A year in Maastricht

Last night...

2008-09-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

Tonight was our last night here in Maastricht. It was very sad eating our last meal in the Markt square, but at the same time we know that we'll be coming home to all our families and friends. We're coming back home, and while we know that there will be many stories to tell and pictures to show, it will be impossible to tell everyone every last detail. Fortunately, we will have our memories, which, with the help of this blog, will remind us of this incredible year. Thanks everyone for reading. We'll probably have a Dublin post and a Washington DC post, but this is an official good bye from Maastricht.... For now.....
Chris/Michelle.

And here is a photo of Michelle giving me a ride on her bike after I sold my Gazelle... just so you know we can do it :)

Last weekend

2008-08-31T03:48:00.000-07:00

This is our last weekend here in Maastricht, and it is indeed a sad occasion. We are going to miss everyone greatly, and we're going to miss all the beautiful scenery, the bike rides, the beer, the Dutchisms...countless more things.

But to stay on topic, we celebrated this occasion by riding our bikes to a delicious tapas dinner with all of Michelle's co-workers. It was fun, but sad knowing this would be the last night with them. They gave both of us some incredibly kind gifts, and parting words.

Then last night we went to the Peruvement festival in the vrijtof. You buy some tickets, and exchange them for some local food samples or meals which are set up in multiple tents. It's quite fantastic.

Then we went to Fair Play, and I rocked the Roulette wheel, which led to us going out for a celebratory drink at take one. Now it's back to packing :(

Brugge

2008-08-25T23:11:00.000-07:00

Michelle's birthday happened again this weekend! Not her actual birthday, but rather her present, as we've become prone to giving each other our presents months after the actual day. This year, it was a trip to Brugge (Bruges) Belgium. For those who haven't been there, it is an amazing town. I'll offer a few descriptions, but mostly words won't do it justice, so I'll post plenty of photos as well :)

We stayed at the bed and breakfast of Maria. She is a local woman, who moved to Italy for 25 years with her husband, and after his death, decided to return to her home town. She is great, and regularly switches between 5 or so different languages on accident while speaking.

We checked out the many sites around the town, and went on some tours. There was the choco-story museum, where we learned about the history of chocolate...

There was our boat ride...

There was also a brewery tour, where they brew the Brugse Zot or the Lunatic of Bruges beer.

And we also climbed up 366 stairs to the top of the town hall's belfry to check out all the sights... really an amazing weekend.

Oh, and we went twice to this restaurant that served 400 Belgian beers... what's crazy is that there are actually over 700 actively brewed beers in Belgium... not bad for a country about the size of South Carolina. :)

Further down the Maas

2008-08-18T00:18:00.000-07:00

Michelle and I spent this weekend in Rotterdam and Den Haag, the often forgotten major cities in the Netherlands. Heck, we almost forgot to visit them, until we realized we only have one last "unplanned" weekend left! So we trained it up to Rotterdam on Saturday morning, and saw some of the coolest feats of architecture. Considering how old Amsterdam is, it's easy to forget that most of the new construction in Holland is in Rotterdam, and thus we were quite amazed to see so many new buildings. Rotterdam has in fact taken over Amsterdam as the biggest port in Europe, and if I remember correctly, the world (though I may be mistaken on that last one).

Of course, in true Dutch form, everything had to be extreme, different, and often have a slight dark humor to it. All over the town where the metal statues of naked men. Often they would be standing on the edge of buildings, like they were about to jump off... sometimes they would be on the ground like they just did. There was also this cute, almost mascot of Rotterdam named Fikkie. The plaque next to it basically says that Fikkie found his way all over the town, because people would rob him and move him all over. Now he has a permanent home... and a mess to clean up.

There was also these funky looking cube houses, which are like cubes, but tilted into a diamond shape. They are hard to explain, so here are some photos :) you can buy one for about 219,000 Euro.

For fans of extreme sports, you can repel off the side of this tower in Rotterdam.

Michelle and I opted out.

Apparently we weren't the only people who ever made it to Rotterdam, as we found some famous names in the walk of fame.

The next day, we trained further north to Den Haag... A city you may recognize as the international war crimes tribunal's headquarters. That was cool, and the city looked pretty sweet, but we were more interested in the Scheveningen, a big beach resort town on the edge of Den Haag. It had been a long time since we'd seen a sea, and thus we spent most of the day playing like the many kids we saw in the sand.

