Friday, December 18, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Thanksgiving and thankfulness
Matt and I have really begun to fall into a lovely weekend routine. One day is completely for sleeping. (usually Saturday which isn't good cause nothing is open on Sunday.) You may think this is an exaggeration but most of you know how much I love to sleep. Usually I sleep at least until 11 or noon and then take another nap in the afternoon. Matt usually doesn't sleep as late as I do but then he's always up for a nap too. So that's what we did today. Then we had church at 5:00. After church we had no food in our house, surprise, surprise. We never have food because we only buy fresh stuff for the most part and go through it so fast. So we went to the Vrijtof center where there is currently Maastricht Wonderland. This consists of lots of little crafty booths, an ice skating rink, a ferris wheel, and some other little kiddie rides. Matt and I got food from a vendor there and then romanically went on the ferris wheel. It was cold but so cool to see all of Maastricht at night. I actually was a bit scared at the top and I have NEVER been afraid of heights. (Thanks a lot Dad.)
Yesterday, Thanksgiving for us proved to be a wonderful home away from home Thanksgiving. We got up around 10 and went to run errands, post office, bank, grocery store. Seriously our bank here is the best bank I have ever been to. They are so nice and really helpful. They also always give you a bottle of water while you are waiting and doing your paper work. We applied for house/jewelry insurance, a savings account, and a credit card so we can buy stuff online in Euros. Matt is going this week to pick up his residence card and our health insurance should start so we are finally, offically setteled. Whew....it only took three months.
Anyway, after shopping we took the bus to Gronsveld, a little suburb of Maastricht. Our friends the Markinks live there, Jessica and Frank. They are from Minnesota/Texas and the husband, Frank is originally from the Netherlands. They have three boys, Josiah, Jonah and Josh. Josiah and Jonah are at UWCM secondary and Josh is in a dutch school, all his friends are in Matt's class though. Our friends the Pridmores also came, Jason and Jenny, with their girls, Maggie and Hope who were at Joppenhof last year but are now in a Dutch primary school. They are from the East Coast/Canada. We all spent the afternoon in the kitchen eating and cooking. We ate around 4:00 and of course had a traditional Thanksgiving. Jessica was great enough to get two Turkeys. One from Belguim and one from an American base nearby. I made mashed potatoes, Matt made corn, Jessica had carrot souffle, stuffing, cranberry sauce, homemade apple sauce, homeade gravy, plus the turkeys. Jason and Jenny brought green bean casserole, appetizers, plus apple pie, pudding cake and a meringue pie. YUM!!! It was so great. Frank's mom and two brothers came too. They are all from the Netherlands.
We also got to have a great Thanksgiving Thursday via skype with the rest of our families at home. Matt's parents set up the computer at the dinner table so we felt included in while everyone was eating. Doug even feed Matt a roll. :)
After dinner we took a nice walk around thier town, even though it is pitch black at 5:00. After that we watched two movies. Up (so cute) and Ghost of Girlfriends past, this was Jessica's request since she never has other girls in the house to watch chick flicks with. :) It was such a great day!! We're so thankful we found our church and such great friends.
Since I've last posted we haven't been up to too much. Just the usual work week, stressful, frustrating and difficult. We're trying our best but things are still not getting sorted at the school. We've been enjoying hanging out with school collegues on the weekends though and church friends. We have also been enjoying Maastricht a lot because in November and December all the stores are open on Sundays for Holiday shopping so we've been able to get out a bit more. Everything is decorated SO beautiful here.
Matt and I have gone to the movies, (saw New Moon). Grandma Besty's friend Louise came from Rotterdam last weekend to visit with us. It was really fun just to chat with her about the Netherlands and about her time in the US. She took us to lunch and then we had her here for pie and tea.
We have also started Dutch lessons. We still can't speak too much but are starting to understand a lot more. I am tutoring a french boy who is in third grade once a week and Matt continues with his lessons with Joop. These are both highlights of our weeks.
So all in all, we are finally feeling settled and happy with everything here, just hoping school is going to improve. December is going to bring about it's usualy business. We have lots of shopping to do. Next weekend we are off to Brussels and then Christina comes the 11. I am taking the day off to go and get her and bring her here. Then we will all head home the 21st and be home from the 21-31 of December. We will be at the Orefices the 24, The Cooleys the 25, and Momma Peters the 26. The 27th were heading up to the farm. Those are really all the plans we have for now besides a party at Jen Wierengas sometime when we first get home, lots of time at the Baaremans and just enjoying being home. Can't wait!!!!!
23 days!!!!
Yesterday, Thanksgiving for us proved to be a wonderful home away from home Thanksgiving. We got up around 10 and went to run errands, post office, bank, grocery store. Seriously our bank here is the best bank I have ever been to. They are so nice and really helpful. They also always give you a bottle of water while you are waiting and doing your paper work. We applied for house/jewelry insurance, a savings account, and a credit card so we can buy stuff online in Euros. Matt is going this week to pick up his residence card and our health insurance should start so we are finally, offically setteled. Whew....it only took three months.
Anyway, after shopping we took the bus to Gronsveld, a little suburb of Maastricht. Our friends the Markinks live there, Jessica and Frank. They are from Minnesota/Texas and the husband, Frank is originally from the Netherlands. They have three boys, Josiah, Jonah and Josh. Josiah and Jonah are at UWCM secondary and Josh is in a dutch school, all his friends are in Matt's class though. Our friends the Pridmores also came, Jason and Jenny, with their girls, Maggie and Hope who were at Joppenhof last year but are now in a Dutch primary school. They are from the East Coast/Canada. We all spent the afternoon in the kitchen eating and cooking. We ate around 4:00 and of course had a traditional Thanksgiving. Jessica was great enough to get two Turkeys. One from Belguim and one from an American base nearby. I made mashed potatoes, Matt made corn, Jessica had carrot souffle, stuffing, cranberry sauce, homemade apple sauce, homeade gravy, plus the turkeys. Jason and Jenny brought green bean casserole, appetizers, plus apple pie, pudding cake and a meringue pie. YUM!!! It was so great. Frank's mom and two brothers came too. They are all from the Netherlands.
We also got to have a great Thanksgiving Thursday via skype with the rest of our families at home. Matt's parents set up the computer at the dinner table so we felt included in while everyone was eating. Doug even feed Matt a roll. :)
After dinner we took a nice walk around thier town, even though it is pitch black at 5:00. After that we watched two movies. Up (so cute) and Ghost of Girlfriends past, this was Jessica's request since she never has other girls in the house to watch chick flicks with. :) It was such a great day!! We're so thankful we found our church and such great friends.
Since I've last posted we haven't been up to too much. Just the usual work week, stressful, frustrating and difficult. We're trying our best but things are still not getting sorted at the school. We've been enjoying hanging out with school collegues on the weekends though and church friends. We have also been enjoying Maastricht a lot because in November and December all the stores are open on Sundays for Holiday shopping so we've been able to get out a bit more. Everything is decorated SO beautiful here.
Matt and I have gone to the movies, (saw New Moon). Grandma Besty's friend Louise came from Rotterdam last weekend to visit with us. It was really fun just to chat with her about the Netherlands and about her time in the US. She took us to lunch and then we had her here for pie and tea.
We have also started Dutch lessons. We still can't speak too much but are starting to understand a lot more. I am tutoring a french boy who is in third grade once a week and Matt continues with his lessons with Joop. These are both highlights of our weeks.
So all in all, we are finally feeling settled and happy with everything here, just hoping school is going to improve. December is going to bring about it's usualy business. We have lots of shopping to do. Next weekend we are off to Brussels and then Christina comes the 11. I am taking the day off to go and get her and bring her here. Then we will all head home the 21st and be home from the 21-31 of December. We will be at the Orefices the 24, The Cooleys the 25, and Momma Peters the 26. The 27th were heading up to the farm. Those are really all the plans we have for now besides a party at Jen Wierengas sometime when we first get home, lots of time at the Baaremans and just enjoying being home. Can't wait!!!!!
23 days!!!!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Time for a life rant.....be prepared!
Back from Ba...ba....ba...Bar...celona (must be sung to my Shirona sp?) :) Anyway...The kids came back today. It was great to see them. Two of the coolest things...1. What did you do over break kids??? "Switzerland, Disney World, Rome and saw the Colusseum, Paris, Prague, went home to Poland, England, ..." Sounds fun kids... I went to Barcelona and had a great time too. "Oh yeah it's so great there Mrs. Cooley. Did you like the aquarium and the cool Gaudi stuff?"
#2. Got to paint with my kids. Yes Irwin Kurrs, we used glue, markers, colored paper and painted for a WHOLE HOUR!!!! I even think a few kids got scissors out! We drew paintings of myths we've been studying. We looked at famous paintings on our smart board and studied artists styles, took a field trip down the hall to see the representation of year 6 aboriginal art. We used different colors to represent our feelings, we listened to lovely classical music while we did it and we laughed and were normal, creative, healthy people full of smiles. We got it all over our hands, our clothes, even in our hair. We happily splattered it on our desks and acted like the lovely children we are made to be.
It's so great to see what teaching is meant to be. Sadly for us, the guidance isn't where it needs to be. Someone said today "It's the blind leading the blind." Higher up isn't informing us of what's going on with some programs and we aren't sure what to do about some teaching things. And neither are other teachers. Thankfully, the upper school has banded together and we've just started making decisions, unifed decisions ourselves. Support is good. We've all started saying the serenity prayer alot. "Give me the ability to accept the things I can not change...."
