Happy Hump day!

It's Wednesday which means I am 1/2 way though the week! (well, I guess that means you are too.. .not only me...) The kids have today off from school. Teacher work day or some such thing. So Maurien's sister and her kids came down to play for the morning. And then later this afternoon we are going to carve pumpkins. Can't wait!!! I'm so glad that Camille introduced them to this last year, its going to be great!!
Today is a pretty dreary day in Wassenaar... the weather can't decide what it should do, so it decided to just be gray and windy. Finally this morning when I took Bumpy for a walk I saw a few tree's with some yellow leaves on them.. no red, or orange ones.. but hey, I'll take what I can get! :o) Now that the leaves are changing that means that Halloween is almost here.. which means its only a few more days until I can say "I'm going home next month" Whoop!!!! Yay! *little.. ok, BIG happy dance* And this also means that it is only 1 month and 2 days until I can break out the Christmas music... I don't know if I'll be able to wait.. but I'll try.... And even if I can make it until then, I've been told that Christmas doesn't even really start to happen around here until December 6th.. the day after Sinterclause. Sorry people, I'm American.. Christmas starts the day after Thanksgiving... I won't be able to wait another 11 days... So... only 1 month and 2 days till Christmas music starts playing in my room... and only 6 weeks and 5 days until I go home. Yiiiiiippppppeeee! I can't believe I've been here 2 months already. Time really has flown by.. and I think I'm finally starting to find my way here. Yesterday I went and signed up at the gym for some classes.. I'm going to try Zumba and Yoga.. which means I HAVE to go shopping.. darn it anyways. I need to get some new shoes (they check to make sure they are clean before you can walk into the gym...) and a yoga mat. Shucks anyway. Hate it when I'm forced to do some shopping :o) I'm really looking forward to the classes though, it will give me something to do a couple mornings a week, get me out of the house and doing something productive. It will be quite nice I think... Well guys. I'm off to run to the nursery to pick up some pumpkins.. I'll post pics of us with the final product.. can't wait! Have a happy hump day! See ya'll in 6 weeks! yay!

Gouda or bust...

So Saturday Rachel and I decided to meet at Central Station and then decide where we should go for the day. So we decided on Gouda. Which, sidenote.. I've been saying wrong (and I bet you have too) my entire life... it is indeed pronounced... how-da (use a slight hairball on the "h" and you should have it). Anyways. We had zero idea how long it would take to get there, so we find a couple empty seats on the train and make ourselves comfortable.. about 20 min later we were there. Crazy! I for sure thought it would take at least an hour! It was a very pleasant surprise. But, much to our dismay it was pouring down rain. And I do mean pouring. Sheets and sheets of rain. So. Here we are in a town, no map deciding to go exploring in the pouring rain... lucky for us we remembered our umbrella's.. 1st stop was to find a shop that sold hats so our ears wouldn't freeze off our heads. Next stop, the market. We figured we were in a town named after cheese surely there would be some awesome cheese vendors... not so much. just a few and they all smelled like cleats that got left in a gym bag after football practice.. PEEEEWWWWW-WWEEEE! So we walk around a little more, find this adorable little church looking place, go in and find out it's a museum. So we get our tickets and start exploring. The first thing we see in the museum is this little sign painted on the wall:


Right about then we realized this was not going to be a normal museum, but we kept going. We saw lots of old stuff, nothing super interesting.. things like old chairs, old wood burning stoves, old silver brushes etc... then we got to this room that sounded like someone was dying in it.. it was TERRIBLE. We literally ran through that room. I'm pretty sure there were graves in there, but the room was pretty dark and they had this overhead projector showing weird images on it.. we didn't stick around to really examine them.. the next room was filled with swords and such and then we went downstairs where they had some monk looking robes and shackles and chains and hand cuff things.. I think maybe they tortured people down there.. another reason not to become a monk.... anyways, so we went back upstairs saw some other interesting things ran back through the creepy room and back outside. Not impressed. We were so disappointed that the building looked so cool, and yet it was so so weird. Here is a picture of the little archway we walked under to get to the building..

and I think this is the view of the church from the alley way, I forgot to take a picture of it when I was out front..
No wait... actually... I think this is the church with the super cool stained glass in it, but you had to pay just to see the stained glass.. we decided we didn't want to have to pay to go into church.. maybe we are becoming true dutch women.. penny pinchers... anyways.. so after our little creepy museum/church thing we decided to warm up with some hot cocoa (which tastes like warmed up Yuhooo, or however you spell it). After warming up we decided to see the cheese museum. I mean, we were in cheese town, you have to see the museum right? Wrong. Apparently some tour group reserved it for the whole afternoon. Lame. So we tried some cheese and headed home. It was an extremely disappointing trip. But we decided that it's a pretty cute town, and maybe, just maybe we will come back in the spring on a nice day... But now I can say I've been to Gouda, and had some cheese there. Yum!

