Welcome to my present life...the dutch life!

Thinkings

2007-12-05T17:04:00.000-08:00

Hello again wed world. I don't believe anyone reads this anymore but I wanted to post something as I sit here and think about other things while I am supposed to be writing an essay exam which is due in just under 4 hours (I have my intro already so the rest is smooth going). Anywho a couple thoughts:

1) It appears as if disjointed random thoughts are the in thing. As I read through others blogs I read things like:

"It's snowing. Snow I like. Snow makes me happy". This is a quote made up by me because I do not wish to actually make fun of particular people by using a real quote.

Maybe that's what a blog is all about so maybe I'll try it.

2) I like reading. Reading is good for my brain. It makes me happy.

Hehe I'm not so good at this. Anyway I am almost done exams and even before I am done I am getting overly excited about the fact that I get to start reading again! I am planning out what book I will start with but I am never really that planful in my reading material...meaning I don't create book lists which I want to read. I just pick up the first book that I see and start areadin'. I used to hate reading because I couldn't get over the idea of it just being words on a page. My head wouldn't get into it. Now I have the oposite problem. I get so into my reading that I forget about the real world. I can read a book and actually become the main character. It is scary actually. If I read I will completely faze out of life. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I can avoid all problems in my life by reading a book...hummm...doesn't sound too bad but I think there is a risk to living in a fantasy world...it's too easy to run away from problems. Well it's been 4 months since I actually had the chance to read so we'll see if I have changed. Who knows, maybe it will just be words on a page.

Oh boy time is apassin' and I need to get writing!

wrecking havoc

2007-09-27T20:36:00.000-07:00

I am really loving my online discussions. It's absolutely great. I get to hide my identity and be the biggest devil's advocate you have ever seen! Although it's not so nice when random people start "yelling" at me in computer form. I get a little annoyed with one person saying something and then the next 10 posts go "I agree totally" "that's a very good point" "you said what I was thinking" etc. etc. follwed by a little extra information. So I decide to mix it up a bit by saying the opposite, usually bringing in some fiction novel that I read or something else just as random. Anyway this is not the first time someone has actually yelled at me. I think that I have been blamed for the nuclear bombs dropped in Japan in WWII. Don't you love outside the box thinkers ((sarcasism INTENDED)direct quote from yeller).

Welcome back to university life Lynn.

research based

2007-09-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

If you want personal changes to occur then the changes much happen while in your natural environment. Research has shown that this is true for troubled youth. If you want to help them you must work with everyone in their lives so that the change is possible. It is a community effort. If you pluck someone from their environment and put them in a new setting that person has to recreate themselves b/c their entire world has changed. That recreating will be affected by those around the person especially if they are encouraged to be a certain way. But what happens when that person goes back into their natural environment again afterwards? When it comes to youth usually they will return to their old ways b/c nothing has changed except themselves and when someone is fighting against a force 10X stronger than themselves they are bound to fail no matter what skills they have learned. Is research always right? There are always exceptions to the rule...all we can do is hope I guess. One thing that I always have to remind myself of is that when it comes to personal changes you can't do it by yourself and community is important but it begins with yourself. Don't wait for someone else to take the first step for you. That's up to you and all we can do is pray that your community is behind you.

Missing carefree holland.

back in canada

2007-09-15T05:24:00.000-07:00

so here i am back in canada. it's about time i update my blog and maybe even change the title considering i am no longer in holland. being back has been great so far...minus the increase in work of course. it's amazing how humans can adapt. when i was in holland i would never have imagined that i could just jump right back into life in canada. i was actually nervous to leave and didn't even want to leave (is that hard to believe considering i was living in europe having the most maxo relaxo life anyone could have;D). anyway it's too great having freedom to do what i want when i want and i love living with the girls in the house. basically it's good to be back!

2007-08-07T06:44:00.001-07:00

I have never seen such a beautiful camping picture in my life so i thought that I would share it. Imagine it is from the Ontario Parks website, meaning that such a beautiful spot exists in ontario! Based on the rock and water it is somewhere on georgian bay but you can never so so such...could be in the great canadian sheild, more inland from the bay. Makes me realize why I decided, even before I left for Europe, that I never want to move out of Canada (as Sanna says " never say never Lynn!":D. The house where I live has an absolutely beautiful garden and it is so nice to sit out in it on a nice night with candles, a glass of rose, some friends, or a book. As I was doing that exact thing last week it almost felt like I could have been at a cottage in ontario's "north" except for one thing: I could here the highway and airplanes flighing overhead. It did not destroy the experience but it did help me to realize how small the Netherlands really is. Even though I am surrounded by forest here I am still so close to busyness. Don't get me wrong I LOVE!!!! being so close to everything; biking distance even from Amsterdam I realized this past weekend; but this picture that I have posted speaks for itself:D. Happy wildernessing my dear Canadian friends. Be there with you in a month!

PS: I am not homesick right now...just enjoying everyday as it comes. Can't beat playing outside all day with sweet kids. I get to do all the fun kid things again without the stigma of being immature...could I ask for more?

2007-08-07T06:26:00.000-07:00

Boxin' Lynn

2007-06-14T11:21:00.000-07:00

Sanna has been trying to get me to come to her boxing class for about 4 months now. Every week I have thought of some wonderful excuse not to go; the main one being that I have to watch the kids. Well today she got me. She was over with her youngest girl and my family had to go so she knew I didn't have to take care of the kids. So I went. I was very skeptical going in and now I'm hooked. Who knew that bashing at someone's head, arms, legs, and tummy could be so much fun:D! And it's not even just the hitting that's fun it's also very good exercise. I was sweating like a pig (sorry for all the details...hehe). I just have to make one quick apology...Jan and Elissa I'm very sorry b/c I am now covered in bruises. Oh well...all a part of the fun...no pain no gain.

