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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!  

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