread: Just don't like it. Tastes funny and I went from brown bread to white again because of the taste. I am talking about the factory made bread, I haven't found a bakery yet.
Measurement table: Everything is different. A dutch pound of meat isn't the same as an Irish pound, when I look at the shoe sizes or clothing sizes they use a different system. I am happy when they use the L/XL once in a while. So I wrote down the conversion of my sizes to the UK standards to help me out when I shop for clothes or shoes. After a while I get used to it.
Not everything that I experienced in Belfast was a culture shock or bad experience.
The movie-tickets are much cheaper here and they make no difference between the price of 3D and non-3D. I pay £6.80 for a ticket which would be €8 and on a Tuesday the tickets are even reduced to £3 = €3,55.
Going out for dinner has proven me not too expensive either. I had good food for a decent price and the Perry Cider is way cheaper here than at home.
I think this is a big pro for my health but the crisps (chips) are really expensive here. Can be up to £2 for a regular sizes bag so I haven't had any crisps since I've been here which is good for my plan to loose weight ;).
Belfast city center is pretty easy to figure out and it took me just a couple of days to find my way around. Only when I need to travel to a new spot, do I get lost. It's not a large city either and I find living here pretty comfortable. Some people tend to be a bit nosy because they see that you aren't from around here but all have been very helpful to me when I needed help. Sometimes a bit hard to understand due to the heavy language ;).
There are things I miss from home though. I miss my family and friends. I miss my cats and I miss my stuff. Sometimes I realize I left things behind that could come in handy here.
Whenever I have time I talk to people on Skype and my neighborhood is very cat friendly so I have met some of the feline residents on the way/from work and petted them. When I pass my probation and find a bigger place for my own, I will let some stuff be sent to me but for now I have to make due with what I have.
Going to buy a laptop soon because my P.O.S. netbook doesn't function that well. It barely can manage Skype and keeps crashing on me in the process. In 2014 I will get a bike with the cycle to work scheme because I love cycling and helps me stay fit, but for now the 2 hour walks on my days off will have to do.
Day by day I am getting used to life here and I hope I can make it into a good home while I am here.
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