Changes

2007-06-09T02:45:00.000-07:00

In less then 2 weeks I am coming back to Canada. For this reason I have been thinking quite a bit about how I have changed b/c when you are present as the changes happen you don't notice them but now that I am going back to people who know me I realize that they might see some changes. Well an experience yesterday really clarified one big change for me. I just walked up to someone that I didn't know at all and started gabbing away. She is also an au pair for the best friends of my family. I was talking with one of the girls she takes care of and I said "Is that your new au pair?" As soon as she said yes I just walked up to her, asked her if she spoke english and invited her to go to the movies with me and a friend that night. People might say that that's not out of character at all but really it is. Usually when I am surrounded by my friends I can talk to anyone but as soon as I am by myself I stick to myself and don't like to talk with new people. I am hoping that this new found independent confidence continues when I am in Canada!

Finland

2007-06-04T04:17:00.000-07:00

I'm overly excited that I got to go to Finland for many reasons. First of all, as I feel that I am in competition with people from my family on who has gone to more places, I am the first to have gone to a Scandinavian country. This to me is a great accomplishment;D. I'm joking about the competition but I am pretty happy with myself for being the first. Another reason I am so happy about going is that I got ridiculously cheap flights. You can't beat 97 euros. Also, I got to go with 2 friends, one of which is from Finland so we got the insider tours. I also got to spend 5 complete days there which is wonderful b/c that meant that it wasn't whirlwind tour but instead it turned out to be extremely relaxing. I can thank Henk and Sandra for the extra long trip b/c they very graciously let me miss 2 days of work for it.

While I was in Finland I made a few observations that I would like to share. First of all it looks exactly like Ontario's Canadian Shield area but with cities and people. It's not that there are tons of people living in Finland but there are people living in a landscape that many Canadians would live in b/c it's too far up north. I think it's wonderful. You get to enjoy the beauty and nature but you also have access to all the things that cities have to offer. Here is a picture to demonstrate what some of the landscape looks like:

(these are the girls that I went with).

Something that Claudia and I were absolutely amazed by was the length of the days. We didn't have to worry about trying to do everything before dark b/c it basically never got dark! The first night we were there we went out with Sanna's friends and we went into a place at 12 and there was still some light in the sky (my picture didn't work out at this time so the first picture is from 10:15). When we came out at around 2 in the morning there was again light in the sky but this time it was from the rising sun as opposed to the setting sun. And it's not even the longest day of the year yet!

Of course this means that in the winter the days are incredibly short, which brings me to me next observation: People drink crazy amounts. This seems to be a common trend in a lot of northern areas all over the world. If it's cold and dark I guess they figure they might as well drink.

The Scandinavian countries are always known as having the best quality of life. Just listening to how their school system works screams socialism (I would even say it's leaning towards communism but of course that's my opinion) and everyone makes a lot of money no matter what they do. The only problem is that everything is very expensive! For this reason houses were very low-key. I don't know if I took any pictures but houses were very small and I didn't notice any beautiful neighbourhoods. The nature is beautiful but I don't know if I would say that you would go there for the beauty of cities. It's nothing like Western European cities.

This was the centre square of Tampere. This design of building was very common; especially the yellow paint. When I saw beautiful buildings they were in this style.

Hummm...what else. Oh yes! Everyone had dyed hair. And I don't just mean dyed dyed hair; I mean really dyed hair. It was all extreme colours like too blond or too black or too red. Nobody chose a natural colour. They also all had blue eyes. I saw nothing but blue eyes. One thing that I really respected about the Finnish people is that you could tell that individuality was really respected. People wear what they want. I saw so many different styles which is very refreshing after being in the Netherlands which I am finding are the most top style people in the world (well after Italy) and nobody ever steps out of those boundaries.

Even though they were excepting style wise you could tell that people were pretty closed to other cultures. Claudia and I noticed the very first night that everyone talked more to me then they did her. That could be b/c I am Canadian and therefore we have hockey in common and people know more about Canada then Mexico but there was something there. I can't really explain it but I just remember that I was something a little off when it came to people who weren't fakely bleached blond and blue eyed. But anyway in the end it was fine b/c at one place there were a lot of people who were interested in Mexico or the Spannish language so it evened out.

I have pictures of what we did but I don't really feel like saying everything so I'll explain while I show you my pictures in full. I will just talk about the winter cottage I went to. I can't remember if I already told you but we got to go into a Finnish sauna where it gets so hot that you need to breath into water and put cold water on your skin. When it's unbearable you run out and jump into the lake no matter what time of year it is (in the winter you have to cut a hole in the ice first)! While when we went the ice had basically just melted so the water was pretty cold but after we could stand outside for 15 minutes b/c our skin had been so hot! Here are some pictures:

That's all I'm going to do for Finland. My next big trip is Canada! which I'm looking very forward to. I am enjoying my time with the family and friends from the area for now which is really nice for me too. I'm glad that I'm taking the time to just enjoy what I have been given. Henk and Sandra and the girls are amazing and all is good. There were 2 Canadians here this weekend and Henk gave us a canal tour in his boat in Amsterdam and it was so nice to do except for the pushy man that bumped into us:(. I also got to stay in Henk's canal house with Sanna and since I secretly love big cities it was really fun to have access to Amsterdam with a place to stay. I also went to the English Reformed church on Sunday and I have decided to make the trip in every Sunday to go. Even though the church in Huizen is of my denomination I am finding that that does not help me much when I can't understand everything that is going on so it's more beneficial for me to go to an englisdh church (and I can always make it to my church in Huizen in the afternoon). This was the first time I heard an english sermon in 5 months so I think you can imagine how relieved and excited I was. Please remember me when you are complaining about a sermon that you heard on Sunday b/c it's a blessing that you were able to understand it. I realize now how much I took going to church on Sundays foregranted. I don't know why I didn't come to this going into Amsterdam every Sunday conclusion earlier; maybe b/c it is more presbetyrian but I'm happy with the decision. Another thing is that it's in Beijnhof which is one of the most beautiful places in Amsterdam and it is right across from the oldest house in the city.

Well I must go. Enjoy.

