American Tourist

One of my good friends from the States is staying with us at the moment. He decided to spend about 3 weeks in Paris, and since we are only 3 hours away, he came to visit on Friday. Earlier this week, I tried out a nearby gym with a friend. He is a bit intimidating to work out with, but in a good way. We are doing a class on Mondays and Wednesdays called Body Pump. It is from New Zealand and lasts for an hour. I was soooo sore this week!

They had a special on the memberships, so I got a pretty good deal - for this place. It ends up being almost 45 Euros per month for 6 months. They also have an included section of DVD rentals - common here, keeps you coming back - which is nice. One annoying thing is that you always need to have your towel with you to place on the benches...another cultural difference. Now I just need to start working it into my schedule in a good way - Naomi wasn't too happy about all the nights away from home this week.

The Erasmus Bridge - taken last weekend when we visited
the photography museum.

Hand-driven crane - part of the harbor museum.

The boat where we had Dutch apple pie.

Strange church - this made us laugh.

I was so sore on Tuesday from the workout, and we had to bike about 45 minutes to the other side of the bridge for a dinner. It was cold. Naomi had to pull me along at some points. Thursday night was a reception for parents at school, so I stayed for that. It ended up being good that I stayed, but I am getting past the initial excitement phase about the new job so I think I will be focusing on it a little bit less. There are so many other things that need attention!!

View of the cubes from the library's top floor.

Inside the cube forest.

The main drag goes under the cubes.

For Sale!!!

Yesterday was a great day. We spent it in Rotterdam. I lost a part to my speaker stands, and it looks like replacing it might not be as easy as I thought. The Media Markt (like Best Buy) could not order it. After we checked, Naomi met us for lunch at a Turkish place. We tried for Surinamese but they were closed. Half the town seemed closed. We tried to take a boat somewhere but it wasn't running. Instead we stopped by the harbor museum and had homemade Dutch apple pie on a boat that was turned into a Portugese restaurant. It was really tasty. We wouldn't mind going back to that place.

The third floor.

Second floor master bedroom.

First floor living room.

The kitchen.

Afterwards, we got some Salmon Trout at the market for dinner, and then we split ways. Naomi went clothes shopping at her favorite store (the Mango) and we went to check out the cubes. Most people are quite curious about what these structures are, so they set up a model home that you can tour like a museum for 2,50. I think of this place as a village for space smurfs. It is like a village that bridges a main drag in the heart of the city, but when you are inside it things seem quiet and peaceful. The architect wanted it to look like a forest - and it does in a strange way.

The Williams Bridge (from the cubes).

A small harbor (from the cubes).

Downtown Rotterdam (from the cubes).

A main subway stop in the foreground, market area
to the right, cathedral in the middle, and central station
is the square building on the left (from the cubes).

After we went inside the model house my curiosity really turned into appreciation. Living here would be amazing! It is about the same size as our current house but with three levels. It feels very spacious and the location is unbeatable - although we would have to cycle 30 minutes to get to work. The library is next door and so is the rest of downtown. I couldn't stop talking about it last night because there are one or two cubes for sale at just under 200k. I would love to live there! I even had trouble sleeping last night because I was thinking about it so much!!

Vacation from the Vacation

That is what I need. This week was just a bit too hectic. I could really use more time to settle in and rest from our time in the States. Monday we started school with a staff breakfast and the kids came 1.5 hours late. It was a nice slow start, but those three hours were my prep time, so that was gone. In the afternoon our consultant, Peter, came and what happened was a bit disappointing. Some of us were under the impression that he would solidify the school rules and such so that the teachers know more what to do and what to expect of the students. Instead, he basically just said we are experimenting this year and we would work towards setting them for next year. So nothing changes - we were doing that already.

Tuesday I had to go to the US Consulate in Amsterdam to get a form stamped that I need to get married here in the Netherlands. Entering this fortress felt like trying to get into a maximum security prison. It seemed rather strange as the Consulate is a very nice old Dutch house on the Museumplein which is a very nice, touristy part of Amsterdam - and they turned this place into a foreboding fortress with a tiny American flag hidden behind the 12 foot iron fence. Strange. On top of all that, I had to miss most of the rest of my prep time for the week and spend 50 dollars for a stamp! On the other hand, walking around this nice area of Amsterdam was quite enjoyable.

