Current Music: Rascal Flatts – “These Days”
Wow, it’s been an entire week since I’ve posted anything. A lot has happened. I stayed in Lopik from Saturday until Tuesday afternoon – it was busy because P has such an unpredictable schedule, and I was by myself in the apartment a lot, but that was a NICE apartment… wow. And he had to leave his puppy there, so I got to play with a dog a little… LOL… and I discovered a really good book, Het Veilige Huis by Nicci French. I think those books are originally in English but I started reading it in Dutch because M, the girl whose apartment it was, didn’t have any English books… anyway, it was easy to read, so I want to buy it (in Dutch, since that’s the language I started it in) and finish it. Anyway, then came back home and discovered my digital camera was missing. (I think someone must have taken it out of my bag, because I distinctly remember putting it back in my backpack before leaving Lopik.) Phooey. But anyway, so then I went to sleep and woke up at 5.30 the next day to go to Schiphol… and pick up my family!
Well, I got there on time, but their plane touched down almost a half hour later than the monitor said. There were these kids running around with balloons and party blowers, driving everyone crazy… anyway, but they got here, and we got on the train with all their stuff and came back to Utrecht. We basically just dumped the stuff in my room and went into the city – did a little shopping and looking around, had lunch at the same pancake place I went to with P and S, bought groceries, and came home. Mom and Dad crashed out and Catie stayed awake (but grumpy). When we were all awake again, we had a little Christmas – I gave them the things I’d bought them and they gave me all the stuff I’d asked for. ;) I got my mac and cheese (FINALLY!!!), plus other stuff – my scooter (YES!!!), two DVDs, five books, and a black shirt and a pair of kick-butt black-and-white pants (the general consensus is that I look noticeably thinner in that outfit – um, may I have six duplicates please, one for each day of the week??) We cooked at home that night – my macaroni plus some Albert Heijn ravioli – and went to bed kinda early.
The next day, Christmas, we went to Amsterdam. Van Gogh museum, Anne Frankhuis, shopping, and the Hard Rock Café. No point in going into all the details, but it was a nice day. I had never taken the tram before and we got turned around a few times, but it all worked out. I used a lot of Dutch on this day – I really liked being able to speak it when the rest of them couldn’t. It was a good conversation starter, especially with bus drivers and stuff – I had actual conversations with people, which I don’t usually do here simply because I can’t think of anything to say. But I liked that; it’s what I would have done back home. Oh, and I had this awesome sandwich in the café of the Anne Frankhuis – salmon and cream cheese and sprouts on a bagel (except they were out of bagels, but it still tasted almost the same). YUM!!!
The next day – Tweede Kerst – we climbed the Dom. Except that I forgot Mom has confinement issues/claustrophobia/whatever you want to call it, so I don’t think she had as great of a time as I had hoped, but the view from the top is impressive no matter what you think of the journeys up and down. :) Then we went to the gift shop and then had a snack in a little café – patatjes and hot chocolate for Catie and me, coffee and a ham-kaassouffle for Mom, and a frikandel speciaal for Dad – woohoo! Of course I had to eat some too. :) Anyway, then we headed home for a while and then to L’s house for dinner. Her family invited us ages ago. Anyway, that was (for me) the best time of the whole trip. I hadn’t seen L for a long time because we’re in school in different cities, and her twin sister A was finally home from Mexico so I saw her too. Funny, this was only the second time I’d seen A, yet I feel just as comfortable with her as with L, whom I’ve known for almost two years. That twin thing, I guess. And she was amazed by my Dutch because last time she saw me, in November of ’02, I could of course barely do anything. But her Spanish is really good now, whereas I could barely understand her before through her accent, so I guess we were both surprised by each other. Except that I can’t speak Spanish anymore… waaahh… :( Anyway, this was a really great evening.
Last day, the 27th. Everything was back open again so we went shopping. I needed (still need) new shoes but we couldn’t find any. I was getting a little sick of the whole togetherness thing by this point and I don’t think I was much fun to be around. I did like the translating stuff (made me feel important :)) but I had to constantly give directions, explain things, suggest things, etc., and it got tiring. I forgot how different it is here – I’m so used to it all now, and I have my own little routines and patterns. I didn’t anticipate having to take quite so much initiative. But it all worked out. Anyway, so they all left this morning at 10.15, and if my estimates are right, they’re already back on American soil, probably waiting in Atlanta to get the second plane to Jacksonville. They’ll be home around five, so 23.00 my time. It’s 19.21 now.
Plans for the next few days: P is coming here – uh – tonight, tomorrow, whatever day it is, when he’s done working. (Around six in the morning, whichever day you consider that to be. I’m not going to sleep – what’s the good of us being on two completely different sleep schedules? – so to me it feels like ‘today’.) Then on Wednesday – Oud & Nieuw, or for the Americans, New Year’s Eve – I’m going to L’s house again to celebrate with her and her family and friends. (OLIEBOLLEN!!! Yum yum yum, LOL!) The New Year is a really big holiday here. Anyway, and classes start again on the 5th. Oops, that reminds me, I should take a look at that article I have to write a 2000-word paper on… (child’s play for a former IBer, but the article is around 50 pages long, so… yeah.)
Okay, well, my Armageddon download finally finished, so I’m going to watch it. Ciao!
