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A week in Tunisia

2010-04-11T20:35:00.002+02:00

We had an incredible time in Tunisia the first full week of April for spring break from school. We packed a LOT into that week too...including two days of travel to the Southern areas on the Libyan and Algerian borders. The first day we took a train to Tunis, about an hour away, and negotiated with a taxi driver to show us everything in Tunis, Carthage, and Sidi Bou Said. (a seaside, cobble-stones town with all blue doors and white houses) Nice guy, and a good way to see everything without the hassles of driving or tour buses. The ruins in Carthage rivaled the forum in Rome. I had to relearn about the Punic Wars. (The "Punics" were the Phoenicians, from Lebanon) The old residential areas, temples and baths were from 800 BC, and you still walk on the mosaic floors! The Roman baths there were second only to those in Rome, although more was intact here. We spent too much time walking around the medina (less sale4s pressure than Morocco here) and ended up taking the 1940's era train home around 7pm, when it was SO full that we had to stand all the way. The next day we walked the beach to Hammamet, and saw a big old fort and THEIR medina, and ate their national dish,couscous, for lunch. Later that week, we joined a tour bus to go down to the southern parts of the state. (It's about the size of Indiana) The first stop was El jem, the 3rd largest Roman amphitheater. The highlight for me was going for an hour long camel ride into the Sahara in Douz. My definition of "desert" has totally changed: not all cacti, but lots of other vegetation. There were lakes, mountains, lots of oasises, and marshy-like areas of sand in pink, all shades of tan, rust, and even black. The sand had different feels too...in the southern Sahara, it was like tan baby talcum powder. It sparkles in the sun because many little rocks are actually Mica crystals. The rest is "dust-like" and gets in everything...your watch, camera, hair, ears! (I could go on and on!) Very quiet though, and windy, with huge temperature variations. We rode LandRovers up and down the huge dunes, which was like a roller coaster! We ate lunch in one of the troglodyte underground homes. No wonder Steven Spielburg came here to film Star Wars! It's almost another-worldly.
Then we drove to Keballi, where they filmed young Luke Skywalker's home. If it were in the states, they'd have a gift shop nearby. It was refreshing that they didn't, but they did have a little porta-potty and sold tickets for the toilet for 1 Dinar that said "Star Wars Toilet". The date wasn't on it, so I'm planning on going back someday! We spent one night in the desert (at a hotel though...I couldn't wait to get in the shower and watch the sand piles form at my feet!) The next day we went to Chebika, on the Algerian border, and saw the ruins of an ancient Berber village, another oasis, desert mountains, and ate yet more couscous. It was a busy two days, but we had one more day to spend up north,(we went to the Bardo Museum in Tunis) so we went to look at the beautiful mosaics. It wasn't warm enough for a beach day anyway, but I did get an hour in the sun before the rain started. An early (3:15 AM!!) wake-up call got us to the Tunis-Carthage Airport and home in a few hours. It was a wonderful trip, the people were not pushy, very kind and helpful. Some of the women wore veils, some didn't. There were churches, synagogues,and mosques. It was very tolerant of differences and you could get a glass of wine or beer in the hotels and restaurants.