Enjoying Life

2007-05-30T13:02:00.000-07:00

Oh to sit on a couch enjoying a night cap (as henk calls it), eating chips, and watching a romantic comedy that I have already seen. Things are great:D! Henk and Sandra decided to go to Brugge because Sandra is feeling well and I'm holding down the fort. The greatest part is I left right after dinner for guitar lessons and Sandra's mom cleaned up the kitchen and put the girls to bed so all I had to do is read to Carlijn when I got home. Now that's what I call holding down the fort...hehe.

Anyway I guess I should pick up where I left off. Humm....I think I was at my trip to Spain. B/c I have since had a trip to Finland in b/w I kind of have forgotten about my trip to Spain. Isn't that absolutely terrible? Well I guess I can post some pictures and explain them. Basically I feel in love with the place. I loved it so much that I think I have plans with some friends here to go again but we will see about that.

Well I just wasted quite a bit of time trying to find my pictures from Spain:(.

Yippee I just found them!

This is a beautiful Spanish street!

We ate in the oldest restaurant in the world. It seems to me as if everything always claims that they are the oldest something and who knows if it's actually true but anyway I'm going to believe it is true just so that I can brag about it;D.

I just put this one in to proove that I was actually there.

Oh my favourite part! I was walking down a street and all of a sudden there were so many people that I couldn't move and street musicians and aritsts of all kinds were everywhere. I of course got a video of these guys too. If I had looked at my watch it would have read 6:00. I hear that that happens all the time.

I am so facinated by the west coast of france and the Riviere Loire for some reason so I just had to take a picture of it as we were flying by!

Humm I am tempted to just post and leave finland for later b/c i'm tired from my night cap and ironing and I don't want to overwhelm (I can't speel im english anymore!!!!! did you catch the spell spelling mistake? that was real but it looks like i was trying to make a joke but really i know how to speel that one...i did it again!).

I'm going to go now. Enjoy as I am and see you soon!

To Spain and back again

2007-05-07T02:54:00.000-07:00

I have not posted for awhile and there is a very good explanation for that. The past 2 weeks the girls have been on holidays! Yikes...that means busy busy busy. Well it wasn't that bad but it just meant that I didn't get the chance to go onto the computer to write anything. But they are back at school and so here I am ready to tell all about my wonderful adventures:D!...well maybe not all...only the people who are interested...hehe.

Since Austria and Switzerland I haven't done any major traveling (until the past weekend) and have basically been staying in the area and a little bit farther on weekends, getting myself into all sorts of trouble. I wouldn't call it trouble really but it's been interesting. I continue to meet new people. One weekend I had the pleasure of touring with another Canadian who just got to the Netherlands and who is going onto England to be an au pair. It was sooooo much fun to be the tour guide of a "new to europe"! It allowed me to feel as if I was the expert on the area...hehe! We went to Kaukenhof, which is a big garden that is absolutely beautiful! We also got pictures in tulip fields. I then proceeded to get in my first fight with Sanna, the finnish au pair that I hang out with the most. It was quite refreshing! Fighting for me is a positive experience b/c it is a good median for change. I think if people spoke their mind right from the beginning there would be no reason for fighting but if you know me usually I don't say anything until I feel pushed past my max and then I explode (don't worry...not in a violent way). Yes yes I know I should work on that but anyway like I said fighting allows for change so I feel refreshed now.

Humm....ok back on track...I went on a little tangent there. So the fight resulted in me and the Canadian (Emma) taking control and going to Leiden. It was great for Emma b/c her mother said before she came "the only 2 things I want you to see for me are Keukenhof and Leiden, which I fell in love with". If you get the chance in your life I suggest you go there b/c it is a really nice city.

I have been talking with Sarah, an au pair from New Zealand who goes to Albert's church, for a very long time now by email and phone. I felt as if I already knew her really well but we didn't actually get the chance to meet until the last weekend in April. I am so glad that we got to spend the weekend together! We were going to go to Zealand but that feel through so instead she came here and we went to the beach...the same beach that Deanne and I had the pleasure of going to in the winter but this time it was beautiful weather! It was a little emotional for me b/c we drove down the same road that Deanne and I drove down when she was here and I just miss all you Canadian people soooo much (I am at the 1/2 way point and so incredibly homesick right now...more on that later!). Well by emotional I mean happy emotional b/c I got to remember my times with Deanne, which I realize I haven't written about yet! Anyway it was so nice and refreshing to be able to hang out with another Christian from a similar background as me who is living in the same life situation as me right now. It gave us a lot to talk about! Sarah stayed until Monday b/c it was Queen's Day! We thought there was no better place to go then Amsterdam. All I can say is that it was crazy! I want to put a lot of detail in but I feel like it would bore you! Well picture a city that is so full with people that every single street in probably the entire city (the old part with all the canals but even past that) was a tight, packed, steady stream. Look on this website for pictures and whatnot: http://www.koninginnedagamsterdam.nl/foto/museumplein. It's so crazy and so many people come (from not just within the country)that the train system completely reorganizes itself. We spent most of the day at the big concert in museumplein where all the most famous dutch musicians were. And out of 1000s of people that were watching the concert it just so happened that people from my church were standing right behind me. You know you've been in a country too long when you start to see people you know in a lot of the cities that you go to;D hehe! By 6 oclock we had had enough of the craziness. There was garbage everywhere in the streets and we even saw a girl with her foot sliced open b/c people just kick glass and who know what else around. I'm very glad we got to see it though and I really had a good time.

So I was going to write about Spain but I think that it will have to come later. Just quickly right now: I love Spanish streets, I love Spanish buildings, I love Spanish parks, I love Spanish street musicians, I love Spanish people (yes even the spanish boys that are supposed to have too much libedo for their own good...it's not true people! I felt just as safe here as I did in Germany; even when I was touring on my own...this of course is in the middle of the day...I didn't try the nightlife so that might be a different story). Anyway I won't get ahead of myself. I will give you more details and pictures later.

