Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
April Showers bring....Volcanic Dust clouds????
Happy Spring all!!! Today finally feels like it's arrived. I even got to go out and updated my spring wardrobe. Now if only I can find shoes. I may wait until we head home. We are getting ready for lots of exciting things. We have our school musical coming up this week. It has been a big undertaking that both Matt and I have volunteered to help with but it has been really fun. It is called Aesop's Fables and is really cute. The teachers are even singing a song. We are also getting ready to move at the end of the month into a house and we've bought a car to go along with it. It will just be a rented house but it has a garden...a tub... and two bedrooms (guestroom anyone??) I will really miss the city as it is on the outskirts a bit more, but the country will be right across the street. I am really looking forward to this.
We are anticipating two visit home this summer!! We have two weddings and with the second we hope to spend a lot of time at home just enjoying a Michigan summer and friends. Hopefully the Volcanic cloud will have blown away by then.
Our Dutch is continuing to improve. We still can't speak too much but are starting to understand the conversations that are going on around us. We only have four more lessons left and we're done with the entry class!
One really fun thing we've started is cooking date night. This is good because we make a special meal, and save money instead of going out. The rules are it has to be a new recipe we've never tried before, it has to be presented in a special way and we usually make/get a dessert too!!! It's a bit fun because sometimes we feel like we are on one of those cooking shows and it's been a good thing to force us to make more interesting dishes and it allows us to spend quality time together. I highly recommend it if you can find...(which you probably can't so you need to make) the time.
Our congratualtions go out to many families who've had their new babies, Noah Spedding arrived April 9, Issac Andrew Baareman arrived April 5. Both my cousins and Matt's cousins welcomed new babies as well, Madison Orefice and Levi Mast. Happy times.
Hope all is well with everyone around the world! Blessings to all!!!
We are anticipating two visit home this summer!! We have two weddings and with the second we hope to spend a lot of time at home just enjoying a Michigan summer and friends. Hopefully the Volcanic cloud will have blown away by then.
Our Dutch is continuing to improve. We still can't speak too much but are starting to understand the conversations that are going on around us. We only have four more lessons left and we're done with the entry class!
One really fun thing we've started is cooking date night. This is good because we make a special meal, and save money instead of going out. The rules are it has to be a new recipe we've never tried before, it has to be presented in a special way and we usually make/get a dessert too!!! It's a bit fun because sometimes we feel like we are on one of those cooking shows and it's been a good thing to force us to make more interesting dishes and it allows us to spend quality time together. I highly recommend it if you can find...(which you probably can't so you need to make) the time.
Our congratualtions go out to many families who've had their new babies, Noah Spedding arrived April 9, Issac Andrew Baareman arrived April 5. Both my cousins and Matt's cousins welcomed new babies as well, Madison Orefice and Levi Mast. Happy times.
Hope all is well with everyone around the world! Blessings to all!!!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
March Update
Well, well, well....March is here and now I am 26. Yes, that downward slant toward thirty. I feel older but not wiser :) Well...maybe. It was a lovely birthday weekend. Matt provided me with my usual scavanger hunt of birthday clues and goodies followed by the big ending reveal that we were going away to THE SEA!!! We spent the weekend in Oostende, Belgium where I got the best b-day present of all, a sunset. We weren't totally in love with Oostende, espeically since it was Carnaval there. (we didn't know, it was lame and not cool at all like Maastricht's) but I had read about another close by beachy resort town so Sunday we ventured over there! It was AWESOME. Just like being on Mackinaw Island. So cute and quaint. We had gelatto and strolled in the sand. Watched the kites whirl in the wind and the kids in their wellies, kersplash in the puddles/waves. Don't get me wrong. It was indeed bitter cold but the shining sun warmed our hearts and even put a little color back in my face. :) It was great to feel like we were in Michigan because we were surrounded by dunes and beach grass. AHhhhh....
I was also blessed with a great celebration at school. My kids were so sweet and thoughtful and we really have a fun day. I was sung to in English and Polish and got lots of nice messages... and with Dutch tradition kisses from my collegaues. To wish congratualations on a birthday they kiss you on the cheek (three times) and your family members too. So Matt got birthday congratulations kisses for my birthday too. It was really nice. We went to Dutch class the night of my birthday and a collegeaue brough champagne (yes to class) to celebrate and then Matt and I went for a nice dinner at a Greek restaurant. I got a lot of sweets and Matt bought me a piggy bank which is tradition to have in all houses here. They have the coolest ones and I have been wanting one for awhile. Pictures to come via facebook. I also got a few books, tea, chocolate, a nice jacket from my family and some gift cards and lovely pictures of my family back home. Plus a little garden...Two hyacinths and a daffodil. It's like spring in my house!!!! Ahhh....
