Recap, Reflection and Comparison

I am ashamed.  When was my last post?  Like, a month ago?  Crap.  That was NOT supposed to happen!  I've been busy with, as I like to say in German, "Zeug, Kram und Sachen."  Those are pretty much three different words for "stuff."  I may have also gotten a tad bit lazy.  Just a bit.  It's summer, after all!  And I do have to admit, I was getting a little burned-out from writing almost every day.  But yes, a month is definitely long enough of a break to take!  Since this is my last post probably EVER (gasp!) I know I should have posted sooner and gotten it done with, but instead I've left you hanging for a loooong time.

Let me begin with a recap.  I'll try to sum everything up as best I can, but I'm not promising that I'll remember everything.

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.

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.

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! ;)

Three Days, One Post

So sorry I haven't posted the past two days!  Stuff has happened, but I haven't had time to post or I just wasn't in the mood.  Mostly I just wasn't in the mood.  I also have stuff to do today, so I'll just give you a shortened version of events.

A Fantabulistic Birthday Party

Fantabulistic. Yes, it's a word.  Yes, I made it up.

Anyways, yesterday, I celebrated my birthday with my friends.  It was, well, fantabulistic! :D I had an awesome time.

First, my grandma and I set the table and made the food.  I had brought a package of brownie mix with me from America, so I baked those.  My grandma baked a cake, and also bought some cookies.  My grandpa went and got lots and lots of strawberries.  The table looked like this:

Happy Birthday to Meee.....

Indeed.  Today was my birthday!  Is my birthday!  Will be my birthday for a few more hours!  Just kidding!  I started this post yesterday, on my birthday, but didn't finish it until today.  Honestly, I wasn't expecting much of my birthday.  I've already gotten a LOT of presents, like my Kindle and my schoolbag in Germany, so I wasn't expecting many presents today.  But I definitely have enjoyed my day!

A Trip to the Picture Book Museum

We spent the majority of the day today in Troisdorf.  I'm not sure how you spell it.  Anyway, we went to a picture book museum there.  It was in this old building that used to be part of a fortress thingiemabob surrounded by a moat.  The moat is still there, but, unfortunately, there was no bridge that can go up and down, just a normal stone pathway across.