1st trimester details

By next week, I will be finished with my first trimester. What this means is that the possibility for miscarriage drops significantly, my baby is looking more human like, and I'm hoping it means an end to morning sickness. I started out just being nauseous in the mornings, then it moved to vomiting around lunch time and now I'm throwing up in the evenings. It's kind of a catch-22  because it's almost a comforting sign that things are going good but you really just want to spend more time out of the bed and toilet.

It's going to be very interesting to navigate this pregnancy through the Dutch healthcare system. Obgyn? who needs 'em?! getting weighed? nope! Want to get a hold of your midwife? better call during the 1 hour a day that the phones are answered! Here in the Netherlands, they exclusively use midwives, unless there are major complications, then you are referred to a doctor. 40% of Dutch women give birth at home (I will not be doing that, fyi). They do minimal prenatal testing and feel that pregnancy is a very natural thing and nature will just take it's course. I have a feeling I will have some good stories to tell throughout this whole process so stay tuned!

We had our first ultrasound yesterday and it was amazing!! You never know what you will think or feel because for the past several weeks, while you know you are pregnant, all you really know is that something is making you crazy sick. So to finally see the little one was such a surreal experience. As soon as we found the baby, it looked just like a little person! It was moving around like crazy! It had it's arms up and appeared to be waving at us. Even the ultrasound tech was laughing and commenting on how much it was moving. I think it takes after it's parents and enjoys being photographed. When it finally rested for a few minutes, we were able to see the heart beat, moving steady and strong. I may be biased but I'm pretty sure we have the cutest in utero baby!!:) The baby was measuring perfectly for it's age (just under 2 inches long, 11weeks, 3 days). We'll go back again around 20 weeks to make sure everything is developing properly and find out the sex. 

Here are some of the first pics of baby Caputo!!

Baby Time!

Since we had the Bahama vacation (see post below) we were fortunate enough to get to go home for Thanksgiving this year! We got to spend a lot of good times with family and friends but I would say that my best memory of being home would be finding out that we are having a baby!!!

After our Bahama vacation, I kept telling Dan that I felt "different" and wondered if I was pregnant. We hadn't exactly been trying but there was enough possibility that I could've been. We decided to wait a bit to see if anything changed and thought maybe it was attributed to all the traveling we had been doing. The week of Thanksgiving, I started feeling nauseous and on our drive to Illinois on Thanksgiving day, I couldn't talk for fear of vomiting. We decided later that night that we would take a pregnancy test the next day. We had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed getting to spend the time with Dan's family.

On Friday, we were back in St. Louis and had to do a little last minute Christmas shopping for his mom so we went to Target. We also decided to buy the test and take it in the bathroom. Yes, yes we did. Both of our mom's were very gung ho about us having kids so we didn't want to take the chance of them finding the wrapper and getting any ideas!:) So I made Dan buy the test because I was going to be using the private, handicapped bathroom right next to the pharmacy where he was buying the test, so that would be embarrassing if they saw me buy it and then go directly into the bathroom!!:) So I went into the bathroom and took the test. and waited. and waited. and waited. Nothing was happening! no lines were turning, the control line was not changing. Nothing! So I re-read the instructions and they said if the control line hadn't changed after 10 minutes, then it was a faulty test or I did something wrong. So after 10 minutes, I came out of the bathroom to an expectant Dan. "Uh..I think I messed it up." Dan just looked at me and started laughing and asked me how I could mess it up? I don't know but luckily there were two sticks in there. Of course now I no longer had to go to the bathroom.

So we walked around Target some more and then decided we needed to go to Kohl's, the whole time laughing about how we seemed like a bunch of teenagers, trying to find out if we were pregnant. So we drive to Kohl's and I'm chugging water on the way, determined not to mess this one up (Those tests are freaky expensive!) Dan and I made a deal that I would wait to look at it until I came out of the bathroom so that we could look at it together, since it's supposed to take up to 3 minutes to change. So, I went to the bathroom and as soon as I finished and went to place the cap on and wrap it in toilet paper, it had already turned positive!!! 3 minutes? more like 3 seconds!  I came out of the bathroom with a big smile on my face. Dan said later he thought I had messed up the test again because I was smiling. I pulled out the test and showed him and we both started silently screaming (we were in Kohl's remember) and hugging and kissing. We quickly made our way out of the store where we did not have to be silent anymore.

We knew we wanted to tell our families right away so that we could tell them in person. We bought a newborn onesie that said, "what happens at grandma's, stays at grandma's" (it was all we could find! ) and surprised Dan's mom with it at dinner that night. The waiting for them to get it is priceless! Of course she was very excited and ready to start shopping!:) We told my parents a few days later when we were back in Kansas City. My mom did not get it for about 30 seconds. She just kept looking at it and saying, "oh that's nice". She thought it was a shirt for my 4 year old niece! Finally someone said, "do you get it?" and then she freaked out. We had tricked her earlier in the day when we met up with Dan's mom in Columiba to go shopping. They kept talking baby stuff and I kept acting like I wanted to no part in talking about it. So my mom was fully convinced we were not going to be even trying for awhile!! It was great!

So we are super excited! I'm due July 18, 2012. Which means I'm about 12 weeks along. We can't wait for our little Baby Caputo to get here!!

Bahamas 2011

Thanks to Wheel of Fortune, we got to take our Bahama vacation this November! People have been asking me if it was "for real", as in, are the prizes you win really as awesome as they seem to be? The answer is YES! It was amazing! The island we went to, Eleuthera, is a smaller island and less touristy than some of the big name islands, such as Nassau or Grand Bahamas. This made for the ideal, relaxing vacation.

Our villa was amazing! It was two-story, beautifully furnished, and right on the water. Out the back of the villa, you looked onto the marina/ocean and out the front, you also looked onto the ocean! We woke up every morning to the sound of the waves and palm trees blowing.

We spent the first day or two, relaxing, exploring beaches and getting rid of jet lag. We went to one of the most amazing beaches in the Bahamas, Lighthouse beach. To get to this beach, you have to drive to the very Southernmost tip of the island and then get on an all dirt, very rutted, makeshift road and drive 3 miles until you finally arrive at the beach. There were a few times we didn't think we would make it in our Buick custom! However, the drive was well worth the view.