Kids are smarter than I thought!

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Ok. So. Here I thought that me coming here would be to maybe be a "bright and shining light" for this family. I had no idea what my purpose for coming here would be. I knew that this is where I was supposed to be, but I had zero idea why. So, I've been doing my own thing mostly. Chatting with the kids, trying to be the best example I can be. Giving English lessons etc. Well. Buddha is kind of a big deal in this area apparently.. or at least in the school that the kids go to.. or maybe Max is just friends with Buddhists.. I don't really know.. but he always asks questions about Buddha. Now.. let me remind you that I grew up in a christian family, and was very involved in church and pretty sheltered. After I left home I went to Branson, MO.. aka Bible Belt USA. Went to a christian college. No Buddha. Never really been exposed to Buddha. I just know that he is something that I don't believe in, something that kind of gives me the creeps when I think about it. And something that makes me sad when I hear about people worshiping Buddha... Now lets come back to today... Max and Jonas got into a fight right before Max had his English lesson. Max lied to me about what happened so for our Bible lesson (Maurien really encourages this) I decided to read the 10 commandments. Everyone should at least be aware of these, and I can never read them to many times because they are always relevant. So. We are reading them and I'm doing my best to explain them to Max as we go along. So he asks what it means to have no false idols and to not worship any other god other than the real God. Which then led into a talk about Buddha. And apparently Maurien has been teaching Max about Buddha as a cultural lesson. Which is fine. He needs to know about Buddha so he can make his own opinions about him and such. So Max asks if Buddha comes from satan. Crap. Pretty much I felt like I was going down a slippery mudslide faster than I was ready for. So, Max and I googled where Buddha came from and how he was a person and how people now worship him. I told him I think Buddha is a false idol and worshiping him makes Jesus very sad. And worshiping Buddha won't get you into heaven. So then he asks about Allah. Again, I know NOTHING about allah. Zero. Other than he comes from the Koran. So Max tells me that Allah is a gentle god and yada yada ya. So I tell him this, Max.. my God is the only God. He is a God that has been around since the begining of time. He made the earth, he made animals, he came to earth, died and rose again. He is a God who loves us no matter what. And He is a man of integrity, and someone who I can't live without. All these other "gods" are recent "gods." They have been around for a very short time compared to my God. So then he asks if these other "gods" come from satan. I know that the answer is yes, so I tell him I'm pretty sure they are. So..we finish our English lesson. Maurien asks how it went. I tell her it was excellent and that Max had lots of interesting questions. She asks if they are about the Bible. I say yes. So she tells me that the last time Max and I talked about Buddha he got upset with her when she was trying to tell him about Buddha. And told her that Buddha is from Satan and he doesn't want to learn about something from the devil............... Crap. Good for Max, however I think its important that he learns about this stuff that way he doesn't look like a deer in the headlights like I do when he talks to me about this stuff... Anyways. Maurien asked if she and I could sit down and talk about this stuff. I don't want to step on toes, and I don't want to cross a line, but I don't want to be timid either. She needs to know that this is garbage. That buddha is not a real god. Yes he might have been a real person but he's dead now and that's the end. I'm nervous to talk to her about this. I"m glad Max asks great questions but sometimes I wish he wouldn't, especially when its about something I know very little about. I wish that the church would offer classes about other religions so we could see the differences. I know they offer Alpha class, and that is great. It does prove that God exists.. but its frustrating not knowing about anything else. And I think its ridiculous that we don't know about anything other than our God. Like I said, kids are smarter and more inquisitive than I gave credit for... Does anyone know of a good book I can read that explains these different religions so I'm not caught off guard again? Or a good book that i can share with Max about different religions and how our God is the real God?