Middle Eastern Adventure

2010-03-06T08:40:00.005+01:00

We got up on a Saturday morning and drove to Amsterdam airport (30 min)and boarded a plane for Dubai, United Arab Emeritus (UAE). It was a six hour flight going east. When we arrived we took a taxi to our cruise ship. The airport was FULL of people at 10pm, I saw later that it got even busier at 1 or 2 am! After hitting an ATM for some UA Dinars, we made it to King Rashid Port in a short time. The Costa ship, Luminosa, is less than a year old, so it smelled a WHOLE lot better than the Costa ship we took to north Africa a couple of years ago. In the morning we sailed to Muscat, Oman. The day started out right (it was my birthday!) with champagne in our cabin (from the travel agent?) and blue, sunny skies. (27 degrees C-which is about 80 F) That sure beats the Dutch weather! Rather than taking a cruise excursion with a big bus, we went it alone and started negotiating with a taxi driver about what the price would be if he took us to the places on the list I had made up. This also gave us a chance to see which one of the many drivers could speak English best! We chose "Moon" a Pakistani man in full Arab dress. He had been living in Oman for several years and was very knowledgeable. I went to my first mosque, very peaceful and beautiful. Moon went with us to the souk (shopping market stalls) where he negotiated for us and bought Fred an Arab hat and me a shawl. I bought a little camel, since I seem to have started a collection from the Middle Eastern countries I've been to so far, or the ME children I've taught. He took us to a little mall by the sea, and we remarked about all the westerners who were there...lots! Blonde-headed babies in strollers, ladies in jeans and flip-flops, you could've been in Chicago if not for the warm weather! The sea was beautiful (HAD to stick my feet in the Arabian Sea!) with pale sand and mountains up to the coast. I want to always spend my birthdays as the first day in a new country! Once back on the ship, we were placed at a table with Dutch-speaking people, probably because we booked the trip in Holland, and they had me listed at Dutch in the paperwork (?) so after dinner we asked to be changed to a table where people spoke English. The next day we arrived in Abu Dhabi, and I was AMAZED at the shipping going on in the port! There were HUGE ships unloading thousands of containers, and I could see big, shiny colored buildings with "Arab Shipping" printed on everything. There was a parking lot FULL of thousands of new Toyotas, mostly white. I could see the skyline was lots of big skyscrapers, not what I expected. We found another taxi driver (same routine!) and headed straight for the mosque. Abu Dhabi is the capital of the UAE, and is known as the "New York of the Middle East" as opposed to Dubai, with all its glitz and glamour, which is the "L.A. of the Middle East". The grand mosque is the largest in the country, and is open to non-Muslims. You have to wear the traditional coverings, as a woman) So, after donning the black robe (very hot over my white jeans and top!) I put on the head scarf and Fred took my picture. We were totally blown away by the beauty of the place! We removed our shoes and stood in this huge courtyard surrounded by white. As I took a picture, my "low battery" light flashed, and that was it for my pictures. I got a couple more of the beautiful inlayed marble floors, walls, and the incredible chandeliers, but the rest is just going to be in my memories, or I'll have to go back with my camera! I would recommend this to all Americans. We have many misconceptions about the Muslim faith. I found the people to be very kind. Friday is their holy day,(and closed to non-Muslims) and the mosque is only open to non-Muslims for a half day on Sunday, so we're lucky we got to see this incredible place. We then went to a mall which blows away any I've ever been to in the U.S. It was full of stores, but even though I tried, I couldn't find a dressy dress for a wedding I'm going to in Milan in April. Prices are not cheap either, even though there is a country-wide bi-annual sale. Lots of big-designer shops. Discouraging, since shopping in Holland is an exercise in futility. Clothes are either cheap and not made well, or outrageously expensive, like 140 euros for a pair of MK jeans! ANYHOW......Abu Dhabi was beautiful, incredible, and I would go back in a minute. The next day we sailed to Fujurah, UAE. I had wanted to go snorkeling, but the ship said there wouldn't be anything to see. So, we took a taxi to a nice hotel on the beach, and spent the day sun bathing and I took a couple of dips in the Arabian Sea. It wasn't the sandiest beach, but rather pebbly. The rest of the town was rather run-down and seedy-looking. This was my least-favorite stop, especially when we passed the Mariott with a big sign for their "Dive Center... to see the great coral reefs that surround the shoreline". Guess I'll have to come back here, too!
Our new table-mates were all from England. I thought we spoke the same language,but no. They laughed and laughed at some of the things we said, and we didn't always understand the point they were making. One was a young couple working in Dubai who just took the cruise to get away from work. So many big international companies are based in Dubai. (banks, engineers, and of course, oil, which, by the way, gasoline cost less than one euro per gallon!) No wonder everyone drives over there! The roads were excellent, and gas is cheap!
We sailed for Bahrain City next, in Bahrain. It's an island, and there's one road that leads to... Saudi Arabia. We could go up to the crossing, but were not allowed to go into the country. Again, we taxi'ed it. Our driver, another Pakistani, was very responsive to our political questions. He didn't feel they were treated very well by the Arabs. He said that most all of the labor jobs are done by East Indian, Pakistani, or Bangladeshi men. He said that the Arab men own everything and sit around drinking tea or coffee all day. These taxi drivers can't become citizens either, so they work for a while, fly home to visit their wives and children, and come back for another 6 months. They do this for YEARS! We later saw this at the Dubai airport. Not ONE woman on the plane to Delhi. In Bahrain we went to the (free, thanks to the king!) camel farm where we saw more camels than we need to see for the rest of our lives! The cutest were the new 2 week old babies with curly brown fur! Unlike the rest, they didn't smell and had no flies. The mothers were curious about us, and the big males had to have one foot tied since they are aggressive. They're funny looking animals...but a big part of their culture and development here. Our driver took us to the place where the king's grandfather lived until 1961 and we were amazed that as a king in recent years..he had a sand floor home with no electricity and a big clay jug in another room to keep the water cool and an outdoor platform made of palm to sleep on in the summer when it's 120 F. They went from rags to riches that quickly. Now the king's homes are not to be believed! They're actually marble palaces with gold everywhere. A grandson in Dubai even turned his father's palace into the highest priced hotel in the country!
Last port was Dubai again. We hit the malls (OMG!!!) and took the hop-on, hop-off bus all over the city for 2 days. The place is like Las Vegas. It has skyscrapers x10, the world's only 7 star hotel (one of my students was staying there, I later found out) world's tallest building, (observation tower closed due to electrical problems), and just about the biggest, flashiest place you've ever seen! It's overload, but we did find one old part so we could see what it used to be like before all the new buildings, none of which is more than 10 years old! We flew out at 2am, and arrived at Amsterdam at 7am Sunday, February 28th. In all, it was a great trip, and I happily updated my TravBuddy map with 3 new countries, which put me at 30% of the world that I've seen...long way to go!