We literally had this entire beach to ourselves for hours. It was amazing!!


The next two days we spent scuba diving!! Let me tell you, it was a million times better than our scuba experience in the Netherlands. We didn't have to wear wet suits, there were fish, and the water was so warm and crystal clear! We saw sting ray, lion fish, beautiful coral heads, and so many different types of fish. The second day of diving, we got to dive to 80 feet!! We also got to dive with one of the world's most famous divers, Neal Watson! He holds two Guiness World Records; one for the deepest dive of 432 feet and the other for the longest underwater swim on compressed air. He swam 66 miles in about 19 hours.  The deepest dive record is officially closed because a number of people have died trying to break it! He was also in a few of the James Bond movies and taught Fergie (Duchess of York) and Russell Brand, how to dive. We found all this out later from some friends we met but we was really nice and down to earth. A definite beach bum! Speaking of our friends, we met this really nice couple who worked for a dive magazine and they were down there doing an article. They took a ton of underwater pictures of us so hopefully we'll get to see some and I can post them later!!

Overall it was a fabulous vacation and a great, free, getaway for us!!

anddd no, i'm not going European style swimming here, apparently my top just needs pulled up a bit:)

Girls Trip 2011!

First, I apologize for the hiatus from the blog. Life got crazy, I couldn't upload pictures, and time got away from me. But one of my New Year's resolutions is to keep up better with the blog! So some of these posts are going to be about things that have already happened but I'd like to share them nonetheless.


As the title of my post suggests, I had two friends come over in late September to visit. First time to Europe and it was soooo good to see familiar faces in my new territory. We spent the first few days getting them adjusted to the time change,which meant marching them around Leiden, showing them all the cool history that I'm sure they have no recollection of! The following day we went to Amsterdam and did a boat tour, toured the Anne Frank house, and fed the pigeons in Dam Square.  We ended up our day eating Dutch pancakes and packing for the start of our Tour De Europa.

We left early the next morning for the airport, to make our flight to our first destination...Rome! Rome was a whirlwind, at least for me. There is soo much to see and do there and we were just in awe of all the history. We went to the Colosseum, the Roman forum, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain,and a ton of other small gems we found. We ate at the world famous "Alfredo's" home of the "original fettuccine alfredo" . Not what we think of as fettuccine alfredo but delicious anyways! We toured the National Museum of Rome, which basically was a lot of carved heads. The real reason we wanted to go there was because of the famous Discus thrower statue. Turns out it was a fake. That was disappointing.  We spent our last day in Rome at the Vatican City. We toured the Vatican museum, at which point we entered a time warp and seemingly lost half our day. We sat in awe in the Sistine Chapel and thanks to Rick Steve's travel book, found our way through a secret backdoor out of the sistine chapel, into St. Peter's Basilica. Did you know that the Sistine Chapel is the pope's personal chapel? and that is also where all the bishops and cardinals lock themselves away to choose the next pope? That is where the white smoke comes from. Pretty exciting to think about. So we did a quick tour thru the Basilica, which was incredibly ornate and beautifully done. We saw where the pope gives mass and where Peter's bones are buried. Definitely, maybe. We had to hurry  though because we wanted to climb the stairs to the top of the dome and we were running out of time before we had to catch our plane. We climbed some 600 stairs, through a narrow, cramped, slanted, curvy passageway, all the way to the top of the Vatican. It was the highest point in Rome and the view was well worth the climb to the top. But we had to quickly make our way down so we could catch our flight to our next destination.

VENICE!!!
Venice was every bit as amazing as it appears in the movies. We only spent one day there but we got to see most everything. The best advice we were given was to get lost in the back streets of Venice. The island itself is so small that you eventually wind your way back to the main parts. True to form, there were gondolas, street artists, and delicious gelato! It really is a picturesque place with beautifully colored buildings that are directly on the water. We actually stayed a little outside of Venice, which made for cheaper accommodations and I would recommend that to anyone on a budget. It was a short 15 minute bus ride into the city.

Finally we headed to our last stop, Barcelona!

Barcelona
We had no idea about Barcelona and had forgotten the travel book at home so we were really on our own. It was the most relaxed part of the trip because we didn't have an agenda. We stayed in a hostel, which was interesting in and of itself. We spent a day at the beach, splashing in the Mediterranean and feeling slightly overdressed as we were surrounded by a lot of topless women. I tried to convince Meg to "do as the locals do" but she just couldn't get behind that. :) We also celebrated Meg's 31st birthday with a traditional Spanish dinner and sangria! We followed that up with going to a flamenco dancer show. It was absolutely amazing. It was a more intimate setting, above a bar with just about 50 people crowded around a small stage, with one flamenco dancer, a singer, and a classical guitarist. That was my favorite thing in Barcelona! We also visited a lot of the artist Gaudi's works, including the Sagrada Famillia, which is a crazy church that has been in construction for some 120 years and is still not finished!

and then we capped off our Tour de Europa with some relaxing time back in Leiden, where the girls got their first experience at riding bikes as their main mode of transportation! It was a fabulous trip and I am so thankful that I have good friends willing to make the journey to come visit!

Scuba Diving

Last week was a verrrrry long week for Dan and me. We spent the whole week in a different part of the country, getting scuba certified. This was a part of the prize package I won on Wheel of Fortune because we will be scuba diving in the Bahamas.  All I can really say is that I hope scuba diving in the Bahamas is a lot more fun than diving in a lake in the middle of Holland. 


I wrote an email to my best friend after the first day of diving and I think it sums up pretty well my thoughts on the whole thing so I'm just going to copy and paste it here...and then maybe add a few more comments about the end of the experience.