School continues to go well. My teaching partner had her last day yesterday. I am utterly devestated by this as we have messed into one person and made teaching so organzied and easy. Plus she has become a great friend and it's been fun to go through her pregnancy with her. I know we'll stay in touch but I will really miss her. On a happy note, she has a wonderful replacement who I think I will become good friends with as well! :)
Two weekends ago Matt and I house sat for friends with two teenage boys. It was a fun and enlightening experience. The boys were great. We watched a lot of TV, played a lot of WII and computer. Plus they eat a ton of food!!! The life of boys....
This weekend we are off doing lots of church things and Matt maybe appointed to church council. We are also going house hunitng this week (to rent) as we'd like to move in May out of the city a bit!
Lots of celebrations: Christina got a long term sub job, lots of babies on the way (Julie (best friend/sister due in a few weeks) , Alycia (sister due with a girl in July), Michelle (friend due in August boy), Shawna (cousin having a girl soon), Suzanne (teaching partner due in April) plus many other former collegues and another current collegeuas. We have a few high school graduations coming up to celebrate. We have three weddings coming up this summer/fall and are just extrememly happy. Thanks for all your prayers and support. Lots of love from the Netherlands!!!!!!
I was also blessed with a great celebration at school. My kids were so sweet and thoughtful and we really have a fun day. I was sung to in English and Polish and got lots of nice messages... and with Dutch tradition kisses from my collegaues. To wish congratualations on a birthday they kiss you on the cheek (three times) and your family members too. So Matt got birthday congratulations kisses for my birthday too. It was really nice. We went to Dutch class the night of my birthday and a collegeaue brough champagne (yes to class) to celebrate and then Matt and I went for a nice dinner at a Greek restaurant. I got a lot of sweets and Matt bought me a piggy bank which is tradition to have in all houses here. They have the coolest ones and I have been wanting one for awhile. Pictures to come via facebook. I also got a few books, tea, chocolate, a nice jacket from my family and some gift cards and lovely pictures of my family back home. Plus a little garden...Two hyacinths and a daffodil. It's like spring in my house!!!! Ahhh....
School continues to go well. My teaching partner had her last day yesterday. I am utterly devestated by this as we have messed into one person and made teaching so organzied and easy. Plus she has become a great friend and it's been fun to go through her pregnancy with her. I know we'll stay in touch but I will really miss her. On a happy note, she has a wonderful replacement who I think I will become good friends with as well! :)
Two weekends ago Matt and I house sat for friends with two teenage boys. It was a fun and enlightening experience. The boys were great. We watched a lot of TV, played a lot of WII and computer. Plus they eat a ton of food!!! The life of boys....
This weekend we are off doing lots of church things and Matt maybe appointed to church council. We are also going house hunitng this week (to rent) as we'd like to move in May out of the city a bit!
Lots of celebrations: Christina got a long term sub job, lots of babies on the way (Julie (best friend/sister due in a few weeks) , Alycia (sister due with a girl in July), Michelle (friend due in August boy), Shawna (cousin having a girl soon), Suzanne (teaching partner due in April) plus many other former collegues and another current collegeuas. We have a few high school graduations coming up to celebrate. We have three weddings coming up this summer/fall and are just extrememly happy. Thanks for all your prayers and support. Lots of love from the Netherlands!!!!!!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
International Fair and the start of Carnaval
Alright, well I promised to write about the international fair. It was wonderful. All week at school we had international week. Each class chooses a different country to represent, learns about it and then presents about it to the rest of the school. Our class made a video all about what we learned and South Africa. You can see it on our class website as well as some pictures from the fair. I have shared them on the blog. Anyway, the on Saturday all the families of our school come together to teach others about their home country, share travel info, traditions and the best part... food. YUM. So there are many booths set up and each country of our school is represented. Some examples were: Iceland, Greece, Poland, America, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, South Africa, Isreal, Italy, Spain, Holland, Germany, Austria, Austrailia, France, and many more. Of course all our students wanted us to try food from their country so we were really full when we were done :). About half way through the day there was a performance and there were songs, dances, and other acts to represent something of the countries that were there. My favorite was some of the Indian kids (who have also lived in Michigan :) ) danced to a song from Slumdog Millionaire. They were all in their traditional dress and it was so beautiful. We walked around some more after the performance and met up with my teaching partner Suzanne and her husband Mathew. We then went out for drinks with them after the fair and it was nice just to chat. Suzanne has three weeks left and then she's off on her materinity leave.
