Ooh, purdy flowers . . .

After checking the weather, and the hours and entrance fees, I went to the Trompenburg Gardens and Arboretum.  Of course, there was a lot of going up and down the stairs--for breakfast, to get my computer, to put the computer away and have a shower, etc.  Plus, every time I go upstairs, I have to lay down for a bit, because I'm so winded.  But the sinus infection seems to be going away at last, even though the effects still linger.  Right now, it's bark is worse than its bite.  I still have a nasty cough, but I don't have to blow my nose nearly as often as I did even just yesterday.

It took about 45 minutes to get to the arboretum, then I paid my 6 Euros.  I walked to the tea house straight away, because I hadn't eaten since breakfast, and was practically starving by then.  I had a sandwich with salmon and cheese spread, which I think was sort of like a bagel with lox--only the bread wasn't a bagel.  I also had some coffee, which was very tasty.  I think they had real cream or something.

After lunch, I wandered around some more before heading back to the entry building.  There, I bought yet another umbrella (this time, one with a plaid pattern and a slip-on cover which cost 14,95 Euros, so it had better not break in a strong wind) and a small hardcover notebook with a small "map" of Rotterdam on the cover.  There are 54 pictures in the "Vacation in Holland" album on my Facebook profile from the arboretum alone.

Both on the way there and on the way back (as well as during some other walks I'd taken this week) I kept seeing posters for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers LIVE.  These puzzled me, because that particular movie came out ten years ago, so why even try to have a live version so late?  Plus, why only do the second movie in the trilogy?  And how is it live, anyway, when the posters have pictures of the same actors as in the films?  Too bad I couldn't understand all the Dutch on the posters--at least I got a picture of it, so someone might be able to figure it out and tell me eventually.

That was a lot of walking, so I went straight back to my room for a while and just listened to my iPod before coming down to eat something for dinner and posting all the photos and an account of my day.

I don't know whether or not I actually will go to either Arnhem or Volendam tomorrow.  The way I figure it, I believe I have just enough for train fare back to the airport on Thursday morning, plus a bit more to buy gifts for everyone.  I can easily get what almost everyone requested (stroopwafels, cheese and chocolate sprinkles) at the market on the corner after I check out of the hostel.  Besides, I think I've thoroughly enjoyed myself, and every time I add new pictures to the Facebook album dedicated to this vacation, the upload slows down exponentially further than the last time.  There are 273 photos in there, after all.

I almost bought some slippers shaped like wooden shoes for Dylan on Saturday while I was at Madurodam, but he already has slippers, so I decided against it.  Maybe I'll find something at the airport that he'll like, or on the way to Rotterdam Central train station.  I also contemplated the slippers as gag gifts for some of the adults, but also decided not to do that.

Okay, so that wasn't her ward.

Those of you not religiously inclined, please feel free to skip over the next five paragraphs.

I called Grandma last night, and she said that Susanne actually goes to church in Spijkenisse, even though the Meetinghouse Locator at LDS.org says that she's assigned to the Rotterdam First Ward.  Whenever I search anything in Hellevoetsluis, it always comes up as Rotterdam First Ward--doesn't say a single thing about the Spijkenisse Ward, even though there is definitely a meetinghouse there, and it's about halfway between here and Hellevoetsluis.  Weird.

Yet, the people at the church today knew her name when I said it, so they've probably at least met her, which is even more puzzling.  Grandma thinks that the building I went to today is the Stake building, but it's so tiny, how could it be?  Sure, the Stake President was there today, but that could have just been because that ward was getting a whole new bishopric.

Oh, well.  At least I packed my Kindle (which I have copies of the scriptures and the hymns on)--not even my mini-quad and my mini hymnals would have fit in either bag I packed for this trip.

Anyway, I got up and got dressed, surprisingly, at 8 a.m.  One of the other people in my room snores, so I figured it would be easier just to get up, especially since I had a long walk ahead of me.