1st dive-miserable

floundering around like a beached whale

floating

sinking

falling forward

falling backward

can't stay still on the lake floor

ended dive a tad early due to my incompetence

crying in my mask

hoping everyone thinks it's water

vowing to not come back the next day

 

asked to do a 2nd dive

wanting to cry again

willing to give it another shot

focused on my breathing

started to flounder upon initial descent

saved from rolling down a giant sea hill by the instructor

finally got my bearings

was able to kneel on the sea floor and not move

still not moving

not floating

this is good

doing underwater exercises

for example

taking our regulator(breathing thing) out of our mouth and throwing it behind us.

have to find the tube

get regulator back in mouth and breathe again

went pretty well

was able to take a swim because my buyouncy was finally more controlled

saw a crawfish

they call them small lobsters

saw one fish

seriously, one fish in one hour

felt better about it

not quitting yet

sore

did get to fall out of the boat backwards

almost peed my pants when i got back to shore because i had to pee so bad

glad there is only 3 more days left

hope the scenery in the bahamas is worth it

pretty sure i could be content just snorkeling on the surface

The experience got better as the week went on but seriously, it is so much effort to just even get ready to get in the water! I think our deepest dive was about 40 feet and we were typically under for about 40-50 minutes. We passed our certification written and training test so we are officially scuba certified!! We also got our picture taken to be in the Naui Scuba magazine for being "prize winners" (that's what they kept calling us all week long). Overall, it was a tiring experience and I'm still hoping that it will be worth it when we are some place tropical. 

Someone, Anyone, please tell me it will be worth it.

1 year anniversary!

This post is nearly a week late but I have been bogged down with Dutch exams this week so please forgive my lateness! One year ago on August 21, I married my best friend. I cannot believe it has been a year since we said "I do". For those who know us, we dated 8 years before finally tying the knot. All that time seems like a drop in the bucket now. I can, without any hesitation, say that this year has been the best year of my life. Sure, I have moved to Europe and have gotten to experience amazing places and things I've never seen before but the best thing is that I have got to do that with the person I love. Beautiful places and amazing sights just aren't quite the same if you can't share it with someone special.

This year has brought many exciting adventures, challenges, new experiences, new friends, and a whole new life. I feel like I have grown in love, grace, still working on patience :), and so many other character traits. I love that marriage is used as an example of Christ's love for us because I think it truly does give us a tiny glimpse into how much He really loves us.

I'm excited to see what this year holds for us. It's hard to believe that anything could trump this first year but I'm looking forward to finding out!!

A year ago. . .August 21, 2010

And now...August 21,2011

Politics

Recently it seems I have been having a lot of political conversations with internationals. I know, I know, they say don't talk about politics or religion but trust me, it's bound to come up when you're an American living abroad. It's very interesting to be living in Europe and see/hear what the rest of the world thinks of American politics. People have very strong opinions here about it but don't really seem to know the whole story. Just like a lot of things in life, they view things through their own world lens. To most Dutch people, it seems outrageous that we don't have universal healthcare and that we have poverty in America. They can't understand the way our government operates because they don't know any different. My impression so far is that most Europeans think that republicans are from the devil, our government just needs to raise the taxes to pay for things (like healthcare), and conservative people are crazy. They don't understand how our economy works. They are used to their government taking care of them  and when I try to explain to them that that is not the foundation that America was built on and is in fact the very opposite of what America stands for, they get a blank look on their face.

I feel very fortunate to claim citizenship to a country where I have these freedoms, where I don't have to depend on the government for all my needs and where I have the ability to climb up the proverbial ladder if I so choose. It gets very frustrating to discuss American politics with others when all they hear is one side of the story and that is ususally the very liberal side. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the government is doing a great job and that nothing needs to change. But what a lot of Europeans think America needs to change, is the very thing that makes us America. They are comfortable with all the power being in the hands of the government, not the people. That is not America.

Tales from Dutch class

So, I wanted to expand a little bit more on my Dutch class. We have a very diverse class, which always makes for interesting stories. There is one other American girl, who is 20 and  here for a semester abroad. We have people from India, Indoneisa, Thailand, Nepal, Singapore, France, Nigeria, Somalia, Jordan, and Iraq. There is also one person from a country I had never heard of.  The first day of class, we went around and siad who we were, where we were from and why we were taking the class. When this classmate said where he was from, I was sure that maybe I just didnt' understand because of his accent. But then later, the teacher passed out a piece of paper with all of our nationalities on it and I still didn't recognize the country!!  Eritrea anybody?? Has anyone heard of that? Apparently it's a small country in the horn of Africa. See, I had already learned something new!! Everyone is really nice, although I have had a problem with a girl who sits a few seats away, who talks incessantly. I mean, she is talking when the teacher is talking, giving all the answers, reading outloud when someone else is reading, etc. I thought I was going to go crazy that first week. She is married to a Dutchman so she already has a good understanding of Dutch, hence her answering everything. It was really touch and go there for awhile but now that we are getting to harder things, she has quieted down considerably.
A few highlights of my class so far have included the following:

1. I made chocolate chip cookies for the entire class the other day. They were a big hit! You can't go wrong with cookies.
2. That same day, I fell out of my chair and onto the floor during class. Yes, it is true. We have rolling chairs and I was sitting on the edge of it and I leaned forward to hand someone something and it rolled back, I fell down and also knocked someone's coffee over. My shoulder is still sore. That was not a good day for me.
3. We were discussing family tree's, in an attempt to learn the Dutch names of different family members. The teacher appeared like he was done discussing the tree but had not talked about the words for step-people. So I asked him about it and was reminded that divorce is not as prevalent in other parts of the world. I don't think half the class understood what a step-sibling was and possibly thought that my mom had two husbands. 4. Sometimes the teacher will defer to me and the American girl to confirm English phrases. For example, he might be trying to compare something in Dutch with English and he'll say, "In English you would say this.." I feel not so good". Uhh...actually no, we don't say that in English. Sometimes we'll correct him, other times we just nod our head sheepishly.

Overall, it's a fun class with a good group of people. It is very frustrating at times and I'd be lying if I said tears never welled up in frustration but I do feel like I'm learning and I feel like I'm making progress! Now I just need some friends to practice with!!

Goed Morgen!!

