Thanksgiving Week 2007 - Day 4: Thanksgiving Dinner

The day has finally come that we celebrated our first Thanksgiving Dinner in Holland.

Planning took a little more imagination then back home. Dinner had to include turkey. Where to get one? Order it from the polier (poultry man) or the butcher. But - would it fit into our oven? Remember, our oven nicely holds a 9 x 13 pan without much head room. In talking to people, the average size turkey they had ordered was 3 kilos (6.6 pounds) and cost anywhere from 20 euros to 60 euros. And you definitely have to order a turkey if you want the full bird. You can find a deboned turkey breast or a turkey roll but not easily a bird over the counter. In fact, chickens are hard to find over a kilo.

Given the size of our oven, we ordered a turkey roll. It would be made of all dark meat which is our favorite. We ordered tw0 2-kilo rolls to make sure that we would have leftover. Mary Ann picked them up on Wednesday.

Cranberries for cranberry chutney were easier to find. She found them at Albert Heijn (Giant Foods' Dutch sibling) and Jumbo (pronounced "Yum-bo"). Walnuts come in expensive smaller packages. Raisins, apples, oranges and spices are standard fare.

For vegetables, we went simple with mashed potato and canned corn. We picked up a couple of sweet potatoes at the vegetable man in Wassenaar but will cook them with leftovers. Corn is a New World crop, not very popular on this side of the Atlantic. You can find it canned and sometimes a few cobs of fresh but the fresh is expensive. Popcorn is on the shelves for popping on the stove. On occasion, there's microwave bags. The C1000 in Wassenaar carries American products on the shelves like Duncan Hines cake mixes & brownies, Pam, Crisco, canned yams, boxed macaroni & cheese, stove top stuffing, oreos, american candy, and microwave popcorn. There's a store in the section of The Hague called Mariahoeve called Van Dyck that has a large American food section. It includes the logo of the Betty Crocker spoon in it's ad. The British food store carries some American products. If you're willing to pay the price, you can find almost anything here.

I didn't find canned pumpkin in time to make a pie. Instead, I bought a box of Duncan Hines Brownie Mix and made it. It was a special treat that everyone enjoyed.

We had dinner at 6 pm. All was delicious. We talked about what we missed and what we were grateful for. We missed the Macy's parade and all the balloons. We missed going to 10 AM Mass at our parish, St. Philip's, and bringing an item of prepared food to be blessed. We are thankful for being together, our health, laughter, and our dear friends and family. We are especially grateful for our faith which has sustained us through all the ups and downs of this past year, the tears and the smiles, our comings and goings.

A belated Happy Thanksgiving Day to you all! May all your days be filled with gratitude and thanksgiving.

The Brass Recital Starring Elisabeth

Here is the long awaited video of Elisabeth's trumpet solo! Julia-Anne took it with her digital camera and the Mom finally was taught how to upload it to Youtube to share. Link is at end of this posting.

Elisabeth has a wonderful private lesson teacher for the trumpet, Femke ("Fem-ka.") Femke is affirming, challenging, supportive and lots of fun. She teaches trumpet, french horn and baritone. Femke thought it would be fun to have a brass recital with all her students, doing some pieces together and then solos or duets.

ER picked "No one mourns the wicked" by Stephen Schwartz for her solo. She was accompanied by the school's piano instructor, Mr. Jeminez. She found it challenging because of the timing and the high notes. The music was slightly different in parts from the song on the original cast CD. She worked on it alone and practiced several times with Mr. Jeminez. This video is the result. She was nervous but did really, really well.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bAdtyv3gMKI

Thanksgiving Week 2007 - Day 3: Pieterskerk, Leyden

Thanksgiving Day, 22 November 2007

Step back from Plymouth Rock, step back from the Mayflower sailing from Plymouth, England, step back to where the Pilgrims, or Separatists, lived after leaving England. They came to Holland where they found acceptance, tolerance and a place to live their faith. They arrived in Amsterdam in 1608 and moved to Leyden (Leiden) in 1609. They lived in that town, about 15 km north of The Hague, until 1620.

The church they recorded their births, marriages and deaths is Pieterskerk (St. Peter's Church) in Leyden (or Leiden), Netherlands. Consecrated in 1121, the church was Roman Catholic until 1572 when it became Dutch Reformed and all remnants of it being Catholic removed. In 1975 it was secularized. The pilgrim's minister, John Robinson, is buried in the church.

Every year, Americans and Dutch of all faiths hold a remembrance service there. Terry remembers going to it when he lived here. As a boy scout of Troop 141, he participated in the flag ceremony. The same Boy Scout Troop 141 presented the colors this year. The ASH high school band was playing which meant that JA needed to be there. A neighbor picked her up early and then Terry and Mary Ann followed on the train. ER decided that she wanted to sleep in. She knew that she would be going next year and any years after that when she was in the high school band.

The church building is gutted of sanctuary and permanent seating. Its use now is secular for events and receptions. In the middle of the building was laid out a stage area and theater-style seating. In the back of the church, the reception committee was setting up the coffee and cookies for after the service. Those attending were asked to bring cookies to share. Terry and Mary Ann arrived about 10:40, in time to hear the ASH band play the pre-service music. We found seats on the left side, almost to the front, able to see what was going to take place at the podium.

Terry's Note: Walking into the church after 35 years (the last time was 1972) was a mind-bending experience. It brought back a lot of memories. Like Abigail Adams when she entered the church I, too, felt a "respect and veneration," though not in the sense she was writing about. I probably could write a whole paper here on historical memory, but suffice it to say that being back in that old building was something to savor. A final thought...returning to this place as an adult makes me appreciate the historicism even more than before.

The service is part civil ceremony and part nondenominational prayer service. There's a traditional order to the service. It lasted about an hour and a half from the time the organ prelude started. Here's how it played out this year:

• Organ prelude by the organist of the American Protestant Church of The Hague
• Words of welcome by the Americans Overseas Remember Committee Chair, the chair of the Thanksgiving Service Committee, and the mayor of the city of Leiden
• Dutch descendant of Moses Fletcher, a signer of the Mayflower Compact, speaks on her pilgrim heritage.
• The co-student senate president (which is like the student council/government) from ASH describes Thanksgiving at his house
• Presentation of the Colors by Troop 141 along with little pilgrims (boys & girls from ASH elementary/early middle school), Cub Scouts, and Girl Scouts from ASH followed by the Pledge of Allegiance
• Solo of "God Bless America"
• Remarks by the Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy who also read President Bush's Thanksgiving Day proclamation.
• Singing together "America the Beautiful"
• Invocation by the Catholic Priest from the international English Speaking Catholic Church, The Hague.
• Reading from the Torah, Leviticus 19:9-18 by the Rabbi from the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, The Hague.
• Singing together "We Gather Together"
• Thanksgiving Prayer by the Protestant Minister of the American Protestant Church
• Solo of "Let Us Break Bread Together"
• Psalm Reading of Psalm 33:1-5, 8, 12-15, 18-22 by a licensed reader from the international speaking Anglican Church
• Gospel Reading from Matthew 5:3-9 (The Beatitudes) by the pastor of Trinity Baptist International Church
• Offertory taken to use to defray expenses of the service. During this time, the ASH band played. See note below about JA's involvement.
• Solo of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" as a song of thanksgiving
• Thanksgiving Day Litany which focused on giving thanks to God for people and His gifts by the pastor of Crossroads International Church of The Hague.
• Song by the ASH Select Vocal Ensemble, JAAK, which was an a capella"Do Remember Me" ("Do Lord, oh do Lord, oh do remember me...") (Some of JA's friends are in it)
• The Priestly Benediction sung in Hebrew and then in English by either the cantor or rabbi from the Jewish Community, Amsterdam (incredibly solemn and soul reaching.)
• Postlude by the organ

Now for JA. She had been talking about doing a duet at the Pieterskerk Service but never told us what it was. Weren't we surprised when she stood up at the beginning of the offertory with another flutist and began playing. Mary Ann leaped up with a digital camera and was able to capture all but the first couple measures. At one point the video shifts because she had to move from one side of a pillar to the other to get out of the way of the ushers taking up the collection. The duet of "'Tis the Gifts to be Simple" is followed by a piece played by the entire ASH high school band. Jim Yarnell is the director. He chose the second piece because he thought it would sound good in the church. The acoustics were great. And here is the link to the YouTube video of both pieces. JA plays the lower notes most of the time.