I hope everything is good for everyone at home! Like I said I am half way and it feels as if when the half way point came I began to get extremely homesick and feel as if I have experienced enough and am ready to come home. I've seen enough cities, met enough people, experienced enough culture, learned enough language, and thought enough about everything relating to life, that I can come home. But I'm not a quiter and I know it's just a faze that will pass so I'm good and will continue to be good. These last 4 months will go quickly I am sure, especially since there is a trip home for a week and a half, a trip from Lina for 2 weeks, and the coming of lots of my family for Jan and Pierre's thing in France for a bit, so it will all be good.

Bye for now!

The dutch has finally taken over

2007-04-17T01:39:00.000-07:00

First it was google and then hotmail. I was so happy everytime going into eblogger b/c it was my safehaven from the dutch. Well my safehaven has now been invaded! The dutch has moved in! Now when I sign into my blog I see things like "instellingen" and "Sjabloon"....do any of you know what that means b/c I sure don't! Now the guessing game begins everytime I wish to do something on my blog! I have no idea how computers figure these things out...or how for so long a website will provide me with wonderful english and then take it away from me. Craziness! Well I'm coping so it will be all good.

Last night we took a trip up to Friesland to see Lhea's beautifully very newborn baby (yes that is "crazy lady" lhea but remember I took back everything I said about her b/c really she is very sweet and now a very new mother!). Her baby is absolutely beautiful and she seems to be doing fine so everyone is very pleased. Other then having the pleasure of seeing a 2 hour old baby I also got to see tulip fields in full bloom all the way up! Considering tulips are my favourite flowers (and would be very pleased if anyone ever had the desire to give me a bunch...hint hint...hehe) I was thrilled to see entire fields of them. I was expecting something a little bit different but it was still wonderful. I think this weekend I will try and actually go into one.

Just to update everyone on how lucky I am it has been between 20 and 30 degrees for about the past 2 weeks;p (aren't I absolutely just 100% evil telling you that...haha). I hear from Lina that in Ontario it is about 2 degrees, and that was just after I had spent the entire day at the beach. Sorry guys! But I think that in the summer you will have the final laugh b/c I hear that it rains a lot here.

Every Tuesday morning I go to the market to get all our fresh produce for the week. B/c I get a huge box of juicing oranges every week (can you believe that every morning I get a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice...it's quite nice) one of the people from the market helps me to bring it to my car. B/c it is usually the same person every week we have become kind of friends. Last week he was very excited b/c he is training for the navy and he was one of the only people in his group to pass all the strength and endurance tests and he was so sure that he would soon be accepted into the navy. Well this week he tells me that he has been dismissed and all b/c he is colour blind...which is like the last thing that they test (kind of silly if you ask me!). Anyway can you imagine being so excited about something and then b/c of one silly thing having that ripped away from you. It is really very upsetting. The same thing happened on "Little Miss Sunshine" (silly movie that in the end is quite good) and the boy actually goes quite mad from it. Right now as I am almost done university things like this stress me out b/c really anything can happen and you can have your whole life planned out and really you have no idea when something's going to happen and everything changes. Well that's where faith comes in so really we don't have to stress at all!

Well this has been a post of complete randomness! haha. I was done all my chores and decided to post while I had my morning coffie...and this is what resulted. I hope you enjoy!:D

The hills are alive with Hannah and Lynn!

2007-04-11T11:51:00.000-07:00

When you've just had the most wonderful weekend where do you begin???! I guess at the beginning:D. It was seriously one of the most beautiful trip I have ever been on...Austria and Switzerland are definitely places that people should put on their "must see" lists. Hannah and I both say that we would plan a trip to Europe just for Austria (Switzerland too except it's so expensive you would run out of money fast!). Well we left on Thursday on the night train and arrived in Salzburg the next day right in the morning. The first thing we did was buy a Salzburg card...the best thing we could have done. For 29 euros the city was at our finger tips for 48 hours, 100% free! We were taking a bus out to Mount Untersburg when I of course jumped the gun and said we were there (this seems to be a common theme for me doesn't it Deanne:D...you think that if we were going to a mountain I would wait until I saw a mountain...well my brain doesn't work that way)...getting off at what turned out to be the Arch-bishops' castle with trick fountains...beautiful gardens! The trick fountains were to keep guests on their toes...if they fell asleep at the table he would push a button that triggered water to come out of the seat of chairs. It was a good mistake that I made getting off there in the end! We then took a cable car up Mount Untensberg...the highest mountain in the area...and went hiking through the snow to the very top! We even got to see paragliders jump off the side of the mountain!

We toured the rest of the day and went back to the hostel early to get a good sleep. We were actually right by the river so we went for a walk and it turned out to be the most beautiful sunset!

And now the most exciting part.........guess before you read on.......what, to me, would be the most exciting thing in the world to do in Salzburg??? Even if it cost us both way too much past our budget but we couldn't pass up b/c it was too exciting??? THE SOUND OF MUSIC TOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow I have never felt like such a tourist in my entire life but seriously wonderful! I got to actually see all the places that were in the movie! I got to sing with all other sound of music lovers, and even act out scenes at certain places (like the gazebo and the green tunnel that maria sings "I have confidence" down while swinging her guitar). A really nice part of the tour (which lasted 4 hours) was that they took us outside of the city to what they call the "hill and lake region" of the area...which we wouldn't have seen if we hadn't taken the tour. That is b/c the church they got married at was so far out there. But we didn't get to go to the meadow land where Maria does the opening scene but that's ok b/c Hannah and I have a picture of it anyway from when we were on top of the snowing mountain! The rest of the afternoon we waled around and did things that we got for free...of course Mozart's house was included. Isn't it funny that I am more excited about a Hollywood film then I am about one of the greatest composers in the world? haha well I am not alone b/c the sound of music tours get a lot more visitors then Mozart...what has this world come to!? Really it is very sad.

We even took a boat tour b/c it was for free...talk about boring...they drove us down the river that goes down the middle of the city to show us and talk about buildings that we cannot see b/c the river banks are in the way...the city has become way too touristic! The most fun part of that was that they swung us around and around at the end...I don't think that they would get any visitors otherwise!

We met some very nice Americans in the hostel so we went for a drink with them that night on the rooftop terrace. It appears as if Americans are who I meet the most of while traveling...but that suits me fine b/c usually they are very nice and easy to talk to and wonderfully enough it appears as if they are all Christians.