Wow, it has been a few weeks since I posted last but life has been a whirlwind. I started my intensive Dutch language classes 2 weeks ago. This class is 5 days a week, 5 hours a day with 3 hours of homework at night. They were not lying when they said it was intense! It is very fast paced  and sometimes I feel like my head is just spinning around. I go to sleep thinking about Dutch words and I wake up thinking about them. Apparently I even sometimes talk in Dutch in my sleep. I have two and 1/2 more weeks left of class and I'm hoping I'll be speaking Dutch by then..at least enough to get around. It's difficult when you try to practice, like at the market or a store, because when someone sees that you are struggling to come up with the words, they switch to English.  At this point, it takes me a little bit to process what I want to say and then how to say as well as processing what they say back to me.  I am getting better though!

So that has been consuming our lives here the past few weeks. I employ Dan to help me study my vocab sometimes but for those who have ever heard Dan speak Dutch, I think it might be more detrimental to me than helpful:)

In other sad news, my bike has been in the shop for the last week and apparently may be there for up to 2 more weeks! We took it in to get its tune up and found out that the wheel was broken...whoops. So I will be bike-less for awhile.

OH! and we are scheduled to do our scuba diving lessons the week of August 29 here in the Netherlands. I can't wait! It just means we are one step close to our Bahama's trip in November! We should be booking our tickets back home soon!! IT will be nice to be back on American soil for a bit.

 ok well, ik moet boodschappen op de markt gaan!! Tot ziens!!!

Updates

I apologize for the lack of posts and length of time between posts lately, life has been moving at full speed. After returning from Italy, we had guests, I went to a European spa, and then started babysitting full time for these last two weeks. It's amazing how tiring working full time is when you haven't done it in a year. Which, by the way, can you believe it's been a year since I quit my job back in the States? I can't.

I'd like to take a few lines to discuss this European spa I went to with my friend Suzanne. She is a wonderful mother to two small children and deserved a break away for a night so we headed to the East of the country to relax. We had discovered prior to getting there that this was an all nude spa. Yes, NUDE. Except for Tuesdays, which was swimwear day. So, naturally, we went on Friday. :) Just kidding! It was a very cute hotel with the gigantic spa across the street. We arrived to be given robes and directions to the changing rooms. We realized that the locker rooms were co-ed and completely open to the hall. Awkward. So we went to the bathroom and changed there. When changing back to our clothes later, we just went for it because there were no guys in the locker room. Then we spent the next several hours walking around the grounds, trying out the different pools, sauna's and relaxing rooms. They literally had beds where you could just sleep(which we took advantage of). They had gigantic pools, hot and cold. Hot tubs, jacuzzi's, musical sauna's, ice sauna's and lots of lawn chairs to relax on and order food or drinks. The whole time I just kept saying, " I CANNOT believe people do all this stuff naked 6 days of the week!!" I was convinced that the next day when we checked out, we would see only a few cars in the parking lot.  Oh how wrong I was!! The next day we had to go to the spa to check out and it was packed! The parking lot was packed, there were people packing out the lobby, and it appeared even busier than the day before! They were all ages too!! It was bizarre. But a nice getaway and a relaxing time!!


Next week I start my Dutch classes. They are 5 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 5 weeks. It's complete immersion. I am nervous and excited at the same time. Hopefully by the end, I will have a good base of Dutch and be able to build from there.

And last but not least, today I went to Risjwik to get my residency permit! I have been waiting for my renewal for 3 months, mostly because I applied for a job with the American School and they need proof that I'm legal. This permit was supposed to be for the remaining 3 years that we'll be here. After walking out the wrong end of the train station and having no clue where I was, I finally made it to the Immigration building. They handed me my permit and I realized that it was only valid until May of 2012. Of course. So I had to go back out, get a new number and come back in and wait until I could speak with someone in information. Turns out, before you can have a 5 year residency permit, you have to have one for at least a year. I've only had mine for 5 months. I am so frustrated because this will probably doom my chances for getting this job. Ugh. But we'll see. we. will. see.

Visitors!

We had visitors a few weeks ago! Amy and Brennan Delaney came and stayed with us for a few days on their Tour De Europe! We trekked to the airport at 530am to pick them up and it was soo good to see familiar faces!! They were understandably tired after flying all night but we wanted to try and keep them awake as much as possible to help them adjust to the time difference. When we got back to Leiden, I made pancakes and eggs for breakfast and introduced them to pancake syrup, which is not like the syrup we have back home. It's disgusting. But Dan and Brennan liked it. ugh.

Anyways, we then headed out to the market in Leiden, to show them what it's like on a Saturday morning and to show them a little bit of our town. Naturally, it was raining so it was definitely a real inauguration to Holland. Finally when it really started downpouring, we headed back to the apartment for some R & R. They took a short nap and so did we (hey, we were up at 430 am!)  We then decided to head to Amsterdam to show them the city and all the craziness that is there.

We walked down the main street out of the train station, that is lined with pot shops and sex museums. We made our way to the Anne Frank house. It was really fascinating. It was my first time there as well. It was really amazing to go up into the annex and imagine what it was like for the Frank family and their friends. We saw the pictures on the wall that Anne had put up, pencil markings where they measured the girls' height, and even the bookcase that hid the entrance to their annex. It was a very somber experience. Unfortunately, they don't let you take pictures inside the house so I don't have any pictures. Guess you'll just have to come visit and see it for yourself!:)

Next we headed into some shops to look for souvenirs. There is a plethora of wooden shoes, delft blue items, and tulip things to choose from. We worked our way over to the Red Light District, just to walk through it. It's pretty much like you would imagine. Lots of sex shops, sex shows,and ladies in windows. I think Brennan described it best by saying it was kind of like being at the zoo. These women were standing in windows in lingerie, waving or reading, basically waiting for customers. It was an interesting experience but we were glad to have only walked one block of it before getting out of there.

We finally headed back to Leiden, where I cooked dinner and we all went to bed pretty early. The next morning we got up to go to church. I was excited about this because this was going to be their chance to ride bikes (we borrowed some from our friends who were out of town) and really experience the Dutch life. I think it was pretty intimidating at first, with the traffic and whatnot but they caught on quickly. It was fun to introduce them to our friends at church. Afterwards we went to lunch on a canal and sat out, enjoying the sun and the boats cruising by. That evening we made dinner and played Phase 10!! Yes, it transcends continents.