In the frame below click first onto the arrow in the middle of the screen and then click onto the play button. If clicking on the arrows in the embedded video doesn't work, here's the direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEDLMKF0MeM





After the service, we walked around Leiden enjoying all the streets, the canals and sites, and had lunch there as well. We know that we are going to get back there again soon.

Thanksgiving Week 2007 - Day 2: High School

The high school students have their own Thanksgiving lunch the day before Thanksgiving, this year on 21 November. The parents cater this one. Over a month ago, the weekly announcement, The Flash, was asking for volunteers to help cook turkeys, make mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry compote, pies, brownies, pies and cookies. I overlooked it until, Patty, the mom in charge of volunteers made a pitch at the Monday Morning Networking session.

I called Patty to volunteer. I caught her picking up the turkeys to be cooked for the lunch. We talked later. Since I could not bring anything hot because of coming by bus, I volunteered to make 2 pans of brownies and to help out that day from set up through serving.

Since I have not made any baked goods in my oven, let alone from scratch, I purchased two boxes of Duncan Hines brownie mix at the cost of 5,69 euros each. Expensive, yes, but I knew what to expect from them. The Dutch also have a brownie mix which I have not yet tried. I also plan to go back to making brownies from scratch using Dutch cocoa. Making the boxed brownies was a success.

The seniors were released from class 15 minutes earlier for lunch then usual so they would have time to enjoy their lunch. This year ASH has a record high school enrollment so there aren't enough seats at the tables for the entire high school to eat at one time. A separate eating area was set up for the seniors just for this lunch. Connecting two parts of the school building is a sky walk that goes over the cafeteria area. In that corridor, we set up tables and chairs and two serving lines for the seniors.

Turkeys were cooked ahead of time at people's homes and are then reheated in the ovens. Other hot foods need to be brought in hot from the homes contributing them. This year not enough people signed up to make homemade stuffing so 30 boxes of Stove Top were procured at the same time and place as the turkeys - obviously an American connection. 23 boxes of Stove Top were made in the Home Ec kitchen this morning.

The ladies in charge of set up and good look like they had done this for years and knew how to marshall an army of moms to pull this major dinner off. Yes, it was a major dinner. Over 400 people were served including high school students, faculty and volunteers in about an hour's time. Students paid 5 euros per ticket for the meal. They look forward to the meal every year.

I helped out first with the set up of the seniors area. I taped down white paper table cloths then pulled out of a bag filled with ivy cut from a parent's front yard straight vines to use on the tables as centerpieces along with fall fruit and nuts. I wrapped silverware, decorated boxes with napkins to hold them and counted the number in a basket to be able to separate them out according to the different serving stations. Once that was done, I went to the Home Ec kitchen to see what I could do there.

If I remember correctly, there are 8 kitchens in the Home Ec room each with its own oven and sink. Every oven was going keeping warm either sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans or stuffing. In fact, almost all the ovens in the school including the elementary and the middle school/high school cafeteria ovens were keeping food warm. This caused a problem at times since we lost track of where food was. Just when we seemed to be out of mashed potatoes or turkey, another pan was found hidden away somewhere. I arrived in the kitchen at the end of making the Stove Top Stuffing; the last pot was being washed up.

I moved things, washed and dried dishes, counted more silverware, helped to move food into the ovens. Senior moms served food to their senior children. At 12:30 pm the Seniors began coming. The runners regularly came back to replenish the food supply. Desserts had already been plated with samples of three different desserts: a piece of pie (pumpkin, apple, cherry or chocolate), a cookie (chocolate chip or oatmeal) and either a small piece of cake or a brownie. Whipped cream was squirted on the pies at the last minute before serving. A full plate was served up and they were able to go back for seconds.

The High School students turned in the paper tickets that they bought. Tickets were sold up to and including lunch time. They received a ticket for their meal and another ticket for dessert. Seniors had their desserts delivered to them as they ate at the tables.

Meanwhile, on the floor below, right after the middle school finished their lunches, the set up committee placed Thanksgiving-themed paper place mats at each chair in anticipation of the 9th to 11th grade lunch. Plants left over from the day before were set around for table decorations. Two serving lines were also set up on this level. The food runners had a harder time bringing more food down then they did with the senior lines because they had to go up and down the stairs between floors as the elevator was along the corridor with the seniors and not easy to get to. The underclassman collected their dessert from the dessert tables after surrendering their dessert ticket. There was enough food for everyone to come back for seconds.

My picture of the downstairs serving line heads this post. I surveyed the room and spotted JA almost immediately seated with her friends and enjoying her dinner. If you look carefully at the picture on the left, you will see JA almost in the middle with a big smile on her face. (Click on it to make it bigger.) She really enjoyed the lunch. Plus talking with her friends was fun. I was a good parent and embarrassed her by taking pictures and waving at her from the bridge above the cafeteria. I had seen her earlier in the day too with her friend Mita ready for Stage Production class and painting the scrim (material used as a fore drop to shield the band from the audience during the musical production.)

Once all the students and faculty ate, the volunteers ate a much deserved lunch together. Clean up continued after that. Leftover stuffing, turkey and desserts were packaged and sold. Faculty were already hovering looking for the leftovers to buy and take home. It was a wonderful day, much appreciated by all. It was amazing to hear how many moms were leaving town and not planning to cook a turkey meal for their family. I wonder why?

Tomorrow: Pieterskerk Service: Walking in the Steps of the Pilgrims.

Thanksgiving Week 2007 - Day 1: Middle School

Thanksgiving week has begun in Holland. Today was the Middle School Thanksgiving Lunch. Avenance, the school caterer, served a special menu of turkey roll, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn and cranberry sauce along with a drink (water or juice) and a dessert plate of apple tart and brownie. Students signed up for it ahead of time and paid 5 euros for the meal. Middle School goes from 5th-8th grade. Almost all the students bought a ticket. Since the school is only 40% American, the experience of a thanksgiving meal was appreciated by children of many nationalities. Lunch was in two shifts: 5th & 6th (beginning 11:40) then 7th & 8th (beginning 12 Noon.)

While Avenance prepared the food, the parents decorated the tables, sold and checked tickets, controlled the crowd, and helped to serve the food. Since this will be my only middle school year, I volunteered to help out.


Set up started at 10:15 a.m. The cafeteria tables were covered with white paper tablecloths. A Fall-themed runner of leaves was laid down the middle. Napkins with a turkey motif marked each place. Moms brought in baskets, gourds, pumpkins, fall flowers, mums from home to decorate the tables. A few pilgrim paper dolls stood around. There were two sign in tables - one for the 6th & 8th graders the other for the 5th & 7th graders. The student was marked off the alpha list and received a hand stamp to indicate that he had paid for the lunch. Each grade had its own serving line and then could go to any of the tables to eat.

An Avenance employee served the potatoes, corn and green beans. Mothers helped with the meat, gravy and cranberry sauce. The students grabbed their own drink and silverware. To get dessert, they presented their hand again which was colored with a pink marker to indicate that they had received their one dessert plate. I was at the gravy bowl. The gravy is more "au jus" here then gravy thickened with cornstarch or flour that we're use to back home.


The first shift of 5th & 6th graders went well. As the assembly line progressed, we gained our rhythm and served at a faster and faster pace. The students were very good about taking their place in line and not pushing or shoving. I had several questions from the 6th graders - I was in that line - about what the "gravy" was. When I called it "au jus" they understood better. The cranberry sauce was not popular. Lunch lasted 20 minutes. We were serving the last of the 6th graders when the next group, 7th & 8th grade, came in.


The energy level and size of child in the room increased dramatically. More energy was bouncing all over the place. It was organized chaos. They check in and wait patiently in line. Cranberry sauce had about the same number of takers the second shift as the first.