Life here continues to go well but yet be a struggle. We feel like sometimes we've been waiting for Matt to graduate, waiting to move and to change so we can start life... yet now we've realized we started a long time ago and we've been living it all along. Now we really feel like we've put it on hold. The house... the family...mostly for Matt the dog....Harry Winz where are you????
Our families...the things we love about home...Meijer, Culvers, the beach, and beauty of the state we've been blessed to grow up in.
Being in Barcelona we had a great time. We spent the last few days at the beach, the Guadi park, enjoying the beautiful musical fountains. We loved it all...but we realized, is it so different from Paris...New York...Chicago... couldn't we be traveling and seeing just as cool of things in the US? Going out West, back to NY, down to DC or Floridia where we can travel and visit friends. Where we can view the Grand Canyon, the silent deserts, the palm trees on the ocean. Even just a trip to the UP or a weekend at a family cottage...wouldn't those vacations be enough? And you know what, I think they would.
It's not that we haven't always been greatful for what we've had and all we've been blessed with. It's not that we didn't realize it was there and there weren't great opportunities all around us, we knew that. But sometimes I think we just forget it, all of us. How lucky we are to live close to family, or love the nature you live in. We take the simple things for granted and become jealous of the extravagant things. I read other friends blogs of postings and think oh my gosh their trick or treating with their kids or ooh a day at the pumpkin patch...maybe just an afternoon walking the dog and I think that sounds nice. While others think ahh Barcelona, NL ahhh.... it's so true isn't it.... the grass is always greener....
All that said, we ARE happy here. We've done a great job over the break realizing a lot. Spending time together, talking and realizing it's time to leave school at school. This makes nights at home and weekends much better. It's nice to be a married couple at home and not colleagues still. We've been invited to our first wedding! Friends from church. In January. We're going out again this weekend with Suzanne and Mathew and another teacher Lily-Anne and her husband. Matt's teaching partner is back and this makes the team work great again. We both feel better and I know Matt is less stressed having Audrey around. Christina will be here in weeks and we can't wait to just get to spend time the three of us! And show her our life her. Then travel home for Chistmas. Yes, even here too it's began. The decorations are going up. Trees already in stores. I'm not sure if the music has begun on the radio but the kids are singing the songs at school. I even saw Matt looking at the Christmas music on I-tunes and earlier I asked to watch Love Actually, our favorite Christmas movie.
All right... enough for one night. Matt's been playing guitar...helped me be reflective... :) Enjoy the fall night...we're enjoying the light rain we can hear on the roof....ahhh....time to jump into heavy down comforters.....Grace and Peace.
#2. Got to paint with my kids. Yes Irwin Kurrs, we used glue, markers, colored paper and painted for a WHOLE HOUR!!!! I even think a few kids got scissors out! We drew paintings of myths we've been studying. We looked at famous paintings on our smart board and studied artists styles, took a field trip down the hall to see the representation of year 6 aboriginal art. We used different colors to represent our feelings, we listened to lovely classical music while we did it and we laughed and were normal, creative, healthy people full of smiles. We got it all over our hands, our clothes, even in our hair. We happily splattered it on our desks and acted like the lovely children we are made to be.
It's so great to see what teaching is meant to be. Sadly for us, the guidance isn't where it needs to be. Someone said today "It's the blind leading the blind." Higher up isn't informing us of what's going on with some programs and we aren't sure what to do about some teaching things. And neither are other teachers. Thankfully, the upper school has banded together and we've just started making decisions, unifed decisions ourselves. Support is good. We've all started saying the serenity prayer alot. "Give me the ability to accept the things I can not change...."
Life here continues to go well but yet be a struggle. We feel like sometimes we've been waiting for Matt to graduate, waiting to move and to change so we can start life... yet now we've realized we started a long time ago and we've been living it all along. Now we really feel like we've put it on hold. The house... the family...mostly for Matt the dog....Harry Winz where are you????
Our families...the things we love about home...Meijer, Culvers, the beach, and beauty of the state we've been blessed to grow up in.
Being in Barcelona we had a great time. We spent the last few days at the beach, the Guadi park, enjoying the beautiful musical fountains. We loved it all...but we realized, is it so different from Paris...New York...Chicago... couldn't we be traveling and seeing just as cool of things in the US? Going out West, back to NY, down to DC or Floridia where we can travel and visit friends. Where we can view the Grand Canyon, the silent deserts, the palm trees on the ocean. Even just a trip to the UP or a weekend at a family cottage...wouldn't those vacations be enough? And you know what, I think they would.
It's not that we haven't always been greatful for what we've had and all we've been blessed with. It's not that we didn't realize it was there and there weren't great opportunities all around us, we knew that. But sometimes I think we just forget it, all of us. How lucky we are to live close to family, or love the nature you live in. We take the simple things for granted and become jealous of the extravagant things. I read other friends blogs of postings and think oh my gosh their trick or treating with their kids or ooh a day at the pumpkin patch...maybe just an afternoon walking the dog and I think that sounds nice. While others think ahh Barcelona, NL ahhh.... it's so true isn't it.... the grass is always greener....
All that said, we ARE happy here. We've done a great job over the break realizing a lot. Spending time together, talking and realizing it's time to leave school at school. This makes nights at home and weekends much better. It's nice to be a married couple at home and not colleagues still. We've been invited to our first wedding! Friends from church. In January. We're going out again this weekend with Suzanne and Mathew and another teacher Lily-Anne and her husband. Matt's teaching partner is back and this makes the team work great again. We both feel better and I know Matt is less stressed having Audrey around. Christina will be here in weeks and we can't wait to just get to spend time the three of us! And show her our life her. Then travel home for Chistmas. Yes, even here too it's began. The decorations are going up. Trees already in stores. I'm not sure if the music has begun on the radio but the kids are singing the songs at school. I even saw Matt looking at the Christmas music on I-tunes and earlier I asked to watch Love Actually, our favorite Christmas movie.
All right... enough for one night. Matt's been playing guitar...helped me be reflective... :) Enjoy the fall night...we're enjoying the light rain we can hear on the roof....ahhh....time to jump into heavy down comforters.....Grace and Peace.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Hola
Buenos Dias de Barcelona!!!! Hello from sunny or rather mostly cloudy Barcelona. It has been beautiful and warm though. We got here on Sunday and spent the day walking around, finding our hotel, sitting comfortably on the beach and eating some paella. (Spanish rice dish). I really thought I liked this but found it kind of bland.
Monday was a lovely day. We knew we needed a lot of relaxation so after having the breakfast buffet, we scheduled some massages and took full advantage of the hotel spa. They have a few different hot tubs as well as a hammam (turkish sauna) and a regular sauna and some nice showers that spray out some minerals and other things that are good for your skin. After that we went out to grab some food and then went to the Barcelona aquarium. It´s the largest in Europe, but definitely not as big or as cool as Shedds. But it did have this awesome 75m tank that you go under a tunnel in. There were lots of cool sharks, sting rays and this weird 2d fish. We also liked the penguins. The aquarium is down near the harbor so there were lots of boats and you can see all the cruise ships coming and going. One cruise ship was delayed and so all the people were staying at our hotel. The craziest part was seeing all of their luggage piled up when they finally left. It was a lot of crabby tourists. I am now trying to convince Matt we need to go on a Mediterranean cruise for spring break, Greece, Italy and Turkey....
Tuesday we were lazy again and just spent the morning sleeping and having a late breakfast. We went to see the Sagrada Familia, The Sacred Family. An AMAZING church that Gaudi spent 43 years working on. It´s still under construction and won´t be done for 30 years.!!!! It´s is so intracate. There are currently 8 spires and 10 more to be built. One face is the birth of Christ the other is the death. The carvings are so cool. Can´t wait to post pictures.
We also went and saw Casa Mila, apartments that Gaudi made. The roof was the coolest part. All the smoke stacks and water coolers were made into art. It was really cool. We walked around the rest of the afternoon and then came back to partake in a Siesta, keeping with Spanish tradition and all. We had a 10:00 dinner and then came back and went to sleep.
Today we just decided we needed to walk around and explore. We found Las Ramblas, touristy shops, street performers and lots of good food. We ended up at the Ciutadella Park and had a coffee overlooking the beautiful Cascade Fountain. After that we wondered over to the Picasso Museum. We liked it but were a bit disappointed because all his most famous works are at other mesuems. After that we went to the Santa Maria del Mar, a church that if it were built one meter higher would crumble because it would be structurally unsound. We then went and watched the sunset over the back of the city. Sadly it doesn´t set over the water. But it was still big and pink and orange. We got a nice photo. I then realized I was missing our Barcelona book. We retraced our steps and luckily found it back in the church. This is a funny story worth mentioning because our ¨Barcelona Book¨ is about 10 pages ripped out of a big Europe Travel book. Matt stapled the pages together and we have been using it to have a small map and know about some tourist attractions. If it was lost it really wouldn´t be a big deal. Except, this morning I wrote down our reservation number for a dinner we´re going to tomorrow. I was crazy about getting it back but Matt didn´t care. I was much happier once we found it. :)
We went down and walked along the beach for a bit and stuck our feet it. It was cooler today but hopefully it sounds like we may get a beach day on Friday. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant near the Olympic Harbor. It is a really popular area, but it was funny cause we went to dinner at 7:30 and NOONE was there. It was because it was too early. When we left people were just starting to come out for dinner. Guess we just aren´t the partying type. Maybe tomorrow or Friday we´ll stay out a bit later.
Well that´s all for now! Please prayer for my sister tonight as she is traveling to Ghana, my cousin Shawna who is worried about her baby. And Matt´s side of the family! We´re all praying for you back home and counting the days until Christmas. We can´t believe at the end of this trip we are going back to Maastricht and not coming home. We miss and love you all!!!!!!
