We Crossed Oceans To Find Each Other

Sometimes plans really fail. Like the start of this week. I wanted to visit the political party meeting and… didn’t go. Leann and I were invited for a Superbowl party in which a few people gathered together to watch the replay of the superbowl. It was a close and really good game. One of our friends commented that the Patriots were rude during the coin toss. I guess I missed that part and I might have to look for that on YouTube. This new plan meant that I would miss the meeting of the political party.

Missing the meeting of the political party was not a big issue, though, because the Aldermen that was in politically stormy weathers, resigned from his position today. That means that a need for a political discussion is beyond that now. Tomorrow the council will meet. I wanted to go over there, but instead I plan to follow the meeting over the radio. No need for going over there anymore either.

This gives me time for something else: more people are finding their way to my Nederlands Praten program. For now I have one person for private tutoring and a third person will come in on Wednesday for class. The news is getting spread around quickly. I am really happy with that achievement, because it means a little more money. Although: I do reinvest the money right away to prevent taxes touching it.

All in all things are looking up.

It’s been a very busy week. I have decided to start a new training “Nederlands Praten” after all. Instead of a training location, I have two people coming to my house to get the training. This meant that I had to get in a hurry to get training material ready. With taht I bought a whiteboard to make things easier for me. I am very happy with the whiteboard, although the company that I ordered this from messed up the delivery. Class went really good. A third person came in last minute, but decided that the class was too easy. I am going to see if I can do things a little different for this person and to consider private tutoring.

Yesterday winter seriously kicked in. We got a lot of snow dropped on our head, although 6 inches doesn’t look too much. Nevertheless everyone fails to understand what they have to do. That includes people not knowing how to drive in the snow, causing a total of about 520 mile traffic jam on the roads. If you consider that we have a total of 1780 miles in interstate roads, you get the picture.

Last night was the coldest night in 22 years. In our city it got -7F (yes, I converted that to Fahrenheit for you). We were supposed to visit our friends Rocio and Jeroen today. Beforehand we wanted to pick up a few things in Amsterdam. I did make it to Amsterdam, but it is was both foggy and iced roads, that we decided not to take things as far as to where Rocio and Jeroen live. At some point I got in a slip with the car, turning it quarter. Fortunately there was no traffic close by.

The Girl Scout Cookies
Today we picked up some Girl Scout Cookies. They are back again and Leann ordered 4 boxes of Tagalongs, so she is happy and I am happy being able to support the troops a little in this way. The boxes were € 3 a piece, so it wasn’t even too bad.

Next week is going to be busy, too. On Monday I have the weekly meeting with the political party. I plan to attend, since on Tuesday the City Council is going to meet. One of the Aldermen is in trouble because of total miscommunication. A few political parties plan to vote him away on Tuesday. I plan to attend the council meeting, too. On Wednesday I’ll have the second class of Nederlands Praten again. Next week Sunday a team of the national TV will come to record a scene in Nederlands Praten for the national TV show. So, it’s a busy week.

We have a lot to look forward to.

It’s been a crazy busy week. Work has been a challenge, but it paid off. I have been offered a salary raise and a monthly bonus. I am getting comfortable with the work situation. Experience is kicking in finally. I plan to use the bonus for buying two new suits. I really need new ones.

I talked to the national TV show that hosted my Nederlands Praten program in December and they have decided that they would want to move the program forward and host me again. The show will visit us in the weekend of February 11th and 12th for recordings. I look forward to that. It’s amazing that this is progressing so fast.

This weekend will be a slow weekend. I plan to do a few things in my work, though I hope we’ll find something to do somewhere away. I would like to get a bit active. Then again… Winter is supposed to kick in starting tomorrow. They say it will finally start to freeze. We’ll have to see, though.

I just peaked at Leann’s computer to see what she was up to. Apparently she found a website named Stuff Dutch People Like. I opened the website myself and it’s actually a funny website that really describes in English typical Dutch behavior.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Dutch culture, this website is a nice asset.

