Au Pearing in the Netherlands!
I can't believe I've already been here for almost a month! Time is flyyyiiinngggg by and before I know it, it'll be the holidays, then my birthday, then in about the time it would take to carry a seed to term (Jaime, haha) I'll be back home in the U.S. of A.
So things here are still going well. Pim has been crying a lot but his ears have been leaking yellow pus and we found out today that he has an ear infection so he's forgiven. Niek is unbelievably cute but he does this thing where he'll say "Mama! Mama! Mama!" every 2 seconds. Eline is cute because she always answers even though Niek just makes gurgling sounds or says, "kijkt (look), cars!" 90% of the time. Tijn has the most boogers I've ever seen come out of a small child and his fingers are consistently in his nose or playing with his third leg (the other day after bathing, I saw him trying to clasp a Playmobil toy to it). He still has some trouble with his temper but he has the ability to melt my heart with his cute little voice and his refusal to accept that I don't speak Dutch (he has full-out conversations with me). Also, when we watch movies or sometimes while we're playing, he'll crawl onto my lap and I'll stroke his hair.. ahhhh, he can be so cute and sweet! Lara has her moments where she can be cute but she's spoiled. I'm fully aware of the fact that I don't understand much Dutch but sometimes she has a really bad attitude. I'm still surprised that Niek has not given me an eye full of pee but then again, it's only been a month.
The kids are inconsiderate of each other and everyone else which I suppose can be attributed to their age. They wake up wayyyy too early every morning, screaming and playing. Last week, I heard their radio on full blast at 6:30 AM. Luckily, it was an American song (Britney Spears, "Break the Ice") which I had stuck in my head alllllllll day. Lately they've been waking up at 7 which is an improvement. Mornings usually go smoothly but if I could make changes, I wouldn't allow them to play in the mornings or bring toys to the breakfast table. I think it's great that they don't watch too much television but they literally play ALL DAY. Which means I end up playing all day. I know, I know, woe is me but sometimes I'd rather do something else, like go for a walk but the weather here is temperamental. Also, playing is too much of a top priority and makes doing other things like getting dressed, eating, etc. more difficult.
We've still been partying and living it up on the weekends. Last weekend we went to jimmy woo's in Amsterdam where we were solicited the moment we walked in by creepy, old Italian men who offered us free reign in their VIP section. You never turn down free alcohol or a place to sit so we humored them and hung around for a few glasses of champagne. This weekend, we were not quite so lucky. We went to this club I can't recall/pronounce/see myself going too again in Rotterdam, which is about an hour away. Granted, it was actually a really good time but the return trip put a damper on the experience. Before I get to that, I will say that I had a blast dancing my life away, taking good ol' tequila shots and grabbing the mic with Jaime to represent our hood.
partners in crime
oreso sandwich taking shooots
my favorite little Dutch girl :-)
it was all a dream...*
So it's after 5 AM and we're at about to board the train home. Usually tickets are checked (if they are at all) on the train but this time staff was outside checking before they let people on. We bought tickets this time but evidently we bought the wrongs ones?!?! Since we'd gone out on a Saturday night we were suppose to have purchased weekend tickets instead of a day-return. It's not like the automated kiosk machine we used told us this but despite my trying to reason with them, they would NOT let us on. The douche-cock I spoke too kept trying to justify the system and although I understand the rules clearly, it sounds like the dumbest fucking system I've ever encountered. The cost of the tickets are the same and it's not like we were trying to use an old ticket since the date and time of purchase (11:30 PM; he had the audacity to tell me that we bought our tickets a 1/2 hour too early) were printed on the ticket. Jaime flipped her lid and started crying and we ended up making quite a scene. We went to the ticket window to see if they'd help but apparently it was "Be a Cunt" day at the Rotterdam station. Although I had my debit card on me and could've purchased 2 more tickets, I just couldn't fuckin do it. Our tickets hadn't even been checked on the way there and the lady at the window basically told us they wouldn't be checked after 7 AM. So we cursed her our and waited for the 7:11 train. Oh, and if you were wondering, our tickets weren't even checked. Rotterdam is the shit stain on the panties of Holland.
We didn't make it back to Jaime's place until about 8:30 and only slept for a few hours because it was Niek's birthday! He turned the big 2 and got sooo many toy cars as gifts. After his luncheon party, we all went apple picking! It was such a beautiful day and even though Jaime and I were exhausted, we really enjoyed ourselves, taking a plethora of pictures of talking shit about adults and small children. Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure:
apples!
being a dork.
thomas and the kiddies
feels like some kinda rush...*
Jamesssss
Thomas and Niek!
sooo cute!
Eline and Niek!
my little butterball, Pim!
eating... as usual ;-p
Happy 2nd birthday Niek!
She really is cute though!
Anyway, we're finally making legit traveling plans! We're going to Belgium on October 17th then I'm going with Jaime to London around the 19th of December. I'd like to spend New Year's in Paris but we'll see how that goes. 2 of my sisters are also flying out for my birthday (February 3rd, and yes I'll accept deposits to my bank account) and we're going tentatively scheduled to go to Milan!!! We may opt to go elsewhere or multiple places in Italy or maybe even Greece but I'm soooo excited! After that, Eline invited me to go skiing with the family in Switzerland on the 17th, yayyyy! There are so many places I want to see and I'd love to go somewhere far/fabulous at least once a month and nearby places whenever we can. We looked up prices to fly to different places and it was so cheap. I hope a year is enough time to fit it all or else I'm staying until September!
To conclude, I really want a weave. If you're from the area and you know of a good place to get one or just a good place for me to get my hair done in general, please let me know. I can't be looking a hot nappy mess when camera flashes are constantly going off and I'm traveling to all these places!!