Monday was a lovely day. We knew we needed a lot of relaxation so after having the breakfast buffet, we scheduled some massages and took full advantage of the hotel spa. They have a few different hot tubs as well as a hammam (turkish sauna) and a regular sauna and some nice showers that spray out some minerals and other things that are good for your skin. After that we went out to grab some food and then went to the Barcelona aquarium. It´s the largest in Europe, but definitely not as big or as cool as Shedds. But it did have this awesome 75m tank that you go under a tunnel in. There were lots of cool sharks, sting rays and this weird 2d fish. We also liked the penguins. The aquarium is down near the harbor so there were lots of boats and you can see all the cruise ships coming and going. One cruise ship was delayed and so all the people were staying at our hotel. The craziest part was seeing all of their luggage piled up when they finally left. It was a lot of crabby tourists. I am now trying to convince Matt we need to go on a Mediterranean cruise for spring break, Greece, Italy and Turkey....
Tuesday we were lazy again and just spent the morning sleeping and having a late breakfast. We went to see the Sagrada Familia, The Sacred Family. An AMAZING church that Gaudi spent 43 years working on. It´s still under construction and won´t be done for 30 years.!!!! It´s is so intracate. There are currently 8 spires and 10 more to be built. One face is the birth of Christ the other is the death. The carvings are so cool. Can´t wait to post pictures.
We also went and saw Casa Mila, apartments that Gaudi made. The roof was the coolest part. All the smoke stacks and water coolers were made into art. It was really cool. We walked around the rest of the afternoon and then came back to partake in a Siesta, keeping with Spanish tradition and all. We had a 10:00 dinner and then came back and went to sleep.
Today we just decided we needed to walk around and explore. We found Las Ramblas, touristy shops, street performers and lots of good food. We ended up at the Ciutadella Park and had a coffee overlooking the beautiful Cascade Fountain. After that we wondered over to the Picasso Museum. We liked it but were a bit disappointed because all his most famous works are at other mesuems. After that we went to the Santa Maria del Mar, a church that if it were built one meter higher would crumble because it would be structurally unsound. We then went and watched the sunset over the back of the city. Sadly it doesn´t set over the water. But it was still big and pink and orange. We got a nice photo. I then realized I was missing our Barcelona book. We retraced our steps and luckily found it back in the church. This is a funny story worth mentioning because our ¨Barcelona Book¨ is about 10 pages ripped out of a big Europe Travel book. Matt stapled the pages together and we have been using it to have a small map and know about some tourist attractions. If it was lost it really wouldn´t be a big deal. Except, this morning I wrote down our reservation number for a dinner we´re going to tomorrow. I was crazy about getting it back but Matt didn´t care. I was much happier once we found it. :)
We went down and walked along the beach for a bit and stuck our feet it. It was cooler today but hopefully it sounds like we may get a beach day on Friday. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant near the Olympic Harbor. It is a really popular area, but it was funny cause we went to dinner at 7:30 and NOONE was there. It was because it was too early. When we left people were just starting to come out for dinner. Guess we just aren´t the partying type. Maybe tomorrow or Friday we´ll stay out a bit later.
Well that´s all for now! Please prayer for my sister tonight as she is traveling to Ghana, my cousin Shawna who is worried about her baby. And Matt´s side of the family! We´re all praying for you back home and counting the days until Christmas. We can´t believe at the end of this trip we are going back to Maastricht and not coming home. We miss and love you all!!!!!!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Why did I wake up at 4:45???
So, as if having to take a taxi to the airport at 6:30, isn't early enough. We didn't realize Europe changes time a week EARLIER than the US!!!! So we are up right now, at 5:32 waiting another hour until our taxi gets here. HA HA HA. Of course we are too excited to sleep. I woke up still with a sore throat and aching ears. When I pulled up the blinds I saw the big church clock outside said an hour early than I thought it was. Of course this was after I was already showered and dressed. Sure enough it was an hour early or I was an hour ahead. So now we have an hour to wait. I might lie back down a bit but now we have some time to relax before we go and actually eat a proper breakfast.
This week has been crazy. I was out Thursday and Friday due to an awful sore throat. I even managed to go to the doctor Friday to make sure it wasn't strep and see what he could do. He said I was fine just a really bad cold, no swollen lymph nodes or anything. The nice thing about this doctor is it has a pharmacy connected right with it. So I did get some stuff to help. Nothing does the trick like IB profen though for me. The office is a ten minute walk from our house which was nice. Though feeling sick and having to walk yourself to the doctor in the cold morning wind wasn't too nice. Our assistant principal had to take her daughter too so I saw them and it was really nice to have a familiar face there.
Last weekend:
Matt and I had an asweome weekend. We went out for dinner on Friday with my teaching partner Suzanne and her husband Mathew. It was fun because we got to go to their house first. Suzanne was a great hostess. She gave us tea and pie while we waited for Mathew to get home from work. Mathew is English and he and Matt get along great. Mathew is a musician so they have lots to talk about. Suzanne and I also get along great. They are newly married too with their first baby on the way. We went to dinner in a German city, Aachen. It was really cute and Matt and I hope to take a day trip there soon. We ate at a Mexican resaurant and then went to another little bar and caught a late train home from there town. They live about 30 minutes from Maastricht.
Saturday we had dinner with the other American teacher at our school and her husband. Haley and Ken. He is here for his job and she came with. They just got married this summer. They are from Seattle and going back in January. We went to a great Italian restaurant right near our house. Yum.
Sunday after a great morning of church we went to the mill for some soup and tea. Hopefully a new Sunday ritual! Yum! It was so beautiful out we finally decided to rent bikes. We got to keep them until Thurday because the company was closed until then. So we rode for about two hours all along the East side of the river. (pics in fb) We rode to the city of Eijsden, there was a little castle there we saw. We then crossed the river into Belgium via a ferry and rode back up to Maastricht. It was so beautiful and great to be out in the country.
Bruge:
We had a great time a few weeks ago in Bruge. We took the train down on Saturday checked into our great hotel early and then walked around the city. It was market day so we went to the market and then toured the big belfort there. It was cool and is where the movie, In Bruges is formed (yes this movie despite how horrible it is made us want to go to Bruges.) We climbed a bunch of stairs and then could see the whole town. We could also see all the cogs and wheels for how the clock tower worked. After that we saw the main church and went to an old hospital that is now an art museum. The sun finally popped out after that so it was time for a boat tour. There are so many canals, Bruges is the Venice of the North. ON the tour we saw the towns only brewery. So of course we had to go there next for the tour. Matt loved it and I did too. We had a great tour with a funny guide and then enjoyed a tasting of course. After that we headed to a lovely dinner at The Flemish Pot and had a yummy stew. When dinner ended we went to relax at the hotel.
Sunday we had a great English Buffet breakfast and then enjoyed the hotels pool and sauna. After that we walked around the town some more and went to the fry museum and the chocolate museum. Then we caught the train home. It was a lovely weekend.
Please keep us in your prayers this week as we travel to Barcelona for some much needed R and R and my sister as well as she is leaving for AFRICA to teach for 8 weeks before coming to stay with us. Can't wait!!!
Lots of Love!!!!
This week has been crazy. I was out Thursday and Friday due to an awful sore throat. I even managed to go to the doctor Friday to make sure it wasn't strep and see what he could do. He said I was fine just a really bad cold, no swollen lymph nodes or anything. The nice thing about this doctor is it has a pharmacy connected right with it. So I did get some stuff to help. Nothing does the trick like IB profen though for me. The office is a ten minute walk from our house which was nice. Though feeling sick and having to walk yourself to the doctor in the cold morning wind wasn't too nice. Our assistant principal had to take her daughter too so I saw them and it was really nice to have a familiar face there.
Last weekend:
Matt and I had an asweome weekend. We went out for dinner on Friday with my teaching partner Suzanne and her husband Mathew. It was fun because we got to go to their house first. Suzanne was a great hostess. She gave us tea and pie while we waited for Mathew to get home from work. Mathew is English and he and Matt get along great. Mathew is a musician so they have lots to talk about. Suzanne and I also get along great. They are newly married too with their first baby on the way. We went to dinner in a German city, Aachen. It was really cute and Matt and I hope to take a day trip there soon. We ate at a Mexican resaurant and then went to another little bar and caught a late train home from there town. They live about 30 minutes from Maastricht.
Saturday we had dinner with the other American teacher at our school and her husband. Haley and Ken. He is here for his job and she came with. They just got married this summer. They are from Seattle and going back in January. We went to a great Italian restaurant right near our house. Yum.
Sunday after a great morning of church we went to the mill for some soup and tea. Hopefully a new Sunday ritual! Yum! It was so beautiful out we finally decided to rent bikes. We got to keep them until Thurday because the company was closed until then. So we rode for about two hours all along the East side of the river. (pics in fb) We rode to the city of Eijsden, there was a little castle there we saw. We then crossed the river into Belgium via a ferry and rode back up to Maastricht. It was so beautiful and great to be out in the country.
Bruge:
We had a great time a few weeks ago in Bruge. We took the train down on Saturday checked into our great hotel early and then walked around the city. It was market day so we went to the market and then toured the big belfort there. It was cool and is where the movie, In Bruges is formed (yes this movie despite how horrible it is made us want to go to Bruges.) We climbed a bunch of stairs and then could see the whole town. We could also see all the cogs and wheels for how the clock tower worked. After that we saw the main church and went to an old hospital that is now an art museum. The sun finally popped out after that so it was time for a boat tour. There are so many canals, Bruges is the Venice of the North. ON the tour we saw the towns only brewery. So of course we had to go there next for the tour. Matt loved it and I did too. We had a great tour with a funny guide and then enjoyed a tasting of course. After that we headed to a lovely dinner at The Flemish Pot and had a yummy stew. When dinner ended we went to relax at the hotel.
