Following the Orange brick road......

Taking a haitus...

2011-07-19T21:13:00.000+02:00

It's been almost 2 weeks since I posted my pictures.... I think I'm going to be taking a hiatus from my Project 365 for the time being. I have too much going on right now, and I'm having a hard time seeing the beauty in anything. When things calm down for me I'll take a shot at starting the project all over again from day one, but I had no way of knowing what was going to happen when I started the project. I'll try to continue to post pictures and regular posts as often as possible, but at the moment I just can't guarantee a picture a week, much less every day.

Thanks for understanding.

P 365 Days 89-97

2011-07-06T22:41:00.000+02:00

Sorry it's been so long, it's been a very tough week and a half. School and appointments almost everyday, plus my final exam in my Dutch classes have left me feeling very run down. Tristan spent last week with his Oma and Opa to help get him away from the chaos a bit, but tonight he's with me, so I am a very happy lady right now. :)

Day 89, Tuesday June 28: Along the way to the train station in Alkmaar from the center of Alkmaar, I generally walk along this street. It is a very festive street when something big is going on, like Christmas, or the world cup last year, but it's very bright and rather uplifting to walk along during this time of year as well, because of all the hibiscus and other flowers along the houses.

Day 90, Wednesday June 29: While walking through a part of Alkmaar I'd never been in before after an appointment, I stumbles across this map painted on a wall. It depicts Alkmaar from the time of the 80 years war. As I have mentioned before, Alkmaar was integral in the defeat of Spain by breaking down dikes and letting the sea flow into the newly drained polders (the town I'm moving too sits on one of those polders). If you look at the small section on the left inside the tower, that is the shape that Alkmaar used to have.

Day 91, Thursday June 30: Today was my end of day pick nick at one of my classes. One of the teachers had just announced that the teacher in front of the chalk board wasn't going to be coming back next year. While I will most likely not be going next year either, this made me very sad, because I am really quite fond of her, though I am very fond of all the teachers there. Everyone in the picture is one of the teachers except for the two ladies in purple.

Day 92, Friday July 1: Walking along another unknown street I saw this, the white house is crooked. It's also probably at least 400 years old, so I guess it's got an excuse.

Day 93, Saturday July 2: It seems Meric and Wicked make a perfect match. A beautiful Yin & Yang made out of fluff balls.

Day 94, Sunday July 3: They really like to cuddle, but when either one gets the urge to play, Meric goes crazy on poor Wicked. In this picture they are cuddling, but since Meric is himself still a kitten he doesn't really understand that he can't play rough with Wicked. We are constantly separating the two because my poor little girl ends up crying. She's tough though, even though she can't handle it when Meric bites at her, she's more than willing to dish it out, chasing him and swatting at his backside when we shoo him away. :D I think she will well live up to her name.

Day 95, Monday July 4th: Happy Independence Day to everyone in America. Here is a picture of my new house. The front lawn is a bit wild, but it's been raining almost non stop for weeks. This day was the first sunny day we've had all summer so far. But hey, You can see the American pride on the little tree out front. :) I got the bow (plus a second) from my mom.

Day 96, Tuesday July 5: Ok, I actually too this picture today (Wednesday) But I'm posting it as Tuesday's picture because I forgot to take a picture yesterday. This is outside another new part of Alkmaar... We've been having a lot of appointments in a lot of new parts of Alkmaar lately! Anyway, if you can see the bridge and tunnel in the background, I believe that is part of the old city wall dating back to the 80 year war.

Day 97, Wednesday July 6: Tristan got to meet his new kitten today. He really seems to like her, even though he seems a little bit scared of her. I guys it's just a guy thing to be a bit afraid of things so much smaller than themselves. He was talking about her when I put him to bed this evening. That's Angelo in the background. Poor little guy has chicken pox and can't go to preschool. Luckily Tristan had it 3 months ago, so Angelo doesn't have to be lonely while he's suffering through it. We had planned on Tristan going with Angelo to preschool tomorrow morning, but since Angelo isn't going we're going to do it next week. I want to see how Tristan likes it before I sign him up for next year. :)

Project 365 day 88: Wicked!

2011-06-27T20:14:00.000+02:00

~I suppose it's time I shared something a bit personal with everyone. I have been trying to keep this private on a whole except with some select people, but I can't really avoid sharing it anyway, since it involves today's post.

Marcel and I are breaking up and I'm moving out. I'm moving in with Angela, and Marcel and I will share custody of Tristan. This has been in the works for quite a while now, since we had a lot of legal things to deal with before I could move out. We are almost done with the legal stuff, and I will be signing in on Angela's lease in the next week or two, and moving my things in as soon as possible. My Dutch classes will both be over in the next few weeks, and I am simply waiting on my resume to be translated, and then I'll be out looking for work. I'm really scared, starting a life of my own in a foreign country, but I know I am going to get through this stronger on the other side.

Anyway, Angela bought me a welcome gift today, since she wanted to help me feel like her house is now my home as well. She bought me a baby kitten. :) Her name is wicked because she has a W on her forehead. It's a rather ironic name, since she seems to be very very sweet, but it's hard to tell since she's been hiding under the couch since we got her home. So anyway, here are some pictures!

Meric is checking his new child bride :p out.

Can you see the W on her forehead? Isn't she sweet?

She's not sure if she wants to come out of not.

Wicked and Meric getting to know each other.

Poor scared little girl just wants to be left alone.

Project 365 days 83-87: Wednesday - Sunday

2011-06-27T19:55:00.000+02:00

For a while I will be taking pictures every day and posting them all once or twice a week.

The first photo (Wednesday June 22) is from a park/ petting zoo near the hospital in Alkmaar. It's a flower clock... I like to ride my bike through this park on my way home from school.

The second photo (Thursday June 23) is a bunch of goats. I currently go to two different Dutch classes, and the class I go to on Thursdays does field trips during the summer semester. This field trip was to a farm designed for people with Down's Syndrome. They work and live there, and the proceeds help them and the rest of the foundation. They raise goats and cheese is made on site.

Here's a picture of Angela's cat Meric (America) {Friday June 24). He looked so cozy cuddling on the couch in the sun I just had to snap a photo.

We were supposed to have a barbecue party on Saturday, but because of multiple reasons we decided to cancel it. Instead Angela and I went to Alkmaar to do some shopping. I bought Tristan this little umbrella with Mr. Bump from Mister Men and Little Miss. I thought it was extra special because the guy is bedecked in stars and stripes, and the 4th is coming up real soon! Sadly, even though we've had non stop rain for the last two weeks, Saturday seems to be the last day of it, unless the weather takes a dramatic change again, which it tends to do here. (Saturday June 25)

(Sunday June 26) I made some really yummy tortellini with bolognese meat sauce. I had nothing else to take a picture of, so I took a picture of my dinner.

Project 365 day 80-82: Stressful times

2011-06-21T23:28:00.001+02:00

Sorry everyone, I've been very busy and very stressed out the last few days, and and still under a lot of stress, so I'm posting a few days all at once.

The first picture (taken Sunday June 19) is of the dinner I made for Marcel on Father's day. It looks gross, I know, but it was really great. It is a Chicken Florentine pie, chicken chunks, three different kinds of cheese, asparagus, artichoke hearts, and a creamy sauce in a pastry dough.

The second picture (taken Monday June 20) is of a river cruise ship docked in Alkmaar, and a little canal tour boat filled to the brim with tourists. The cruise ship was called the Prins Willem Alexander, named after the Dutch crowned prince, who will be king in the next decade or so. It was rather neat, if for no other reason that it seemed to be a cruise for elderly people that were confined to wheelchairs. It's really great to know that there are still companies that cater to the people who are looking for a some adventure in their old age. :)

The third and fourth pictures (taken Tuesday June 21) Are of Tristan in a waiting room running around as a butterfly with sweet little fairy wings on his back. He really liked the wings... I may have to figure out where I can some macho wings for him. :)

P 365 day 79: Flowers on the train tracks

2011-06-18T23:02:00.000+02:00

Flowers grow everywhere around here... This it at Heiloo station, but as you get closer to Alkmaar station (5 minute train ride) the poppies actually grow inside the tracks. Just thought that was interesting.

P 365 day 78: Sunshine and love

2011-06-17T23:06:00.000+02:00

Tristan brings sunshine into everywhere he goes. :) He drew me a heart on our door step today. <3

P 365 day 77: Handsome boy :)

2011-06-16T23:57:00.000+02:00

Tristan got a haircut today. We're on the train on the way back home. Yeah, I know, it's only 5 days from summer, Why on earth would Tristan be wearing a winter coat? Because it's been cold, windy and rainy lately, and today it's been on and off all day... We've got horrible wind and poring rain at the moment. Anyway, Look at his little face.... Isn't he just the most precious little buy ever? :)

P 365 day 76: Roxanne!

2011-06-15T23:21:00.000+02:00

You don't have to turn off the red light! :D I discovered Alkmaar's red light district today. Sadly the picture isn't of any of the windows (they don't take kindly to you taking pictures of the goods), but here's a picture of a red door down the street from the red light district. :) There is also a picture of me with my flower crown. :D I walked to pick Tristan up today and of course he turned a 15 minute walk into an hour and 15 minutes, but he picked me some flowers and then told me to put them in my headband. :) He's such a sweet guy. :D

P 365 day 75: Flag day

2011-06-14T22:00:00.000+02:00

Today is flag day, so I wanted to show my little collection of American flags. Happy birthday Old Glory! :)

P 365 day 74: More TRISTAN!!!

2011-06-13T23:12:00.000+02:00

Today's pictures, TRISTAN! :D Yes, he needs a haircut... we'll be doing that later in the week.

P 365 day 73: Heaven in red and green...

2011-06-12T22:32:00.000+02:00

My all time favorite fruit ever, though I do have a slight allergy to it and it causes my throat to itch and such. Sadly, today's watermelon wasn't as great as I had hoped it would be, I think we should have let it ripen a little longer. Still... Watermelon is delicious regardless. A little piece of heaven in the middle of the summer. :D

P 365 day 72: McRib

2011-06-11T23:00:00.000+02:00

Here's one of the closest things I've found here to actual American food in the grocery store, an imitation McRib. It wasn't all that bad, but you can't find any burger type things here that are actually made out of beef, so it doesn't taste the same. Anyway, Today was a really boring day because it was raining all day... Slow photo day. :p

P 365 day 71: Storms and nails

2011-06-10T20:42:00.000+02:00

I decided to pain my nails for the first time in probably a year, with some of that shiny nail polish that is supposed to look like metal. too bad it doesn't. On a second note, we have had so much really crappy weather lately, but we finally have our first real summer storm, big thick black clouds (they actually look worse in person than in the picture) and thunder and lightening. I doubt I'll get a shot of any lightening though. :( Still, I absolutely love it!

P 365 day 70: Visiting the mental ward

2011-06-10T20:33:00.000+02:00

I went to the old psychiatric hospital in Helioo on a field trip yesterday. It was pretty neat, but I'm not sure I would really want to walk around there at night, but it was pretty cool to do during the day. Since Blogger is being really stupid, I'll try to describe everything in order the best I can.

The first picture is a mannequin in a bath tub. Apparently they would grease up really crazy people and then keep them in warm bathtubs for days at end. I guess the idea was that a bath helps relieve stress, then a 5 day long bath should help relieve crazy.

This mannequin is waiting for his electric shock therapy to begin. It was supposed to help cure epilepsy. They reckoned that since epilepsy was an electrical malfunction in the brain, shooting electricity into the brain would help rewire epileptics.

This was the work room (I'm not actually sure if they were really clumped together like this or not, I'm not sure the tour guide ever said, but only a small part was turned into a museum, the rest of the hospital is still in use by the mental health organisation, though it's no longer used as a mental hospital). in the foreground is the bakery section, then there are typewriters in the background. There was also a giant loom, a TV, a barbershop and a doctor's office section in the open room.