I duly embarrassed ER by waving at her while she was waiting in line for her food. The kitchen had run out of mashed potatoes so the group she were waiting for a new batch to arrive. I tried taking a picture but she turned fast away from me and was a blur in the image. The picture at the top of this post comes from the first shift so don't look for ER in it.

Because we had paper table cloths, clean up was easy and we were done about 12:35 pm. It was a fun time.


Tomorrow: The High School Thanksgiving Luncheon

Car Window Frost

This morning I heard a sound I didn't expect to hear: frost being scraped off car windows.

Something seemed strange that the neighbor had left her car running while parked. We were waiting for the school bus to arrive at 7:43 am Sunrise was at 8:00 so the first rays of light were around us. The neighbor brought out a bottle of "windex" and was spraying her windows. I thought she needed to simply clean them. The bus came so I said good bye to the girls and went to to get ready for Dutch class.

At 8:40, I was on my way to the bus for Dutch class when I heard the sound of scraping. It was rather loud on our quiet street. I saw a different neighbor scraping her windshield. The side windows were already clear with the scrapings of frost along the edges.

And now at 9:35 pm, the outside temperature is 36 degrees F. With the amount of humidity in the air, I think there may be frost on the car windows again tomorrow morning.

Halloween Wassenaar Style

American traditions find their way here in Holland and are adapted to the circumstances.

Wassenaar is the gemeente (municipality) north of The Hague and where the American School (ASH) is located. Lots of Americans live their as well as other expats. Lots of American children (and parents) live there who enjoy Halloween. On 31 October, the students and teachers came to school in costume. Elementary school classes had parties. The high school set up a haunted house. Not all the high schoolers wore costumes but if they wanted candy from the teachers they had to be in costume. JA dressed up as a Fractured Fairy Tale Red Riding Hood. She had a white hood instead of red, wore a red blouse and skirt instead of white, had mismatched red and white socks and couldn't find her basket. Elisabeth dressed up as an anime Japanese school girl complete with cat ears and talil She put her St. Ambrose uniform skirt to good use.

But what happens to going around the neighbordhood and trick or treating? Instead of passing by that tradition, Halloween trick or treating is displaced to the following Saturday night. Why Saturday? Doesn't interfere with daily traffic or a school night and working parents can enjoy it.

Halloween is organized through the ASH PTA. The chair solicits families to open up their homes from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm for trick & treaters (T&T) to visit. These houses are designated by a lit Jack-o'-Lantern and porch lights on. Parents of T&T are asked to donate 1200 grams (about 2.5 lbs.) of fresh, individually wrapped candy to the cause which is distributed among the houses. That way it becomes a shared financial burden. The types of candy available here are far fewer then back home. I haven't seen any Reese's around. (On list to enjoy when we go home for Christmas.)

As the forms come in, the chair puts together maps of 5 different areas of homes. These maps are distributed a few days before Halloween Saturday for avid study. Homes not on the list can still give out candy and be designated as such with a lit pumpkin and porch lights on. The maps are quite clear and elaborate with each house signed up indicated by a numbered balloon. The chair must be commended for the great work he does.

ER wanted to go out and connected with her friends to go in a group. Terry volunteered to go with her. She was so excited that she designed a new costume based on Sora from Kingdom Arts and made two key blades out of cardboard that Saturday afternoon.

We had a cool but clear night for trick and treating. Terry and ER went by bus up to her friend's house and then hung out with her and the other parents. ER's friend had a younger brother so there were 8th grade girls and 5th grade boys gathering. When it was time to go out, it was a multigenerational group of 8th grade girls, 5th grade boys and parents in front, back and the middle. The group followed the maps.

Terry said there were hordes of kids moving on the streets, across the streets, in and out of the houses. The walkways are so narrow that the kids had to go single file sometimes to the door, get a piece of candy and then walk out again single file. When crossing the street, the crowds were so big that some cars got impatient and beeped. Some times they spilled over onto the bike paths and then the bike riders rang their bells at them. Most of the groups had parents with them. Only group we knew of that went out on their own were 8th grade boys from ER's class. The oldest group they saw was 9th grade boys, no doubt because they wanted the candy.

After going through the neighborhoods, the group Terry and ER were with went to one of the houses where they had dessert and a candy trading party. It got quite serious at times especially over Kit Kat bars. ER didn't bring as much candy home as we donated but enough to feel like Halloween. She was very good about sharing it. She and Terry had a great time. Terry got to talk and visit with parents which he doesn't have a chance to do very often.

Elisabeth is Morocco Bound!

Yes, just like those classic funny guys, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, our own Elisabeth is Morocco bound at the end of February. She'll spend leap day in Rabat having arrived the Wednesday before and leaving March 1.

Why, you may ask? Well.... she made AMIS International European Middle School Honor Band. (AMIS stands for The Association for Music in International Schools.) The Middle School Honor band rotates different locales each year and this year it is Morocco. She'll stay with a host family. Adults accompanying the students will stay at the Ibis Hotel (the same chain where we stayed in Paris.)

The audition is recorded by the music teacher and sent to a judging panel. She's been working on the piece since September with her music teacher, Femke. Femke suggested that she see each piece as a story to help play it with expression. She only had one mistake in her audition.

The High School Honor Band is going to London. We'll know November 7 if Julia-Anne has made it. Flutes are more competitive then trumpet. Our fingers are crossed!

Girl Scout Training Where? In Heidelberg!! - Part 2

While back in Virginia, I explored the GS Overseas website and saw the notice for the Keys to Leadership Workshop in Heidelberg, Germany. It looked like an annual event for teen girls where they could take workshops such as Program Aide (PA), Leader-In-Training (LIT), or Counselor-in-Training (CIT). I sighed because it looked to me as if JA was not going to be able to do any training. With no car and still new to Europe, I had no idea of how we would make it. JA is the only Senior GS in The Hague Neighborhood so she was feeling a little lonesome and really needed to connect with other overseas Seniors.

This is where networking comes in.

The Hague Neighborhood OCC, Susan, emailed info on the workshop to the leaders to see if any of they or any Cadettes would be interested. I emailed back that JA was but would need a ride. Through conversations, we worked out that Susan was going, JA was going and I was going too. Susan and I signed up for the "Bully-Free Zone" training workshop for adults. JA and I would be riding up with Susan and her family. They had brought over a Toyota van from the States so had room for us.

To make sure I was good to go, I filled out the volunteer paperwork, went through Orientation and did Basic Training Online.

During the car ride, I learned the value of TomTom (GPS navigational systems), packing food for the road, patience and a sense of humor as part of the equipment to pack for a trip.

The program took place at Heidelberg Middle School in Patrick Henry Village, an army post, on a weekend Friday to Sunday. We borrowed sleeping bags since we'd be sleeping on gym floors. JA left a little early from school. Us, Susan and her husband, Chris, and their 3 children were on the road around 3;30 pm. Guess what? There's Friday night traffic here too. Of course, it could have been daily traffic and not driving, I wouldn't know. We packed sack lunches for the road so as not to have to stop for a meal.

We had our first experience of driving on the autobahn. There are no posted speed limits in long stretches. JA enjoyed taking pictures out the window. It was also nice to have hills in the scenery once we entered Germany from the mostly flat Netherlands.

We arrived at the post about 10:30 pm, after a 7 hour drive. We had missed the evening events but it was good to be there. We turned in our paperwork, found a corner of the gym to sleep and did the best we could. If we had been one of the first to arrive, we could have used a tumbling mat under our sleeping bags. Some girls had air mattresses that seemed the size of a full bed. Lights were out at 11 pm. Those wanting to talk when to the Multi-Purpose Room (MPR). All was quiet at midnight.

The sun rose with the gym lights being turned on at 7 am. We were a little stiff but had made it through the night. Breakfast was catered and we had deli meat, cheese, scrambled eggs, potatoes, sausage, bacon, fruit, sweet rolls, coffee, tea and milk. There was real dishes, silverware and cups that were scraped into plastic trash bags same as if we had been on a camping trip. Only, we didn't have to do the dishes, just stack them.

