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Archive for February, 2008
Molly and Ri
molly and Ri
Originally uploaded by mariahamckenna
It is a known fact that in all our years as friends, Molly and I have pretty much never been able to create a picture where the two of us look…um… photogenic. So here we are at our best - both looking silly and photogenically awkward (but still cute of course!!). 
Greetings and salutations!!
Hello everyone! How are you? Sorry it has been a while since our lasting posting. My, my how time slips by! Peter and I are going on six months here in Amsterdam. Can you believe it??? In some ways it feels as though we have been here for such a short amount of time, but mostly it feels as though we have been here forever. It is strange how time plays tricks on one’s mind sometimes.
Anyway, life is good. There are tiny little buds on some of the trees and the Dutch crocuses are popping up from their winter slumber in grassy fields all over the city. They are very sweet and make me hope spring is not too far off. We recently had a couple weeks (yes, many days in a row) of beautiful sun. The streets were busy and seats at the outdoor cafes were buzzing with people. If it was any indication as to how summer is – well let’s just say Amsterdamers get a little crazy for some sunshine! We have heard summer is quite fun here. It is sort of a running joke with some of our friends because half the things people say here start with the phrase “In the summer…” “In the summer this place or that place is great,” “In the summer we will do this and this and this…” Hee, hee!
As many of you know we recently had some visitors in town which was so much fun. Our dear friend Molly was here for two whole weeks. Her husband, Jason, was supposed to join the second week but work ended up keeping him back in the states. So, so sad. ☹ I guess this means we will have to make his next trip twice as fun. I think we are up for the challenge. Hear that Jay? Also the second week we had our friends Aaron and Sarah in town. It was, as always, so much fun to show guests around our new home. And as mentioned above – they got really lucky with some freakishly warm and beautiful weather.
While Aaron and Sarah took off to Berlin for a couple of days, Molly, Peter and I went to Belgium. We spent our one night and two days in Brussels, which was fabulous. As you may know Belgium is divided, the North is Flemish (or Dutch) and the South is French. So while we were in Brussels we were spoiled with delicious French food. It was such a treat for Peter and I to enjoy some yummy food as the Dutch cuisine (a bit of an oxymoron really) leaves something to be desired. Brugge was very, very pretty and picturesque. It was, however, a bit Disneylandish, and a bit crowded even for off-season. It must be madness in the summer.
Um…what else is going on? Well, Peter’s work continues to go well. He is really, really happy at 180. I have taken a job working as a nanny for a French family a couple days a week. I take care of two little kids, a four-year-old girl named Fleur, and a two-year-old little boy named Casper. I have only worked with them a couple of time so far. They are blond haired, blue-eyed cuties but I can already see they are going to exhaust me. Yikes! ☺ In addition to this I have accepted an internship with a European expat website called Expatica (www.expatica.com). I will be learning how to write news articles from press releases, as well as learning about on-line editing and publishing also. I think taking the position is a great opportunity that will give me a lot of good experience. At least this is my hope!! ☺ I start working with them this week so I will keep you updated how everything progresses.
Other than that we have just been enjoying life. We have made some really lovely friends and have been doing all the same things we always love to do. The fun and silliness of getting around by bike continues to entertain us (though it can still be a bit of a bummer in the rain). We go out for drinks with friends and Peter’s coworkers – there are about a million bars in Amsterdam, and Peter and I shop at the markets and cook at home a lot. Occasionally we go out to dinner with friends but as mentioned above, we have been disappointed more than once by our dining out experiences. It is hard to come from a place like California (or New York, or France or Italy – where some of our friends are from) where there is sooooo much good food to a place like Amsterdam where the food tends to be mediocre and overpriced. It is sort-of a favorite past time of the expat community here to make fun of Dutch food. That said, I do think the city is trying to step it up a bit, and we are slowly compiling a list of place we do enjoy going. Still have not found any places that can come anywhere near the Chinese or Mexican food from home but we have found a decent taco shop run by an American guy that can cure a craving when needed.
Anyway – I think that is about it with us. We hope this finds you all happy and well. Please write and let us know how all of you are doing and what you have been up to. We love to hear from you!!
Lots of love!
XOXO,
Ri and Peter
La Quincaillerie
La Quincailleri
Originally uploaded by mariahamckenna
This is where we had lunch in Brussels - it was a very beautiful building - once home to an iron shop. Brussels had a lot of really nice architecture, a lot of great art deco stuff.
The Royal Seafood Platter - Oh my!
The Royal Seafood Platter - Oh my!
Originally uploaded by mariahamckenna
This was the starter at our lunch in Brussels. I believe it was called something like the Royal Seafood Platter. It had a bunch of different oysters, shrimps of varying sizes, sea snails (which we really quite yummy), crab and lobster. Silliness I tell you!
Molly and Peter
Molly and Peter
Originally uploaded by mariahamckenna
Molly and Peter, a little giddy after a HUGE seafood lunch and a few Belgian beers - this bar had several hundred beers to choose from. It was a bit overwhelming really…
Day at the beach
Day at the beach
Originally uploaded by mariahamckenna
One day we took a little field trip outside of Amsterdam to the seaside town of Zandvoort. It was nice to see the ocean - it had been a while - but Zandvoort was a bit strange. Sort of desolate and run down. Although to it’s credit who goes to the beach in Holland in February??? Anyway, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant on the beach. I envisioned a menu with a medley of delicious seafood options. Instead it was standard Dutch food - tomato soup and toasties (similar to a grilled cheese - a real Dutch staple). We had fun anyway!
In this photo is my friend Brigit (from San Diego) whom I met in Dutch class (on the far left), then Sarah (from SF), Margot (our friend from France), me, Molly and Aaron (Sarah’s hubby). Guess Peter was taking the photo…
Picture in store window
Picture in store window
Originally uploaded by mariahamckenna
We saw this picture living amongst a hair-dye-window-display on a busy street. It appears to be a naked guy sitting on a toilet, looking up at another naked guy in the shower. Um…yeah. We are pretty sure this store was unaware this photo has been stashed in their front window for all to see.
