Two days in Cologne, Germany

Between Fred's bout with the flu, and his giving it to me, we ended up having two good days this Thanksgiving weekend, which we used by driving to Cologne to see the cathedral and go to the Christmas markets. Both were out of this world! We walked to four ourdoor markets which were covered in white lights, located in beautiful places, and one had as many as 140 booths. About half were food! We drank glugwine (spiced hot red wine) and ate German goodies. Now I know where fruitcake came from! (It's better in chocolate) We also enjoyed seeing all of the handmade wooden toys, stained glass and decorations. One market was the "world's largest floating market" and was on a beautifully decorated boat on the Rhine River. The whole thing was a magical experience. It sure puts you in the Christmas spirit.
The cathedral was massive! It looks a little like the one in Barcelona, a little like the duomo in Milan, and feels bigger than St. Peter's . It's like 800 years old, and the symbol of the city. A nice way for an American girl to spend Thanksgiving !

Sinterklaas Arrives!

Today we drove to Haarlem (about 20 miles north of our home, and by the sea) and happened upon the arrival of Sinterklass. He looks a lot like Santa, but came from St. Nikolas. (Who is the patron saint of Amsterdam,of traders and sailors. Also there are St. Nicholas churches everywhere. There's a whole legend (with some truth...he's buried in Turkey) Anyhow, he arrives by boat (how else in Holland?) and from the time he arrives until Dec. 5th (St. Nick's feast day) the kids put their wooden shoes by the fireplace, and Pete (Sint's helper) goes down the chimney and gets the hay and carrots they leave there, and replaces it with little gifts. (like chocolate coins). THEN on Dec. 5th, there's a knock on the door, and Sint (and Pete) arrive with a sack of gifts! (or just the sack is there) So all of the kids can't wait for Sint to arrive from Spain. (I don't know yet why Spain?) Pete gives out these tiny ginger cookies from his sack to all of the children. Then on Dec. 25th, they don't exchange gifts. It was a fun, new celebration for us!

Marvelous Malta

We just returned from a great time in Malta. For such a little island, it has so much history. The people were very friendly and the weather warm and sunny. We took city busses everywhere, and I swear they were built in the 1940's. It was a real experience! AND since they were under English rule for a very long time, they drive on the left. We found some great Italian and Maltese restaurants, loved the local wines, and did lots of walking. Fred lost trying to negotiate with a Maltese fishing woman when I was buying one of her homemade net bags. She kept showing him her arthritic hands, and he just paid her what she wanted.
The cathedral in Valetta (the capital)was a cemetary with the entire floor covered with marble markers for people who died in the 1600s. We also enjoyed looking at the oldest (even older than the pyramids) freestanding manmade structures. M'dina (another very old city) was unique and interesting. I would even go back someday.

Brugge and Gouda

We took a three hour drive to Brugge, Belgium Saturday morning. It's a great town with incredible architecture, beautiful canals, and great piazzas. The chocolate in Belgium is to die for, and there's beautiful hand-made lace in lots of store windows. We were there eight years ago and there's a lot more stores now. We didn't have any trouble finding a hotel without reservations, but there were lots more tourists than you'd expect for early October.
We got up Sunday morning and decided to abandon the expressway and take small roads through the Zeeland. This is mostly reclaimed land from the sea, and its tunnel...bridge..tunnel...bridge. I hate driving through tunnels (one was 3 KM long!) knowing there's water above me, but it is incredible what the Dutch have done with water control. They've added lots more coastline since the 1954 flood when they lost 8,000 people to a dyke breech at high tide.
We had lunch in Gouda. It's pronounced "How-duh" in Dutch. Through the pouring rain we looked at some great churches, had yummy cheese dishes for lunch, and found a great CD in an Afganistan store. The leaves are changing and falling here. It's getting dark earlier, and it's dark when I go to school in the morning. We're just enough farther north to make a noticeable difference. People are buying SAD lights. I guess they get really depressed in the winter here. I'm planning on going to Malta and getting some sun later this month!

Aachen and Monschau

We had a great weekend in Germany, leaving Holland early Saturday morning and returning Sunday evening. Aachen was where Charlemagne came and built a church and castle and decided to make it the Holy Roman Empire's capital for a little while. It's a neat town full of fountains, thermal spas, cool statues and good German food! There was a festival going on and it sounded like the beer-drinkers were having a great time! We did find an Italian restaurant that was very authentic. We got better service than the Germans just by speaking Italian.
Sunday morning we drove down to Monschau, which is a little town nestled in a valley surrounded by high hills. Fred enjoyed another warm appletart, and I bought a beautiful yellow leather purse for only 10 Euros. (sale shopping...different country...same passtime)
Monschau reminded us of the little Swiss town we would travel to when living there. The stream runs through the entire town, and some of the buildings look as if they've spend too much time in the biergarten! Luered by the "Appletart" sign, Fred was compelled to try another in his search for the perfect one. This one passed the test as you can see!

Sunday in Delft

We took a short drive to Delft today (okay...to go to IKEA but it was closed!) and had a great time walking around. We went to the old church and saw William of Orange's statue and mausoleum in the huge Nieuwe Kerk. We sat in the market area between two churches and enjoyed the rare Dutch sunshine and some cappuccino. Just strolled the shops and canals and found a back garden where we stopped for lunch. Fred HAD to have an apple tart. You can see from the picture that it wasn't bad. Fred also found what he's been asking for...anchovie olives for his martinis... (Except they don't put the anchovies inside the olives, they put the olives inside the anchovies. Okay. Not a bad way to spend the day!

Settling in at last!

Our shipment was delivered last Wednesday, and we're finally starting to feel at home here. Also, my classroom is starting to look the way I like it too. After this weekend hopefully we can start getting away and not spend the entire time working on the apartment or school. Fred is flying to Naples to visit his sister Mary on the 22nd. We're headed to Malta over October break.

