I guess I haven’t written since we got Liam. Our lives changed somewhat with him being brought into the family. We now have to go on walks at least twice and sometimes three times a day. So that takes up a big chunk of the day. We also are not leaving him longer than 3-3.5 hours in his kennel so that also stipulates what you can and can’t do. Most days during the week Dave takes him to the shop with him so that does give me some free days.
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| AWCA Newcomer's Coffee |
Let’s see the first week of March I went to the Women’s Club meeting and saw quite a few women that I met when I first came to Amsterdam but they were gone for the holidays. And when I say gone for the holidays – that means gone for most of the winter. Quite a few of the American women that have lived here for more than a year take a winter vacation and go back to the states or travel to warmer climates. One of my friends just sent me a website link that was titled – “Have Dutch women found the secret to happiness?” The article had very interesting facts about Dutch women – there has basically been no “feminism” movement here and less than 10% of the women work full-time. They are very content with taking care of the family, going for coffee and lunch while the kids are in school and letting their husbands support the family. I have found also that most American women that come over here because of their husband’s employment do not work either. And they are having fun “playing” during the day – which includes, coffees, lunches, shopping, touring other cities, the list goes on and on. Apparently, there is also a new book out entitled “Dutch Women Don’t Get Depressed.” So, yes, I have gotten to experience this lifestyle for the past five months and it is a lot of fun. But I’m not sure I would want to do it the rest of my life. If I am put in that situation in the future I plan on volunteering and having a hobby. Which I have gotten many ideas for while being here so I plan on using my hands to be a little creative in the near future. So talking about the “Dutch Woman” lifestyle, last week I went to a coffee one day, a lunch another day and another trip to the Polish Pottery Warehouse which also included a lunch out. I am having fun but I know that it will end soon so I am taking advantage of every day I have here. But on the other side, I am also very excited to come back to the states, hopefully resume my job, take care of my family and enjoy my friends.
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| Delft |
Saturday Dave, Liam and I took a little road trip to Delft. Yes, this is the city where the Delft Pottery is made. It is a very quaint village and it was a lot of fun to walk around. Since we had the little family addition with us we could not both go into the cathedrals or museum. Delft is where Vermeer was born and so there is quite a lot of history about him and his life there. Strangely it seemed the city does not “own” any of his works because Dave went into the small museum and it was basically the story of his life but nothing but copies of his works. On a weekend earlier in our time here we did drive to Den Haag and viewed Vermeer’s “Girl with the Pearl Earring” which is just beautiful. There are also two cathedrals where at one of them all the Dutch Kings and Queens are buried and there is also a huge bell tower that you can climb up and tour. Maybe on another trip we will climb the bell tower. We walked around the village, the street market was that day so bought a few veggies, sat in the square and had a cappuccino while Dave went in the museum, Dave sat there while I bought myself a tulip vase and then we had a yummy lunch at another square that had mature trees in it and the cafes had put their tables all under the trees. The weather was cool and crisp but not too cold to sit outside. Liam enjoyed a “chewie” that Dave had bought him at the market. It was a delightful day.
