Happy Anniversary!

We are spending our first anniversary in Detroit. Naomi has been looking forward to seeing the city for awhile, and our good friend lives in the New Center. It is pretty cool to explore the city and learn about some of the history. Naomi was a bit shocked when she saw a guy who looked like Snoop Dogg driving an Escalade. It will be quite the cultural experience.

Most of this week we spent in Escanaba. There was a lot to do and we really enjoyed the time. It was a nice rest before this week long adventure Downstate. We picked blueberries, went biking and for walks, and I did write for awhile. I am looking forward to a couple of weeks being back there after this roadtrip.

We were spending time with friends and family in Lower Michigan for most of the past week. The idea was to circle the Mitten by heading straight down to Ann Arbor/Detroit, head across to Grand Haven/Holland, and work out way up to Sleeping Bear Dunes/Traverse City. Our plans were thwarted by a car that wouldn’t start on day one in Ann Arbor while we were staying with Ashley and Pawel and their super-cute 3 month year old. Finding an open garage on Saturday who wasn’t booked solid was a challenge, but we found one and had our ’99 Cougar towed over. 

Not long after, during a delightful game of disc golf spotted with thunderstorms Andrew and I learned (while hiding from the rain under a maple tree) that the fuel pump was bad and the new one would set us back about 600 dollars. Ouch. We continued our game and he pulled ahead from our tie at the last hole winning by two. I would like to get a set of discs for myself some time.

Today I have a headache, so we will take things a bit easy tonight and then hopefully head to the Westside tomorrow.

Home at Last!

Monday was a busy day spent cleaning, packing, and tying up loose ends. It would have been nice to have more time for this, but it was worth it to visit the East Side. 

On Tuesday the alarm woke us up at 5:30. We made our final preparations and hauled all of our baggage onto the Metro. After a transfer to the train (we just missed the discounted fare) we arrived at Schiphol. The airport was busy with vacation traffic, so our flight to Copenhagen was delayed, but that didn’t matter to us. Copenhagen’s airport was quite nice - all the floors were wood - and it was much quieter and more comfortable than Schiphol.

After a 8.5 hour flight we arrived in Chicago. All of our bags made it through nicely, but we had to wait for over an hour because Claire got stuck in traffic and a bit lost. It was nice to visit with her though. We went out for hamburgers and enjoyed her apartment. 

The next day my aunt Sara picked us up in Milwaukee and drove us to their place in Neenah. We spent the night and had a nice visit with plenty of walks and good food. Then she took us to Aunt Jenny’s house on the lake because it was soo hot and after that we went to Grandpa’s concert. Afterward all the family gathered at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, and then we rode back to the Fox Valley with Aunt Mary. We spent the night at their house in Appleton and did clothes shopping for the year - getting more than half off at Kohl’s. 

After test driving some Subaru’s with my parents and a great dinner of grilled quesadillas, we finished the journey up to Escanaba. The first couple days were spent decompressing, settling in, and even taking our mountain bikes out for the first ride of the year. Hopefully I will be able to make some substantial progress on my novel this week.

Tying Up Loose Ends

I totally forgot to post on Sunday. We were enjoying our time on the East Side of the Netherlands. We left Friday to stay with Naomi's mom and visit some family there. It was a nice way to say goodbye to the country before our 5 weeks in the States. In addition to her mom, we also visited with her grandma and a couple aunts and uncles. There was even some time to swing by a second hand shop to pick up some picture frames. It was a busy couple of days.

Before that we both had to wrap things up at school. Monday and Tuesday I had a couple of meetings about the MacBooks for next year, and Naomi had a lot of meetings. Wednesday I cleaned out my things at WolfertPRO. Thursday I was at a tennis tournament for the teachers at my new school - Wolfert Tweetalig - and I made a comment to one of the other players: the difference between these two school is summed up by today - I get to play tennis while Naomi is working for 12 hours straight. I am glad to be done.

Friday was the closing ceremonies at both schools. Our director at PRO made speeches about all the teachers who were leaving, and really messed mine up. He screwed up some essential facts and made no specific comments about my contributions to the school. It was rather insulting. A very small number of people were leaving Tweetalig, but the speeches were given by people who were close to them, not the director. It was a much nicer way to go...

Enjoy the Break!

This was the last week for students at both schools. The kids at PRO had their last classroom day on Wednesday (we just watched Bill Nye which was boring for many of them) and Friday was the sports day. The morning was cold and threatening to rain, so I didn't think to bring sunscreen. Big mistake. Still feeling a bit burned. It is weird to see the sun here - is has been cold and rainy since October. We haven't had summer yet. But anyway, the kids got tired toward the end and some refused to do the activities even though they were fun. Super annoying...too many spoiled kids.

At Tweetalig, the students got to choose a project for the week, but if they were failing a subject they had to do make-up work for that subject. I was helping with the make up work and it went pretty well. All some of these kids need is a little bit of individual attention.

As far as the house goes, we visited the neighboring house that came up for sale. It is trashed, and in too poor of a state for the price that they ask. We decided to pass on it, but hope to use it in our negotiations for the other house. Should hear back from our realtor soon if it is possible or not.

This week should be a relaxed one, cleaning things up at both schools, organizing a few things for next year, and meeting with some colleagues. Summer is almost here!