Wow, it’s been an entire week since I’ve posted anything. A lot has happened. I stayed in Lopik from Saturday until Tuesday afternoon – it was busy because P has such an unpredictable schedule, and I was by myself in the apartment a lot, but that was a NICE apartment… wow. And he had to leave his puppy there, so I got to play with a dog a little… LOL… and I discovered a really good book, Het Veilige Huis by Nicci French. I think those books are originally in English but I started reading it in Dutch because M, the girl whose apartment it was, didn’t have any English books… anyway, it was easy to read, so I want to buy it (in Dutch, since that’s the language I started it in) and finish it. Anyway, then came back home and discovered my digital camera was missing. (I think someone must have taken it out of my bag, because I distinctly remember putting it back in my backpack before leaving Lopik.) Phooey. But anyway, so then I went to sleep and woke up at 5.30 the next day to go to Schiphol… and pick up my family!
Well, I got there on time, but their plane touched down almost a half hour later than the monitor said. There were these kids running around with balloons and party blowers, driving everyone crazy… anyway, but they got here, and we got on the train with all their stuff and came back to Utrecht. We basically just dumped the stuff in my room and went into the city – did a little shopping and looking around, had lunch at the same pancake place I went to with P and S, bought groceries, and came home. Mom and Dad crashed out and Catie stayed awake (but grumpy). When we were all awake again, we had a little Christmas – I gave them the things I’d bought them and they gave me all the stuff I’d asked for. ;) I got my mac and cheese (FINALLY!!!), plus other stuff – my scooter (YES!!!), two DVDs, five books, and a black shirt and a pair of kick-butt black-and-white pants (the general consensus is that I look noticeably thinner in that outfit – um, may I have six duplicates please, one for each day of the week??) We cooked at home that night – my macaroni plus some Albert Heijn ravioli – and went to bed kinda early.
The next day, Christmas, we went to Amsterdam. Van Gogh museum, Anne Frankhuis, shopping, and the Hard Rock Café. No point in going into all the details, but it was a nice day. I had never taken the tram before and we got turned around a few times, but it all worked out. I used a lot of Dutch on this day – I really liked being able to speak it when the rest of them couldn’t. It was a good conversation starter, especially with bus drivers and stuff – I had actual conversations with people, which I don’t usually do here simply because I can’t think of anything to say. But I liked that; it’s what I would have done back home. Oh, and I had this awesome sandwich in the café of the Anne Frankhuis – salmon and cream cheese and sprouts on a bagel (except they were out of bagels, but it still tasted almost the same). YUM!!!
The next day – Tweede Kerst – we climbed the Dom. Except that I forgot Mom has confinement issues/claustrophobia/whatever you want to call it, so I don’t think she had as great of a time as I had hoped, but the view from the top is impressive no matter what you think of the journeys up and down. :) Then we went to the gift shop and then had a snack in a little café – patatjes and hot chocolate for Catie and me, coffee and a ham-kaassouffle for Mom, and a frikandel speciaal for Dad – woohoo! Of course I had to eat some too. :) Anyway, then we headed home for a while and then to L’s house for dinner. Her family invited us ages ago. Anyway, that was (for me) the best time of the whole trip. I hadn’t seen L for a long time because we’re in school in different cities, and her twin sister A was finally home from Mexico so I saw her too. Funny, this was only the second time I’d seen A, yet I feel just as comfortable with her as with L, whom I’ve known for almost two years. That twin thing, I guess. And she was amazed by my Dutch because last time she saw me, in November of ’02, I could of course barely do anything. But her Spanish is really good now, whereas I could barely understand her before through her accent, so I guess we were both surprised by each other. Except that I can’t speak Spanish anymore… waaahh… :( Anyway, this was a really great evening.
Last day, the 27th. Everything was back open again so we went shopping. I needed (still need) new shoes but we couldn’t find any. I was getting a little sick of the whole togetherness thing by this point and I don’t think I was much fun to be around. I did like the translating stuff (made me feel important :)) but I had to constantly give directions, explain things, suggest things, etc., and it got tiring. I forgot how different it is here – I’m so used to it all now, and I have my own little routines and patterns. I didn’t anticipate having to take quite so much initiative. But it all worked out. Anyway, so they all left this morning at 10.15, and if my estimates are right, they’re already back on American soil, probably waiting in Atlanta to get the second plane to Jacksonville. They’ll be home around five, so 23.00 my time. It’s 19.21 now.
Plans for the next few days: P is coming here – uh – tonight, tomorrow, whatever day it is, when he’s done working. (Around six in the morning, whichever day you consider that to be. I’m not going to sleep – what’s the good of us being on two completely different sleep schedules? – so to me it feels like ‘today’.) Then on Wednesday – Oud & Nieuw, or for the Americans, New Year’s Eve – I’m going to L’s house again to celebrate with her and her family and friends. (OLIEBOLLEN!!! Yum yum yum, LOL!) The New Year is a really big holiday here. Anyway, and classes start again on the 5th. Oops, that reminds me, I should take a look at that article I have to write a 2000-word paper on… (child’s play for a former IBer, but the article is around 50 pages long, so… yeah.)
Okay, well, my Armageddon download finally finished, so I’m going to watch it. Ciao!
stormed at 13:33
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