Sunday, November 28, 2010
so...
SO. It is a mere 16 days until I get to come home I'M SO EXCITED!! I mean really. I'm about ready to burst with excitement! How in the world am I going to last 16 more days? Is it to soon to start packing? lol. All I know is it's a good thing I have plans for this coming weekend and the weekend after that. And then.. dag holland! (bye holland!) and hoy (hi!) home!!!! :o)
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Gobble Gobble!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!! I don't know about all of you, but I have so much to be thankful for this year. Just to name a few:
1) Friends and family who love and support me
2) A job
3) Shelter and food everyday
4) Warm clothes to wear when it's cold
5) A new brother
6) New friends in Holland
7) The opportunity to live in Holland for a year
8) My good health, as well as the good health of all my family
9) Shoes to keep my feet warm and dry
10) All of my senses
Those are just 10. The list could go on and on and on and on. The Lord is so faithful and so good to me. I don't even know why. But I am so grateful that He thinks I'm so special that he would continue to bless me on a daily basis. Even on Thanksgiving. He provided me with good friends and a place to go have a huge Thanksgiving dinner with some new friends. It was wonderful. There were about 47 people who showed up today. All but about 5 were Americans. All far from home, and just wanting to spend a holiday with some friends. It was so nice. However, as a side note... It was a little odd being in a room full of people where I understood every word that everyone was saying... That hasn't happened in about 3 months. It was strange and wonderful.
A friend of mine has a blog and he asked people to write what they were thankful for. Here are just a few.. Some are things I never thought about being thankful for.. maybe this will give you some ideas for when you are sitting around the table with friends and family and everyone is asking what you are thankful for..
I’m thankful for my family, friends and a camera to capture all of the moments
1) Friends and family who love and support me
2) A job
3) Shelter and food everyday
4) Warm clothes to wear when it's cold
5) A new brother
6) New friends in Holland
7) The opportunity to live in Holland for a year
8) My good health, as well as the good health of all my family
9) Shoes to keep my feet warm and dry
10) All of my senses
Those are just 10. The list could go on and on and on and on. The Lord is so faithful and so good to me. I don't even know why. But I am so grateful that He thinks I'm so special that he would continue to bless me on a daily basis. Even on Thanksgiving. He provided me with good friends and a place to go have a huge Thanksgiving dinner with some new friends. It was wonderful. There were about 47 people who showed up today. All but about 5 were Americans. All far from home, and just wanting to spend a holiday with some friends. It was so nice. However, as a side note... It was a little odd being in a room full of people where I understood every word that everyone was saying... That hasn't happened in about 3 months. It was strange and wonderful.
A friend of mine has a blog and he asked people to write what they were thankful for. Here are just a few.. Some are things I never thought about being thankful for.. maybe this will give you some ideas for when you are sitting around the table with friends and family and everyone is asking what you are thankful for..
I’m thankful for my family, friends and a camera to capture all of the moments
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Yay God
Can I just say YAY GOD? Seriously. He is so good. So so so good. I mean honestly. We tend to stick Him in this little tiny pocket sized box and take him out when it's convenient for us and put Him away when we don't want to deal with Him. And yet, He still loves us and He still loves to show off for us and show how much he loves us. What brings this on you may ask.. Well, today I met with my new friend Sarah. Now, Sarah is an amazing woman of God, one who struggles on a regular basis and isn't afraid to admit it. But she is also a woman who gives all the credit to our very very BIG God. Anyways, she and I are working together to put costumes and props together for the Christmas program at our church. She and I had only briefly talked in church, but she invited me over to her house today after she got her kids off to school so we could chat and brainstorm. Obviously God had another agenda. Sure we got the planing done, but He had much bigger plans in store for me when he placed her in my life. You see, here it is November. And I am loving Holland. But because I am human I am always alway always looking to see what the next step is. I don't just "sit back and enjoy the ride" for very long. So she and I are talking about how I got here and why I am here and what I think is going to happen next. I tell her I have absolutly no idea what I am going to do in August. Josh will be in Mexico in Medical school (yay Josh! SO proud of him!) And I will be back in the states (or that's what I think now.. God may move me to Bali or something). I explained to her that I really do feel like I am supposed to be a teacher but that stupid, ridiculously hard PRAXIS test is standing in my way. And I'm telling her how I plan on taking it 1 last time when I get back and we will see what happens from there. What I didn't tell her is that I am also looking at getting my ESL (English as a second language) certification, because