A Day in Antwerp

2009-12-13T12:36:00.002+01:00

Saturday morning we drove (only 1.5 hrs) to Antwerp, Belgium. I love Antwerp, because of the legend. And who doesn't love a good legend? OK...centuries ago (during Roman times) there was a giant (Antigone) who stopped the boats going down the Scheldt River right at the part where the river makes a "U". (Guess where that is?) Anyhow, this nasty giant demanded a HUGE (50% of the value of the goods being transported!) tax for the boats to continue down the river. Naturally, the sailors were ticked and decided to fight the giant. Naturally the giant won. Always. AND to add to his nastiness, he would cut off the hand of each sailor he fought and toss it into the river, as a warning to others. Then he moved into the nearby castle, killing everyone inside. So along comes Brabo, the hero, he fights the giant for DAYS, and with the help of the god Mercury, kills him. In the name of justice, he cuts off the giant's hand and throws it into the river. The city is named Antwerpen (in Dutch) and that stands for "hand twerpen" or "hand throwing" in English. Good story, huh?
There's a statue of Brabo in the city center (tossing the giant's hand) and you can also see the castle in my pictures. We went through the cathedral of Our Lady looking at Ruben's masterpieces. Ruben's home is in Antwerp too, you can still go through it. We found a wonderful Italian restaurant for lunch. (Southern Italian..yum!) and of course, another Christmas market. Love that glug wine! One more week of school, and the kids in my class are going everywhere from Bangkok to South Africa,London, the U.S., and I'm off to Italy to meet Brad !

