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Last night in Leiden

Well our grand adventure has come to a close. Our last week in Leiden was hectic and fun. We had good-bye dinners most every night of the week with the various friends we had made in town. Kurt had about three send-offs from the lab which he said was very gratifying. The kids and I scurried around returning our residence permits and library books, finding homes for excess toys and food, and buying all manner of gifts to bring home. I spent the rest of the week weeding our stuff and packing.  As you may recall we brought four suitcases, two large backpacks, a pac n play and a bike trailer with us to Leiden. I stuffed the suitcases and backpacks until they were bursting. I even had to deconstruct the frame for one of the paintings I bought in order to fit it in. Luckily we were able to distribute the weight so that none of the bags exceeded our 50lb limit (one was exactly 50). We ended up selling off the bike trailer to some friends. I was initially resistant to the idea but, as Kurt explained, it would have cost $50 to take it on the plane, we sold it for $40 and a new one in the U.S. costs $90. So essentially we will get another one for free and it will be a lot less hassle than lugging the old one to the airport.

On our last night in Leiden we headed to the markt to try out the ice skating rink that was set up in a floating barge in the canal. When I say "we" I really mean Kurt and the kids (my legs are not the same length and skating doesn't work for me). When I say "Kurt and the kids" I really mean that Kurt skated with the kids in his arms as skating doesn't really work for them either. The atmosphere was festive and it was the perfect way to say good-bye to such a great city. We ate dinner at Jackets to use up the free jacket coupon that we had earned for being frequent customers. It was tasty as always.
  Pingu, and Kurt and I watched Oblivion. It was a good film for a flight- not something I would want to devote precious movie time to at home but entertaining enough.

Jasper and the boys at Schiphol Airport

The taxi arrived right on time Saturday morning. Jasper, our landlord's brother, graciously helped us get everything into the cab and accompanied us to the airport. We got there early enough that the check in line was reasonable and so we had plenty of time to shop for tulips to bring home. We had read in our guide book that only the tulips sold at the airport were approved for U.S. export (they require a special seal). We said our goodbyes to Jasper and proceeded through security. Kurt got pulled over because he forgot to take the multi-tool out of his carry-on bag. We handed it over to the authorities and went on our merry way (although Kurt was less than merry). We had lunch at the airport and boarded the first flight to Iceland. Klaus napped, Leif watched

 

The first flight was delayed somewhat but we made our connection just fine with time to spare for customs, a light dinner, some run around time for the kids, and a bathroom break. This last one proved somewhat problematic for me; the woman's restroom smelled so bad I was literally gagging and felt sick to my stomach for the whole 8 hour flight.  It didn't help that Klaus could not seem to get comfortable and was doing flip flops in my lap with his elbows uncannily finding my stomach. After some ginger ale I felt much better and Klaus eventually fell asleep. Both boys slept through landing but woke up when we tried to get off the plane. They mostly held it together through the passport control line but towards the end Klaus was on the floor crying. Some sweet woman let us cut in front of her and saved us and the rest of the people in line from the agony of a crying and desperately tired 17th month-old. At the baggage claim we engaged a porter with a large cart and started piling up the suitcases (when we got home I realized we forgot the pac n play. argh!). The porter lead us through customs. We had to go through a special section because we had checked on the form that we had visited a farm during our time in Holland (the Kinder Boederij as it is called is a great free 'petting' farm in Leiden. We went twice!). It ended up not being an issue. Customs just wanted to make sure we would not be visiting an U.S. farms any time soon.
  In the arrivals area, we were greeted by my fabulous in-laws who were somewhat the worse for wear due to the winter weather they had to brave to get to Dulles. Luckily it was just raining by the time we got there and the drive home was a little slow but uneventful. When we got home we open the door to find a huge welcome home sign installed by our neighbors Jane and Damon and a crate of food from our friends Sam and Josef. It felt so nice to have been missed.
  For the last few days we have been unpacking, decorating for Christmas, and trying very hard to get the boys over their jet lag (they keep waking up at 3 am ready to go for the day! argh!). Kurt is currently in Canada retrieving our cat, Orange, from his cross boarder adventure. I am sure he is sad to leave the attentions of Nick and Abby but I will be happy to see him even if he is not happy to see me.
 Closing thoughts: 
 Despite my high hopes I totally failed to learn Dutch in any sort of useful capacity. Other than interactions with cashiers and wait staff the amount of Dutch I learned was not nearly enough to trump the Dutch people's command of English. You win this round Nederlanders! Sigh.
 Things I will miss about Nederland: (besides all the friends we made)
Bike lanes!
Trains
Canals
The museums and the museum card that got me into all of them for 40 euro for a year.
La Trappe Dubbel
Hagelslag (sprinkles that one consumes on bread. I won't miss the taste so much as the quirky nature of it)
tofu (some of the best I have had)
Hendo's fries
2,000 km of nearby coastline and dunes to match
Windmills

 Things I have missed at home in Gettysburg:
Family and friends
FASH
salad dressing (The Dutch and I do not agree on salad dressings)
having a microwave
having a freezer in the kitchen
having a bathroom on the second floor
cheap diner food

It is good to be home. Dag, Nederlands! Het was pretigg kennis met u te maken!  