^^^^^^Here's the doctors' area, it looks really scary. This was were the mental patients would come if they were sick, but this is also where they would send homosexuals to be "cured" by castration. Great way to kill the urges I guess.... :s

To the right are clothes made out of paper. This isn't want the 'patients' wore day to day, this is what they were buried in when they died. The marble slab the clothes are sitting on was the exact table where autopsies were performed, in a small alcove off to the side of the big work room. like I said, I wouldn't want to go in there at night. To the left are paintings by the patients. Stupid Blogger turned the picture sideways and I can't turn it back around. :( Interesting look into the inner workings of the psychotic mind huh? Anyway, I have a ton more pictures, so if you would like to see more, please ask. You should be able to make these ones bigger just by clicking on them. We also got to see another part of the grounds that is now devoted to the archaeology of Heiloo, but I thought the mental hospital's museum was more interesting. If you would like to see those ones as well, just let me know and I'll post them.

P 365 day 69: Soeverein

2011-06-08T15:33:00.000+02:00

As I mentioned yesterday, I cross a canal every day I go to school. This morning I saw this beautiful clipper ship. The name is Soeverein, meaning Sovereign in English. I think it is an absolutely lovely ship, and I'd love to be able to sail on a vessel like this some day. I've only been on a few boats in my life, but they have all been modern. How cool it would be to be able to take a step into the past on a shit like this. :)

P 365 day 68: Shipping

2011-06-07T23:58:00.000+02:00

Alkmaar has always been a shipping city, as I mentioned in a post last week, a big portion of modern Alkmaar was once the harbor of a large lake. A lot of buildings in the city center are a few hundred years old, so they still have the large garage type doors and hooks used for loading goods onto ships. Anyway, I was just about to cross a bridge when this big ship decided it was going to come through, This area of Alkmaar seems to be the new shipping area, there are a lot of buildings that have cranes and such next to the canals. I've gotten used to waiting for boats though (nothing big enough to be called a ship ever comes through Alkmaar, more barges) since I cross a canal every day that I go to school. I really enjoy the diversity of the region I live in. :)

P 365 day 67: More Quintessential Dutch

2011-06-07T23:47:00.000+02:00

This was taken today for yesterday, I'm not going to lie, I was really stressed out yesterday and forgot to take my picture. Anyway, here is a bit of what I get to see on my bike rides. The top street is a small road, and you might be able to see a tunnel in the distance, that leads to a bike trail that goes along the side of the freeway. You can see a Dutch farmhouse, sometimes they will have thatched roofs, but since the thatching has to be replaced every year, it's not very common anymore. Below is a different windmill than the one I posted a few weeks ago, You probably can't see, but there are sheep in these fields. The windmill didn't have it's sails open, but it was loose and turning very slowly. It was the first cloudy day in a long time that the wind wasn't blowing at 40mph. I wish the picture was better, zoomed farther, but sadly, had I zoomed it more the picture would have been bad quality.

P365 day 66: Rose red

2011-06-07T23:31:00.000+02:00

Angela has a beautiful creeping rose bush in her front yard, the kind that has around 5 blooms on one stem, so to brighten her living room up, I decided to cut some and put them in a vase for her coffee table. Don't worry, she didn't mind, the bush has probably at least 200 flowers on it at the moment. There are I think 7 stems here and close to 25-30 blooms.

P 365 day 65: Garden Frogs

2011-06-04T20:01:00.000+02:00

I bought Tristan some garden frogs today, for when I have a garden. I hope he'll like them! :)

P 365 day 64: Hospital visit

2011-06-04T00:13:00.000+02:00

I have learned 3 things today:

*Tristan is a genius (Sarcasm).
*I am a horrible parent (Not so much, I'm not the first parent this has happened too).

*Tristan is going to give me a heart attack before I'm 30 (distinct possibility).

He was awake for about 10 minutes before me and Marcel woke up (I base this on the times my snooze went off) and in that time, he managed to find some medicine that was hidden, and decided it was candy. He woke my up by spitting all over my foot. Mommy, my mouth hurts, I'm sick, I need to see the doctor. I panicked and Marcel immediately called 112 (Dutch 911). About 10 minutes later our doorbell rang and we had some paramedics standing at our door. Since they couldn't get an answer from Tristan as to how many pills he ate, they took him to the hospital. Marcel rode along and I arrived shortly after by bike. When I got there, this is what I saw.

Do not worry, he is absolutely fine, and he's at home asleep right now. They admitted him for observation until about 6pm and then when they determined he was going to be fine they discharged him. The medicine was in the plastic blisters, so in the ER we was asked to get a pill out. He scratched the bottom, pulling the foil off while leaving the plastic in perfect condition, so the theory is that he only ate one pill, chewed on it like it was candy and then spit it out when he discovered that it tastes horrible and hurts his mouth. For a short while he had a medicine burn on the side of his mouth, but that was gone by lunch time. Needless to say, a sweep of the apartment will be done ASAP. Until we are able to get that done (Monday during preschool), a closer watch will be taken at all times. After the Lotion Incident with Angelo a few weeks ago, I thought that Tristan had learned his lesson about eating things he shouldn't, but I guess it's one of those lessons that take more than one occurance. *sigh*

I just hope he learned his lesson this time. When I asked him if he was going to eat medicine again he said no mama! pinky breaken!" (that's how he saws pinky promise. :) We'll see how that goes.... He's impossible to keep an eye on every second of every day, but if you look away for even a minute, he does something stupid... I think he's going to be a scientist because he always wants to know what's going to happen. Anyway, Tristan is ok, we have high hopes that he will stop getting into everything, even things that are hidden, but he continues to surprise. It's been a long day and I am exhausted, so I'll see you tomorrow!

P 365 day 63: Sunny day

2011-06-03T23:44:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day, so we went to Alkmaar so that Angelo and Tristan could spend some time together. We were supposed to go all the way to Angela's house, but apparently yesterday was a holiday so the buses were stopping very early, and Tristan's apparently got allergies. Stupidly, because it was a holiday (ascension day, when Christ went to heaven, Oddly Holland is NOT a religious country), almost everything in Alkmaar was closed too. I didn't get any pictures of the boys together yesterday, because we spent most of the time sitting at a restaurant, but as I was walking back to the train station, Tristan fell asleep, so I stopped to sit at a park for a while so he could sleep for a little bit longer. Anyway, here's a picture of some small boats riding on a canal, just to show you how beautiful a day it was. :)

P 365 day 62: Broc-co-liiiii!!!

2011-06-01T22:57:00.000+02:00

I made broccoli beef and cheese rice for dinner today with big broccoli chunks. Look how happy Tristan looks eating that big chunk of broccoli! He tried to stuff the whole thing in his mouth, and I had to swoop in and help him take just a bite. I am amazed at how much Tristan loves broccoli. I discovered this when he tried it for the first time on our last trip to California. We were at The Old Spaghetti Factory with my whole family and my mom ordered the steamed broccoli with the mizritha (or whatever it's called) cheese sprinkled on and he gobbled it down. I make something with broccoli in it a few times a week now. He loves it. :) He was absolutely exhausted today since he was sick yesterday and didn't take his nap at daycare today. I'm really tired too, so I may be rambling. Sorry... P.S. sorry about the messy in the background, my desk is over there and it's hard to keep clean. :p

P 365 day 61: Molen van Piet

2011-06-01T22:46:00.000+02:00

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, I've been going through a lot lately and sometimes I run out of time, or frankly, just forget, but by April 1st of next year, there will still be 365 pictures for everyone's viewing pleasure. :)
I had an appointment in Alkmaar today and decided to take a picture of this windmill. You can't see it that well in this picture, but I thought it looked absolutely lovely. It's the first beautiful day we've had in a few weeks now, and I'm only bummed I didn't spend more time out today. :) Molen van Piet (Molen is the Dutch word for mill) is right on the outside of the city center of Alkmaar, so I'll definitely try to take a close up picture some day. :)

P 365 day 60: My frog baby

2011-05-30T23:36:00.000+02:00

Angela gave me some of Angelo's old clothes (he's almost a year older than Tristan) and here's a picture of my favorite. I was worried that it wouldn't fit, but it will for this summer at least! I was showing him the clothes and he got really excited when he saw these overalls with little frogs all over, and the shirt he is wearing also has a frog on it, but you can't see it (obviously). The bigger frog on his chest is actually a little stuffed frog that hangs from the pocket. He picked out both the overalls and the shirt (there is another one that actually belongs to the overalls but he was less than enthused because it didn't have kikkers (frogs) on it. Angela was trying to tell me that the obsession with frogs is mine, but really, it's him. :) Every time he sees a frog he goes crazy and asks for it. So much so that he has a frog statue that croaks every time someone comes into the room, or a cloud covers the sun, or anything in the proximity moves at all. I just wish it was easier to find frog stuff. I look for frog stuff everywhere I go, and sometimes I get lucky. Sometimes he makes me think of a little frog himself, I guess that's why I like the nickname Tad so much. :)

P 365 day 59: Horsie!

2011-05-30T01:04:00.000+02:00

Today while I had her sewing box out so that I could repair my purse, Angela got the idea to make Tristan some finger puppets and a little puppet house for his birthday (which is still months away) and to be honest, I am kinda psyched about the idea. She tried making Angelo some puppets, but he's never seemed to be too interested in them. Anyway, while I was still fixing my purse strap, she started going through the box and got an idea for a puppet, and since I finished with my purse before she was done with her puppet, I decided to try to do one of my own. Anyway, I'm very happy with how mine turned out, It's a little horse. :D Here you get to see it. You won't get to see any of the rest until closer to his birthday. :) We are thinking it might be nice to have a party for him here at her house in August since it's got a nice big yard and we could have a pool. I'll let you know how that progresses. :)

P 365 day 58: Crooked Hoorn

2011-05-28T22:55:00.000+02:00

Angela and I went to Hoorn today. It doesn't seem that impressive but the weather was once again horrible, so we spent as much time inside stores as possible and didn't explore much. It feels a lot like Alkmaar to me. Anyway, this picture, I don't know if you can see it, but there is a building on the middle right that is slanted and the top sticks out over the street farther than the bottom. I thought it was pretty cool. :)

P 365 day 57: Don't tell the weather it's almost summer...

2011-05-27T21:50:00.000+02:00

The weather is horrible. Yesterday the wind was like 40mph, and freezing cold. Today, we've had splotchy rain, and thick fluffy grey clouds.... I guess the weather never got the letter about summer being less than a month away. Pfft. :s

P 365 day 56: Alkmaar in miniature

2011-05-26T23:31:00.000+02:00

I had a field trip today in one of my Dutch classes, and we went to a museum in Alkmaar. during the summer term of this term, the topic of the field trips (the summer term is only field trips) is the history of Heiloo and surrounding areas, so we learned about Alkmaar's history at he museum today. This is a miniature of Alkmaar, how it looked a few hundred years ago. In the top of the top picture, you can see where the cheese market is held, at the big thing that looks like a church. They also used to weigh men and women there during the witch trials. In the bottom of the top picture is a grain market, and at the bottom of the bottom picture is a beer market. The top and bottom pictures are the right and left sections of the same display, you can use the trees as a guide.

Anyway, basically the whole section here is surrounded by canals, and it actually used to be a small harbor before they reclaimed Schermermeer, the lake that Alkmaar used to sit on. This part of the city is actually built on a trash heap if I understood the story right... They really wanted to build a large church in Alkmaar, but the city couldn't afford it, so they decided to buy a new section of city to bring in more revenue. Not having the space, they made a giant garbage heap in the former harbor and then build houses on top. So many hundreds of years later, it's still there, and it's actually a nice and wealthier part of the city.

Also, if I understood correctly, the 80 years war was ended when the Dutch won the battle against Spain in Alkmaar.

Sorry if this sounds more like rambling than actual information giving, the weather had been very bad today and my sinuses have been irritating me so badly that thinking is hard to do at the moment.

P 365 day 55: Entering the holy forest

2011-05-25T22:22:00.000+02:00

Heiloo is short for Heilige 'loo which means holy woods or something like that. From how I understand it, some saint or something performed a miracle in this forest around the 600's. Every time I ride my bike too Alkmaar, I ride through the Heiloo forest. Whether it's really holy or not, I dunno, but there is something wonderfully peaceful and calming about being in it. Anyway, this is a picture of the entrance into the forest coming from Alkmaar. The following photos are close ups of the weeds I posted the other day.

P 365 day 54: to the birds!

