Lilac Colored Glasses

Or in this case…a freylakhn Pesach

Go read this.

That is all for today.

It’s not abnormal for me to take orders in multiple languages.

Dutch and English are easy, obviously, and I know enough French to get through most of those orders as well (although for some odd reason, I always mess up eighty and say “octante” instead of “huitante”). At this point I also know basic words in Spanish…enough that I can ask if someone wants milk, sugar, chocolate, cinnamon or whipped cream. Point being, the main stumbling block for me isn’t the language itself, but rather the fact that I can’t always figure out which language I need to speak right away. There are some times where I hear a key word or accent that gives it away, but sometimes, if a person just comes up and says “cappuccino” it takes a bit more digging to figure out which language to use.

Of course, the default language is Dutch, but if it becomes obvious that the person doesn’t understand I try English, then French and lastly I may blurt some Spanish, although my manager is Portuguese and one of my coworkers is Mexican, so I rarely have to tread Spanish waters linguistically. But anyway, tonight a guy came up to the register and I thought I heard him say “Cappucino, s’il tu plait.” Granted, that in itself was a bit odd because most francophones don’t use the familiar “tu” with a strange cashier, but rather the formal “vous”. But I figured I better switch over to French, so I asked, “avec du sucre?”

And he looked at me and said “what?”

So I tried again, “with sugar?”

And he continued to look blank so I defaulted back to Dutch, “met suiker?”

To which he shook his head no. So I gave him the total in Dutch, which he paid, saying “alstublieft” as he did. I then told him (still speaking Dutch) that I’d thought he’d said “s’il tu plait” which is why I’d spoken French. He smiled and nodded. Then I asked him in Dutch is he wanted chocolate or cinnamon on the cappuccino.

“Chocolade poeder of kaneel?”

To which he looked at me blankly again and in French said, “Je parle francais.”

“…er…chocolat ou canelle?”

“Oui, oui,” he said and then as I handed him the drink he said, “Merci, bon journee,” and walked away.

And then my head exploded.

But no, seriously, I thought a sprocket or two in my brain must’ve come loose, cause what the hell had that just been??? I turned to my two coworkers who had apparently been doubled over laughing for most of the time and the look on my face just made them laugh even harder. And they totally confirmed that no, I had not lost my mind or had a mild attack of amnesia. The guy had started off in French, then seemed to switch to Dutch and at the end switched back to French.

I’m telling you, the customers, they’re out to get me.

Let’s talk about milk.

Or specifically, how we ran out of milk today (again…but we won’t get into that) and were left with 3 liters of soy milk and 6 liters of skim milk.

And how people here are totally clueless/act really disgusted by the thought of skim milk.

I personally have been drinking skim milk (or half percent, which they don’t have here) for as long as I can remember and find the thought of whole milk pretty disgusting. Mostly for the sheer fat and calorie content, but also because I don’t like to chew my milk, and that’s what drinking whole milk feels like to me. The only time I ever drink whole milk is if I have severe acid indigestion and antacids haven’t worked, and then I have to chug it because I don’t like the texture in my mouth.

Here in Belgium it’s a bit different. In America I’ve seen whole, 2%, 1%, 1/2% and skim milk available in most stores, while here I’ve only ever seen whole milk, half milk (I’m guessing that’s 1%), and skim milk. From what I can tell, most people drink the whole or half milk. I never really thought about why that is, but today I think I got a bit more insight.

When offering skim milk to customers today in lieu of the whole milk I got questions like “Does it still make foam?” (for a capuccino) or “Eew, does that even taste the same?” (for a chai steamer). I’m really not sure why people assume that the fat is the part of the milk that foams. In actuality, skim milk is easier to foam and holds foam longer than whole milk. And as far as taste goes, fat has no taste. Therefore, reducing fat does not change the taste of milk. It definitely changes the texture, but it’s not like regular soda versus diet soda where you can actually taste a difference. Is a drink made with whole milk richer and creamier? Yeah, it is, definitely but the taste itself is not different.

So, what have we learned today?
Well, Americans…you probably haven’t learned much of anything really, but Belgians, just know that when you are visiting a coffee place, it is not a sin to be offered skim milk in place of whole. The foam on your cappuccino will probably be better. Your chai steamer will taste the same. The main difference is that you’ll have 60 extra calories (per 30 dl) that you can fill up with extra mayo at the frietkot.

Okay, so after my last few music posts I thought I’d give you a better idea of the scope of my musical preferences. Cause really, while I do love Shakira and yes, even Lady GaGa, there are plenty of other artists on my playlist that aren’t so…hrm…questionably vapid? Anyway, here are some of the other things that hold cherished spots in my iPod.

The Decemberists – They’ve been a favorite of mine for several years now. I don’t even really know how to describe they’re style. Wikipedia says indie/folk/progressive rock and also baroque pop. I like the last one, although I’d say maybe it’s baroque rock. Either way I have all of their albums in my iTunes. It’s kind of hard to find my favorites on Youtube, but here’s one that I like quite a bit:

The Legionnaire’s Lament

Amy McDonald- What I like about Amy McDonald is that she’s a young singer who isn’t using sex to sell herself. She writes her own songs, she has a pretty voice (reminds me of Dolores O’Riordan from the Cranberries, another favorite group of mine) and her lyrics are thoughtful as well.

Mumford & Sons – My newest favorite. I’m a big fan of complicated/poetic/introspective lyrics and unique use of instruments and this group has both.

Winter Winds

And as always, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Alanis Morisette and Johnny Cash are firmly and eternally embedded at the top of my list.