JA is good about making acquaintances and starting up conversations. She had already met a few girls stationed in Germany who were working on their Gold Award and getting tips from them. She went off to LIT training. Susan and I were next door at Bully Free Zone.

The premise of the workshop was to train teams of leaders and teen scouts to put on workshops for girls K-8 to help them recognize, refuse and report bullying. USAGSOS-NA had received a Department of Justice and GSUSA grant to develop Project Anti-Violence Education programs with the focus on bullying. The teens would run the workshops with the younger girls and the adults acted as advisors. The goal is to make girls able to recognize bullying, refuse the bully or refuse being a bystander to the bullying, and if that doesn't work, to be able to report it. Because it was a grant, we had agreed by taking the class that we would run one workshop this Fall and submit the followup paperwork by Dec 15. The workshop should be offered to both Girl Scouts and non-Girl Scouts in our neighborhoods. After Dec 31, the workshop would be made available to other communities to use.

The workshop was presented mainly by two Senior scouts from Britain and their leader who had put on this workshop back home. Susan and I were two adults who would subsequently be responsible for training Teens to run the program. there were other teens in the room who were being trained to put on the workshop. It was wonderful to see them participate. The facilitator used the "2:1" rule which meant that two girls had to say something to one adult. The goal was to empower the girls to take the lead. The girls there had either experienced bullying or had seen it done in their school setting so it was very personal to them.

After the day's training, we went to downtown Heidelberg for some sightseeing and dinner. We saw the Neckar River and some of the downtown area. Because the streets in European towns are so small (remember most of these cities were built before cars), most parking is underground. We did a quick shuffle to take the pod off the top of the car to be able to park and then put it back on again for the trip back to the Village. Dinner was out on the patio and delicious.

We got back in time to participate in the "luau" on Saturday night. Many of the girls were wearing plastic grass skirts. Flower leis were everywhere. Girls were dancing, eating snacks, playing card games, hanging out and having fun. The adults were talking or dancing or eating, though talking was sometimes hard with the loudness of the music. Probably a third of the girls were first year cadettes and they were so happy to be one of the big girls now. Lots of them got their program aide training this weekend. I could see acted out in front of me the theme, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."

Every troop had to do kapers. JA was assigned on Saturday night to help clean a bathroom and then on Sunday to help clean up after breakfast and the to do a bathroom. Each troop did 3 kapers and since we weren't sure to be in on Friday, she was doubled up on Sunday. It gave her another way of meeting girls. It was wonderful to see how well all the girls worked together and got the job done - the advisors really did just advise.

Sunday morning was a quiet time of eating breakfast, packing up and one more workshop. Susan signed JA up for "College 101." Susan and I went to the Advisor's Lounge where we heard a delightful presentation by a leader about dealing with stress. Her life was one of super involvement along with health issues. We couldn't eliminate stress from our lives. But what we could do is deal with them with humor and laughter and learn to give 100% of ourselves to the person or task at hand.

Upon leaving, there were all the hugs and laughter and best wishes that you would expect at the end of a gathering like this. The girls and leaders go back to their own neighborhoods richer for the experience. The picture at the beginning of this post is the Heidelberg patch that JA bought along with a t-shirt that read "Not a damsel in distress - a Girl Scout in Heidelberg."

GS leaders and trainers are the same the world over. They love GS. They love the girls. They have so much knowledge and enthusiasm to share with other adults who also love GS and girls. The assistant CEO of USAGSO-NA who participated in the workshops and at the luau is just as enthusiastic and inspiring as Jan Verhage of GSCNC.

JA and I went to Noon Mass at the chapel on the post which was a lovely taste of home. We took off around 2:30 pm and made it back home in 6 hours - less traffic. Autobahn was just as fast which made slowing down when entering the Netherlands feel even slower.

The next girl's event is "Hanging in Heidelberg" in February 2008.

1600 Kilometers or 1000 Miles

7 October is a day that I (Terry) will remember as one of the more memorable days of our stay here in the Netherlands. It is on that day that I reached the milestone of 1600 kilometers on my bike. 1600 kilometers translates into 1000 miles!

On the right is a picture of my bike.

This is just a plain bike...no gears (meanng that it is in second gear - even on inclines) and handbrakes (to stop you backpedal). I bought it on a cold rainy Saturday in February and about 2 weeks later I attached a bike computer to keep track of the distance and time) and soon the bike my main means of getting around and about.

Now I have biked in the worst and best weather that the Netherlands has to offer. When I rode it to work for the first time it was the coldest - and wettest - day of the new year and I ended up at work throughly exhausted and soaked from the waist down. The total trip that day was around 15 kilometers (9.5 miles) but it seemed a lot longer. When the sun is out and the days long, the pleasure of riding a bicycle and missing all the traffic is a wonderful feeling. Now a days my commute to work is around 4 kilometers (depending on the route because there are a couple of options) and takes at the most 15 minutes. What a contrast from Virginia when it would take me upwards of an hour to go 12.5 kilometers (8 miles).

Since it has been nearly 35 years since I last sat on a bicycle seat, getting used to the idea that my legs had to be in constant motion as well as totally aware of what is going around me was a whole new learning experience. Fortunately here in the Netherlands riding a bicycle is a very civilized idea. There are bicycle paths or lanes on all major streets. Other paths allow you to travel between cities; Amsterdam, for example, can be reached by bicycle, but could take a long time (may be 5 or 6 of steady pedaling).

It may turn out that I may get another bike before the next 1,600 kilometers comes on this bike. But the fact that I have managed to get this far is just too hard to believe at times.

Girl Scout Training Where? In Heidelberg!! - Part 1

Remind me of this when I get home:

I promise never again to complain about
crossing the Potomac River for training
Or even going to Leesburg,
Prince Georges County or Stafford.

Why, you ask, is Mary Ann making this promise when she may not be home for 2 to 6 years? Because crossing the Potomac or driving out to Camp Potomac Woods is nothing compared to a 6 to 7 hour drive to Heidelberg, Germany for training. Oh, looking for another place? Try Italy, the United Kingdom, or other cities in Germany. Opportunities for camping training are even fewer and for that you can even go to Spain. Be trained by the USA Girl Scouts Overseas - North Atlantic (USAGSO-NA) and see Western Europe! Fortunately, Basic Leadership and program level training is available online.

In Part I, I write on what I've learned about USAGSO-NA relating it to GSCNC. Each overseas area may have a different structure - I can just describe what I am experiencing. In Part 2, I will relate our weekend training in Heidelberg.

First, the structure. Each Overseas Committee (OC), operates as a combo service unit/association. Sometimes it's referred to as a neighborhood. So, here in The Hague, when all the GS troops at ASH get together, it's called a neighborhood event.

The OC has a leadership team like a SU. The OC Chair (OCC) is similar to an SUM with a little bit of Association chair thrown in. The OC Management Team (OCMT) includes a secretary, treasurer, cookie manager, and registrar. This year, those on the OCMT are not also leading a troop because of the amount of work involved. The neighborhood functions like an Association in that there is a meeting in the Fall where the budget and other matters are approved by all registered GS 14 years and older.

Cookies - The OCC places the order in mid-October for January delivery. Order in full pallets. Pick them up at your nearest base which for The Hague this year is going to be Rotterdam. The supplier is Little Brownie Bakers so we'll get to taste the new Lemon Chalet Cremes and Sugar-Free Chocolate Chip cookies same as GSCNC. Not surprising, the customer base is Americans looking for a taste of home. The 2008 theme is "STEP It Up" (Success Through Energetic Participation).

Registration - For your daughter, not only do you pay your GSUSA registration ($10) but also Fair Share ($60) which looks to be equivalent to GSCNC-SHARE. Adults are just the registration fee. Same issues of finding parent volunteers to lead a troop. There are just as many activities to compete for time here as in the States, especially sports. The leaders are 95% moms and some of them are the working spouse which means evening meetings instead of after school. While all troops have turnover, turnover is an annual occurrence in the overseas program. Any year the OC could lose all its leaders and have to rebuild from scratch. There goes institutional memory and experience. New parents may not come with an experience of GS. In small neighborhoods like The Hague, there may not be Cadette or senior troops due to the smaller pool of candidates and so much pulling at the teens' time. The Hague neighborhood has had Daisy through Junior levels. This is the first year that they have a 6th grade Cadette troop because of a large number of girls wanting to continue and parents who have stepped up to advise and to serve as a troop committee. Girls 6th grade and older who have no troop available or who don't have the time to be in a a troop register as "Troop 2000" and not as Juliettes.