Oh, and another extreme sport allowed people to bungee off another tower above the sea... again not really our cup of tea... in fact, it was scary enough walking up the tower, since some of the boards were broken off, and others creaked, and bowed as you stepped on them. According to Michelle, I walked nervously, and hugged the sturdier center area.

So then we headed back home. Good times. Almost over times... I'll leave you with a fun Dutch company to try and pronounce. I know I'm going to miss seeing words with 20 + letters in them! Oh and some cool sand sculptures we saw in both Rotterdam and Den Haag.

Take 25

2008-08-11T23:40:00.001-07:00

This is more a post for those of you who have visited, but for those that haven't, it's still interesting, good times :) On Sunday our favorite watering hole celebrated its 25th anniversary of being open. It also happened to be the 30 anniversary of the owners, Peet and Mery, being together as a couple. I don't think I've ever seen the place so packed. It's good to see that so many people came from all over the country to help celebrate. I guess Take one is truly a special place.

With only 3 weeks left here in Maastricht, we've been trying to get out as much as possible, so you'll probably be seeing more photos soon. In the mean time, here are some flashes from our evening :) oh, and check out that snack barge... absolutly amazing :)

Sometimes I forget...

2008-08-07T00:25:00.000-07:00

It's easy when you spend so much time in a single place to forget about all the cool things you see everyday. Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day, and before starting my lessons, I decided to take a walk around town, and remind myself how sweet Maastricht really is. I don't think my mind fully realizes how much it's going to miss being bombarded with such beautiful imagery on a daily basis. I don't think it realizes how much I'm going to miss cobblestone streets and building that are on average older than my country. And also the way that modern construction has fused with these old buildings in such a perfect blend.

So I thought I would share some photos of Maastricht in the summer....since I think all our others are in winter, and I don't want you to think that it's always raining in Maastricht.

Last first Sunday...

2008-08-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

This weekend is the last time that the stores will be open on a Sunday. at least for us... You see, every 1st Sunday of the month, the town shops all open and everyone goes out for a big shopping day. Since Michelle and I will be gone by the next one (September 7th) we decided to really appreciate this one. And while we didn't do any real major shopping, we did do plenty of window shopping... it's for the best, keeping our wallets heavier, and our suitcases lighter for when we do finally come back home.

We started off with services at the Basilica in the Onze Lieve vrouw plein. And much to our surprise, the priest actually took time out of his Homily to give a stern lecture to a couple of young kids who were running around. He said something like "This is a church, not a place for jongens to be running around." He didn't start again until the mother had removed the most unruly of her children completely.

After our eventful mass, we had our usual coffee/tea cafe break followed by said window shopping. It will be sad to say good bye to these days.

Oh, and yesterday, we went on our longest bike ride yet... 60 km through Belgium :) I know it's nothing compared to Tim and his crazy Seattle to Portland ride... but it's good for us!

One more time...

2008-07-26T08:54:00.001-07:00

We finally have our first, non-family visitor here in Maastricht! David! So we got to do all those things that people do when the have an excuse... eat out, beer tasting, long bike rides, trips to Amsterdam, and lots of lounging about.

Earlier in the week, David and I took off around on the bikes, while Michelle spent some time at a Platelet school in Birmingham (England).

We then met in Amsterdam, and toured around the city all night. This was after making our usual donations to the Holland Casino. One of these days we'll learn that we probably won't win, but it's still a good time. So the next day we left for home. Michelle was a little tired on the train ride.

So we came back to Maastricht, and enjoyed a wonderful beer tasting with the three of us, and Michelle's co-worker/friend Reyhan and her husband Birol.

That last one is what I was seeing by the end of the night.

David is still hanging out for the weekend, so there will probably be more to come :)

Just doing all those tourist things we love to do, one more time :)

Average weekend

2008-07-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

After such a slew of new posts, I realized we've been falling behind a little bit! Well, things haven't been super exciting around here... just working and going through the motions. That, and we're saving the excitement for next week when our friend David comes to visit for a week! However, we have still been doing somewhat interesting things. Take this weekend for an example of a slice of our lives here. Friday we went out for dinner at one of the many outdoor restaurants in the Markt square. And good thing we sat outside, because Michelle bumped the table as she stood up, and spilled the wine all over the place!

