I can't believe how much paint costs here! We will try to find a cheaper brand, because a liter of floor paint costs 30 Euros! Five liters of wall paint was over 50 Euros. Its a good thing the house owner has given us a budget of 1000 Euros to paint the house. I ended up spending 330 yesterday and came home with a pathetic amount of stuff. A friend was nice enough to bring me to the store to get it though. Sure would be nice to have my car and a Home Depot near by! I guess life is expensive here.
Yesterday we had a really nice evening. We went to the Theater with two colleagues and they brought thier spouses. We arrived late for dinner before the show at one of their houses which was a bummer. We had a nice meal though and it was interesting to see what life is like with two little kids. His brother was acting in the show so we also got to talk about it afterwards with him. Fun to hear where the ideas came from. The show was quite interesting and well done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVoi2wwUtrw&feature=g-u-u&context=G2e01675FUAAAAAAAAAA
Last Sunday seems like a couple weeks ago, but we took a little trip to Amsterdam. Stopped by the Van Gogh museum and saw one of Naomi's friends followed by an appearance at Naomi's Dad's Partner's birthday party. Got all that? It was a nice day. Tomorrow Naomi has to travel to her mom's again for the night so that she can try on her dress. Now it is time to get back to the house and start sanding in prep for the paint! The beautiful weather has not let up, and it doesn't look like it will anytime soon, so I actually have energy again! Life is good.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Planning
Nothing spectacular happened this week. We didn't spend much time at the house because Naomi went to her mothers to get the wedding dress fitted and to go through a lot of her mother's stuff to see what we want for our new house - quite the project. It will be really nice to have much of the furniture we need though.
We spent a little bit of time discussing what colors we want to paint the walls. This will be a lot of work, but we don't care too much if it is perfect or not, so that makes it fun. The house has a lot of potential. Hopefully we will make it into something we really enjoy, but time is scarce. We go to the gym 2-3 times a week. I do a weight lifting class called Body Pump with a friend (once in awhile Naomi joins) and Naomi goes to a dancing class called Zumba. I hadn't envisioned joining a class before, but it is good motivation.
We will pay double rent in April so that we don't have to live in the chaos of painting and building things. The only major purchase we need to make right away is a washing machine. We were thinking about getting a combination washer/dryer, but after some research it looks like those are best only if you don't have the space for separate models. We should be able to stack ours, so it looks like we will get separate ones. Naomi's mother may have gotten us a nice deal on the Miele brand as her father sold them for many years. Dryers here are rare, but I would really like one and I think I convinced Naomi too.
We were working on the wedding invites for awhile yesterday and those were getting pretty frustrating. We want to use our new printer but it is not turning out that great so far. Hopefully we can wrap those up today. We will also go to Amsterdam today to visit one of Naomi's friends and her father's significant other is having a birthday. After the party he offered to drive us back home and drop a few things off at our house which would be really nice! He is bringing Naomi's stereo so we can listen to music when we work. Very important!
We spent a little bit of time discussing what colors we want to paint the walls. This will be a lot of work, but we don't care too much if it is perfect or not, so that makes it fun. The house has a lot of potential. Hopefully we will make it into something we really enjoy, but time is scarce. We go to the gym 2-3 times a week. I do a weight lifting class called Body Pump with a friend (once in awhile Naomi joins) and Naomi goes to a dancing class called Zumba. I hadn't envisioned joining a class before, but it is good motivation.
We will pay double rent in April so that we don't have to live in the chaos of painting and building things. The only major purchase we need to make right away is a washing machine. We were thinking about getting a combination washer/dryer, but after some research it looks like those are best only if you don't have the space for separate models. We should be able to stack ours, so it looks like we will get separate ones. Naomi's mother may have gotten us a nice deal on the Miele brand as her father sold them for many years. Dryers here are rare, but I would really like one and I think I convinced Naomi too.
We were working on the wedding invites for awhile yesterday and those were getting pretty frustrating. We want to use our new printer but it is not turning out that great so far. Hopefully we can wrap those up today. We will also go to Amsterdam today to visit one of Naomi's friends and her father's significant other is having a birthday. After the party he offered to drive us back home and drop a few things off at our house which would be really nice! He is bringing Naomi's stereo so we can listen to music when we work. Very important!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Back to School, Back to School
What a week! So much has happened that it feels like two weeks! Getting back into the groove of school took some time. I was very productive and finished a lot of work. Next week I will be kicking off a new project, and I still need to put the finishing touches on it, but I hope that it goes smoothly next week.
