WWII Netherlands

I just finished reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It was an excellent book and a real tear jerker and I would highly recommend it to anyone, especially if you like WWII novels. It's a book, told from the perspective of Death, about a young girl and her life during WWII.

After I read the book, which took place in Germany,  it really got me thinking about the history that I am surrounded by here. As I was riding my bike around, I was thinking that 70 years ago, people may have been hiding in bomb shelters and fearing for their life. Our city was not physically affected much by WWII but the city of Rotterdam, which is just a little South of us, was pretty much demolished. The Germans bombed that city and the Netherlands surrendered to prevent further destruction of their country. Here is a picture of bombed Rotterdam

They went on to rebuild Rotterdam but now, instead of looking like a quaint, European city, it looks more like something you might see in an American city.

All of this to say that I am very thankful we have not had to experience war on our soil. I think it is easy for us to sit back and criticize the way they do politics or how they seem to lack national pride but their values are shaped from their history. They have experienced first hand what national pride in the wrong hands can do. They know that if they don't get along well enough with their neighbors, the fighting could literally be in their own backyard.

I think as Americans, we don't fully understand how war can shape every aspect of your country. I'm thankful for that in so many ways. But I am starting to not be so quick to think poorly of other countries who have differing views than ours based on their history and experiences.

The Market

This weekend was a beautiful weekend here in Leiden. And by that I mean there was sun peeking through part of the time and it didn't rain. . .much. That is beautiful for this time of year in the Netherlands. So we took advantage of the weather and headed out to the Saturday market, with everyone else in the city of Leiden.

The market is such a fun place to just walk around and people watch. There are vendors lining the streets, calling out "1.5 kilos tomaten, drie euro!" (1.5 kilos of tomato's, 3 euros), trying to get you to come to their site. Lining one side of the canal is groenten en fruit (veggies and fruit) vendors and on the other side is bloemen en vis (flowers and fish). If you like seafood, this is the place to come. Saturday we saw Octopus. lots and lots of octopus. Dan got some fried fish that was actually fairly good. We bought 10 tulpen (tulips) for 5 euro. We also shared a giant stroop wafel, which deserves a post in and of itself, but that is what you see me eating in the picture.

It was also fun because we ran into 3 or 4 people that we actually knew! It felt like our town was becoming more ours. Here are some pictures I took before my camera died. 

Daily Life

A common question I get asked is "what is a typical day like there?" As is the case, anywhere, I'm not sure there is a "typical" day but I'll try to give you a glimpse into an average week for me. 

As many of you know, I am not working a full time job. At the moment, I am cleaning several houses and babysitting. I have gradually picked up these cleaning jobs and was hesitant at first to do so. Dan had to strongly encourage me to respond to a post about someone looking for a person to do some cleaning. I'm so glad I did because through that, I met one of my good friends here, Damaris! She's another American so we have had a good time figuring out Leiden together. Initially, I felt I could do more than cleaning. I mean, I had a college education right? Wrong. When you're in a country where you don't speak the language and have to have a permit to work, all the degrees in the world won't make you any money. God humbled me and through these jobs I have acquired, I've been able to bring in some extra money for our family. So, I am currently cleaning 2 houses weekly and 2 houses every other week. I also babysit 2 , 1/2 days a week for a family that used to be my downstairs neighbor before they moved. The baby is nearly 4 months old and the family is Italian so the baby gets to hear Italian, Dutch, and English! I'm hoping her first word will be in English!:) just kidding!

I ride my bike to all of these places, which means I have to allow for extra time to get there, maybe throw on my poncho(one of these days I'm going to take a picture of myself in my blue poncho, just to show everyone how cool I really am), and head out on my bike. I usually go to the store daily, stopping by it on the way home. I felt very Dutch the other day leaving the grocery store because I had my front basket full to the rim and had pans and a bag of potatoes strapped to the back of my bike. You'd be surprised how much heavier it makes your bike to have a load of groceries on it!
*oh and as a sidenote, yesterday when I was riding home from a job, it was pouring down rain and I forgot my rain gear. I did have an umbrella with me so I decided it was time to make my maiden voyage of riding my bike one-handed, using the other to hold the umbrella. This is fairly significant because I rode about 3 miles like this, including uphill parts. I was very proud of myself until some dude rode by with NO HANDS, going uphill, holding an umbrella in one hand and keeping his other hand warm in his pocket. That is my next attempt! Hmm, I might wait until I have insurance first.