That night we stayed out late with our Turkish friends. We were dancing in the celebration night club for hours, when it finally dawned on us; no one was smoking! The Netherlands joined many other European countries in banning smoking from inside of restaurants and bars! We were able to stay all night with out feeling the sting in our throats and smelling like the Marlboro man. Well, our throats were dry, but I think that was from the fog machine.

Then Saturday we went out shopping, and Michelle picked up some facial cream....

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And some how she convinced me to put some on with her that night as we stayed in and watched movies. I decided to wear an OSU shirt, so everyone could easily tell that I wasn't in my right mind :)

Then today we took a long bike ride. 50 km to be exact, through Belgium. It was very nice, and we saw some good landscapes as we went. Michelle decided that she wanted to lay in the Wheat fields.

Oh, and Michelle made a new friend... but he seems more interested in eating her bike...

So yeah, life hasn't been super exciting, but we still find ways to keep ourselves entertained!

Valkenburg

2008-06-29T22:58:00.000-07:00

Michelle and I decided to keep the birthday theme going this weekend, by cashing in on my big present; a trip to Valkenburg. Valkenburg is a small town just 13km from Maastricht and is pretty much the tourist center of south Limburg. It's an old town, with some cool castle ruins on the hill, and also a modern entertainment town, with a casino, alpine slides (which were sadly closed) and a zip chord coming down from an old church-like tower.

We started our journey in the late morning, and arrived, by bike, in Valkenburg less than an hour later. After checking into our hotel, we explored the town.

It's really a cool place, and I encourage everyone to come back here for a visit. :)

We spent the later part of the day checking out (but not indulging in) a very expensive, and fancy spa complex further up the hill, and in the Holland Casino. There was a lot of ups and downs, but Michelle and I both ended up slightly down after about 3 hours of gambling. But it was well worth the fun.

Then next day we took a slightly more scenic bike ride home. Michelle will tell you it was also slightly more hilly :) but we managed ok, and made it back home!

And for those who were keeping track, España is the 2008 Euro cup champions!

verjaardag!

2008-06-27T02:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Michelle's birthday! And she had requested a Spanish Tapas style dinner. So we indulged in some delicious platters; meat and cheese with crackers, garlic olives, pita crackers with feta and tomato, stuffed mushrooms, and some fried eggplant. And of course, for dessert, some rijs vlaai! It was all very good, which makes me think that Michelle needs to have birthdays more often.

However, someone did send her a Princess/castle card, and so she insisted that I call her "princess Michelle" for the entire evening. Ugh....

In other news, Spain won against Russia, setting up a Germany vs. Spain final on Sunday!

Bad Sad Times!

2008-06-22T02:18:00.000-07:00

I always knew it would happen, it was pretty much inevitable, but I just wasn't ready for it. Crash, bang, boom, I was in a bike accident! I was cruising along to work, just like every other day. There was a cute little girl riding in front of me, most likely on her way to school. We reached an intersection and she turned without signalling. I wasn't paying enough attention and crashed right into her back tire. The girl continued riding and seemed unphased, but things turned out a bit differently for me. Upon hitting her bike I was catapulted off of mine onto the path, while my bike went flying in the other direction. My injuries were minimal, a gash on my finger, a scraped knee, a couple bruises, but the damage to my pride was far greater. Of all people to crash into, a little girl! Once she realized my fate she rode back to talk to me. I believe she was asking if I was ok, but she only spoke Dutch and I couldn't understand. Eventually we reached some sort of understanding and I hurried to work. What a start to my day!!

This same day was quite difficult for Chris as well. He was part of another medical study and again spent the day two floors below my office. His day started with the insertion of cathers into his arm and hand. Then it just went downhill from there, and he had to have a muscle biopsy in each leg. Basically the process went like this: his leg was numbed with local anaesthesia, a 3/4 inch incision was made into his leg, a metal rod the size of a #2 pencil (shown in the picture below) was inserted into the incision and pushed down into the muscle, a vacuum force was applied to the rod, and a smaller inner needle in the rod extracted a sample of muscle. Unfortunately on both legs the tissue sample they cut out the first time was too small and they had to go back in. Poor Chris! They bandaged up his leg, put on a compression wrap, and from there he was free to go. He's tough and didn't complain at all, but you could tell he was one sore boy. Check out all his wounds in the photo. Poor guy! Luckily he's feeling much better now, less sore, and will be able to remove the bandages very soon. The things we do for those precious Euros!

I met Chris at the end of his study and we rode home together, but 10 minutes into our ride we encountered a monsoon!! We were absolutely soaked by the time we got home! What a way to end a bad day!

