Finally. . .

Today we got our beautiful, wonderful, perfect pots and pans! I've waited so long for these(nearly 4 weeks! ) and we've eaten nothing but sandwich's and grilled pizza since we've been here.  And tonight we had the best homecooked meal I've made for us as a married couple,  nevermind it's the only homecooked meal I've made since we've been married:) Here it is in progress...

Of course we had to have pasta. Now that we actually having cooking items, I'm eager to start looking at recipes. We're still oven-less so no chocolate chip cookie making for now.

Today we also got a tea-pot

and an "electric water cooker" as you can see in the background. So Dan has really embraced the Dutch tradition of drinking tea. It is starting to grow on me some but it kind of just tastes like watered down leaves. But everyone drinks it after meals so I'm trying to learn to embrace it. As they say, "When in Rome. . ."

And finally our meal was complete

Best meal ever!!! We even had real Parmesan cheese that I grated onto our pasta. Today we went to this store called Oil and Vinegar and got some Portuguese Olive Oil that was delicious! They had a ton of different Olive Oils in these glass vats so we tried a bunch and settled on one.

This weekend is the 3rd of October festival here in Leiden, which translates into crazy fair time with lots of dangerous rides and yummy food. I plan on taking lots of pictures and will have lots of stories. Doug is also coming in town this weekend so that will be fun having our first house guest. We still don't have a couch or a kitchen table so we may all be sitting indian style on the floor, pretentiously sipping our tea :)

Also, Wheel of Fortune emailed me again...hopefully I can be on the show soon, although right now I am without my passport as it has been mailed in to the US embassy to get my name changed. I hope i don't get stopped by someone demanding to see my "papers".

Dutch for Dummies

Today I started my Nederlands Intensif 1 class. My alarm went off at 7:30 and I jumped out of bed at 7:45, eager to get my day started. I walked to class and somehow managed to find the entrance down a narrow alley off of a street. ( Truth be told I just followed an asian girl who looked as lost as I did). I was directed upstairs to a classroom where there were two other women. We quickly introduced ourselves and one was from the UK, the other from Australia. A few more people trickled in but it was getting after 9, which is when the class was supposed to start and there was no teacher. Finally a woman came down and told us we were in the wrong room so we joined the rest of our class upstairs. 

She began the class by talking completely in Dutch...and not even jokingly. She was looking at us like she expected us to understand one syllable of what she was saying. I quickly pulled out my registration sheet. Yep, it was supposed to be Dutch1. So why was this woman talking to us in Dutch and more importantly, why was half of the class shaking their heads in agreement like they knew what she was saying!? We went around and did introductions..in Dutch. She had written on the board what we were supposed to say. So I was about the halfway point and everyone up to me seemed like they were native Dutch speakers. I stumbled and muttered my way through, with help from my Australian partner(hey! she's been in the country 4 months, she's got a little bit of the language under her belt!). Luckily, things started looking up after me as the second half of the class seemed in the same boat as I. 

Interesting thing about living abroad is that is really is a true melting pot of nationalities. In my class, I was the only American. We had people from Iran, Iraq, Bulgaria(i think, i couldn't really understand her), Israel, Italy, Greece, UK, Australia, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, and some other place i can't remember. The negative thing about being from America is that the way we talk is very different from the European sector so the syllables and pronunciations don't roll off my tongue as easily as they do the others. Until about halfway through, I wasn't sure I was coming back. But I started catching on a bit. I learned the alphabet and how to introduce myself. When we went through the alphabet, we had to go around the room and each say a letter. Well, of course, the only letter that is difficult for me to pronounce is G. We have no sound like it in the English language. It's that guttural sound  you hear a lot in German. Try sounding these letters out  "kh" and that's similar to the G sound here. But I stumbled through it and I think I will go back and show these Dutchies what us Americans are made of...for good or bad :)

Furniture catastrophe

We kicked off the weekend with heading to a friend's house for dinner and a little Bourne Identity! We had dinner with a friend who is American and her husband, who is Dutch. We also met a few others from church at this dinner, all American's(2) and one from Cyprus! We enjoyed yummy American style lasagna and wine and had a good time discussing crazy Dutch customs.Since our feet are our car here, we walked home in the rain. Netherlands weather is a little like Missouri weather. It can be clear right one minute and then raining the next.

