Homesick Ramblings

So, I've been a bit homesick lately. I'm not crying myself to sleep every night or anything...just a bit homesick. I think it's because we are gearing up for Christmas here, and while we have lots of fun plans that include German Christmas Markets, a trip to Copenhagen, and a visit from grandparents, we won't be seeing ALL of our family members and celebrating with them.  And as I've been pondering on all the things I miss about home, I've also been thinking about the things I love and don't love about here. So here goes:

1. SHOPPING--It's a totally different world over here when it comes to shopping. It's hard to find so many products that I never thought would be hard to find. And let's talk about customer service--or the lack thereof.  Yesterday, I was at the grocery store searching for corn meal. You would think that's an easy thing to find, right? Not really. So after searching and searching, I hunted down an employee and asked where I could find it. The guy literally just mumbled something, shrugged his shoulders, and walked away. I wish I could say I was surprised, but it's not the first time.
Also, here, you bag your own groceries with your own bags. This is a fine practice--everyone uses reusable bags, which is great for the environment. BUT, what's funny is, the cashier just shoves all your groceries aside and starts helping the next customer before you can even get your stuff in the bags. No offer of help. You're lucky if your bread makes it out alive.
All stores close at 6:00 during the week, and 5:00 on Saturday. The grocery stores are open until 9:00.  I walked into a store at 5:05 on a Saturday night, and I was chased right back out. They couldn't care less about making a sale. We tried to go out for ice cream last Saturday night with the kids, and the place was closed. So weird.  This has taken some getting used to. No late night, pre-Sabbath grocery store runs here! But for all the frustration it causes, I totally respect that the Dutch people value time with their family over work. The all mighty dollar (or Euro) doesn't rule here.

All that being said, I miss Target. A lot.

2. Driving--I've talked a little bit about this before. And while I don't have a nervous breakdown every time I get in the car, it still can be stressful. And while I've moved out of the "IKEA phase," I have not moved out of the "follow-the-blue-line-on-the-GPS-so-I know-where-I'm-going phase." Last Sunday, we had to take Trevor to the airport in Amsterdam. As we were leaving the airport, he calls me to say he has the house keys, so we need to come back. Panic immediately set in. I had already gotten back on the freeway, and it's never a simple get off the exit and turn around here. I scrambled to put it in the GPS, and proceeded to try and make my way back. Well, what should have been a 7 min jaunt, became a 20 minute nightmare as I made a wrong turn that put me on a different freeway heading the wrong direction. My GPS rerouted, and I was finally nearing my exit to the airport, and the exit was closed due to construction--tack on another 10 minutes.  So, of course, my GPS is by now thinking that I'm the most incompetent driver in the whole world.  It reroutes me again, and we finally made it back to the airport. As Trevor was handing me the keys, I looked down at my console, and there were MY HOUSE KEYS. I had left them there the previous day unknowingly. I almost started to cry I was so frustrated that I had gone through that whole rat race for nothing.  Add to the fact, it was fast Sunday, so everyone was hungry and anxious to get home, and I had a raging post-sinus infection headache. Not one of my favorite experiences thus far.

I feel like I need to say something positive after that rant. Have I said anything I love yet? Oh yes, the Dutch peoples' lack of love for money. Phew.

Last thing about driving...everyone drives the speed limit here. Well, pretty much everyone. It's not like the German Autobahn where you can drive as fast as you want. There are speed cameras EVERYWHERE. And they just mail you a ticket if you're caught speeding. This last summer we had some Australian friends visiting us in the States. They couldn't believe how fast everyone was driving and definitely going over the speed limit. I guess they have speed cameras Down Under as well! Now I know what they were talking about.

3. School--I have nothing but positive things on this one. The kids absolutely love their school. This is a big reason we wanted to move here. We just wanted a change. One of the things that always bothered me about the school my kids went to in the States, was how strict and controlling the environment was:  One recess. Walk in a line with our hands behinds our backs. Silent lunch. Bus everyone, even if you live right by the school. One-way halls (at the middle school). The crazy way they taught math.  Etc, etc. Don't get me wrong, we loved a lot things about our elementary school in Houston. But all the rules and processes, and the not-so-great middle school, were all factors in our leaving.

Here, I feel like it's just much more easy going, and kids are allowed to be kids. The field trips don't even require a signed permission slip! And they go on them all the time. Holly's class was doing a field trip last month, and they all walked there and back. WALKED. I couldn't believe it. They hit the park on the way back to the school, and even made a side trip to the police station to turn in a found cell phone. I love it. James' class is going on a field trip to a farm next week. The parents are dropping them off at the farm at the beginning of the day, and then they are taking public transport back to the school. They are teaching these kids, even at 4 years old, how to navigate through life without bubble wrap.