with that I can teach English pretty much anywhere in the world. So she pipes up and says, "Angie, I really think that you should look into getting your ESL certification. I don't think you are going to teach in the USA your whole life." Now. Time out. For quite some time now (we are talking years) I've felt like I won't live in the states for a long time, so for her to say that and then bring up the ESL thing was a little weird to me. As if that was not weird enough a bible verse popped into my head( I have no idea where it is from, or what version it is but it goes something like this) I will take you from your land that is familiar and you will do great things before I bring you back again. (that is VERY loosely translated. I think it's somewhere in Jeremiah...) And then the song " if you want me to" popped into my head and it goes like this:
The pathway is broken And the signs are unclear And I don't know the reason why You brought me here But just because You love me the way that You do I'm gonna walk through the valley If You want me to No I'm not who I was When I took my first step And I'm clinging to the promise You're not through with me yet So if all of these trials bring me closer to You Then I will walk through the fire If You want me to It may not be the way I would have chosen When You lead me through a world that's not my home But You never said it would be easy You only said I'll never go alone (yeah oh oh) So when the whole world turns against me And I'm all by myself And I can't hear You answer my cries for help I'll remember the sufferin' Your love put You through And I will walk through the darkness If You want me to 'Cause when I cross over Jordan, I'm gonna sing, gonna shout Gonna look into your eyes and see you never let me down So take me on the pathway that leads me home to you And I will walk through the valley if you want me to Yes, I will walk through the valley if you want me to
So after that little verse and song popped into my head I got all goosebumpy. You know, the kind that you get when you know that God is about to do something that is going to totally blow your socks off? The kind that you get when you realize that life is about to change again so you better be ready.. Yup. Those are the bumps that I got. So Sarah goes to get the costumes and such so we can start sorting and I pick up her Bible and say, Ok God. I don't know what is next. No clue what so ever... So you do your thing and I'll just stand here and watch you move. So I open up the Bible to Psalms 32:8 " I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you... Many are the woes of the wick, but the LORD's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him." Uhhh... Ok God. I get it. I will trust you. I don't know guys. I don't know where I will be in August. I don't know if I will be getting my ESL certification, I don't know if I will be in Bali, Poland, Mexico or Iowa. No idea. But I do know that God showed up big time today. And I know that life for me is about to change again. So, prayers would be appreciated. I don't even know what to pray for really, I guess just prayer that my heart and my mind would be totally open to whatever God has is store for me. But seriously. Yay God. Yay for showing up and using Sarah to speak out loud what I had only been thinking privately in my head. Man, I am so excited what comes next! Yay!Sunday, November 14, 2010
Belgium
What an amazing weekend!! Holy cow, I had so much fun! The rain couldn't even damper my mood, maybe my feet, my head and my backpack, but not my mood. The girls and I finally made it to Belgium. And we had so so so much fun! It would take ages and ages to write the things that we saw, did, and laughed about. So, I"m going to try and outline this, I'm sure it will still be long, but hopefully it isn't sooooooooooooo long :o)
Saturday:
~ 3 of us left to meet the other 2 in Antwerp. We get to the station, purchase our tickets, the person tells us that we don't need to switch trains again after the 1st stop. So we hop on the train switch trains at the 1st stop and get a few towns down the tracks and notice that our train now says that it is going to Amsterdam... So, we get off and try and figure out what the heck is going on because we were heading South towards Antwerp and now we are going North? What???? So the train guys tell us that our ticket seller didn't know what he was talking about and that we missed our connecting train by 10 minutes and the next one leaves in an hour.. Frustration because we were supposed to meet the other girls at 11 and our phones didn't work in Belgium so we couldn't call. The man felt bad for us girls and gave us free coffee coupons... I think he must have been married because he knows coffee and chocolate cure all :o)
~ We finally make it to Antwerp, turns out the other girls got there just a few minutes before us so it was fine. We head out of the station into the rain. Map in hand and an idea of what we wanted to do we headed to find the castle.
~ On the way a man stops and asks me if I am from Iowa because I am carrying a Hawkeye umbrella, I said yep! Turns out his daughter is going to Iowa for college. Small world :o)
~ We found the oldest Gothic church in Belgium (supposedly) on the way to the castle. Words can not even begin to decribe the coolness of this church. I mean seriously. HUGE. GINORMOUS and BEAUTIFUL are just 3 words that I can use to start to describe it. I'll tell you about it if you ask.. really. It was incredible! And it was built 3 or 4 CENTURIES ago. Cool huh? Ya. Way cool.