The next day, Dan went to Den Haag to look at a sofa bed couch and I stayed home to wait for the delivery of our wardrobe, nightstand, and chair from the Kringkloop (Dutch word for 2nd hand store). When they finally came, 2 men, who didn't appear to speak a lick of English tried to gesture to me to tell me that they would not bring it up our stairs. I tried to tell them that the people at the shop told us that they would deliver and bring it up one flight of stairs. They kept shaking their head no. So finally I told them to just deposit it on the sidewalk, which they did before they zoomed off, leaving me standing alone with a bunch of furniture on the sidewalk as it started to rain. One of my neighbors came out and looked wide-eyed at my wardrobe, asking if I needed help. We decided we would try to get the chair up into the apartment before Dan got home so two of my neighbors managed to push and pull this chair

into our apartment. They both agreed that there was no way our wardrobe was going to go up the stairs and around the corner into our apartment. So now I waited for Dan to come home to see what our next plan of action would be. He arrived home like a knight in shining armour, riding on his horse(bike), holding a bunch of flowers he had bought on the market on the way home. I'm pretty sure he about fell off his bike when he glanced over and saw this wardrobe that was allegedly going into our apartment.

After much deliberating, measuring, going up and down the stairs, checking out the window to see if it would fit, we decided our only option was to take the whole wardrobe apart and take it up piece by piece. sigh. So, in the rain, on the sidewalk, we disassembled our entire wardrobe and carried it up piece by piece. And here are the pics to show it. . .

Yep! Those are my wardrobe doors. In pieces, in my apartment. Key words..."in my apartment"! Now I will be fixing up a few of the scratches and we will be putting it back together so our clothes never have to be folded up on the floor again.

Tomorrow starts my Dutch language courses!eeek!!

Just a few pictures

All in a Dutch Day (or two)

Yesterday was a gorgeous day here. About 70 degrees, clear blue skies, and everyone was out and about. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if anyone actually works over here because there were sooo many people out yesterday. My neighbor downstairs came by and asked if I wanted to go to the market with her(on Wed and Sat they have a fresh food market in the streets) and then go get coffee. I was eager to get out of the house and make some new friends so I went. At these markets, they have a ton of fresh fish. For those of you who watch Amazing Race, you are already familiar with the traditional Dutch dish from last season. It is raw herring, potatoes with carrots and peas mixed in...ugh. And the 3rd of October is when everyone eats this traditional meal and there is partying in the streets...but that is another post for next weekend. Back to the market, where I saw a man take a raw fish and put it down his throat. I wanted to vomit. We went and got coffee after the market and I got to ask her some questions about Dutch life. She is actually Italian but has been here for 3 years. She also helped me find out about Dutch language courses. We had a great time and did you know it's only an hour and a half flight from here to Northern Italy?!!

Last night I stopped at the store to get some peanut oil or lard to season my cast iron grill pan. Apparently they don't believe in that here in the Netherlands because I could not find it anywhere! I grabbed a stockboy and asked him but he had no idea. Pretty soon, I had 3 workers around me, while I'm trying to explain what I needed ("you know, lard, fat..back home we call it Crisco. Peanut oil maybe? or how bout just some vegetable oil? hmm, really? well what do you use to keep your muffins from sticking to the pan?"). I ended up with sunflower oil but i don't know if that is going to work or not. I was frustrated and walked home to spend another night burning my pizza on a nice pan.

Ahh but today was a new day! I got up early to go to the V & D(think Macy's or Dillard's but not as expensive). I had been waiting all week because they were going to be having "big sale, lots of discounts" today and I wanted to buy our pots and pans there. As I am looking at the pots I realize that I need to use the restroom before I go any further so i spot the sign for the toilettes. A woman, who I assumed was the cleaning woman, stopped me and told me I could not go in with my basket but when i showed her there was nothing in it, she allowed me to go in. When I came back out, she was still out there and stopped me and said "that will be 30 cent ". Hmm. 30 cents to use the bathroom?? Well I'm getting very embarrassed because I have NO cash or change on me. Two debit cards but I didn't see a debit machine laying around anywhere. So I pretend to dig and tell her that I didn't know it cost. She points to a sign where all I can recognize is the number 30. I tell her I'm sorry, I don't speak Dutch(and inside I'm saying "And in America, we aren't so tight that we have to CHARGE people to go to the bathroom!!! and we give FREE water with meals!!"). I find a 10cent piece in my wallet and she says she will take that. I apologize profusely and go out to get my pots. After lugging home 5 stainless steel, verrrrry heavy pots, it was time to go try and sign up for my Dutch language course!!

