Amsterdam, Netherlands (Holland)

Well we got back from Amsterdam. It's a beautiful city that was different than what we were expecting. It is located in the northern part of the Netherlands (Holland) on the coast of the North Sea. It's a really cool city that has cobblestone roads, which hurt your feet if you are walking with tennis shoes on, and it has canals throughout the city. It had both a Rembrandt Museum and a Van Gogh Museum. We didn't make it to those, but we did go to Anne Frank's house where she hid from the Nazi's with her family. We ate at an Italian restaurant for lunch and did a little shopping. We saw the red light district where prostitution is legal. The prostitutes will be standing behind glass windows even during the middle of the day and the brothels where they are have red lights on them, which is where the red light district name comes from. It's weird because the brothels blend right in with the homes, shops, etc. All the homes keep there windows open too. We were told this is because it used to be mandatory that all families read the Bible in the evening, so everybody had to have their curtains open so when the priests walked by they could see you reading from the Bible. Amsterdam is the major tourist city and shopping city in Holland, however almost none of the government is there. It's like New York City in that way. Bicycles everywhere! Absolutely everywhere! It is the major mode of transportation in the city. It's crazy, you have to be careful to stay out of their way.

Quick week

This week flew by. I'm still trying to figure out what I did all week. Andrew had today/Friday off, so we went to Ikea. We bought a new bookcase, to rid the floor of the boxes of books in our bedroom. Andrew did a wonderful job of putting them together, 2 regular size ones and one skinny one that is meant for cds, but is being used for my knickknacks. It looks pretty good. The color of the wood matches our tv stand and the shrunk (thats what they call the self standing closets in Germany). Plus, we can now continue to feed our book addictions. Now, we need to find a couch etc. We keep looking, but what is stuck in both our heads can't be found here. We may just need to settle on something, and get a different one when we return to the USA.
I also tried out my new bike. It is wonderful. I rode it off base, on a trail that supposedly goes from one base to the other. I only took it part way. It is unpaved and takes you through a wooded area with houses and water at the bottom of the hill. Now Andrew needs to get a bike so I have someone to ride with. I really enjoyed getting off base, and getting some exercise while enjoying myself. Hopefully, the weather stays descent so I can go out again.
We are leaving for our trip to Amsterdam in a couple hours (130am), and return Sunday morning at 2am. The bus ride is supposed to be 7-8hrs, I think. I'm excited to experience Holland.

Winter?

The weather has gotten colder, dreary, and rainy. It makes it hard for me to get out of bed in the morning. Andrew on the other hand has to get up at 530, to get to the other base for PT. I haven't been doing too much, working out most days, running errands, and finishing all the paperwork to apply for jobs(22pages). The man who has been helping me in the Job Center, unfortunately is ill this week, Bronchitis. So, this means I applied for a job, I think I did it right?!?, the other people in the office weren't a lot of help. I have been told that jobs are hard to come by, unless I want to work at a fastfood place or the grocery store. Not sure if I am up for that idea yet. I think I will wait it out a little longer. I don't really want to work with high schoolers at minimum wage. I haven't found a job that really fits my experience, a couple jobs I'd like won't open for 3-6 months, when those individuals move away. I'm thinking about volunteering in the exceptional persons office. The man there seemed quite interested in my special needs respite etc experience, maybe my help there could lead to something more.
I stopped by the PX today, many things are 25% or 50% off with an additional 50% off. I found a pair of asics for $25, a tshirt for 3.75....even without a mall I can find good deals :). Many people were buying winter coats for their children and themselves, as well as, perfume and cologne. I also bought some christmas chocolate, to sample a few types. Thus far my favorite has been some Belgium chocolates we received for Christmas. They melt in your mouth. We will have to stock up on chocolate when we make it to Belgium.
Andrew and I are going to the movie Night at the Museum, tonight. Cheap entertainment! Tomorrow we hope to go to IKEA again to get a few more things for our apartment, cheap. Otherwise, just lay low. I'm hoping to sign up for a trip for one of the upcoming weekends. They offer trips all the time, kinda costly, but you dont have to worry about driving or figuring out the details of the trip. I think for our first real trip, that it would be a good way to go somewhere.

2007!

Happy New Year!!! We attempted to use our TomTom to reach a castle and a chocolate factory, but the instructions failed to say you needed to charge it before you tried to use it. We tried to use the map that was on the chocolate website, but since we didnt know the area, it did us no good. I swear every road here splits in a Y, 90 degree turns don't exist. We did however end up near the stores we went to previously in the week, by taking a back route there by chance. We checked out the store Real, which is like Super WalMart, with groceries, bikes, toys, tires etc. Bought a few odds and ends, and made it home without any trouble. Yesterday, we went to the movie We Are Marshall, made dinner, and went to our friends house for drinks and to try out a German tradition. You purchase a package with pewter shapes in it: heart, flowers, money bag, cork, four leaf clover. You place the shape on a metal spoon and heat it over a candle to melt the pewter. Next, you pour the hot pewter into a bowl of water. You take the cooled pewter out and try to determine what the shape is. Different shapes are defined on the package, the shape determines your fortune for the New Year. After we headed to a nearby church. We took a taxi, which wasn't worth what it cost 16.20 Euro, but we had no idea where we were going. If we had known, we would have driven. It was quite the experience, a lot of people were at the church which is on a hill. At midnight all around town people set off their own fireworks until they run out. Needless to say the sky was very lit up with all the amateur fireworks. They lasted about 30-40 minutes. The church bells rang also. Our friends had purchased a few, so we set some off. Unfortunately, the bag they had some of them in, was hit with sparks and started on fire. Ruining half of what they had, ruining the backpack, and causing quite the noise. Which really wasn't noticed because everyone around us were focused on their own fireworks, many not even caring if you were in the way. I was scared someone was going to burn me. I don't think they like to recognize safety here. After we had enough of the fireworks and loudness, we caught a cab home. Our friends continued on to a German friend's house to continue to celebrate. We were both ready for a little sleep. My mom was able to reach me around 130am, to wish us a Happy New Year. We finished off 4 phone cards for a total of 19 minutes. Call time is really cut down when you call internationally.