~ On the way to the castle we noticed that Sinterkalus was going to be coming, but there were so many kids that we got away from the crowd and went to this bridge to see all the chaos from afar, and we got free red fleece hats with an "A" for Antwerp (or Angie) :o) Pretty sweet since it was cold and rainy out!
~ Finally we made it to the castle but we couldn't go in.. but we didn't know we couldn't go in... So Rachel starts pulling on the door and this brute man with his pants rolled up flings the door open (causing 3 of the 5 of us, and no I wasn't one of them) to scream and jump. SOO funny! Oh my gosh we laughed about that the rest of the day. The castle troll, as we so lovenly named him, told us in no uncertain terms that the castle was closed.
~ On the way back we got our 1st sample of Belgium chocolate. and it was wonderful! It was extra yummy because they put chocolate liqueur (sp?) in these little chocolate cups. So so good. Mmmm!
~ Before getting back on the train we made a very important stop... Starbucks. You see, here in Holland you don't really have Starbucks, and Europe in general (well, Belgium and Holland is all I know...) doesn't really have Starbucks everywhere.. Anyways, this Starbucks had the toffee nut, and gingerbread lattes. So we HAD to stop of course :o)
~ We decided to skip Ghent because we didn't really know what to do there and it was getting dark and still raining.. so we went on to Brugge.
~ Once in Brugge we walked around in circles about 25 times before we finally found our cute little hostel. It was down this little alleyway (don't worry, it was well lit and perfectly safe). We got checked in and our 1 night roommates were 2 girls from the states and they are studying in London. We were glad (or at least I was) that we didn't get put with some crazies :o)
~ Now, as you know Belgium has, chocolate, waffles and beer. I love the 1st 2, can't stand beer though. ICK! Seriously, something that smells that bad can't taste any better. Ew. But since I was in Belgium and our dinner came with a free beer I tried it. Ya, I was right. It is still just as nasty as the last time I tried it. Even in Belgium. However, I did try a rasberry beer and that was quite nice. It tasted more like juice than beer so now I can say I had chocolate, waffles and beer in Belgium. But I still don't think I'll start buying beer. *shudder* ick.
Ok. Give your eyes a break... Ok.. you good? Ok. Here we go again...
Sunday:
~ We were determined to sleep in since nothing opens until 10 so we set our alarms for 9:30 and went to sleep. At 8:30 we were all awake. This au pairing business is making it tricky to sleep in on the weekends. Our bodies are so used to waking up at 7 that 8:30 is really sleeping in. HA!
~ We had some yummy waffles for breakfast. I had one with chocolate. I mean, why not? I'm in Belgium. Who cares? And it was delicious! :o)
~ We went and saw a couple random things... well, 3 of the girls went to these museums, another girl and I went and bought chocolate :o) and then we were off again.
~ We found the chocolate museum. It was a little interesting to see how chocolate became popular. But I wouldn't recommend seeing it. It was kind of lame. The end was neat though because they had huge statues made of chocolate.
~ Then we found the french fry museum. That was a little better than the chocolate museum, but still pretty lame. But hey, we got fries at the fry museum and chocolate at the chocolate museum so I guess you can't really complain :o)
~ We spent a lot of Sunday wandering around. Nothing super exciting, but it was a lot of fun. We headed back to good 'ole Holland early evening and now here I am. Back in 1 piece.
I survived my 1st Hostle experience. Had a beer that I kind of enjoyed, ate lots and lots of amazing chocolate and had 3 waffles. And memories to last a lifetime. I would say this weekend was a great success. And I would absolutly recommend seeing Brugge if you ever get to Europe. It is such a sweet, cute town. I loved it!!
I'll post some pictures later. I'm way exhausted tonight. But they are on my facebook if you are dying to see them tonight. ha!
Have a great week everyone!!
Saturday:
~ 3 of us left to meet the other 2 in Antwerp. We get to the station, purchase our tickets, the person tells us that we don't need to switch trains again after the 1st stop. So we hop on the train switch trains at the 1st stop and get a few towns down the tracks and notice that our train now says that it is going to Amsterdam... So, we get off and try and figure out what the heck is going on because we were heading South towards Antwerp and now we are going North? What???? So the train guys tell us that our ticket seller didn't know what he was talking about and that we missed our connecting train by 10 minutes and the next one leaves in an hour.. Frustration because we were supposed to meet the other girls at 11 and our phones didn't work in Belgium so we couldn't call. The man felt bad for us girls and gave us free coffee coupons... I think he must have been married because he knows coffee and chocolate cure all :o)
~ We finally make it to Antwerp, turns out the other girls got there just a few minutes before us so it was fine. We head out of the station into the rain. Map in hand and an idea of what we wanted to do we headed to find the castle.
