Weekend reflections

Sitting here eating a piece of chicken filet, wearing a t-shirt with a new kikoi wrapped around my waist (thank you Sharon!!). The house still filled with the aftermath of having a family of 5 over to stay. (so happy so see that this is possible in our house!). Herman and I came back from the airport and crawled right back into bed for a couple of hours of sleep (the joys of having big kids who take care of themselves!).

It's been a good weekend all in all. We picked up Sharon and her family from the airport and it didn't feel like it had been 13 years since we saw each other! She just had the lovely addition of a husband and three cute kids. We were able to borrow a van that seats 9 (a rarity here, so that was lovely in itself) and then we took the scenic route back to our house where I had a meal of dutch pancakes and poffertjes waiting. I mean, who can go wrong with pancakes, right?!? We had ice-cream at Marindas work and then got the exhausted children and parents off to bed.
The next dawned grey and gloomy, and stayed that way unfortunately. So our attempts at showing the cultural sites in the neighborhood kind of literally fell into the water. In the afternoon we went to my sisters house for her sons birthday party. So our guests got a chance to experience that side of dutch culture! Though my sister manages to make it a much less formal occassion that it usually is in Holland, thank goodness!
We hit the McDonalds for a quick fix on the way back home :-) and then sleepily watched Forrest Gump before hitting the sack again.

Some of the things that I noticed:
- when your friends are old friends, it doesn't take much to get back in touch again!
- americans are so polite! We were thanked every time something was done. For my sober dutch side, this was practically a culture shock. One that I enjoyed!
- having three kids under 5 and travelling..... need I say more? I admire my friends more than ever for taking the effort to stop by and visit us. It is truly, truly appreciated!!
- Sharon is a great mom, I loved seeing her enormous patience with her children. She did not get flustered once, something I envy and admire greatly!
- a day and a half is so short! Next time, we must make it longer.

She, and others like her, are welcome here at all times. Now you all know we can harbor a family of 5 easily (though those dutch toilets....... you'll just have to take the bad with the good). We can even arrange appropriate transportation. And if you're bigger than a family of 5? We'll just scooch in a little bit more and make more room!

Now for the icing on the cake...... I woke up after my nap, went downstairs and discovered a neighbor had dropped by with a box that had been shipped to me. To me? First instinct was to drown my enthousiasm and assume it was my sister who sometimes orders books through Amazon and gives them my adres. But then I noted the adres in the corner. Oh me, oh my, this was truly a box for me! I opened it and found ENGLISH BOOKS people, ENGLISH BOOKS!! My lovely friend Melanie sent me ENGLISH BOOKS!! I am just touched and thrilled to pieces. Two of those books were way up on my list of things I wanted to read, namely "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" and "eat, pray, love". Isn't that just fantastic? Let me tell you, I shed a tear while reading her card, and every now and again I walk past my pile of books and give them a cuddle. I kid you not!! THANK YOU MELANIE!!