Once again, Jimmy was recruited to be a Zwarte Piet (Black Peter) at his company’s Sinterklaas party. Veronica wasn’t available to help since she was at the Center for Young Musicians. Ashlynn quickly volunteered and here she is being transformed with black face paint as part of this very unique Dutch tradition (something clearly not considered politically correct in the US).
For the first time in our 5 years in Holland, it snowed in November. Granted, it was the 30th and it was very light snow, but by December 4th there was enough snow to venture to the only hill in our neighborhood to go tubing. Veronica was at a sleepover, so she missed out on the perfect conditions in the morning. We went back that evening with two schoolmates that live nearby then had a snowball fight back at our house.
In late October, Veronica submitted a story as an entry in the Redesigning the World Anybook Award through the American Book Center in Amsterdam. It was a very creative piece of science fiction, which obviously caught the judges’ attention because she received an email saying she’d been shortlisted for the Top 10. Her story was then put into a public vote and I contacted many of you to vote online for her story. She was invited to the ABC on Thanksgiving evening to pick up a copy of the book with her first published story and the rest of the top 20 entries.
Imagine our surprise and thrill when she was called up to claim the 2nd prize in the contest (rather than from the public vote, the judges chose her story out of about 100 entries). Here she is holding open the book that was just printed on the Espresso Book Machine, the first on-demand book machine on continental Europe (it prints, cuts and binds the pages into a finished book); can you see the prize ribbon printed on the right corner? She won an addition four copies of the book and a €50 gift certificate at the bookstore. Afterwards, we went for all-you-can-eat sushi to celebrate. We’re so proud of her!
Gotta admit, Ashlynn didn’t have the best attitude about Victorian Day. She wasn’t looking forward to her teacher having to be mean and to doing a sewing project. I was relieved when I showed up to take some photos in the afternoon that her attitude had greatly improved and that she was really enjoying herself. The teacher did a great job of transforming their modern classroom into one from the late 1890s; the sign behind the class is actually an interactive white board.
The kids had to rearrange their desks and the girls weren’t allowed to play with the boys during recess. Ashlynn was disappointed at the end of the day that she was never made to wear the dunce cap.
Ashlynn was so excited when it was announced that Mr. Lowe would be teaching fencing to Year 6 (5th grade) on Wednesdays after school. Space was limited, so we made sure to sign up immediately. She’s really enjoying it. After just a few weeks you can see that she’s had enough instruction to know how to lunge. Hopefully there will be a competition later in the year.
After a breakfast of croissants, Jimmy and I headed out for a walk on the beach. We were surprised to find the beach was completely closed due to major construction. In order to build a new dike to protect the surrounding area from future flooding, the beach needs to be widened. Crews have been working around the clock for weeks to dredge sand from 9 miles offshore, pipe it onto the beach and then spread it with bulldozers in an effort to make the beach 130-230 feet wider.
If you’ve ever visited us, then you’ve likely been on the pier at Scheveningen and walked to the end with us. It is quite shocking to see that much of the pier is no longer over water, but is now over sand. After watching the action for a while, we finally meandered down the boardwalk in search of some lunch. We saw some renderings of what the new boulevard will look like in 2013 once the dike is incorporated as part of the road.
Happy New Year! We’re not decked out to celebrate the new year, but rather for the Marine Corps Ball in November at the Kurhaus in Scheveningen. Like last year, I spent the day helping process payments at the American Women’s Club Holiday Bazaar. Veronica was going to a birthday slumber party, so we arranged for a friend to look after Ashlynn so we could make a complete night of it. We checked into the Kurhaus, got ready, then met Terri and Chris downstairs for a drink at the bar. A lot more AWC couples attended this year, so Jimmy took some fun photos of the ladies. We enjoyed dancing to the swing band (I even managed to wear low heals without needing an ankle brace), but felt bad for the young Marines who would have preferred a hipper band. We were also shocked by the plastic cake! It is a tradition to have a giant cake and have the youngest Marine cut a piece for the oldest Marine, but apparently this year the whole ceremony was faked as the cake wasn’t real (presumably to cut costs).