I usually make dinner before Dan gets home and then we settle in to watch some tv or sometimes we go to a friend's house for dinner. Weekends are usually spent running errands around the town together. Enjoying the markets, having lunch by the canal, and catching up on things we didn't have time for during the week. 


Overall it's a pretty laid back lifestyle. We are never in too big of a hurry because we can only get somewhere as fast as our little legs will pedal us. We don't have to worry about "keeping up with the Jones's" because we don't even know who the Jones's are over here or what it would look like to keep up with them! I think everyone should give living abroad a try. It's good for the soul.

2010 in review

This post is a little late coming but it sort of fits with how my life has been the last few weeks so I feel it's only appropriate. :)

2010 was by far the best year of my life so far. In fact, I was sad on New Year's Eve because it was ending. Dan tried telling me that years are just a man made construct and that really our life is still continuing as is, but I don't really buy it. So I want to look at 2010 and then maybe look towards 2011 a little too.

January2010-At this time, Dan knew he was going to the Netherlands to finish his PhD.  He had found out in mid-December and had accepted the position. I started my new/old job back with the Independence School District. I had been laid off in September due to budget cuts, started with a different school district, and then was invited back to start in January after someone left their position.


February 2010-Dan's 29th birthday, little did I know engagement plans were starting to form.

March 2010-my 29th birthday. Fabulous dinner and party with friends, including a spa package the day of with my mom! My best friend and I get invited to audition to be on Wheel of Fortune. 

April 4, 2010-Easter. Dan somehow manages to surprise me on our Easter Basket hunt and with all of our family there, he asks me to be his wife! Read here for all the juicy details  engagement
Later that week, as we are looking at sites for the wedding, I receive a letter stating that I had been chosen to be a contestant on Wheel of Fortune!!!! My only regret is that I didn't buy a lottery ticket that week:) Wedding is set for August. Dress is bought (first dress I tried on, I knew was the one!) Here are a few pics from some of the dresses I didn't choose!

The WINNER!!

May 2010- Dan leaves for the Netherlands to start his job, escaping a lot of the wedding planning. Fun parties begin and wedding planning is in full gear.


June 2010- My first bridal shower! My last day of work is June 30 since I work in a school and have part of the summer off.


July 2010-My second bridal shower, packing begins, wedding plans are in full swing and work begins on the do it yourself projects for the wedding.


August 2010- Wedding Month! More packing and selling. Dan comes back a week early and surprises me! Bachelorette party and spending time with friends and family. 
August 21, 2010-Officially become Mrs. Caputo!

Leave for honeymoon in the Smokey Mountains!


September 2010- Sept 1- say goodbye to friends and family and head out to Amsterdam. Culture shock.

October 2010-Relearn how to ride a bike, start learning Dutch, figure out a new way of life.


November 2010-Get the call from Wheel of Fortune and start making plans to come home for Christmas!!! 1st Thanksgiving ever where I had to transport the turkey by bike.


December 2010-Spent the majority of the month back in the States! Took a girls trip to LA to be on Wheel of Fortune. Won a. . .oh wait, you thought I was going to slip up there huh? Stay tuned Feb 25 to see all the details!!!:) Saw Keifer Sutherland at Kat Von D's tattoo shop! Spent Christmas with family. Rode around in a car.


Overall I would say it was a fantastic year! And now looking on towards 2011, we want to start traveling within Europe. And what better place to start that than with a trip to Paris over Valentine's Day weekend!! 
We are also looking forward to visitor's coming to see us, seeing Tulips in the Spring, and maybe a big anniversary trip in August! Dan and I also both turn 30 this year (boo!) and maybe, and it's a big MAYBE, we'll start thinking about kids towards the end of 2011. THINKING about it, moms!


Here's hoping everyone has a great 2011!!

Back on Track! Mostly. . .

For awhile there, I didn't know if we were going to make it. Our sleep schedules were not syncing with the time here. We were going to sleep at 8am and getting up at 3. This made for two very grouchy and off kilter people. But I think we are finally getting turned back around. We still wake up halfway through the night but at least we're sleeping part of it. 

I am getting settled back into a routine here. The first few days were rough. I had a lot of mixed feelings about being here but I think now a lot of that was attributed to the sleep problems. I don't think I left the house in 3 days, letting Dan and I live off Christmas goodies for meals. That's right, peanut butter eggs, milano cookies, and junior mints were a good meal for us at 3am. (Hmm, wonder if I'll win any wife of the month awards this month?:). We just finished unpacking our final suitcase last night. I'm telling you, schedules have been waaaay off!!!

