Easter Sunday

Sure doesn't feel like one. The weather is about right - 40s and partly sunny. The trees seem ahead of schedule - plenty of green around here - and the tulips are out, but no family and no church service. Strange. Naomi's dad is here though, so that is nice. He is helping us out with the house. His significant other will come later today as well. They don't celebrate Easter though.

In the last two days we spent over 5,000 Euros. Ouch. The plane tickets for next summer were ridiculously expensive. We also bought one for Naomi's mom, but she should pay us back. I found a deal for Naomi and her mom - and ended up getting the last two tickets. For an extra couple hundred Euros they will be able to fly from Brussels, to LA, then rent a car and tour the Southwest, followed by a flight out of Las Vegas to Marquette. They will return to Amsterdam. This journey involves 8 different airplanes!

Yesterday we were able to go to the Praxis (similar to Home Depot) to get more paint for the house and light fixtures. We also took an unexpected journey to Rotterdam South (glad we don't live there!!) to buy a washer and dryer. Naomi couldn't sleep during the night, so she came across an add for a shop that sells second hand appliances. We ended up getting very nice 10 year old machines - a Miele washer and dryer (dryers are not common here) delivered for less that 500 Euro. Now all we have to do is figure out to get the 100 kilo washing machine up a rather dicey set of stairs. Hmmm.

Last night Naomi and I went to the wedding of one of our colleagues. She is Turkish. I have never been to such a wedding before and it was quite the experience. There were about 1000 guests. They filled the largest wedding hall around. The food was good and the traditional-ish Turkish music was too loud, but they danced in a huge circle the whole time which was rather interesting. The end was very strange though. As loans were taken out to fund this event, it is customary to get as much money as possible from the guests. So at the end of the wedding, the guests lined up with cash in hand and congratulated the bride and groom. The man with the microphone announced the family name and how much money they were giving. I guess it turns into a bit of a competition...

Half of the reception hall.

The grand entrance.

The first dance.

More dancing.