~ On the way a man stops and asks me if I am from Iowa because I am carrying a Hawkeye umbrella, I said yep! Turns out his daughter is going to Iowa for college. Small world :o)
~ We found the oldest Gothic church in Belgium (supposedly) on the way to the castle. Words can not even begin to decribe the coolness of this church. I mean seriously. HUGE. GINORMOUS and BEAUTIFUL are just 3 words that I can use to start to describe it. I'll tell you about it if you ask.. really. It was incredible! And it was built 3 or 4 CENTURIES ago. Cool huh? Ya. Way cool.
~ On the way to the castle we noticed that Sinterkalus was going to be coming, but there were so many kids that we got away from the crowd and went to this bridge to see all the chaos from afar, and we got free red fleece hats with an "A" for Antwerp (or Angie) :o) Pretty sweet since it was cold and rainy out!
~ Finally we made it to the castle but we couldn't go in.. but we didn't know we couldn't go in... So Rachel starts pulling on the door and this brute man with his pants rolled up flings the door open (causing 3 of the 5 of us, and no I wasn't one of them) to scream and jump. SOO funny! Oh my gosh we laughed about that the rest of the day. The castle troll, as we so lovenly named him, told us in no uncertain terms that the castle was closed.
~ On the way back we got our 1st sample of Belgium chocolate. and it was wonderful! It was extra yummy because they put chocolate liqueur (sp?) in these little chocolate cups. So so good. Mmmm!
~ Before getting back on the train we made a very important stop... Starbucks. You see, here in Holland you don't really have Starbucks, and Europe in general (well, Belgium and Holland is all I know...) doesn't really have Starbucks everywhere.. Anyways, this Starbucks had the toffee nut, and gingerbread lattes. So we HAD to stop of course :o)
~ We decided to skip Ghent because we didn't really know what to do there and it was getting dark and still raining.. so we went on to Brugge.
~ Once in Brugge we walked around in circles about 25 times before we finally found our cute little hostel. It was down this little alleyway (don't worry, it was well lit and perfectly safe). We got checked in and our 1 night roommates were 2 girls from the states and they are studying in London. We were glad (or at least I was) that we didn't get put with some crazies :o)
~ Now, as you know Belgium has, chocolate, waffles and beer. I love the 1st 2, can't stand beer though. ICK! Seriously, something that smells that bad can't taste any better. Ew. But since I was in Belgium and our dinner came with a free beer I tried it. Ya, I was right. It is still just as nasty as the last time I tried it. Even in Belgium. However, I did try a rasberry beer and that was quite nice. It tasted more like juice than beer so now I can say I had chocolate, waffles and beer in Belgium. But I still don't think I'll start buying beer. *shudder* ick.
Ok. Give your eyes a break... Ok.. you good? Ok. Here we go again...
Sunday:
~ We were determined to sleep in since nothing opens until 10 so we set our alarms for 9:30 and went to sleep. At 8:30 we were all awake. This au pairing business is making it tricky to sleep in on the weekends. Our bodies are so used to waking up at 7 that 8:30 is really sleeping in. HA!
~ We had some yummy waffles for breakfast. I had one with chocolate. I mean, why not? I'm in Belgium. Who cares? And it was delicious! :o)
~ We went and saw a couple random things... well, 3 of the girls went to these museums, another girl and I went and bought chocolate :o) and then we were off again.
~ We found the chocolate museum. It was a little interesting to see how chocolate became popular. But I wouldn't recommend seeing it. It was kind of lame. The end was neat though because they had huge statues made of chocolate.
~ Then we found the french fry museum. That was a little better than the chocolate museum, but still pretty lame. But hey, we got fries at the fry museum and chocolate at the chocolate museum so I guess you can't really complain :o)
~ We spent a lot of Sunday wandering around. Nothing super exciting, but it was a lot of fun. We headed back to good 'ole Holland early evening and now here I am. Back in 1 piece.
I survived my 1st Hostle experience. Had a beer that I kind of enjoyed, ate lots and lots of amazing chocolate and had 3 waffles. And memories to last a lifetime. I would say this weekend was a great success. And I would absolutly recommend seeing Brugge if you ever get to Europe. It is such a sweet, cute town. I loved it!!