On Monday, Dan and I had to work (me in the morning) so Amy and Brennan bravely ventured the train system to get to Den Hague to see the International Court (which was not allowing tours at that time, boo!) They made it back safe and sound, although tired from all the walking. We met a few friends for dinner, out near the canal again and enjoyed time chatting. Afterwards, we went and got drinks on another barge, just to be able to hang out and talk a little more. We finished out the night with the completion of our Phase 10 game. The next morning I saw them off on the bus and they were off to Paris.

It was really nice having visitors. It was cool to be able to show them around our city and for them to be able to see how we live here and what life is like. I can't wait for our next visitors!! Any takers??

South African Braai

This past weekend, instead of celebrating the 4th of July, we cultured it up a little bit and had a South African Braai with our small group. Two of our friends are from Cape Town and helped us figure out how to have a braai. It's basically a bbq but with the focus being on the meat. The way to judge if you had a successful braai is if people get "meat sweats". Yep, it's disgusting. :) Also, there should be a rugby match on the tv (or in our case, the computer). We had a great time. I could not just let 4th of July go completely unnoticed so I made 4th of July cupcakes that Amy and Brennan had brought to me when they visited(that is for another post). I also brought baked beans that were also sent from the States.

We spent a little time jumping on a miniature trampoline in the backyard. That produced laughter like no other.While it was no 4th of July bbq (because there were fireworks and hotdogs missing) it was still a really fun time.

Holidays

People often ask me how I've adjusted to moving abroad or if I'm really happy here. The majority of the time I can say that I've adjusted really well and that I'm very happy here. It's exciting living in a different country, a different continent even!  I love the experiences that I am getting to have and the new friends that I have made. I love figuring out marriage with my husband and the attitude that it's us against the Netherlands we have to have to survive. But it never fails, every holiday that approaches, I get a little emotional.

I know that I am missing out on birthdays and easter basket hunts and 4th of July barbeques. This is cherished time with family and friends. Memories are made over games of washers and watching everybody take off running when your brothers light fireworks off in the wrong direction. It's wondering every year if the rain will hold off long enough for us to shoot fireworks but desperately wanting a little rain to cool off the 100 degree temps.

Holidays are times where differences are set aside and everyone gathers to be together. Holidays are times of traditions. People might say we are making our own traditions here and we are, to an extent. But what if you like some of your old traditions, like eating homemade mac and cheese and celebrating the 4th of July? Things you can't do here. Some of the new traditions we make here, we may not be able to re-create when we move back to the States. I'm a big holiday person and traditions are important to me.


This weekend we will head off to our South African Braai (kind of like a bbq) with our small group and I'll bring along some 4th of July cupcakes. Only half the people there will really appreciate them and there won't be any fireworks to shoot off or homemade mac and cheese to be eaten.

So eat a hot dog and write my name in sparkler lights for me. Celebrate your independence and cherish the time you are spending with family and friends. Miss you all and Happy 4th of July!!

Things I learned in Italy: A list.

1. I wouldn't mind listening to Italian spoken all day long.

2. Gelato is not just a dessert, it's a way of life.

3. It is even more acceptable for a woman to take her top off at the beach/pool/any place there is sun and water, here than other places I've seen in Europe.

4. It's amazing to really stop and think about the history that has inhabited this place as you walk around.

5. Driving=Scary=fear for my life

6. Lots of horn honking. Honking when you go around a corner because the road is too narrow for 2 cars to pass at the same time. Honking when you see someone you know. Honking just because it seems like a fun thing to do. Lots of honking.

7. Seafood is so much better fresh

8. Italians like hard beds and flat pillows. I love flat pillows, but these were out of control.

9. It is not just a stereotype that Italians use a lot of hand gesturing when they talk.

10. News that smoking is bad for you apparently hasn't reached that part of the country, especially with women.

11. Scooters are super fun but you also have to realize that you are not protected by tons of metal surrounding you, which makes for a scary ride when you're the passenger.

12. It is somehow acceptable to eat 4 desserts in one night when you're in Italy.

13. Italy=Beautiful.

Getting Home

(You might want to read the post before this as it kind of leads up to this point).

We had been walking all day in the hot weather, our feet were tired and we were ready to head to the airport. We got our luggage and caught an early shuttle to the airport, deciding it was better to wait in the air conditioning. I had carefully packed our bags, hoping that they did not exceed the weight limit. I had thrown a few warm clothes into our checked luggage that we would change into once we got to the airport, considering the temperature in the Netherlands was half of what it was in Sicily. We get to the airport and Dan goes to the counter to check in. We had considered checking in the night before but were too tired and figured we'd have plenty of time at the airport.

The woman at the counter tells Dan that she does not have any flights scheduled in our name. Dan assured her that we did have tickets and that there must be some mistake. She checked again and discovered that in fact we did have tickets, however they were for a 5:20 flight. It was 5:30. We had apparently read our tickets wrong because our flight from Rome left at 8. The woman told us that the flight had been delayed and if we hurried, we might be able to still make it. So we ran to another counter to check our baggage (it was right at 23 kg!or 50lbs) and got them to re-open the flight to us. They were just getting ready to board so we rushed through security and Dan was going through when "beep beep beep". Right then I knew that he had forgotten to take out his pocketknife I had gotten him for his birthday. He had planned on changing to jeans in the airport and then putting his knife in the luggage, however due to our circumstance, that never happened. He took out some coins and his money clip and attempted to go through again, with the knife in his pocket. It beeped and he had to pull it out. At this point, I was worried we would be detained or something for having that knife. This is not a small pocketknife, it's probably 3-4 inches long, folded. However, being the laid back people they are, they told him he wasn't allowed to have it but if he wanted to check another bag, he could put it in there. Unfortunately we didn't have time for that so he gave up the knife and begged them not to throw it away, for someone else to take it home and make good use out of it. He was pretty bummed.

