Back to the US

Sorry, we have slacking a bit in keeping the blog updated. I am headed back to Chicago tomorrow morning, but Stacey will be here another 3 weeks. The original intent was to come home a week before her to find an apartment etc. but they extended her stay here two weeks. I couldn’t change my ticket so that’s how it goes. It was fun and went fast! Stacey says she is going to keep updating the blog so keep checking!

Update

Stacey’s parents left this morning and are headed to London.  We had a good time and hopefully they did too!  Things are quickly coming to and end here for us in Holland.  Wednesday is my last day of work and this is the last week for me in Holland.  We are doing one last trip next week before I fly home on Monday the 28th.  I don’t know how the 6 months went so fast!

I wore my Holland jersey today at work and was able to watch the whole game.  They sold all of the tvs in the store except for the one they saved to watch the game today.  We set up folding chairs around the tv that we set next to the cash register and watched the game, taking turns getting up to help the few people that ventured into the store at that time.  At the end of the game, my manager told me to hide the TV in the back so it wouldn’t be sold so they can watch the next game.  If only people in the US were as passionate…  In case you didn’t hear, Holland won 2-0!  HUP HOLLAND HUP!

Update

Yesterday we went to Delft and walked through a large market with a bunch of antiques and toured a Delftware factory. We made it back to see the USA vs. England game! I’m happy with a draw. We’re really excited that the World Cup has started. We decorated our balcony with orange because you can’t find any USA things here of course. Today we are headed to Hoge Veluwe National Park for some biking.

Quick Update

Stacey’s parents and brother arrived in the Netherlands Tuesday night. I met them in Amsterdam on Wednesday morning and showed them around. It was a rainy day but we still were able to see a lot. We visited a couple museums, took a canal boat ride and visited the Anne Frank house before taking the late train to Zwolle. Yesterday was also rainy, but it was more relaxing. We spent our day exploring Zwolle and it even stayed dry during a canoe ride around the old part of the city.

This morning we are off to the market downtown and then riding bikes to Kampen!

Visitors

We have had a fun time with visitors the fast few days.    Julie and Tori arrived on Wednesday and left on a train to Paris early this morning.  Krista arrived on Saturday morning and will be leaving on a flight back to London this afternoon.

Wednesday we relaxed a bit and let them get over their jet lag.  Thursday we toured around Zwolle and enjoyed some of the nicest weather that we have had since being in Holland.  Friday we took a day trip to Kasteel de Haar, which is a castle about an hour or so away.  We had some issues with the public transportation being late etc. but that’s just part of traveling right?  Saturday Krista arrived and we went to Hoge Veluwe National Park.  The park has free bikes so we rode around quite a bit.  Julie wasn’t allowed to do much physical activity because of her mono so we were able to get a special bike where I could haul her around.  We’re going to have to get the picture from Tori so we can show you.  It was quite the bike.  Sunday we spent the day in Amsterdam.  We took a canal ride, walked the city, visited the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House.  Krista, Stacey and I rode the train back in the evening and Julie and Tori went to their hostel.  The train for Paris left from Amsterdam at 6:15 this morning.

Today, Krista and I will ride around Zwolle before she heads back to Amsterdam to catch her flight.  Stacey’s parents and brother come on Wednesday so it won’t be long until we are at it again!

Julie and Tori made it

Just in case you are wondering, they both made it here safe!

Julie and Tori Visit

Julie and her roommate Tori arrive tomorrow and will be with us until they leave for Paris on the 7th.  We’re looking forward to hosting them!  They will kick off a full 2 weeks of visits.  Krista will be here over the weekend along with Julie and Tori and then Stacey’s parents and Adam will be joining us on the 9th and will stay through the weekend.  It will be nice to have visitors and it looks like there wont be any volcano issues this time!  We’ll keep you updated on what all we do with them over the next couple of weeks.