Hanging in Hengelo

Jeannette and Roel ( Two of the sweetest, Dutch Mommy and Daddy)

     Time really does fly when you're having fun...kicking in doors, getting pulled over by the police, and experiencing countless 'handsome' moments. I have been in the Netherlands for almost three weeks now and it feels like the days have flown right by. I was more homesick going 30 minutes away for college then I am now in another country. A big reason for the easy transition, aside from all the helpful people in the Netherlands, is skype. Getting to not only talk, but see my friends and family has been nice and actually, the conversations have been better since there is no text messaging going on in the middle of a convo (sorry for being the queen of rude and doing that from ehum time to time ha) And unlike going away for the first year of college, Caitlin and I have a car to take us to explore the world...the tricky part is getting it to take us.

     It was time to conquer the stick shift. Dutch Daddy had taken the position as my personal driving instructor with an appointment time of 9am every morning. Mind you, I have been sleeping until 1pm daily, and that's only because practice is at 1:45pm. 9am was a tactically planned time to help the final transition out of jet lag. "Check your mirrors, breath, shift into second gear when turning, relax, listen to the engine to shift to 3rd, and relaaaax" Dutch Daddy was more confident in my driving then I was, but it was a huge improvement from the first experience of the 5 minute trip around the Stadium parking lot. So, we headed to the main roads...oh gosh...all was going well until I nascar riled up the engine to transition from a stop sign...stall, dang. Roel said no other then no problem and I was back on my way. Checking left, checking right, rear view mirror check, Netherlands police with their lights on, double dang. While the officers we running my license, I'm now drenched in sweat from this wonderful outing, I look over to the nudge of a grinning Dutch Daddy -"Give me your camera! We must document this 'handsome' event!" Waiting at this point for Ashton Kucher to pop out and say I was on Punked, the cops let me go and wished me a wonderful stay in Holland, thank goodness for "no problem". I drove Roel and Jenneatte around the rest of the day and the cops must have made an announcement that an American was on the roads because around every corner there was a cop! But it was too late for them, I had the driving down, and the relaxing part was coming along too. The Dutch parentals and I spent some time walking around the town of Delden and window shopping since most businesses are closed on Sunday. After a cup of tea and coffee, we headed home for "7 o clock dinner in your lap" which is when the streets are empty because everyone is watching the men's futbol highlights from that week, and eating. Lekker (I like). I also learned about the eleven city tour (Elfstedentocht)  which only takes place when all the rivers, canals, and lakes freeze in the 11 cities. The last time the ice skating tour took place was in 1997 and it is uncertain when the next tour will be yet people train every year for it. Maybe it will be this year, along with the coldest winter for the ultimate winter experience for Caitlin and I...ha..ha...oh. 

     After a wonderful evening with the fam, Caitlin and I were alerted by a psssst. Outside our window were two teammates ready for a late night McDonald's Mcflurry run, we were down in seconds. Finally, for the first time I understood the girls Dutch conversation completely (apparently profanity is universal) they had locked their keys in their apartment. After a lot of jiggling and jamming of objects in hopes to force the door open, their new neighbor came flying through the air and kicked the door in! We rushed to Micky D's and unfortunately this story has a sad ending because we didn't make it in the Golden Arches that night, BUT it was some quality team bonding if I've ever seen any! We laughed about it the whole ride home and it turned out to be a very 'handsome' night. Handsome night? ...Roel's favorite word is handsome and  he uses it to describe everything..."that meal was handsome," "Oh yes, what handsome scenery," "The new vacuum will be handsome for the apartment." And although we understand the idea behind it, along with our Dutch tutoring appointments, Caitlin and I are also helping our 'handsome' Dutch Daddy with English. 

HA! Mastered.