After breakfast, I headed out, and it was pouring down rain.  I had that umbrella I bought at Madurodam yesterday, but the wind blew so hard that the umbrella turned inside out, and half of the extender arms broke!  Both my jacket and the bottom half of my dress were soaking wet by the time I got there.  The rain stopped long enough for me to get back after church though.  Oddly enough, their meetings are in reverse order of the ones back home.  We had Relief Society first, then Sunday School, and then Sacrament Meeting.

So now I'm back, and I'm hoping to do some laundry later, because I didn't pack nearly as many t-shirts as I thought I had, and I've run out of clean, full-length pants.  In other words, all I'm left with are warm-weather clothes, and it's pretty chilly here right now.

Or maybe I'll try calling Susanne in a little while, and do laundry tomorrow.  Though that might not be a good idea, for the same reason I just said above.

I didn't take any pictures while I was either walking or at the church, since I was just trying to stay warm, and my camera was inside the jacket.  Opening the jacket to get the camera would have been dumb--not to mention, my hands were already pretty frozen as it was, carrying the umbrella and the Kindle.

That's about it for now.  Maybe I can get some more of my story typed up or something.

Is this day one, day two, or day three? I'm confused.

Any way you count it, it's the first full day I've been in the Netherlands.

Last night, I went to sleep very early, and only got up once to check the time and answer the call of nature.  I couldn't find my watch, and my cell phone doesn't even show the time here--so it's useless as an alarm clock--so I went downstairs to ask someone in the lounge what time it was.  It was midnight.

Woke up around 8:30 a.m. (that's 1:30 a.m. back home) and got dressed before going down to the lounge for the free breakfast.  No poffertjes or lamatjespap (not sure how to spell that one), but it's summer, so I figure they wouldn't make those right now anyway.  They did have cereal, bread (plus toasters), coffee, various juices, jam, chocolate/hazelnut spread (a.k.a. Nutella), CHOCOLATE SPRINKLES, and some sort of cakey square thing which I'm sure tasted familiar but I can't quite remember the name of.  I didn't have one of everything, but I ate enough.

After breakfast, I went up to get my money and stuff before heading to the supermarket.  I needed bottled water and some lip balm.  I'd lost the tube of Blistex I keep in my backpack--and found it again after I'd been to the market anyway.  Started taking pictures on the way to and from.

Back from the market, I got my stuff together and rented a bicycle--8 euros, plus a 50 euro deposit per day--then headed out to see the cube houses.

I forgot to mention yesterday that, in all my frienzied, Monday night packing, I knew I was going to forget something.  Odd thing is, it wasn't something I missed until I got to Rotterdam Centraal yesterday: the Netherlands road map Grandma lent me.  It would have been nice to have, but I can live without it, even though the Rotterdam City map the receptionist at the hostel gave me isn't nearly detailed enough to be 100% comprehensible.

Anyway, saw the cube houses, then went back to the hostel for lunch.  Ate that, and then brought my computer downstairs to look up directions to the Peppels' house.  Walking would take over 5 hours, and biking about 1½, so I'm not sure I want to do even that.  Instead, I looked up where their ward meets for church.  Turns out, they're in the Rotterdam 1st ward, and their building is just a 9-minute bike ride away . . . if you don't get lost 3-5 times along the way, that is.

The biking directions I got online (at http://www.fietsersbond.nl/fietsrouteplanner/) were so convoluted, and I couldn't see many street signs when I went past a block or two, so I kept getting lost on the way to the church.  I finally got there though, and took the straight route back to the hostel.  Now I know how to reverse it and get to the church without trouble.

I decided that was enough biking for the day (it was 3 p.m), so I turned in the keys for the bike locks (got my 50 Euros back, too) and decided to bum around the hostel for the rest of the day.  I've been on the computer since about 4, and got my list of NPCs for the RPG I'm going to run this summer typed up.