Sunday we had a great English Buffet breakfast and then enjoyed the hotels pool and sauna. After that we walked around the town some more and went to the fry museum and the chocolate museum. Then we caught the train home. It was a lovely weekend.
Please keep us in your prayers this week as we travel to Barcelona for some much needed R and R and my sister as well as she is leaving for AFRICA to teach for 8 weeks before coming to stay with us. Can't wait!!!
Lots of Love!!!!
Friday, October 9, 2009
A quick note
http://michurch.nl/Welcome.html
Here is our church website in case you are interested! We are totally exhausted at the end of this week!! A crazy week at school. We did however, have an AWESOME weekend celebrating Matt's birthday in Bruges, Belgium. I'll give the novel update sometime later this weekend. I am also trying to load the pics to facebook. Take care everyone!! and please keep Matt's Aunt Sue in your prayers. She is having some health issues and we need God to work some miracles :) Which we have faith He will!!!
Blessings!!!
Here is our church website in case you are interested! We are totally exhausted at the end of this week!! A crazy week at school. We did however, have an AWESOME weekend celebrating Matt's birthday in Bruges, Belgium. I'll give the novel update sometime later this weekend. I am also trying to load the pics to facebook. Take care everyone!! and please keep Matt's Aunt Sue in your prayers. She is having some health issues and we need God to work some miracles :) Which we have faith He will!!!
Blessings!!!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Are we there yet???
No...no we are not. We still have no bank account and our registration paperwork has not been processed yet, though tomorrow should be the day. It's funny because we do feel settled but still not really like we live here yet. We're getting there though.
Let's update...
Last Saturday we went to ABN Amro to try and open a bank account. Yes, crazy we know there is ONE back here open on Saturday. We were told you could get an account there without your social security number. We arrrived there at 2:02. They closed at 2:00. Ahh.... so then we left and went shopping. And later found out, you do need your SSN. It was good though to have a free afternoon, we got a few more things to help us get organized at school and a few more decorations for the house. We decided Saturday should again be a date night. We had a pass to the movie theatre for a buy one get one so we went to an early show (Public Enemies, it was pretty good) and then for dinner at the Evita steak house! Yum. The movie theatres are so fun here because they have huge bulk candy sections where you can get all the yummy gummies you'd usually buy at the gas station and sneak in in your purse. They also have beer which you can enjoy during your movie. We've yet to do this. We were one of four couples in the movie theatre so that was fun to kind of have it to ourselves. Dinner was really good and relaxed. It was at about 9 so we also felt like we had the restaurant to ourselves.
Sunday we woke up in an attempt to go to church but realized we were a lot farther than we realized and so we would have been very late. We instead listened to Mars online and it was as usual great and really what we needed to hear. We had a nice Sunday nap and then went out for a walk/picnic in the park. We stayed out later after eating and just kept walking. We found ourselves purposefully lost in the country hillside just outside the city. It felt nice to breathe and see the green. We are only about a fifteen minute walk away from some farms and beautiful rolling hills. I guess there are also fabulous wineries nearby and some other cool places to explore. We are getting really excited to get bikes.
The week of school was good and again another week has broughten us to feeling more in the swing of things. Our kids continue to be wonderful and slowly the drama of school is slowing down and we're all getting used to the schedule. I found out my teaching partner Suzanne is pregnant. I am so excited for her and she and her husband, Mathew are SO EXCITED! They have been married a year and a half and are both early 30's so their ready to start their family.
We've had many compliments from parents, teachers and staff that we're doing a great job and the kids are enjoying having us there. This is great for us and a definite confidence boost.
Friday, Matt had his second meeting with Jopp. Jopp is a fifty something musican who Matt is giving English language conversation lessons to. They meet once a week for an hour and just talk. Matt marks Jopp's pronunciations and other difficulties and they talk about him. It is one of his favourite times of the week and mine as well; I got to shop on my own. :) There's something so accomplished feeling in successfully going to the grocery store by yourself. I know that sounds silly. But let me tell you, going alone can be really stressful or even going together. You have to bag all your own groceries, no big deal normally but here the conveyor belts are so small and so buy the time you start bagging your groceries the next customers are already getting mixed in. And then everyone acts annoyed at you. So when I had all my groceries bagged before I even had to pay I felt pretty good. Now I only bought about ten things, but this is the usual here. I also got to go out and do some birthday shopping for Matt. This was good because otherwise we aren't apart too much! :)
This weekend we've hung around home, catching up on rest and chatting with family/friends. We went out for a wonderful dinner last night and today just enjoyed quiet reading at home mixed in with some cleaning. Tonight we went to church. An English speaking protestant service. It was really great. We really like the group of people. It's about 40 people and a lot of them have a connection with the school or secondary school some how. There is one teacher from the secondary even. They meet at the red church by our house the last Sunday of the month and the 1st and 3rd Sunday they meet at another church close by. The 2nd Sunday of the month they have a social gathering/outing and go somewhere fun in the surrounding area. There is also a Thursday night bible study. They told us how they have been praying for Christian teachers to come to Joppenhof. They were SO excited to meet us and we've already been invited over for Thanksgiving to one couples house. It's weird to maybe be the answer to someone's prayer. They have all been through the same paperwork process as us so it's nice to have some people to relate to. There is a family from Minnesota, Canada, and England. Plus more I am sure but that's all we've meet so far.
Also our new neighbor moved in downstairs and she is from New York. She is here working on her PH.d and seems really cool. Hopefully we'll have her up soon.
Next weekend we are going to Bruges, Belguim to celebrate Matt's birthday and just get away! We can't wait. Still no October break plans yet, but we're working on it.
Week Four... here we come!!!!
Let's update...
Last Saturday we went to ABN Amro to try and open a bank account. Yes, crazy we know there is ONE back here open on Saturday. We were told you could get an account there without your social security number. We arrrived there at 2:02. They closed at 2:00. Ahh.... so then we left and went shopping. And later found out, you do need your SSN. It was good though to have a free afternoon, we got a few more things to help us get organized at school and a few more decorations for the house. We decided Saturday should again be a date night. We had a pass to the movie theatre for a buy one get one so we went to an early show (Public Enemies, it was pretty good) and then for dinner at the Evita steak house! Yum. The movie theatres are so fun here because they have huge bulk candy sections where you can get all the yummy gummies you'd usually buy at the gas station and sneak in in your purse. They also have beer which you can enjoy during your movie. We've yet to do this. We were one of four couples in the movie theatre so that was fun to kind of have it to ourselves. Dinner was really good and relaxed. It was at about 9 so we also felt like we had the restaurant to ourselves.
Sunday we woke up in an attempt to go to church but realized we were a lot farther than we realized and so we would have been very late. We instead listened to Mars online and it was as usual great and really what we needed to hear. We had a nice Sunday nap and then went out for a walk/picnic in the park. We stayed out later after eating and just kept walking. We found ourselves purposefully lost in the country hillside just outside the city. It felt nice to breathe and see the green. We are only about a fifteen minute walk away from some farms and beautiful rolling hills. I guess there are also fabulous wineries nearby and some other cool places to explore. We are getting really excited to get bikes.
The week of school was good and again another week has broughten us to feeling more in the swing of things. Our kids continue to be wonderful and slowly the drama of school is slowing down and we're all getting used to the schedule. I found out my teaching partner Suzanne is pregnant. I am so excited for her and she and her husband, Mathew are SO EXCITED! They have been married a year and a half and are both early 30's so their ready to start their family.
We've had many compliments from parents, teachers and staff that we're doing a great job and the kids are enjoying having us there. This is great for us and a definite confidence boost.
Friday, Matt had his second meeting with Jopp. Jopp is a fifty something musican who Matt is giving English language conversation lessons to. They meet once a week for an hour and just talk. Matt marks Jopp's pronunciations and other difficulties and they talk about him. It is one of his favourite times of the week and mine as well; I got to shop on my own. :) There's something so accomplished feeling in successfully going to the grocery store by yourself. I know that sounds silly. But let me tell you, going alone can be really stressful or even going together. You have to bag all your own groceries, no big deal normally but here the conveyor belts are so small and so buy the time you start bagging your groceries the next customers are already getting mixed in. And then everyone acts annoyed at you. So when I had all my groceries bagged before I even had to pay I felt pretty good. Now I only bought about ten things, but this is the usual here. I also got to go out and do some birthday shopping for Matt. This was good because otherwise we aren't apart too much! :)
This weekend we've hung around home, catching up on rest and chatting with family/friends. We went out for a wonderful dinner last night and today just enjoyed quiet reading at home mixed in with some cleaning. Tonight we went to church. An English speaking protestant service. It was really great. We really like the group of people. It's about 40 people and a lot of them have a connection with the school or secondary school some how. There is one teacher from the secondary even. They meet at the red church by our house the last Sunday of the month and the 1st and 3rd Sunday they meet at another church close by. The 2nd Sunday of the month they have a social gathering/outing and go somewhere fun in the surrounding area. There is also a Thursday night bible study. They told us how they have been praying for Christian teachers to come to Joppenhof. They were SO excited to meet us and we've already been invited over for Thanksgiving to one couples house. It's weird to maybe be the answer to someone's prayer. They have all been through the same paperwork process as us so it's nice to have some people to relate to. There is a family from Minnesota, Canada, and England. Plus more I am sure but that's all we've meet so far.
Also our new neighbor moved in downstairs and she is from New York. She is here working on her PH.d and seems really cool. Hopefully we'll have her up soon.