But we made it on our flight and made our next flight out of Rome to Amsterdam. When we arrived in Amsterdam, we were not all that surprised to find that our luggage had not made it. So we stood in line with  a lot of other people whose flights had been canceled and filed a report. Hopefully our luggage will make it today as all of our toiletries, including dan's contact and glasses, are in it.  We wearily caught the train home and nearly froze to death since our jackets and warm clothes were still packed in our lost luggage. We were 40 cents short for bus fare for both of us from the station to our house so I took the luggage we had and rode the bus and Dan walked. Finally, we made it home about 12:30am and collapsed into our comfy bed. 

It was an amazing two weeks! Definitely a trip that will live in our memories for a long time! Now it's back to the real world. However, we do have friends coming tomorrow for a few days so that will be exciting!!!

The Islands

Well, we made it home. Back to where the rain is plentiful and the temperature is half of what it was when we left Italy. Sigh. But I want to share about the last week of our trip! Last Saturday, we ventured off from Cefalu' by train to Milazzo, a 2 hour train ride. We caught a hydrofoil ferry from Milazzo to Lipari, where we were picked up by our hotel manager, who spoke zero English. You can communicate more than you think with someone who does not speak the same language. As we zipped through the curvy mountainside, we peered over the sharp cliffs into the deep, azure blue waters of the sea. It was absolutely stunning. There were tons of big, beautiful boats. Our guide pointed out one massive yacht and from what we could interpret, it belongs to an Italian soccer star or coach.

We arrived at our hotel and it was beautiful. Out hotel was pretty cheap because it's so far out of the main town(10 minutes is so far on an island that small). We walked into our room and were amazed by the views out our window and the doors that opened up onto our terrace, overlooking the sea. It was at that time I decided not to go back to the Netherlands.

The next day we took the bus into town and rented a scooter. I was very nervous about this endeavor for many reasons. 1. My husband likes to drive things fast and believes he is the world's best driver, which he is a good driver but these were unknown roads with sharp drop offs into the sea. 2. Have you ever seen Italians drive? There are no laws it seems, just every man for himself. Not a single stoplight on the whole island. 3. How safe can you really be on a scooter?
But it was also exciting to think about getting around that way so I hopped on the back and off we went. I can admit it, I was scared half the time. It seemed like we were going super fast(we weren't, maybe we topped out at 50 mph, on a straightaway), and I was convinced that every turn we were going to be flipping the bike over. But it was still a great time and so much fun to have the wind in your face and feel like a real Italian.  The scooter allowed us to drive all over the island. We went up and down hills, around the mountain, down steep hills that we had to get off and push the bike to get back up. It was great.

We spent most of our time relaxing on the beach, riding around the island, and living the dream. :)  Before we knew it, it was time to pack up and head back to the mainland, where we would spend our last night. This is where we started to run into trouble.

When we got to Palermo, after an hour ferry ride and a 3 hour train ride, we were hot and tired. However, we did not know the name of our hotel or where it was located. I was trying to be more "carefree" as Dan likes, and so had just booked our hotel while we were in Cefalu. I thought we would have internet at our hotel in Lipari so I didn't write anything down. Big mistake. So we wondered around Palermo for 45 minutes in the hot sun, dragging very heavy suitcases and bags with us. I was convinced that our hotel started with the letter "B" so I asked random people but nothing rung  a bell. Finally we had to go to an internet cafe, which looked like it was ran by terrorists, and google search it until I found the one that looked familiar. Luckily, I found it and we made it there safely. We might be on a terrorist watch list now but whatever.

Finally, yesterday(Thurs) was the day we were scheduled to leave. Our flight left at 8pm so we had all day to walk around Palermo. We had to check out of our hotel by 11 but they let us keep our bags there so we could walk around. We wandered around all day, sweating, feet hurting and wondering what there was to see there (not much that we could get to). We were searching for a post office to buy some stamps and we came upon the largest post office I've ever seen. It looked like a capital building or something. We ask the fellow (through a woman who is helping us translate) if we can buy a few stamps. He says, looking very distressed, "Stamps? No, that is impossible today". uhhh, really ? Impossible? Is Thursday a no stamp day in Italy? Well, whatever , so he told us about a place( a tobacco shop) where we could buy them down the street. Hmm, thanks post office for referring us to a tobacco shop for your product...anyways, we go to the tobacco shop and the woman was rude and adamant that she had no stamps. This was starting to get ridiculous. We stopped at one more tobacco shop(that only had 60 cents worth of stamps) before finally finding a satellite post office where we were able to buy stamps. It was an ordeal.

We wandered around some more until we came to this beautiful Italian leather purse shop. Immediately I found the most beautiful, pink, Italian leather purse. and it was 50% off! Which isn't saying too much because it was still expensive and would've been the most expensive purse I ever bought. Dan wanted to get it but I wanted to think about it a little more because it was a lot of money. But how often do you get the chance to buy a real Italian leather purse...from ITALY?? so we decided we would come back later and buy it if I really wanted it. So later comes around and I decide that it's too great an opportunity to pass up. By this time we are very hot and miserable and can barely walk because our feet hurt from walking for the past 4 hours. We were quite a ways from the shop but I decided it was worth the effort. We made it back to the shop, only to discover it closed. I should explain that in Italy (or at least Sicily for sure), everything closes from 1-4ish except for bars, cafe's and a few random shops. Everyone goes home for lunch. We had not counted on this(even though we had been encountering this annoying problem all week). I was super bummed because we could not wait around for the shop to open because we had to catch the bus to the airport. Oh well, maybe next time.

Now that this post is crazy long, I will save the actual getting home story for my next post. Enjoy the pics! There are a lot of them!! Remember, double click on them to enlarge them

Last few days in Cefalu

Today marks our  last full day in Cefalu. Tomorrow we take a train and then a ferry across to the Aeolian Islands and spend a few more nights on the island of Lipari. I've been soaking up the sun and enjoying the relaxing days.

The night before last, there was a total lunar eclipse (you might have seen the tribute to it on google). We were anxiously awaiting the arrival of the moon from behind the mountain. Unfortunately, when the moon finally did rise, it was already starting to come out of the eclipse, but it was still amazing to see it partially dark. What an exciting opportunity!!!