STILL waiting!

We're still anxiously awaiting the delivery of our shipment. It's been in Rotterdam for over a month now, just waiting to clear customs. Although we do have a washer and dryer, we're getting tired of our clothes,and want our own pillows! Hopefully this week.
We bought a 6 yr. old Mitsubisi space Star, and Fred can now stretch out his legs. I finally drove (stick-shift...AUGHH!!) to school one day last week. We drove to The Hague (only 10 minutes) and saw some incredible sand sculptures downtown in a park. It's a very managable city, with a great beach.
Yesterday we went to an open-air museum in Arnhem and then walked around Apeldoorn. (Never did find the monkey zoo, forgot the book and didn't know how to say monkey in Dutch!) the market was great there though. Fred bought me 5 dozen apricot colored roses for 5 Euros at the end of the market time! Everyone holds up herring by the tail and just bites! (raw!) I had to try it, but won't stand in line for more.
Open house is this Thursday night at school. My class is really a dream, 17 kids (8 girls) mostly American, but 5 Swedish and 1 Dutch/English. Most surprising of all...ALL of my kids have the same last name as their parents. (No divorces, none of the usual U.S. public school name problems)

We're making Progress

Today Fred bought a car when I was at orientation. He got an eight-year old Mitsubishi SpaceStar. (Cars cost more than TWICE here what they do in the states) We also got an apointment with the town hall for tomorrow to bring passports, marriage license, signed lease, etc in order to get a residence permit which we need to get the car and our shipment. Lots of red tape! I also have a seminar about moving overseas smoothly. (A little late for that one!) I'll also learn about the teacher bike shed (LOTS of teachers ride bikes to school, along with the rest of the town!)
Webster College (about a half block from our hotel) has orientation this week, and the kids built a HOUSE out of beer crates. They also kept riding a bar vehicle with about 12 bicycle petals up and down the street. They had to push it UP to get over the bridge, then flew down the other side (under our window) screaming and enjoying being drunk! PS They were mostly speaking English!

Spending the Day Navigating the Canals

The school rented a three-story "party-boat" (partyboot.nl) for all new hires and some returning teachers for the day. We had cocktails, a lovely lunch, and 5 hours leisurely going down the canals of Holland past some beautiful countryside. It started out to be threatening weather, but ended up beautiful. We met some very interesting people ("So..HOW LONG did you live in Zimbabwe?") and had a great time. There were stoplights for boats as the bridges went up for us, and even one part where the canal went ABOVE the expressway! (How did they DO that?) Anyhow, it was a great first step into the ASH family!

We spent the day searching for cars. The tax on each is about 10,000 Euros per vehicle, so they cost twice what they do in the states. We would've been smart to ship one here, contraty to the advice we received. tomorrow is a day-long boat trip along the "green country" near Leiden with all of the new people. Monday we start orientation at 8am sharp!

Checking out the area

Fred was a happy as a pig in a mud puddle when he found a hardware store a few blocks from the new apartment we haven't moved into yet. I took his picture and the owners (you can see them approaching) gave up the 20 questions. They couldn't BELIEVE someone was that happy just to be in a hardware store!

We Almost Have a Home

We again searched for apartments, and by 4pm tomorrow we will have a decision. The flats are either too dirty, too small, too expensive, too creepy (next to the Jewish cemetary), or too short.
We found a good-smelling Italian restaurant tonight and waited an hour and a half for a plate of pasta. You don't have to tip here, so no one tries too hard to please you.
We filled up with gas today. It was 1.56 Euros per liter, which is about $9.00 a gallon ! (don't complain!) Next on the schedule is to search for a car, after we find an apartment.

We've arrived!

After an uneventful 8 hour flight (Vinnie was great! He even used the airplane bathroom on command!) we arrived in Amsterdam and were met by a banner proclaiming "The American School of the Hague". Marianne and Henry (ASH teachers) took us to Leiden to the Hotel Minerva where we settled in. Today we got a rental car, looked at 2 apartments, got Dutch passport pictures taken (DON'T SMILE!!!) ,and visited the school. It's just like an American school, and they're working on renovations right now. We have more apartments set up to see tomorrow. I'm glad we got a U.S. Tom-Tom with European maps already loaded. It makes it much easier getting around. Tomorrow we go to the bank to set up an account, look at more apartments, and try to drive around and see exactly where we are. It rained for a while today, which apparently it does almost every day. I told them I would ride my bike to school but not in the dark, the rain, or against a strong wind. Apparently that's 6 months out of the year. The school campus is beautiful, as is the rest of Wassenaar and Leiden. Verschooten is very quaint, and we'd like to find an apartment there. Vinnie has perched himself on the hotel window and is thrilled with the canal seagulls, and all the pretty blonds biking by.

Eight More Days and Counting

I've started making lists, and quit grocery shopping. Someone came to view our house yesterday with the realtor. It would be nice, but selling the house right now would be too much! Visas and passports have been obtained. Today I downloaded a 7 page orientation from ASH for the week ofAugust 10. Someone is going to pick us up at Amsterdam Airport, and take us to Minerva Hotel in Leiden. The school is picking up the tab for that. (And also for the flight for both of us) Fred has arranged for us to pick up a rental car and go see several apartments the day we arrive (July 28). Sure hope Vinnie the cat can handle the trip!

Getting Ready For the Move!

July 11, 2008
The final countdown is coming quickly! Only 16 more days until we move to The Netherlands for three years! No bags have been packed as of yet, but suitcases have been purchased, HUGE shipments have been made, and Vinnie (the cat) had a microchip implanted. After this weekend (in Las Vegas where we'll say goodby to BJ) we'll really get down to business. Looking forward to a great adventure!