We wanted the kids to be more challenged, and they definitely are. Math is emphasized much earlier here, and my kids are definitely doing some catch-up. Because it's an international school, their peers are from all over the globe, which is so cool. It also means everyone is coming from different educational and language backgrounds, so the teachers are really good at teaching at a personalized level for each student. I don't feel like the teachers are teaching with a standardized test in mind. It's interesting, because the day is an hour shorter than my kids are used to, but they are super productive. They mix a good amount of play and learning.

4. Peer pressure at school--I feel like it's so much less here. It's not all about what kind of backpack or shoes you have to have because So and So has them. It's just a less materialistic existence. And I totally love that.

5. Eating out.  Europeans are not in a hurry when they eat out. It takes FOREVER to get a waiter to actually take your order, and then when you want to pay...sigh. It's frustrating for an impatient American. So, this is probably a positive thing, because we just don't eat out as much. Healthier and better for the budget. But that being said, I sure do miss Chickfila sometimes. I miss the convenience of running through the drive-thru on a crazy busy day. Drive-thru's here consist of McDonalds and Burger King--gross. And they are not fast. And something always gets lost in translation, so don't even try to order your chicken sandwich without mayo. Moral of the story--eat at home.  I've decided that Europeans are so skinny because they are STARVING, and also, they smoke. Whatever.

So there you have it. We miss all our friends and family, but we are happy to be where we are. What an amazing blessing this experience has been for us.

Playing Catch Up

Sheesh, what happened to September and October?! We've been busy around here with just regular life (and a little bit of traveling.)  We've definitely moved out of the "IKEA phase." You know, the phase where you find yourself at IKEA three times a week, and spending all your evenings with an allen wrench and a picture book.  It's been a solid month since I've been to IKEA. Progress.  I still don't have all my pictures hung, which is why I haven't posted pics of the house. But I promise there's a good reason. The reason is, I'm lazy. And also, you can't put nails in the walls here. It's plaster over brick walls, and it requires a drill and masonry screws, and I'm just not overly motivated to tackle that right now. So here's a few for now. I'll add more later.

Living Room

Dining Room

I took these last month. I love my new big dining table. It fits 8 like this, but it also has a leaf, so you can fit a ton of people around it. I also love love love the herringbone wood floors. This house was built in 1908, and was originally lived in by the ambassador to the UK. Later, it was a doctor's office. Rotterdam was bombed heavily in WWII because it's the major port for Europe. But this area wasn't bombed, so the buildings are older and have a ton of character. 

Ok, enough about the house. In October we celebrated Holly's 10th birthday. Double digits! I can't believe how the time goes. She really wanted to go to an amusement park for her birthday. So we went to one about an hour away called Eftelling. I went with super low expectations, because, it's hard to top Disney when it comes to parks. We were pleasantly surprised! It was clean, and a really nice park.  It's got a fairy tale theme, not all of which I recognized. The weather was perfect, so it made for a really nice day.

This is what the park rents as strollers. Aren't they cute?!

opening her new toy

We've had visitors! Have I mentioned that we love visitors? My sister and her husband were in this neck of the woods on a business trip. I took the train to Paris for a day to spend with them. Here's a few pics of what we did:

The Louvre

Notre Dame

Gargoyle on Notre Dame--isn't he cute??

view from the top of Notre Dame

Eiffel Tower

And then a few days later, they came to our house! Our first visitors. We had so much fun showing them around. We put 'em on bikes and everything. We took them on the pancake boat, of course, and also to the Euromast, which is kind of like the Space Needle in Seattle. Awesome views of the port and city. 

View of Rotterdam from the Euromast

The Pancake Boat!

We also took them to the new Market Hall. It's pictured below. It's a food lovers' dream. Rotterdam is kind of known for their modern architecture. It's residential all around the edges of the building, but it's a huge gourmet food hall in the middle.

The Market Hall

On their last day in town, we all took the train to Amsterdam. It was our first trip to the city. It started out super rainy and cold, but the sun came out in the afternoon and it was perfect. We went to the Amsterdam Museum while it was raining, and took a canal cruise when the sun came out. And of course, everyone had to get their picture taken in the giant wooden shoes.

Amsterdam really is beautiful when the sun comes out

on the boat

Ryan & Ginny

canal at sunset

 So, moral of the story, come visit! We'll show you a good time!  We just got home from a great trip to Germany and Austria. I'll post about that soon.

First week of school

It's been a long, weird summer. We've had a lot of change and transition, and it feels good to be back to school! Although, I will say, I prefer sleeping in to getting up early. So that's going to take some getting use to again.
Here in the Netherlands, kids start school at age 4. All day. Everyday. It's the law. So, guess who's going to school?