But yesterday was good and today was even better. I figured out why it felt like I was dragging a body behind my bike whenever I rode. It's amazing what a little air in your tires will do. I was really worried there for awhile that the month spent at home had completely taken me off the bike path (pun intended) and that I was just really that out of shape that biking a short distance left my legs screaming for rest and my lungs gasping for air. Nope! It was just a low tire. You should've seen me riding through town today...or should I say racing through town?? 

I've also picked up a few more cleaning jobs as well as a babysitting job. I'm grateful for these jobs and this chance to earn some money. Especially after we were told that my residency permit is going to cost 830 euros,which converts to $1076 US dollars. Yep. ridiculous. Hopefully Dan's work will be able to cover the cost this time but we may still have to pay next year when we renew. It's frustrating because who has that money lying around? Certainly not two newlyweds who live in a small apartment with no couch and ride bikes around. :)

So, all is well and getting back to normal here in Leiden. Hopefully the posts will come more frequently now that I have my head on back straight. We're looking forward to start planning our trips around Europe! Anyone have any suggestions for our first one? It will probably be around Valentine's Day, which we'll combine with a small celebration of our 6th month anniversary and Dan's 30th birthday!!(which, whoa, can anyone believe how fast time has flown??) Any recommendations would be awesome!

America/Christmas 2010

Wow, we had a whirlwind trip back to the ole US of A. Of course it never seems long enough and we didn't get to spend as much time with all the people we wanted to. I guess that means everyone will just have to come visit us now:)

After Wheel of Fortune, I used the week to get some shopping done prior to Dan's arrival. On Saturday, we had our 2nd annual friends progressive dinner. We ended the night be resurrecting an old game from high school called Mafia. It was pretty awesome and we all learned how good at being manipulative Leah McDonald can be. :) Dan got in town on Monday, the week of Christmas. I drove to St. Louis on Wednesday and we stayed and celebrated Christmas with his mom until driving back to KC in the evening on Christmas Eve.

We had fabulous Christmas's and Dan ended up winning the family poker tournament on Christmas night (which ended at 12:30am).The next week was basically a flurry of eating out, hanging out with friends, shopping, and riding in warm cars.

For New Year's Eve, we spent it with some good friends, singing karaoke and playing games. The following day we went with another couple up to the Elms Resort and Spa, where we had our wedding reception and stayed the night on their premier club level. We had a free voucher for some things that messed up with the wedding. We got to get in the outdoor hot tub when it was like 20 degrees outside, have all the free drinks  and appetizers we wanted, and wrapped up the evening with a freaky ghost tour. Last time someone took the ghost tour(Meagan Farber) they were brought to a room that has a lot of activity. It turned out to be her room. Not sure how they slept that night.

We wrapped up our trip by taking Dan to Columbia to meet his mom,since he was flying out of St. Louis. I spent the next day packing and hanging out with friends and family. It's hard to believe that the month has come and gone already and that we're back abroad. Here are some pics from our time back in America.

Time Zones

The bad thing about traveling across several time zones is the way that it affects your body. We are 7 hours ahead of our friends and family back in Missouri. While the clock tells you that it is midnight, your body tells you that it is only 5pm and NOT time to go to bed. Our sleep schedule looked a little like this yesterday (and today).

Get off the plane at 7am, Netherlands time (midnight KC time). No sleep has been had since waking up the previous day at 7am(KC time). I do not sleep on planes. If anyone has any tips about how to sleep on an airplane, it would be much appreciated. It's the whole-sleeping sitting straight up-that gets me every time.

Get home at 10:15am and crawl into bed.

Wake up at 5:15pm, force ourselves to get out of bed, eat some dinner, unpack a few items to see that they made the trip (including Dan's sweet new walnut chess set I got him for Christmas!)

Check internet and get ready to watch some movies about 9:30pm, but instead fall asleep with the lights on.

Wake up at 1:30am, do some cleaning, watch movies and force ourselves to go back to sleep for a bit about 5:30am.

Sleep until noon...bad idea. But our bodies believe that it is the middle of the night. And I'm still tired.

It usually takes a few days to get turned around and even more time to get over the tiredness. I'm glad we don't have any major international traveling scheduled for awhile.

In the meantime, I think it might be time for a nap :)