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...