Magazine Drive and Calendars - yes, we have them too.

Safetywise - can't do without it.

USAGSO-NA, with GS personnel, is headquartered in Germany. The Field Director equivalent is called the Director of Membership and Marketing (DMM). Yes, there are membership goals and OCs are expected to come up with a plan to maintain and increase membership.

Training - Basic Leadership Training (BLT) takes place after the OCC Orientation. For those of you with long memories, BLT compares to 001 and the OCC Orientation has a lot of Nuts & Bolts in it. Currently, GSCNC has combined all into 101. Program level training can be taken in a class or by studying online program guides followed by a test. The mentoring of new troop leaders by experienced leaders can be hard depending on the neighborhood.

Girl Scout Store - Yes, there is a great, well organized GS store near Heidelberg, Germany. I had a chance to visit it. Orders can be placed easily online. Payment is by credit card - US dollars. At the store, you can also use cash (US dollars) and carry. GS gift items and scrap booking supplies are available.

Patches and pins - It's fun to earn patches overseas as much as at home. Because JA and ER are now overseas GS, they can wear a GS Overseas Pin. The GSCNC segment of the Council insignia will be replaced with one for USAGSO-NA. Visit another OC and get a patch. JA came home with a Heidelberg Patch. There are patches for exploring different European cities.

I can't think of any other categories to compare and contrast. I'll add later as I learn more.

Missing Home: Fall Festival & Red Mass

We're missing home this week because of two events that have been part of our lives for 11 years.

First is the St. Philip's Fall Festival. St. Philip's is our parish in Falls Church, VA. The last Saturday of September they hold their biggest fundraising event of the year. It takes a whole year to plan and a committee of very dedicated folk. Some people use their vacation time to take off the entire week leading up to it.

Over the summer items are donated and sorted for all the sales rooms: clothing (men, women and children), toys, books, furniture and electronic media as well as the ever popular White Elephant room. Jams and preserves are processed. Fudge is made. Crafts are put together over the year and sold. The Silent Auction basket maven gleams prized items during the sorting party to put together themed baskets. You never know what she will come up with. Many of the items that we parted with while cleaning out our house went to the Fall Festival including 20 boxes of girls' clothing, infant to size 10. Probably alone enough to stock the children's clothing room. (The boxes were stored in the attic and forgotten. Always intended to go through them. Did keep a few pretty and cute items for any possible future granddaughters.)

For 2006, Terry maintained the volunteer database as well as helping to construct and take down the tents/tables/chairs or shelving in the different rooms. Mary Ann helped out in the toy room and floated around. Baba (Mary Ann's mom and the girls grandmother) made stuffed cabbage for the Polish dinner. Baba also always had needlework projects to contribute whether they be knitted hats or a felt and sequined Christmas stocking. We made many batches of fudge. JA helped out where she was needed to set up and organize. ER and her best friend painted a welcome sign. Fall Festival 2007 was the weekend that we announced to our parish friends that we were going to be moving to The Hague. Some of our best memories of the parish come from working with our fellow parishioners on this labor of love.

In 2007, the festival falls on Terry's birthday. He'll especially miss working with the men.

The second event falls on Sunday, September 30, the annual Red Mass at St. Matthew's Cathedral before the first Monday in October when the new Supreme Court session begins. The John Carroll Society sponsors it. Mary Ann was the Society's Executive Director for 11 years and worked on 11 Red Masses. Each had its own character, challenges, joys and sorrows. The one that will be remembered best will be 2005 when President Bush and Mrs. Bush attended. Mary Ann didn't make it to the Mass but Terry and the girls did. They had a great view of the dignitaries in the front.

Mary Ann misses the people she worked with this last week She practically living in Vienna at the house of the volunteer who received the brunch reservations, drinking Starbucks coffee and using their best powers of prognostication to guesstimate the guarantee number to give to the hotel. Over the years, the brunch chair and Mary Ann learned to read each other's minds to know what had to be done, what the problem was and how to solve it. The Red Mass and the brunch that follows is an event of love and fellowship forged under fire.

So dear friends, we are thinking of you, praying for you, wishing we were with you. Remember the stories and email them to us. Or keep them and share them over coffee when we see you in December.

The Expat Pilgrimage to Ikea

This past Saturday, Terry and I finally made the pilgrimage to Ikea (pronounced "short i - kay-a") in Delft that all expats eventually make (note: expat from expatria, out of one's own country.)

We took the bus then the tram then another bus. Ikea is so popular that buses arrive every 15 minutes from Delft Centraal station. And the buses are full with people coming and with purchases going. To get to Ikea, the bus has to first navigate through the narrow streets of this old Dutch town, some streets barely wide enough to accomodate the vehicle. Often the driver stopped abruptly as a bike crossed his path. On Saturday there usually is a street market and this Saturday carnival rides were added which made the streets even more crowded. Finally, we arrived at journey's end. The blue Ikea building with flags flying sits slightly higher then the surrounding area so we walked up to the mount.

I have not been to Ikea in Potomac Mills in years so do not know how Delft compares. We entered the building, picked up our pamphlet to write down what we wanted and how to find it and entered the showroom. Actually multiple showrooms, formal and informal, beautifully decorated. Ikea is expat friendly - all the signs and tags are bilingual, Dutch and English. You have your choice of using a catalog in Dutch or in English. Measurements are metric. Interestingly, the diagonals of computer screens and TVs are done in inches. The children's babysitting area was busy.

Our purpose in shopping was to find computer desks for the girls, desk lamps, a craft table, bookcase, storage drawers, and a few other odds and ends. We discussed our selections over Swedish meatballs and salmon, nutritional provisions needed to manuever through the merchandise sections.

The showrooms were on the ground floor. To collect our items, we took the escalator. We shopped in the Home Furnishings section then moved onto the self serve furniture. We strayed off of our list by picking up a wok pan. Self serve furniture was well organized; we found everything in a matter of minutes. Check out was efficient. We decided not to go through the food shopping area or we may never have gotten home. Will have to make a return trip at some future times to bring Swedish meatballs home. The desserts looked pretty good too.

Knowing that not everyone has cars and those with cars have small ones, Ikea offers a transport service. For 35 euros your purchase can be delivered to your home. We pushed our cart over to the counter and signed up for 12 boxes to be delivered to our home. This was about 4:30 pm. We were told the delivery would come before 11 pm. That was great since I've heard some deliveries occur as people arrive home.

We headed home on the bus, through the narrow streets of Delft - with promises to return again to sightsee instead of to shop, especially to see the home of Vermeer - back on the tram, another bus and home again. The boxes arrived at 10 pm. Terry has put together the computer desks and a few small items. He is developing Ikea wrist. The girls have a more organized space to work in. Zoey cat has a better view of the printer - she finds the paper being sucked into the printer and spit out again fascinating.

Oh yes, anyone who is considering a move overseas: check ahead to make sure that the ink cartridges you need are available in the country you are moving too or that you have a buddy with an APO address before shipping your printer/scanner. We found out that we cannot buy the cartridges off the shelf to our printer/scanner. We are carefully considering our options and the possibility of purchasing a new one.

Happy 16th Birthday!

Today is Julia-Anne's 16th birthday. She's our first born. It's been a hard year for her with the move, her Baba's death (Baba came to live with us 2 weeks before JA was born), missing her friends, having to change dreams and wishes. She's coming through it all with grace and patience - and a whole lot of words.

We picked up the cake at the Patisserie down the street from us. It was a delicious sponge cake with filling and fondant icing. We sang "Happy Birthday" and "Sto Lat" (a Polish song sung for birthdays and anniversaries wishing the recipient 100 more.) She opened gifts from our downstairs neighbors, a card from Grandpa & Grandpa Smith, and a lovely scarf from Mom and Dad.

