Hi. So I posted yesterday but lost it b/c the internet crashed...I am not doing well with this whole blog thing!:D oh well. I know how to sign in now in less than a minute! As for pictures...it will take me probably another week to figure that one out...sorry to keep you waiting but I have been taking some...particularly of the snow that we had yesterday...as meyke and I were playing x-box (I have a tough life don't I...haha) we noticed and then went picture crazy to show it off to you guys...nothin like yours though and it's all gone now.
Anyway it is the cold weather that is to blame for my biggest mix up...I was so busy getting the forst off the windows and hustling the girls that I forgot their lunches!!!! gasp...ten times worse than driving on a bike path...try explaining that you will hand deliver them to a girl that is about to burst into tears who does not speak english...fun. Too bad I didn't know where her class was or even what grade she is in...I'm a terrible au pair;D!
So that's about the extent of my excitement. I wanted to mention something about the mornings here. I was facinated the first morning that I drove the girls to school b/c as you turn onto the big road all you can see for miles are millions of little red lights...I was so confused at first and then I realized that they were all the bikes...I can't even begin to explain it...it just facinates me! A pain to drive with when you have to turn though...imagine a new standanrd driver trying to turn, thinking about what pedal to push down, what gear to switch to, trying not to stale and then watching for bikers at the same time...not to mention that they are always there so inevitably you need to stop which means you need to start again while on a hill with a car right on your tail end...fun...yeah. Anyway I haven't hit a biker or car yet so I'm doing well.
That's all I have time for now but til' next time!
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Monday, January 22, 2007
SO here I am again and this time I think it took me about half an hour to get into this thing...I could get annoyed but I am not!
So I see Albert has commented on the lack of dutch. Let me explain. I am learning dutch very quickly (and even quicker after next week when I start my lessons!). I ask what words mean when I hear them a lot and as I sit in church and have no idea what is going on I take out my english books and the dutch ones and do a little comparing so that I can actually figure out what the minister is talking about...it's quite effective I must say. So I want to write down the words that I know but the problem is I know them to say them (minus the terrible accent so people actually can't understand what I am saying) but when I go to write them I realize I don't even know where to begin! I have been here long enough to know that when in doubt add a j...am I right albert:D? So mijn most important word happens to be kijken....??? which means watch or look...imagine that hey...I never would have guess. Anyway leven is life (learnt that one in church) and then there are all the words that basically sound english but are spelt differently like for and voor.
So that's about it for the dutch lessons. I had a pretty facinating end of the week last week...it started thursday with the biggest storm since 1990. Now as someone coming from Canada wind doesn't seem very intimidating so I wasn't thinking there was anything wrong...you know the road was covered with branches but nothing major. It wasn't until I was about to enter the Albert Hein and noticed it was closed and then saw the huge windows that had fallen out everywhere and smashed to pieces in the parking lot and then a big fireman comes running at me talking in fast dutch thatI realized this might be out of the ordinary. When I hear storm I think snow...but anyway it was ok on our end but I can't say the same for everyone in the country.
I got to go to Den Haag on Friday and got a behind the scene tour of a panorama painted by Mesdag...I have never seen anything more amazing in my life...no pictures were allowed but I will try and maybe add a link of the website....it was as if I was standing on a beach dune and looking out at the surrounding scene....in real life but it was a painting!
So that about all my excitement other than meeting and talking with extremely interesting people, one of them being an 84 women who has been everywhere and seen everything. Oh and of course I guess I should mention the fact that I am basically famous here...haha I have no idea why! On sat. the oldest girl's friend came in the house before a hockey game and turned to her friend and said "wow it's the new au pair from Canada" and then continued to stare at me and watch my every move for about 20 minutes...a little awkward considering I couldn't even talk with her b/c of the language but nice to know that someone thinks I'm facinating in this world!:D
So I will leave you on that note..haha! Enjoy the snow!!!!! I am incredibly jealous I cannot even explain it!
Dag!
So I see Albert has commented on the lack of dutch. Let me explain. I am learning dutch very quickly (and even quicker after next week when I start my lessons!). I ask what words mean when I hear them a lot and as I sit in church and have no idea what is going on I take out my english books and the dutch ones and do a little comparing so that I can actually figure out what the minister is talking about...it's quite effective I must say. So I want to write down the words that I know but the problem is I know them to say them (minus the terrible accent so people actually can't understand what I am saying) but when I go to write them I realize I don't even know where to begin! I have been here long enough to know that when in doubt add a j...am I right albert:D? So mijn most important word happens to be kijken....??? which means watch or look...imagine that hey...I never would have guess. Anyway leven is life (learnt that one in church) and then there are all the words that basically sound english but are spelt differently like for and voor.
So that's about it for the dutch lessons. I had a pretty facinating end of the week last week...it started thursday with the biggest storm since 1990. Now as someone coming from Canada wind doesn't seem very intimidating so I wasn't thinking there was anything wrong...you know the road was covered with branches but nothing major. It wasn't until I was about to enter the Albert Hein and noticed it was closed and then saw the huge windows that had fallen out everywhere and smashed to pieces in the parking lot and then a big fireman comes running at me talking in fast dutch thatI realized this might be out of the ordinary. When I hear storm I think snow...but anyway it was ok on our end but I can't say the same for everyone in the country.