Yesterday, Dan was able to meet me at the beach on his lunch break.  On the beaches, they have these Chinese women who come by and offer to give you massages, right there on your beach chair. Well, these ladies in front of me were getting what looked like amazing massages and I heard the Chinese woman say, " 5 euros"!!!! 5 euros for a 30 minute leg and foot massage?? Yes please! So I motioned her over after she was done and she was very excited that she had another customer. So I got a very nice leg and foot massage on the beach yesterday.

We also ran into 2 Dutch women. I noticed them speaking Dutch and asked if they were from the Netherlands and they were! They were from The Hague, which is a few kilometers south of where we live! We had a nice, random conversation in the ocean, lamenting about the weather we all had to return to. 

Our hotel has a wellness center where they also do massages (unfortunately not for 5 euros though!). I had a Swedish massage by a real Swedish person!!! It was amazing and really felt like kinks were getting worked out.

I love being on vacation here. I'm pretty sure I will sink into a deep, dark depression when we get back to the Netherlands. Luckily I have friends arriving a day later and then we leave for France in another week to see part of the Tour De France with some friends. More on that later. Now, it's time to start packing up. I'm not sure what the internet situation will be on the island so if there are no updates, you know why. I will update when we return next Friday if I can't before then.

Storming the Mountain

Today Dan had a half day at his conference,which was exciting because that meant I didn't have to spend the afternoon alone! We decided we were going to hike up this mountain that holds an ancient fortress and a temple to the Greek God Diana, or in Latin, Artemis. She was the goddess of the woods and hunters. Artemis was daughter of Zeus and Leto, twin sister of Apollo The fortress and the fortifying walls were built sometime during the 11th and 12 centuries and while most of the castle is ruins now, the majority of the wall (which you'll see in the pictures) is the originals. This is said to be one of the oldest structures still standing in Sicily.

King Roger built this fortress to ward off invasion. At one point, even the pope was getting worried about King Roger's rise in power. It's pretty amazing to see in real life.

So we hiked up this crazy mountain, sweating like mugs, anxious to get to the top where our efforts would be rewarded. When we got to the edge of the wall, overlooking the sea and city, our breaths were taken away. It was amazing. Words cannot begin to do it justice so I will let you see for yourself. I also took a video for your viewing pleasure:)

Day 4

Today was fairly uneventful and I didn't take a lot of pictures. I mostly hung out by the pool, allowing my sunburn from the day before to heal. While laying by the pool, I discovered this orange tree!

I wonder if this is where they get our oranges for our freshly squeezed orange juice every morning? Later that evening, I met Dan and friends in town for dinner. We are really enjoying our seaside restaurants but are running out of them! I forgot to mention in my last post that the restaurant we had eaten at the night before, we received an odd charge on our bill. The charge was for 4euros and it said something x2. We asked our waiter about it and he motioned to the silverware and place settings and said, "it's for the knives and stuff". Hmm, so apparently we have to pay extra if we want things like knives and forks. weird. 

Last night I had clams over spaghetti in garlic butter sauce, similar to our appetizer the night before. It was delicious. Dan had a pizza.

This was our view at the restaurant

and what would a night be without dessert??

Today we are going to hike a mountain and I'm going to try and convince my daredevil husband not to get to close to the edge...I'll let you know how that goes.

Day 3

Monday was the start of the conference for Dan and his friends so we were all up bright and early at 7:30 to eat breakfast before they headed out. I went back to bed (hey, it's my vacation!) and then got up and went to the beach for the afternoon. While at the beach, I noticed 4 older ladies, probably in their late 50's, who had been there the day before. It was very obvious these women were on a girls trip of sorts and were probably old friends. They were laughing and having a great time. They all had their tops off (not uncommon in Europe but still takes some getting used to) and were enjoying their last day of vacation. As they were leaving, they were waving and giggling at the lifguards who were half their age. They asked me to take a picture later (tops on) while we were waiting for the hotel shuttle to pick us up. They told me they had been there for a little over a week and between the 4 of them, had bought 30 pairs of shoes!!! These were my kind of ladies. It was something I could see myself doing in 30 years with some of my great girlfriends.

Later that evening, I went into town to meet up with Dan for dinner. On the shuttle ride down, there were 2 women who were a little older than me and I noticed they were speaking Dutch to each other! I asked them if they were from the Netherlands and they said they were from Belgium, but spoke Dutch (Northern Belgium speaks Dutch, Southern Belgium speaks French). It was a nice connection to make.

When I got to the center, the conference wasn't out yet so I toured around town, seeing different sights. I went into this old basilica, built in 1130. It was beautiful (there are pics in the slideshow). Prior to going in, the man at the front asked that I put my jacket on my shoulders, apparently no bare shoulders allowed.  It was amazing to think that parts of that building had been there so long.

Afterwards, I met up with Dan and just the two of had dinner. It was nice. We ate at this restaurant overlooking the sea again (different restaurant than before but similar view). I tried clams, made in a garlic and parsley sauce. They were amazingly delicious!! and I don't like seafood. We shared that as an appetizer and then I got a pizza with fried eggplants on it and Dan got grilled swordfish. We shared a bottle of wine and lamented about how we do not want to go back to the Netherlands. We ended the night with some gelato. Of course.

Our friends luggage finally arrived last night. We have no idea where it was the whole time but were glad they found it. Hopefully things go smoother on the flight home for all the luggage!

We are loving Italy. I love the language, the food, the beauty of the ancient surroundings, everything!  Hmm, maybe I will have Dan look into doing a post doc here in Italy after we finish with the Netherlands.

Day 2

Today felt much more like being on vacation. We were well rested and re-energized to start our day. We get free breakfast at the hotel and it's a big breakfast buffet. Typical European breakfast's, with lots of bread, cheeses, and sweet treats. They also have an orange juice juicing machine so we get fresh orange juice every morning! I love tossing the oranges in there, peels and all and waiting as the juice is squeezed into my glass. We sit on the terrace, looking out onto the ocean. Ahh, the small joys.