I'll post some pictures later. I'm way exhausted tonight. But they are on my facebook if you are dying to see them tonight. ha!
Have a great week everyone!!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
T minus 34 days
34 days!!! I can't believe I'll be home in 34 days! ahh!! Ok. So. Sometimes I feel like I complain a bit about situations here or things in general that I don't like. And since this is November I think I should make a list of things that I do like about being here...
1) The family. Even though we sometimes get on each other's nerves at the end of the day, I am so glad that I live with this family. The kids love to laugh (so do the parents for that matter), they tease each other (and me) just like in my family, they love to play games and they pretty much accept me for who I am.
2) My bike. Silly I know. But seriously. I love having a bike to ride around on (unless it is raining and then I am a wimp)
3) The public transportation here. It rocks. I get on and off at the bus stop less than 2 min from my house. I can take the train pretty much anywhere and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. It's pretty much the equivalent of a 1/2 a tank of gas. It's great.
4) My church. I love my church. It is a very diverse group of people who go there. We have people for lots of different countries and cultures and it makes it really fun to go and meet people.
5) Holland in general. I love how small it is. LOVE it. In the states you drive for an hour and you get to Des Moines or Springfield (depending on who you are that is reading this and where you are). In Holland you can be in Belgium, or a long ways from Den Haag (depending on if you take the stop train or the fast train). It's great.
6) Skype. I love love love skype! It makes everyone feel so much closer somehow. Just being able to call and see their smiling faces makes all the difference. Heck, even just using skype to call without the video is nice. Just hearing the people that I love is so great.
7) Sheila (and her family). This family is truly a blessing to me. They took me in right away. They live super close ( 3 songs away on my ipod to be exact). And they are just so kind. I still can't get over how good God is. I mean seriously. Of all the places in the world that I could have gone, God sends me to Wassenaar, Holland and I have family less than 15 min away (by bike). Honestly. How cool is that?
8) I'm so thankful for this amazing opportunity. I mean, how often does someone get a chance to go live and work in another country for a year? I always wanted to see Europe but I never knew how it was going to work since I knew I would have to work in order to see any of Europe. And now I have the chance to work with 3 delightful (sometimes ornery) kids AND travel on the weekends. Even if I don't get to see even 5 other countries while I'm here, I'm so glad that I get to be in Holland where my Dutch roots run deep and explore the motherland.
9) Haagelslag. HA! Seriously. SO GOOD! (it is pronounced haggel- sla) its tiny little chocolate sprinkles and get this.. they eat it on their bread for breakfast! WONDERFUL! Where else can you eat chocolate on your bread for breakfast? I mean really? It's great (i'm also glad we live near a gym...)
10) Finally, for today I am so incredibly grateful for the friends God has blessed me with for this year. I remember praying, more like begging/telling God to give me at least 1 friend that I could hang out with this year, and he has given me 3 good friends (plus I just met a new girl last week). Way more than I asked for.
I am so blessed. So so sooo blessed. I sometimes wonder why I think God won't come through. With friends, finances, tickets to come home for Christmas or my need for a Mountain dew fix (Sheila is my hook up for the last one). He always always does. Sometimes I think he likes to make me sweat before he comes in at the last minute. But I know he will always come through. In some way he always does. Maybe not the way I thought he would, but always in the end he does.
So. Thank you Lord for all these blessings and all the thousands more that I can't think of now. And thank you for all my friends and family who give me support in all that I do. Thank you father. Thank you so very very much.
1) The family. Even though we sometimes get on each other's nerves at the end of the day, I am so glad that I live with this family. The kids love to laugh (so do the parents for that matter), they tease each other (and me) just like in my family, they love to play games and they pretty much accept me for who I am.
2) My bike. Silly I know. But seriously. I love having a bike to ride around on (unless it is raining and then I am a wimp)
3) The public transportation here. It rocks. I get on and off at the bus stop less than 2 min from my house. I can take the train pretty much anywhere and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. It's pretty much the equivalent of a 1/2 a tank of gas. It's great.
4) My church. I love my church. It is a very diverse group of people who go there. We have people for lots of different countries and cultures and it makes it really fun to go and meet people.
5) Holland in general. I love how small it is. LOVE it. In the states you drive for an hour and you get to Des Moines or Springfield (depending on who you are that is reading this and where you are). In Holland you can be in Belgium, or a long ways from Den Haag (depending on if you take the stop train or the fast train). It's great.