I decided to take courses at the community center, as it not nearly as expensive as taking them at the university. I explained to the woman that I was there to sign up for the Dutch level 1 course. She apparently did not speak English much at all, which is odd, but kept trying to communicate to me in Dutch. Hey! Remember when I was signing up the level 1 course?? There is probably a reason for that, hence why i do not understand you!!!! But somehow between her gesturing, my guessing, and a nice Dutch woman who was returning her books and DID speak English, I got enrolled in the class!! I start Maandag!!(Monday)

Weekend Update from Sam Caputo

Ahh, the weekend has passed and now back to work...kind of:) So Friday was interesting and the day I found out I could be deported in two months. Ok, so the likelihood of that actually happening is slim but hey, it could happen! We went to town hall to "register" (ie, a way they can keep track of where you are. Really, to do anything in this town, you have to register and when you move, you have to notify them within 3 days of your change of address. . .creepy). I give the woman all my documents (passport, birth certificate, marriage license) and then tell her that I would like to register in my married name, not the name on my passport. She looks up at me in horror and in her Dutch accent says "Umm, if this is not your correct name, then your passport is not valid." Well, it is valid I tell her as I CAME INTO THE COUNTRY ON IT! Anyways, she then goes on to say that she cannot recognize our marriage as legal because it doesn't have a "postage stamp" on it. Now, by postage stamp she actually meant apostille, but with her Dutch accent and my untrained ears, I thought she said postage stamp and would continue to refer to it as a postage stamp throughout our lengthy conversation.

Who knew that when you go to a different country, you have to have this apostille filled out and stamped by your state on each important document, to verify it's legitimacy in a foreign country?? Not us! But this is important to get because without it, I cannot register and if I cannot register, I cannot apply for my residency permit, and if I don't get my residency permit, I get deported.(see first sentence of the post). As an American citizen I'm allowed 90 days to stay in the country without a residency permit. There are ways around it and more than likely I will not be deported but it does make the story a tad bit better. :) So, after a long registration appointment, in which we got nothing accomplished but to find out we're living in sin according to the Netherlands, I am still not registered and am in panic mode a bit to get this taken care of (ie, send my marriage license to jeff city, get this stupid apostille, have it sent back to me...which inevitably will take a month or so, and then start the process of applying for my residency permit).

On Saturday, we spent the morning putting up lights, getting into a fight about the lights, putting up more lights and then going shopping. Oh we spent all day shopping for an oven, washer/dryer, dishes, pot and pans..you name it, we were looking for it. I believe we found an oven. Interestingly enough, they don't have many full size ovens over here. Even the oven we are getting is smaller than the ovens we are used to in America. Not even sure most of them would fit a cookie sheet...but that's ok because they apparently also do not sell cookie sheets over here!!!!!! First time I have really felt that I wanted out of here as fast as possible. But when I went to this real Italian restaurant later that night, I was glad I was still in the country:) We did not have too much success shopping.

Oh! but i did find a bike I believe. I Can't pick it up until later in the week but as I was test riding it in the street, the bike salesman told Dan, "hmm, she hasn't ridden a bike much huh? needs a little practice?" Thanks man! In the United States of America we don't ride bikes much past the age of 10!!!!!!! embarrassing. but i did get a cute little wicker basket for groceries(translate:for my dog Tozer) and some saddle bags. I can't wait to get it!

As mentioned before, we took some friends who had been a big help in our transition over here out to dinner. We had a great time and enjoyed yummy Italian food. For those coming over to visit, we will have to go there!!

And to conclude our weekend, a nearly hour long walk to church (and back) this morning was the first time I really started missing home. I enjoyed the church a lot but church is church no matter what country you're in so for one minute if i closed my eyes, I could believe I was sitting in a gym back in Blue Springs, worshiping with the Gateway Band, surrounded by people I knew, and anticipating a family bbq later in the afternoon. It was the first time I got really sad since being here.
And then we had to walk the hour back home and my feet got really sad.