2011-05-24T21:16:00.000+02:00

I was waiting at the train station today for my train and got to watch stupid birds at their finest. :) Someone had dropped an unopened candy bar, and the birds knew what it was. I enjoyed watching them trying to get it open. for a while the other birds sat there and waited until one bird got it open. Once that bird got the package open, there was an inner package that it also had to work on, but it got a piece and took off. The other birds fought over it for a while but couldn't get any more out, so after another few minutes, I walked over, picked up the package and opened both the outer and inner wrappers and let the candy bar too the birds. :)

P 365 day 53: Weeds!!!

2011-05-23T23:23:00.003+02:00

Even the weeds are pretty here...

P 365 day 52: The after party

2011-05-22T19:05:00.001+02:00

image, a photo by SabTristan&Mars on Flickr.

Well, we are all alive... Even the believers and innocents... Let's party. :) Angela has Party lights hanging on her back patio just because they are festive, and I thought they would be appropriate for today. :) Oddly, if the weather yesterday had been anything like the weather today, it the prediction would have been much more believable. :D

P 365 day 51 Predictions..

2011-05-21T20:32:00.001+02:00

image, a photo by SabTristan&Mars on Flickr.

Ok, so it's 20:25 (8:25 pm) here at GMT+1 (One hour after Greenwich Mean Time) and we're not dead yet, but I have heard that the specific time of the rapture is 18:00 EDT (6:00pm Eastern daylight time) so that's midnight here tonight.... which makes it tomorrow. Hmmm.... Anyway, I have consulted a crystal ball, and my future seems to hold..... toys. :D
See you all tomorrow, unless any of you out there are actually sinless or whatever. :p

P 365 day 50: Brownies!

2011-05-20T20:31:00.001+02:00

image, a photo by SabTristan&Mars on Flickr.

I made brownies! I went to a bazaar (like a giant flea market) a few months ago with a friend of mine, and there is a giant Asian grocery store there, and they have some imported Duncan Heinz and Pillsbury cakes, which are normally about 5 Euros (7$) a box, but they were on sale for 2 for 5, so I bought a box of Pineapple upside down cake (which I made for easter) and double fudge brownies. I made the brownies today, and they were soooooooo yummy! I would strongly suggest getting a box if you can, they have a rich dark chocolaty taste. Ahhhhhh Heaven.........

P 365 day 49: Blue.....something....

2011-05-20T20:19:00.001+02:00

image, a photo by SabTristan&Mars on Flickr.

Sorry Yesterday's post wasn't there, I was very busy, it was a stressful day, and I just didn't get time to take a picture, much less post one. I took an extra picture today though, so here is today's picture for yesterday. It's some really pretty flower, but once again I have no clue as to what it actually is. I think they grow all over the place though because I recognize the um... rest of the plant? Yeah, I'm very uninspired today. Sorry.

P 365 day 48: Doner kebab

2011-05-18T22:44:00.000+02:00

When it comes to food, the Netherlands can not be listed on any list of culinary assets to the world... They make up for it by having a lot of restaurants specializing in foreign food... Sadly any food here associated with America is crap, besides the worldly McDonald's, Burger King and KFC (though many would argue that those are crap too). Turkish food doesn't fall short though, as long as you are ok with, well, mystery meat. It's either chicken, calf or lamb I think, but to be honest, it's Yummy enough that I would rather not know. I do think that at some restaurants you can pick the type of meat that you get though... Anyway, This is a Bordje doner kabab. They cook the meat on a skewer thing (probably like 20 lbs at once) and then shave it off to put on the sandwiches. the bread it light and fluffy, it's got veggies in it (though you can't really see them in the picture since there is SO MUCH meat in it) and a really yummy garlic sauce. If anyone ever gets a chance to try one, I would strongly recommend it. :)

P 365 day 47: White roses

2011-05-17T23:19:00.001+02:00

image, a photo by SabTristan&Mars on Flickr.

Marcel got me these roses today because I wasn't feeling well this morning. Wasn't that sweet of him? :)

P 365 day 46: Spiderwebs?

2011-05-16T23:28:00.001+02:00

These things creep me out.... They are all over the place here, and I'm not sure exactly what they are... Is this just something weird that this type of plant does? Is this maybe some weird kind of caterpillar, or is it what I dread the most, spiderwebs!?!?!?!?! There doesn't seem to be any real structure to the webs, which is why I'm not sure if they are spiderwebs... Spiders seem to be pretty structured creatures, making fractal webs, but these are nothing but chaos.... Then again, spiders here are the size of elephants, so I guess I wouldn't be surprised if this creepy trap of death *were* made by spiders... Did I mention that I HATE spiders? The monster spiders that will be coming out in the next month are one of the things that will forever keep this beautiful land from perfection... I am on edge the entire summer I think working very hard not to scream every time I see a dog with 8 legs hanging between the supports for our balcony. If I have enough guts to do so, I may take a picture of some of the Arachnid Mammoths next month when they come out.

P 365 day 45: Cat play

2011-05-15T23:26:00.000+02:00

This is Meric, Angela's cat, and he likes my green grocery bag because it's crinkly.

This is a picture of Tristan playing with Meric. Sadly, you can't actually see Meric in the picture because he's behind Tristan. Tristan and Meric get along *much* better than Tristan and Esmee, but I think that is because Meric is only 9 months old, and has spent his entire life with Angelo, While Esmee is about 4 years old, and was at least a year old when Tristan was born. Tristan was rolling balls at Meric, and he was batting them back at Tristan. :)

P 365 day 44: Sleeping monster. :p

2011-05-14T23:45:00.000+02:00

I have been spending some time with my friend Angela keeping her company, because she is recently divorced and in a very isolated area. The last 2 weekends Tristan has been having a sleep over with Angelo, her son, but this weekend Kikko ended up missing, so Tristan turned into a tyrant. We decided that he couldn't share a room with Angelo anymore because he's been keeping Angelo awake. Here is Tristan asleep in his own queen sized bed... he would look a lot more lost in the bed if the blankets didn't make him look so much bigger. He pulled the chalkboard there off the wall, and the frog in his hand is Angelo's, it's a puppet and it croaks if you press on its mouth. A testament to how much he loves his Kikko, this little frog did absolutely nothing to calm him down. We've decided that we're not going to have anymore slumber parties for a while.

P 365 day 43: Say Cheese!!!

2011-05-13T23:53:00.026+02:00

On my first day I posted a picture of a cheese girl that was standing outside of the Alkmaar train station. Today I am posting a picture of the cheese market. I'm not sure what the story is with the ladies in the weird hats, I guess those must be another traditional Dutch thing, though the only ones I'd seen before this day were the ones with the points on each side. Anyway, those ladies were selling different types of cheese, and if I wasn't already 20 minutes late for class I would have stopped to sample some. Yum. The bottom picture is a bad picture, I know, I'm sorry, as before, I didn't have time to get any closer, but I will try to take better pictures of the cheese market before it's over in September. The large building holds the cheese museum and the Alkmaar visitor's center. On the left side of the building are large barn type doors and inside are large scales to weigh the cheese. I found out recently as well that those scales (they have probably been replaced in the centuries since, so probably not exactly *those* scales) were used to weigh people to determine if they were witches or not during the 17th century witch hunts. I'll post more about the cheese markets as soon as possible. :)

P 365 day 42: Strawberries!

2011-05-12T23:43:00.019+02:00

On Wednesday, I received a request for a close up of that day's picture, which was Tristan's garden, since I had mentioned little dwarfs but you can't really see them. In Wednesday's post I had also wondered if we were going to get any strawberries from Tristan's strawberry plant.... Well, take a look at what I discovered when I went out to take a picture of the dwarfs!

P 365 day 41: Garden update #1

2011-05-11T23:13:00.000+02:00

Today I wanted to post an update of Tristan's garden. It's growing like a bunch of weeds. :) in the front you can see strawberries (I wonder if we will actually get some?) and on the right are some sunflowers.... I think they will need to be transplanted soon already, Either that or we'll just need to turn the basket around. :) He tries to water it every day, Tristan is very good with that, but he also loves to play in the dirt, so there's a slight conflict of interest there... he nearly destroyed the flowers in the orange thing in the right bottom corner, but it seems most of the sproutlings there have survived. :) The little black and white things in the middle front of the basket are dwarfs that Tristan picked out himself. :)

P 365 day 40: Colored sunsets

2011-05-11T22:55:00.000+02:00

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, but I had a bunch of pictures that I wanted to post (because I took a lot of shots with different settings on my phone) but I was at Angela's house and I can only post one picture from flickr there. I don't want to impose so much by putting all my pictures on her computer. Anyway, it was a beautiful sunset last night so I took a lot of pictures of it. I hope they look as great on your computer screens as they do on my camera! Enjoy. :)

P 365 Day 39: Foot doctor

2011-05-09T22:45:00.002+02:00

image, a photo by SabTristan&Mars on Flickr.

I had an appointment at the podiatrist today because I have plantar faciatis and I had to have a check up to see how my new in-soles they are doing. This is the inside of the office for anyone who's never been to a podiatrist. I feel like I'm on a stage when I climb on that thing... It's a light box that you stand on so that the doctor can look at your posture. Then the chair, they measure your feet for the insoles. It feels a bit awkward, I almost felt like a ballerina! lol

P 365 day 38: Happy mother's day!

2011-05-08T23:36:00.001+02:00

This is a really bad photo, but this is a little picture thing Tristan made for me at daycare. It's paper machee on a particle wood thing. I think he mostly just added the white and blue flowers, but I think it's absolutely beautiful none the less. :) It's going on my wall next to my desk as soon as I can figure out how to put it up. :) <3

P 365 day 37: Mother's day eve

2011-05-08T01:06:00.001+02:00

Tomorrow is mother's day, and Tristan picked out this tart for me. it says "For Mother" on the chocolate thing in the middle, and the brown box with the red writing on the box says "A shining heart of the deepest strawberry red for a mother with a heart of gold." Since it's not really something that can be easily hidden, we dove into it tonight and it was really yummy. Tristan had seconds. :) Thanks Booba, such things seem even more special when I hear your tiny voice say "happy mother's day mama." If the weather is anything like it was today, we're going for a picnic on the beach. :) Sorry my post is so late today btw. I got sidetracked.

P 365 day 36: The sweetest thing you will ever see

2011-05-06T22:44:00.002+02:00

image, a photo by SabTristan&Mars on Flickr.

And here it is. :) As I mentioned last night, Angela is out of town today, and I came over last night to babysit until tomorrow morning. Tristan had daycare today, but Marcel brought him out this evening, and it was the sweetest thing when Angelo and Tristan saw each other. They ran towards each other and met with a big hug. Sadly I wasn't quick enough to capture the hug, but I was able to get a shot of the two of them holding hands on the way to the grocery store. There are some more pictures of the boys playing on my photo stream at the top of the page. :) Enjoy! :D

P 365 day 35: Stumpy Tower

2011-05-05T22:47:00.001+02:00

image, a photo by SabTristan&Mars on Flickr.

You can hardly see it, but behind the trees is a church. All the churches here have steeples except this one. This is the name sake of the little village that Angela lives in, Stompetoren, or Stumpytower. Angela is going out of town tomorrow morning and won't be back until Saturday morning so I am here to baby sit Angelo again, and after Tristan gets out of daycare tomorrow, Marcel is going to bring him out so the boys can have another sleep over night. Hopefully more fun pictures tomorrow. :)

P 365 day 34: Flower Mosaics

2011-05-04T23:59:00.001+02:00

Today we went to the flower mosaics in the nearby village of Limmen. Basically, every May, they build giant mosaics out of Hyacinths. Since I can never get the pictures to work right on here, I'm just going to caption the bottoms of the pictures. :) I thought I should also mention that today was Dodenherdenkingdag, The Dutch version of Memorial day. We were out looking at the mosaics during the moment of silence at 8pm, but church bells were ringing all around.

Marcel and Tristan as seen through the mirror behind a bouquet display.

I'm not sure what's with the broken egg things, but any Expat knows about the bread with brown stuff on it. I'm not sure what the bread symbolizes, but the brown stuff... People here let their dogs poop anywhere and don't usually clean it up. Anyway, someone goes around Holland putting little Dutch appetizer flags in the poop. Probably someone's way of letting you know it's there without having to pick it up themselves.