This week was another crazy week of school because it's Carnaval here. We experienced it first on Thursday, dressing up with our kids at school. I also linked the wesite to the blog. The kids looked great and I wore a blue wig :) courtesy of Suzanne. Then, yesterday we had a professional development day and at 5:00 had cultural time and as a staff all went for drinks and dinner in town. It is already really crazy here. Someone said it will be like living inside a night club for a week. All the bars/restaurants have their tables pulled out and no chairs so they can cram more people in and people overflow into the streets even. There's lots of singing of old fashioned Omm Paa Paa songs as Catherine calls it. And lots of clinking of beer glass/mugs. We had dinner at a nice Greek restaurant and by 10;00 Matt and I were exhausted and ready to go home. Even now I can hear the beat of the music playing somewhere nearby and I wonder how we will be able to sleep tonight? I asked my friend Joey what the average person spends on Carnaval and he said about 300 euro, just for food and beer. It offically lasts from Sunday to Tuesday but everyone started drinking last night. Everything is decorated with red, yellow, and green, along with lots of clowns and confetti. The best part, which I can't wait for, is supposed to be the parades. People all belong to a float group and they start working on the float and costumes in October. Some of the things we have seen already are SO beautiful. Our friend Audrey is in a group that walks in a "Light Parade" which we hope to see tomorrow night. Sometimes, it's like we live in Epcot Center at Disney World. So far no plans to go away but we'll see what Tuesday brings. I am off to brave the grocery store since things will be crazy for like the next two days.
Oh and let me tell you, we are offically Dutch now since we rode our bikes to school three days this week.....IN THE SNOW!!!!!
Tot ziens.
This week was another crazy week of school because it's Carnaval here. We experienced it first on Thursday, dressing up with our kids at school. I also linked the wesite to the blog. The kids looked great and I wore a blue wig :) courtesy of Suzanne. Then, yesterday we had a professional development day and at 5:00 had cultural time and as a staff all went for drinks and dinner in town. It is already really crazy here. Someone said it will be like living inside a night club for a week. All the bars/restaurants have their tables pulled out and no chairs so they can cram more people in and people overflow into the streets even. There's lots of singing of old fashioned Omm Paa Paa songs as Catherine calls it. And lots of clinking of beer glass/mugs. We had dinner at a nice Greek restaurant and by 10;00 Matt and I were exhausted and ready to go home. Even now I can hear the beat of the music playing somewhere nearby and I wonder how we will be able to sleep tonight? I asked my friend Joey what the average person spends on Carnaval and he said about 300 euro, just for food and beer. It offically lasts from Sunday to Tuesday but everyone started drinking last night. Everything is decorated with red, yellow, and green, along with lots of clowns and confetti. The best part, which I can't wait for, is supposed to be the parades. People all belong to a float group and they start working on the float and costumes in October. Some of the things we have seen already are SO beautiful. Our friend Audrey is in a group that walks in a "Light Parade" which we hope to see tomorrow night. Sometimes, it's like we live in Epcot Center at Disney World. So far no plans to go away but we'll see what Tuesday brings. I am off to brave the grocery store since things will be crazy for like the next two days.
Oh and let me tell you, we are offically Dutch now since we rode our bikes to school three days this week.....IN THE SNOW!!!!!
Tot ziens.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Ice is not our friend!! The weather here is crazy!!! We had inside recess for the first time today because they playground was TOO ICY to play on, that's a bit weird.
On a happy note, we've made some new friends who are our age. Matt and Sarah are two missionairies here from the states. They just meet each other here and are friends, working with an older couple here. They are seeing what the need is and hope to start a church. We met them at our church and then invited them over for dinner the next day. :) It was a total God thing. I was just telling Matt at church how I wasn't good at making friends and as I was saying this, he was walking towards them and saying hi. Then next thing I knew I was inviting them to dinner. We are excited to see where these friendships will go and how they will fit into our church or we in their church. We are also excited because are going to help start/lead a worship team at our church. We are going to A.dam on Saturday for a worship conference with some people from our church. Yes, I volunteered to get up early. Ugggg..