Unaccompanied Baggage

Well Christmas has come and gone, and yesterday our last load of things arrived, woohoo. I spent about 8hrs unpacking, organizing, and setting up things. Andrew spent about the same. I'd say 95% is done. He worked half days W,Th, Fri. Which means being at work at 630am and home between noon and two. I also spent about two hours yesterday and today at the job center, filling out forms, revising my resume, and getting help finding jobs. By the time the information is all done I will be too tired to get a job. It is 19 pages long, on top of my resume. I have been informed that I will most likely be underemployed, possibly even working only part time. I will let you know more once my application is out there and will refrain from discussion until then.
This afternoon we ventured out to find the furniture thrift store (the redcross), Gama(bedsets, furniture, etc.), and managed to not get lost. We bought a couple things at the thrift store, some soup bowls and a glass mug.
We just got home from a nearby Chinese restaurant, very good. Although I feel weird eating Chinese in Germany. After we went to a EisCafe...ice cream, and checked out the small mall.
We hope to try out our TomTom (gps) to visit a castle tomorrow. We will let you know how that turns out.
Andrew has off til Wednesday, we hope to go with Mandi, her husband Erik, his friend Dominic, and is German girlfriend Dani, to several local venues, up until midnite, we will then head to a high hill in town to view fireworks. Supposedly it is the one day a year they are allowed to purchase fireworks around here and everyone puts them off at midnite.

Christmas Eve

we just got home from the 7pm candle light service on base. it was pretty good, other than the fact that the boy behind is going through puberty and the girl was singing quite loud, needless to say neither one was on tune. we live across the street from the chapel, so we walked. we have already opened all of our presents. andrew couldn't keep mine a secret very long, he purchased it this morning and gave it to me this afternoon. he gave me a beautiful bike, with fenders, a light, a bell, and a rack on the back (euro design). he received a watch, a backpack, and a handmade wooden christmas ornament. plus, we just bought a tomtom for the car and new cell phones to keep tabs on each other.
we had a lovely taco dinner this evening, but will have an even better one tomorrow when we go to our friend's houses. hopefully, we will find somewhere to drive to tomorrow or tuesday, to see something exciting. i've been quite lazy today. im itching to see something historic, or buy some furniture to replace our loaners.

Apartment

we are officially in our apartment, have our vehicle, both are legal to drive in europe, received our first load of things (2 more weeks for the majority), and we have even bought a few odds and ends (stools for the counter, rugs, glasses, plates, etc; ikea is a great place). we both feel like we should be out doing something, since we are in germany, but it feels great to just be lazy in our "home", to have a couch to nap on, to have more than one room to be in, so we went to a movie on base tonite, i actually have now been to 3...they are only 4 dollars.
i have not talked to the job guy yet, i have been busy being home, waiting for this delivery or that delivery. we had our internet connected, as well as, cable...unfortunately, the internet isnt working right and i am forced to rely on my wireless picking up on the neighbors connection :) hopefully I will get to talk to him this week to get things moving forward for the new year, that is if the office is open. It’s hard to know which places follow which calendar, there are german holidays, American holidays, and federal holidays…every place you go to does it a little different.
I went about a mile off base today with a girl from my class, she helped me buy our cell phones. They are much cheaper off base, but you have to face the language barrier. We were lucky and the girl who waited on us said she knew a little English, she was wrong she was pretty fluent…next we went to a mall, where I quickly learned you need cash (euro) to be able to purchase anything (on base you use usa cash), I had to borrow because all I had was usa cash and plastic…also you have to bring your own bag or basket for your things…
The next day andrew and I ventured out to find ikea, a nice gentleman at the place we picked up our car drew us a lovely map…we found it without trouble, spent two hours there, used our whole giftcard (thanks girls) and than some…we ended up in a line where the girl couldn’t speak English and we didn’t have a eurocheck card, so we backed the line up…I was able to say im sorry in german, after the interaction she had a coworker tell me in English that it was her fault…we both felt bad, and kinda stupid…ahhh, time to learn a few more things/rules…luckily she was sweet about it, and luckily we had a cart to take our things to the car, no bags…
We are headed to my sister’s friend’s sister’s house for dinner Christmas day, she is from waterloo, iowa…she works on base as a civilian/lives off base, her boyfriend lives on base here, he’s in the air force. After that we are headed to my friends apartment for a little more social time. Not sure what else we’re doing, everything pretty much shuts down on Sundays and holidays, which is a good thing BUT not when you have nothing to do.
While in the states I would always order water because I like it better than pop and it’s free, but here water is more expensive than pop, and pop comes with no ice, in a tiny little glass, and costs more than a huge beer…no wonder beer is so big, its cheap…
Well, id better get going to bed…you all are just getting started and im ending it here, have a lovely day weekend etc…