A Great Farewell Party...

Although the other 125 people at the American Book Center were there to bid farewell to “Harry Potter,” we were also there for a farewell to our friends who are moving to Tokyo. We started the evening with a wonderful sushi dinner, then went to Susan’s for champagne and to get in our costumes. Veronica was very excited about being a Dementor; luckily she’s patient since I still need to read her books #5 and #6 before she'll get to find out Harry's fate in #7 (spoiler alert--the butler did it). We walked to the store at 11:30pm, but had to wait for our books until 1am, which is midnight in England. The girls all managed to stay awake and enjoyed themselves despite the fact that there were very few children there. Apparently most expats are gone for the summer or have too much sense to keep their kids out so late. I still remember laughing at my neighbor Dave for taking Katie years ago to Barnes & Noble for one of the earlier launch parties; little did I know then that I’d be doing the same thing but in another country.

Transfiguring into the World of Harry Potter...

It didn’t take long to decide who Jimmy would be after we prepaid for “Harry Potter #7” and committed to going to the launch party at the American Book Center in Den Haag with friends Susan, Hannah and Tenaya. And what better way to convert his skinny body into the obese Vernon Dursley than with rolls of bubble wrap that Susan’s movers left behind. Although Ashlynn doesn't know who Dursley is because she hasn’t read the books or watched the movies, she was very happy to help fatten her daddy up.

I Miss...

As we get ready to return to the States tomorrow for the first time since November 2005, it’s time to reflect on things we miss (besides the obvious family and friends):

* Air conditioning – while we don’t really need A/C in our home since it’s rarely too hot, a bus or train without A/C on that rare 85° day is not fun

* Air filters – we can’t believe how dusty our house gets; we might not have dust bunnies, but we definitely have dust mice

* Window screens – we don’t have the big mosquito problem that we had in Cary, but it would be nice to keep other flying critters out

* Harriette’s Book Club – I’m enjoying the two book clubs I’ve joined, but they still don’t compare

* Target, Michael’s – I know it’s shallow to miss stores, but I think many expat moms will agree that there’s just no replacement for Target or a large craft store here

* Screened Porch – we miss spending time on our screened porch amongst the trees

* Washer/Dryer – sadly, the Number 1 thing I miss is my high capacity washer and dryer; not sure if you can tell how tiny this thing is since the outside looks normal, but it’s a fraction of the size, takes hours longer to do a load and doesn’t have a lint filter

Our Little Fish…

After all of Veronica’s hard work to get through the three beginner swimming diplomas, she figured it was time for some fun so she signed up to take snorkeling. She’s really enjoyed the crazy mix of drills they do including retrieving items from the bottom of the pool, tying knots along the bottom, clearing her snorkel, and removing /replacing her gear in the water. Not only will all of this will come in mighty helpful when she takes scuba lessons, but she’s having a blast. While Ashlynn was earning her “A” in one part of the pool, Veronica finished her Snorkel-1 Diploma in another.

“A” is for Ashlynn

We knew it would take a lot of persistence, determination and skill for Ashlynn to progress from not knowing how to swim to being able to pass her “A” swimming diploma in just 15 months. However, we didn’t expect it would also take a lot of bravery, but it did after Ashlynn had the misfortune of getting her foot stuck in Jimmy’s spokes while riding side saddle on the back of his bike. While I was afraid I’d toss my cookies when I rode up and found my sweet daughter’s foot trapped in a bike tire and thought for sure her ankle was broken, she didn’t even cry. Once Jimmy got her foot unstuck and was confident that nothing was broken despite the instant bruising, we asked her if she wanted to go home or to the pool to get her “A”. You can see by these photos which she chose. Not only is she a good swimmer, but she’s one brave little girl.

Dutch Food...

Let's be honest -- the Dutch aren't known for their food, especially compared to neighboring Belgium and France, as evidenced by all the Dutch restaurants in your town. Anyways, some of the local specialties include:

* Herring - served raw sprinkled with raw onions (haven't tried this, but do like raw mackerel sandwiches)
* Erwtensoep - split pea soup with ham (Jimmy loves)
* Hutspot - mashed potatoes, onions, carrots and mystery meat (Jimmy likes, but the meat scares me away)
* Mosselspot - mussels steamed in a wine broth with veggies (delicious, can't wait to eat at the beach tonight)
* Uitsmijter - sunny-side up egg and cheese served over toast (yummy)
* Fillet American - raw ground beef (how this is American, I have no idea)
* Stroopwafel - thinly sliced waffles with a caramel syrup (the girls can't resist at the market)
* Pannekoeken - our favorite Dutch food is pancakes, which can be served either sweet or savory (the one above was for Veronica for dessert with apples, ice cream and whipped cream)

Eet smakelijk!

Dutch 101 - Introduce Yourself

Ik ben Melissa. Ik kom uit Noord Carolina in Amerika, maar woon nu in Nederland. Ik spreek een beetje Nederlands. Ik zit bij huis en eet bon-bons. Ik heb twee dochters. Veronica en Ashlynn hebben blond haar en blauwe ogen. Zij gaan naar de school op de trein en bus. Mijn man is James. Hij is lang en slank. Hij gaat naar werk op de fiets.