Apparently the little pompom balls with feet, googly eyes, and antenna are called wuppies.

There's a monkey zoo or something that's had a baby boom this year, and this mosaic is a tribute to all the baby monkeys. I just thought it was really cute. :)

This is a bed... I think the mosaic is a very good representation of Holland.

That really is all flowers! This is for celebration of a guy who's been a barber for 60 years.

Commentary on Wiki-Leaks.

There is a Dutch cartoon called Wickie the Viking. That's the viking here... This one actually has a little hose that pees on Uncle Sam... The Vikings are a representation of Julian Assange I guess.

An American Flag. :D Too bad it's missing a few stars! :D

This one was done by kids.

This is the Sun setting behind some Tulip fields on the way home. :)

Project 365 day 33: Rose tree?

2011-05-03T22:27:00.000+02:00

I am seriously considering changing my blog to somewhere else... this picture was supposed to be the other way around.... Anyway, near our house we have this tree that has teeny tiny little rose looking flowers. I think they are really pretty and may consider planting one of these myself if I ever get a place of my own. :)

Project 365 day 32: Samen eten

2011-05-02T20:16:00.001+02:00

image, a photo by SabTristan&Mars on Flickr.

Today is the last night of our weekend slumber party. We had cheesy noodles with broccoli and steak. Here's the boys enjoying their dinner. I unfortunately had to trick Tristan into eating a piece of steak, since he refused to eat it and was fighting me the whole way. It was really tender, so that wasn't an issue. We are heading back home tomorrow morning, so hopefully the boys will stop running around and go to sleep already! :D

Project 365 day 31: Bye bye Beanstalk

2011-05-01T22:46:00.001+02:00

image, a photo by SabTristan&Mars on Flickr.

This fish bowl used to have 4 fish and 1 snail. The fish belong to Angelo (sort of) and Beanstalk (he named the fish Jack, Beanstalk, Sunshine and Donkey) died today. :( Luckily Angelo hasn't noticed. Tristan gets a pretty big kick out of the fish too... I think I might consider giving guppies a try with Tristan when he's just a little bit older. :)

Project 365 day 30: Slumber Party!!!

2011-04-30T23:35:00.001+02:00

image, a photo by SabTristan&Mars on Flickr.

Tristan is having his first sleepover tonight, we are staying at Angela's until Monday. Here's a picture of the boys cuddled up in bed, they are just so cute!

Today was also queen's day, but since I'm using Angela's computer I can't make as nice a post as I would like with as many pictures as I would like, but if you look at the top of my page with the flickr photo stream, you can see the new pictures I took today.

Tristan found a new frog today that looks a lot like Kikko, and he asked for it, and it was only 2 Euros, so I bought it, and he named it Koko. If you take a look at the photo stream there's a picture of Tristan making Kikko and Koko kiss. He's such a sweet little guy.

Anyway, I'll try to be back to normal blog posts on Monday evening, and maybe I'll repost some of the pictures with an actual explanation. :D

Project 365 Day 29: Surgey

2011-04-29T23:03:00.000+02:00

image, a photo by SabTristan&Mars on Flickr.

Kikko needs surgery! :( Tristan was a bit sad. Luckily he's got another to sleep with until I can find the needles and thread to fix Kikko.

Sorry about being late today (yesterday) I rode my bike a total of 50 kilometers between Monday and Thursday, so today was a bit of a lazy day.

Tomorrow (today) is Koningennedag (Queen's day) so there promises to be at least one good picture for April 30th. :D

Project 365 Day 28: Kattenburg

2011-04-28T23:32:00.002+02:00

image, a photo by SabTristan&Mars on Flickr.

This is Kattenburg.... That means cat mountain, but I'm pretty sure that means something else as well.... :D This tree is over 300 years old, and weddings have been held under this tree since that time. I don't quite remember the story, but I understand that the tree has large heart shaped leaves in the summer.
This is only a short walk from the Nijenburg manor (I don't think that's what it's actually called even in English) and a really cool tunnel of trees that I will write about in the future. :) If anyone is curious about the history of this little hill, leave a comment and I will try to look it up!

Update 4/29/11: I guess it's Kattenberg, kattenburg means something totally different...?

Project 365 day 27: Gemeente Schermer

2011-04-27T21:42:00.002+02:00

image, a photo by SabTristan&Mars on Flickr.

This is Angela's town hall. I had to take a picture just because I find it so pretty. That's all for today! :D

Project 365 day 26: Quintessential Holland

2011-04-26T18:10:00.000+02:00

I think everyone has an idea of what the Netherlands is supposed to look like. Windmills, canals, cows and flower fields. Well, Most of Holland isn't really quite like that, but here's a picture I took on my way home from my friend's house today that has all of them.... Everything anyway except for wooden shoes, but those aren't really used anymore anyway. :DYou can hardly see in this picture, but in the background there is a field full of yellow flowers. :)

Project 365 day 25: Tulip fields forever

2011-04-25T23:26:00.001+02:00

image, a photo by SabTristan&Mars on Flickr.

Today I rode my bike to my friend Angela's house which is about 13 kilometers, about 10 miles (I think) and there are tulip fields along the way. It was absoultely beautiful.... Here's a picture. :D

Project 365 day 24: Happy Easter!!!

2011-04-24T21:40:00.000+02:00

Here's Tristan with his easter basket and his little candy boxes. He found all 15. :D you can see the stupid chicken pox on his poor sweet little face. :( We went to a barbecue this afternoon at aunt Renee's and I think Tristan had a great day. He's upstairs trying not to go to sleep now. I hope everyone out there on the interwebs had a great Easter!

Project 365 day 23: Eggless Easter

2011-04-23T23:14:00.000+02:00

Apparently our local grocery store can't figure out how to keep high demand items in stock, and they have been out of white eggs (brown eggs are more common here, but if you want white eggs you can usually find them pretty easily) for the last 2 days, and while they still had some on Thursday I stupidly thought they would still have some on Friday, and maybe even today, since they don't hide painted eggs here... They paint the eggs, and then do god knows what with then, since they hide tiny Dove sized chocolate eggs. I am very irritated by the grocery store and I am considering writing a letter, because with Tristan being sick I was hoping that dying eggs would help cheer him up.

So anyway, we plan on buying white eggs to dye and asking the Easter Bunny to come back later in the week. For now, we're going to do the chocolate eggs, but since they are just too small for Tristan to easily find, I decided to make little origami boxes, put the chocolate eggs in them and then have the Easter Bunny hide those in the house. So here's a picture of the boxes. I made 15. That should be more than enough for the little guy. :)

Here's a beautiful Easter egg that Tristan made at daycare, that I decided to use as a decoration on our front door. :)

Project 365 day 22: Ik ben er bijna, maar nog niet helemaal.

2011-04-22T14:16:00.000+02:00

I'm almost there, but not quite. I turned in my portfolio for my residency course today. I've been in the class since last March, and I took my comprehension tests in November. I've been trying to complete my portfolio since I started the class, and being done is a relief. The purpose of the portfolio is to enforce social participation, we are required to do such things as registering with the city hall, inviting a neighbor over for coffee, looking for work, or even something as stupid as sending a card to congratulate someone on a birth or a wedding (not that it's stupid to send, but I think everyone knows how to write a card). There are probably over 100 different 'situaties' to choose from, but you only have to choose 10. Unfortunately, the portfolio goes through 4 different screenings before you can take the final test, the practical assessment which is like a panel interview. If there is even a small thing wrong with my portfolio it can get sent back to my school and I will have to go over it, and wait another month or so before I can take the final assessment. Let's hope It's all good. So today was the last day of school before the 2 week "May vacation" and there are a lot of holidays coming up in the next two weeks, so be on the look out for what I hope will be interesting posts ahead. :)

Project 365 day 21: Wishing on a dandelion

2011-04-21T23:32:00.000+02:00

Poor little guy doesn't look too happy in this picture does he? Well, he's just discovered dandelions and he was enjoying blowing the seeds away, but how much can you enjoy something when you have itchy spots all over and a steadily increasing fever? Besides looking a bit sad, he looks pretty healthy in this picture, but we were sitting outside the pharmacy while daddy when inside to get some chicken pox cream. We'd just gotten back from the doctor's office to see how our guy was doing. The doctor gave us some tips on how to handle his fevers and how to help the itchiness. He's such a champ. Very high fever and crying, he'll still say "mommy, Tristan feel good." So while Tristan was blowing on the dandelion just because he thought it was fun, I was wishing for his health. My sweet little angel is so brave, and it makes me really sad to see him so sick. Get well soon my wonderful little man. <3 <3

Project 365 day 20: Hell week....

2011-04-20T19:55:00.000+02:00

Tristan has Chicken Pox. :( I never had chicken pox, but I had the vaccine when I was younger.... I hope the vaccine holds. They don't vaccinate for it here. He's luckily not in the super itchy stage yet, but I've got no idea what to do for him once it starts.... I'm thinking calamine lotion and socks duct taped to his hands...? What a great time for him to get it, 4 days before Easter... I guess I have to make a call to the Easter Bunny and ask if he can come back to hide eggs later next week. Poor little guy... I hope they don't have a party at daycare on Friday that he'll have to miss out on. :( He seems pretty much himself right now, but he's a bit warm, and a bit more cranky than usual. I really hope we can get through this next week without me pulling my hair out, and without Tristan ending up with a million scars. -sigh- I guess this is a normal part of growing up, though it's not for American children anymore... ugh.

Project 365 day 19: New friends

2011-04-19T21:51:00.001+02:00

This is Tristan and his new friend Angelo. Angelo's mom is a new friend of mine Angela (it was her ex-husband's idea), an American woman from New York who's lived here for 10 years but is going through some really difficult times. Today was her birthday and she didn't really have anyone to spend the day with besides her son, so I decided we'd have an impromptu picnic party with the two of us and our boys. So I made some sandwiches and got some snacks together, then got Tristan on my bike and headed out for the big huge petting zoo/park right on the edge of Alkmaar towards Heiloo. Tristan met Angelo for the first time, and they had a BLAST! Angelo is about a year older than Tristan, but my overactive little guy was more than able to keep up. When we left and headed home Tristan asked "where is Angelo," and "I want to play with Angelo more (in Dutch)." We might get together with Angela and Angelo again at the beginning of next week, so there will likely be more pictures of happy little boys coming soon. :D Happy Birthday Angela! :)

Project 365 day 18: Hortus-Bulborum

2011-04-18T22:51:00.001+02:00

I feel almost like a real Dutchie today.... I took a long bike ride through the countryside by myself, on my way to visit a friend who lives in a neighboring town. It was such a beautiful clear day, and it was nice and warm, but not as humid as usual, so I just enjoyed the heck out of it! we went to a place called Hortus Bulborum, which is basically a giant garden full of bulb flowers and stories about their history. I have never seen so many different types of daffodils in my life, nor did I ever suspect there were so many different kinds! I was also surprised at some of the different varieties of tulips, and I discovered an entirely new (to me) kind of flower today, that I find just amazing. I really wish I could post all of the pictures I took today here, but since I took over 200, that's not going to happen.... I don't even know how I'm going to pick my favorites! So, here are some pictures of whatever I could restrain myself too! :D Sadly, some of the colors didn't come out quite as well as I hoped, and it seems some beautiful shades of light orange came out more pink, so that helps me weed down the selection. :( P.s. Sorry the layout is so bad... I am thinking about writing an email to blogger and telling them that their photo placement system really really sucks... I wanted everything to be lined up nice and neat, but that is nearly impossible with Blogger, I have been working on positioning the photos for at least a half hour now and had to cut a few out because I am getting ready to throw my computer into the wall. Also, don't forget that you can simply click a picture to make it bigger, though it appears I may have destroyed some of those links while trying to arrange the photos.... -sigh-

Project 365 day 17: Barbecue

2011-04-17T23:06:00.000+02:00

We had a bite sized barbecue this evening, with little chunks of chicken, sausages, mini hamburgers and something called slavink which is sausage rolled in bacon. Aparently I should have read the instructions on the disposable barbecue, because I put the meat on while it was still full of flames and ended up with a bik pile of slightly meat flavored charcoal briquettes. :( Anyway, today's picture is just after I put the meat on with some really cool flames. There is also a stack of old flower containers that are waiting to be thrown away.

