Before and After: The Flight Home

I haven't posted in a long time!  Sorry about that!  A lot has happened since I showed you the pictures from our Holland trip, and I'll probably leave some stuff out in this post because I've forgotten already. :)

Holland: A Story in Pictures

Let me just give you a brief summary of yesterday, and then I'll show you all the pictures of the past couple of days!

Yesterday we drove home, making a two-hour trip a four-hour one by stopping to look at castles and things.  We also looked at some castle where Germany's ruler lived in when he was banished from Germany.  There were a lot of bikers out, which makes me just want to tell you something that has applied to our entire stay in Holland: there are bikes here outfitted for whole families!  I've seen bikes with a tiny kid seat screwed to the bike in front of the rider (it's not a tandem), windshields for bikes, tandems with an added kid seat, and special bikes that have a big compartment in front of the wheel where you can store goods or kids. There will be some pictures of just a few varieties in the picture section of my blog. :)

And now...  what you've all been waiting for....  Picture time! :D Warning: there are a LOT of pictures.  As in 55.  They're also, unfortunately, not in order because I downloaded from my mom's camera and mine. :/ Mine are in order, and my mom's are in order (I think), but together it's kind of humble-jumble, so read the descriptions. ;)

Market and Marken

We were all very excited today when the sun showed its face.  Woohoo!  We got to wear capris!  I know, it's sad.  I've probably had a total of a week of summer so far this year because it's been rainy and cold in Germany so often, and apparently it's even colder here!  I'll only have about four or five weeks of summer this year, unfortunately. :( But, as my mom pointed out, that's four more weeks than the people here! :)

Boat Tour, Flowers and Art (Oh My!)

Today was a very long day in Amsterdam.  We left at about 10:30 by car and parked near a train station, then took a train into Amsterdam.  That took about a half hour, and we arrived in Amsterdam shortly after eleven.  We spent about five and a half hours in Amsterdam before taking the train and car back home.  As you can imagine, my feet hurt really badly by the time we made it home.

Say Cheese!

Today was awesome!  I told you yesterday we were going to Amsterdam today, but we're actually going there tomorrow.  Today we went to Gouda, home of the famous cheese market.

We drove about an hour, and then parked near a canal.  That is one thing we haven't seen in a Dutch town so far: Gouda, like Amsterdam, has a lot of canals, which I think is really cool.  A lot of the railings along the canals had flower boxes of red flowers, which really added to the quaint atmosphere created by the old buildings, cobblestone roads, the canals, and the bikes.  Unlike Nijmegen, where we were yesterday, ALL the buildings were old and adorable instead of just some.

The Dutch Adventure Begins

I am currently writing to you from the laptop in our rental in the Netherlands.  The laptop has the same keyboard as in the US, and I am having a little trouble typing. ;)

We left at about 9 this morning to drive to Naarden, the Netherlands.  We made a few stops along the way, the first being a city called Nijmegen.  We walked around and took lots of pictures.  As far as I could see so far, buildings were made up of adorable old buildings, ugly middle-old buildings, and interesting-looking new buildings.  The shopping street, however, still had old buildings and an old church.

Blood, Sweat and Tears

Today was the Sportfest!  I believe I have told you enough about it in past posts, so I will cut to the chase and tell you how it was. :)

The Sportfest took place at the school and also took just as long as a normal school day, so Lisa and I biked to school like it was any old day.  We spent about five minutes in the classroom, signing the t-shirts of people who didn't get theirs yesterday and discussing the schedule and roles of everyone.  Then it was straight to the back field for six hours outside!

New Shirts!

Okay.  I know what you're thinking.  Did Julia go shopping again?  As a matter of fact, I did!  Just kidding.  I'll explain the title.

**On a random note, I went to bed at 8 pm yesterday because I was so exhausted after the birthday party :)

What Have I Been Doing Lately?

I know, I know.  I haven't posted in what, three days?  Don't get me wrong, lots has happened, I just haven't had the time (or the mood) to write about it!  This seems to be happening a lot lately.  Sorry...  But part of it is your fault!  I hardly ever get comments anymore, and I feel like I'm writing to myself.  But maybe you don't comment because my posts are boring because I never feel like writing.  So maybe it's my fault after all. ;) Anyway...

Surprise!

I have the best friends in the entire world.  It's a fact.  Let me tell you why...

I'm not going to tell you about school today because it was boring.  Oh, except for one thing: yesterday two kids in my class were singing the "Ain't nobody got time for that" song.  It was pretty much the funniest thing I've ever seen.

Afternoon Adventures

Today I am not going to talk about school because Tuesdays are always incredibly boring in that regard.  I have German, chemistry and history.  It's not a great combo.  My afternoon was a lot more interesting.

By the way, my mom just told me that I should talk more about my reactions to everything instead of just report on it.  She's told me that before, and I did start doing that more, but I guess I slipped back into the I-don't-feel-like-writing-let's-just-cut-to-the-chase type of writing.  I hope I haven't been boring you!

Instead of just telling you what happened today, here is a summary of everything I will tell you about:

Let's Talk About Food

Hi everyone!  Thanks for reading my blog! :) Over the past couple of weeks, I've been asked repeatedly what the food's like here.  So today, you will essentially follow me around as I eat.  Okay, I promise it will be more interesting than it sounds! ;)

Abi 2013

I'm not really sure how to start this post in a clever way, so I'll just start telling you about my day. :)

Since Lisa's bike was at her cousins' or something like that (long story; I don't remember much of it myself), we walked to school, even though the weather was nice.