Now for the big news. As I mentioned before, we have been trying to arrange a house as our time in this one is winding down. We love where we live now because we have lots of space and live in a free-standing house. Almost all of the houses here are either connected to another house or are apartments. We like listening to loud music and movies...so I was really not looking forward to moving out. We will also need to pay at least twice the rent we do here.
So we started the house hunt a few weeks ago. We found one that looked really nice almost immediately. We were told it would take about 6 months of searching to find something we liked, but we decided to pursue this one anyway. When she called, Naomi was told it was off the market as someone else had claimed it. She gave her name anyway in case things fell through - which they did! We toured the house and saw lots of potential. We sent in our papers so that we could reserve it. Then the owner asked for a promise of employment for next year.
This is not arranged for at least another month with our school. They don't know if they will hire us or not next year, so we became a bit worried. Then we did not have school for a week so we couldn't ask. On Monday, Naomi was able to convince the principal to give us the documents we needed! After some negotiation (we did well - the owner will pay for 1000 Euros of paint and we don't need to start paying rent until April) we ended up signing the papers!
There were a couple things in the process that I found ridiculous, others about the house that we don't like. The first was that they basically have realtors for rentals here. They charged over a thousand euros to show us the house and make up the contract! Also, if something like the fridge or the water heater breaks, it is up to us to fix it or buy a new one. The house is stripped and needs a lot of work. There is no closet space. It will cost a lot to heat. It is also right next to a railroad crossing.
Now, for some reasons why we really like the house. It is not connected to another house! We can play music and movies as loud as we want! It is from the 20s and has a lot of character. It has a back yard with a garden and lots of storage space. It is nicely located between our school and the city center. It is on a dead end street that has a village feel right next to a park. There is a nice little cafe across the street. We have been given to do whatever we want to the house and yard - it feels the same as if we would have bought it. There is plenty of space inside and the kitchen is pretty nice. We are really excited to find a place that suits us so well so quickly!
Right after signing for the house, a couple friends came to visit from Germany. They just left a few hours ago and we had a really nice weekend. Saturday morning was about showing them around Rotterdam, and in the afternoon we went to Delft. It was an amazing city! I would love to live there!! Rotterdam is really terrible in comparison. It is nice to have it so close by though. We can cycle there on a nice Saturday though, so having it so close by is really nice.
The next 6 weeks will be a lot of work. We want to have things ready for when my family visits. Our finances will be stretched to the limit. We have two weddings to plan. Life is crazy.
 |
| The Livingroom. |
 |
| From the Backyard. |
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| The Backyard. |
Now for the big news. As I mentioned before, we have been trying to arrange a house as our time in this one is winding down. We love where we live now because we have lots of space and live in a free-standing house. Almost all of the houses here are either connected to another house or are apartments. We like listening to loud music and movies...so I was really not looking forward to moving out. We will also need to pay at least twice the rent we do here.
 |
| The Kitchen. |
 |
| Downstairs Bathroom. |
 |
| Steep Staircase. |
So we started the house hunt a few weeks ago. We found one that looked really nice almost immediately. We were told it would take about 6 months of searching to find something we liked, but we decided to pursue this one anyway. When she called, Naomi was told it was off the market as someone else had claimed it. She gave her name anyway in case things fell through - which they did! We toured the house and saw lots of potential. We sent in our papers so that we could reserve it. Then the owner asked for a promise of employment for next year.
 |
| Exploring the only closet space. |
 |
| Upstairs Study. |
 |
| Second Bedroom. |
This is not arranged for at least another month with our school. They don't know if they will hire us or not next year, so we became a bit worried. Then we did not have school for a week so we couldn't ask. On Monday, Naomi was able to convince the principal to give us the documents we needed! After some negotiation (we did well - the owner will pay for 1000 Euros of paint and we don't need to start paying rent until April) we ended up signing the papers!
 |
| Master Bedroom. |
 |
| The Bathroom. |
 |
| From the top. |
There were a couple things in the process that I found ridiculous, others about the house that we don't like. The first was that they basically have realtors for rentals here. They charged over a thousand euros to show us the house and make up the contract! Also, if something like the fridge or the water heater breaks, it is up to us to fix it or buy a new one. The house is stripped and needs a lot of work. There is no closet space. It will cost a lot to heat. It is also right next to a railroad crossing.