Project 365 day 16: Toybrary

2011-04-16T23:04:00.000+02:00

Today was a busy day... Today was a speel-o-theek day, and we had plans almost right after in Alkmaar. Since it's not possible to take both Tristan and his stroller somewhere on one bike at the same time, I took Tristan to the speel-o-theek with me and Marcel met us at quarter after noon at the train station with Tristan's stroller.... So imagine a 2 year old in a room FULL of toys... toys that he's allowed to play with for 2 full hours.... oh dear.... I AM SO PROUD OF TRISTAN!!!! He was not wonderful, but he behaved very well for how overwhealmed he had to have been. He couldn't decide to play with anything for more than 5 minutes, and he had a hard time grasping the concept of putting toys away before getting another one, and I spent a good deal of time running after him (luckily we only had 2 customers all day and one of them was a little girl just a little older than Tristan) but he only threw one tantrum and it was a minor one. I've got a really good little boy. :)

After the speel-o-theek we headed to Alkmaar where we met up with my American friend Angela who has a son a little bit older than Tristan, but he wasn't there today. We went to a really really big second hand store that would in some ways put GoodWill to shame (it had a classier feel, like there was more effort made in making it look nice) and got Tristan a nice new coat and I got a few new shirts. After that Tristan went to the fire house with daddy (they were having an open house thing where you got to see what it was like in a fire house) and Angela and I went to a great little cafe where they serve bagel sandwiches that were just absolutely delicious. After that we met up with Tristan and Marcel again and we parted ways with Angela, and headed home.

Very full day, but a good one. Marcel also bought Tristan a big pirate ship lego type thing that turned out to be pretty cool, though the pieces don't stick together all that great. Anyway, I hope tomorrow is a nice day, because I'm feeling hopeful for a nice long bike ride. :)

Project 365 day 15: Tiny Gardener

2011-04-15T20:02:00.001+02:00

When Tristan got home today, we started on his garden. Well... Me mostly, He decided that he was going to dump soil all over the place and water the concrete. He did help a bit, though he may have hurt one or two of the poor little plants. I dug the holes, and Tristan put some of the plants in the holes, but mostly just threw dirt around. Anyway, here is the finished product. :) Below are some more pictures. :) The little heart stick thing says Tristan's Tuintje <3 (Tristan's Garden). It's in chalk so it will come off the first time it rains, but oh well.

Project 365 day 14: Baking up some fun!

2011-04-14T21:09:00.000+02:00

Tristan and I baked a cake today. It wasn't an amazing soft and fluffy Duncan Hines or Pillsbury, and it didn't have any proper frosting, and half of it stuck to the cake form so it ended up looking like a blob with ears... that came off.... But with a little help of the greatest chef's assistant in the whole world, it turned out quite wonderfully. Regular frosting is hard to find here, and when you do find it, it's imported, so it's pretty expensive, so I got the only thing I could find that fit in the -affordable- catagory, glaze. I also got some frosting pens, some of those little silver candy balls (only the ones here aren't tiny jaw breakers, they are softer), anise candies that are put on crackers to celebrate a birth (called muisjes and they look a bit like pink and white mouse turds) and colored candy coated rice krispy things, and then I let Tristan go to town on what was supposed to look like a bunny holding an egg. He had great fun decorating the cake, but I think he had even more fun sneaking the candies into his mouth when he thought mommy wasn't looking. :p Here is a closeup of the cake. :) Those are Tristan's little hands trying to squeeze the frosting pens out onto the cake.

This afternoon, we went to the local nursery because Tristan has been expressing an interest in gardening, but since we only have a balcony, we have no place for a garden. So we decided to look for a big planter box that he could have his own little garden in. We couldn't find one that was big enough that was under about 100 euros, but we were able to find a large woven basket. We also got quite a few transplanting flowers and a few seeds and bulbs, along with a cute frog that ribbits when someone walks by. Seeing as the large woven basket had holes all over it, I spent about an hour duct taping some garbage bags together to form a lining for the soil. We didn't get to plant any of the plants or seeds today because our day has been so full that we just ran out of time, but we will be doing it tomorrow after daycare if it's not raining (you never know from minute to minute here) And you get to look forward to pictures of that project tomorrow. I think I might stop by the store across from my school tomorrow to see if they still have the gardening sets for kids since for some reason they didn't have any child sized tools at the nursery.

Project 365 day 13: Oh the pain!

2011-04-13T23:58:00.000+02:00

As in bread.....

I skipped school today because I had an appointment at the town hall, and I decided to spend a few minutes at the market, which has lost a lot of it's charm to me, but anyway, I decided to take a picture of a bread stand. It smelled delicious.... Is -your- mouth watering yet?

Project 365 day 12: Hang in there!

2011-04-12T22:14:00.000+02:00

I haven't been feeling too well lately, but Tristan is an expert in reminding me to hang in there. :) He's such a strong little guy! :D

Project 365 day 11: The most beautiful flower I've ever seen

2011-04-11T21:38:00.001+02:00

I am of course talking about the big beautiful yellow daffodil that Tristan made at preschool. The used coasters and egg cartons, painted them and then put them all together with paper petals. if you look carefully, you might notice that some of the petals are on backwards. One thing I really like about his preschool is that while they have a plan to glue faces on a bunny cut out and the kids what to put the mouth on the top of one of the ears, they don't tell the kid that he is wrong, but allow them to express their own creativity.

Project 365 day 10: Laundry Day

2011-04-11T00:00:00.001+02:00

I wanted to take a picture of Tristan getting off the train this evening, because I've missed him so much over the last week, but my phone battery was just about dead and the camera doesn't work once the phone starts it's annoying pre-shut down beeping, so I decided to use the picture I took earlier in the day.

Today was a beautiful day, and I didn't really get to enjoy it, except for hanging the laundry out to dry... so here is a really really crappy picture of some of our laundry hanging to dry (don't worry, no unmentionables unless you want to count Tristan's onesies :p) with the nice pleasant clear sky in the background. Sadly, our balcony is situated in such a position that it only gets about an hour of sun over only about half the balcony all day long. I hate our balcony.

I'm sorry my topic and picture are not more interesting today, but I've been busy all day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Sorry we're so late today!

Project 365 Day 9: European Year of Volunteering

2011-04-09T17:14:00.001+02:00

Anyone who has known me for a long time know that It is important to me to give something of myself back to the world. I give blood, I am an organ donor (except that I lost the stupid sticker years ago), I buy products that give money to charities, and often try to give money directly to the charities myself. I also did volunteer work in high school.

As part of my residency requirements, I had to find a 'language internship.' I had a really hard time finding something that wasn't with a maid service. Finally I got a tip from one of Tristan's teachers to try the Speel-o-theek (toy library) so I gave it a shot. Well, I spent a month there as an intern, and today I began my first day as an official volunteer for the Red Cross (as the Speel-o-theek is organized through the Red Cross and all proceeds got directly to them), at a volunteer fair, handing out fliers to try to get more volunteers. :) I was supposed to start my first day as a normal volunteer on Thursday, but I was just too sick to get out of bed.

Today is an absolutely beautiful day, and it felt really great to be out in the sun today, after being stuck sick in the house all week. 2011 is the European Year of Volunteering, though I'm not exactly sure what that means. You can take a look on the website (it's in English) if you are curious. http://www.eyv2011.eu/ Anyway, here's a shot of the fair... The Speel-o-theek/Red Cross table is there to the right. The green balloons there are for the Netherlands' Alzheimer's Organization. I picked up some pamphlets, though I'll hardly be able to read them...

Project 365 Day 8: Cherry Blossom

2011-04-08T23:57:00.000+02:00

I was walking to the store and happened to look down as I was crossing the bridge. I almost didn't stop, because someone though it would be cute to make their cigarette float on a bed of cherry blossoms, and I was thinking of taking a picture of something at the store, but I'm glad I did. You can hardly notice the cigarette, and the blossoms look so pretty floating on the water.... Peaceful I think.... My first lesson from this project I think.... Stop and look a the cherry blossoms. Don't hurry through life if you don't have to! :) See you tomorrow everyone. :)

Project 365 Day 7: It ain't easy bein' green.

2011-04-07T21:12:00.002+02:00

It ain't easy bein' green., a photo by SabTristan&Mars on Flickr.

I've been sick in bed all day, I spent last night throwing up. :( I thought I'd share a picture of one of the things that puts a smile on my face when I'm feeling sick, Tristan's best friend Kikko. Tristan is staying with Oma and Opa this week, but he's got two Kikkos, so we kept one at home, and just seeing the little green guy makes me smile. :)

Project 365 Day 6: Happy Birthday...

2011-04-06T22:09:00.000+02:00

Today is my Grandma's 70th birthday. It's an important birthday, and I wish I could be there to help her celebrate... Thing is, we don't know how many birthdays she's got left, and this may very well be the last birthday she remembers. Two years ago she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and it seems that she has the fast progressing kind. She's already forgetting people. :( My grandmother and I have spend a lot of my life at odds, but she really means a lot to me, and this is hard to talk about. My mom's decided to throw my Grammie a birthday party with some of her closest friends, and I hope it will be one of the few memories that she will be able to hang on to for a while, knowing how many people love and care for her. Anyway, Happy birthday Grammie, I hope you have a really fun day!

Project 365 Day5: Fat Burger

2011-04-05T23:12:00.001+02:00

Ok... First I want to say that I do not normally eat this bad, but if I am going to make a hamburger, I want it to be good, because the hamburgers here... SUCK. So here is a picture of my dinner tonight. Fat Burger and seasoned fries.You can't really tell by this picture just how unhealthy this burger is, so I will tell you.

Flour seeded buns (more than just sesame) start it out. then come the patties.... Grilled pork and beef garlic seasoned burgers. the thing is, they are MUCH huger than I expected, I've never grilled before and I thought they were going to become a lot smaller. Topped with 2 slices of bacon, melted Brie, lettuce and tomato. The bread was spread with bbq sauce and mustard on mine and bbq and mayo on Marcel's. Marcel dips his fries in the Mayo (yucky Dutch thing) and I use the sweet chili sauce.

If you are curious just how big the burgers actually were, I'll include a half shot... I had to skewer the burger so it wouldn't fall apart. I'm not even sure I'll be able to eat the second half, much less another full burger!

Project 365 day 4: Playgrounds

2011-04-04T22:34:00.002+02:00

Playground, a photo by SabTristan&Mars on Flickr.

I find playgrounds here a bit lacking compared to what I grew up with, and here is a prime example.... We had a parent's meeting today for Tristan's preschool, and this is the playground at the school the meeting was at. not too bad, but I'm missing the slides and swings....

Project 365 Day 3: Taking inventory...

2011-04-03T19:25:00.000+02:00

Today's picture is a partial inventory of our cabinets. I guess since most of you can't read Dutch and/or can't see what the packages say, I will list everything with commentary. I'll try to do it left to right, top to bottom, but I might get a bit off track. If you want to see the picture better, you an click it and it should be bigger.