Our klompen

Reverse Thanksgiving- Bringing the New World to the Old World

  A belated Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Before you start feeling bad for us poor expats stuck in a non-Thanksgiving country around Thanksgiving let me reassure you that we rocked Thanksgiving Nederland-style. 

  Our good friends, Carrie and Richard Russel, who are on sabbatical in Scotland, hopped a plane over the channel with their adorable kids, Henry and Beatrice. They arrived on Wednesday afternoon and we immediately took them for a walk downtown. The market was just ending but we caught the waffel guy before he closed up and introduced the Russel family to fresh warm stroopwaffels. We then herded our sticky brood up the 40 steps to the Burcht, successfully completing our goal of taking all our guests to our favorite spot in Leiden.

  For dinner we ordered in a vegetarian rijsttafel from our go-to Indonesian place, Surakarta. After waiting around for the delivery guy for about a half hour Kurt realized that he had received a text from the place saying that our order would take 1 to 1.5 hours. The bedtime clock was ticking so we hurried up and made the kids some food. Thanks to our slow eaters we were still at the table when the take-out arrived and even the kids tried some. All the adults enjoyed it but the kids only seemed to like the sweet topping (we are still not sure exactly what it is). Go figure!

 Since the Russels are Jewish we also celebrated the first night of Hanukkah. Leif and Klaus are always up for holidays which include chocolate and presents and Kurt and I are always up for festivity but due to Kurt's passive Jewish heritage we don't really know how to celebrate Hanukkah. Lucky for us the Russels know what they are doing. Also lucky for us Carrie was able to find a menorah and candles in the UK; I haven't seen any in the stores around here which I'm not sure is a reflection of a low Jewish population as much as the fact that the Dutch do not seem to be interested in commerce. There isn't a whole lot to buy for anything any where. 

 

 Thanksgiving morning we had planned to borrow our friend's bakfiets (a bicycle with a large wooden box on the front for hauling kids and groceries) so that the whole crew could take a ride around town. Unfortunately our friend's baby got sick and had to go to the doctor so the plans fell through. Instead we briefly attended an American Thanksgiving service at Pieters Kerk, an old cathedral where the Pilgrims just happened to worship when they lived here. The kids sat for all of two minutes before they were up running around. We prepared to leave but one of the event organizers begged us to stay assuring us that it was a family service and it was to be expected. So we stayed for about a half hour more and the kids ran around the empty area sectioned off for protestant services while the adults listened to a few of the speakers. We left after a stirring rendition of America the Beautiful and headed home for nap and dinner prep. 

 

While Klaus and Henry napped and Kurt cooked the rest of us went to the Pilgrim Museum (finally! and it was free that day!) Contrary to previous reports I though it was thoroughly enjoyable. None of the actual pilgrims are known to have lived in the 12th century building but it is chock full of items from the era and gives a good sense of what life would have been like for the Pilgrims. The rooms were small and dark with one hearth for heating and cooking. There was a small bed built into the wall where adults would have slept in a semi reclined position (it was thought to be better for the adult body).There was also an inhouse (as opposed to an outhouse) but rather than leading to a sewer it collected in a cistern under the floor. When it was excavated the museum found all sorts of small ceramic catholic icons that must have been dumped there during the protestant reformation. The curator of the museum was very sweet; Almost as soon as Leif and Beatrice stepped in he was handing them all sorts of period clothing to wear. It was a surprisingly hands-on museum for a place stuffed with antiques. The kids got to sit in a 800 year old chair and Bea got to wear a 400 year old headpiece. 

 

Now on to the feast! Kurt pulled off an amazing meal for cooking in a small kitchen with little more than a cook-top and easy bake oven. Since turkey isn't common here, he made chicken (made no difference to pescatarian me) which everyone seemed to enjoy. At my request he re-created his mother's patented stuffing balls. There was also corn, mashed taters, rolls, green bean casserole(also me), cranberry sauce, sweet taters, and pumpkin pie. Everyone ate their fill and we had enough for lunch the next day. I had made hats for everyone but no one wanted to be the pilgrims so we had a table of Wampanoags.  

 On Friday we escorted the Russels to the Oude Rijksmuseum, the Netherland's antiquities museum. I am really going to miss this one when we go. It is a world-class collection with a talented museum staff. The top floor, a permanent exhibit which explores the history of the Netherlands, is especially great. It is brilliantly set-up to appeal to both kids and adults. For the kids there are hidden "bedrooms" scattered about the exhibit where they can climb into all manner of beds from throughout time. Leif's favorite was the viking bed. For adults the exhibit is informative but not overwhelming with a wide selection of artifacts.

 

Friday night we indulged in some greasy food from Hendos claiming that it was fulfilling the Hanukkah custom of eating food prepared in oil. After putting the kids to bed we tried to coax Carrie and Richard into watching a holiday flick (which is what Kurt and I always do on black friday) but we failed and ended up introducing them to pbs' new Sherlock. 

 

On Saturday we squeezed in a trip to the Saturday market before the Russels had to catch their plane. Carrie and Richard boldly tasted the raw herring and the kids munched on kaas stangels (cheese sticks), strawberries and suiker waffels. 

 An all around fabulous Thanksgiving! Take that Pilgrims! The old world still has some charms.

 Thanks, Russells! We will miss you state-side! Come home soon!