 |
| New Church. |
 |
| Old Church. |
 |
| Old Church. |
Now, for some reasons why we really like the house. It is not connected to another house! We can play music and movies as loud as we want! It is from the 20s and has a lot of character. It has a back yard with a garden and lots of storage space. It is nicely located between our school and the city center. It is on a dead end street that has a village feel right next to a park. There is a nice little cafe across the street. We have been given to do whatever we want to the house and yard - it feels the same as if we would have bought it. There is plenty of space inside and the kitchen is pretty nice. We are really excited to find a place that suits us so well so quickly!
 |
| Old Church. |
 |
| Old Church. |
 |
| Tilted Church. |
Right after signing for the house, a couple friends came to visit from Germany. They just left a few hours ago and we had a really nice weekend. Saturday morning was about showing them around Rotterdam, and in the afternoon we went to Delft. It was an amazing city! I would love to live there!! Rotterdam is really terrible in comparison. It is nice to have it so close by though. We can cycle there on a nice Saturday though, so having it so close by is really nice.
The next 6 weeks will be a lot of work. We want to have things ready for when my family visits. Our finances will be stretched to the limit. We have two weddings to plan. Life is crazy.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Sardinia
The trip was better than we hoped for. RyanAir has some pretty incredible deals on flights, so the whole deal cost around 500 Euros for the two of us - including the plane ticket, renting a car, food, and the B&B. The funny thing is it cost as much for the two of us to travel from Eindhoven to Goor (about two hours by train) as it did to travel all the way from Eindhoven to Sardinia. Something seems strange about that...
We disembarked the plane to mild weather and a setting sun. Everything went smoothly in getting to the B&B in Alghero and our host, Mario, was most gracious. After a quick stroll to the old city, we sat down at a pizzeria complete with a brick oven (fairly standard). The food was delicious (we ended up eating pizza at almost every meal) and there was plenty left for lunch the next day.
We woke to an overcast morning. After a huge breakfast, Mario suggested we check out the nearby caves to the North. I guess they were quite impressive. Unfortunately we never got to see them as they were closed for some unknown reason. Instead, we had a nice walk along a rugged coastline and wandered over to an old guard tower. The island was heavily defended; reminders of a distant era spotted the shores.
We headed back though Alghero to follow a road that twisted through the mountains that rose from the sea to the south of Alghero. Our destination was the sleepy town of Bosa. The structures were centuries old and a formidable castle ruled over the city-scape. The castle was closed, just like the caves, but we snuck around the fence anyway. As far as castles go, it did not seem all that impressive, so we walked through the old city and made our way down to the river for some ice cream. The coastal road was the most impressive part of this day especially as there was almost no traffic. So we took it back to Alghero to find some more Italian cuisine.
The night cleared away all of the clouds and we awoke to a beautiful day. We spent the morning touring the old part of Alghero. It is a beautiful city. After a few hours we hopped in the car and headed up to the North coast. We did not have a particular destination in mind, but discovered it when we came upon a town called Castlesardo. It was incredible. Built upon a huge rock formation that towered above the surf, this ancient town must have been incredibly difficult to construct - but easy to defend. It had a nice little harbor and, as the name implies, an impressive castle wall towering above the landscape. We had a wonderful time exploring the tiny, shaded streets and staircases that seemed to randomly explode into sunny vistas of the sea.
That night we returned to Alghero for the sunset and while Naomi was shopping for some clothes, I stumbled into a nice little jewelry shop. As we had planned to begin looking for wedding rings when we returned to the Netherlands, I figured we might as well get started a couple days early. I collected Naomi and we returned. The mom&pop who owned the place did not speak any English, but they referred us to their son who seemed to do much of the work. He was an extremely nice guy by the name of Daniel, quite helpful but not pushy, who answered all our questions. He made the rings himself. He brought us to the workshop and resized the ones we liked - a rose gold. As they were trying to close down the shop for the night, we explained that we would sleep on it and come back the next morning if we wanted to buy them.
Sleep we did. After yet another pizza. The next day was again beautiful, and we had made the decision for the rings. We returned to the shop where Daniel had them ready and waiting - polished perfectly. His dad did the engraving. He even engraved Naomi's engagement ring. Very nice guy as well. We walked out smiling and quite surprised at this major purchase.
The flight back to the cloudy country afforded us another incredible view of the Alps. Sometime soon we will need to visit them. Naomi's dad picked us up at the airport and after a short visit we hopped on a train to her mother's place on the East side. We had a busy time buying clothes for the wedding - everyone got something and we picked out my suit! The shirt is being custom made so I will need to return in six weeks or so to have everything finalized. It will be good to finally own a suit!
Friday morning we stopped by a second hand shop and got an amazing deal on picture frames. 11 nice frames from an 8x10" to something like 30x40" for only 50 Euros! We will need to order a mat cutter so that we can really get into this photography hobby of ours.