Now onto the sad news...Oranje is finished. They lost last night in a hard fought battle against the Russians. It was a sad evening for all and the entire spirit of the city is down. It was certainly fun while it lasted though! Until World Cup Oranje! I'll leave you with some memories of voetbal.

Oh yes, if you are interested in the muscle biopsy procedure you can visit the link below and watch the process (not on Chris, but another subject). Please be forewarned, it is very graphic and not for the weak of stomach!! I watched Chris's biopsy and felt a bit faint, so please only watch the video if you truly want to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc4HJj3THuw

Maastricht Marathon

2008-06-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

Today Michelle and I took a Sunday morning stroll down to the Ceramiqué quarter of town (the newest part) to watch Imke run in the Maastricht Mooiste (an annual race throughout the town, complete with local bands playing at different locations in the course) . Imke works with Michelle in the lab, and is pictured in the previous post at the bar watching voetbol with us. Anyhow, she seemed thrilled to have some extra fans there, and ran a great race through the town. Here are some photos :)

Viva HOLLANDIA!!!

2008-06-14T02:52:00.000-07:00

Since I've never really been a major voetbal (soccer) follower, I felt it appropriate that I, Michelle, write this blog about the amazing Dutch Oranje team!! I love them and love watching them; they are, to use a Bush term, AWESOME!! Last night we went out to watch their second game and they smashed the 2006 runner-up France, 4-1. They're now on their way to the quarter-finals! Let's hope they keep this up, because it's exciting. The entire city was riled up running around last night cheering! Also their color choice works so well with my OSU attire!! Hope everyone has a great weekend and enjoys Father's Day with their families! GO ORANJE!!

Chris in a bubble! aka Kamer Time (like "Hammer time"!)

2008-06-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

So Chris was away this week, but not so far away. He was housed two floors down from my lab participating in yet another medical study. This study was researching the effect of protein absorption and the body's use of protein. It began with an intense bike ride where he had to continue pedaling until he reached complete exhaustion...it took him a whole hour and 20 min! Upon completing that grueling task he showered and was promptly locked in the Respiratie Kamer for the next 36 hours. So to explain the kamer...it's basically the size of half of a run-of-the-mill dorm room complete with bed, toilet, sink, computer, tv, and desk. What's particularly special about this room is that it's completely airtight. Anything that entered the room had to pass though a special compartment with airtight doors on each side. Actually Chris needed to give me a form he had and we had to pass it through the compartment...so cool!! The study provided him with special food and he was basically able to relax during the 36 hours, giving him lots of time for writing and movies. Although it sounds scary to be locked in the room for that long, they do allow you to leave at any time. The only catch is that you won't be paid.

As Chris was just below me, I was able to visit him a few times throughout his Kamer days. I think it was pretty much how it would be to visit someone in jail. We could look at each other through a little glass window and talk over and intercom. I brought my camera took some pictures, this probably wasn't allowed, but I snuck them out just for you all! He escaped today and can't sit still after being enclosed for so long!

Here's the equipment on the outside monitoring Chris and the special compartment to get things into/out of the kamer.

Hup, Holland!

2008-06-09T23:31:00.000-07:00

Euro cup 2008! It started last weekend, but the real excitement came last night. Michelle and I started out our evening with our usual volleyball routine. However we, and everyone else in the class, left early to get somewhere with a TV to watch Oranje (Dutch national team) take on defending world champs Italy.

The fütbol fever has been sweeping the town. AH is giving away free Welpie's, the Dutch mascot (if you don't know what AH is, that means you haven't visited us yet, and need to get on it!). All the shops are decked out in orange and starting at 8:45 last night, all streets were deserted, and every bar was packed to the brim.

We went to our usual watering hole to watch the match, but it was far too crowded to get inside. We watched the match for a little bit from the window, but then decided to find a less crowded place. Just as we were riding away, we could hear cheers echoing out of every house, and bar in town. The rare car that passed by us would honk and give us the thumbs up... Holland had scored! We picked up the pace, and as we approached the next bar, another chores of cheers; they scored again!

Well that brought us to half time, when we finally found an outdoor seating area in the Markt square where one of the cafés had put a large screen TV in the window for everyone to watch. We saw most of the second half, but decided, after the 72nd minute where Holland scored another goal, that it was time to head back home.