6) Skype. I love love love skype! It makes everyone feel so much closer somehow. Just being able to call and see their smiling faces makes all the difference. Heck, even just using skype to call without the video is nice. Just hearing the people that I love is so great.
7) Sheila (and her family). This family is truly a blessing to me. They took me in right away. They live super close ( 3 songs away on my ipod to be exact). And they are just so kind. I still can't get over how good God is. I mean seriously. Of all the places in the world that I could have gone, God sends me to Wassenaar, Holland and I have family less than 15 min away (by bike). Honestly. How cool is that?
8) I'm so thankful for this amazing opportunity. I mean, how often does someone get a chance to go live and work in another country for a year? I always wanted to see Europe but I never knew how it was going to work since I knew I would have to work in order to see any of Europe. And now I have the chance to work with 3 delightful (sometimes ornery) kids AND travel on the weekends. Even if I don't get to see even 5 other countries while I'm here, I'm so glad that I get to be in Holland where my Dutch roots run deep and explore the motherland.
9) Haagelslag. HA! Seriously. SO GOOD! (it is pronounced haggel- sla) its tiny little chocolate sprinkles and get this.. they eat it on their bread for breakfast! WONDERFUL! Where else can you eat chocolate on your bread for breakfast? I mean really? It's great (i'm also glad we live near a gym...)
10) Finally, for today I am so incredibly grateful for the friends God has blessed me with for this year. I remember praying, more like begging/telling God to give me at least 1 friend that I could hang out with this year, and he has given me 3 good friends (plus I just met a new girl last week). Way more than I asked for.
I am so blessed. So so sooo blessed. I sometimes wonder why I think God won't come through. With friends, finances, tickets to come home for Christmas or my need for a Mountain dew fix (Sheila is my hook up for the last one). He always always does. Sometimes I think he likes to make me sweat before he comes in at the last minute. But I know he will always come through. In some way he always does. Maybe not the way I thought he would, but always in the end he does.
So. Thank you Lord for all these blessings and all the thousands more that I can't think of now. And thank you for all my friends and family who give me support in all that I do. Thank you father. Thank you so very very much.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
picture blog
Ok. I forgot to post pics in my last blog. So here are lots in this one :o)
Bike "garage" in Amsterdam
Diamonds.. a girls best friend
I amsterdam
Central Station in Amsterdam
Jonas and his pumpkin
This is how Max felt....
Pien and the pumpkin guts
The bike you ride if you have little kids
Fall is coming! yay!!
Bike "garage" in Amsterdam
Diamonds.. a girls best friend
I amsterdam
Central Station in Amsterdam
Jonas and his pumpkin
This is how Max felt....
Pien and the pumpkin guts
The bike you ride if you have little kids
Fall is coming! yay!!
hip hip Horray!
Hip Hip Horray! Hip Hip Horray! It is NOVEMBER!!!!!! Which means, I have successfully survived 2 full months in the motherland. It has been fun, challenging, exciting and sometimes boring. But I have survived. I've already learned so much, its amazing. I've learned a few basic phrases (don't try and speak dutch to me when I come home at Christmas though because I'll still look at you like you have a foot growing out of your forehead), I've learned how to navigate public transportation, I've learned how to ride my bike on a crowded street (and be aggressive) and I've learned to never ever ever judge what the weather is going to be like just by looking outside. Honest to goodness truth, people all over the states say "just wait 5 minutes it will change." Guys, you got nothin' on Holland. It is crazy!!! I'll be at the beach and it will be raining and literally 2 minutes later the sun will be shining and the clouds will go away, I'll go inside to grab some lunch and when I come back out it is pouring down rain. It's nuts. I just don't even know how to describe it. So seriously, I always carry an umbrella, a rain jacket and wear boots everywhere. Lol. Also, I've learned to never ever talk politics with a Dutchie. Just don't do it. They know way more about the Politics in our great country than you do. Guarantee. The only thing is, they get their information from the "International Tribune" and those writers are usually Dutchies writing about the States. It's funny to read their version, and then go onto Foxnews or MSN news and see what is REALLY going on. It cracks me up. But seriously, the Dutch love to talk politics with Americans. Maurien and I talk about politics quite often, and even though we are on completely different sides of how politics go, it's interesting to talk to her about them. To hear her opinions. The only thing is... the Dutch are also very proud and think they are always always right. And that's all I'll say about that. HA!