Typical houses in Amsterdam.

Museumplein tram stop.

Rijksmuseum.

Across the museumplein.

Clash of cultures.

Jet trails.

On Thursday school was finished after lunch so that our school group could have a new-years celebration. We took a water taxi (which was really cool) out to an old submarine factory that they have turned into an innovation center. Inside the warehouse they have set up greenhouses (a common industry in the area) for climate control and all sorts of schools and businesses have set up shop. It is a cool concept, and Detroit could learn a lot from it.

What little school that I was there for this week did go pretty well - even though I didn't have much of any prep time. The students did presentations about Skyscrapers. They made up their PowerPoints before the break and now, in pairs, they are presenting them to the class - in English! This is a big deal. It is, for some, proof that a bilingual education at this lowest caliber of student is possible. It took a lot of yelling during the transitions, but during the presentations, even though the English was a struggle, the audience stayed silent for the most part. I was quite nervous that this would not be the case - so I consider this particular experiment a great success!

Yesterday we finally had some time to relax and get a few things done. I haven't been getting back into my exercise routine and I was pretty stressed out about all the things that need to be done, so I did not sleep well last night. It was so bad that we ended up making a 4:30 am pancake breakfast - by candlelight. It was very tasty - especially since we got to use the Maple Syrup! After that I slept pretty well and took a nice jog around the lake this morning. This afternoon we will meet some friends in town for a snack at the Hotel New York (an integral part of the old Holland - America cruise line) and the photography museum. Then we will meet another friend for dinner. So much for all that stuff that needs to be done!

Abundant...

...is the word I would use to describe the past two weeks. Our time was incredibly full. We even managed to squeeze in some games and relaxation by the fireplace...but lets start from the top. The jet lag took a couple days to get over and we had to have Christmas one day late since we arrived with only a few hours of Christmas Day remaining. Naturally, there was some apple crisp waiting for us when we walked in the door (along with lots of other treats).

Morning walk around the house.

 Exchanging presents was a lot of fun. We brought plenty of fragile items and they all made it through perfectly (the same held true for our return journey). After enjoying the gifts and settling into the comforts of home, we picked my car up from storage and I got to drive for the first time since August! We even managed to do some doughnuts in a parking lot full of fresh snow. It was wonderful. The next day started out with a beautiful walk, and before the sun went down I got a chance to take on some Buckthorn Lord of the Rings style (cutting it up with a sword-like machete) with Kalia. 

My finished bookshelves!

Before we knew it, we were on our way down to my cousin Chloe's wedding. It was a nice wedding but we found it quite odd (especially from the European perspective) that the bride was not old enough to drink alcohol on her wedding day. Strange. We even managed to see my friend Thane and get all of our shopping taken care of - certain things are so much cheaper in the States! Seeing the family was fun, and on the way home we got to stop at Sara and Pat's to see much of my mom's side. Naomi had quite a few introductions. 

Chloe's wedding.

We needed some time to rest after that whirlwind, so we took care of quite a few odds and ends in Escanaba. Thursday we headed up to Marquette Mountain for a little snowboarding. It was a perfect, sunny day just below freezing. We pretty much had the hill to ourselves as everyone else had to work. Naomi put on my old gear and made a lot of progress and in spite of getting her leg crunched under the chairlift ended on a positive note. When we got home we had a delicious Mexican dinner at Ferdinand's. It was Kalia's last night in town. Now she is studying for her boards in Duluth and looking for a job.

Marquette Mountain.

After packing up on Friday, we had to get up early for our flight yesterday. Checking in and going through security at Escanaba's airport is so nice. Both our checked bags were 51 pounds, but they didn't hassle us about it. We had an 8 hour layover in Detroit, so Claire was nice enough to pick us up and bring us to Ann Arbor where we all spent some time with a few good friends. We had a delicious lunch at Panchero's and then went to the museum of archeology - my favorite museum in Ann Arbor. I really miss that city. And those friends.

The trip to Ann Arbor.

All went well with the overnight flight back to Amsterdam. Our bags made it in one piece and we spent the day (after a 4 hour nap) unpacking, getting groceries (now our store is open Sundays!) and preparing for school in the morning. I really need another week off. I am not at all ready to go back to being a teacher. Two weeks was not long enough!