Summer Plans

I think it's fairly safe to assume by now that I am not getting an interview for the jobs at the American School. It's frustrating to me because I'm fairly certain had all my residency paperwork been in order, I would've at least gotten an interview. But since I'm not going to be working now, it appears, that opens my summer and fall up to a different kind of plan.

We live for Sicily on Saturday!  I'm so excited to finally be able to say that we leave this week!! We'll be there for nearly 2 weeks, soaking up the sun, taking in the beautiful sights, maybe hiking a volcano, and avoiding the Mafia like the plague. When we return, I just found out that two of my friends, Amy and Brennan, from back home, are coming to visit! They are doing a European tour and kicking it off right by coming to the Netherlands first! They will be here a few days so we can show them all the sights.

In July I will resume my cleaning jobs and will also be babysitting full time for 2 weeks for the sweet 8-month old Italian girl I've been watching a few days a week. She is the sweetest baby and sometimes gives me the urge to start thinking about children. But then I see some other babies her age or younger who are not as sweet and I think, 'eh... we can wait some more' . :)

Starting at the end of July, I am going to be taking Dutch language classes. I took some when I first got here but they were only 2x a week, an hour and a half each time. These are intensive classes offered by the University (which means they are ridiculously expensive) and it is a 6 week course, 5 days a week, 5 hours a day. It will actually be Dutch 1 & 2. We thought it would be a good investment because it would give me a conversational understanding of Dutch, which some jobs ask for. Hopefully it will broaden my capabilities to find a job.

In September, my friends Meagan and Leah are coming to visit and stay for nearly 2 weeks! We plan on going to Italy and Greece on girls trips, as well as exploring all around Leiden. I'm so excited to have visitors!!!!

And finally, we found out the dates for our Wheel of Fortune trip to the Bahamas! We'll be going November 7-13, which means we'll probably be back in the States most of the month of November!! It's weird to think that by that time, we won't have been home in almost a year!! Very excited about this trip!

In other exciting news, I got two orchid plants this weekend! I'm so excited about them and hope I don't kill them!! This first one is gigantic!!