I got to go to Den Haag on Friday and got a behind the scene tour of a panorama painted by Mesdag...I have never seen anything more amazing in my life...no pictures were allowed but I will try and maybe add a link of the website....it was as if I was standing on a beach dune and looking out at the surrounding scene....in real life but it was a painting!
So that about all my excitement other than meeting and talking with extremely interesting people, one of them being an 84 women who has been everywhere and seen everything. Oh and of course I guess I should mention the fact that I am basically famous here...haha I have no idea why! On sat. the oldest girl's friend came in the house before a hockey game and turned to her friend and said "wow it's the new au pair from Canada" and then continued to stare at me and watch my every move for about 20 minutes...a little awkward considering I couldn't even talk with her b/c of the language but nice to know that someone thinks I'm facinating in this world!:D
So I will leave you on that note..haha! Enjoy the snow!!!!! I am incredibly jealous I cannot even explain it!
Dag!
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
So here I am again...after about 15 min. of trying to figure out my username...I still don't know it but somehow I can post.
Well it's been awhile since i've sent out an email telling people about what I actually do. My last email I was talking about the crazy lady so I think I should start there to clear some things out b/c I've think I've given the wrong impressions! Crazy lady was an au pair for the family 8 years ago. Since then she has gotten married to a Friesan and has continued living with the family from Sunday night to Thursday doing the things that I must do. So she was teaching me things for the first 2 weeks. Now why is she crazy people have been asking...well she really isn't she's just very particular and I was having a hard time with that..so particular that she refolded my towels and told me how to put a cup into the dishwasher... anyway she is a very sweet lady and I still talk with her on the phone (when she calls to make sure I am doing things right..haha;) but don't worry she asks if i am offended by that and i sweetly say "no not at all...i appreciate it"...so at least she realizes she's a little crazy and is really just trying to be helpful).
Anyway this is my first week of doing things on my own. Getting the kids to school was fine minus the 5 times I stalled and made the kids gasp about 50 times....but really i am getting better at standard....I only stale about twice each trip now. Oh and of course the first day as I was driving down a "street" which turned out to be a bike path...There were cars parked on the side I swear but I knew something was wrong when a biker gave me a funny look but I just smiled sweetly as if I knew what I was doing and proceeded to drive down the curb and into the bus lane....noticing later that the police station was on the other side of me...minor issue really. and the kids weren't in the car so it's all good.
Really my life consists of driving kids around, cooking dinner for kids that only eat brocolli, pasta, and plain hamburgers, and ironing. FUN hey!!!!!haha it's a little more than that. I am making friends already. Three close friends consist of one from Finland, another from Mexico and another from Peru. We have fun together and it's really neat communicating. The two from Finland and Peru have perfect english and the one from Mexico has perfect french and spanish so when we are together we switch between english, french, spanish and then all of us together throw in the dutch words and accents that we have acquired since coming. I will admit it's a lot of fun!
Well I\m off to do my driving task now....sorry if this is boring...I have yet to master the art of blogging...I'll catch on soon enough!
Well it's been awhile since i've sent out an email telling people about what I actually do. My last email I was talking about the crazy lady so I think I should start there to clear some things out b/c I've think I've given the wrong impressions! Crazy lady was an au pair for the family 8 years ago. Since then she has gotten married to a Friesan and has continued living with the family from Sunday night to Thursday doing the things that I must do. So she was teaching me things for the first 2 weeks. Now why is she crazy people have been asking...well she really isn't she's just very particular and I was having a hard time with that..so particular that she refolded my towels and told me how to put a cup into the dishwasher... anyway she is a very sweet lady and I still talk with her on the phone (when she calls to make sure I am doing things right..haha;) but don't worry she asks if i am offended by that and i sweetly say "no not at all...i appreciate it"...so at least she realizes she's a little crazy and is really just trying to be helpful).
Anyway this is my first week of doing things on my own. Getting the kids to school was fine minus the 5 times I stalled and made the kids gasp about 50 times....but really i am getting better at standard....I only stale about twice each trip now. Oh and of course the first day as I was driving down a "street" which turned out to be a bike path...There were cars parked on the side I swear but I knew something was wrong when a biker gave me a funny look but I just smiled sweetly as if I knew what I was doing and proceeded to drive down the curb and into the bus lane....noticing later that the police station was on the other side of me...minor issue really. and the kids weren't in the car so it's all good.
Really my life consists of driving kids around, cooking dinner for kids that only eat brocolli, pasta, and plain hamburgers, and ironing. FUN hey!!!!!haha it's a little more than that. I am making friends already. Three close friends consist of one from Finland, another from Mexico and another from Peru. We have fun together and it's really neat communicating. The two from Finland and Peru have perfect english and the one from Mexico has perfect french and spanish so when we are together we switch between english, french, spanish and then all of us together throw in the dutch words and accents that we have acquired since coming. I will admit it's a lot of fun!
Well I\m off to do my driving task now....sorry if this is boring...I have yet to master the art of blogging...I'll catch on soon enough!
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Finally a blog!
Wow this took me long enough...one of those things that I kept on putting off b/c I had no idea how to do it and then when you finally do you realize that it's easier than buttering toast! Well that's all the time I have for now folks...busy life here;)...just wanted to get the thing started.
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