Getting there

I can't quite believe it myself, but here I am in the Netherlands!  This is my second day here and jet lag is fading fast.  But before I get too far ahead, I will paste an email which I sent to my family during a two hour stopover:


Hello wonderful family!

I'm in London Heathrow Airport right now.  I've been awake for the past 24 hours, but I'm still functioning alright.  And smiling!  :)
The flight from Vancouver to London went very well.  There was no problem getting on the plane with my one inch too big carry on.  And British airways is nice to fly on.  It sure beat any other flights I've been on!  The stewardesses are all British and have real British accents.  We got a lovely dinner at about 12:00 BC time.  We  got beef, stampot carrots, beans, a bun with a little butter thing, a water bottle, coffee or tea, and even a bottle of wine!  There was also Ceasar Salad, and for dessert there was a Nanaimo bar!  I watched three movies on the plane (there were oodles to choose from and they were all free).  I watched Austenland (a Jane austen inspired movie), and then Despicable Me 2, and then Planes.  (But I fastforwarded the minion singing parts in Despicable Me 2).

London Airport is INCREDIBLE!  You wouldn't believe the escalators.  Many of them go up 4 stories!  The elevators are also glass, and way faster than in Canada (or maybe it just feels that way because you can see all around).  And the best part was that we had to ride an underground train to get from one end of Terminal 5 to the other.  There are more stores in Terminal 5A than in Chilliwack Mall. 

Kim and I are counting down the hours until we can finally go to bed, but we're both doing just fine.  It's pretty exciting to do and see all new things!

I miss you all still, and I pull out the family pictures I printed off every so often.  Love you all very much! 

Valerie

 

So that covers most of the way to Holland, but there is a bit of a story about the flight to Amsterdam.  I had a carry-on suitcase which was filled mostly with gifts for people in Holland, and it weighed 40 pounds.  The problem was that it had two inch wheels on it which made it about one inch larger than was permissible.  This was no problem on the big plane the went to London, but the carry-on space was smaller in the Amsterdam plane.  It didn't fit!  I had to lift it up into the carry-on space to see if it would fit in different spots, and then eventually it ended up being put in the cargo hold.  Oops.  So that wasn't such a good start.  But thankfully the flight was only about 45 minutes long.

Getting our luggage in Amsterdam was easy, and then Kim and I had no trouble at customs either.  When we walked out of customs, there was our wonderful welcome party!  It was so good to see familiar faces and get lots of hugs and happiness, and even flowers from Uncle Larry and Tante Hanneke!  I had never met Tante Joke and Oom Gert Jan, the people we are staying with, and I was very excited to meet them too.  Renee was also there, but she was the one that took the picture.

 

Now I will write about yesterday as though it was today:

 

This morning Renee and Elisabeth, Emma and Sartje, and Uncle Larry and Tante Hanneke were here for a visit, and lunch.  That was gezellig, and it gave me a chance to hear lots of Dutch.

It's getting harder to speak Dutch as the day goes on though.  I'm still very tired because I woke up this morning at 5:00 Holland time and couldn't get back to sleep.  I finally got up at 7:50.  I'm awake, but still slightly foggy, and I still have this cold.  Not as bad as the day before I left for Europe, but I blow my nose an awful lot.  Kim and I went for a bike ride after lunch (in the pouring rain), and went over at least 4 different bridges.  There's definitely lots of variety to be seen in Rotterdam, although for this first bike ride we kept it simple by staying mostly along the Rotte River.  We also walked up a hill (a grassy slope right next to the ski 'hill' (more like a ski pile by the size of it) and unfortunately I slipped on the way up and got my white coat all muddy.  Kim wanted to go trekking everywhere, but I was kind of miserable for the rest of our time outside because I was so worried about my coat being mud stained.  But other than that it was a lovely bike ride.  Hopefully the weather is better tomorrow because it's a lot more fun outside if there's no rain.

 

In the afternoon Tante Joke took Kim and I along for a visit with her mother, who is 96 years old.  She is very happy and wonderful (just like all the Macleans).  After that Tante Joke wondered if we were too tired, and mentioned that she might drop by Renee's house.  Well, of course that was a very exciting thing to do!  So we got a tour of Renee's house, as well as a freshly baked cookie.  The Dutch people eat a lot of cookies, but there are also so many people biking all the time.  It was also so good to meet Thijs, Mees, and Reuben, and see Elisabeth again.

 

On the way home from there I tried to stay awake to watch the scenery, but I was unsuccessful.  I must've been exceptionally tired because usually I can't sleep in cars.  We had a very good supper, and yoghurt with vla (Dutch pudding) for dessert.  Delicious!  That evening two people came to visit; a neighbour lady, and Yankees.  Yankees had a potential job offer for Kim and I.  We need a bit of time to think about it because it would be a big commitment for the next six weeks or more, but there is no end to the excitement and opportunities here!