He wanted me to take a picture of his backpack first

He's so excited to be going to school with his sisters. On the third day of school, his teacher told me a funny story about him. They were going through the calendar, and the teacher asked the kids if they knew what day of the week it was. All the kids kind of stared at her and didn't know the answer, except James. He piped up, "Wednesday!" She said, "That's right, James, how did you know that?" He said, "I guess it's because I'm just really smart."

The kids are going to an international school, which means all of their classmates are from all over the world.

Grace is at the secondary school, which is a different campus entirely. She's finding that she is ahead in science, but needs to do some catching up in Math. Good thing she's got a dad that remembers all this math stuff!

So, after I dropped them all off the first day of school, I decided to brave the big market in Rotterdam all by myself. Every Tuesday and Saturday Rotterdam has a huge farmers market. You can buy all sorts of produce, fish, cheese, spices, and basically everything else under the sun. It's a bit intimidating since I don't speak dutch. But I did it!

I'm loving how little I drive here. Seriously, I'll go multiple days without getting in my car. We bike everywhere. The weather has been awesome, too. The rain finally quit and we've had sunshine and not-too-hot days. It gets pretty cool at night. Pretty much perfect in my book.

Trevor was in London all week for work, so he missed all the school and market excitement. He saw a show, ate awesome Indian food, stayed in a posh area of London, and basically made me jealous that I wasn't there, too. He totally owes me. Anyone want to come and babysit so I can go to Vienna with him in a few weeks? ;)

In other news, we finally have a dining room table and chairs. I'm pretty sure I've visited IKEA more in the past week than I'd care to visit in my entire life. We are getting pretty handy with a screw driver and an allen wrench.  So far, we've assembled two dressers, one pantry, one kitchen table, 8 chairs, one kids table with four chairs, two shoe racks, one coat rack, two desks and I think that's probably not all but I can't remember what else.

Also, I found Crisco at the Chinese grocery store today (along with cream soda).  Who knew these items could be so exciting! It's really the little things in life...

Last week of summer

So, it rains a lot here. ALOT. I kind of love it. But I thought I had left the land of mosquitoes...not so much. Have I talked about this? I feel like I've talked about this. Here in the Netherlands, there is no such thing as air conditioning in homes. Weird, right? It just doesn't get hot enough for long enough for there to be a need. But, on those few days that it does get warm enough, you have to open your windows to cool down the house. Well, the windows don't have screens. This country needs a lesson in window screens! So, since it rains here, there are mosquitoes. And since there are no screens on the windows, they get into the house. And eat everyone alive. Poor Holly has eleven mosquito bites on her face. And that many on her arm, too.  We haven't been leaving the windows open for a few weeks, but they seem to sneak in when we open the front door. It's like they're a different breed, too. They itch forever and ever, and get all swollen. So, here's hoping we get some cold weather to kill the suckers off. Okay, rant over.

We've just been chillin' out waiting for school to start. Tomorrow is the big day. I think the kids are nervous. New school, new country, new everything.  Trevor's actually in London this week, which means I get to navigate the bakfiets, four kids, and two different schools in the morning. I'm a little nervous, myself! (And a little jealous that he's in one of my favorite cities without me.)

We did have one day of beautiful sunshine this week. So I took the kids to Delft. The place where all the blue and white china comes from. It's only 15 minutes away from our house. It was so pretty outside. We just walked through town and toured the Old and New Churches. The Old Church (Oude Kerk) was built in 1246 and the New Church (Nieuwe Kerk) in 1496--so not super new. ;) While we toured the Old Church someone was playing the organ. We all thought it was pretty cool.

New Church

Town Hall

cute kids

Old Church

We stopped for some lunch at an outdoor cafe. 

And then we toured the Royal Delft Porcelain Factory and saw how they made these:

 All in all, a fun day. On Saturday, we ventured out to do some shopping. It really is so much easier to get around this city on a bike, because you don't have to worry about parking.  This time, Trevor hauled the kids. I snapped this pic mid-ride.

And Holly got a new bike! She left hers at Grandma's house in the states so she would have something to ride when we are there. I think she just wanted an excuse to get a new bike here! :)

Isn't it adorable? Dutch bikes are very practical and come equipped with everything you need to haul a lot of stuff. 

Cute girl and a cute bike. Hope it doesn't get stolen!

Wish us luck for tomorrow! First day of school here we come!!

She made it!

The biggest news of the week is this:

She made it!

This girl finally made it to Holland. We've missed her! On Thursday, she turned 13 (I feel so old!) She flew from SLC to Houston and celebrated her birthday with her friends and they spoiled her rotten. On Friday, she went to the One Direction concert and had a great time. She had gotten the tickets last Christmas, before we knew we were moving, so that's why she didn't come over with us.  Then, on Saturday, she flew solo to Amsterdam. I'm so proud of her for being brave enough to do this. (Flying first class is pretty rough :-))  Funny story: she didn't watch a single movie on the flight, because she thought they cost money, and didn't bother asking anyone. Haha. I guess I should have prepped her better. It was her first international flight (not counting Canada and Mexico), so give her a break! We are super excited to have her here. She immediately got thrown into the fire. She's already been on her bike and riding around the city like a pro.

