Veronica on Stage...

We were very happy to see Veronica on stage twice in April. First, she played three piano duets at the Centre for Young Musicians Spring Recital. Then she was given one of four Creativity Awards for Year 9 (8th grade) at the Annual Prize Giving for Middle School. Her certificate stated her award was for: Physics (“Space and Moments” topics) and Design Technology (her ability in realizing her ideas in both 2D and 3D). I’m not just proud, but also very impressed, especially considering I never took physics.

Stroopwafel Bakery...

When we go to a street market, the girls always ask to get stroopwafels (syrup waffles). I was thrilled when the AWC offered a tour of a bakery in Gouda that makes one of our favorite Dutch treats. First, we made our own stroopwafel from an already-prepared dough; it took me two tries to be able to cut the thin waffle lengthwise to be able to put syrup on. Then, we watched the automated system in progress that cranks out 2,500 stroopwafels per hour for five hours daily. Once the waffles cook, they are lifted off the grills by the strange red suction cups above to be cut in perfect circles and sliced open.
This machine lifts off the top, squirts on the syrup and replaces the top. The last machine then cools the waffles before sending them to be packaged, which is done by a human at the end of the assembly line. These delicious stroopwafels are preservative-free, unlike the ones sold in grocery stores throughout Holland and in Trader Joe’s in the US.

Jimmy’s 46th...

Jimmy’s birthday was actually while he was in France. He took the paragliding course instructors out for a nice dinner in the mountains to thank them for their hospitality. I contacted them about Jimmy’s birthday, but they were one step ahead of me and had already planned to give him a bottle of local bubbly. I asked them to add a toast from me and the girls and Jimmy was really touched (actually, he was practically a baby about it, but he swears it was only a few tears). Jimmy came straight from Schiphol to the International Festival. Once we got home, the girls presented him with a few token gifts (as his course was one giant gift) and a homemade cake.
The cake turned out strangely flat because they used Dutch self-rising flour, which doesn't actually rise, but the decorations and yummy taste more than made up for the flatness.

Ashlynn Saves the Day...

Months ago I thought of a good idea for the American contribution to the International Festival. Unfortunately, the girls preferred a different idea. Rather than micromanaging their efforts as in past years, I suggested they work on it on their own. Needless to say, two weeks before the festival, nothing had been done. After I threw a tantrum and threatened to cancel our participation, Ashlynn threw a Hail Mary: Why can’t we just do the “YMCA?” There wasn’t really time to recruit the other American students, but there was time to get Mr. Lowe to teach Veronica some basic moves after Ultimate. We were going to dinner the next night at some new British friend’s house where they quickly recruited Lizzy and Katy’s help. In just an hour, they had the whole dance figured out. Check it out here.

Getting Everyone Involved...

One of the things Jimmy always encourages when we design an act for this festival is to get audience participation. Although there was a problem with the microphone and Veronica couldn’t be heard when she requested folks to dance at their seats, some of us stood up and did the motions. Later, she and Lizzy came out into the audience and threw candy to the kids. Near the end, they invited the Russian and Portuguese performers and some of their friends to come on stage to join in the fun. They were a big hit!

Consider Yourself...British?

We had our nationalities a bit mixed up for this year’s International Festival at school. Veronica was asked at the last minute to sing a duet with her friend Kelly as the British contribution to the entertainment portion of the evening. She learned the words pretty quickly, but things weren’t looking good when she stayed home from school with laryngitis on Thursday. Luckily, she recovered quickly. Although she squeaked during rehearsal on Friday, she was fully recovered by Saturday when they sang “Consider Yourself” from the musical Oliver. Several of our British friends said that her Cockney accent was actually pretty good. Click here to see and hear for yourself.

Soaring Like a Bird...

Ever since leaving the Navy in 1992, Jimmy has missed flying. After trying paragliding in 2006, he’s dreamed of soaring like a bird. It’s taken years, but he finally managed to take a two-week paragliding course in Provence, France in March. The weather was uncooperative the first week, so instead of paragliding, his class went skiing twice and did a Via Ferratta (a 3.5 hour climb up and a 1 hour climb down that included 3 ziplines). He also went to Aix en Provence to visit Curt and Veronique.
Jimmy was the only student that stuck around for the 2nd week, so he ended up with private lessons once the weather cleared. He got four flying days in and managed to complete the course with a Club Pilot certification. His longest flight of catching thermals was 90 minutes where he looked down upon birds (who were also catching thermals) and the mountains of Provence. Luckily, in just 3 minutes you can see a snippet of his flights thanks to Veronica’s editing skills. Now, Jimmy just needs to figure out how he can try his new skills on the dunes of The Hague.