Next weekend we are going to Bruges, Belguim to celebrate Matt's birthday and just get away! We can't wait. Still no October break plans yet, but we're working on it.
Week Four... here we come!!!!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Week One
http://www.joppenhof-id.nl/Site/A._Welcome.html
Here you can view some photos of our first week. Keep checking this site, it's our school's site and more pictures and updates of the school will be posted often, hopefully. We had a great first week of school and really enjoyed meeting all of our kids. The best part of the week was the balloon launch. We launced balloons up into the air on the end of Thursday with messages from all the kids with their hopes for the year. Each year got to cut and release a balloon into the sky. The kids loved it. Even the new teachers got to send one up so I got to cut it while Matt and Sarah released it up to the clouds. Things are still a bit unsettled as we are trying to figure out our building, where our students need to be and new students are still trickling in. But with time it will all come. The weekend was full of sleeping and cleaning. Though we did make it out for dinner and a movie. We were a bit disappointed because we made reservations at a place but then it was overbooked and we didn't have time to wait and still make our movie. So we just got sandwiches instead and then saw Funny People. It was okay but not too funny but still nice to go out. Back to school tomorrow. Here we go!
Here you can view some photos of our first week. Keep checking this site, it's our school's site and more pictures and updates of the school will be posted often, hopefully. We had a great first week of school and really enjoyed meeting all of our kids. The best part of the week was the balloon launch. We launced balloons up into the air on the end of Thursday with messages from all the kids with their hopes for the year. Each year got to cut and release a balloon into the sky. The kids loved it. Even the new teachers got to send one up so I got to cut it while Matt and Sarah released it up to the clouds. Things are still a bit unsettled as we are trying to figure out our building, where our students need to be and new students are still trickling in. But with time it will all come. The weekend was full of sleeping and cleaning. Though we did make it out for dinner and a movie. We were a bit disappointed because we made reservations at a place but then it was overbooked and we didn't have time to wait and still make our movie. So we just got sandwiches instead and then saw Funny People. It was okay but not too funny but still nice to go out. Back to school tomorrow. Here we go!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Dinner and a Movie
We're going on our first official European date. Matt even offered to walk me home. How romantic!!!! L'amour.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Day One-Success
Exhausted after a long first day!! Came home and did not get off the couch. Even to eat dinner... :) Which is something we NEVER do. Ahh well... firsts for everything. Today was absolutely GREAT! We love the kids, the school, and our teaching partners. We both will learn a lot. It was such a fun day and we'll give the full update this weekend!! Things are well. Lots of love!!!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Let the Party Start
So, tomorrow starts the party!! That's what Matt and I are calling it instead of tomorrow the crap hits the fan! :)
We're doing well. Trying already to plan our October vacation, we are thinking somewhere warm and relaxing in Spain! School is still a little behind schedule so that's not as awesome as we'd hope. But the school does look great and the kids are going to love it. Both of our classrooms really look great too! Matt and I have both been getting along with our teaching partners fabulously and enjoying our long walks to and from school. Though today we did stop in to inquire about scooters and/or bikes.
Not too much else to report right now, lots of little things to say but right now school is sucking the intelligence out of our brains :) We'll try for a better update this weekend!
We're doing well. Trying already to plan our October vacation, we are thinking somewhere warm and relaxing in Spain! School is still a little behind schedule so that's not as awesome as we'd hope. But the school does look great and the kids are going to love it. Both of our classrooms really look great too! Matt and I have both been getting along with our teaching partners fabulously and enjoying our long walks to and from school. Though today we did stop in to inquire about scooters and/or bikes.
Not too much else to report right now, lots of little things to say but right now school is sucking the intelligence out of our brains :) We'll try for a better update this weekend!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Settling Slowly
Really is there anything better than a successful day followed by shopping and a lovely walk home? As you stroll home hand-in-hand with the one you love, you stop at the closest bakery near your house. Which, just happens to be an old mill from the 1440's. You buy a fresh bagette and climb your spiral staircase home to have a wine-complimented dinner. Ahh.... yes we are settling quite nicely and falling quickly into routines. They involve bumping around our tiny shower room, snacking on a quick breakfast (don't worry we still eat only cereal.) we've been walking to school right now until we get bikes. It's a lovely half hour walk down old city streets that are still quiet because it's so early, over the beautiful pedestrian bridge that hugs the Maas River. We've been spending a little apart time at school setting up our own rooms and working with our teaching partners. This is probably good for our sanity though we still wander down the corridor to peek in on each other. We eat every meal together which is a nice change from life in the states. It's really great because we only have to pack one lunch! Good thing we have been taught to share well. After school we've walked home, or taken the bus if it's rainy. (Though it's about a 20 minute bus ride so really just as easy to walk.) After leaving school we've either gone home to regroup or headed straight to shopping. I think we've been to the grocery store every night this week. We keep forgeting little things like paper towel or mustard. We also keep hunting for things like syrup. I must say though, there really isn't anything from home we haven't been able to find or at least something similar.
We are already finding our favorite shops and getting to know shop owners. (They all speak English to us when they hear our accents, which we must admit is nice. No one really seems to mind speaking English either. We really couldn't be more spoiled.) We do often hear English being spoken on the streets. Especially near where we live because of all the students.
Today, we finally had the chance to unpack our rooms. Mine is actually all set up. I am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. What it means is that I am ready to go but that I didn't have much to set up. It finally does look like a classroom but there isn't a lot of stuff. Especially not books. I am already scheming what I can bring back at Christmas. Also, they don't have teacher stores here and it's quite expensive to ship stuff so they don't really order off the internet. Catherine brought a lot of decoration stuff from Canada and this is the only reason my room looks half way decent. Normally though, most class posters and such are just made from the computer or hand drawn.
After dinner Matt and I went over to Catherine's to take her a thank you basket for all she's done. I'll have to post a pic of what it looks like because it is just so dang cute. Matt and I love making gift baskets and really I think it could be a good hobby of mine. :) It just goes with my brain's love of organzing things. We shared a great moment with Cath and she was really touched by our gift. She told us how excited she is for us to be here and have friends close by (we live 5 minutes walk from her.) We feel the same way and are so greatful for all she has done for us and will continue to do.
Matt and I then made our nightly stop to the grocery store (Albert Heijn) it was as we call it "Hamster Week." There are these little labels everywhere with hamsters advertising free things. We however, didn't realize it was buy one get one free until the checkout line. Thankfully, our cashier was really nice and told us to go back and get things. We got free grapes, toilet paper, and a box of cereal. Definitely can't complain about that one.
After shopping we unpacked and then left again. It's a beautiful night here and one just can't pass up a walk in the park since we're so close. We strolled all beside one of the river's little outlets and near the petting zoo. We walked beside the ancient city wall and it is defintely one of my favorite routes in the city. We'll have to take pictures next time we go because it is SO beautiful. We really picked a great place to live. It really is all we hoped it would be.
We've had good days and already hard days. E-mails from home make us miss things, fun experiences are hard without other loved ones to share them with. We miss meals with friends, late night conversations, times with family and small things from home. But we are learning, growing, and falling more in love everyday with each other, our new city, and our lives. We can't wait to share this all with those who come to visit and enjoy sharing it with those who can't via journaling, e-mails, and conversations. Thank you for all being blessings in our life. Till next time...
We are already finding our favorite shops and getting to know shop owners. (They all speak English to us when they hear our accents, which we must admit is nice. No one really seems to mind speaking English either. We really couldn't be more spoiled.) We do often hear English being spoken on the streets. Especially near where we live because of all the students.
Today, we finally had the chance to unpack our rooms. Mine is actually all set up. I am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. What it means is that I am ready to go but that I didn't have much to set up. It finally does look like a classroom but there isn't a lot of stuff. Especially not books. I am already scheming what I can bring back at Christmas. Also, they don't have teacher stores here and it's quite expensive to ship stuff so they don't really order off the internet. Catherine brought a lot of decoration stuff from Canada and this is the only reason my room looks half way decent. Normally though, most class posters and such are just made from the computer or hand drawn.
After dinner Matt and I went over to Catherine's to take her a thank you basket for all she's done. I'll have to post a pic of what it looks like because it is just so dang cute. Matt and I love making gift baskets and really I think it could be a good hobby of mine. :) It just goes with my brain's love of organzing things. We shared a great moment with Cath and she was really touched by our gift. She told us how excited she is for us to be here and have friends close by (we live 5 minutes walk from her.) We feel the same way and are so greatful for all she has done for us and will continue to do.
Matt and I then made our nightly stop to the grocery store (Albert Heijn) it was as we call it "Hamster Week." There are these little labels everywhere with hamsters advertising free things. We however, didn't realize it was buy one get one free until the checkout line. Thankfully, our cashier was really nice and told us to go back and get things. We got free grapes, toilet paper, and a box of cereal. Definitely can't complain about that one.
After shopping we unpacked and then left again. It's a beautiful night here and one just can't pass up a walk in the park since we're so close. We strolled all beside one of the river's little outlets and near the petting zoo. We walked beside the ancient city wall and it is defintely one of my favorite routes in the city. We'll have to take pictures next time we go because it is SO beautiful. We really picked a great place to live. It really is all we hoped it would be.
We've had good days and already hard days. E-mails from home make us miss things, fun experiences are hard without other loved ones to share them with. We miss meals with friends, late night conversations, times with family and small things from home. But we are learning, growing, and falling more in love everyday with each other, our new city, and our lives. We can't wait to share this all with those who come to visit and enjoy sharing it with those who can't via journaling, e-mails, and conversations. Thank you for all being blessings in our life. Till next time...