Another round of Firsts

I had a few new experiences today. The first was the laundry-mat. We do not have a washing machine in our apt(yet) so we had to take our bundle of clothes and bedding down to the ole laundry-mat. Lucky for us, it is only a little ways down our street. I conned Dan into helping me take the bag there and help me figure out how to work the washing machines. We stood around dumbly for several minutes, trying to interpret the directions until a lady finally asked us(and she did have some laughter in her voice) if we needed help. She said that she has never washed here and proceeded to help us read the instructions. None of the three of us could find a price anywhere. Well, that's not entirely true. We did see a price of 3.50 euro(which converts into about $5.00) but it was under the label of soap. We continued looking for about 10 minutes until we finally figured out that we had to put  money in to get our token AND soap. We didn't want soap, as we had brought our own but it didn't matter. It did indeed cost 3.50 e for ONE LOAD OF LAUNDRY. This does not include the drying. Then they gave us half a tub full of soap, which we had to figure out how to dispense in the washer. I ended up putting it in the wrong slot and had to use my hands to scoop it out and scoop it into the other slot. While I was doing that, Dan forgot that he needed the tub but had already put the money in so the soap is spewing out onto the floor and he's trying to catch it in his hands. We were a mess. But after that, things went pretty normal. I did manage to burn the edge of Dan's towel...but he ate a whole bag of cool american doritos last night and didn't save any for me so we're even:)

After lugging all my dried laundry home (Dan had gone on to work after we got things working) it was time for my first solo bike riding experience. I was pretty nervous as bikes are treated like cars here, without the external protection that cars offer! But I managed to make it to the secondhand shop and back with only one minor mishap of nearly getting ran over. But it was so much fun! On the way back though, i was riding against the wind and that is tough. So my legs are recovering tonight. Can't wait for this weekend to get my own bike and I will definitely post pictures.

Sick Day

So, not much excitement today. I was sick the whole day and mostly in bed. And no moms, NOT pregnant!!!! Dan didn't go in until late and stayed home and took care of me. When you don't have a toaster to make toast and nothing to cook soup in, you get real creative. He roasted some bread over our gas stove for me:) It was sweet. Speaking of getting creative... one other weird thing I forgot to mention in yesterday's post is that they don't put their eggs in the fridge here. Yes, you read that right. Eggs=not refrigerated. So for that reason (and because we have nothing to cook with yet) we have not eaten eggs. People swear they're safe but really??

Hmm, Dan also brought me a present home because he forgot to pick up my 7-up and crackers(which he did later go back and get). He brought me home a cast-iron flat skillet, this one to be exact.

So we did have our first, hot, homecooked meal tonight. Unfortunately I am not familiar with a gas stove and nearly set myself and our house on fire. Seriously, it just WHOOSHED out fire when I turned it on...and pushed the little button to ignite. Anyway, we still had sandwich's but HOT sandwich's! With Cool American Doritos (translate, cool ranch doritos). Neither of us really liked doritos prior to coming here, but now they give us just a little taste of back home.

Also, no bike till Saturday due to my being sick:(

The good and the bad

Since it is a rather rainy day and Dan took the umbrella to work so I'm stuck inside and tired of cleaning, I thought i'd write a list of odd or frustrating things about the Netherlands. And since you should always follow up negatives with positives, I will write some positive things too:)

1. Did you know that it is very difficult to find a comforter here? From what I have found so far, they seem to really like their duvet covers. So  you're either stuck with a white comforter or you have to give in and buy a duvet cover...which I don't like because they get all bunched up. Dan's mom gave us some clips that are supposed to hold it in place. I'll keep you updated on how that goes.

2. So we've been without light fixtures since we got here because it is common practice for tenants to have to purchase their own light fixtures. When you leave, you take them with you and leave bare, exposed live wires for your next victim. When questioning a Dutch person about this, their response is "Well, don't you want to buy your own light fixtures??"..hmm, no, i don't particularly want to spend $100 on light fixtures for a rental home!! But we consider ourselves lucky because in most rental places, they take the floor when they leave. Yep, the floor. Because it's sooo likely that their next home will have the EXACT SAME DIMENSIONS as the apt they are living in now. riiiiiiight.

3. You have to walk EVERYWHERE! or ride a bike.  This is cool sometimes when it's nice and you don't have far to go but on days like today when my husband comes home soaked through to the bone, with water running in sheets down his face, not so cool. But don't worry, we will be investing in ponchos and rain pants. That's how cool we are.

4.Cobblestone streets=uneven ground and difficult to walk on=a disaster for the graceful person that I am.