That's about it folks. After 20 months and 40 hours of Dutch lessons, I can introduce myself and my family. I can also order in a restaurant and shop in the market. That is if no one speaks back to me. As soon as they say anything back, I still panic and switch to English. Lucky for me, most Dutch between 15 to 60 years old speak fluent English, as well as French and German. Sadly, learning new languages doesn't come easy to me and I'm too lazy to study.

Learning the Queen’s English - Part 2

It hadn’t really dawned on me that things we’ve been saying for years could be considered funny or even taboo by Brits or vice versa.

* When discussing how to outwit the thieves of Rome, I told some friends I would be wearing a special secure “fanny pack.” After they finally stopped laughing, they informed me I should call it a waist or bum pack. Somehow when the word “fanny” crossed the big pond, it switched sides of a woman's anatomy. Makes for a funny image when I think of my friend Lisa telling her son to “sit on your fanny.”

* James made the tea cart lady blush at work when he said he was “ready for a stiff one”. Apparently that term doesn't refer to a cocktail there.

* Veronica’s classmates really giggled when she said, “My pants are wet .” Turns out Brits call their undies “pants.”

* I've had a tough time coming to grips that it is OK for a 7-year-old to say, “Mum, do you have a rubber?” I was shocked the first time I heard that request and then watched my friend dig into her purse, but busted up when she pulled out an eraser. Even over a year later, I'm still juvenile enough to giggle when the girls say, “Where did I put that rubber?”

Learning the Queen’s English - Part 1

Little did we know that in addition to learning Dutch, we’d need to learn the Queen’s English as well since we’re surrounded by Brits at school and work. Of course, I already knew that Brits had accents and spelled things funny (all this time I thought it was the Pilgrims trying to break ties to the motherland that created all the differences in spelling, but now I know it’s because there were no good dictionaries back then so they just guessed how to spell things). The girls have some new sentences that they definitely wouldn’t have used at their old school: Mrs. Cross was rather cross today, Jimmy was not acting sensible at all, the movie was simply brilliant. So you won’t need a translator when you see us, some of our new vocabulary includes: jumper=sweatshirt, trousers=pants, cheeky=bold, bin=trash can, trainers=sneakers, biscuit=cookie, and bum=butt.

Two by Two...

No replica of Noah's Ark would be complete without animals. There might eventually be a petting zoo, but for now there's models of several of the animals that would have been on board. Veronica couldn't resist standing where no human would dare to stand with a live elephant. Although the ark was huge, it's still difficult to imagine how 50,000 animals (from the smallest insect to dinosaurs according to the posters) could have lived together for 150 days. Thankfully they didn't attempt to recreate the smells.

Visiting Noah's Ark Dutch-Style...

In light of all the fears of rising sea levels, when I read that a Dutchman had attempted to recreate Noah's Ark, I was intrigued. When I was looking for something to do on a holiday in May, I figured it was worth checking out. We met Sally, David and Andrew and headed north. First we stopped in Alkmaar so Jimmy could see the infamous cheese market and cheese museum. Then we headed to the town of Schagen where the Ark was sitting in the harbor.

It's massive size was definitely impressive. At 230 feet, it's short compared to the original at 450 feet, but the width and height are supposedly the same. It took 2 years and over $1 million Euros to build. Of course, unlike Noah, this fellow used power tools. It was built on a steel barge with the intent of being able to sail around Holland. With all the rain we're getting around here lately, everyone in Holland might need arks soon.

Living Under Sea Level...

Living in a country with 55% of its land area below sea level, we now have an increased awareness of global warming and rising sea levels.While the North Sea is predicted to rise along the Dutch coast as much as 2.75 feet by 2100, the weather bureau KNMI claims that current technology should be able to tackle increases up to3 feet per century (click Here to learn more about Dutch flood controls in an excellent new article from MIT). However, they have warned that inland waterways will become more vulnerable to flooding. Since the banks of the Rhine didn’t spill over during a recent intense storm, we thought we had nothing to worry about. However, we awoke to find up to 3 inches of standing water in parts of our basement because drains under the street backed up into drains in our basement. Thankfully it was just rainwater and we’d recently cleaned out our basement for a giant yard sale. Luckily all we lost was a bunch of moving boxes that we'd been storing and a Saturday we'd rather have been playing than drying the place out.

Getting Cool in Amsterdam...

Not surprisingly, we took a lot of photos in the Ice Bar. You can see there’s a major difference between natural light and using the flash.

Here’s one of the adults minus Missy who was just too cold to hang out for long. Dan and Missy had arrived the day before for just two nights in Holland before heading to Valencia, Spain with the Fewells to watch the final yacht races to see which team would compete against the Swiss for the America’s Cup. While they had a great trip, they had the misfortune to experience what its like to be robbed when someone stole their backpack while at a restaurant in Spain.