German Christmas Markets

2009-11-29T17:27:00.001+01:00

We decided to drive into Germany for the 4 day Thanksgiving break from school and visit the Christmas Markets. They're all over the country, very traditional, and people walk around drinking glugwein (hot red or white spiced wine) , eating sausages, and shopping the booths. Last year we went to Cologne, and there were seven huge markets, so this year we went to a small town, Ahrweiler. That way we could also go to the spa in nearby Bad Neuenahr. We combined this with a trip to Oberhausen to Centro, the largest mall in western Europe, which was decorated beautifully for the holiday, AND had it's own Christmas market just outside. We shopped, we drank and ate, and we drove our pooped bodies to the spa to recoop! What a fun weekend! Now we have school until Dec. 18th, and then yet ANOTHER break!

The Chunnel, Stonehenge, Bath and Amiens, France.

2009-10-26T21:47:00.002+01:00

Since I had a week off of school for fall break, we decided to drive through the Chunnel from Calais, France to Folkstone, England, and drive to Stonehenge. It was amazing that "the crossing" as they call it, took less than a half hour! They announce that "It's almost time to disembark, turn your clocks back one hour and drive on the left!" The roundabouts were the MOST fun...trying to figure out who had the right of way! I HAD to drive in England though,as a personal goal since learning to drive stick-shift, and even drove us back on the Chunnel when we left England. Stonehenge was amazing, and there are other stone circles around the area too, just not with stones quite as large. We loved seeing the abbeys at Salisbury, Bath, Wells and Lacock. (The Harry Potter movie was filmed there!) We enjoyed the thermal baths in Bath, and were amazed by the Roman Baths there that are STILL airtight and holding water hundreds of years later there. After England, we drove to Amiens, France for two nights to see the largest cathedral in the country. The symbol of World War II, the weeping angel, was there. It took only about four hours to drive back "home" to Holland (after we fixed our flat tire)...another great trip!

A Trip to Maastrich

2009-10-05T22:46:00.000+02:00

We finally got away and took a drive down to the southeastern tip of The Netherlands Saturday morning and went to Maastrich. It's a stones-throw from Belgium to the west, and Germany to the east. Even with the Tom-Tom, I think we crossed the Maas River river seven times! Still, it was a lovely old walled city, (the Romans were here!) and we enjoyed walking around. The weather cooperated too, which is unusual for this time of year. Sunday morning we went to the oldest thermal spa in Holland, Terme 2000. We spend four hours in the different pools, and even went in one that was outside. Total destressing needed for standardized testing in school this week. (A first for third graders!) Looking forward to October break when we take the Chunnel to southwest England.

A Day at Rijksmuseum

2009-09-06T14:19:00.002+02:00

This Saturday we took the train to Amsterdam to spend the day looking at Rembrandt's masterpieces at the Rijksmuseum. One of the most famous paintings...The Kitchen Helper by VerMeer, was on loan to the Met. Museum of Art in New York. We did get to see The Night Watch, which is gigantic, dark, and typical Rembrandt. It was a nice day, but usual Dutch weather. We always bring an umbrella! We passed one on the street that died a sudden death due to the wind which can be brutal this time of the year. We're planning Oct. break in England, and got tickets for the Chunnel. That should be fun!

Back to work...Back to Reality!

2009-08-23T15:30:00.002+02:00

After a summer vacation in the states when we visited BJ in California, checked out Brad's new art gallery in Chicago, and I went to my (GASP!) 40th high school reunion, we are now back in Holland, and I'm back at work at the American School of The Hague. I moved from grade four to grade three because of numbers, but got to stay in the same classroom. I have 16 children, 8 boys & 8 girls. All speak English except one beautiful little girl from Rome who only speaks Italian. :) My class is about half American, many Northern Europeans, and one South African.
Today was very warm, so we rode our bicycles to the North Sea Beach in Wassenaar.(about 4 miles west of us) There are dunes there, and the land is not flat like the rest of Holland. As long as you're biking downhill, and WITH the wind, its a delightful ride. (the other way...not so easy) I thought the water was relatively not so bad, something like Lake Michigan in early June. It was PACKED with bicycles and Dutch people. Literally, there must have been 500 bicycles locked to the fences! And that explains why people are so healthy here.