Mcennedy "American Style" blueberry muffin mix ~ They seem to have some kind of jelly instead of real blueberries, but I'm not sure, I haven't mde them yet because I have no muffin pan.
Master Crumble Muesli cereal~ It's Marcel's... I don't like muesli.
Special K honey and oats cereal~ This is my cereal this week because it was on sale.
Chocolate milk Yoohoo type drink, it doesn't need to be refridgerated until it's open.
Oublie hoorntjes~ Waffle Ice cream cones
Mix for a ham, cheese, and onion quiche type thing
Mashed potato spuds
Spongebob shaped noodles
Long grain white rice
Poffertjes mix~ these are mini bite sized pancakes, and while I have yet to make them myself (I usually buy them made and warm them on the stove) they are really yummy.
Chocolate flakes~ these are sprinkled on bread on top of margarine or peanut butter.
Oliebollen mix~ these are described as Dutch donuts... they are big balls of dough, often with fruit inside that are dropped into a fryer. We bought these before our fryer broke. :(
Lasagne mix~ Hmm.... I need to make that...
Waffles~ Sort of... they aren't the same... I add baking powder, but it still doesn't make them very fluffy... gotta learn to make them from scratch!
Pineapple and guava juice~ We don't usually go exotic, but it was on sale.
Chicken Tandori mix~ Never had it before, but it's going to be made this week.
Mango guanabana juice~ Another exotic drink...
Opticat cat treats~ for Esmee
Goulash soup~ I have no idea what this tastes like...
Pepper sauce~ a creamy gravy with pepper kernels
My last box of Craft Mac n' Cheese... Anyone want to send me some more? ;)
Kruidnoten mix~ Gingerbread mix
Chai tea bags~ Not the same that you get at starbucks, but still pretty good
Tomato sauce
Stroopwaffels~ A caramel syrup filled waffle cookie my mom's favorite!
Nescafe instant latte packets, super yummy, and easy since I'm the only on in the house who drinks coffee
Marmite, a salty yeast spread thing like vegimite I think... Not delicious, but surprisingly not gross either.
Euro shopper brand peanut butter~ this is the closest to Skippy I have found here unless I was to spend 3 Euros on a 10 ounce jar of imported Skippy.
Fruithagel~ Fruit sprinkles, put on brad with margarine for breakfast. They are not the same sprinkles you get on cupcakes in the US.
Rookworst~ Smoked sausage that is used in pea soup the traditional mashed potato meal called Stampot
Chicken curry mix
Basil cream sauce
Garfield shaped cookies... they do not tase that good, but Tristan likes them.
Couscous seasoning mix... it's divine if you like couscous.
Hollandaise sauce mix
Asparagus sauce mix~ It's similar in taste to the Hollandaise sauce
Mushroom gravy
Appelstroop~ Apple syrup, I thought it would be like Apple butter, but I think it's pretty gross... again Mars and Tristan really like it though
Fruit tea~ 4 different flavors, blueberry, strawberry, cherry and forest fruit
Fruit bar~ Like Nutrigrain bars
Granola bar
Ginger snaps

There you have it, the partial contents of my cupboards. If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask, And if you have any specific requests for photos, also ask and I'll see what I can do. :)

P.S. Sorry for any spelling mistakes, the spell check is being stupid, some of the words are Dutch, and my spelling is not infallible. :)

A real spring day

2011-04-02T22:03:00.000+02:00

Today was the first real spring day we've had yet this year, and while I really didn't feel like going out at all earlier today, I'm really glad I decided to go out with Marcel and Tristan when Tad woke up from his nap. We went to the Deka Tuin, which is our local nursery because I needed to get something to clean our balcony with. It's mostly shaded, so in the winter time algae builds up, and it's almost impossible to clean. Well, we wandered around the nursery for a while, Tristan got a squeeky rubber chicken and his own little metal watering can. He expressed interest in growing plants as we were entering the nursery and I'm going to at least TRY to encourace that, though it's difficult when the only outside space you can call your own is a concrete balcony! The picture to the left is in the parking lot of the Deka Tuin... I think it's supposed to be an.... animal of some sort?

When we were on our way home, we decided to just continue on our bike ride instead of going straight home, and that was a great idea, we had a lot of fun! I took a lot of stops on our ride to take photos, and the first stop I made was at a sheep farm, where there were a bunch of baby lambs. Aren't they cute????

My next stop was At the flower stand with the American flag that I posted for my 365 photo today. here's another shot of the flower stand. As I've mentioned before, we live near vast farmland, and it's such a neat thing to see. In less than a month, most of the farm land out here should be filled with tulips if I'm correct. Just past this flower stand and the farm it's attached too, We came across an old Abby and once we followed the bike trail around it, we ended up in the small and pleasant town of Egmond. We went into a supermarket I'd never been too before, and after that, since it was around 6pm at this point, we went looking for a snack bar. The three of us shared some fries and a milk shake, then headed on our way back home. Overall it was a very enjoyable day and I really reslly can't wait for more days like today... Sadly tomorrow is going to rain. :( The picture below was taken on our way home, in the woods within walking distance of our house. :)

One more thing, I'm sorry about all the gaps, Blogger isn't terribly photo friendly, and we'll see how it works out, I may end up moving my blog again, but I will of course let everyone know before then. :)

Project 365 Day 2: Unexpected America

2011-04-02T19:43:00.000+02:00

Today was an absolutely beautiful day and I had a hard time deciding what picture to post today because I took quite a few. After Tristan's nap, we decided to go to the local nursery with is about a mile or so from our house, and on the way home we decided to just keep going instead of going straight home. Our house is probably about three miles into the background of this picture, about 2 miles behind the trees. Anyway, as we were riding, all of a sudden Marcel spotted this American flag, and I decided to stop and take a few pictures. The Dutch name of these flowers, Blauwe Druifjes means little blue grapes... Don't ask me why. I also have no idea why there is an American flag here, but it made me feel just a little less homesick to see it. :)

Project 365 Day 1: SURPRISE!!!

2011-04-01T14:09:00.002+02:00

I'm Pregnant!!!!...................
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Hahahahahahaha Did you believe that?

APRIL FOOLS!!!!!! (ÉÉN APRIL!!!)

Ok, so enough joking. I'm not pregnant. I hope no one had a heart attack (mom). And this isn't my photo. I stole it from a website. So here is my real picture for my first day.

My first photo oppertunity presented itself very early today, though I was running late for school anyway. Tristan decided to play his own little April Fool's joke on daddy and hide his glasses this morning. Anyway, this is what I saw when I got off the escelator from the station hall in Alkmaar train station. This is a kaasmeid. That means cheese girl. Today was the first day of the cheese market this year, so she was standing there by the train station exit handing out maps to tourists. When I saw her, I figured that this was the perfect picture for my first day (after I got my prank out of the way of course), a touch of "Echte Hollands" (real Holland). This is I guess traditional Dutch garb for farmer girls, but it's only worn now a days during things like the cheese market. Anyway, I think that's all I have to say for today...

Oh! wait.... Tristan has been able to sing the numbers to 15 more or less right for a while now, but he's never associated numbers with objects any higher than 2. Well yesterday he counted q-tips to 5, perfectly, and then later, he counted my fingers to 8. I'm so proud of my little guy.

I hope everybody enjoyed my first photo of my Photo Project 365. :) See you tomorrow!

Spring Flowers, Go Away Showers!

2011-03-31T22:04:00.000+02:00

Flowers!!!! Some of the Dutch beauty I see around... This is by no means all... As you will see, since I am beginning my Photo Project 365 tomorrow.... That´s right, a new picture every day!

There is an interesting story about these flowers, I have no idea what they are, and if anyone can tell me what they are I would appreciate it. Anyway, the bridge out of our complex was closed last week for some (probably unnecessary) repairs, so to take Tristan to daycare and get myself to school I had to take the bridge across the canal behind our house. I saw these weird flowers and just had to stop and take a look at them the next chance I got. Here are the pictures. The picture of the single flower, well, I decided I was going to pick it and take it home, which would have gone smoothly until I rubbed my hand against some baby stinging nettles. It stung for hours, and I really hate stinging nettles... Oddly, you can cook and eat them, and they make cheese with the nettles here, but it doesn't taste that good, and it made my throat itchy.

Here are some more flowers, daffodils and some cute little bluish purplish things in a wooded area by my volunteer job place. One of my favorite things about this town we live in is that a beach, a relatively large city, a (holy) forest, and farms with tulip fields are within the distance that you can take a bike to get there. This means obviously that I am surrounded by nature, and this is a very peaceful place to live. We are also about 45 minutes away from Amsterdam and also the Texel Islands. Apparently you can walk to the Texel Islands from the mainland during low tide.

Ok, Anyway, I'm done sharing for the day... Be sure to tune in tomorrow for day 1 of my Project 365, and a slight remodel to my blog.

Growth

2011-03-21T16:33:00.003+01:00

We live near Alkmaar, a city that sits on a busy canal, made famous by it's cheese markets. I'll probably go to the cheese market some time this year so I can post some pictures about it, It's rather interesting. Anyway, I wanted to talk a bit about what it's like to live near what is essentially a shipping thoroughfare. There are a lot of buildings along the canals in Alkmaar called Pakhuizen which have little crane type things hanging from the facade that used to be used to load boats in the water. They are no longer used, and Alkmaar is no longer a shipping city, but there is plenty of boats still going through. I cross over a bridge every day I go to school, and the other day I took some pictures of the bridge opening up for a boat to go through. It's a bit unsettling to watch the road lift up above you... It reminds me of a part in the movie Inception.

I promised to share photos of the new scanner things at the grocery store when we went by there again, and we went a few days ago, so I have some pictures. :) It is the same basic idea as a baby or wedding registry, you scan the items and put them in your cart or your bag and then you hook the scanner back up to the machine in the end and you pay. You have to scan your receipt at a gate to get out of the store, but if you don't get out soon enough, you will be stuck inside. One of us got stuck, but I won't say who. :) I guess they sometimes check your bags to make sure you aren't stealing anything, but I'm not positive.

Tristan had his first day at his new day care on Friday. It was supposed to happen on the 1st of April, but they had a spot open early. He spent half the day there on Wednesday, and then we dropped him off and picked him up there on Friday. It's still Het Kasteel (the castle) but it's in a different building (though the two are connected by a gate in the back yards), with different teachers and the kids are all from 2 1/2 to 4 years old. It scares me that he's growing up so fast! Children are required to begin school here at 4, so he might end up starting kindergarten for a month or two while he's still 3. Scary for me! In Holland parents have a choice of school, no school boundaries, so he could goto school on the other side of the country if we wanted him too. We are hoping very much to move soon so that we can start looking at schools for him. They still have daycares for children going to school, but I believe they are at the school, much like the after school programs that I went to when I was in Elementary school. The school system is much different here than in the US, and there are 3 different types of high schools based on skill levels and such. I'll go into more detail on that much later on.

Yesterday I took Tristan to a giant flea market (more or less) where I met another American woman and a British woman, and we had a really nice time. Sadly I didn't think to take any pictures while I was there, I had our big tank stroller and I wasn't comfortable having my phone out in such a busy place. We have an appointment on Thursday for an open house, but it is in another city, and I really love Heiloo, for the first time since I came here, I'm finally beginning to feel at home, and I do not look forward to the prospect of moving to a new city. If we move, we will also have to change Tristan's day care and preschool, and since such things have a very long waiting list (we were very lucky being able to get him in quickly for both, though he's still on a waiting list for a second day at preschool) here, that is something else I'm not looking forward too. I'm trying to be realistic and stay positive though, since we really really just do not have enough space for the three (four if you count Esmee) of us here. So wish us luck, and I'll let you (anyone that actually reads this. :p) know what happens on Friday. :)

It's Sprung!

2011-03-14T20:33:00.001+01:00

Tristan after peuterspeelzaal last week. :) He looks so tough!

Spring that is! Today is Monday, which means that Tristan goes to the Peuterspeelzaal, literally "toddler play hall," realistically, Preschool. Preschool at 2 and a half.... That was a bit overwhelming for me at first, but he loves it there, and it gives him a third day a week to play with other kids. He also goes to daycare on Wednesdays and Fridays, and he is currently the oldest on his days, so he will be changing daycares at the end of the month to the older group. He's the second youngest at preschool. The preschool is right around the corner from us and we can walk there, though we usually ride our bikes, since Tristan doesn't take a nap on Mondays.

I began noticing the signs of spring a week or two ago, at Tristan's preschool, and today it was even more apparent. Especially when Marcel called me just as I was leaving the school and asked me to run an errand for him since something wasn't working on his computer. I had to go to the town square,which is quite small, but after all, it's a rather small town. It's about a 10 to 15 minute ride from our house to the town square, and it's a very pleasant trip. On the way, there is a small park which is mostly just a big pond, which is across the street from the house where Marcel grew up. I always cross a bridge to go over the pond and through the park rather than going around because... well, it's just fun. :) Anyway, today, when I got to the park I was quite delighted to look around and see a carpet of flowers, almost all crocus, and almost all in white and purple. I couldn't help but sit and take in the beauty for a bit, as well as take a bunch of pictures...