Not always rainbows and butterflies

Well. I think I've hit the 2 month slump. Honeymoon period is over. It was fun while it lasted though! :o) I felt pretty discouraged and pretty homesick for my mama's hug and my daddy's "hang in there" chat. But thank goodness for technology because it gave me the gift of Skype. After chatting with mom for about 30 min I felt better. So I jumped on my bike rode into Wassenaar and bought some cute dutch looking material to do a craft with, and stopped at the flower shop to buy myself some Gerber daises on the way home. I didn't even mind it when it started pouring (and I do mean pouring, hard pellets of rain) on me. It was sort of refreshing.. kind of like God washing away the bad mood, the homesickness and anything else that needed to be washed away. I started singing "Healing Rain" by Michale W. Smith in my head (I can't carry a tune to save my life so I thought I'd spare nature and anyone who happened to ride by the sound of me singing like a dying cat). When I got home I changed into sweats and did my craft and then played games with Jonas when he got home. It was really nice. We ended up having about 2 1/2 hrs to ourselves between the time he got home and the time everyone else made it home. I"m feeling much better today, Maurien seemed a bit upset with me this morning. So I apologized for (I took a guess at what was really bothering her..) a poor attitude due to some homesickness yesterday. She appreciated it and then went on to let me know what I "should be doing with my time here." Aka.. find stuff to do during the day so you are away from the house. I think I will join the gym and beg the church office for something to do once a week and see if the other au pairs want to get together for coffee once a week. That will give me at least 2 hrs away from the house a few times a week. Hopefully that will help smooth things over and maybe keep be from getting annoyed as well. Like I said. Honeymoon period is over. But that's alright. I'm very much looking forward to the next couple of months! I'm going to Belgium with my friend Rachel (from Georgia) the 1st weekend in November and we are going to Germany the 1st weekend in December. I can't wait! Its going to be so much fun and then before I know it... home sweet home! Yippie!! Can't wait! Oh.. and here are some pictures of what I've been up to around town lately..








Wittenburg Castle


They even rolled out the red carpet for me :o)

Mexican restaurant.. sort of.. pretty good for the Dutch version of how Mexican tastes and since there are only a handful of these places in Holland, I won't be too picky :o) P.S. That is Jonas


Pien! I had a funny picture of Max holding a bottle of "tequilla" (bottle full of water as a joke for the kids) but I didn't think it would be a good picture to post just in case....



The Queen

Prince and Princess ( I don't know for sure which prince this is...)

Breakfast of champions. Even people in castles know how to eat a good breakfast :o)




This is the "oude Wassenaar" castle. Pretty cool. The locals use it for meetings and such now.. it was locked so I couldn't go in, but it was pretty to look at on the outside

laaaaaazy weekend

So this weekend is a lazy weekend for sure! Steve and Sheila are back in the states so I'm watching the dog and the cats for the weekend. It's nice to just have a lazy girls weekend sometimes. Rachel is coming over tonight to spend the night with me and I think tomorrow we are going to go into Den Hauge to a museum. Pretty low key. But next week the kids have their fall break so they will all be home, with friends, all week. crazy time! But I'm really looking forward to it. One day we are going to Maurien's dad's house and another day we are going to Rotterdam and another day we are going to Amsterdam. Lots of time with the kids and maurien but I'm really looking forward to it! And in a couple weeks Rachel (from Atlanta) and I are going to Brussels!! Yay!! I'm really looking forward to that!! It should really be a lot of fun I think! Well. Not much else to say. And my delicious chocolate chip cookies are done so I better grab 'em :o) Have a great weekend!

Twas the night before Friday

Twas the night before Friday and all through the house everyone was sleeping except for one who was weeping (with joy of course)
You see this girl realized with glee tomorrow was Friday so she shouted YIPPEE!

haha. Ok I probably got a bigger giggle out of that than you guys will but hey, it's almost Friday!! Yay oh yay oh yay! This week has seemed to drag on and on and on! Wait, I take that back.. Tuesday and Wednesday dragged on and on and on.. today went pretty quickly. I have no plans so far for the weekend and that is just fine with me. Hopefully I'll get some sleep in time. Get a good bike ride in and maybe go someplace new. We'll see.
Today I met up with the girls (rachel, rachel and Jaclyn) and we went out for coffee at coffee and company. They have this funny drink called a bambino. Its as fun to write as it is to say :o) It's basically glorified chocolate milk from what I understand.. but apparently it's delicious. I had a chai latte, I think I'll get the bambino next time. Then we went shopping. Always a great way to spend a day.. and some money.. I got a sweater (on sale of course) and a coat (also on sale of course) it was a good day. Should any one decide to come to Holland. Never leave your jackets at home. It's a terrible idea. You should also bring winter boots, rain boots, t-shirts and mittens. Actually. Just pack your whole closet. You'll need it all in a week. The weather cracks me up. Everyone always says " sunny one day, snowing the next.. welcome to (insert state here)" in Holland it's more like.. cold, dreary and pouring down rain? Go downstairs get your coffee and by the time you are done it will be 70 and sunny. Seriously. Its nuts. On Tuesday I went to the beach for lunch, it was dreary, and chilly. By the time the waitress got around to taking our order (after we flagged her down, but thats another story) it was sunny. Crazy. But I don't mind. You know what they say "just roll with it"

