Holland Diary Day One- Friday 3/2/12
The Adventure begins!
We drag ourselves off the plane sweaty and exhausted..7 ½ hours with no air-conditioning in our section was tortuous. The rest of the plane had air, so we didn’t have to turn around (a good thing?!) but our seats were roasting. I developed quite an arm muscle from fanning Molly and I continuously for 6 hours. So needless to say we were happy to land. We passed through customs with no problems…in Holland you go through before you get your bags, so it is much easier. Our residency papers aren’t quite filed yet, so we just came in as visitors. Jerry’s lawyers are on it though. We collected our bags, 10 checked suitcases and 4 carry-ons plus 3 back-packs,2 computer bags and purse-tridge in a pear tree! We loaded it on several pushcarts and found our driver Marcel and his Airport van. I think he was surprised at the amount of people and baggage! We were loaded from the trunk to the front seat. It was super foggy so the kids couldn’t see much on the drive to Pijnacker, but we were excited and hot. Marcel our driver had to open the sun roof for us we were all still boiling! (cool thing-here they have a screen so when the sun roof is open stuff can’t fly in-good idea,eh?) We drove through our little town on the was to the house. It is about 2 miles from the center of the town which is a great distance for a run or walk. Jerry’s co-worker Machiel (pronounced like what a southern woman says when her shoe breaks “oh no! Ma heel!”) was waiting to let us into the house. He had gone to the grocery store and stocked the fridge and pantry with essentials like milk,eggs,coffee,peanut butter, nutella,cookies, and coffee. What a nice guy! And the big boss had sent us a gift basket with an apron for me, Dutch candies and cookies for the kids and a great book, titled The UnDutchables. It is a guide to the local people and culture and is very funny and enlightening.
The kids were excited to see their rooms and charged up the stairs. Charlotte was bummed that she didn’t get the room with the desk on the second floor. But the third floor was a bit of a hard time for Molly so we kept her on 2 with us, and sent Danny and Charlotte up to 3. That is where the tanning bed is-we haven’t tested it yet!
The house has concrete floors and very modern lighting and furnishing, so it is quite a departure from our wood trimmed home in Brighton. So that is fun because it is good to have a change. As soon as Machiel left, Jerry and I mastered the coffee maker and got busy drinking. Neither of us slept on the plane so we needed to keep up the energy level. Then we tackled the dragging up and around of all the bags and packages. I helped the kids unpack and resort- on the last day before we left I was just stuffing anything into anyone’s bag, so each case contained something that didn’t belong to the person. Keeps it exciting! Jerry’s car was delivered around 11, a German Opal, colour gray. After a nonmeat lunch, we all walked to town and strolled around and shopped. We bought bread at the bakery, had cheese samples at the cheese store, and bought salad fixins at the small grocery shop. It is a cute little spot.
We decided to take the car for a spin and spent about 15 minutes trying to let off the emergency break! The car Manuel is in Dutch….! Jerry finally figured it out and we drove around the neighborhood. We found a school with a playground and threw the football a bit and played on the equipment. Then home for soup, salad and the Dutch favourite, an apple pie, which Machiel had given us. We had an UNO tourney and Charlotte used her new Harry Potter UNO from her birthday and won the first 3 games! That was super fun. We were all in bed by 9pm, the kids snuggled in and Jerry and I rolling and swirling…NO, it’s not what you think! The master bedroom has a Water Bed!!! What the heck?! Danny first sat down on it and said “uh,Mom? I think this is a water bed.” and I said “No WAY!” I was concerned that I would have to sleep with my sea-bands on, but it turned out to be just fine. Perhaps because I was so dead tired? I will test the theory tonight.
So ended our first day in the Netherlands! When Jerry came to bed he said “hey guess what? We live in Europe!” How cool is that??!
The Adventure begins!
We drag ourselves off the plane sweaty and exhausted..7 ½ hours with no air-conditioning in our section was tortuous. The rest of the plane had air, so we didn’t have to turn around (a good thing?!) but our seats were roasting. I developed quite an arm muscle from fanning Molly and I continuously for 6 hours. So needless to say we were happy to land. We passed through customs with no problems…in Holland you go through before you get your bags, so it is much easier. Our residency papers aren’t quite filed yet, so we just came in as visitors. Jerry’s lawyers are on it though. We collected our bags, 10 checked suitcases and 4 carry-ons plus 3 back-packs,2 computer bags and purse-tridge in a pear tree! We loaded it on several pushcarts and found our driver Marcel and his Airport van. I think he was surprised at the amount of people and baggage! We were loaded from the trunk to the front seat. It was super foggy so the kids couldn’t see much on the drive to Pijnacker, but we were excited and hot. Marcel our driver had to open the sun roof for us we were all still boiling! (cool thing-here they have a screen so when the sun roof is open stuff can’t fly in-good idea,eh?) We drove through our little town on the was to the house. It is about 2 miles from the center of the town which is a great distance for a run or walk. Jerry’s co-worker Machiel (pronounced like what a southern woman says when her shoe breaks “oh no! Ma heel!”) was waiting to let us into the house. He had gone to the grocery store and stocked the fridge and pantry with essentials like milk,eggs,coffee,peanut butter, nutella,cookies, and coffee. What a nice guy! And the big boss had sent us a gift basket with an apron for me, Dutch candies and cookies for the kids and a great book, titled The UnDutchables. It is a guide to the local people and culture and is very funny and enlightening.
The kids were excited to see their rooms and charged up the stairs. Charlotte was bummed that she didn’t get the room with the desk on the second floor. But the third floor was a bit of a hard time for Molly so we kept her on 2 with us, and sent Danny and Charlotte up to 3. That is where the tanning bed is-we haven’t tested it yet!
The house has concrete floors and very modern lighting and furnishing, so it is quite a departure from our wood trimmed home in Brighton. So that is fun because it is good to have a change. As soon as Machiel left, Jerry and I mastered the coffee maker and got busy drinking. Neither of us slept on the plane so we needed to keep up the energy level. Then we tackled the dragging up and around of all the bags and packages. I helped the kids unpack and resort- on the last day before we left I was just stuffing anything into anyone’s bag, so each case contained something that didn’t belong to the person. Keeps it exciting! Jerry’s car was delivered around 11, a German Opal, colour gray. After a nonmeat lunch, we all walked to town and strolled around and shopped. We bought bread at the bakery, had cheese samples at the cheese store, and bought salad fixins at the small grocery shop. It is a cute little spot.
We decided to take the car for a spin and spent about 15 minutes trying to let off the emergency break! The car Manuel is in Dutch….! Jerry finally figured it out and we drove around the neighborhood. We found a school with a playground and threw the football a bit and played on the equipment. Then home for soup, salad and the Dutch favourite, an apple pie, which Machiel had given us. We had an UNO tourney and Charlotte used her new Harry Potter UNO from her birthday and won the first 3 games! That was super fun. We were all in bed by 9pm, the kids snuggled in and Jerry and I rolling and swirling…NO, it’s not what you think! The master bedroom has a Water Bed!!! What the heck?! Danny first sat down on it and said “uh,Mom? I think this is a water bed.” and I said “No WAY!” I was concerned that I would have to sleep with my sea-bands on, but it turned out to be just fine. Perhaps because I was so dead tired? I will test the theory tonight.
So ended our first day in the Netherlands! When Jerry came to bed he said “hey guess what? We live in Europe!” How cool is that??!
No comments:
Post a Comment