Monday, August 31, 2009
Here we are at the food and wine festival. The little girl dancing is Amy, Niki's daughter. We had a lot of fun there. Catherine is there dancing too standing next to Rob and Niki, also Catherine's Bulgarian friend, Pieter came. The music was special but everything else great. I really loved the chocolate covered waffles. We are off to Ikea today.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Not being homeless anymore
Tuesday 8:00 am.... WAKE UP!!! Yep, it was the first day we finally made ourselves get up early and stop pretending we were on vacation, though we're definitely still enjoying summer and the holiday before "the party" starts. This is our postive way of saying the insanity that is school. :) We had two appointments set to view apartments in the afternoon so we decided to make ourselves useful and go help over at school. We had our usual breakfast, bananas (it's the cheapest, healthiest option that can be stored in your hotel cupboard.) We were at school by 9:00 where we were immediately put to work. We loved it though. One of my favorite parts of teaching is getting the room ready. What a fun adventure we have helping get the whole school ready. As of Tuesday morning the floors were not in, the doors were not in and there was no furniture except for a computer table in each room and two stools. The excitment of the day was that bulletin boards were being installed. Now, let me tell you, bulletin boards to anyone besides maybe myself or other teachers may not be a big deal. But, Matt and I were geeked. Once each board was hung by the professional dutch company, Matt and I woud set quickly to work covering each board with cardboard and then putting up some cutesy boarder so that when the teachers come next week, all they have to do is put on their posters. Suprisingly, we worked really fast and made a great team, which I guess isn't too surprising but we are both curious to see how life will be for us constantly together, sharing our profession. We've been doing well though and have remained friendly throughout the days. As long as we are still friends at the end of each obstacle, we know we're doing pretty well. Sometimes it takes reminders of you're not being a good friend right now or hey be my friend please, but we're making it. :)
At noon on Tuesday after the stapleing and cutting of the bulletin boards ended, we were able to meet both of our teaching parnters and the four of us had lunch together. It was fun and lots of questions were thrown around the table. Beginning ideas were discussed we only have to plan for two days the first week. Matt and I asked mainly about how many things will work and we tried to all get to know each other a little. Matt found out he gets to take his kids out to the country camping to celebrate the end of the year. So I'll be here for a week by myself, luckily this is at the end of the year and I can come hang out at night since the camp is 20 minutes from here. We found out our class sizes, Matt will have 16 and I will have 18. We are in awe. Though we know this will be necessary because the kids are on so many different levels. For groupings we will have about 7 groups of reading levels between our class and our team teachers' so lots of differentiation will have to happen. Catherine said rarely will we stand up in front of class and teach one lesson to the class because they will all be at different levels depending on English levels and where they have previously been schooled. I am super jealous because one of Matt's students does not speak any English yet; he is French! :) Hopefully, I can help and build my French up.
We have talked with Catherine and we are all thinking of taking Dutch lessons at the university or at least together through someone. (Bonus: she said we may be able to have the school pay for it.) This is so enthralling to me because I am hoping by the time I leave here I will be converstational in both French and Dutch. Ahhh....trilingual. I always thought Spanish would be the next language I learned but I guess you never know where life is going to take you.
Tuesday afternoon, Catherine drove Matt and I to our first apartment viewing. It was on Lyonnette Straat and right next to the movie theater. We liked it a lot. It was big and resonably priced but not furnished. We then had a bit of time to kill so after figuring out Cath's car wasn't dying (the fan wouldn't turn off even after we turned the car off, we laughed, kicked at it, pushed a lot of buttons and then moved on. Don't worry the button pushing turned it off.) Where's Kyle Baareman when you need him? European consultation??? :) Cath took us to the amazing book store I have been waiting to see. It's in an old 16th century cathedral. It has won many awards and is simply breath-taking. We had coffee with Cath there and just talked lots of school. Cath and I also got to discuss our love of reading and it's so exciting to have so much in common with her. We told her how sad we found it that a church so beautiful was turned into a book store. Not that it isn't cool but we can't understand why you would want to use it as a church. There is also a church here for sale for one Euro. No one wants to buy it because it is filled with pigeons and pigeon poop. Catherine replied that it wasn't really a big deal because there are so many churches around here. We laughed to ourselves that Cath must never have been to West Michigan to know what a lot of churches really looks like.
Our last apartment viewing of they day was the one we had been waiting for. It was in the eves of a 17th century mansion. Yes, up four winding, skinny flights of steps. The entry is so beautiful and leads to the stairwell as well as a back garden where we can store bikes and have plants, yeah!! A garden was my must have. I just need a plant that needs me to take care of it and somewhere to eat outside. Though, not sure I want to take my food down four flights of steps. :) The upstairs was so cute. The bathroom is small, though not the smallest we've seen. There's no tub and the shower is really small but it's a decent bathroom overall. We loved the kitchen with a breakfast nook. The kitchen has a dishwasher and a combi microwave oven. Yep, here their microwaves double as their ovens. They function the same just are super teeny. We also have the biggest fridge we've seen here so yeah!! This however, is about the size of a large dorm fridge. The living room has a black couch with red pillows; it felt like home. The bed or should I say beds( here they can't fit queens or kings up the stairwells so married people sleep in two twins pushed together. :) Even our hotel is like that.) The beds are in a loft above the living room, Matt is so stoked about this. I on the other hand am a little more apprehensive. But the deal breaker is a GIANT walk in closet. Christina and other guests, this is where we'll put a bed for you to sleep in. :) Just kidding. But no, the closet is great and has space probably for everything we brought and more. Maybe Matt's scooter. YEAH, we do have washer and dryer, boo it's in the wine cellar of the house. The deep basement, five flights down and it's shared with the others who live in the house. But it's free.
After we saw the house we liked it but still weren't sure. We left Cath and walked around a bit. On our way back to see the apartment we ran into a couple. Young German grad students. We had seem them moving into the house when we viewed it. They invited us in to see their place in case we wanted to move their when they move out in a a year. They were really nice and we're excited to have them as neighbors, especially to be around people our own age. (We learned at lunch with Audrey and Suzanne our teaching partners, that most of the UWC teachers live outside of Maastricht.) The German couple also told us the other guy living in the house right now is a missionary and we thought this would be awesome for us and maybe a great way to get connected. Right now the bottom apartment is empty. It doesn't have a kitchen or anywhere for food so I am not sure who will want to live there, maybe another student but it's pretty pricey. We left thinking that was the one but we wanted to make sure so we set up two appointments for Wednesday.
Wednesday, we went to the appointments by ourselves. We wanted to love the first house we saw since it was actually a whole house and included everything but no utilities. We actually decided it was TOO big for us. Crazy we know. We went for lunch and a small chain sandwhich shop. Bufkes. We each had yummy ham sandwiches they shaved off the ham right there. We then went and walked around Maastricht for awhile because our last appointment was until 3:00. We stopped and had an afternoon coffee overlooking the river. It was fun to people watch and we saw lots of tour buses.
We thought we were going to fall in love with this last place. It was the cheapest and we did love it. It was literally a hop, skip and a jump from the river in an awesome part of town and had a private garden entrance on a big courtyard with a great restaurant. But unfortunately it was under construction. The landlord guaranteed us a bed and a table by this weekend but we weren't sure. Plus, it was connected to a new jewelry store that isn't open yet but there was no door between the two yet. The landlord was great and assured us that everything would be there. We trusted him but just want to be all settled before school starts so we decided to go with the loft apartment. We were excited and went to see it one more time. We then walked forever in the park nearby. We love, love, love this park. It's all along our side of the river. You can stroll on the old city wall, go to the petting zoo, or just sit and enjoy people walking by. There are beautiful flowers and one of the best parts is it's right on the edge of the music conservatory so you can hear sweet music flowing out the open windows of this holy building. Yesterday we heard violins and piano. ahhh...
So we decided and 16 D Witmakersstraat is ours and today we found out we get the keys at 2:00! Friday! We wired money today (which was not fun trying to send millions of faxes and other crazy things but thankfully even though most people don't know what to do with our unique situation they are willing to work with us and figure things out.) Niki is going to pick us up at 1:30 from the hotel and we are going to go move in. YEAH! First we will jump on the bed, run up and down the stairs, maybe not too many times. :) Then go grocery shopping and we'll be all set. :)
On Wednesday, when we were shopping I got to experience my first market day. I loved it. I was so sad I couldn't buy food so tomorrow that's my first stop after we're in. I love the smells of the market and the people. The fresh fruit lined up is the best. The blueberries and raspberries called to me! Tomorrow. I couldn't get over how small the strawberries were. You know they look different when they are grown naturally and not pumped full of crap and fertizliers. Matt and I also went to the larget grocery store in that area to see what we could find. Can you believe it, we found every brand of every product we use, or really close to it, same toothpaste, shampoo, soap, medicines, face products. However, deodorant might be a different story. They have lots of sprays and roll on sticks. uggghhh... :) We also haven't found allergy medicine for Matt so we may have to have someone send some soon. We didn't go to the drug store yet though. I must note though, things are quite smaller sizes and quite a bit more money. So I think we'll still be stocking up on visits home.
Mainly we've just relaxed today we stayed at the hotel all day and made calls, faxes, sent e-mails. We ran into the school group and had lunch with them so that was nice. I think we are about to venture out for pizza and then hopefully watch a movie on the computer.
Friends, this may be our last post for a bit because we aren't sure with the move how long it will take us to get connected. So blessings, be safe and hopefully this will hold you for now. Tot ziens!