Sunday in The Hague

2009-06-14T22:17:00.002+02:00

We didn't want to go too far today since I have end-of-the-year things to do for school. We went downtown since yesterday was the start of The Hague Festivals. We wanted to see the sandcastles. We remembered them from last year, but by the end of July there were big chunks that has fallen off due to the frequent rain here. Don't know what the theme was this year, but they reminded me of the park in Oslo, Norway, where one artist has tons of statues of naked people of all ages. There were some really cool sculptures in the park too, but the material was like that of hardened liquid plastic. We will be back in the states a week from today! Looking forward to a nice, safe flight and seeing friends again.

A weekend in Calais

2009-06-01T16:57:00.002+02:00

Today is "White Monday", and it's a holiday, so Saturday we decided to get away for a short trip. In just a few hours, we were able to drive to the northern coast of France. Calais is where the chunnel connects France to England, a trip of less than a half hour. In fact, while we stood on the beach in Calais, both of our cell phones rang text messages welcoming us to the UK! We should've known better to go without reservations on a holiday weekend, but we didn't, so we spent some time searching for accomodations. Still, walking the beaches with German bunkers all around knowing much of WWII took place on that ground was disturbing. There were WWI markers in the area too.
There were two areas that jut out into the Channel: Cap Blanc and Cap Gris, which means "White Nose" and "Gray Nose". Both gave magnificent views, and many of the observation areas are atop German bunkers. The tide comes FAR inland, and in the daytime there are huge areas of damp sand.
We also walked the streets of Boulogne au Mer, who was having some sort of celebration. There were black & red balloons everywhere. The special dish of the region was mussels, and Fred ate them at least three times in two days!
School ends in only three weeks, so this will probably be my last entry until August.

Four Days in Berlin

2009-05-25T22:07:00.002+02:00

Last weekend we made the six hour drive directly east to Berlin since I had four days off of school. What a great city! It's steeped with history, everything being either 50 yrs old, or half there due to being bombed off. (like the church) There is still an East center and a west center, but of course most of the wall is gone, except for the parts where you can see where it used to be in the sidewalk, and small pieces for people to see. We just happened to be there for the 60th anniversary of the unification of east & west. We saw the president of Germany, walked through the Brandenburgh Gate (which was on the eastern side) and even got on tv, as the stations and all three million city inhabitants were there! Lots on beer, brats, pretzels and Russian goodies. We walked until our feet about fell off. We also loved seeing "Checkpoint Charlie" (You are now leaving the American sector...), and various sculptures. (Like the one where the east and west are so close, but not quite touching. That one also stands for the U.S, France, Britian and Russia as the four strands. The Pergamon Museum blew us away as they've reconstructed entire ancient monuments the size of Petra INSIDE the walls. The Istar Gate, Pergamon altar, and more were incredibly impressive. Lots of good shopping, (including KaDeWe, the 1st German department store) but were crazy expensive. Who would pay 179 euros for a cotton shirt? (even if it is designer!) I'll wait until I get back to the states and shop the sales. No wonder people shop like crazy when they visit the states! Less than a month of school now...the time has gone by so quickly! We're moving to a new apartment, a little bigger (and less expensive too) in August. Not much time more. Hopefully we'll get in one more adventure before we come home June 21st!

And THIS is Holland!

2009-04-26T18:21:00.001+02:00

Today we drove all the way up the the northern part of Holland to see the tulips. The weather was rainy, but then again this is Holland! We saw the most spectacular fields of tulips that no one seemed to mind. I have never seen anything like it! I also had no idea as to the variety of tulips. Some were almost up to my waist, and others were so short that you could hardly get them into a vase. Some had beautiful feathered petals, some had three or four flowers growing from one stem. And of course the colors were incredible. The farmers grow them for the bulbs, and throw the flowers away. (GASP!) We took six friends with us, and had a great time in the rain. The windmills, bicycles, rain and wooden shoes were good indications that we lived in Holland, but THIS tops the cake!