School continues to improve and we are all getting excited because Carnaval (equvivalent of Mardi Gras) is coming up the week of the 15th. For Dutch people this means loud music, parties in the streets, and beer. Even better for us....a week off!! We are looking at going to a spa hotel somewhere to really relax for a few days and hope to spend a few days with our good friends Suzanne and Mathew before they become parents for the first time in April.
Have no fear... I did teach my kids about Groundhog's Day today and read a cute book I have. Thanks to my wonderful mother, I also have Valentine's decorations up in my classroom and did find some candy hearts with sayings on them here so we can do a candy heart graph. I also read some books in January on MLK Jr. They're learning :) and me too. I'll write about International Week and the amazingness of it next time.... till then!!!
Grace and Peace.
On a happy note, we've made some new friends who are our age. Matt and Sarah are two missionairies here from the states. They just meet each other here and are friends, working with an older couple here. They are seeing what the need is and hope to start a church. We met them at our church and then invited them over for dinner the next day. :) It was a total God thing. I was just telling Matt at church how I wasn't good at making friends and as I was saying this, he was walking towards them and saying hi. Then next thing I knew I was inviting them to dinner. We are excited to see where these friendships will go and how they will fit into our church or we in their church. We are also excited because are going to help start/lead a worship team at our church. We are going to A.dam on Saturday for a worship conference with some people from our church. Yes, I volunteered to get up early. Ugggg..
School continues to improve and we are all getting excited because Carnaval (equvivalent of Mardi Gras) is coming up the week of the 15th. For Dutch people this means loud music, parties in the streets, and beer. Even better for us....a week off!! We are looking at going to a spa hotel somewhere to really relax for a few days and hope to spend a few days with our good friends Suzanne and Mathew before they become parents for the first time in April.
Have no fear... I did teach my kids about Groundhog's Day today and read a cute book I have. Thanks to my wonderful mother, I also have Valentine's decorations up in my classroom and did find some candy hearts with sayings on them here so we can do a candy heart graph. I also read some books in January on MLK Jr. They're learning :) and me too. I'll write about International Week and the amazingness of it next time.... till then!!!
Grace and Peace.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
A blog long overdue
Okay,
It's official, I am not a true blogger. I'd really like to be and I hoped/thought I would be but it's just not happening. Perhaps I will try to motivate myself more so I can keep you all informed. Mostly, as my smart husband reminded me tonight, I need to do it for myself and my sanity.
Being back here since Christmas has been great. We really love it here. It was nice to be back in the states. It was definitely a whirlwind though. Our best times were spent with family and friends and a wonderful day spent to ourselves, walking around the farm. It has snowed and was freezing (literally) but the sun was trying to poke out. So we decided to take the new camera out for a few shots. They turned out absolutely beautiful and we feel so blessed to have a place like the farm to travel to and just "be" in.
Another best part about being home was going to Mars Hill. It was one of the things that really felt like coming home. It was awesome just to run into friends and people we see there. To me, there really is something truly special about that place, and no it's not just Rob Bell.
Since we've been back, we finally feel like we live here. It's been about five months and all our paperwork, school stuff, etc. has been settled. We can speak a little Dutch, pay our bills on-line (in google translated Dutch) and we finally figured out how to watch American shows here. Ahhh...the small comforts of home. And just in time for Lost. (Hate to say it, but can't wait!!!)
We love grocery shopping, taking the bus (okay not really) walking around our city and our fabulous church and great church friends. We also finally got bikes, so we are truly Dutch now.
We were blessed two weekends ago to be invited to a friends wedding. She was married in the church we attend and it was gorgeous. She was also a stunning bride. Weddings are mostly the same here, however at the wedding, the bride and groom are already legally married. You have to go to the court and be married before you can have a church wedding. The ceremony was pretty traditional with vows and songs etc. It was cool because the groom's dad married them and the service was in English and Dutch. We also sang Spanish and Portuguese songs. They had a mini reception where they had a sparkler candle on their cake while they cut it. This was really cool. Then they were off to Spain for a honeymoon. For a wedding you get a week off of work no matter what the time and it doesn't count out of your vacation time. (Seriously, in the US we work to hard.)
Segway into maternity leaves...no not for me. My teaching partner is soon leaving me...this deeply saddens me. Her baby is coming the beginning of April and this makes me happy. She however, gets 4 weeks off before the baby comes and 12 weeks after!!!! I also have a Canadian friend who got a whole year off (in Canada) 80% paid. The mom can take half the year and the dad the other half too. What is wrong with the US that we overwork ourselves so much? Sometimes, I think we don't slow down enough to enjoy life.