(Singing "I have confidence" in the green tunnel).
(beautiful isn't it! This park is where they do a lot of their singing...the steps at the bottom are the ones they sing up!)
vanTrapp's backyard where they fall out of the boat!
(this amused us for way too long;D)

The next morning Hannah and I got up early to catch our trian to Lucerne, Switzerland. We had 1 hour to kill so we went and amused ourselves in a playground...Austrians sure know how to make kids have fun...I think we would have missed our train we were having so much fun riding trains, jumping on rubber mats, swinging around in boats....wat leuk! But we caught our train and sat in pure luxury for the next 6 hours! They divide the seats up into compartments of 6 seats so we got a whole compartment to ourselves that was non-smoking! At first another American sat with us b/c he heard that we were speaking english but he got off earlier. We proceeded to drive through beautiful mountains! B/c we spread ourselves out nobody else came in so we took the time to take a Sunday nap. I might as well mention, since some of you may be wondering, that we did not make it to a church but we did come prepared and had a nice devotion together and read a sermon that my minister sent me. I am very glad that I was able to spend Easter weekend with Hannah b/c I am usually surrounded by non-Christians all week and therefore this way we could discuss and had wonderful talks. When we got to Lucerne we decided to take it very easy so we went to our hotel (an old jail!!!! we slept in a jail cell!!!!!!), ate dinner and then went and sat on a hill (actually in a forbidden area...opppss...but it was the only way we could get away from all the tourists!), watched the sunset, and talked the rest of the night. We again went to bed really early b/c we wanted t catch the sunrise the next morning. Lucerne is on a lake surrounded by mountains so it was veru nice to see! We decided that this day we wanted to get away from the tourists (which we were also:D hehe) so we bought food for the day, stocked up on water, and took a boat across the lake to hike through the mountains. This I cannot describe...it was just too perfect...I can only show it through pictures which do not even begin to capture the beauty.

...way too early in the morning but absolutely beautiful!

....hard climb in the crazy hot sun (I got very sunburnt....yikes!...but adrenaline was high and we just kept going and going and going until we could go no more b/c past a certain point we couldn't catch a boat back.

The train ride back was very interesting with me being woken up a couple times by a variety of things (one of them being that I was sitting on a moving train (not good for me who is finding that motion sickness is a huge problem!) in a seat that reclined but not enough to be comfortable)...but also b/c they happen to put a bar on the train. Now that would be ok if people knew how to be responsible but of course they do not. At one point two men began fist fighting yelling "You touch my girl"..."I did not touch your girl" so on so forth...in very broken english b/c that was the only language that they kind of understood from each other....there was also the time when I woke up b/c people were staring at me while I was sleeping b/c the train was taking forever to let them out...they had no where else to look so I guess they thought they might as well watch the sleeping people...awkward.

The weather was in the 20s all weekend so we couldn't of asked for a better weekend to go. I think I went a little overboard with the pictures and details but I figure I might as well...keeps you happy mommy and it's all I can do since I wasn't home with you this Easter:D.

Kids say the darndest things!

2007-04-03T06:57:00.000-07:00

Meyke is seriously the most adorable thing in the entire world. Today we were biking home and she started gaging so I asked her what was wrong and she said that the smell was gross. We figured out that it was the aroma factory close by which sometimes smells very good but not always. I was trying to explain to her that they make smells but I couldn't figure out how to say aroma. She follows by saying in the most matter of fact way "What do they make poop". The way she said it was just so cute.

This past weekend was a very interesting weekend...extremely interesting....

On Saturday I finally made it to the vanGogh museum. It is definitely worth going to see. I'm not much of an art person and had an entire discussion with henk (who adores art and spends lots of money on it) about how art is a waste of money and the money spent on it should go into other things. After seeing the paintings in this museum I wish to take everything back. I cannot believe that I would insult an artist so deeply. Some of the paintings were so well done that they could almost be pictures taken with a camera...now that is talent...making paint look real. It must take them forever to do and you would have to have so much imagination. All you artists out there, I take my hat off for you.

I am fortunate enough to be able to go to Austria and Switzerland this coming weekend. It happens to be Easter so we get to go for extra long - thursday night until tuesday morning. I am very excited but also feel a little bit weird b/c in my mind a religious holiday like this is to be spent with family and in church...hummm....I guess while I am here friends are family and I am going with Hannah so we will figure it out...

Talk to you soon...it appears as if this is an exciting time for a lot of my friends. University friends done university, some friends going onto masters or teacher's college, others looking for jobs, others making big moves...I am thinking of you all!

getting you ahead of the times!

2007-03-30T06:53:00.000-07:00

i was in bussum today...going for the very important business of getting a train discount card and signing up for guitar lessons...two things that i failed to complete for various reasons...anyway in the end i browsed in the shopping area of the town (after getting on tv...:D). Anyway if I didn't want to travel so much I think that I woul buy out every store. They have beautiful clothing here...things at home in our malls don't even come close to all the clothes they have here. Nothing is straight cut...it's all flowy and ruffly and going all over the place...i love it! Now it appears as if linen is the thing for the summer...which it always is b/c it's nice and light weight and breathable...but it seems to be more so now. I love the look of linen but it's a bother to take care of b/c you always have to iron it. Never sit on a train in linen pants b/c you'll come out with them looking like an accordion. Although now that I'm the master of ironing I think it might be ok...I have the stupid thig out everyday anyway.

This past week I had the pleasure of going to a 50 years old philipino woman's birthday party! I have never had so much fun! Her daughter is 24 and was best friends with the old au pair here so we have met a couple times. It was all her friends from church. The evening started off pretty mellow but then we started talking about music and they were asking me what I played. Someone asked if I sang and I said a little which resulted in them jumping up and down for joy and running to get a karaoke machine so that I could, in front of 8 people I had just met, sing my little heart out to songs like "I will survive". I thought "either I could slump into the couch and hide, or join them as loud as I can". I chose the second thank you very much. The thing actually rates you at the end so we got good laughs in! Jennifer came over the next day so that I could teach her how to read music and she could teach me some guitar tricks. We're going to do that every week now. Pretty fair trade don't you think?