Moving on. I honestly can't believe I've been here 2 months. And in a short 6 weeks I'll be on a plane getting ready to land in Orlando to catch my connecting flight into Des Moines. I just can't wait. Really I can't. And at the same time I wonder what it will be like for me. I mean, here I am, in a totally different country 7 time zones away (well, 6 for 1 week since we already had daylight savings time) doing my own thing. I take care of 3 kids for a few hours a day and the rest of the day is mine. If I want to go anywhere I hop on my bike or the bus or the train and go. The food is more bland here, but the sweets are wonderful (not as sweet as in the states, but still scrumptious!) There are oodles of museums to see and lots of forest to explore. So I'm a little nervous about going home for 3 weeks and not knowing what to do with myself. I'm sure it will be fine, but I still can't help but wonder. The best part about the whole time will be the fact that once again I can just pick up the phone and call mom or dad and not have to calculate the time difference. And even better than that I can just wait to see them when they get home from work. Not to mention that on the glorious day of December 14th, 2010 I will be seeing Josh! Whoop!! Bear with me for a second while I go into "ohhhh Josh" mode. Being away from him (7 time zones) has been a challenge for sure. But it's kind of been fun. Not fun like whoooo-hooooo fun, but fun as in,, I feel like we are learning more. It's cool. Don't get me wrong, some days I miss him so much I feel ill, but for the most part.. I'm so grateful that we get this time to really discover more about us and to really get our relationship more God focused. Most of you have been there, in the dating scene where you are so wrapped up in each other that sometimes God get's pushed to the side just a bit. So I think it's so good that we can refocus and come out better. Ok. Throw up now if you must. But I'm done. (p.s. josh if you are reading this.. only 42 more days! yay) ok. really, I'm done now :o)
Last week I did get to carve pumpkins with the kids. It was SUPER fun! Halloween is just starting to come around here so the kids haven't really carved before. I think Camille did it with them last year, but it was still really fun for them this year, and Maurien couldn't get over how good the pumpkins looked. :o) The kids went "trickertreating" (that's how Max wrote it on his note to me) Saturday night and I passed out candy when I got back from Amsterdam. It was fun to see all the costumes, but here they think that it all has to be scary. Nothing cute and innocent. It's all sculls, dead brides, evil witches, Frankenstein etc.. no pigs in a blanket or static cling or bumble bee's... And no, sadly I didn't get to see the Princesses. Bummer. Well, at least I don't think I saw them....
Saturday during the day we headed to Amsterdam instead of Utrecht. It was really fun. We walked around a lot.. and now I know 100000% what weed smells like. I wasn't totally sure before, but now I KNOW. Ick ick ick! We passed so many "coffee houses" it was unreal! And they were all full for the most part. Old men and women, younger kids, hippies, business people, toursits, you name it, they were there. And it was so funny because a lot of the places offered "free breakfast before 11:30" we cracked up every time we saw one of those signs. haha. We went to the Van Gough museum and the diamond museum.. they were pretty cool. I went to the Van Gough one the 1st week I was here, but I was so jet lagged that I didn't remember a lot of it.. but the diamond museum.. that was cool. And we decided since we were having a girls day we might as well go in (actually its more like a girl's year, but still...) They had huge diamonds and teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeny tiny little diamonds (including the smallest diamond ever). It was neat. It was a small museum but it was still fun to see.
This weekend Rachel G and Niki, a new au pair, and I are going to Belgium. We are going to Brugge and Ghent on Friday and then on Saturday we are meeting Rachel P and Jaclyn in Brussels and then we are going to take a late train home on Saturday. I can't wait! Its going to be so much fun!! And yes, I will be eating Belgium waffles and Belgium Chocolate :o) I think I'll eat really healthy the rest of the week so I don't feel so bad this weekend when I eat all the bad stuff. Hahah. Well, this is turning into a novel. So I should go. Hope you all remembered to vote today!
