Fun in the Field...

When we first moved into the neighborhood, the big field at the end of our street was the home to several cows and a horse. Eventually, the livestock was cleared out and the fence was opened. We started taking Kati into the field and letting her run, which she really loves.

There’s a rumor that sheep will move into the field and then eventually these fields will be developed into another housing development. Of course, we’re hoping that none of this happens for a very long time.

IB Climbing Activity...

In an effort to have the IB students bond, Helen, the CAS Supervisor, organized an afternoon at the Climbing Adventure Park at Vlietland. Since her daughter Lucy would be going, Ashlynn tagged along as well. I went along as a chaperone. Luckily Veronica didn’t mind us being there.

Ashlynn was great on the majority of the obstacles, but really struggled on the tires.

Veronica, on the other hand, managed to just hop across the top of the tires with no trouble. One of her friends really struggled; it was a good experience for Veronica to have to deal with trying to keep her calm while they waited for an attendant to help her down.

The IB Wheelchair Walk...

For 6th Form, Veronica opted to work towards an International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma. This means taking three courses at higher level (Biology, Chemistry and English) and three at standard level (French, History and Math). There are only 14 students doing IB, so many of her classes are quite small with the smallest being just 2 in her French class.

An important component of IB is CAS (Creativity, Action and Service). For Creativity, Veronica is taking singing lessons with the goal of taking a Grade 6 Musical Theatre Exam through LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art). For Action she’s running; she’ll do her first 10K in March. For Service she’s the co-chair of the Environmental Committee and makes Heart Pillows at school. The CAS Supervisor organized a few service projects at the beginning of the school year including a food drive in front of the supermarket and this wheelchair walk with folks from the nearby retirement home.

Language Village...

Ashlynn enjoyed another Language Village at school in September. Her French teacher was so sweet to send me these photos. This year, she had to pick just two languages to study for the entire year; she chose French and Spanish.

After two years in the same class, her year group was sorted into new classes for this year. She’s especially happy that she’s still with Sophie.

First Day of School...

The photos from the first day of school definitely looked different this year. Not only were they taken at our favorite photo spot in our new house, but Veronica no longer has to wear a uniform and Ashlynn has a new navy sweatshirt.

Ashlynn started Year 9 (8th grade), which is the last year of middle school and last year of freedom before starting GCSEs.

Veronica started Year 12 (11th grade), which is part of the 6th Form in the British system. Her GCSE results arrived while she was in the US, so I had to pick them up. So proud of her excellent results: 7 A* (equivalent to A+), 3 A, plus an A in OCR Math (having David tutor her definitely paid off).

Ladies Race in Stevenshof...

Ashlynn decided to skip it, but Veronica was excited about a ladies-only 5K that took place in our old neighborhood in the suburbs of Leiden.

It wasn’t even officially timed, but Veronica didn’t care. Afterwards, she met up with some friends and went to a dance club in The Hague for the first time; she wasn’t fond of all the smoking so came home early.

The Ypres Salient...

While the girls were in California, I met Jimmy down in Brussels while he was on a business trip. He was happy to be able to show me some of his favorite restaurants and the public areas of his office. Over the weekend, we headed out to learn more about World War I in Ypres, where some of the biggest battles of the war were fought with approximately 450,000 military deaths between 1914-1918. The city itself was fully destroyed. The buildings on the main square was rebuilt as close to the originals as possible. We took a 4-hour minibus tour with Salient Tours, which was very informative. We stopped at the Yorkshire Trench, which is a reconstruction along the path of the original trench.

We stopped at several British cemeteries, including Tyne Cot Cemetery, the Commonwealth’s largest military cemetery in the world with almost 12,000 soldiers buried. Amazingly, there were several fresh graves as some bodies were recently discovered at a construction site. Whereas the families of US soldiers could request the fallen to be repatriated, the Commonwealth always buried their fallen near the battlefield. You can’t tell from this photo, but the grounds were quite lovely, intentionally designed to look like an English garden.

We visited one of the smaller cemeteries, where one of the men on our tour was able to find the grave of his great-grandfather. Our timing was good because there was a wreath-laying ceremony. The memorial says: Their Name Liveth Evermore.

Our  most unusual stop was at Landemarck, one of four German cemeteries in the Flanders region. It was very stark (notice the black grave markers as opposed to the white in the British cemetery), yet peaceful with lots of trees. At one point, bodies were exhumed at 18 other German cemeteries in that area to be consolidated here for a total of 44,294 dead, 24,916 of which are unidentified and in mass graves. After the tour, we grabbed some lunch and visited the new In Flanders Fields Museum. Not exactly an uplifting day, but we were glad we went.