5.They only work 36 hour work weeks. Which means, Monday mornings most places don't open until 1pm, if they open at all. Most places close at 5pm each night except for Thursday's where they stay open until a whopping 8pm!!! I'm sure this will turn into a pro when I have a job:)

6. Tiny fridges. TINY fridges. see pic below.

IF you look into the kitchen and look at the 3rd cupboard over, to the left of the sink, on the bottom...that is our fridge. Yep, it fits into a small cabinet. Awesome. Oh, and no oven. Just a countertop stove.

7. Did I mention no oven??? I think this is where the term "Dutch oven" was coined from.

8. Bike riders. These people are crazy. They will run you over if you are walking in a bike area. How am I supposed to know I'm in a bike area? I'm new here and all the signs are in Dutch! I can't wait until I'm a bike rider...

9. No option for water at a restaurant. Wait, let me rephrase that. No option for FREE water at a restaurant. Water costs more than a beer. You cannot get just tap water at most places. and then when they do bring you water, it's in a tiny glass. I'm not sure we even have glasses as small as that in the US. It's kind of like 2 1/2 shot glasses on top of each other, made into one glass...to give you an idea. about that width too.

10. No familiar faces. None.:(

Positive
1. Amazing history! Some of the buildings around here date back to as early as the 12th century! In America, we can't even fathom something being that old!

2. The canals are beautiful. There are always people riding boats down them, people are lined up on the sides having lunch, it's a picturesque sight.

3. cobblestone streets:) While they can be a con, they really do make the city look beautiful and leave their piece of history.

4. Adorable apartments where you have no choice but to get to know your neighbors because you share a door and a mailslot with them. They have been so kind, leaving us flowers, inviting us to dinner, loaning us dishes, etc.

5. Walking everywhere. You get to see so many things that we miss when we hop in our car and drive straight to our destination. I have found so many cute shops tucked away that I would've otherwise missed.

6. DELICIOUS pastries and goodies! There is no denying that Europe has us beat in this department!! Beautiful displays in store fronts and the aroma of fresh baked goodies wafting out of the store.

7. Speaking of fresh baked, bread  has to go on the list. They bake their bread fresh daily and you go and all the loaves are on a table and you can pick out your own and they will slice it and bag it for you! No  more processed bread for me!

8. The  laidback lifestyle of the Dutch is still something that intrigues me (see 36 hour work week). In addition to their shortened work week, they get 4-6 weeks vacation a year, just starting out. I haven't figured out if they don't like working much or if they have caught on that working yourself to death is not a desirable option.

9. The 6 weeks vacation that Dan gets=lots of travel time for us!!! Our neighbors downstairs have been here for 3-4 years and have traveled to 30 of the 49 capitals in Europe!!! Our first trip is coming up in October but unfortunately, Dan is still keeping it a secret so I can't tell you where we are going.

10. Having an adventure to look back on when we are older and some funny stories to tell our children!!! 

Ikea!

This weekend we took our first adventure out of Leiden. We were supposed to go with a couple from church to Ikea but they were unable to go at the last minute so we decided to chance public transportation and take the trip to Delft(which is another city). Before we left, we walked to a secondhand shop to look and see if we could find anything there (we do not want to buy everything new since we will be gone in a few years). This included us getting lost a bit and walking all over. We then had to walk to Centraal station to catch our train and by this time, my feet were already hurting. Dan doesn't like it when I wear my tennis shoes because he thinks they look dorky, no matter that my feet hurt! So we had been walking for probably an hour and a half that morning by the time we reached the train station. When I was on the platform waiting for our train to arrive, all the hurt in my feet went away because I was so excited!

So we hopped on the train and made it to Delft. We then had to find out which bus would take us to Ikea. Traveling, or doing much of anything really, can be difficult because we don't speak Dutch. Most people will speak English to you if you ask but it's still hard to be dependent on someone else! Anyways, after asking a bus driver and looking at the bus maps, we noticed the large sign that said "IKEA" at one of the stations. Smart Americans.

Finally we made it to Ikea. Has anyone ever been to an Ikea before? We do have them in the States. It is a massive, warehouse looking building that spans several acres, with thousands (well it seemed like thousands) of people milling around in it. It is smartly arranged so that you have to basically walk through every section to get to where you want to go. By this time, our feet are hurting worse and we're tired. But we want a bed frame and some furniture so we plug on.