Next match is on Friday! This is just the first round, so if Holland does well, they will move on to the quarter finals!!

Holland 3, defending world champions Italy 0 !!!!!!

Basketball yo

2008-06-07T09:55:00.000-07:00

It has been about 10 years since I've played a competitive game of Basketball (with referees) and probably about 4 years since Michelle had. So Naturally we jumped at the chance to participate in the Maastricht Open basketball tournament.

It's open for any team that wants to partake. You have to have at least two women on the court, but other than that there are no rules about who can play. Young folks, old folks, and everything in bewteen. All teams were very organized and had matching jerseys, and at least 10 players. We on the other hand, all had different black shirts (were were the zwart team...) with 2 guys, and 4 girls.... for starters. Eventually another player showed up on our team, and allowed us to sub in and out a little more. Our team was made up of people from the University of Maastricht.... and me :)

So out numbered, out practiced and out orginazed, we somehow managed to win one game! Sure we lost the other 4, but over all a lot of fun. And it's good we are getting involved in sports now, to get into the mood, because next week starts Euro cup! more on that soon!!!

Oh, and for getting 5th place, we won some superdickmans!!!! who would have thunk? So we took to the bar directly after our "victory" and indulged ;)

Fin de vacaciones (tres)

2008-06-06T02:27:00.000-07:00

Well, after having such good times in Valencia and Cabra, we decided we didn't want the looming end of our trip to get us down, so we resumed our relaxed vacation time in Málaga, by spending more time at the beach. We had a very casual snack dinner our first night, as we laid in the sand watching the sunset. I should note that the sun didn't set over the sea, as Málaga faces south, but it still looked beautiful (Note; the photo is actually from earlier in our trip, but I included it here for both visual and metaphoric representation purposes...)

The next day we finally took to touring, after dropping our bags at the train station for the day. Málaga is definitely a cool town to check out. In our photo's below, there is the bull fighting arena, another castle on the hill, and just some general photos that make me want to forget about my future plans, and just live in Spain for a few years.

We also decided we had to get ourselves a menu del dia meal... it was only 8 euros, and it was 3 courses! They are pictured below :)

After our day of touring, we took an overnight (13 hr!) train up to Barcelona. We were expecting rustic bunk beds, as most night trains are equipped with them. Unfortunately, we were just given the usual train seat. Somehow we still managed about 6 to 7 hours of sleep each. We were probably just tired from walking around Málaga all day....

The next morning we arrived in Barcelona, and what a send off the city gave us. All the most beautiful sites, great culture, and more Paella that you can shake your fist at. The photos are from the Gaudi Park on the hill, the huge Basilica that is still not finished (it's been like 200 years or something) and the Olympic area. Oh, and there was a volleyball tournament. Good times.

So the next morning, we got up early, and caught our flight home to Maastricht, where with some luck we had a city bus waiting to take us back to the center. yay! Here is a video of a woman walking her cat in Málaga and a photo of a ticked off pigeon... I couldn't think of where else to put them....

Holiday in Spain (parte dos)

2008-06-05T01:04:00.000-07:00

After a significantly long train ride (7 hours) Michelle and I arrived in Córdoba, which was almost to Cabra. An hour long bus ride finished our day of travel, as we met up with our college friend Erin.

Cabra is a much different experience then most people are probably used to when traveling. With a population of around 20,000, it's not exactly what you call a "destination" city, and yet it had plenty of cool things to offer the casual outsider. It has some cool sites, and some neat old city walls as well as a pretty sweet park.

However, since we had spent the last 5 weeks touring, we decided it would be best to take advantage of Spain's renowned relaxed life style, and just enjoy the local culture; breakfast, followed by shopping, followed by a tapas lunch, and then some down time in the late afternoon for siesta.

For those that don't know, tapas are a series of small dishes that are served with drinks and are shamefully inexpensive. Many times if you simply ordered a drink for more than 1 euro, it would come with a small snack. So of course, all you had to do was continue ordering drinks! That way you get filled up, and the walk home seems that much shorter :)

Erin was kind enough to show us around to all the good places to eat, as well as to spoil us with some home cooked, Spanish flared meals of her own. We spent our evenings and late nights hanging out at different local hangouts, talking, eating tapas, just generally having a good time with the people of Cabra.

Later, Erin also played tour guide for us on a day trip to Granada.

Granada is quite an amazing city just east of Cabra. It has an interesting mix of both Spanish and North African culture in its streets, as you can see by this mini Medina in the center of town.