Well guys. I'm off to get some sleep. Tomorrow is a busy day, ok not the morning but the afternoon... Maurien's big SOS Childrens fund dinner is tomorrow. She's crazy stressed (say a quick prayer for her) and she will be gone all day. That means I get the house, and the kids to myself. yay! I'll also be taking my 2nd Taxi of my life tomorrow. And I have to figure out how to pronounce the name of the street that we are going to so that we actually get to where we need to be. Hah! Since Maurien will be gone this means she can't take the boys to swimming. They have lessons at 3.. they get out at 2:45. It's a 15 min bike ride... So. She is getting us a Taxi (heheh, I'm excited) and i'll take it to school, then to the pool then back home. Then the boys and I will make pizza for dinner and watch a movie, probably transformers since they are obsessed :o) And then.. it will be Saturday. I'm doing a pre weekend dance, you should probably do one too..
Well goodnight. Have a great rest of your day! Hugs to all (especially my parents. Love you both!!)

I've been initiated

Well guys. Good news. I've been initiated. It's true. Now I can say I really live in Holland.. but 1st a little back ground information...
Today is freedom day, or something like that in Leiden. They won some sort of war or something. I don't really understand it. So a whole group (it started out as 4 and ended up with 10!) Went to Leiden to check out the festival. We decided to meet at the train station at 9:45am and head on in. So since it was a beautiful morning I decided to hop on drope (i decided to name my bike drope because it's very black, and very dutch just like the candy.. heheh) and ride on into Central Station. So we hop on the train to Leiden, stop in Starbucks (it's not a common thing here, so now it's tradition.. Leiden = a necessary stop to Starbucks) and then we headed into the city center. Well, we realize that not much is going on, so we head to the market and then ask someone when everything starts. This person says " the rides open at 2, the parade is at 6 and the music starts at 9." Awesome. It's 11:30.. what are we supposed to do for the next several hours? Eat. and Eat. and eat. I think I"m going to have a junk food hangover tomorrow. We had a delicious sandwich, pofferjes, soda, Starbucks, and then later pizza. Now.. let's not forget that I live with a family who try's to be healthy, so junk food is no longer normal for me, so to eat this much junk is terrible. Ick! Anyways.. So we ate, rode this big swing ride that takes you clear up high so you can see the whole city and then sat down in a park. By now it was about 3:30 and I was partied out. Lot's of walking and lot's of eating, I was ready for a nap. So my friend Rachel (the one from Atlanta Georgia, not the one I met at church) and I headed back to Den Haag. Well on the way back we decided that we were hungry and Domino's sounded really great as did watching some Glee or something American. So we headed to her house to pick up her bike and it starts to drizzle a little. No big deal. We get the bike and within 10 min it is raining a little harder, by the time we got to my house we looked like a couple of drowned rats. Mascara all over. Soaked to the bone. And good news. I didn't have a rain jacket or anything. Just this flimsy "emergency poncho" which does nothing for you really. We just had to laugh though because we left and it was so sunny, and we got home and we looked like drowed rats. We decided we had been officially initiated by Holland. Lol. So we threw our jeans in the dryer while we waited for the rain to calm down before heading over to Sheil's to watch some good TV and figure out how to order pizza in this country (turns out it's not to hard, you just have to listen to them jabber on about their special and then say, "English please" then they don't repeat it but they say ok what can we get you.) p.s. I like that I don't always understand what they are saying b/c then if they say something crazy I don't know, and it gets me out of talking to a lot of solicitors too. haha! After a nice pizza, good tv and being dry I headed home, in the rain (with my rain jacket this time) and now I'm headed to bed to sleep off this junk food. I'm hoping that today I rode my bike fast enough (I beat a record for getting home on a bike I"m pretty sure) and long enough to have burned off at least some of the calories from today's food and last night's food! haha
Speaking of last night.. if you ever have a chance to go to Rodizo's, GO! It is so yummy!! I went to 1 in Springfield a couple years ago, and we went to one last night with Val and Erv, and Steve and Sheila, and Barb and George (I think that's his name.. sorry if it isn't!) it was so much fun. They bring all different meats out to you on a stick and just cut some off and then they bring out more and more and more. If you walk away hungry.. it's your own fault! And this place had Brazilian dancers. It was so fun!!!!
Well ya'll. I'm beyond exhausted. Time for some nice shut eye :o)



yum



I think this pretty much sums up Leiden. Lot's of canals. Heck, I think this pretty much sums up Holland..


haha!! LOVE Val's face! The Brazilian Dancers would come around and pick people to dance, and they wouldn't take no for an answer. Thank goodness they left me alone :o)


Poor Erv. He wanted nothing to do with this girl.. but he managed an embarrassed smile
The 3 dancers