Spring is my favorite thing about Holland. Everything is so amazingly green, and there are flowers everywhere. The grass is different here too, it's a bright yellowish-green, and it has a soft spongy mossy quality to it. I can't imagine it needing to be mowed often. Most of the flowers you come across in the parks and forests are mostly bulb flowers, which once planted one year spread quite readily and become wild. Crocus, daffodils, snowdrops, and many other flowers just pop up from the ground at random. Oddly enough though, rarely do you ever see tulips in the wild. In three and a half years, I've only seen a wild tulip once. Another wonderful thing about Holland is that flowers and plants are cheap enough and easy enough to find that you can constantly have cut flowers in your house even if you don't have a lot of money.

Heiloo's town square, and the witte kerk (White church)

So, after taking a bit of time to take pictures, I continued on my journey to the town square to look for Marcel's computer thing. I couldn't find it, because as I may have mentioned in the past, a lot of stores are closed on Monday, or only open for part of the day, and the computer store was closed. So I looked around in other stores before deciding that I wasn't going to find it today. I'll look in Alkmaar tomorrow. I went into the Grocery store which had been closed last week for a remodel and found myself utterly confused. They have taken the self checkout thing to the extreme to the point where you can complete your grocery shopping without ever interacting with an employee at all... I think I should mention that while self checkout has become very common in the US, it is not something that I have seen here, until today. It seems that they have decided to completely do away with self checkout lanes entirely, giving you a scanner or the sort you make baby registeries with that you carry along and you scan your groceries before you put them in the cart. When you check out, it would seem that you go up to a kiosk that reminds me vaguely of an automated aluminum can or soda bottle return and connect the scanner and then pay with your debit card or your chip-knip (I still haven't figured that one out).

Scanners for idiots...

The Pamphlet.

I didn't do the self checkout thing myself today (though it would have been useful since all I bought was soda and some easter cookies) because I could not entirely comprehend the instructions. I hope to go back next week with Marcel in toe to try it out, but we rarely go to that store since there is another branch right across the street from our house. The title of the instruction pamphlet says "Scan yourself and within one minute checkout. Everyday at Albert Heijn." They had a big wall of the scanner things, but it was a bit hectic to take a picture. Sadly they have no plans on implementing the scanners in my local store, so I'll try to go by the other store again next week and take pictures... The only thing I can't help but wonder is if this will make it easier for people to steal large amounts of items...?

Do-over

2011-03-13T22:41:00.003+01:00

Well, if there is still anyone out there.... It's been almost 2 years.... But, I'm back. I think... I hope... I know I just disappeared, but the truth of the matter is... I've been having a really hard time these last 2 years. I'm still not ready to talk about it yet, but I do plan to begin posting on here again more often, and I even plan on beginning a Project 365 (a photo a day) of my own on April first, but we will see how that goes. It is something that will force me to not only to make sure that I take pictures and post them every day, but also it will require me to type something in here every day, so I hope I will be able to keep up with it. We've got a couple of interesting things coming up soon, so I will try to post about them. If I can't get back on here before then, I'll see you on April 1! And no, You will not come to my blog ad see a big fat banner screaming April Fools! I promise. :)

See you again soon!

Busy week....

2009-05-05T14:12:00.009+02:00

So Thursday (Apr. 30) was Queen's day, Friday we headed out to Marcel's parent's house, Saturday we had a big dinner or his grandmother's birthday, Sunday we took a long walk through the forest near Marcel's parent's home, and then made the 2.5 hour trek back home, Monday (May 4) was the Dutch memorial day, and today (Tues, May 5) is the Dutch Liberation Day. I will explain everything in better detail below.

Queen's day (Koninginnendag in Dutch) is the celebration of the queen's birthday. The Current queen, Queen Beatrix was born on January 31, but when she became queen, she declared that the Queen's Day celebration should continue on the 30th of April to honor her mother, Queen Juliana. The whole country dresses up in Orange in honor or the royal family of Orange-Nassau, and flood the streets and canals for music, food, drink, games, and open air markets. We spent Queen's day in Alkmaar, the city near our house, and it was great fun. I had an orange cowboy hat, the baby had an orange shirt, and Mars had orange shoe laces. We eventually bought him a flag headband too. We wandered through the free markets which could only be described as reminiscent of Flea Markets, with people selling their junk, though you know the saying, One man's Junk... We bought a toy for the baby, I got some Orange earrings that a guy made himself, and some really neat clog looking things you put over your shoes to wear next year. Overall, a pleasant experience. The baby even had fun waving the Dutch flag around (here). Oh, also, in another town, there was a procession with a royal family, and a crazy guy drove through a barricade (ultimately killing 6 people including himself), in an attempt to kill the royal family. For those who don't know, the Dutch royal family have pretty much not power. They are not much more than a figure head, they even have very little veto power.
Saturday Dinner with the Family. We went to an Indonesian restaurant in a town called Haarderwijk (I think that's how you spell it), and I got to meet more of Marcel's family, and they got to see the baby for the first time. I was very excited but very uncomfortable at the same time. I knew that there were a few members of his family that couldn't speak English at all, and since my Dutch is still so minimal, There were definitely some awkward moments with Marcel, his mom or his sister translating for me. Of the people who did talk to me (his Uncle Henk, and 2 of his cousins,) they were quite pleasant. More family came to visit with Tristan than me, but everyone can speak baby. :) At the end of the evening, most everyone seemed welcoming and even some that didn't speak English said good bye to me. Apparently Tristan has 2 young cousins around his age (one 5 months and one 2 years) and we have been invited to a big barbecue with his family in June so Tristan can meet them.
The Dutch Memorial Day (Nationale Dodenherdenking =National dead memorial, or National remembrance) I don't know much about it, other than that it's like Memorial day back home, a day to remember those that have died in wars.There was a big ceremony in Amsterdam last night, that had a good portion of the city blocked off. Marcel had to take the Subway to the train station instead of the tram. Anyway, there is a large memorial in Amsterdam across from the royal palace there, and the Queen was there, and it was a very lovely ceremony involving 2 minutes of silence at exactly 8pm. The video is in Dutch, and I could hardly understand any of it either, but it is a lovely ceremony none the less.
Dutch Liberation Day (Bevrijdingsdag) is a celebration of the liberation of the Netherlands from Germany in WWII. I don't know much about this holiday either... It seems like another party day, since there are concert festivals today, and we are going to go by one in Haarlem (the city that New York's Harlem was named after) this evening if I am feeling better (I think I might have an ear infection at the moment). If we do go, I'll write about it later.

Well, that's about it for today, if you would like to see the pictures bigger, remember, you can click on them and they will open big in another window. If you would like me to post more pictures, send me a comment or email and let me know!

Springtime Paradise...

2009-04-21T11:17:00.009+02:00

Holland in the springtime is heaven. :) The weather since I've been back has been wonderful, only one day of rain. We went out for a walk the other day, and there are flowers everywhere, and green, so much green... On the way home from the airport there were tulip fields, but we were going too fast, and it was too small, and I didn't have my camera out for me to take pictures, but I will as soon as I can. There are so many wild flowers, the kind you would actually want to plant as garden flowers... I even saw some Tulips seemingly wild, planted near the road. There are a lot of flowers I've never seen, and some you only see in a nursery... It's absolutely beautiful. Here are some pictures. The picture on the very bottom is a picture of some wild flowers I picked.

Going Home... (back to Holland)

2009-03-31T01:17:00.005+02:00

It's confusing when you have 2 homes. :)

Anyway, we are going back to Holland in 2 weeks. I'm excited. Marcel is sending me some money to buy some clothes, since clothes my size don't exist in Holland. I'm also thinking of buying some spices and a few other food stuffs.. The food selection in a Dutch supermarket is much more limited than here in the US... You could fit 3 of most Dutch supermarkets into one Bel-Air here. So I'm wondering what I can get away with with customs... What I can declare, and what they would take... if anything. Any suggestions would be wonderful.

I'm also thinking about things for the baby, but I think I'd be able to find someone to send me baby stuff... I really like those fruit puffs for babies that Gerber makes, but You can't find those in Holland either. Tristan's not quite at that point in food anyway though, so it can probably wait. :)

My next post probably won't come until I'm back there, and then I can detail our permit process and such, as well as so many other things I want to write about. :)

Again, any suggestions that will make my life easier in Holland, I'd much appreciate! :)

WoooHoooo!!!

2009-03-22T09:46:00.004+01:00

I just wanted to share that I just became part of a network!!! The Expat Blog network... Awesome! I can't wait until I actually get back to Holland next month so that I can start telling everyone about Dutch things again. :) I think the first blog I have planned is going to be about food or eating establishments... I think Food would take multiple posts. lol. Too much to talk about in that department. :)

Yay me!

P.S. You can see a nice little picture link for the Expat Blog network on the left under my 'about me' blurb. :)

HEMA

2009-03-21T21:34:00.005+01:00

Just wanted to share this... The HEMA is like the American Target I guess. Probably my favorite Dutch store, besides maybe the Blokker, and the Xenos. Anyway, they have an absolutely awesome web ad... It's in Dutch, and apparently you can't buy anything online, but these programmers are amazing.... My grandmother sent this link to me,I guess she got it from a friend.

http://producten.hema.nl/

Check it out and tell me what you think!

Expat Blog and apartments

2009-03-20T22:13:00.010+01:00

So I'm just making this entry so that I can join the Expat blog network... I have to have at least 10 posts on my blog. I don't have too much to say about Holland at the moment since I'm not there... but here's something.

Marcel and I were just discussing rentals, since we are considering moving as soon as possible, our apartment is too small to raise a child, especially since the 'building corporation' refuses to make the 'second bedroom' habitable. it's a small slanted roofed room, not much bigger than a walk in closet in area, with no windows and no heat. I know if given the time, I could turn it into a great bedroom for the little one, but there is no ventilation. The heat isn't so much a problem, since space heaters exist, but it's that window... Anyway capitalism works in strange ways in Holland... At least in the housing sector. Privately owned houses for rent are very high, but easy to find, and houses owned by building corporations (like realty companies I believe) are cheap but have waiting lists of up to 6 years or more. So if we wanted to rent a privately owned apartment, we could pay 900 euros a month and it would be available right away. If we wanted to rent from a building corporation, it would be around maybe 400 euros, but we wouldn't be able to move for another 6 years when there is an opening. You actually have to be put on a waiting list, and you have to pay money to be put on the waiting list. It's rather stupid if you ask me... especially since they won't give us a damn window for the tiny itty bitty room that we have, and we are somehow supposed to live in this apartment until Tristan is 6 years old, and he can't stand up in the little room anymore. -sigh- We'll probably have to find something in the Private sector and have no money left over, because I'm not sure we can live in our apartment for that long. It's a lovely apartment, but that room is an issue. :( If you know of anything, let us know? lol

Light at the end of the tunnel?

2009-03-11T12:07:00.005+01:00

So... We somehow managed to procure a lawyer... I have not yet met her, but she seems like a wonderful woman. I don't really want to elaborate, I don't want to jinx anything... But it seems like we have some hope of actually being able to be a normal family... once I return to Holland, we will immediately start the residency application process, and I am allowed to stay in the Netherlands the entire time it is pending,and if they decline me, I get to stay longer if we appeal immediately. This fills me with hope, because it means that Tristan will get to have his daddy,and Marcel will get to watch his son grow up. Right now, he only gets to see things over the web cam, which is sadly mot personal enough.

Marcel is going to try for tickets on exactly the 14th of April, but we aren't sure yet, since money is a factor. We have high hopes for at least sometime in April, so we'll see how that goes. :)

The Damn IND....

2009-01-30T11:15:00.003+01:00

I wanted to write about food or something that Marcel could send me pictures of... Maybe something insightful... Sadly, at the moment, we are both a bit overwhelmed with anger towards the Netherlands... We understand the need for strict immigration laws, but these are ridiculous...

It seems everything we are prepared to try gets screwed over... There was an article a few months ago (Before the baby was even born) talking about the Netherlands' immigration laws being a violation of the European Union's constitution or something like that, and people were sewing the State for residency... So we were thinking about doing that... Turns out some even higher power (I don't know) just overruled the ruling that said we could sue for residency.

