My best friend and sister has indeed arrived in the Netherlands (accompanied by her other best friend: her husband)! What a great day Thursday was-- great weather, great company, and I successfully surprised her by arriving at our uncle's a day earlier than she thought. Let me tell you, keeping that a secret and keeping my composure at Gomarus last Thursday was a huge struggle. Being someone who hates surprises myself, it was so difficult to keep it from her, but the look on her face when I arrived was totally worth it.
Before arriving at my uncle's I had my internship, gave a lesson on me and Miss Ryder's expectations for the persecution project, did a little shopping, ate dinner at my aunt's, and then, finally, I was with my sister again. Friday morning we woke up, ate breakfast, had coffee time, and then set out for a walk. Unfortunately the weather was not nearly as nice as it was Thursday, resulting in a very brisk walk through the village of Wommels. Little did we know, our luck was about to change. As we neared the main road to Kubaard, we saw a very strange bird rapidly approaching us. As it got closer, we tried to figure out what it was-- bright white, long and flat tail. It resembled a peacock, but we thought there was no way this was possible. When we got back, my aunt informed us otherwise. Not only was this a peacock, but also a sign of good luck! Perfect.
The rest of Friday included dinner (big meal at noon, not evening meal) with my aunt, uncle, and cousin, a visit to an ijs museum in Warkom, visiting the church where my Pake and Beppe are buried, and coffee along a canal. After lunch (small meal in the evening, not at noon), we visited my other uncle and aunt and cousins in Joure for coffee and oranjekook (spelling?), a shlookie (again, spelling?), and some good laughs. My family is so much funnier now that I'm old enough to understand what they are saying...in English. Unfortunately, I did not meet their expectations of my comprehension of the Dutch language. Hopefully that will change soon, but for now, I will laugh at their Dutch laughs and jokes in English.
On Saturday we visited the town where my brother-in-law's family is from and received a tour(ish) from my uncle's cousin, followed by nothing less than coffee time. We then returned to Zwolle. My uncle kindly offered to drive us all the way there, but I am sure he regrets that now. Note to self: never assume that you know directions via car when your main form of transportation is bike. Cars cannot, I repeat can NOT, travel every where bikes can. I had to learn that the hard way-- with family around to mock me. But alas, we arrived in Zwolle, just in time for the french fry feast with the Kenyan pastors. What a great meal to share with so many different cultures! After that, we headed to the city to celebrate St. Patty's Day (something they don't REALLY celebrate here, but we're American and do what we want, and there were some very enthusiastic Dutch participants).
Sunday included breakfast, church service with lots of English, and a tour de Zwolle via bikes. When LaRae's family arrived, she and her sister conquered double biking right away. Thinking Elizabeth and I could do the same, my host dad suggested we try it on the way to my brother's house to pick up the 5th bike. Well, he was wrong. Elizabeth and I made it about 2 feet before I told her to get off. I handed over my wonderful GH bike and hopped on the back of my dad's bike for the first little section of our tour and then continued all around Zwolle. We saw EVERYTHING, even some rain.
Sunday night included a lot of homework as I prepared to spend the rest of the week touring the Netherlands some more and showing my sister a great time here.
Today in Dutch class I thought I could easily impress my professor by telling her that I had been practicing my Dutch by texting Dutch people in Dutch and having them correct me, but she seemed almost annoyed by my efforts and continued with her lessons about things she should have taught us the first week (what time does the train leave? What time does the train arrive?). Reciprocating the love she shared for my attempts of using the Dutch language, I asked her why we were learning this now. She said, "Because it is helpful." My response: it is also helpful to say "Ik sprek Engels," (she really should not have taught me that phrase) and continue with a conversation in English... if I fail my next test, I assume that response may have something to do with it.
What Anna really should be teaching us is how to say breakfast sausage, parsley, lasagna noodles, cottage cheese, and salad dressing in Dutch. That would have saved me about 45 minutes and one very annoyed sales associate in the grocery store. But alas, I arrived home, prepared "The best lasagna ever" from Pioneer Woman (along with su chef LaRae) and enjoyed a feast with the family after my sister arrived home from Utrecht. And now, here I am, lying in bed, blogging and finishing homework before a big day in Amsterdam tomorrow! What it has in store for us: a lot more than we have time for, but we shall do our best.
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