At noon on Tuesday after the stapleing and cutting of the bulletin boards ended, we were able to meet both of our teaching parnters and the four of us had lunch together. It was fun and lots of questions were thrown around the table. Beginning ideas were discussed we only have to plan for two days the first week. Matt and I asked mainly about how many things will work and we tried to all get to know each other a little. Matt found out he gets to take his kids out to the country camping to celebrate the end of the year. So I'll be here for a week by myself, luckily this is at the end of the year and I can come hang out at night since the camp is 20 minutes from here. We found out our class sizes, Matt will have 16 and I will have 18. We are in awe. Though we know this will be necessary because the kids are on so many different levels. For groupings we will have about 7 groups of reading levels between our class and our team teachers' so lots of differentiation will have to happen. Catherine said rarely will we stand up in front of class and teach one lesson to the class because they will all be at different levels depending on English levels and where they have previously been schooled. I am super jealous because one of Matt's students does not speak any English yet; he is French! :) Hopefully, I can help and build my French up.
We have talked with Catherine and we are all thinking of taking Dutch lessons at the university or at least together through someone. (Bonus: she said we may be able to have the school pay for it.) This is so enthralling to me because I am hoping by the time I leave here I will be converstational in both French and Dutch. Ahhh....trilingual. I always thought Spanish would be the next language I learned but I guess you never know where life is going to take you.
Tuesday afternoon, Catherine drove Matt and I to our first apartment viewing. It was on Lyonnette Straat and right next to the movie theater. We liked it a lot. It was big and resonably priced but not furnished. We then had a bit of time to kill so after figuring out Cath's car wasn't dying (the fan wouldn't turn off even after we turned the car off, we laughed, kicked at it, pushed a lot of buttons and then moved on. Don't worry the button pushing turned it off.) Where's Kyle Baareman when you need him? European consultation??? :) Cath took us to the amazing book store I have been waiting to see. It's in an old 16th century cathedral. It has won many awards and is simply breath-taking. We had coffee with Cath there and just talked lots of school. Cath and I also got to discuss our love of reading and it's so exciting to have so much in common with her. We told her how sad we found it that a church so beautiful was turned into a book store. Not that it isn't cool but we can't understand why you would want to use it as a church. There is also a church here for sale for one Euro. No one wants to buy it because it is filled with pigeons and pigeon poop. Catherine replied that it wasn't really a big deal because there are so many churches around here. We laughed to ourselves that Cath must never have been to West Michigan to know what a lot of churches really looks like.
Our last apartment viewing of they day was the one we had been waiting for. It was in the eves of a 17th century mansion. Yes, up four winding, skinny flights of steps. The entry is so beautiful and leads to the stairwell as well as a back garden where we can store bikes and have plants, yeah!! A garden was my must have. I just need a plant that needs me to take care of it and somewhere to eat outside. Though, not sure I want to take my food down four flights of steps. :) The upstairs was so cute. The bathroom is small, though not the smallest we've seen. There's no tub and the shower is really small but it's a decent bathroom overall. We loved the kitchen with a breakfast nook. The kitchen has a dishwasher and a combi microwave oven. Yep, here their microwaves double as their ovens. They function the same just are super teeny. We also have the biggest fridge we've seen here so yeah!! This however, is about the size of a large dorm fridge. The living room has a black couch with red pillows; it felt like home. The bed or should I say beds( here they can't fit queens or kings up the stairwells so married people sleep in two twins pushed together. :) Even our hotel is like that.) The beds are in a loft above the living room, Matt is so stoked about this. I on the other hand am a little more apprehensive. But the deal breaker is a GIANT walk in closet. Christina and other guests, this is where we'll put a bed for you to sleep in. :) Just kidding. But no, the closet is great and has space probably for everything we brought and more. Maybe Matt's scooter. YEAH, we do have washer and dryer, boo it's in the wine cellar of the house. The deep basement, five flights down and it's shared with the others who live in the house. But it's free.
After we saw the house we liked it but still weren't sure. We left Cath and walked around a bit. On our way back to see the apartment we ran into a couple. Young German grad students. We had seem them moving into the house when we viewed it. They invited us in to see their place in case we wanted to move their when they move out in a a year. They were really nice and we're excited to have them as neighbors, especially to be around people our own age. (We learned at lunch with Audrey and Suzanne our teaching partners, that most of the UWC teachers live outside of Maastricht.) The German couple also told us the other guy living in the house right now is a missionary and we thought this would be awesome for us and maybe a great way to get connected. Right now the bottom apartment is empty. It doesn't have a kitchen or anywhere for food so I am not sure who will want to live there, maybe another student but it's pretty pricey. We left thinking that was the one but we wanted to make sure so we set up two appointments for Wednesday.
Wednesday, we went to the appointments by ourselves. We wanted to love the first house we saw since it was actually a whole house and included everything but no utilities. We actually decided it was TOO big for us. Crazy we know. We went for lunch and a small chain sandwhich shop. Bufkes. We each had yummy ham sandwiches they shaved off the ham right there. We then went and walked around Maastricht for awhile because our last appointment was until 3:00. We stopped and had an afternoon coffee overlooking the river. It was fun to people watch and we saw lots of tour buses.
We thought we were going to fall in love with this last place. It was the cheapest and we did love it. It was literally a hop, skip and a jump from the river in an awesome part of town and had a private garden entrance on a big courtyard with a great restaurant. But unfortunately it was under construction. The landlord guaranteed us a bed and a table by this weekend but we weren't sure. Plus, it was connected to a new jewelry store that isn't open yet but there was no door between the two yet. The landlord was great and assured us that everything would be there. We trusted him but just want to be all settled before school starts so we decided to go with the loft apartment. We were excited and went to see it one more time. We then walked forever in the park nearby. We love, love, love this park. It's all along our side of the river. You can stroll on the old city wall, go to the petting zoo, or just sit and enjoy people walking by. There are beautiful flowers and one of the best parts is it's right on the edge of the music conservatory so you can hear sweet music flowing out the open windows of this holy building. Yesterday we heard violins and piano. ahhh...
So we decided and 16 D Witmakersstraat is ours and today we found out we get the keys at 2:00! Friday! We wired money today (which was not fun trying to send millions of faxes and other crazy things but thankfully even though most people don't know what to do with our unique situation they are willing to work with us and figure things out.) Niki is going to pick us up at 1:30 from the hotel and we are going to go move in. YEAH! First we will jump on the bed, run up and down the stairs, maybe not too many times. :) Then go grocery shopping and we'll be all set. :)
On Wednesday, when we were shopping I got to experience my first market day. I loved it. I was so sad I couldn't buy food so tomorrow that's my first stop after we're in. I love the smells of the market and the people. The fresh fruit lined up is the best. The blueberries and raspberries called to me! Tomorrow. I couldn't get over how small the strawberries were. You know they look different when they are grown naturally and not pumped full of crap and fertizliers. Matt and I also went to the larget grocery store in that area to see what we could find. Can you believe it, we found every brand of every product we use, or really close to it, same toothpaste, shampoo, soap, medicines, face products. However, deodorant might be a different story. They have lots of sprays and roll on sticks. uggghhh... :) We also haven't found allergy medicine for Matt so we may have to have someone send some soon. We didn't go to the drug store yet though. I must note though, things are quite smaller sizes and quite a bit more money. So I think we'll still be stocking up on visits home.
Mainly we've just relaxed today we stayed at the hotel all day and made calls, faxes, sent e-mails. We ran into the school group and had lunch with them so that was nice. I think we are about to venture out for pizza and then hopefully watch a movie on the computer.
Friends, this may be our last post for a bit because we aren't sure with the move how long it will take us to get connected. So blessings, be safe and hopefully this will hold you for now. Tot ziens!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Leaving on a Jet Plane
It was in the early hours of Thursday morning. Matt and I had not yet gone to bed. Sadly, this is how we are when we are leaving for long flights across the world. We freak out, try to cram more things into suitcases and then realizing there is nothing left to do, go to sleep in utter exhaustion. (Just ask Christina about the time we flew to Costa Rica.) Thursday morning Mike Sr.,Jr. and Robin drove us to the airport. We had one last stop at Walgreens, I will honestly admit for pads and deodorant, (we weren't quite sure of our Netherlandish options.) We arrived at the airport, loads of love and support on hand, aka lots of people fretting on us and being really helpful. We managed to get all our luggage on the plane after some rearranging, a few under the breath curse words and many dirty looks from the lovely Continental ladies behind the counter. Oh those Cooley's, they just kept saying.
After many tearful hugs, pep talks, kisses goodbye we rounded that blasted Gerald R. Ford airport corner. You have to wait in the security line, but you can't see your families anymore. (You just have to know they are back there crying.) We made it through security and got what would be the first of many weird looks as we brought our ginormous hiking backpacks onto the plane. We quite freaked out when we got to the gate and the stewardess told us they had to go below, only because they were too big for our small plane. We got them back in Jersey.
Jersey was great. We saw New York (thought about sneaking over for a quick visit) across the tarmack as we ate one last American meal at the Jazz Cafe. Tuna Salad and a Cheeseburger with chips and cheese. We also each had three glasses of water because supposedly water helps with Jet Lag. Okay really, no it just keeps you peeing throughout your seven hour flight and having to annoyingly ask the nice man sitting next to you to move.
The plane ride was long to A.dam (this is how the locals abbriviate Amersterdam. This is how Matt and I abbriviate it because we think it's funny.) Matt slept a little on the plane; I didn't. Kudos to me for giving him the window sit. It must be because I am so caring and didn't want to sleep. We did get those cool eye masks thinking they would really help, we even had ear plugs. Neither of these overcome turbulence or bladders. Nonetheless, it was a restful flight. We got to watch movies and the food was good. Flying over England got our hearts racing and seeing the North Sea as we flew in started to make it real.