Driving through France

2009-04-18T16:04:00.003+02:00

We had a great spring break driving from The Hague all the way to the Mediterranean. We stopped first in Reims, the center of the champagne grape vinyards in France, and loved the cathedral there, especially the window by Marc Chagall. From there we stopped in Beaune to visit the famous Hotel Dieu. We loved the colors of the tiled roof. Then we explored Lyon and decided that salad Lyonese and our Tom-Tom were both excellent! We kept heading south, and finally entered Provence when we came to Avignon, where we stayed in a restored monestary. I remember teaching church history when I had grade 7 at Holy Ghost School in South Holland (back in 1986!) and teaching about how there were 3 popes at the same time, and one of them left Rome and built a palace in France. Wow! What a palace it is! Plus, the half-bridge from the song "The bridge to Avignon", that I think is the only song in French I know except maybe for Marmelade! From Avignon we explored the Pont du Gard, which was the highest bridge the Romans ever built, and is at least 2,000 yrs. old. We also walked through the amphitheater in Nimes, and imagined the bullfights along with the Roman sacrifices. The next day we pushed our "sunshine" luck and drove to the sea. We opted for Cassis (home of the raspberry liquor) rather than Marseilles. The ocean was cold, but the shoreline beautiful, much like Italy. That's when the rain started. The next day we drove up to Dijon (of mustard fame) and had the BEST hotel. We celebrated our 35th anniversary at a great restaurant in our hotel, and I recieved the beautiful white gold earings I saw in a window at St. Remy de Provence. It was a wonderful way to spend spring break, and I'm so grateful that we're here and can drive to France with only a week to spend. It's the biggest perk of living overseas...you're already overseas!

2009-03-22T08:11:00.002+01:00

We've made our plans to come back to the states for the month of July and part of August. Anyone interested in using our apartment while we're gone? It's 2 blocks from bus transportation, a half hour train ride from Amsterdam, 10 minutes north of The Hague, close to the beach...really a great location.

International Day at ASH

2009-03-15T20:29:00.003+01:00

Last Friday was International Day at school, and it was on a scale I've NEVER seen before! In the pre-K-through grade 12 school, there are a little over 1,000 students, from 67 countries. Students all wore national dress, and the classrooms were converted (overnight!) into countries. There were foods from many different countries in each room, souveniers from each country, music and dance presentations, an opening and closing ceremony, and a homemade lunch with signs to let you know what you were eating! The parents did SO much work, and the students & teachers really enjoyed it! I learned that yo-yos were invented by someone from the Philippines and were originally weapons! (Plus lots of other good stuff too!) Now I have several other countries I want to visit! The school is flying me to Miami for the weekend on March 26th for a teacher's conference, paying all expenses. :) Then, for Spring break Fred & I are getting the cat and getting in the car and heading for the south of France for 10 days. No reservations, no pre-determined plans. I have a French mother who is giving me tips. I get a new student tomorrow who speaks Chinese to her mother, French to her father, and Dutch. No English yet, but it won't take that little smartie long! We're looking for a larger apartment for next fall, as other teachers are making plans to move to other countries. Everyone here is a nomad. We kinda' fit right in!

Amazing Jordan

2009-02-23T18:50:00.003+01:00

We spent an incredible week in Jordan during February "White week" when most people go skiing. We were thrilled with Petra, but were surprised that Jerash (a Roman city in the north that was buried in sand for 2000 years and was just dug up in the early 1800's) was just as incredible! We were human corks in the Dead Sea, and I got smeared with black Dead Sea mud, which is supposed to make you look ten years younger. I asked for three layers. We enjoyed the Syrian/Jordanian food, and the people were very friendly. Aaman was a beautiful city, and we wish that we had more time to spend there. We'd recommend a visit there to anyone. It is much more forward thinking than Egypt (and also more expensive) but has a lot to offer as far as history and beauty. We had a GREAT time there!

