Heemskerk Keramis Carnival

This month, I celebrated the local carnival, or "Keramis", of Rob's home town Heemskerk. The festival began in the middle ages, and today is celebrated as part Oktober-fest part carnival. It runs from Wednesday to Friday. Rob and I met up with friends Yolande and Wouter to celebrate.



We began the evening at the carnival portion, held on a large field on the edge of town. They had the standard roller coasters, ferris wheel, game booths and food stands. As well as gargantuan sticks of cotton candy and ice creams, some of the food was more dutch - Olliballes - a sort of large powderded donout ball, and fresh "stroop vaffels" (Syrup Waffels).



We enjoyed a ride in the “sprooks huis”, or ghost house – a little taste of Halloween. We also rode the ferris wheel, which gave a beautiful overview of the town and carnival site. We played carnival games and Rob got me a cute “I love you” balloon.



We then moved on to the "Oktober-fest" part, which took place on the main street of the town. There were a few huge party tents with music and dancing, and all bars were open. The hard core celbrants take 3 days off work to get the full celebration in. They go to the pubs when they open at about noon, and party until 1 am when they close. Not being as dedicated, Rob and I only went for a few hours on the Friday evening.



In the party tent, it was crowds of happy people dancing and celebrating. Some of the music was a familiar mix of top 40, oldies, and hip-hop. They also had some very odd german "ski beer party music" which consisted of - no I am NOT kidding- accordian music and YODLING for one song!!! It was very bizarre. I felt like grabbing my liederhozen and little feathered cap and doing a german jig.

Well, it was all in all, a very fun evening and a taste of the local traditions.

OK, finally a bit more of my daily life here in Hollland, my trip to work and office...

Me at my office cafeteria

My daily trip into work is a little like playing "planes, trains and automobiles". It takes a variety of public transport to get me to my down-town amsteram office.

My bike trip to the train station

First off, I bike the 15 minutes to the train station for my exercise. I get to bike through the historic part of my home town (heemskerk) and some pretty meadowland.

Amsterdam Central Station

From there, I take the train which takes aboutr 1/2 hour, to get into Amsterdam Central station. Here, myself and thousans of other daily commuters pour onto the streets to get to work. Since downtown Amsterdam is very crowded, with limeted parking and many narrow 1-way streets, most people take public transport in.

Amsterdam rush hour metro

I take 10 minute tram ride to my office. The tras are very nice, and come complete with TV's to watch on your journey into work. I take the underground "metro" back from work, and you dont know crowded until you have been on a Dutch metro at rush hour!!

My office on Herengracht

My office is located chic Herengracht, or "lords canal", where the merchant lords of the 17th century kept they're mansions and ran they're trade empires. A house along this canal would run you a few million euros!

My office back yard fountain

My office is in a 300 year Dutch merchant's house, with a huge yard complete with fountain. The cafeteria dining room looks out over the yard. I work around the corner from the historic Rembrandt Square, and of course as it is Amsterdam, a "coffee shop" as well.

A coffee shop (had to have one!)

One Year In Holland

One full year in Holland

Just about 1 year ago (OK, 1 year and 2 weeks), I flew into Amsterdam airport to begin my sojourn in the Netherlands. I arrived with much trepidation, but Rob and his familymet me with much needed love and support on my part. My family and friends were an ocean away, everything I owned except for a suitcase of clothes was crossing the ocean in a cargo container, I could barely say “Hello, do you speak English” in Dutch, and had just quit my US job to study Dutch for 6 months then see how employable I was here. …And what occurred over these last 12 months?

My first month here was more of an extended vacation. The Kapteins welcomed me with a 4-day trip in a holiday cottage, with sailing and sight seeing in the beautiful July weather. Then Rob and I went on a 2-week trip to the UK, seeing Stone Henge, Bath, Salisbury and many wonderful sights. There can be worse ways to start my time here!