In other news, Trevor spoke in church yesterday, I received a calling to the Young Women as the 1st counselor, and I was asked to speak next week. We have been so impressed with our branch here. Everyone is super welcoming and friendly. We were invited to three different families' homes for dinner this week! Can't wait until we can return the favor.

Not much sightseeing this week. We've been busy little beavers trying to get the house unpacked and set up. Three trips to IKEA were made. I hate that you can't just run in and out of IKEA quickly. It's a minimum 3 hour trip every. single. time. And it has been incredibly busy there. I think maybe because it's the end of summer? I don't know. But I'm hoping it will slow down once school is back, because I have to go back again. 

We were able to FINALLY get our government paperwork in order and approved, so we were able to buy a car. Yay! No more rental. Now we just have to get a permit. Baby steps. Literally. I'm getting better on the roads, and I ventured out with the kids alone on the bakfiets. Like I said, baby steps.

I promise house pics will come soon. Have a great week!

We are not in Kansas (I mean, Texas) anymore!

I think the title says a lot. Things are very different here. As, of course, they should be. This week we had a lot of fun. But as with any move, their are certain adjustments to be made, and here, a very steep learning curve.  Some things that are different here:

1. EVERYTHING takes an appointment. There is no just popping in to the bank to talk to a banker--it requires an appointment...for next week.  You don't just open a bank account in a matter of a few minutes. It takes a few weeks.  You don't just walk into a car dealership and buy a car the same day. Nope, you have to have all your government paperwork done, which takes a couple different appointments over the course of several weeks. So, if you can't buy a car yet, you rent, right? Right. But everywhere you park requires a permit, which you can't get until you own a car, which means you pay the daily rate of 15 euros just to park your car in front of your house.  So, you catch my drift that this is a major lesson in patience for me. New place, new rules.

2. Speaking of new rules. Let's talk about driving. I almost died this week. Several times.  I never knew what all the fuss was about with roundabouts.  My experience with roundabouts consisted of the roundabout by UVU campus in Orem, Utah.  Easy right?  I didn't really realize how big Rotterdam is until this week. It's a big city. Driving in a big city can be pretty stressful all by itself. Well, here roundabouts have about 6 lanes, and if you are in a lane that doesn't correspond with the exit you want, you are pretty much screwed. And then, when you end up on a road that is not your intended route, good luck getting back to where you want to go.  Add to that all the millions of new road signs that I have absolutely no clue what they mean.  They seem to have a LOT of signs. And one way streets. So, when you add up all that with watching for trams, trains, bikes and pedestrians...it's stressful. I may or may not have ended up driving on one of the bike lanes for a short time this week. Like I said, almost died.

3. Tiny refrigerators and freezers. I'm used to going grocery shopping maybe once a week (sometimes two weeks.) I think I've been to the store every day here. Every day. And we have no food in the house. Part of that is because we have been living in temporary housing, so I haven't stocked my pantry yet. So we've been pretty much living on grilled cheese sandwiches and cold cereal. And scrambled eggs.

Despite all the adjustments to get used to, we totally love it. While Trevor was working this week, me and the kids had fun exploring our surroundings.

This is a huge slide that is right by our house.

We went to Madurodam in The Hague. It is basically iconic spots in Netherlands, in miniature. It was a ton of fun. They had a great nautical-themed playground, and lots of interactive areas for the kids.

mini-Amsterdam airport

playing in the sand

They had a miniature Rotterdam port, too

We moved in to our house on Friday.  YIPEE! Suitcase living is over! Well, almost.

Do you see the beautiful canal?? This is where we live!

We were so excited to see our container arrive with all our stuff! We spend the whole day directing movers, and unpacking.  We moved into this great row house that was built in 1908. It's on a beautiful canal and tree-lined street. As we were moving in, Trevor and I just had smiles on our faces the whole day, and exclaiming, "this is such a cool house!" It's definitely a grandma, and has some crazy steep and scary stairs. But it has a great vibe and oozes with character.  I promise I'll post pics. I just need to get out of boxes first!

Corner house, 3 stories

Saturday was our anniversary. 14 years! So, we took a break from unpacking, and took the kids to Brussels, Belgium. It's just two hours by train. Every other August they do a flower carpet in the main square. It's pretty amazing.

That's ALL flowers!

Oh, we also went to a Chocolate Museum.

And ate delicious Belgian waffles.

Don't know the story behind the Smurf statue, but we had to get a pic!

So that was our week! Tot ziens...