It's so neat the mix of nationalities I get to hang out with though. It's really helping me to see the world from a different perspective then I would have before! Oh the things to learn!

Doi for now!

cry for help!

2007-03-19T06:31:00.000-07:00

do you ever have it where you know exactly where something is but then cannot find it for the life of you. I just got a new james blunt guitar book from the library and i found a song that i desparately wanted to try. this particular song requires a capo. so i picked up some papers that my capo should have been under and it was not there! so i moved a few more papers and it was still not there! i proceeded to clean my entire room from top to bottom and it still was not there! come on people...WHERE DID MY CAPO GO??? please help me...all i want to do is play my song! i will find it but it will be in some weird obscure place like the dryer.

Pictures of Berlin

2007-03-07T02:41:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the pictures that i took. Of course I am not in any of them b/c I went all by myself but BELIEVE ME!!!!! It was I that was taking the pictures;) hehe.

This is a palace that was on the other side of the city but I went there anyway...in the summer the gardens would have been spectacular...amazing place for you to go to elaine...but now in the winter nothing really special....but the picture turned out pretty neat did it not?

And now you have a sideways view of a bombed church...I think the most interesting thing that I saw and really the only thing that shows that the city had once been basically completely destroyed during the war. That is why it's not really a beautiful city and more a history city b/c most things are new.

This is a drawing from the Berlin wall. It is of the Tabi(???can't really remember the name) car breaking through the wall. When the wall was up the Eastern "controllers" wanted to make a car similar to the Bettle Bug that the Westerners had so they created this car. But it turned out that the demand was very high for out outside of the eastern part so they exported more then made for the easterners so they had to wait up to 15 years to get one if they had enough money to buy one.

I really tried to get a good picture of this but I didn't want to look like a tourist b/c it wasn't a tourist area...It is of Karl Marx Allee. I am sure that everyone knows that with communism they try to make all people equal and therefore they want them to live in similar houses. With communism comes very wide roads and apartment buildings that look all the same. Well this road had a parking lot in the middle it was so wide and the apartments were all the same. I found out though that it wasn't so much for everyone to be equal but just b/c they had mass housing and material shortage so they needed to build fast and cheap. Interesting hey?

Again the East Side Gallery Berlin wall...pretty self explanatory I think.

Sideway view of the Holocaust memorial. It was many different sizes of concrete blocks organized in these rows and as you walked in them you went lower and lower. I really wanted to read about the meaning of it but the information area wasn't open and I think they only let people in on Sunday.

A picture of Brandenburd gate when the wall was up around it. Brandenburg gate is the main toursit attraction and really the gate that divides east and west berlin. Did you know that they built the wall in basically one night? One day everyone can pass freely and work on other side and then the next nobody could pass...it was a temporary wall at first but then became very permanent. It took 6 years before they let the westerners cross to see family but easterners not....they had watch towers and would shoot people or jailed them if they tried. And this went on until 1989....we were all alive then and this is one of the most developed, richest countries in the world.

Brandenburg gate.

The was a memorial for the Jews killed during the war. They took the remains of one Jew from a concentration camp and buried them here. It was a closed off room/building that was formed like a temple. It was dark inside except for a hole right above the figure where light shine in.

2007-03-05T02:20:00.000-08:00

So I am back again from Berlin with lots of travel advise to those who wish to go into Germany....ummmmm....DON"T GO!

Haha I'm joking! Berlin is a wonderful place full of history. I now know all about the complete history of Jews in Germany, the complete history of Germany itself (although I spent most of my time in the reformation/Luther section and therefore did not have time to even read about the war let alone how Germany became a country), the complete history of the Berlin wall, the Cold war, communism in Eastern Berlin, etc. etc. etc. Eastern Berlin is where all the important bnuilding are and there is not much in western Berlin except a few things. One of the main points of interest to me would be the church that was destroyed during the war that they decided not to restore. Inside there were picture of it before and after and pictures of the surrounding area right after the war and now. Everything is new now because the city was basically destroyed during the war. The east side gallery was also very nice to see. I think it is the longest section of the wall that is still standing and they had artists come in right after the wall was tour down to draw pictures on it. I will explain some on the pictures later when I post them..they all of course had symbolism attached. I was talking with some people that I met in the hostel and they said that they were dissapointed that not more of the wall is still standing. I actually caught myself thinking the same thing but after I thought about it a bit I had to kick myself because really, after being divided for 30 years, I think that first thing that the people would want to do is to tare down the wall that separated them. To think that us silly tourists are dissapointed that not more of it is still up!

The hostel was pretty good. Jan warned me to stay away from the "hostel people" and I now know what that means. I met a mix of people. I was actually very discouraged at first when all I met was people who wanted me to go party with them. I was beginning to think that I was the only one that traveled to see things and everyone else just wanted a new and interesting place to party with new people...pretty expensive party experience if you ask me! Anyway slowly but surely real travelers began to surface and I had a good time chit chating with them. On Sunday and American from Texas and myself tried to find an english church but after 1.5 hours of travelling to get there we decided that we were too late to even catch the end of the service...dissapointing actually bc I had the whole trip planned out but b/c they were constructing in the subway system there were too many barriers in the way :(.

It was interesting to see German society. First of all I think that society revolves around beer and smoking. I actually saw 2 men sitting on a train at 10am drinking beer...I thought I was going to throw up. They keep smoking contained to specific areas...wait a minute...contained is the wrong word! They place smoking areas in the middle of the busiest trafic areas they can find...not contained at all so that everyone can breathe in and smell of smoke. I checked their life expectancy and it is only 2 years less then Canada at 77.4 years...that is a surprise to me! If it isn't beer and cigarettes that kill them it is going to be the stress that their aggression causes them. I have never heard so many blaring horns for as long in my life! And when I weas waiting at a counter the man behind me actually had the nerve to tell the man in front of me that he'd better move over to put the change back in his wallet because we were waiting there forever(this was all in German and I have substituted the meaning but the situation allows me to assume that I am right). Seriously we were waiting about 2 seconds. The man putting away his change smiled and moved over...I can be glad about that b/c I was sure that foul words or punches were going to be thrown!