After breakfast we headed to the hotel's private beach. By private, they mean that they have a section of the beach that is only for hotel guests. However, we were very thankful for that because the "public" beaches were very crowded. The ocean was pretty rough yesterday but we dived in anyways and enjoyed getting rolled around in the waves. The view was beautiful and the sun was hot. We all got a little burned and Dan may or may not have spots all over him where I didn't quite get the sunscreen applied evenly.Whoops!

After the beach, we came back to the hotel for awhile to rest and clean up before heading into town that night. Dan and his friends had a welcome reception for their conference, which I also got to attend. I felt a little bit like a trophy wife as I sat there and listened to everyone at our table talk about their research and things I had no idea about. I don't mind being a trophy wife in Sicily. After we filled up on enough appetizers to be able to call it dinner, we walked down to the beach to watch the sun set and then walked around town a little bit before stopping at our final destination to get dessert. Some Italian friend's of Dan provided us with a list of things we needed to try while we are here and we are slowly whittling away at that list.

Tomorrow they all go to the conference and I am left on my own to explore the town some more, lay on the beach, and nap. It's a rough life, but someone's got to live it!

We Made it!!

After a very long day of travels, we made it to Sicily!! Our day started very early with getting up at 3am to make sure we had enough time to walk to the train station to catch our 4:38am train to the airport. We arrived bleary-eyed and still not feeling like we were on vacation yet and met up with two of Dan's friends's who were also going to the conference. When we arrived at our gate for boarding, there seemed to be a problem. We heard the attendants saying some things in Dutch and we finally asked what was going on and we were told that a bird had gotten on the plane and was flying up and down the plane, leaving behind special gifts. They had gotten the bird out but were cleaning the plane and we didnt't end up boarding until 15 minutes after our plane was supposed to leave. Due to our flight being so full, we had to check our carry-on baggage, which was a problem because apparently Rome is notorious for not getting baggage to your next flight, if you have a transfer there, which we did. So we grabbed a few essentials out of the carry-on (swimsuit and a dress:) ) and watched them take it away.

We were concerned about making our connecting flight to Palermo, Sicily because we were now delayed and we originally only had 45 minutes between our flights. However, the pilots made up the time in the air and it ended up not being an issue because we didn't even leave Rome for over an hour. We sat on the plane due to “traffic problems in Palermo”. At least that's what we were originally told. However, as the minutes ticked on, the pilot finally came over the intercom and said that they were “cleaning off the runway now from an accident and that the airport would be reopening shortly”. Um...that is a problem. Apparently another plane had landing problems prior to us getting there and they had shut down the runways while they got whatever happened cleaned up. When we arrived in Palermo, we saw a plane sitting near the end of the runway, that looked like it had no back tires and was resting on its belly. When we asked the flight attendant about it, he told us that that was a plane that actually had landing problems 2 months ago...comforting.

But we landed without incident and made our way to the baggage claim, praying that our luggage made it. I jumped for joy when I saw our suitcases come down the conveyor belt. Unfortunately, one of the friend's we were with, his suitcase did not make it. We waited on a few more planes from Rome to arrive, to see if they put it on those flights but it never showed up. The airport people said they would find it and bring it to our hotel. So we headed for Cefalu! But, before we could get there, we had to take a 50 minute bus ride from the airport to the train station in Palermo and from there a 55 minute train ride to Cefalu. It was a lot of traveling but somehow whenever you can look to your right and see the sea, it makes everything better. When we arrived in Cefalu, we decided to walk to our hotel as it was less than a mile away. Well...our hotel was up a mountain of sorts. It was crazy. Dan pulled our suitcases and I've never been so glad that we didn't take another suitcase in my life:) By the time we reached our hotel, we were all drenched in sweat and ready to rent a scooter. Luckily, the hotel has shuttles to the beach and the city center so it won't be necessary but seriously, it was crazy.

When we walked into the hotel though, vacation mode hit. It's very open, there's a big terrace that overlooks the sea, beautiful flower and shrubbery (yes, I said shrubbery). Our room has a big window that opens to amazing smelling flowers. It was fabulous. By this time, we were all starving as we really hadn't eaten much except what we got on the plane, so we took the shuttle into the city center and started exploring and looking for restaurants. Apparently in Sicily, most restaurants are open for lunch until about 2 then they close again until about 7, when they open for dinner. So what are you to do when you're starving but the restaurants aren't open? Eat gelato of course!!! I know it's super cliché

to say how amazing the gelato is in Italy but it's cliché for a reason. It. Is.AMAZING!!! Dan went a little crazy, eating gelato, granita, a cannoli, and an ice cream dessert. We had dinner at a restaurant that was right on the sea, with waves crashing against the rocks beneath us.

It is so beautiful and today we are off to explore the beaches and experience more delicious Italian food!! I'm going to try and update with pictures and stories every day so check back!

Holiday!

In less than 24 hours, this will be my residence for the next 2 weeks! We are so looking forward to this vacation. The last few weeks have been super busy, to say the least. Dan has had major deadlines he has been trying to meet, which means long days and late nights for him. I have been scrambling around trying to get in all my cleaning jobs and babysitting jobs as well as getting my own house in order to  receive guests as soon as we get back. I don't think either of us has gotten to bed before midnight in weeks.

But.

After we make it through our 3:30am wake up call, the early morning walk to the train station, catch the 4:38am train to the airport and catch our flight at 7am...we'll be free and clear!

This is going to be an adventure because unlike the Netherlands, the Italians don't speak a lot of English. I've been brushing up on my Italian. . .and by that I mean learning key phrases, "where is the bathroom"-Dov'e il bagno?" and "May I please have more pizza and gelato"- Per favore, posso avere piu pizza e gelato"
I think that about sums up the phrases I'll need to know :)

This is also our first experience packing together as a married couple. And by together, I mean, in one suitcase. We are only taking one suitcase because we are going to be doing a lot of walking with our suitcases and as we discovered the last time we came back from the States, less luggage = better when you're walking over cobblestone streets. So when Dan asked me last night if I really needed all those clothes, I looked at him and said, "Um. We are going to Italy. " He tucked his t-shirts deep down into the sides of the suitcase. :) 

Hopefully I'll have internet access there so after my long, hard days at the beach, I can come back and rest and post updates!

Arrivederci!!!