Birthdays are big in the Netherlands so she was wished "Happy Birthday" many times around the school including the band playing the song for her as a surprise and an announcement being made by the bus monitor on the after school run. She should have taken cake to share with her friends but that's hard to do on a bus.

So we wish her another wonderful year growing in God's grace and growing closer to Him. Hard to believe that soon she will be heading off to college. The years go by so fast especially for high school. So Happy Birthday, dear daughter! May you have many more.

Mary Ann's First Solo Bike Ride

I did it! Today I biked up to Wassenaar to a high school parents coffee. It was the first time that I ventured that far by myself. The route was a combination of bike path sharing the road with cars and designated bike path. I even biked up and down an overpass that went over a busy road. Terry had taken me over this route to show me how it went and at that time I walked the bike up and down. The trip was about 8 km one way (5 miles). Took me a half hour. Next time, I'll remember to bring a water bottle along. Next week - I bike all the way to ASH!

In two months I came from falling off a bike, panicking that I was going to glide into one of the canals along the bike path in the park, stopping at the side of the road to let a car pass me by instead of sharing the road with a car, to making the trip to Wassenaar without any concerns or panic. 23 years have passed since I learned to ride a bike - yes, I learned to ride at 30 - and I only biked a little that summer, nothing like I am doing here in Holland. It did help having a more comfortable bike seat installed. I was concerned that my left arthritic knee would give me problems. In fact, the knee has gotten better with the exercise and biking is easier on it then walking.

So, got my bike chain, my rain gear and my bike all ready to go either shopping or visiting. Don't think I'll tackle heading to downtown Den Haag yet, though. I'm a suburb girl at heart.

Another School Year Is In Session

Elisabeth (ER) and Julia-Anne (JA) are waiting outside out apartment on 15 August, the first day of school, for the bus to pick them up. It was raining. Appropriate way for the weather to comment on how the girls felt about giving up the freedom of their summer especially going to bed early and not staying up late to IM their friends. Terry is in the background.

Actually, our school year began on 6 August at ER's appointment with the Middle School (grades 5-8) counselor to go over her schedule. It was the first time that she saw her new school. They are attending the American School of The Hague (ASH) which happens to be the same school that Terry graduated from after attending for 5 years. Back when Terry attended, the school was in three locations in the Scheveningen area of The Hague. 17 years ago it was moved out to a suburban municipality, Wassenaar.

The PTA and Counseling staff offers a fantastic transition program for staff, students and parents. Each girl was assigned a student ambassador who emailed them at the end of last school year. We had a parent ambassador also. The week before school starts, the high school has a 3 part new family orientation. First, parents and students meet with the faculty and student ambassadors to be introduced to the school building, the school culture and to start planning the new school year schedule. Second, the students continue their bonding activities and learn about living in Holland. Third, they meet with their counselors to finalize their schedule.

The opening assembly focused on feelings about transition. The counselor took a survey by standing of how many students were in different years, how many languages were spoken, how many times they moved, how many international schools they went to. Then he asked the crucial question: "How many of you didn't want to come here?" Three students raised their hands. JA was one of them. He said that these were the honest kids. He then asked the student ambassadors how many of them didn't want to come last year (their first year) and just about every single one of them raised their hands. They next responded affirmatively when he asked if they were now glad to be here. To illustrate the point of the big change and what it means in life and how kids (and parents) have to reinvent themselves and their stories, he showed that beautiful scene from the movie "Cars" about how Radiator Springs changed when the highway bypassed Route 66. The assembly set the tone: the school understands the big change and is there to help the students go through it.

Parents and students were separated into their own activities - students to bond by grade levels (9&10, 11&12), parents to learn more about the school and what support systems are in place for them. Since only 40% of the students are American, the philosophy of the American school system was explained and compared in general terms to other country's systems. For instance, relationship between student and teacher is different, rote memorization is not prevalent, students are encouraged to take initiatives. Especially for trailing spouses who had to fill their days now that the working spouse was on the job and the children in school, the PTA had numerous activities to offer to fill our agendas (schedules). These included:

• Monday Morning Networking - every Monday trailing spouses meet for coffee, socializing and learning about living in the Netherlands. Topics include driving, shopping & cooking, sinterklaas, travel in Europe, and field trips.


• Adult Education Classes - language, crafts, art lectures, cooking, sewing, scrap booking and field trips. Mary Ann signed up for "Dutch as a Second Language" and a field trip to the Amsterdam Diamond Factory. Both Terry and Mary Ann are going to go on the field trip in December to "Gouda by Candlelight."


• Welcome coffees by school level (elementary, middle or high), new parents, and by grade. The Dutch are big coffee drinkers so coffees are the thing to do. (We hear that there is one Starbucks in Schiphol airport on the side for planes to Europe. Starbucks is looking for a partner to be established here. They're big in Germany.)


• PTA Volunteer Opportunities - Lots of chances to volunteer in the office and for the different activities. Sports parents help out the teams and host competing team members who come into town to play games. Mary Ann volunteered as a "Friend of the Arts" which will support the drama production and to help out with the costumes.


• Computer support - so many families come without computers which are in their household shipment or they have to wait for internet set up. The cafeteria is a wireless hot spot so we can bring our laptop for internet access. Computers are available in the library and in the Admissions Office to check email or to print something off. We had internet access because Terry set that up when he moved here in April. But we haven't had printers because first they didn't arrive and now we're looking for ink cartridges - JA has printed off several reports at school.


• Library - yes, the entire family has access to a fantastic English language library. Both girls have taken advantage of the high school side (each school has its own library; the middle and high school share a large room each school to its own side.) The librarians are fantastic about suggesting books to read.

The girls did take some placement tests, ER math and JA in English, Math and French. JA had all three tests in one day. Her first bus took too long and she missed her transfer so she got to school late and out of breath. She did French first and then English and Math. After English and Math, she met with the subject teacher and discussed her options. Because the honors classes are IB related and those students have been doing critical analysis already, she decided to take English 11 which would be similar to what she would have had at BI. She didn't finish the Math test because she was so late. The teacher put her in precalculus and encouraged her to review Algebra II since it has been two years since she had it.

ER went for her one afternoon of orientation the same day that she had her math test. Instead of coming come, we had lunch out and an ice cream. During the afternoon, the new middle schoolers and their student ambassadors played some games and then went to Langstraat which is the main shopping district in Wassenaar and she had another ice cream cone. We had joked about that happening.

On Friday JA met with her counselor for her schedule. Mr. Loy is really great. We went through the classes that she was bringing in from Bishop Ireton and he was able to make everything fit into some kind of category. Only iffy requirements left are a semester of PE and a semester of computers.

The school has neat software that he can register the students in the class as he talks with them. With a high school of about 375 students, there are only one section of most classes so she had to often make decisions on what she would take. Easy to fit in were AP French (yes, she made it which is exciting because she has the same French teacher that Terry had when he attended), Precalculus, English 11, Band/Choir combo, IB Music. Then came the hard part because some of these classes conflicted with ones she wanted to take like theatre and chemistry. Given the choices already made, the only science available was Honors Physics. American History was available. That brought her done to one open block and the counselor looked to see what was available. Neither PE nor computer course fit into that block. However, Stage Production was available with one opening and she took it. That way she felt connected to theatre. She was happy with her schedule

Although this is an American high school, ASH offers a complete IB diploma program. Almost all of the International students are in that program because they will be going to university in their country. JA is doing what many of the students do - take a mixture of classes. Students in the IB program track to make sure they have both requirements for the IB diploma as well as for the ASH diploma. One consequence of the IB is the intense language classes that are offered. Language starts in the middle school. ER is taking 1st year high school Dutch and will complete it by the end of the year. (Since she was living in The Netherlands, she decided she would rather learn Dutch instead of continuing with Spanish.)

ER is taking core courses of Social Studies (American History), Physical Science, Language Arts, Algebra, PE/Health, Band/Choir, Dutch and an Arts rotation. For her Arts rotation, she will have one of these courses each quarter: Drama, Computers, Art, Home Economics. PE and Band alternate so she only has one extra bag (trumpet or PE clothes) a day. The Middle School is divided into Color houses (blue, yellow, red). Each house has students from each grade. There is competition between the houses as well as doing projects together. ER is in Blue House. She's been tapped to do some of the drawing for various posters.