My dutch class


After all those vacations, I settled down to being a student again after many years out of the classroom. I met a great group of people from all over the world in my Dutch language course, and of course learned to speak basic Dutch. By the end of the course in December, I could order food and shop in Dutch, hold basic conversations, and read at about an 8-9 year old reading level.
Holland Wedding Reception


Laurie, Mom and Dad in Amsterdam


Rob and I celebrated a second wedding party in a real medieval castle here in October. I was happily re-united with my parents and Jeremy for the celebration.

Granada Castle, Spain

New Years celebration with Kapteins

1-year anniversary in Paris



I then went on even more vacations – a week long trip to Spain with Rob in late December, New Years in am Dutch manor house with the Kapteins and family friends, then back to California to visit everyone in January. In February, Rob and I celebrated our 1-year anniversary in Paris (where else!)
Official Dutch driver


Back in Holland after my second round of vacations, I settled down to “life after school”. I passed my Dutch driving test (not an easy feat in a stick shift!) Attempting to find the right job, I interviewed at a number of companies before accepting an offer at Bank Artesia in the heart of Amsterdam in early March.

Flieders and Kapteins in Epidourous, Greece


Laurie and Sarah in Keukenhof, Netherlands



Between March and July were also very busy months: Rob and I went to Greece with my parents for an incredible 10-day trip in April, then Sarah flew out in May for a week in Holland and 1 in London. (you can never have to many vacations!). Rob accepted a new position closer to Amsterdam and we moved to Rob’s hometown Heemskerk (1/2 hour out of Amsterdam)…

So now it brings me to the start of my second year here – quite a lot happening in just 12 months!! For the blog, this year I want to tell more of my daily life. Moving into our new house, my job, our friends and family and daily activities. Thank everyone for reading my blog this last year. Let me know what you think and what else you would like to read!

Laurie and Sarah in London

After our time here in Holland, Sarah and I jetted off to for to Merry Old England for a week in London.

We stayed in a lovely area right next to Kensington Gardens, about 5 minutes from the tube station.

Sarah at Windsor Castle

One of our sights was Windsor Castle. You can see the living history here, from the oldest part of the castle built in the 11th century to the new memorial for the Queen Mother. Our brochures said we would get to see the changing of the guard, including a parade of arriving new guards and as well as the changing. They must have been lazy that day, because all we saw was the guard pulling up in a minivan and 1 guy replacing the guard. Oh well, as they did extensive repairs and restoration after the terrible fire about 10 years ago, so we got to see all the beautiful baroque ceilings and ornate furniture.

St. Georges Cathedral, Windsor Castle


A close second in favorites was Westminster Cathedral. We signed up for the cathedral tour, which really made us feel like VIPs! We had this happy little elf of a guy as a tour guide (he was about 5’3, and leaped instead of waked everywhere and was REALLY enthusiastic about everything!!). Since we were on the tour, we got to see the gated off original portion of the cathedral, and jump the line ahead of the long line of visitors to see Queen Elizabeth I’s tomb. We even go to set in the roped off seating next to where the Queen sits to observe the ceremonies.

Anne Boleyn re-enactor at Hampton Court

We went our own ways 1 day and each had a wonderful time in our own way. Sarah toured Harrods, toured the sampled the beautiful London fashion and did some of her own shopping. I went to one of Henry VIII’s castles where it was Ren Faire Day!! I saw costumed actors portraying Henry, Katharine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. They had live dancing (I got to dance with one of Henry’s nobles!!), and toured the restored kitchens to see how medieval cuisine was prepared. I also wandered the Elizabethan gardens and saw the 17th century portion of the castle.

Shakespeare's Globe Theater

We also toured the Globe theatre, built as close to it was in Shakespeare’s time as possible. We opted not to buy a ticket as a “groundling”, where you stand for about 5-6 hours and watch the complete and uncut plays done as they originally were.

We also saw beautiful works of art at the London Gallery (with a great Curator’s choice audio tour describing the highlights). We went to the Tower of London & crown jewels (need any gift ideas Rob??). We saw Princess Diana’s couture gowns at Kensington Palace, and saw some beautiful Regency gowns.

