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.