Dag!! (pronounced daah, it means bye)
Moving on. I honestly can't believe I've been here 2 months. And in a short 6 weeks I'll be on a plane getting ready to land in Orlando to catch my connecting flight into Des Moines. I just can't wait. Really I can't. And at the same time I wonder what it will be like for me. I mean, here I am, in a totally different country 7 time zones away (well, 6 for 1 week since we already had daylight savings time) doing my own thing. I take care of 3 kids for a few hours a day and the rest of the day is mine. If I want to go anywhere I hop on my bike or the bus or the train and go. The food is more bland here, but the sweets are wonderful (not as sweet as in the states, but still scrumptious!) There are oodles of museums to see and lots of forest to explore. So I'm a little nervous about going home for 3 weeks and not knowing what to do with myself. I'm sure it will be fine, but I still can't help but wonder. The best part about the whole time will be the fact that once again I can just pick up the phone and call mom or dad and not have to calculate the time difference. And even better than that I can just wait to see them when they get home from work. Not to mention that on the glorious day of December 14th, 2010 I will be seeing Josh! Whoop!! Bear with me for a second while I go into "ohhhh Josh" mode. Being away from him (7 time zones) has been a challenge for sure. But it's kind of been fun. Not fun like whoooo-hooooo fun, but fun as in,, I feel like we are learning more. It's cool. Don't get me wrong, some days I miss him so much I feel ill, but for the most part.. I'm so grateful that we get this time to really discover more about us and to really get our relationship more God focused. Most of you have been there, in the dating scene where you are so wrapped up in each other that sometimes God get's pushed to the side just a bit. So I think it's so good that we can refocus and come out better. Ok. Throw up now if you must. But I'm done. (p.s. josh if you are reading this.. only 42 more days! yay) ok. really, I'm done now :o)
Last week I did get to carve pumpkins with the kids. It was SUPER fun! Halloween is just starting to come around here so the kids haven't really carved before. I think Camille did it with them last year, but it was still really fun for them this year, and Maurien couldn't get over how good the pumpkins looked. :o) The kids went "trickertreating" (that's how Max wrote it on his note to me) Saturday night and I passed out candy when I got back from Amsterdam. It was fun to see all the costumes, but here they think that it all has to be scary. Nothing cute and innocent. It's all sculls, dead brides, evil witches, Frankenstein etc.. no pigs in a blanket or static cling or bumble bee's... And no, sadly I didn't get to see the Princesses. Bummer. Well, at least I don't think I saw them....
Saturday during the day we headed to Amsterdam instead of Utrecht. It was really fun. We walked around a lot.. and now I know 100000% what weed smells like. I wasn't totally sure before, but now I KNOW. Ick ick ick! We passed so many "coffee houses" it was unreal! And they were all full for the most part. Old men and women, younger kids, hippies, business people, toursits, you name it, they were there. And it was so funny because a lot of the places offered "free breakfast before 11:30" we cracked up every time we saw one of those signs. haha. We went to the Van Gough museum and the diamond museum.. they were pretty cool. I went to the Van Gough one the 1st week I was here, but I was so jet lagged that I didn't remember a lot of it.. but the diamond museum.. that was cool. And we decided since we were having a girls day we might as well go in (actually its more like a girl's year, but still...) They had huge diamonds and teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeny tiny little diamonds (including the smallest diamond ever). It was neat. It was a small museum but it was still fun to see.
This weekend Rachel G and Niki, a new au pair, and I are going to Belgium. We are going to Brugge and Ghent on Friday and then on Saturday we are meeting Rachel P and Jaclyn in Brussels and then we are going to take a late train home on Saturday. I can't wait! Its going to be so much fun!! And yes, I will be eating Belgium waffles and Belgium Chocolate :o) I think I'll eat really healthy the rest of the week so I don't feel so bad this weekend when I eat all the bad stuff. Hahah. Well, this is turning into a novel. So I should go. Hope you all remembered to vote today!
Dag!! (pronounced daah, it means bye)
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I’m thankful for eyes & hears to hear & see my lil girl & wife. They bring me so much joy & to be able to see my daughter grow & hear both her & my wife tell me they love me just brings me so much joy! Not too mention I love being able to see the beauty around me & capture that with a camera as well!!
I am thankful for a beautiful family to share a warm meal with, a roof over our heads, and the love that abounds in my heart for the “little things” everyday
I’m thankful for the opportunity of being able to attend University. The fact that I’m able to be educated makes me so fortunate. There are so many people in the world who are unable to attend school or receive any formal education. In a way, they are they reason I go to school, because I can! I’m so thankful for thatI am thankful that my life has purpose, that no situation in my life has been wasted, and that i am loved unconditionally
Though I am thankful for many things, I am most thankful for having a job after being unemployed for most of this year.
I hope each and every one of you have a very blessed, turkey filled, laugh until your tummy hurts Thanksgiving. I am so incredibly grateful for each of you. Happy Turkey day everyone!!
Gobble Gobble!!