Laurie at Trafalger Square


We also went to see a musical, Fame. You can get last-minutes discounts on musicals and plays in London. We sampled some of the variety of delicious London restaurants. They have great food from all ethnicities – Italian, Mexican, Indian, Pub, Asian Fusion….

Hampton Court Gardens

We had an incredible time, and bid a sad farewell at the end of our wonderful 2 weeks together…until my trip back to LA in October when we can have new adventures.

Sarah’s visit to the Netherlands:

Click here to see all the photo’s from our trip

Guest starring in this blog: my good friend Sarah. Rob and I had the pleasure of hosting Sarah for a week in May, then Sarah and I went for a girl’s week-away in London.



We started Sarah’s visit with a few days in Amsterdam. Sarah and I took a canal boat tour down the historic Dutch canal’s (and even cruised by my office on one of the poshest canals of course!). We went to the Heinekin Brewery Experience , and got to see the Heinekin horses that pull a famous company cart around town and experience “life as a beer bottle” ride. We each got 3 drink vouchers, after 1 attempt each at a beer , and 1 soda , we made some German guys happy with 2 free drink vouchers. We also saw the Van Gogh museum and the Red Light district, and the Amsterdam fashion street Kalver Straat.



Sarah was treated to an authentic , gourmet dinner of Dutch Pancakes by master-chef Rob, and enjoyed the hospitality of Hotel Kaptein for the week. She, I and Rob all went to the Dutch version of Disney Land, the Efteling Fairy Tale Park. We wandered through grottos life-size fairy tale cottages and castles, detailed dioramas with trains and (of course) wind mills. We went on an Arabian Nights themed ride that was strangely remeniscent of a certain pirate ride (Yo, Yo Ho anyone??). The one big difference of course is all the fairy tales were in Dutch, and little children looked at us strangely when we spoke English! We were amongst the only non-Dutch in the park!



Over the weekend, Rob, Sarah and I also went to the Keukenhof, the famous tulip garden exhibition spot. We did see many beautiful non-tulip flowers, and displays including the Queen’s flowered hats and award winning flowers. We missed the tulips though, and saw freshly cut stems in the tulip fields. Oh well, Sarah will have to come back next year for the tulips!



After a day at the gardens, Sarah got to see Rob’s home town, and enjoy a Dutch dinner with Jan, Nettie, Femke, Tomas and little Quinten. She was the first person from the US to see our new house (promise, pics of the new house very soon!!) and our old house.

Sarah and I also went to Delft (where I had studied for my language program), for an outdoor market and tour of the famous sights. She enjoyed a few more days of touring Amsterdam while I jealously sat in my office.

Then we jetted off to London for a fun filled week…tune in for the next blog entry for full details

New jobs, new city, new house, new trip....

Sorry I have been behind on my blog entries to all my loyal friends & family reading this blog. Things have finally settled down here, so I will have time for regular blog updates again....For those that enjoy reading these, please email me to say Hi and let me know how you are doing. I miss hearing from everone!

A readers digest of goings on (with expanded blog entries very soon!). I have been at my new job for a bit under 3 months now, and Rob began his new job 1 month ago. Moving closer to our jobs, Rob's family, and the fun activities in Amsterdam, we sought and successfully found a house in Heemskerk (Rob's home town). We survived the "interesting" setting up our new house (with a lot of help from Robs parents) and move in.

In the midst of all this insanity, my friend Sarah came for a very fun week to visit us in Holland, then Sarah and I travelled to London for a week. More on that exciting trip soon.

All these & more will be in my upcoming blogs. Our digital camera died, so I will beg and borrow one for some pics until we have one of our own)

Greece part II….