After 3 HOURS at Ikea, we were about done. Did you know that you have to pull out your own items? Yes, you write down the article number and then at the end of the winding maze(remember, you have to go through each section) there is a giant warehouse where you find the section your items are in and go pull the boxes off the shelf! Come on people! A little customer service please! We did not get everything we needed as we were both so tired and spent that we just wanted to go home. We did get an amazing bed frame, a bookshelf, and most of the lighting for our house.

And for those wondering, we did not attempt to drag it all home on the train. They delivered. For a mere 80euro...the extra 30 because they had to bring it up one flight up steps.Ikea jerks.

1st days

Life in Leiden

(Again, a delayed post from last week)Everything is like out of a book or a movie. The streets are mostly cobblestone or brick, the buildings are hundreds of years old (the building we live in is around 1650's!!) , and the bikes...oh the bikes. People are crazy here. Bikes are just like cars and have the same rights. They just whip right past you, whether in car or on foot. I can't even really begin to describe what it's like but I can't wait to get my bike!!!

I love our apartment! It's the perfect first home. It's a one bedroom, one bath(kind of...the shower and a sink and mirror are in one small room and the toilet and another small sink are right across the hall. Very interesting). We have 3 big windows in the front that over look the street below and 2 big windows in our bedroom that overlook a small, inner courtyard between a bunch of our apts.

We met 2 of our neighbors who are super nice. They are older and one used to be in film making(logistics coordinator) and the other appeared to be a retired stewardess. They brought us chairs to sit on, a small table, a lamp, some kitchen ware to get by on and helped connect us with another man who is getting rid of a full household of items!!!

We spent most of yesterday walking around and exploring the city. We bought a bed! After one night of sleeping on this horrible air mattress, it was our first priority! It's being delivered on Monday. Hopefully this week I will make it up to Ikea in Delft to get some other items for our apt. Did you know that when someone leaves an apt, they take the light fixtures?? That's right, we have no light fixtures in our house. So come 8pm. It's pretty dark. That worked out ok the first night because we went to bed at 7pm and slept until 11am:) and then last night we had the lamp from our neighbors that we moved around from room to room. We also lit candles and called it romance:)

It's been quite an adventure so far. Sometimes all the differences are overwhelming and I see how it can get lonely when everyone is speaking Dutch. Most people do speak English if you ask but just walking down the road, all you hear is Dutch. Tomorrow Dan goes back to work and I am going to try and organize all of the stuff in our suitcases and wait for our beautiful new mattress to be delivered! Then I'm going to venture out on my own and hopefully find a wifi area to post all this and then on to the store to begin the shopping process. Hopefully we will have internet this week at home.

 (our street)

We Made it!!!

(These blog posts are a little delayed as we have been without internet access since we got here but I did write things down to put on the blog at this time!)

Today we left America. After tearful goodbye's at the KC airport, we boarded a plane to Chicago. The flight was short and uneventful and when we got to O'Hare, we had to walk a million miles to get to the international flights terminal. There we had our last “real” American meal. A philly cheesesteak sandwich and a large coke. We had to go through security again and were faced with the full body scanners for the first time. Dan went first and as I was unpacking my laptop I heard a TSA lady say “that's ridiculous!! He's not going to have a choice here pretty soon!!”. I assumed she was talking about Dan since he had just gone through the scanner and after I got violated by the body scanner, Dan informed me that he had refused the scan and that the TSA lady was not happy about it. Wish I would have known you could do that!

So our flight from Chicago to Ireland was uneventful, just how I like it., We caught some good winds and it only took us 6.5 hours to get there. Dan slept the majority of the way and I, of course, did not. We were actually not seated right next to each other but across the aisle. I did finish Hunger Games (thanks Meg!) and watched The Bounty Hunter and a few other tv shows. OH and I maybe listened to the best of Michael Jackson on the music channel:) Coming into Ireland was as beautiful as you can imagine. Rolling green countryside, fog in the lowlying areas and the sun coming up over the horizon.

We had a short layover in Dublin and then we boarded our plane to Amsterdam. That flight was just at an hour, so total our flights were less than 9 hours!! A friend I had met picked us up from the airport and I have some funny pictures of Dan smashed in the backseat of this tiny car with all 7 pieces of our luggage. We went and picked up our apt key and headed to our new home!!