We met a friend for dinner in Utrecht on the way home. The timing worked out nicely as she goes to Michigan and is only here visiting her family for spring break. We finally made it home around 9 and after unpacking, crashed. We sure need this weekend to recover from our vacation!
 |
| Corsica. |
 |
| One of the main streets in Bosa. |
 |
| The castle staircase of Bosa. |
We disembarked the plane to mild weather and a setting sun. Everything went smoothly in getting to the B&B in Alghero and our host, Mario, was most gracious. After a quick stroll to the old city, we sat down at a pizzeria complete with a brick oven (fairly standard). The food was delicious (we ended up eating pizza at almost every meal) and there was plenty left for lunch the next day.
We woke to an overcast morning. After a huge breakfast, Mario suggested we check out the nearby caves to the North. I guess they were quite impressive. Unfortunately we never got to see them as they were closed for some unknown reason. Instead, we had a nice walk along a rugged coastline and wandered over to an old guard tower. The island was heavily defended; reminders of a distant era spotted the shores.
 |
| Inside of Alghero's cathedral with a brilliant, multicolored roof on the dome. |
 |
| All the shop owners sweep their part of Alghero's streets. |
 |
| Alghero's coastline looking toward Bosa. |
We headed back though Alghero to follow a road that twisted through the mountains that rose from the sea to the south of Alghero. Our destination was the sleepy town of Bosa. The structures were centuries old and a formidable castle ruled over the city-scape. The castle was closed, just like the caves, but we snuck around the fence anyway. As far as castles go, it did not seem all that impressive, so we walked through the old city and made our way down to the river for some ice cream. The coastal road was the most impressive part of this day especially as there was almost no traffic. So we took it back to Alghero to find some more Italian cuisine.
 |
| Giant guard tower in downtown Alghero. |
 |
| The developed side of Castelsardo. |
 |
| Italian Chopper. |
The night cleared away all of the clouds and we awoke to a beautiful day. We spent the morning touring the old part of Alghero. It is a beautiful city. After a few hours we hopped in the car and headed up to the North coast. We did not have a particular destination in mind, but discovered it when we came upon a town called Castlesardo. It was incredible. Built upon a huge rock formation that towered above the surf, this ancient town must have been incredibly difficult to construct - but easy to defend. It had a nice little harbor and, as the name implies, an impressive castle wall towering above the landscape. We had a wonderful time exploring the tiny, shaded streets and staircases that seemed to randomly explode into sunny vistas of the sea.
 |
| The undeveloped side of Castlesardo. |
 |
| Castelsardo's fortress from the sea. |
 |
| Castelsardo's church. |
That night we returned to Alghero for the sunset and while Naomi was shopping for some clothes, I stumbled into a nice little jewelry shop. As we had planned to begin looking for wedding rings when we returned to the Netherlands, I figured we might as well get started a couple days early. I collected Naomi and we returned. The mom&pop who owned the place did not speak any English, but they referred us to their son who seemed to do much of the work. He was an extremely nice guy by the name of Daniel, quite helpful but not pushy, who answered all our questions. He made the rings himself. He brought us to the workshop and resized the ones we liked - a rose gold. As they were trying to close down the shop for the night, we explained that we would sleep on it and come back the next morning if we wanted to buy them.
 |
| Alghero's marina. |
 |
| Engraving the rings. |
 |
| Alghero by night. |
Sleep we did. After yet another pizza. The next day was again beautiful, and we had made the decision for the rings. We returned to the shop where Daniel had them ready and waiting - polished perfectly. His dad did the engraving. He even engraved Naomi's engagement ring. Very nice guy as well. We walked out smiling and quite surprised at this major purchase.
The flight back to the cloudy country afforded us another incredible view of the Alps. Sometime soon we will need to visit them. Naomi's dad picked us up at the airport and after a short visit we hopped on a train to her mother's place on the East side. We had a busy time buying clothes for the wedding - everyone got something and we picked out my suit! The shirt is being custom made so I will need to return in six weeks or so to have everything finalized. It will be good to finally own a suit!
Friday morning we stopped by a second hand shop and got an amazing deal on picture frames. 11 nice frames from an 8x10" to something like 30x40" for only 50 Euros! We will need to order a mat cutter so that we can really get into this photography hobby of ours.
We met a friend for dinner in Utrecht on the way home. The timing worked out nicely as she goes to Michigan and is only here visiting her family for spring break. We finally made it home around 9 and after unpacking, crashed. We sure need this weekend to recover from our vacation!
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