Our first challenge getting out of Athens was the rental car. We took a death-defying ride in a taxi to the car rental place, very glad seat belts have been invented. I think our taxi driver was a former INDY 500 driver. After signing the papers, the said “get in the car VERY FAST”. The did not have a parking lot at the building, just pulled the car in front of traffic at the busy corner in front of the rental agency. We threw bags and ourselves into the car in record time and were off.

View of Delphi from Hotel


Our first stop was Delphi. This was a beautiful little town situated in the tree covered mountains about 2.5 hours out of Athens. We could see miles of olive-tree covered mountains from our hotel. All 1000 inhabitants of Delphi have they’re own olive tree grove, from which they make olive oil for mainly home use. They each also work in the tourism industry (it’s a busy ski town in the winters season and tourist attraction in the summer).

Laurie the tour guide


In Delphi, we saw the famed site of the Oracle of Delphi. This was one of the most important sites in antiquity. Rulers came from all over to consult with the oracle before making any important decision. Today, only the foundations of buildings, a race track and a theater remain. You really need a book or guide to know that this pile of stones was once the famous temple of whoever 3000 years ago. We guiding abilities of yours truly (with a little help of a guide book).

Rob ready for the olympics


After Delphi, we drove on to ancient Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympics. I had studied this in college, but it was a huge difference actually being there. We saw where the ancient athletes trained, competed in the running events, and where they light the modern Olympic torch every year. A major part of the income of the town is from tourism. In the off season (like when we were there), the shop keepers outnumber the tourists 10-1. They stand in the shop and almost drag you into the shop if you accidentally look in they’re direction.

Mom and dad hard at work touring


The hotel guy told us of a great scenic route to get to our next destination. He did NOT tell us that it involved off-roading up these steep windy roads with virtually no signage. The roads were not paved, and our rental cars tiny engine barely made it. At some intersections there were sings in greek, at others no signs. We wound up in a few tiny towns of about 100 people where I don’t think they spoke English. Not enough to help us find our way at least. We did see women in the local garb entirely black riding donkeys, men hearding sheep by either foot, donkey or truck, sheep without shepherd…it felt a little like we stepped back in time 100 years ago.

Its all greek to me


We did make it safely to our next destination, the lovely sea-side resort town of Tolo. From Tolo, we did day trips to see the ruins of Ancient Mycnae (from around 1400 BC), the harbor town of Napthlion, and the best preserved ancient theater at Epidorous.



After this week long adventure into ancient Greece, we navigated our way back to Athens and survived the return of the rental car. The 10 days just flew by for us on this incredible trip. The following day, Rob and I sadly bid my parents farewell and returned to Amsterdam…where I have lots of exciting blog entries to post about.

Kapteins and Flieders in Greece - part 1

Rob and I met my parents in Greece for an incredible trip to Mainland Greece!

Click here for a slideshow

We arrived in on Friday afternoon to Athens and met up with my parents. I have not seen them for 3 months, and Rob for 6, so it was a very joyful reunion.

Birds eye view of Athens


Over the next 3 days, we explored Athens together before leaving to see part of the mainland. We took a funicular up a mountain to get a birds eye view of Athens. I saw mile upon mile of white and cream apartment buildings. About 4 million of the estimated 10 million Greeks live in Athens, so it is a very densley populated city. Unlike other European cities, it does not really have an "old city center". There are ancient Greek ruins scattered all over the city. You can turn a corner and see an ancient column in between apartment buildings.



The Greeks are famed for Mediteranian cuisine for a reason. We ate delicious Greek traditional food like Greek salad, mousaka, rice in grape leaves and others I had never heard of before. My parents have a good nose for restaurants, and even found a great chinese/thai restaurant.

We saw the famous Greek Guards at the parliament building. The scots are not the only "manly men in skirts!"