We arrived in A.dam about 6:30 local time. Went through check-in and customs scaringly easy. Then we waited for Willemijn to meet us. I knew her the minute I saw her. Tall, lovely, dressed quite charming of course. We locked eyes and she said, Victoria? I said Willemijn? It was sort of like meeting a long lost Grandmother. And what Grandmother wouldn't buy you Starbucks, buy you extra snacks to make sure you didn't get hungry on the train, give you a cell phone so she can call you, scold you for bringing way to much stuff, hug you and safely put you on your train to Maastricht, with, of course, the tickets she already bought you. And of course she'll call you and hour after you've been on the train to make sure you are okay and awake so as not to miss your stop. She is truly a wonderful blessing.
We made it to Maastricht safely, exhausted and only injured with one badly run-over toe. (Yes, my big toe was run over by my ridiculous 70 pound bad, oh karma.) You see, we had to change trains in Utrecht. This involved lugging four big suitcases off one train and onto another in a matter of six minutes. We got many strange looks since we took up four seats with all of our stuff. Oh well, we knew we'd stick out as Americans coming over. There was no getting around it.
Catherine, (our AMAZING wonderwoman principal), Niki, (our sweet-tuplip assistant principal,) and her four year old dutch/english daughter, Amy met us right off the last train and helped us with our mountain of baggage. (Will called to tell them to bring another car because we had SO much stuff.) Opps! They drove us to our great hotel and took us to lunch. Which lasted about two hours. Mostly because we all had so much to talk about, but also because Matt and I had lots of questions. Niki made us a map of Maastricht and highlighted all the things we needed to know and drew in the chinese restaurant, pizza places, and super markets. She also made us a welcome bag of snacks and other goodies. Gotta love great people.
After lunch, Niki and Amy departed and Catherine played tour guide. Let me tell you, this woman wears many hats and enjoys them all. Cath showed us all around they city and Matt got to learn some new facts. The best part was defintiely the old mill and the gelato Catherine bought us. That's never going to get old. We located some supermarkets, fun shopping and lots of good restaurants. Cath is also a foodie so we're all going to be great friends.
On the way back from the city center, Matt and I stopped at Albert Heijn (the super market) and bought food we could have for dinner. We fell asleep before we could ever eat it.
Saturday we slept until 12:00 noon and then met with Cath she had found some rental agencies for us to begin looking at apartments. So we walked around with her for a few hours and then went to dinner on the river. It was our offical welcome dinner. Cath was there and so was Niki, Amy and Niki's husband, Rob. Also our other assistanct principal Janet (from Sault St. Marie, Canada side) and her boyfriend (German) Mike, came too. Janet is awesome as well and is definitely the doer of the group. She has more energy than 10 people put together. Dinner was great and I got to take Amy to the playground. Always good to make friends with the small people. They really back you up. And Amy speaks more Dutch them me so I am hoping she'll give me lessons.
Sunday, Matt and I finally had a day to take it all in and be to ourselves. We rented bikes from our hotel and made our butts saddle-sore from the ridiculous amount of riding. We went everywhere and Matt showed me all the spots he had been, where he studied, and bought me pizza at his favorite, Nora's. It was good and the owner is a riot. We came back exhausted again and looked at a lot of online apartments and set up the ones we wanted to see.
Monday, Call one to the rental agencies: no your favorite apartment is for sale, not for rent.....le sigh.... so quickly your dreams are crushed. But no worries we saw three others today and have four more to see tomorrow. We liked two today and hopefully will settle on one tomorrow. It's much different here when getting an apartment because you have to go through a rental company like a relator to see an apartment. And then of course pay them a lovely fee. Only it's not so lovely, just exspensive.
After apartment hunting Matt, Cath, and I went back to the school and Matt and I ran our first errand for the school, buying scissors and staplers. We did it with not too much drama, we just couldn't figure out how to use the school credit card very easy. (Matt and I had seen the school earlier this morning, Niki gave us a tour.) It's got a long way to go for the opening and the countdown is quickly dwindling, 16 days!!!
Tonight, Matt and I just relaxed and had a good dinner at our hotel. We saw our first bit of rain and happily our first sunset. More hunting tomorrow! Cheers.
After many tearful hugs, pep talks, kisses goodbye we rounded that blasted Gerald R. Ford airport corner. You have to wait in the security line, but you can't see your families anymore. (You just have to know they are back there crying.) We made it through security and got what would be the first of many weird looks as we brought our ginormous hiking backpacks onto the plane. We quite freaked out when we got to the gate and the stewardess told us they had to go below, only because they were too big for our small plane. We got them back in Jersey.
Jersey was great. We saw New York (thought about sneaking over for a quick visit) across the tarmack as we ate one last American meal at the Jazz Cafe. Tuna Salad and a Cheeseburger with chips and cheese. We also each had three glasses of water because supposedly water helps with Jet Lag. Okay really, no it just keeps you peeing throughout your seven hour flight and having to annoyingly ask the nice man sitting next to you to move.
The plane ride was long to A.dam (this is how the locals abbriviate Amersterdam. This is how Matt and I abbriviate it because we think it's funny.) Matt slept a little on the plane; I didn't. Kudos to me for giving him the window sit. It must be because I am so caring and didn't want to sleep. We did get those cool eye masks thinking they would really help, we even had ear plugs. Neither of these overcome turbulence or bladders. Nonetheless, it was a restful flight. We got to watch movies and the food was good. Flying over England got our hearts racing and seeing the North Sea as we flew in started to make it real.
We arrived in A.dam about 6:30 local time. Went through check-in and customs scaringly easy. Then we waited for Willemijn to meet us. I knew her the minute I saw her. Tall, lovely, dressed quite charming of course. We locked eyes and she said, Victoria? I said Willemijn? It was sort of like meeting a long lost Grandmother. And what Grandmother wouldn't buy you Starbucks, buy you extra snacks to make sure you didn't get hungry on the train, give you a cell phone so she can call you, scold you for bringing way to much stuff, hug you and safely put you on your train to Maastricht, with, of course, the tickets she already bought you. And of course she'll call you and hour after you've been on the train to make sure you are okay and awake so as not to miss your stop. She is truly a wonderful blessing.
We made it to Maastricht safely, exhausted and only injured with one badly run-over toe. (Yes, my big toe was run over by my ridiculous 70 pound bad, oh karma.) You see, we had to change trains in Utrecht. This involved lugging four big suitcases off one train and onto another in a matter of six minutes. We got many strange looks since we took up four seats with all of our stuff. Oh well, we knew we'd stick out as Americans coming over. There was no getting around it.
Catherine, (our AMAZING wonderwoman principal), Niki, (our sweet-tuplip assistant principal,) and her four year old dutch/english daughter, Amy met us right off the last train and helped us with our mountain of baggage. (Will called to tell them to bring another car because we had SO much stuff.) Opps! They drove us to our great hotel and took us to lunch. Which lasted about two hours. Mostly because we all had so much to talk about, but also because Matt and I had lots of questions. Niki made us a map of Maastricht and highlighted all the things we needed to know and drew in the chinese restaurant, pizza places, and super markets. She also made us a welcome bag of snacks and other goodies. Gotta love great people.
After lunch, Niki and Amy departed and Catherine played tour guide. Let me tell you, this woman wears many hats and enjoys them all. Cath showed us all around they city and Matt got to learn some new facts. The best part was defintiely the old mill and the gelato Catherine bought us. That's never going to get old. We located some supermarkets, fun shopping and lots of good restaurants. Cath is also a foodie so we're all going to be great friends.
On the way back from the city center, Matt and I stopped at Albert Heijn (the super market) and bought food we could have for dinner. We fell asleep before we could ever eat it.
Saturday we slept until 12:00 noon and then met with Cath she had found some rental agencies for us to begin looking at apartments. So we walked around with her for a few hours and then went to dinner on the river. It was our offical welcome dinner. Cath was there and so was Niki, Amy and Niki's husband, Rob. Also our other assistanct principal Janet (from Sault St. Marie, Canada side) and her boyfriend (German) Mike, came too. Janet is awesome as well and is definitely the doer of the group. She has more energy than 10 people put together. Dinner was great and I got to take Amy to the playground. Always good to make friends with the small people. They really back you up. And Amy speaks more Dutch them me so I am hoping she'll give me lessons.
Sunday, Matt and I finally had a day to take it all in and be to ourselves. We rented bikes from our hotel and made our butts saddle-sore from the ridiculous amount of riding. We went everywhere and Matt showed me all the spots he had been, where he studied, and bought me pizza at his favorite, Nora's. It was good and the owner is a riot. We came back exhausted again and looked at a lot of online apartments and set up the ones we wanted to see.
Monday, Call one to the rental agencies: no your favorite apartment is for sale, not for rent.....le sigh.... so quickly your dreams are crushed. But no worries we saw three others today and have four more to see tomorrow. We liked two today and hopefully will settle on one tomorrow. It's much different here when getting an apartment because you have to go through a rental company like a relator to see an apartment. And then of course pay them a lovely fee. Only it's not so lovely, just exspensive.
After apartment hunting Matt, Cath, and I went back to the school and Matt and I ran our first errand for the school, buying scissors and staplers. We did it with not too much drama, we just couldn't figure out how to use the school credit card very easy. (Matt and I had seen the school earlier this morning, Niki gave us a tour.) It's got a long way to go for the opening and the countdown is quickly dwindling, 16 days!!!
Tonight, Matt and I just relaxed and had a good dinner at our hotel. We saw our first bit of rain and happily our first sunset. More hunting tomorrow! Cheers.
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