Visit to LA

I just got back from an incredibe visit back home to LA - I loved seeing my family ahd friends after 6 months away in Holland.



I did not realize how much I missed my parents until I met them at the airport. Even with phone and email, its just not the same as a hug and conversation in person.
I was actually a bit disoriented as my parents drove me home from the airport...I was used to seeing Dutch scenery. The first thing I noticed was how big the cars were - SUV's everywhere! The second thing I noticed was how modern and modular everything looked - no old city centers or grey/white stone row houses as you find in Holland. Also, everything was set up for cars, from drive-through fast-food to strip malls to wide modern streets. Very different from Holland, where most shopping is centered in foot-only old city centers.



I came with a bag full of T-shirs to enjoy the warm california sunshine, but it turned out to be one of the coldest weeks on record. The week before I got there it was in the mid 80's. The time I was there it was more like in the low 40's. It even snowed in Malibu for the first time in maybe ever. Well, I got to borrow some turtlenecs from Mom's closet and did not touch the t-shirts. Maybe next trip.


The first morning after I arrived my Mom and I hit the Petitie departments of the local stores. Finally, stores full of clohes that actually fit me!! In the Netherlands, the average women is 5'8" I think, and they have no clothes that fit me. In LA, I got some beautiful winter interview and professional clothing for my (hopefully soon) job in the Netherlands. I also enjoyed a manicure for the first time in 6 months, as they are 3 as expensive in the Netherlands and hard to find salons to do them.



I spent the following days getting to meet all my friends and former co-workers. In some ways it seemed like I'd only been gone a few weeks, as we fell right back into our good friendships. It was so great to see everyone and speak in person after 6 months of phone and email. It was hard to say good-by at the end of our evenings out, knowing it will be another 6 months before I'd see them again.

I ate my fill of delicious food as well. The Dutch are reall not known for they're cuisine, and restaurants I feel are more expensive with less variety (and not as tasty food). Along with catching up with friends, I also fulfilled my food cravings such as for American pancakes with maple syrup, fresh salads in a varit of flavors, and egg roles. Wierd carvings, as I dont eat them that often in US, but somehow I reall miss them.



The only other adventures was with my plane ticket. I had a paper rather than e-ticket for return trip (and last time with paper ticket ever!) I'd forgotten my return ticket in the Netherlands, and Rob mailed it to me, but it did no arrive in time. I spent over 8 hours calling between the airline and the website I bought it from before I got it resolved. I was not totally certain I'd actually get the ticket correctly re-issued until I got to the airport.
It was a sad farewell to my parents, feeling like I wanted to stay another few weeks to enjoy they're company. Well, I will see them in a few months in Greece, for a trip with Rob and I.

Happy 2007!!

Click here to New Years holiday pics

To celebrate the New Year, I went to a vacation cottage in Limburg. We had a festive group of 8 adults and 3 kids. Rob and I went with his parent Jan & Nettie, sister Femke with her husband Thomas and 1 ½ year Quinten, and family friends Rene and Miriam with 3 year old Rika and 4 year old Sven.



In the Netherlands, everyone has they’re own box of fireworks. No danger of wildfires in wet Dutch landscapes. We all lit sparklers, and our own cans of fireworks. Everywhere you looked you see bright fireworks lighting the sky. A local resturaunt had an elaborate display of high flying, spectacular fireworks as well.

We stayed in a 400 year old manor house. They converted the former barn into a cozy vacation cottage, and we also had some rooms in the main manor house. I stayed in a room in the main manor house, in a room with seemed like 200 year old wooden shutters and pretty view of the courtyard. The vacation house had an antique koo-koo clock that was the highlight of the kids’ hour!



On Saturday, we went in to the pretty town Maastricht. It is the most southern town of the Netherlands, and has some Belgium characteristics as well as Dutch. We visited a beautiful 600 year old church, where they burn offering candles to brighten the dim interior of the church. There were 100s of people out shopping the day before new year! We also went to a café where you could pick from about 30 kinds of chocolate to have fresh chocolate milk made from. Yummmm!! On Sunday afternoon we went for a nature walk and petting zoo with the kids.



In the evenings, we played board games and read by a warm fire. I love board games, but playing in Dutch was a new challenge! Some times, like for pictinary, I had to have the word translated before I could draw it. For another board game, we had to make exceptions for me – like all the sport questions were who won the Dutch/German soccer match of 1997, which team did some famous soccer guy play for (not Beckam unfortunately, the only Soccer player I know). We also played a Dutch kind of “shuffle board”, with a long wooden board and about 30 wooden disks to get into slots.



It was a very fun weekend!