To start with the last subject: our weekend. It’s going to be an easy and quiet weekend this weekend. I was supposed to have a training today, but they cancelled that due to lack of interest in the training. Too bad, because I actually was looking forward to this training.

Last week I have kept myself busy with some community service. Our community building exists 30 years on January 28th and they would like to celebrate that with a small party. I have some connections with the local media, so I decided to take on the public relations side of this. The community building is holding a lot of activities, some of them that I think I am going to join, as well.

Nederlands Praten is going to the next level. Although I am not getting the number of students that I was looking for, the side of Nederlands Praten on national TV has started to soar. The program that I made an item for in 2011 asked me if I would help them with some more items and see if we could make a steady item in the show. I am excited. It was odd that they called me yesterday to ask me if I would be willing to help them with an item right away. Unfortunately, that is not possible with my employer. I need to have this a bit organized.

On that note… work keeps getting better. I am getting more and more comfortable with the work that I do and I am happy with that. It has been a struggle for quite some time and now things are finally kicking in. My Father-in-Law probably would tell me: “You see?? I told you…!”… and he actually did

All in all things are looking up.

President Obama visited Disney World in Florida today and announced that he would appreciate more tourists coming to visit the United States (see this article). The more tourists visiting the US, the more jobs are being created.

I hope that this is the beginning of a new era. For a decade I haven’t felt very welcome at the US borders when entering the US, except for the time that Leann and I visited the U.S. during Christmas. The whole customs experience is unsettling and something that I do not look forward to when flying over there, having to answer and explain a zillion questions. Not to mention the whole US-VISIT and ESTA program that foreigners had and have to go through. It makes me feel as if I am a suspect, rather than a welcomed tourist.

If the President Obama and the United States is serious about attracting more visitors, I hope they would definitely look to this field, as well.

I read some interesting news on CNN Money today in which CNN Money explained how US communities have started their own local currencies to stimulate the local economy. More on that here and here

What do you think? Something that could work for your community, too?

Later this year we will go to Austria for a short trip. We’ll go by train. We’ll be staying in Hotel Tirolerhof. You’ll find the website in English here

We’re looking forward already. Naturally we’ll bring our camera!

Now that the college football season is behind us, I’d like to do one more flashback to this season. It’s been an awesome season really. College football has become easy for me to watch, to understand and actually to follow. I saw a lot of the bowl games and enjoyed myself throughout this season. It appears that I actually understand the dynamic of the college teams, as well. Out of 35 bowl games, I picked the correct winner of 27 of these games. That worked well for me, even though I finished 1821th tied. Out 15,000+ players it’s not bad anyways. Although it’s still far away, I can’t wait for the new season to start.

Today we headed to a BIG market place in Beverwijk, called Bazaar. It’s a complex with various buildings on it and people selling all kinds of stuff. We managed to get a lot of great deals there. We spent quite a bit of money, but it was all worth it. We also had lunch there, which was nice. They offer everything between Chinese and Afghan food. It works. We had some Chinese food.

It’s been an accomplished weekend for me. I managed to get a lot of things done.

It’s been a busy week. On Monday we went to a reception organized by City Hall in the theater of our city. They had drinks and bites and the had an official program. I would like Leann to experience more of our city and this was a good start to get that done.

On Wednesday we went to a miniconcert of the Dutch band Wooden Saints. They claim that their music is Americana, a style that I have started to develop a taste for this music style. The music ended up being more rock style, though. Nevertheless we had a fun evening out for little money. It worked well.

Tonight my employer invited all employees for a New Year’s Dinner. We went to a Japanese restaurant, called Osaka. The food was really good and I had a great time with my co-workers. I have noticed that in the past few months I really settled at my employer and I have started to feel comfortable.

Leann is flying to America in February. I am glad that she’s able to go. It’s been a while since she’s seen her family and this will be a good time again. I am sure she’s going to have a good time over there

All in all it’s been a busy week.