ASH operates under a block schedule. The school day runs from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The 8 classes are divided into two days, 4 blocks each day. The days alternate. The blocks vary from 75 to 90 minutes. Within each day, the blocks alternate so that they aren't having algebra the same time. An advisory, like a home room, is thrown in once a week and Wednesday is early dismissal at 2:45 p.m. The entire schedule repeats every two weeks. Both backpacks are lighter because of only having to deal with 4 classes a day.

The day starts with the bus picking them up in front of the door somewhere between 7:40 and 7:45 a.m. Forget Williams Bus Line and yellow school buses. They get a luxury tour bus that takes them up to school. With seat belts. There are bus monitors who are paid a small stipend each way. Monitors are suppose to make sure seat belts are worn and to keep order. We are as prompt as we can be to get out there because if the bus leaves without them, they would have to hoof it over to the public bus stop, ride the bus to the stop across from the school, and then rapidly walk to school from there. In this almost month's time, there was only one morning that the bus was waiting for them when they walked out the door. Many times we reach the curb and the bus is turning the corner to come down the street.

The girls take lunch and sometimes buy a meal in the cafeteria. They always buy a drink. Last year the school instituted a policy of having only healthy food selections for the students so out went the sodas, the frites (french fries), bagels and cookies. JA likes the selection of foods. ER mostly takes her lunch and scans the menu to see if there's something that she's interested in. This week lasagna is on the menu so they will be sure to have that.

They need to wear ID badges to get into the school. (And all parents have an ID badge to get into the school too.) They can use their badge to open their locker. They press it against a master panel at the beginning of the locker row. The door is unlocked and they have a certain amount of time to make it down to their door before it closes. Fortunately, neither girl has to go far.

Both girls love their teachers. The PE teacher is getting the class ready for their Project trip in May which will be to Switzerland. He's a mountain climber so ER jokes that he's getting them ready to climb mountains. Her stamina has really increased. In her drama class this quarter, the students are developing their own characters and writing their own play. They perform it for their parents at the end of the quarter. JA enjoys being able to take choir and band since they alternate in the same period. Both girls have started private lessons for their band instruments. ER had a rental trumpet until hers showed up in air freight. That was a great reunion! JA had brought hers along on the plane and doesn't like to have it out of her sight.

Many of the students in the Wassenaar neighborhood bike to school. In winter the weather will be cooler, rainier and of course the daylight shorter. At that point some of them will be driven to school and picked up by their parents. And the Dutch kids just keep biking through it all. The hardest part of us not having a car is getting home from the school after night activities. Only one bus an hour comes through and the wait can be long.

JA hasn't found an after school activity to do yet outside of music lessons. ER has joined an after school Role Playing Group club. It keeps her imagination going.

More about school will be said as the year goes on. Even with homework, we're all glad for some structure in our lives.

AIR FREIGHT IS HERE!

Here it is - our air freight was delivered today. We are so excited. It's Christmas in August! The boxes include the dictionaries and instruments the girls needed to for school. The kitchen items are unpacked and safely in their place. ER is excited about being able to play Kingdom Hearts again. And I just might get to Animal Crossings and pull all the weeds that have been accumulating all these months. Found one surprise so far: my mom's bedding. We had other items on top of her bed and told them to pack what was on the bed. They did. How funny. What we'll end up missing is the comraderie around the dining room table each night checking email and doing homework now that the other computers have arrived. Gotta make a trip to IKEA for the computer desks, book shelves lamps, and a work table for projects.

Differences Make Life Interesting

So, we're in a new country (The Netherlands), on a different continent (Europe), even in a different hemisphere (the Eastern vs. the Western; still Northern though) - what other differences are there? The list expands daily. Here are a few:

• Register or else - or else no bank account, no internet at your house, no mobile (cell) phone, no custom permit processed for your air freight, no... lots of things. Fortunately, Terry arrived in February and already had one when we arrived in July. The Smith women arrived on 7 July and on 10 July we were down applying for our residency permits. Received a temporary one. Heard yesterday that the permanent one (at least for 2 years) has been approved and we should be picking up our cards shortly. Thanks to Terry's company for providing relocation services that walked us through the process and made it so much easier.


• Carry Identification at all times - By law, those 14 and over need to carry a form of valid identification with them.


• Currency - now it's the euro with 1 and 2 euro coins. Each denomination is a different color and size. 50 euro notes mostly come out of ATMs. Current rate is $1.36 US to 1 euro.


• ATM/Debit cards - are called PIN cards. PIN is used as a noun for the type of transaction done with what we call a debit card. Swipe your card, type in your PIN, confirm transaction and the funds are pulled out of your banking account and transferred to the vendor.


• Checks - no, scratch that. Checks are not used. Some vendors will use acceptgiro which is an authorization to make an electronic transfer from your bank account. The bill comes in. There's a place to sign your name and insert your bank account information. Back to the vendor and electronic transfer is done. Other times you'll use an overboeking which transfers money directly from one account to another.


• Chipknip - On some bank cards there is a chip that can be loaded with a "cash" amount debited immediately from your bank account. This can be used for small purchases, like a meal at a cafeteria or street parking, at selected vendors. The balance on your chip does not have to be verified by your bank as through a PIN transaction. Goes faster at the point of sale.


• Internet Banking - (This is how our bank works.) Not as simple as logging on with a user ID and password. Entry is tied to your bank card which gives access through an e.dentifier that gives and receives codes that interact with the website. 19 euros to replace the contraption.


• Measurements - Forget the English system. We are into kilometres (km), centimeters (cm), kilograms (kilos) and liters (L). Roughly, 4 L make a gallon. A kilo is 2.2 pounds. 2.5 cm are an inch. 1 Km is 5/8 of a mile. Gets pretty interesting to see the posted speed limit as "70" and need to remember that it's km/hour and not miles/hour. (By the way, that's 43 mph.


• Instructions - Instructions can come in either one language (Dutch), or several including Arabic and Greek. Our oven's instruction book is in italian-spanish-portuguese. I found a English manual online for a similar model.


• Paper Dimensions - instead of worrying about wide and college rule, we're looking at A4 (about 1/4 inch longer on each side), A5 (usually in a notebook format smaller than a marble composition book), 23 holes instead of 3 hole punch (and be careful because the binders can be either 2-, 4-or 23-ring binders). Folders are various kinds but not what we were use to. Seems easier to buy blue ink pens then black ones (our color preference.)


• Agendas - A datebook in which you write down your homework, your tasks, your meetings, etc. Early on in elementary school children are taught to keep an agenda. Written ones are just as popular as electronic ones.


• Mobile Phones - back home I called them our cell phones. There is "pay as you go"" as well as contract. "Pay as you go" is about 35 cents a minute. Contract plans start from 20 euros per month (100 minutes, our plan 30 cents a minute after that) on up. Text messaging is called SMS (short message system.) Depending on your plan, an SMS can either count as one call or 2 SMS's can be one call. No family plans. No free calls between phones under the same carrier. No free calls during certain periods of the day, like night and weekends. No early termination penalty fee - just pay off the rest of your contract.


• Plugs and Electricity - Europe is 220 volts; the US is 110. Some electronic equipment, like our laptops, have their own transformer that can take either voltage so to use our laptops only required a plug adapter. The plugs here are round with two prongs (can't think of another word for it.) Plugs are shaped for easier in and out. We think our desktop computers will have a switch that we can flip to make them compatible with 220. If not, we have a step up/down transformer that will convert the 220 into 110. That's ended for recharging Elisabeth's DS Lite and probably our gaming systems. We didn't bring our small electronics like clock radios because using them would involve a transformer which are expensive and heavy. Was easier to just buy them here.


• VAT (Value Added Tax) - the VAT , usually 19%, is included in the price that you see on the item or marked on the shelf. On the receipt will be separated the portion that was for VAT and for the item(s).


