Outings

Today we headed to Gelderland Plein in Amsterdam to go to the Korean store there. The store is in a shopping center so we usually look around first. I always like to go into this cooking store to see what’s there. It’s usually too expensive to buy anything but I guess Mickel had other ideas haha. We needed some new cooking pans so he bought me a nice quality non-stick pan and then a new wok too! He also bought a spatula and some cloths that won’t scratch the pans when you pile them up together. The wok came with a recipe book and a cd. Ooh fancy! So that was a nice out of the blue surprise. Then we headed to the store and bought some spicy red sauce, red pepper flakes, some panko flakes and more hehe. We bought some meat for tonight and Diana is coming over. So a little Korean bbq will take place. The rest of the day we just lazed around and such. I’m supposed to go see the Twilight movie tonight as well with Diana and her friend. So that should be fun too.

Hi everyone, I made it to Nashville ok. The flight from Amsterdam to Newark was kind of scary though. There was a lot of turbulence before landing and I got really nervous. The landing was rough but I was glad to be alive! lol. I also didn’t like the plane because it was so small for an 8 hour trip. There were only two rows of 3 seats. Talk about cramped! OMG, I was so glad to get out of there haha. Newark airport is ok but it’s a bit old and rundown. The plane to Nashville was delayed a bit because of strong head winds but I got here ok.

Then I got to the apartment and we had some late night dinner and I went to bed right afterwards. Now I’m awake and running at 6:45 am waiting for the rest of the family to wake up hehe. I’m updating from the computer because I can’t get the internet to connect automatically. Maybe I’ll figure it out later or call Mickel.

So my family is happy to see me, along with my kitty Puff haha. She was sleeping next to me most of the night and follows me to the bathroom. I guess she missed me! Aww! Now I’m hungry for breakfast hehe. If Mickel were here, we would probably be going to Cracker Barrel super early because of jet lag. Well that’s about it for now, I’ll keep you posted.

Today Diana and I went to Amsterdam. We mainly went there to see Avatar in 3D since the local theater doesn’t offer that. I started out by going to Diana’s house by bike. I also fell off my bike once since it was so slippery. _; Luckily I didn’t hurt anything but my pride haha. We came to Amsterdam just fine and did a bit of shopping first. I got a winter hood and some hair ties at Claire’s. Then we headed on up the street to where the movie theater was. They have a Subway close by so we had to eat that since there is no Subway in our town. I had a Subway club and a cookie. Mmm yummy!

We came to the movie just in time and didn’t miss a thing, not even the commercials. We got the special 3d glasses before we entered the room. I thought they would be the paper ones but I guess they have special plastic ones these days. This was also my first 3d movie, if you can believe it. Not to give any spoilers but this movie was soooo amazing!!! The animation literally blew me away! It was just so beautiful, the whole thing! And the plot was good as well. It’s like seeing your wildest dream on the movie screen. Haha. Obviously, I was impressed. Diana and I loved the movie and would love to come back to see it again. I don’t think that will happen though since it’s so difficult to get to Amsterdam (and expensive).

So we came out of the theater and downstairs it was packed!! I’m glad we went to see the afternoon film. We did a bit more shopping at the bookstore and Diana bought some manga. Maybe someday I’ll get rich and I can buy everything in that bookstore! lol. But today I didn’t buy any books. Then we were both in a good party mood so we decided to stay in Amsterdam for dinner.

It was a good idea but unfortunately the Mexican restaurant we went to was extremely bad! We ordered some guacamole and chips and the chips came out and you could tell that it was just chips from a bag. And not very good quality chips either! In fact, I can go to the local grocery store and buy the exact same chips!! GRR! The guacamole was fresh but it had no flavor. Diana’s beef taco’s weren’t good. It had so much fat in the meat, the she had to take out half. _ Oh and she also ordered a strawberry margarita but it came in this itty bitty glass and it tasted just awful. But it cost 7 euros! My meal was just ok with grilled chicken and some fries. Restaurants are generally more expensive in Holland and we both payed around 20 euros for a crappy meal! Boo!!! Very disappointing. So yeah, if you’re ever in downtown Amsterdam, don’t go to the Mexican restaurant that is close to De Dam!