I am sure that beer, smoking and aggression is not present in the lives of all Germans and I did meet some very nice ones, one of which was sitting beside me on the train, drinking a beer and having a cigarette, but these are the things that shocked me. As I become a more experienced traveller I am sure that I will get used to these sorts of things.

Anyway so there you have it. Good trip. Now I do suggest going to Germany but if you do please do not take the train. I will not explain in the blog but I suggest you take my advise...avoid the train at all costs...for 2 euros more and 4 hours less TAKE THE PLANE!!!!!!!!

Berlin!

2007-03-02T11:39:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. Right now I am at a hostel in Berlin and typing on a german keyboard so please forgive me for the many spelling mistakes! I got here yesterday after a very miserable trip! The computers crashed at Amsterdam Centraal which means that all the trains were delayed. The train to Berlin couldn´t come on time so they sent us another one but that meant that rather than one smooth trip up to Berlin I had to switch trains at basically every station! Not fun. That meant that I got to Berlin after dark and had to find my hostel in the dak, in the middle of a huge city that I didn´t know. Anyway I managed to hold back the tears with some effort, found my hostel and am now having a wonderful time! The hostel is great. It has a kitchen and common area so at night I can just go there and hang out with people like I´m doing right now. The city is also very safe and I don´t feel nervous at all here! I spent the whole day looking around. I actually went to a lot of museums. I usually am not a museum person but there is so much history here I want to read it all! I learnt all about what life was like on the east side while communism was present and I got to go to Checkpoint Charlie , the main gate bw eastern and western berlin, and the jewish museum which was a little bit boring but oh well. Anyway doing it by myself has been fine! Still so much to see tomorrow like the Karl-Marx Allee and East Side gallery. Im mainly interested in the communist history for some reason...interesting to see in person how it actually works! So I will post more later! And about Deanne´s trip here too!

Controling emotions

2007-02-22T07:32:00.000-08:00

I just spent the past half hour trying to control the emotions of 2 little girls. What do you do when both are sad and the opposite thing would make each happy. It is not possible to do the opposite thing at the same time...it resulted with the tears of both...I failed but needed to so that the one could learn a lessons of life...luckily the other understands english so that I could explain my reasoning...very sweet girl.

My everyday life

2007-02-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

I am right now sitting with a bit of extra time to spare. Sandra has gone to the gym so I thought that I might catch up on some emails but instead decided that I would like to begin my post on things that I have been thinking about since I got here. I have not yet really talked about the house or the area or really what I do. So here I go....

I live in a beautiful neighbourhood with woods, trails, and heather (hiede???) fields all around. It took me about a month to discover the beauty of the area. I knew that there were woods but never really looked at them (you see I have this problem where when I walk I tend to block the outside world out and just focus on thinking). Anyway then I started running. One day as I was running through the woods I was struck by the wonderful smell of pine so I had to look around me to see where it came from. What I saw was beautiful...I can't explain it with words but just picture woods in the morning when the air is still a little bit crisp and the sun is trying to peek through the branches making a haze...I know you've all seen it before. After noticing that I remembered my walks with Elaine and how she would always point out the smallest little things in nature and I thought I would try the same...I don't think I've ever been on a more enjoyable run! (Thanks elaine;)). So I have some pictures of the area. I will take more but I am going to post some now. Most of them will be of a snow storm that we had last week (very uncommon here) but it still shows off the area.

Gag... so I am here a complete week later and as I read through the beginning of my post I think I was in a fairy tale mood that night as I wrote it...sorry guys I don't usually talk in that "oh life is wonderful and beautiful ways"...haha...like I said...gag! anyway I'm keeping it in there:D! And I really do thank elaine for helping me to notice things...and it really is nice...just ask Deanne and Albert...although they saw it in the afternoon and it loses some of it's mystic charm by that time.

So my everyday life consists of waking up and helping get the girls ready for school, drive them to school, do some shopping (groceries or market), coming home and cleaning up a bit, doing some ironing, having some free time (emailing, biking, reading, having coffie with a friends; really whatever I feel like), picking up the girls from school, driving them here or there (friends houses, ballet, field hockey etc.), coming home, cooking dinner, eating, then cleaning up. I don't know if I already mentioned this but people seem to ask so I'm giving the whole schedule. Sounds like fun hey? hehe. If you want to learn culture though being an au pair is the way to do it. I am becoming a part of the community. People know me at the school , in the stores, and on the streets.

I think I will fill the rest of the blog up with pictures...that will show you best! Sorry I have not yet figured out how to make the pictures the right way up...they are saved in the computer the right way but do not come out the right way...I guess you'll all just have to get up on your desk and lay sideways to see them correctly;D!

This is a sunset that I noticed one night when i was closing the curtains...I see these a lot. It is taken from the front door.

This is the front of my house.

My car!!!! The thing I like best are the speakers...hehe...but it drives nicely too. When there are problems it's all because of the driver;) although I am getting better.

The heide...there are wild cows in this field.

Bussum...This is the town that the girls have ballet in. I also go here for shopping and to go out.

This is Meyke, Henk and Carlijn sledding!!! It was a fun day!

Oh and one last thing...I feel bad for anything that I said about the teacher (Juf I think they call them here). She is really quite a sweet lady. I realize why some people knew so much more dutch than me! It turns out that some people have been in the country for a long time...one girl has been here for 5 years! I'm curious as to why they waited so long to take the lessons but considering she has very little english (but 5 other languages) it is difficult to have a conversation with her. I'm doing pretty well though. The Australian looks like he wants to run from the run everytime the Juf looks at him. We actually have a system...if the teacher is asking questions and we don't know what she is saying just don't make eye contact...she's catching on though. I actually know slightly what she is saying and even contributed by suggesting some dutch verbs!