• Automobile Fuel - is either petrol (gasoline) or diesel. Petrol runs around 1.50 euro per liter, which is 6.00 euro per gallon (actually a little more then a gallon) and at the current exchange rate of 1 euro to $1.36 comes to about $8.00/gallon. Price of gas plus road tax plus parking are the main reasons why bikes and public transportation is so popular.


• Grocery Shopping - Unless it's per stuk (item), weigh your produce and obtain a price tag before checking out. Easy to find 2% (half volle) milk; 0% skim is more expensive. Volle milk is very thick. You can go to separate stores as the deli, cheese shop, butcher and produce, or shop at a grocery store that carries it all. But bring your own bags because they are 15 to 20 cents each to buy. Also make sure you have a 50 cent piece if you want a grocery cart. Insert a coin into the contraption to free one grocery cart from the other. When you return the cart, your 50 cents is returned. Make sure you have your bonuskaart when you go to Albert Heijn (owned by AHold that owns Giant.)


• Flowers - flower stands are everywhere and relatively inexpensive. The flowers are fresh and beautiful.


• Insurance - Can be purchased at the bank for legal liability, home contents, car and travel.


• Utilities - Go with with either KPN for your phone system or go with Cassema which is cable and includes TV, phone and internet. Remember to download Skype and get a Skype U.S. number before leaving the states for cheap phone calls back home (about 2.1 cents per minute). Electricity and gas are on one bill. Since it is deregulated, make sure to choose a supplier. Water is billed quarterly. Pay by direct debiting of your checking account or an accepgiro. Make sure to turn off any lights or appliances you are not using because electricity is very expensive. Water is heated as you need it; there is no storage tank.


• Hard water - water softeners need to be added to the dishwasher and washing machine to prevent mineral deposits in the pipes. Dishwasher tablets contain all the chemical needed. Calgonite has tablets to add to the laundry detergent.


• Legal Language is Dutch - all legal forms are in Dutch. Some banks, like ABN Amro, who have expat services have the English translations on their website but the Dutch text trumps.


• Legal System - Based on the Napoleonic Code. You are guilty unless you can prove otherwise. Case in point. If a car hits a bike, the car is always guilty. About the only time a bike may be at fault is if the bike rider deliberately throws a bike at a car.


• Medical Care - even with a PPO, you need to be registered with a doctor for access to the health care system. Routine check ups are less frequent then are recommended in the US. Antibiotics are rarely prescribed; they emphasize more the body healing itself. You may be refused care at the emergency room if it's not life threatening. Neosporin s not on the shelf; betadine works fine. Not all grocery stores carry over the counter medicines.


• Finding out information - We've been told that 95% of the Dutch speak English. Instead of asking if someone speaks English, it's better to ask your question in English and wait for a reply. Saying please (alstublieft) and "thank you" (dank u wel) go a long way in any language.

As we find out more, we'll pass it on. What stays the same is friendly, hardworking people who are proud of their country and their homes. We are their guests and we are learning their ways.

Exploring in July

The first month, July, was spent learning how to live in our new city. Since we didn't have a car and hadn't all learned to ride a bike yet, we used feet and bus to get around.

We are located along N44 which is a major north-south artery, and near Van Alkemadelaan an east-west artery. Many buses go along those routes. Our neighborhood bus stop is just 2 blocks from the house. Three bus routes going up N44 take us a 10 minute walk to school. Another bus line takes us to the school as long as we make the transfer to the bus that goes by the school. Our track record is 50/50 - half of the time we've made the transfer and the other half we either walked to the school (2o minutes) or waited for the bus that came a half hour later.

The neighborhood bus takes us downtown to Centraal Station, a transfer point to buses, trams and trains that can take us throughout The Hague, surrounding areas and even on to other countries. Within a 5 minute walk of the Station is the downtown shopping area. Imagine rows and rows of small stores and large shops. The shop storefronts are narrow so you cannot appreciate the merchandise available unless you enter the store and go back deep into the store. Shopping can be a challenge in finding the right store for what you need. The big department stores, Vroom & Dressman (V&D - think J.C. Penneys) and HEMA (think Target) are of some help. You can find anything of an electronic nature at Media Mart. For the most part, we had more fun going into the little stores.

There is food all over. Produce and gelato carts are on the street. You can grab a sandwich if you like. Frites (french fries) are a national passion and are served plain, with mayonnaise or other exotic sauces. V&D has a tea room and a cafeteria where you can buy a delicious meal. There is a full service candy and nut counter there also.

Most of the shopping area is pedestrian with no cars allowed. Sometimes there is a bike lane and sometimes bikes have to be walked. Restaurants with outside seating areas are all around. The clientele spills out into the public area, sometimes under umbrellas, sometimes not. Museums are right around the corner. The buildings are old. Street signs will tell you who the street is named after, some names going back centuries. Green areas abound.

To ride the bus requires a strippenkaart that's good for buses and trams all over Holland. Trains are a differnet ticketing system. Best value is to buy strips of either 15 (6,80 euro) or 45 (20,10). The country is divided into zones. To ride a bus is 1 strippen and then to go through each zone is a strippen. To get from our house to The Hague Centraal Station is 2 strippen as we are staying in one zone. To get to school along one route takes 3 strippen when we do the transfer (2 zones) and 4 strippen when we do the 10 minute walk (we're on a zone dividing line and the stops are in different zones.)

There are cabs which we only have taken getting to our house with our luggage.

Now in August, Elisabeth has mastered the bike and is learning how to maneuver the city streets. Julia-Anne is pedaling and almost there. MaryAnn discovered that it's so true that once you learn to ride a bike you always remember. She learned one summer when she was 30 and didn't bike after that. 20+ years later, she got on a bike and was actually able to keep it up most of the time, toppling over once, one bruise and one scrape. It's gotten better and has ventured out a few places. Not sure she wants to do the 8 km trip up the bike path along N44 to ASH yet.

Our New Home

As soon as Terry knew that we were moving to The Netherlands, he began searching for our new home. Having lived in The Hague while going to high school, he determined that he wanted to live within a 10 km radius of Wassanaar, the town were the American School of The Hague (ASH) was located. His old house wasn't available and the homes in the old neighborhood were out of the budget.

Thanks to the wonders of technology, he visited http://www.funda.nl/, plugged in the area and the budget and was quickly presented with what was currently available. He looked to the entries in English. He found a delightful apartment 15 bike minutes from his work and 10 from church which was fully furnished and within budget and available in April. There was a piano in the dining/living room combo area. The girls called it "the piano apartment." Being Fall 2006, it was too early to make inquiries. He kept the place bookmarked and would come back to it every so often to see if it was still available.

Fall turned into winter into 2007. Before Terry left in early February, the posting was still up. Again thanks to the connectivity of the internet, Terry had found a room to rent in an expat's house (expat from expatria - someone living in a country other then their own). This became his base of operation to reacquaint himself with living in Holland again. The apartment was the first address on the list he gave the makelaar (real estate agent).

The piano apartment was the top two floors of a unattached home. Many homes in The Netherlands are row houses or are double houses - two houses sharing a common wall. There are apartment buildings also. Some come with garage and/or storage facilities. Many times, the resident carries his or her bike up the stairs to keep it safe. This apartment was around 130 sq. meters with a garage for car or bikes.

The apartment was occupied by a Japanese family with two young children. Not the neatest place. The makelaar kept saying to him, "Look beyond the clutter" which Terry could easily do remembering what life was like when our girls were that age.

Other places he looked at were too small, steps too narrow (typical of Dutch houses, which would be murder on my knee), unfurnished, etc. Quickly he saw that the apartment was a true jewel. The offer was made, accepted and he moved in 1 April. Looking back, we realized that the apartment was available at the middle of the spring semester, a time when families were not moving. We believe that it was meant for us. A couple is the landlord. They live on the first floor and we have become part of their family.

Zoey arrived on 7 April in MaryAnn's custody when she came visiting on her relocation trip. She took to the place happily since there are so many windows to look out of, so many ledges to sun herself and lots of room to run around.

A tour of our picture album will show you the many features of our house. The best feature is the extra bedroom and lots of floor space for visitors. Hope you come to visit us soon.