We came out of the restaurant in a bit of a foul mood so we decided just to head home. It was raining pretty hard anyway. When we got there we still had 10 minutes till the train would come so headed to Starbucks. I ordered a mocha frappuccino(sp?) and she got some carrot cake to go and a strawberry smoothie. We thought we had plenty of time but apparently not. I don’t know where the time went but 10 minutes can go by quickly. (I guess Mickel is right, the Starbucks is too slow!) We ran to the track but when we got up there but the train was just moving out! T_T So we basically waited around for another 30 min for the next train. The good part about this is that Diana is totally addicted to Starbucks now. Muwhahahaha!! She was a Starbucks virgin until tonight. She’ll never be the same again. > (this is an evil smile)

We came outside for a bit and noticed that it was snowing. We didn’t think it was a big deal. But apparently it was sticking more than I thought! The train in Amsterdam was 5 minutes late so we missed our bus connection. (Now I know how Mickel feels with public transportation!) So we had to wait 20 more minutes in the cold till the next bus arrived. By this time it was too dangerous for Mickel to pick us up. The snow was everywhere! Grr. (I’m tired of snow.) Well fortunately we got home safe and sound. My bike is still at Diana’s but I’ll just pick it up tomorrow. (And hope I don’t fall on my ass!)

So that was our very full day of adventure. Some of it wasn’t that great but I think it was fun overall. The movie made it all worth it.

Today we headed early into Amsterdam. And I mean early! We were up at 6:30 am and there around 8 am for the dramatic lighting. _ Well everyone can see the pretty Christmas tree lights at least. And I got some Starbucks of course. After I got Starbucks we headed downtown to take pictures of all the Christmas lights before it got too light. Then we walked around for awhile with Mickel taking pictures in the morning light. We were walking for awhile and I wasn’t really sure where we were but it wasn’t difficult finding our way back to downtown. We ordered some breakfast there. I got an English breakfast and Mickel got fried eggs and ham on toast. The English breakfast was kind of interesting. It came with beans and fries. I wasn’t into the beans much. Talk about a heavy stomach in the morning! lol.

After eating, we walked around a bit more waiting for the shops to open up. We got some hot chocolate at the castle looking place in pictures 69 and 70. We rested our feet a bit since we had been walking around a lot already. Around 11pm the stores finally opened and I had to go to Claire’s and the American Book Center of course! I bought some presents for Diana and a book for myself. I have plenty of reading material for awhile. We walked around to more shops and Mickel bought some more Christmas cards.

We decided to go further into Amsterdam after that into the Museumplein. We didn’t do much other than taking pictures though. We couldn’t even take that many pictures because they were working on every building in that area! Must they do it at the same time? I know they’ve been working on one or two museums for awhile though. I feel sorry for the people who only come there for one time. All of Amsterdam is a mess right now since they are also working on a new metro line. Well that’s my little rant.

After that we hopped on another tram and got off at a stop where there was an ice skating rink set up. Santa Claus was in the area and I got a picture with him. He’s huge! Then we looked at the shops in that area. We went down one street and I was surprised to see at least 6 or 7 steakhouse on this little street! A few were right next to each other! I guess they like steak in Amsterdam. We walked a bit more but got tired and finally headed back to the train station.

When we got home we took a little nap and ordered pizza. Mmm it was good! I was full all day from that breakfast even with all the walking we did! Now we’re watching football of course staying nice and cozy inside. Pictures are here.

Well today, I thought we would be staying home but it was nice weather so we decided to go to our favorite hangout, the Zuiderzee museum! We never get tired of it because everytime we go there is something new. We saw a few more houses that we’ve never seen the inside of before. We also went to a writing lesson in the old calligraphy style hehe. He even gave us the old style pens with ink wells. Fortunately we didn’t get our hands rapt since we’re both left handed. They did that back in the old days hehe. We also had some yummy (and very rich!) apple pie and hot chocolate.

We stayed there for most of the day, when we thought we would only go for a couple of hours. But it was nice weather and Mickel got some good pictures that he’s very excited about. So enjoy cause there are plenty!