Hello again from Emmen. Martin's at work and his parents and I just took a long bike ride (with stops along the way for ice cream, garden viewing, and peeking in the windows of unoccupied houses) and I'm now cloistered in his room, printing out maps of America. These people think Florida and California are next to each other. They also don't know the difference between a hurricane and a tornado. So I'm taking it upon myself to give them an education.

So I survived Koninginnedag! Martin came to Utrecht on Koninginnenacht, 29 april, and we went into the city and bought some things in the Hoog Catherijne and wandered through the vrijmarkt (as best we could, considering we had to walk shoulder to shoulder with everyone else) and got something to eat at 'our' Turkish restaurant (a little hole-in-the-wall place by the Hoog Catherijne; on the day we met, we went there and had Turkish pizzas, so now it's sort of become a tradition) and checked out Kermis on the Neude and then, figuring we'd seen everything, came home. Then the next day, actual Koninginnedag, we came to Emmen (I got an orange 'Feestje!' banner for free at Utrecht Centraal and wore it for the whole trip) and checked out the vrijmarkt and got ice cream, then came home and ate Chinese food, then played tennis and volleyball (okay, I just watched the tennis, but I did play volleyball) and then came home and watched the Lotterij and the performances on RTL4 with his parents, while snacking on leftover hors d'oerves (spelled right?) from a birthday party and bread with yummy German cream cheese.

So I'm sure it wasn't as exciting as Liselotte's time (yeah, yeah, Miss VIP-on-the-Radio-538-platform-in-Amsterdam!) but neither M nor I are really 'party' people anyway, so it 'viel wel mee'.

And now it's May! When did this happen? Last time I checked, it was still cold outside - I'm currently wearing a tank top and shorts. No, I'm not toasty warm, but I'm not freezing, either. The time is really ticking...

Anyway, I think we're going to eat fairly soon, and it's not gezellig of me to sit up here typing while his parents are downstairs, so I better go.