Greek parliamentary guards


Athens flea market


There is a main tourist section near the Acropolis. You find with restaurants, shops and a gigantic flea market selling every Greek tourist chachki in the universe. We wandered narrow streets where shop owners stand in the door and try and entice you in, and listening to languages from all over the globe.
Parthenon



Rob and I visited the Acropolis (my parent seen it before we arrived). It is on an elevated hill you can see for miles. There area actually a number of buildings on the site. The Parthenon is the most obvious, and it is gigantic. In ancient times, it contained a 3 story tall gold and ivory statue of Athena and was the heart of Athens. Now it is really just a shell of columns. It was heavily damaged in the 1800s when explosives stored in it exploded. It is slowly being restored.



The four of us visited the Greek archeologichal museum. There you can see the top collection of Greek antiquities in the world. We saw pottery, bronze statues, marble statues, and incredible gold masks and jewlery.

Next blog entry: Our trip to ancient Delphi, Olympia and Mycnae

new jobs, family trip and moving

NeA quick update on lots of exciting news (promise, more details with pictures to follow!)

Rob and I are meeting my parents in Greece tomorrow for a 10 day tour Athens and the Greek mainland. Many pictures and travel stories to follow...

I have now completed the first month of my new job in Amsterdam. I am enjoying it a lot, but still finding challenges like all the settings and program menus on my computer are in dutch!
Just yesterday, Rob recieved an offer from his first-choice job (he was also interviewing these last few months)...so now Rob will be a Project Leader/Mechanichal Engineer in he 5th largest steel company the world (his grandfaters both worked at the same company 50 years ago!).

We will be moving to Rob's home town Heemskerk(site of his new job and very close to mine in Amsertdam)...many blogs to follow on the crazy Dutch housing situation.
Bom Voyage for now until I get back from Greece....

Rob’s 37th Birthday Party

The social event of the season - Rob’s 37th birthday party. We had about 25 guests, with the first arriving at 2:30 PM and the last leaving at 1:30 AM! The party was done Dutch style. Rob was de “verjaardag varkken”, or “birthday pig”, as the birthday person is known as in Dutch. Our little mini-fridge was stuffed full of dinner, sweets and drinks for all the guests.



In the Netherlands, birthdays are kind of an “open house” for all friends and family. You a start time, and they come anytime after that. Our “early shift”, the family and friends with kids mainly, started arriving at 2:30 PM. We served cake, and then a bbq and soup at about 5:00 PM. By 8, most of the families went home, and the “late shift” started arriving. They came anywhere from 8-10:30, and mainly stayed until 1:30 am. A truly epic birthday!



A few different traditions here: In the US, you sing happy birthday and have the cake at the end of the night. Here, maybe because of the open house thing, you get your cake first thing when you walk in. Best cake goes to the first guests! You also wish congradulations to the birthday person to each guest, not just the birthday boy/girl. Fresh and potted flowers are very popular gifts in nature loving netherlands as well.

Carnival - Dutch Style

Click here to see all the carnival photos

A few weeks ago, Rob and I celebated Carnival. No, we did not go to Rio, or to New Orleans. They celbrate a uniquley Dutch variant of Carnival here. To me, it is a is a mixture of New Year's Rose Bowl Parade, Haloween and Rio Carnival. We were given a great guided tour and parade commentary by Rob's friends.



As the origins of Carnival are Catholic, it is mainly celbrated in the Catholic southern part of the Netherlands. Entire cities shut down between Saturday and Tuesday for a 3-4 day celebration.



THe bars fill each evening people in colorful, and often silly costumes. Its kind of like haloween, but the emphasis is much more on very colorful and silly rather than scary or gory. Some work for months on beautiful, but very bright, costumes and elaborate face masks. Others just put on a funny had or bright, colorful shirts. I saw one guy with a flower pot, complete with flower, tied to his head.



It is also kind of like the Rose Bowl parade. Each city holds a parade with floats and music. Within that city, local neighboords compete with each other for the best float. The town even changes its name during Carnival! Instead of flowers, the floats are made of paper mache, and mounted on truck beds and pulled by tractors. Each float is in psychadelic colors, and playing loud discotech music. Unlike the Rose Bowl, there are entries from as small as 1-2 guys, to the huge floats that take a over 100 people months to work on.