Waving from Holland: Day One: Arrival

The view from the balcony right outside my room!

To anyone who wishes to follow along, but doesn't know the details of my trip, a brief story: Five years ago, when I began teaching at the preschool University Children's Temple School, I met then one year old Jasper. His parents, Alex and Claire (both faculty at UW), would occasionally ask me to babysit, so in time I grew quite close to the family. Then came Oliver, whom I've actually had the pleasure of having him in two of my classrooms at UTCS. In late 2011, Alex was accepted to go on sebatical for the following school year at a university in Delft, Netherlands, where Claire's family is from. In April 2012, Annika was born, and thus the family decided that it would be a wise decision to bring someone to Holland to help all of them settle in, and that's where I come in. I happily deferred my enrollment status at grad school so that I could accompany the Horner-Devine family to the Netherlands for 3 months. I will be here from August until November, very content with missing out on election 2012 coverage :)

Below is an email sent out to my closest family members, letting them know not to worry about my safety so far from home...

Hi Everyone! Whew! I'm exhausted! but just wanted to jot down a few lines before I go to bed, letting you know that I arrived safely. I landed in Amsterdam ~9:15am, and after making the swift exit thru customs, then a very long wait to retrieve my bag from the carousel, I found myself a bus to Claire's Aunt Bernadette's apartment. It was very easy to find, but by the time I reached there, I only had roughly 45 minutes to shower and have tea with her aunt and uncle before we headed back to the airport to pick up the rest of the Horner-Devine clan.

1/3 of the Horner-Devine Luggage, Amerstam airport

Sometime past 2pm, the family emerged with their HEAPS of luggage from the baggage terminal, and the extended family and family loaded into three cars to make our journey to Delft. Because we weren't able to get the keys to the apartment until 4:30, we pulled over on our way and each had a slice of apple pie with cappuccinos, in a restaurant which bridged over the freeway - very cool.

Once we arrived to the apartment, there were many issues that needed to be addressed in regards to the condition of the apartment - kinda dirty, no internet connection as promised, no hot water, a number of broken things, etc. and the real estate agent was kind of an asshole because we are "americans" (technically, I'm the only card carrying American - not a very attractive quality to the europeans). So I was asked to stay in the car with the sleeping children, so that they wouldn't fall apart while negotiations were still underway (ha, not because I'm an american). But the kids did really really well, all things considered. While I was on the verge of falling asleep, I enjoyed their company, and I know that they enjoyed mine.

We're on our way to our new home, Annika!

After eating dinner in our new home, I got ready for bed while the rest of the family went on a 'pajama walk' around the neighborhood. I can't wait to go on my own walk tomorrow to explore! It's so picture perfectly european here. And mom, remember "old church" and "new church" in delft? well, I've got a pretty great view of them from my room! While probably temporary, for now my room is the entire top floor of this apartment, overlooking delft out one wall of windows and vast vegetation out the others. 3 of the 4 walls are windows, and there are two very large patios outside the room. I could pinch myself.