Marcel only needs Thirty Euros more a month to make the minimum income requirements (the exact thing that is unconstitutional within the EU), and his job refuses to give him that... that's just over a euro a day (weekends).

Marcel needs a brand new fresh year contract (they don't have at will employment. they have really stupid longer and longer periods of probationary employment, leaving very few entry level people with pretty much no job security) and since he works for an American company, and no one is taking vacations anymore, they told him that they are not sure if anyone will be getting their contracts extended.

We have decided I think to just go for it... Mars is going to try to find the necessary job, since this one seems to be so wonderfully reliable, and then we are going to apply for my residency, and if we are denied, we will appeal and appeal until we have it... the good thing is, as far as we know, I am allowed to stay in the country through the whole process of applying and appealing... So, We won't have to spend such an insane amount of money to fly back and forth every three months...

Anyway.. I hope to have a more interesting post soon... in the meantime (and beyond) please wish us luck!

Goodbye....

2009-01-12T16:51:00.005+01:00

So I will be saying goodbye to Holland for about 3 months (probably) in about 36 hours... I will continue to write in here, based on things I get from Marcel, But right now, I have to get back to packing. I'll post again as soon as possible.

Also, I have this nice little tracker, telling me who's visiting my blog.... I have someone from Lima, and people from different parts of the US.... Please, feel free to take a minute to introduce yourselves to me, you can email directly to my Email address through here. Thanks, I'm curious to see who you all are. :)

The things that set me apart...

2008-12-29T14:02:00.005+01:00

Of all the wonderful things about Holland, I have a few complaints. If any Dutch people read this and are offended, it was not my intention, I am just venting some steam.

First of all, anyone who speaks to me for more than two words can tell I'm American... Apparently the accent is very thick... While I am trying very hard to learn the language, my English, and my accent make me stand out. I have learned not to speak unless it's absolutely necessary. I can get through a whole trip to the grocery store without saying a word most times.

Dutch women are obsessed with their careers, so it is not uncommon for women here to be having children before they are 40, even 45. 25 is almost unheard of. Being 25 with a child means you lack ambition, and want nothing better for your life. You are worthless to society... at least that is the way it seems... My son is everything to me, and I don't personally see the point in having a child if you are too old to play with them. Even Marcel is considered young to be a parent by Dutch standards, and he's 32. It's depressing.

The stores here have horrible hours.... everyone has to work, but if they have to go shopping, they can only do it on Thursday or Friday, the special 'koopdag' or shopping day where stores are open past 6 o'clock (some people aren't even off of work by 6pm!) And 95% of stores have to be closed on Sundays. Have to, it's a law, from back when a vast majority of the country was Christian... Now there are people officially converting to Islam so they can stay open on Sundays, because from what I understand, that's the only way you can work on Sundays... So we have to make sure we aren't running short on anything on Saturday, because there is nowhere to go and get more on Sundays.

Dutch people are OBSESSED with weight. If you are not a size one, you are fat and DISGUSTING. Some guy one day as I was getting on a tram in Amsterdam called me a fat whale in Dutch, thinking I wouldn't understand... I chose to ignore it. Some people just can't get thin... Or some people don't care... but I'll tell you something, I'm happy with myself. Sure, I wouldn't mind losing a few pounds, but I don't like people telling me I should, or judging me by the way I look. I don't understand people's insistence to make others feel uncomfortable in their own skin. People assume that Back pain I have is caused by my weight, but it's not, I had a very bad accident on a 4 wheeler about 7-8 years ago that messed my back up pretty bad. I will never be skinny, and I will probably never be much thinner at all, so anyone who wants to stare, go ahead. If you have something to say, it will fall on deaf ears. I'm not Dutch, I'm American. I will never fit into the mold. If I lose weight, it will be because it is something I decided to do, not because I was pressured into doing so.

Most Dutch people are painfully blunt in a way that they call being honest. If they think there is anything wrong with you, they will tell you, often without any tact at all. It seems to be built in into their genes. They do it to you, but if you do the same, they get offended. I really don't understand. If you don't like it being done to you, why do it to someone else?

Ok, that's enough complaining for today, I'll have another post in the next few days showing the beautiful lights in Amsterdam.

Alkmaar, Amsterdam, en Artis... Thanksgiving too

2008-12-02T10:06:00.020+01:00

Well... it's been a busy week... I went to Alkmaar last... Tuesday I think, to look for ornaments...I found some very nice ones, there are some pretty nice stores here, but they are just too small for strollers, especially the big clunky thing we have. It is very impractical in a country like this, with cobble stones and brick instead of concrete and asphalt (they still have asphalt in some places, but the sidewalks are pretty much all brick), and enough stairs to give a 5 year old knee problems. I'm not saying I am not thankful for it, because I am, it's just too big and difficult to maneuver for the stores and shops here. Anyway, I went into about 5 stores, and found some really great ornaments... I'll take pictures of them and post them closer to Christmas. There were some Christmas decorations, but it's mostly about Sinterklaas until after Friday. I love Alkmaar, the people are nice, the streets and buildings are beautiful, and it has a wonderful atmosphere. On the biggest canal in Alkmaar (it may even be the Amstel river, I'm not sure) sit 2 or 3 boats, almost like the ancient boats that Columbus sailed in or something. I will take better pictures at some point.

Thanksgiving wasn't all that great. Since I couldn't get a turkey, I was counting on getting some Stove Top stuffing to make the meal, but the stupid store that used to have Stove Top (they have a small section with "American" imports {most of them are just made to look like American imports I think}) doesn't carry it at all anymore. It was too late on Thursday evening to get a recipe for stuffing and get the ingredients, besides the fact that they don't sell bread crumbs or corn bread either. So anyway, I got a rotisserie chicken at the store, and some green beans. Since we don't have an oven, I couldn't make green bean casserole either. The only thing I made from scratch was the mashed potatoes, which were pretty great if I do say so myself. Yes, I know how negative that all sounds, and needless to say, I was pretty disappointed with my Thanksgiving dinner here in Holland. It did beat Thanksgiving last year though when I had a salad.

So we went to Amsterdam on Sunday, which is nothing new, I've been there 4 or 5 times now, maybe more. I enjoy Amsterdam so much. It is a lot of fun around this time of year, because everything is so colorful, decorated with the faces of Sinterklaas and the Zwarte Pieten (Black Peters). You can't see well in this picture, but if you click on it, it will pop up bigger. I don't have a picture, but in the very next windows were Christmas Trees. I enjoy walking through Amsterdam, but taking the Tram is a nightmare, especially when you have to stand up because of a baby in a stroller. All I have to say is it's a good thing that the stroller has a locking wheel break, or the stroller would have been rolling all over the place. Those things start and stop like a maniac is driving them! I tried to get some pictures on the way to the Zoo (which is why we went to Amsterdam) but only a few of the pictures turned out okay, since the tram was going to fast or too bumpy. This is a picture of the royal palace in Amsterdam, and what is called Dam Square. If you open it up, you might see a Zwarte Piet to the far left, in purple and pink with a bright yellow feather on his head. Also to the left which you can't see, is Madam Tussuad, a world famous wax museum, which Marcel has promised to take me too at some point. Across from the square is a war memorial shaped like a rounded obelisk. To the right is a beautiful cathedral. there is a small carved picture of Sinterklaas on the outer wall of the cathedral facing the square because he is the patron saint of Amsterdam I believe. In the square all year round there are performers, often those people who stand still until you give them money and them make some kind of movement in thanks. If you look carefully, you jut might see Darth Vader, or some guy in white... maybe it's a storm trooper? I'm hoping on going by there again before Christmas because they have a huge Christmas tree standing in the middle of the square after Sinterklaas, and I am looking forward to seeing it in all of it's lit-up glory. We even went past the Heineken Brewery, or de Heineken Brouwerij as it says on the side of the building. Maybe we'll be able to go in there on a tour someday as well, even though I'm not a big fan of bier (beer). I still think it would be neat to see how it's made.

And so, the final leg or our written adventure of the past week, the Artis Dierentuin (Artis animal garden {zoo}). It was amazing... It was so huge, that in 4 hours we didn't get to see even half of the zoo! The first thing you see as you walk through the gates, are a bunch of Camels. To the left of the entrance is a planetarium which we didn't go into because we didn't want to waste a whole hour of our zoo adventure looking up at stars. To the right was a nice gift shop which we went in and it seems Tristan may have enjoyed. I'll post those pictures in his blog. There was a peacock wandering around out free, and I was able to get very close to get this picture. the plumage is beautiful. I just wish it had felt like showing off! It started kind of snowing on our way to the Zoo, so we tried to stay in the indoor exibits. Being in a counrty that is notorious for being wet, there were a lot of indoor areas. There was a bird house where the birds could fly back and forth from inside to outside, and there were some beautiful parrots there. They had a purplish blue color, and jumped at me landing on the fencing when I took their picture. Tristan slept through most of the bird house. It was kind of funny because we looked into the huge cages, and just like at the Sacramento zoo, there were sparrows everywhere. I have no idea how they can get into the cages, but it's kind of funny to see these insanely common birds right next to exotic blue birds with some weird feather plumage on their head eating bird food. There was a beautiful bright red bird, and some bird that looked like it had the markings of a wild turkey, but it was small, and had no tail plumage, comb, or that red thing that hangs from the beak.

Next we went into the monkey house, and Tristan woke up for that, with a very intent stare at the monkeys. We saw a Mandrel (A Rafiki monkey) having fun with itself, and we saw a meerkat (Timon). There were some Orangutans, and these weird monkeys with tails like a cat's. A prehensile tail I think it's called. We even have a picture of a creepy South American cat sized rat. Apparently those stories are true. *shudder* The next indoor place was the reptile house, where they had a crocodile, an alligator, and a few turtles ( or is it tortuous?) as big as a dog house. After that, we went outside for a bit on our way to the next indoor place, and we watched a pride of lions, one male, and about 5 or 6 females. They were pacing around their area and one of them stopped and stared at Mars for a minute or so. I think she found him threatening, because he had his coat over his head while making a movie so he could keep the camera dry. we also saw 3 elephants, 2 adults and 1 baby, and a giraffe. After that we headed to the zoo's restaurant for a quick lunch of friets (fries). It was pretty neat, multi level, but they were all open levels, like balconies. We went as high as we could with the stroller and you had a wonderful view of parts of the zoo, to the front and the sides, and a city canal, houses and boats behind us. The tables had words on them in Dutch, the word School (school) lees (read) and the word tafel (table).

The last place we went was the aquarium, and I think it was by far my favorite part. On the way there we saw a beautiful snow wolf. It was whimpering like it was hungry, or wanted out, and followed us along the length of it's cage. The aquarium was amazing, and I can't describe it all, or even post all of the pictures I want to post. There were fish from all over the world, and 4 tanks that stretched the length of the halls they were in. I can say for a fact that my mom would have loved the aquarium, and would probably have tried to take some of the fish home! They were so beautiful. There were bright purple fish, fish with diamond like patterns, fish that looked like rocks, some that glowed from the lights (florescent colors) and some fish bigger than the baby, and I don't mean sharks, whales, tuna, or dolphins. We saw some clown fish (Nemo) and some piranhas, star fish and octipi. One of the hall size tanks were fish of the Amazon, Another, the Amsterdam canals (It looked so realistic, it even had the front of cars next to the edge, algae on the brick walls, and garbage on the bottom), and one was the coral reefs. there was one more tank, but it was empty of fish due to repairs or something. Tristan seemed to enjoy the aquarium very much as well. we took him out of the stroller and let him look at the fish. He was absolutely enthralled. It was so fun watching his fascination with the fish. It seems I can only upload one video per post, so I will have to add a few pictures instead of another video. If you would like me to send you videos, let me know.

I will be going to the Market here in Heiloo tomorrow, as well as hopefully to the shopping center across the street from our house, so that Tristan can have his first encounter with Sinterklaas and the Zwarte Pieten. I will take plenty of pictures of both, and write another post on Thursday. Sinterklaas is on Friday, but we are celebrating it on Saturday with Marcel's family, so expect yet another post on Sunday. If you want to see more pictures of Tristan at the zoo, click here.

Until next time,

Tot Ziens!