"My visit to Albert's" + some other stuff

Last week Sandra was gone from Tuesday morning very early until Thurs. night very late so I was in charge of the girls all that time...hence the lack of any sort of post. This week has started off very calmly so here I am! I will dedicate as much time as I need to produce for my readers a (hopefully) wonderful post! And yes Neil and Jan I will even include pictures b/c I figured out how to add them to the computer!

For the past 3 weeks I have been having the best weekends! After my post on adjusting I realized that b/c I reflected on the fact that I was not adjusting well I made some changes. I have no idea what those changes are but anyway I am enjoying myself thoroughly. It is amazing that even across the ocean in a new country we can create communities for ourselves...or maybe I should say that people can help create communities for us (us being anybody that moves to a new place). I feel very blessed to be surrounded by wonderful people here, as well as having people from home who care about what I am doing here...and although I cannot show appreciation all the time b/c it takes me too long to respond please know that I still care!!!!!

So my past three weekends. It started off with going to Albert's house. It was my first real train trip here by myself and it was so easy. I'm really going to enjoy having these trains taking me from one place to the next in a very short amount of time...not to mention the cheapness considering I get 40% off every trip (Deanne that includes you when you are here!!!!!!!).

Albert lives in Nuenen, which, for all those Van Gogh lovers (so Jan....) is where Van Gogh was born and spent the first years of his life. Albert didn't think that it was very important to tell me until we were basically driving out of the town...comeon it's obviously the first thing I should have been told and is the only thing I remember about the town...haha;) (I'm joking...Albert was just a little concerned that that would happen if he told me). I also got a tour of Helmond where there's a big castle (there's a picture of it floating around somewhere in this blog) and where Albert saved the day by showing some policemen how to turn on a bike lock cutting machine.


we also went to a modern art musuem where we thoroughly enjoyed the elevator that sang to us as we went up and down...I think we spent most of our time going up and down just to hear it sing and even joined in at some parts. I also got to play a game and of course did miserably.



Oh the museum was in Eindhoven, the 5th largest city in the Netherlands...just to give you a little bit of information! On Sunday we of course went to church but also went to a place where 13 trees fell down in the huge storm we had the week before....so sad. Maybe we could have put our strength together and put them back up but we were in our Sunday clothes (see picture).



Albert's family is very very nice...and I can say that for all his family b/c I basically met everyone...haha. If anyone wants to figure out where Albert gets his mannerisms come and meet his father:D (don't worry Albert you are still an individual)! They were very welcoming! I think I mentioned it before but his brother and wife, Menno and Rieke, lent me a guitar! And Menno even stopped in to visit this weekend but unfortunately I was gone when he came...but it shows how caring they are. Definitely part of the community that makes my stay here so wonderful:).

Onto my next weekeend...last weekend I went to Aafke and Adrie's who live in Amersfoort. Aafke is mom's cousin and they came to visit in Canada 2 years ago so when I came here they were very happy to have me to their house. Amersfoort is .5 hours away so they came and picked me up so that I know the way to drive. I felt so incredibly at home there and had a wonderful talking with them. I got to hear about the family that I have here and we talked about my family at home which sometimes is exactly what you need to do when you are missing them...it is nice to talk with people who know who I am talking about. We did not tour the old town this time but I will be going back soon and we can do that. Amersfoort supposedly has a beautiful medival centrum. I got to tour the newer parts which is full of very interesting houses...houses that we would never see in Canada...you know like round houses on posts and with funny angles. I did not take pictures but I will some day.

This weekend Hannah Vanderveen came over to my house. For those who don't know her she was roommates/housemates with Elissa for the first 2 years at Redeemer. She's now here doing 4 months at the Reformed school in Zwolle. We has a great time being 100% real tourists...you know the ones that whip out their camera's at every slightly nice building...hehe I loved it. I will post pictures from it soon. We went to Naarden Vesting which is a beautiful old fort that is still a fully functioning town today. It is surrounded by a moat and a wall and has bike paths all around. On Saturday we went to Utrecht to look around. It is another wonderful city with lots of canals. We really experienced the difference b/w Canadians and dutch people when we were at a cafe for lunch. It took us 45 minutes to order our food, the reason being that in Canada to call the waitress over by waving your hand seems to be quite rude and never has to be done b/c they always just come. I finally got up the courage to do it and she came right away. Well we got a good laugh out of it anyway. It's like the time in France when we just kept on ordering wine and coffie b/c the waiter wasn't offering the bill, which we didn't know the name of in French. Don't worry Elaine and Deanne...the dutch are much nicer and don't laugh when you don't know their terms for things!

We went to a canal side restaurant for dinner. To get to the restaurant you climb down stairs so the streets are above you. When we came out after dark there were lights in all the trees above us and it was one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever seen. Hannah's camera took better pictures so I will wait until she sends them to me so that I can post them!

This coming weekend Deanne comes!!!!!! Albert will be coming too and we are going to tour Amsterdam. I am so so so very excited...like jump up and down excited. I am reading a book about Amsterdam so that I have every detail of the city so that I know what I am looking at and can hopefully relay my knowledge. I have already been there twice; once with Henk for my own personal tour but it was short, and another time, this weekend actually, to go to a famous restaurant. It was called fifteen and it was started by Jamie Oliver, the naked chef, to provide unemployed young adults with jobs. It was a great place where they teach the kids to cook and we just got to sit and eat and eat and eat. If you go to a restaurant with Henk and Sandra you are required to order a started, entree and dessert, not to mention your glass is never empty of wine and as many coffies as your body can handle. But anyway that's a sidebar. This weekend we are doing full tour and it will be better b/c it is with close friends so we will have a great time. I might also go tomorrow with Carlijn to see the Anne Frank huis b/c she has the day off school. It will be fun to do that with her...a good way to bond and have some fun together.

So I am going to stop now. I have so many things to talk about but I will save them for another time so my readers have some rest and my fingers as well. I hope everyone is doing well.