I thought of typing up the new scenes I'd written for my fantasy story, but this chair is hard, and I need some dinner anyway. Right after I hit the "Submit" button on this post, I'm logging off.  Pictures are in my "Vacation in Holland" album on Facebook!

Maybe I should do some more Rosetta Stone tomorrow . . . nah.  I'd look silly talking to my computer in the middle of the lounge (wi-fi doesn't reach to the 3rd floor).

The New House

I moved in with Anna and Tim last month, and finally got around to taking some pictures!

It's Official!

As of about ten minutes ago, I am now officially moved in!


Seriously. All the bins are un-packed, my books are on the shelves and catalogued, and everything has its place--even my bow, which I need Dad to re-string for me.

According to LibraryThing.com, I have 514 books total. I know I'm missing at least four though, so it's more like 518. I'm missing the Chronicles trilogy of DragonLance, and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. And, yes, I'm certain I had them before.

I promised Patrick J. that I'd take pictures once I got my books all shelved and such, so here they are. The picture to the left is the white book case in the first-floor TV room.

The picture to the right is the book case on the right-hand side of the third-floor nook, and the final one is the case on the left-hand side.


On the top shelf of each book case are only either Harry Potter books or books written by Orson Scott Card. The Orson Scott Card books are there because he's my favorite author, and the Harry Potter books are there because they're pretty much the only series with books that are all the same size that would fit on the top shelf of the right-hand book case.

For those interested, the "cloud" of words on the right-hand side of my main blog page will take you to my "library" of books at LibraryThing.com. It's a great online book database, and it's got all these nifty quirks and perks.

It's free for up to 200 books if you catalogue your own. After that, a yearly membership is $10, and a lifetime membership is $25. I decided that a lifetime membership was definitely worth it to be able to keep track of all of my books without hassle, so I forked over the $25 last week.

My New Place

Here's my bedroom. It looks a little different, now that Kimba helped me put the drapes up today. I don't have a new picture, since I took this batch of pictures this morning.








This is the "book nook," as I like to call it, right a cross the hall from my bedroom. Not very many books in there yet, but all of the knick-knacks there are mine.








This is the 3rd floor bathroom, which I only have to share with one other person . . . yay!








Down one floor, we come to the back deck (this picture was taken from inside the kitchen door--it's frickin' cold outside!














This is our lovely, yet somewhat empty, kitchen.














On the same floor is our "living room," I guess you'd call it. In the corner closest to the kitchen are two couches, then moving to the right is Jen R's corner. Kayla has the wall opposite the kitchen, and everything from the electronic keyboard to the stairs is mine. I think Jen C. keeps all her stuff in her room (she has the master suite, complete with cathedral ceiling).














This is our TV room. There's not much in it, but Kayla bought a TV big enough to watch in that huge entertainment center. The treadmill at the back is Jen R's, and the small case of DVDs/videos is mine, as well as the white book case with the "suspended animation" clock on top.



The fireplace was really NICE to come home to yesterday after a short day at work and a drive in the snow. When I got home, Jen C. was watching Memoirs of a Geisha (my movie), and I decided to join her, so I grabbed my pillow and a blanket from upstairs, and laid down with my back to the fire. There's a rumor that the Jens are working on getting a couch for the TV room, but I haven't seen one yet.








Jen R's room is on the first floor, just before you come to the TV room. Both Kimba and I thought at first that there was only curtains, and no door, but there really is a door there. I'm still not sure if Jen R. has a bathroom in her room or not, but I think she does.








And THIS is the entry! I didn't take a picture of how the house looks from the outside, because it's so cold, but this is what it looks like from JUST inside the front door.



The doorknobs in this house are kind of weird to me. If you lock the door, you can still turn the handle to get out, but if you're trying to get in, you'd better have your key with you, because it won't budge if it's locked. I've never lived anywhere else where you could get OUT if the door was locked.



Anyway, that's my place. Hope you like! And even if you don't, that's okay, 'cause you don't have to live here. :)