Being European I can tell you I am looking forward to my next holiday...in 2 weeks!! We were going to go to Iceland and went to book the trip but there were no tickets left for what we wanted to do. :( So we've decided to save up for something a bit bigger during our 2 week spring break and just do something small. We haven't yet decided what we are doing but it's Carnival during the February break so we need to get away. I tell you more about it, after it happens.
At school this week, it has been International Week. SO COOL! Each class studies a different country. (We did South Africa) and Matt's class Hungary. You do activities and learn all about your country and then present it. We are also taking a field trip to the nearby African museum. (Sorry, Chris, it's actually really close to the cemetery too. Next time) On Saturday, the kids and there parents put on a fair and make food and dress up and tell all about their cultures. I am excited and looking forward to this event and all the lovely food. Again, I'll fill you in with more later.
For now, it's up to my snoring husband as it's much to late past my bedtime.
Good night!!!
It's official, I am not a true blogger. I'd really like to be and I hoped/thought I would be but it's just not happening. Perhaps I will try to motivate myself more so I can keep you all informed. Mostly, as my smart husband reminded me tonight, I need to do it for myself and my sanity.
Being back here since Christmas has been great. We really love it here. It was nice to be back in the states. It was definitely a whirlwind though. Our best times were spent with family and friends and a wonderful day spent to ourselves, walking around the farm. It has snowed and was freezing (literally) but the sun was trying to poke out. So we decided to take the new camera out for a few shots. They turned out absolutely beautiful and we feel so blessed to have a place like the farm to travel to and just "be" in.
Another best part about being home was going to Mars Hill. It was one of the things that really felt like coming home. It was awesome just to run into friends and people we see there. To me, there really is something truly special about that place, and no it's not just Rob Bell.
Since we've been back, we finally feel like we live here. It's been about five months and all our paperwork, school stuff, etc. has been settled. We can speak a little Dutch, pay our bills on-line (in google translated Dutch) and we finally figured out how to watch American shows here. Ahhh...the small comforts of home. And just in time for Lost. (Hate to say it, but can't wait!!!)
We love grocery shopping, taking the bus (okay not really) walking around our city and our fabulous church and great church friends. We also finally got bikes, so we are truly Dutch now.
We were blessed two weekends ago to be invited to a friends wedding. She was married in the church we attend and it was gorgeous. She was also a stunning bride. Weddings are mostly the same here, however at the wedding, the bride and groom are already legally married. You have to go to the court and be married before you can have a church wedding. The ceremony was pretty traditional with vows and songs etc. It was cool because the groom's dad married them and the service was in English and Dutch. We also sang Spanish and Portuguese songs. They had a mini reception where they had a sparkler candle on their cake while they cut it. This was really cool. Then they were off to Spain for a honeymoon. For a wedding you get a week off of work no matter what the time and it doesn't count out of your vacation time. (Seriously, in the US we work to hard.)
Segway into maternity leaves...no not for me. My teaching partner is soon leaving me...this deeply saddens me. Her baby is coming the beginning of April and this makes me happy. She however, gets 4 weeks off before the baby comes and 12 weeks after!!!! I also have a Canadian friend who got a whole year off (in Canada) 80% paid. The mom can take half the year and the dad the other half too. What is wrong with the US that we overwork ourselves so much? Sometimes, I think we don't slow down enough to enjoy life.
Being European I can tell you I am looking forward to my next holiday...in 2 weeks!! We were going to go to Iceland and went to book the trip but there were no tickets left for what we wanted to do. :( So we've decided to save up for something a bit bigger during our 2 week spring break and just do something small. We haven't yet decided what we are doing but it's Carnival during the February break so we need to get away. I tell you more about it, after it happens.
At school this week, it has been International Week. SO COOL! Each class studies a different country. (We did South Africa) and Matt's class Hungary. You do activities and learn all about your country and then present it. We are also taking a field trip to the nearby African museum. (Sorry, Chris, it's actually really close to the cemetery too. Next time) On Saturday, the kids and there parents put on a fair and make food and dress up and tell all about their cultures. I am excited and looking forward to this event and all the lovely food. Again, I'll fill you in with more later.
For now, it's up to my snoring husband as it's much to late past my bedtime.
Good night!!!
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!
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