Hello again! Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I have been super busy and tired adjusting to my new schedule for work. It turns out I have to get up at 6 am every morning and only have a few hours to be with Koen in the afternoons so I wanted to wait a while until I figured out when the best times are for blogging, skyping, etc.
Anyways, a lot has happened since I last blogged. The biggest being the gay pride parade that Koen, Jelle and I went to in Amsterdam! It was like nothing I've ever seen. We arrived in the city center by train and the first things I noticed were rainbows, butterflys and sunshine! Really though there were rainbows everywhere although not too many butterflys and if you know anything about Dutch weather there wasn't much sunshine either! Bhahaha kidding it was a gorgeous day. Anyways, as far as dress, I believe that the theme when you go to this parade is to wear pink too because I was noticing a lot of feminine males wearing it. It was so great. Everyone was just going crazy whether they were straight or gay.
We met up with Jelle shortly after arriving and luckily for us, he had planned ahead and brought a 12 pack of Grolsch (Dutch beer) so we wouldn't have to buy the mega expensive beer that they were selling. Aka he saved the day. We walked around for a while trying to find an opening on the canal to watch the parade from. It was probably the busiest event I've ever been to because every railing and bridge was covered with people and we still had about an hour before the parade started. Madness. Finally we found a spot right by this nice boat next to the canal. Mom would have loved this too (as usual). They were drinking fine wine and serving appetizers to everyone on their boat and had the perfect view of the canal.
A little later the boats starting coming by and if you saw my pictures, you probably have an idea of what I was seeing. Sooo great. Everyone was dressed up and the music was very European. Dad knows what I'm talking about with the same beat over and over again! Overall, it was a good time. We need more parades like that in NC. Maybe one day! :)
Anyways, works been going well. I have finally figured out the train system. It's actually quite easy once you understand where each train is going to or have the 9292.nl app on your phone. Basically you can plan your trips depending on what time you want to arrive/leave and it gives you a schedule of where to go and when! Perfect for train amateurs like me. It's a long trip to Amsterdam from here but I've learned to catch up on my reading. However, the thing I've become most proud of myself for is my relationship with the morning newspaper guy at the station. At the beginning, he would hand me a newspaper and I didn't know what to say because I didn't feel like explaining that I can't read Dutch and just take it anyways but then I had a revelation: there's a sudoku/game section that is English-speaker friendly!! So now every morning I walk by and he hands me the newspaper and says, "Goedemorgen" (Good morning) and I say it back or say "Dankjewel" (thank you). Mornings=conquered. The only annoying thing is that I have to pay cash every morning to buy my train tickets at the office and sometimes this is time consuming. They have ticket machines but unfortunately they only receive a certain type of debit card and just coins instead of bills. Cool. But once the month is over and I am reimbursed with my transportation costs (my parents will be very happy about this), I can get a discount card so I can be a pro like everyone else and scan my card super quick.
We've had a lot going on lately with all the visitors we've had (I think they're all just secretly here to see Pepi) . Koen's cousin, Bernd and his girlfriend came for a couple days and we went out in the city. My favorite bar here in town is de Witte Aap (I may be spelling this wrong) but in English its the white monkey/ape. It reminds me a little of town tavern because its kinda small and homey. It seems that here there are still a lot of students that aren't in school because when I have my days off on Wednesdays, there have been a lot of people at the bars. Until veryyyy late.
Update on Pepi: He is still his adorable self although I think he has gotten a lot bigger since we picked him up. It's hard to tell since we live with him. He is such a cuddle muffin though: he follows us around the house and his sleeping spot at night is on my head. I love it! He just visited the doctor with Koen this week and they said he's a good kitty.
For some reason living in Holland has been a little harder to get used to than living in Spain. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I can't read anything in the grocery stores (or anywhere for that matter), I travel a lot on my own (yes I'm being forced to become more independent finally), and we have a baby in the house, Pepi. It's a lot to take on but so far I'm learning a lot about myself and I think this is good for me!
Anyways, this is all I have for now. Next blog will probably be about how I now have a functioning bicycle and what it takes to survive riding it around the city of Rotterdam. Wish me luck! Love you all. Kusjes.