Driving to Friesland

2009-02-01T19:32:00.002+01:00

Saturday we drove all the way up to northern Holland. (Past North Holland to Freisland, actually) It was a clear beautiful day, but cold and very windy by the sea. We crossed the dike with the ocean on our left and the Ijsselmee, (which I think means "ice sea", and it WAS rough, icey, and apparently half as salty as the ocean)on our right. It looks and feels like a bridge, but the water level is different on the two sides, and you can see water only on one side since the land has been built up with stones from Belgium. What a project! The Dutch are really masters of water management. They keep reclaiming more and more land from the sea, and we pay a water tax, which is used to pump the water out of the country, which is basically below sea level!
OK...here's a test. There's a picture of something in a canal in Workum. What do you think it is and what's it for? Post your comments, and I'll put the answer in my blog next week.
Freisland is ice skating country! In fact, some of the towns we visited are part of the "Elfstedentocht", the 11 town (124 mile) ice skating marathon, which they haven't held in many years due to the canals not being frozen. However, I think this will be the year since the temperature has been quite low all over the country this year.

A Good Weekend

2009-01-25T18:24:00.002+01:00

This weekend we spent Saturday at a castle and Sunday at an art museum. We drove up to see the Muiderslot Castle. (about 15 km SE of Amsterdam) It took about 45 minutes to get there. The castle is over 700 years old, and although most of the signs were in Dutch, we got the main ideas. Also, since I'm teaching the middle ages at school, I was really into it! There were jousts to have, costumes to try on, swords to pick up, and virtual battles to hold. We had so much fun that I'm going to take my class there for a field trip!
Sunday we spent the day at the Escher Museum. We decided he must have been dyslexic, crazy or brilliant. His work is well known, and even though I totally enjoyed looking at it, Fred got dizzy and had to stop trying to make sense of the pictures. (He's SO logical!...Fred, not Escher)
Last weekend it was so cold that the canals froze. Apparently it hasn't happened here in thirteen years, and the entire country found ice skates and went outside. It's a very healthy/outdoorsy country! The windmills looked especially beautiful in the frost, I thought.

International Celebrations!

2009-01-18T14:58:00.003+01:00

The 12th of December was Santa Lucia Day, very popular in Scandanavian countries. Since I have five Swedish children in my classroom, and the school is 20-30% Scandanavian, the whole school celebrated. The girls all dress as Lucia's helpers, and the oldest gets chosen to wear the candelabra and be Lucia. The boys wear clown caps and also dress in white gowns. They parade through the school and into the darkened theater and sing songs traditional for the holiday. The treats were wonderful, and I recieved several bottles of glugwine, which when drunk hot with spices, really warms you up! This holiday, along with Sinterklass Day (Dec. 6th) really gave me a different Christmas to celebrate this year!

Home for christmas

2009-01-02T04:52:00.002+01:00

After a great flight to Chicago, arriving the one clear day between ice storm and snow, we have been enjoying some time with the boys, friends and relatives. BJ flew in from California and we hosted a Christmas dinner for nine, including new 5 week old cousin Beckum. I've spent lots of time using my credit card with all of the great sales and the Euro/dollar situation right now. We fly back to Amsterdam in a few days, and school starts again January 12th. Happy New Year one and all!

Two days in Cologne, Germany

2008-12-01T16:28:00.002+01:00

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!

2008-11-16T21:38:00.004+01:00

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

2008-10-24T22:33:00.002+02:00

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

2008-10-05T19:07:00.003+02:00

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

2008-09-21T19:49:00.002+02:00

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

2008-09-14T15:28:00.002+02:00

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!

2008-09-13T16:19:00.003+02:00

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!

2008-08-31T10:41:00.002+02:00

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

2008-08-12T20:35:00.002+02:00

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

2008-08-10T20:08:00.002+02:00

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!

2008-08-09T22:08:00.001+02:00

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

2008-08-08T19:25:00.001+02:00

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

2008-08-04T21:56:00.002+02:00

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!

2008-07-29T15:18:00.002+02:00

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

2008-07-20T04:59:00.000+02:00

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!

2008-07-11T19:11:00.000+02:00

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!