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

2007-02-07T05:20:00.000-08:00

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.

vegetarians

2007-02-03T03:11:00.000-08:00

so last night I ate raw ground beef...high quality kind but still raw. The first bite was ok but as I continued and started thinking about the cow that it came from (hard not to do when it's raw) it became harder and harder to eat. I think I'm coming close and closer to vegetarianism. Moral of the story...if you want to continue experience the joys of meat stay away from the raw stuff.

PS Sorry about the details Lina!

Adjusting

2007-02-01T07:55:00.000-08:00

So it has been a relatively long time since I have last posted! I realize now that I can write a bit and save as draft so I think that I might do that for the times that I don't have time to write a full post but have something that I want to write about. The way I'm doing it now I have completely forgotten what I have been doing since my last post that I will miss many things! Maybe not such a tragedy but still:D.

So the title of this post is adjusting...it has been a month since I have come here...a whole month...and I am still adjusting. I think that it is taking a bit too long. I think that the main reason would be that I do not know the language. Sure people speak to me in english so that's fine but I cannot not have conversations with the girls which really affects our relationship. We are bonding nicely, I will admit, and we have a lot of fun talking and trying to figure out what the other is saying...with the help of a dictionary of course...but I still feel quite distant from them.

To make things a little bit lighter, having to do with language, I started my language course on Tuesday. Other than walking in five minutes late...by my standards not late at all for the first day!..but by the teacher's standards very late. She just stared at me, not helping me out at all! So I asked if I was in the right place and invited myself to take a seat at the already full table. That was followed by the teacher kindly inviting one of my fellow classmates to ask me something in dutch. Hello lady...I'm in the class for a reason. So I just stared right back at the teacher until my very sweet neighbour whispered in my ear "name"...which I responded to by saying my name. Oh course that was not good enough for the teacher who fired some more dutch at me. "I assume that you are asking me for my last name as well which is Sandink" was my answer this time. That would have been fine had she recognized it. Of course she did not so I had to repeat it three time...but no matter. When she went onto speaking some more dutch to the whole class, and as my classmates nodded their heads as if they knew full well she was saying I asked my sweet neighbour if it was also her first day. When she said yes I thought either these people learned a heck of a lot in the first five minutes or they were good at pretending. I'll go with the second.

It actually is a fun class though and I'm looking forward to it again (although next time I'll be sure that I get there on time!). I wrote down all the countries that people are from. They are from everyehere. Englishwise we have me (Canadian!), British, Australian, and maybe an American but I will have to ask her...she came in 1 hour late...I thought the teacher was going to have a heart attack...she gave her an even harder time!

We just learnt greetings and things like that, which I've already managed to mess up by asking Albert who he was rather than asking him how he was...honest mistake...I realized when I made the same mistake with the cleaning lady and she corrected me. I'll never make that mistake again:D! We learn questions and answers and then practice with each other. The teacher was appauled by my pronounciation of waar (where). She gasped...and I mean gasped and acted as if I had killed a bird. Oh jongen (hehe that's oh boy my most favourite saying which I have translated to dutch!!!) I'm going to have fun with this lady! Anyway so as I was studying tonight, going over what we learnt, I went onto the next thing that we will do next week. So we learn how to say "Who are you", "How are you", and like 2 more things like languages you speak and how you got to the lesson. So the next most important thing to ask....I translated myself without the help of a dictionary but with the use of a picture..."Are you married?" I thought my sides were going to split from laughter. Why, I am thinking, would that come right after "how did you get to the lesson", and the 4th thing in the book. I confirmed that I had translated correctly with Sandra and I still laugh as I write this. Maybe it's not that amusing to you but when I read it...I will say I was thoroughly amused!

Oh man oh man this is long and I haven't even come close to finishing saying everything! You might want to read this one in blocks....maybe take a koffie break inbetween. Oh and please direct me by telling me to write about certain things if you would like!

So the second reason why I am not adjusting as quickly as I would like. I live with a family that I do not know. It's hard. First of all it just is hard. Every family is different and therefore you have to figure them out before you can actually begin to fit in and feel comfortable. Second of all I have been living not in a family...traditionally speaking...for 3.5 years. As a student you do what you want when you want. If I want to eat lunch at 3 in the afternoon then I can. If I want to leave at 10 at night I can. When you are with a family that is not so easy. I think I will get over that but it will take awhile. A third reason is that they are not Christian which I have never lived with before but that is the topic of a different post.

I'm doing ok in the community though. People are even asking me for directions...well once someone did but I was on a bike with a child seat, standing at the side of the road talking on a cell phone...pretty clear sign that I'm from around here...ha...I sure fooled them! Today I was also very pleased to have the guy at the Albert Hein remember that I am english. He even said "See you next week"! which is wonderful for me:D...small things make me happy I know...but what else could be a sure sign that yo are fitting in in the community.

So I think that's all I will post for now. I was going to write about my trip to Albert's in this post but then though I could even better make a whole post on that with it's very own title of "My visit to Albert's"...so stay tuned my dear friends!

Oh and something I almost forgot! I should have done this first...I need to protect my sister from undue stress...Jan emailed me quite concerned about the comments on my blog re. crazy lady. Well Jan, my dear, no worries as it is , I'm sure, someone making a joke...quite a funny one at that;D for even I would have been concerned had I not known my friends. I have my assumption of who it might be..although my first guess was denied...but really no worries. Please continue to post!!!!!:D!

Oh and one last thing...Elaine although your name has been made fun of thoroughly in the comments section I would like to tell you that your name has actually helped my out greatly here! Elaine is very similar to the dutch word "alleen" which means only (albert correct me if I am wrong) which I hear very often! So be proud and stand tall!

Tot ziens...I am going to go practice guitar which Albert's very kind and generous brother and sister in law lent me. I will post more about that in the post titled "My visit to Albert's";).

biggest mess up!

2007-01-25T00:28:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-01-22T01:59:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-01-17T02:32:00.000-08:00

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!

Finally a blog!

2007-01-16T05:26:00.000-08:00

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.