Up on the hill, there is a big castle like structure called the Alhambra. Seeing this alone makes a trip to Granada well worth it.

We were very sad to end our stay in Cabra, because after being there for 6 days, we started to feel almost like we lived there, and were really getting to know all the locals. We even spent some time in class with Erin and her students. But sadly our time ended, and we headed back to the beach. This time, in Málaga...

¡Se Queremos España: Numero Uno!

2008-06-01T03:02:00.000-07:00

As my fabulous two weeks of vacation comes to an end (sadly, I work tomorrow), I thought we should start filling you in on what were up to during that time. My college roommate, Erin, has spent the year teaching English to students in a small Spanish town, so we embarked on a trip to visit her and explore Spain a bit.

The trip got off to an exciting start: a worker strike with the Maastricht bus company caused us to arrive at aiport check-in precisely 5 minutes before check-in closed. However, we made it safely onto our plane, and took the short, 2 hour flight to Valencia.

It's pretty amazing that we could travel for so little (ticket price for our Ryan Air flight was zero, we only had to pay 25 euros in taxes and fees!), and land somewhere that is so completely different from Holland.

The buildings, the temperature, the lifestyle, and the people, all completely different. We settled into our hostel and rather than spending much time site seeing, we headed straight for the beach, stopping for ice cream on the way, and for Paella with sangria on the way home :)

The next morning, after testing out our spanish at the local market, we hopped on a train for the small town where Erin lives; Cabra (which means goat)

Dutch traditions?

2008-05-31T02:38:00.000-07:00

So when you think of the Netherlands/Holland, perhaps a few things that come to mind are wooden shoes, windmills, and tulips.

I'll start with with the bad news first...I'm sorry to report that the only place I've seen those cool wooden shoes are in the gift shops or as gigantic shoes used to decorate Amsterdam (see below). I've meticulously observed the shoes of my coworkers, hoping for the one day they break out the clogs...but nothing. Windmills are still around, but slowly going out of fashion and mostly non-functional now. Plus in our travels to nearby countries (Belgium, Germany, even Spain) we've seen just as many windmills as in the Netherlands. It may seem like these traditions associated with Holland are simply exaggerations or even false, except for one silver lining...the TULIPS!!

During Kathy and Mike's visit, Kathy and I left Mike and Chris in Amsterdam (not sure if that was a good idea, haha!) and traveled to the nearby Keukenhof. The only way I can describe this place is as a theme park for flowers, specifically tulips. It was just as busy as a theme park too, with ten of thousands of people visiting. Set in 80 acres of wooden park, the 7,000,000 (yes that's 6 zeros!) planted bulbs make for a fantastic visual experience. Not only does the park look incredible, but smells delightful with the scent of hyacinth filling the air. The bulbs are planted in amazing arrangements, combining colors and styles in a beautiful way. Also just outside the park was field after field, as far as the eye could see, of colorful tulips grown in rows by color. My words really can't do it justice, so I'll just post pictures.

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In other news, Chris and I visited our local Friday market yesterday. The market sells fabric, clothing, fruits, veggies, meats, and other miscellaneous items. Chris and I planned to buy some fruit and walked by a stand just as a man was dancing around his fruit stand, cramming bags full for fruit and selling them for 5 euros (an amazing deal!). We were intrigued and couldn't help but buy a bag. The plastic bag was overloaded and of course ripped, making for quite an interesting bike ride home. We're gonna be eating fruit salad everyday for a while, yum!

Heather and Bill

2008-05-29T07:59:00.001-07:00

We just got back from Spain, and so we'll have lots to tell about that, but before we left, we had my sister Heather and brother-in-law Bill come visit! After a week full of fun beer tasting, bike riding, and site seeing, we barely had time to pack, much less make a post!

We stuck mostly to the usually dutch activities, and showed them what it's like to live for a week here with us in Maastricht

And of course, we had plenty of vlaai (pronounced like 'pie' but with a vl instead of p)

More to come all about España...

Deutschland

2008-05-10T10:06:00.000-07:00

The last couple weeks, Michelle and I were visited by my bother and mom, and we spent the first part of the week doing your typical Maastricht type activities. Bike rides, beer tasting, cave diving. (Pop quiz, is this photo A) mom getting all crazy? B) Photoshopped or C) Mike and Chris sneaking all the bottles in front of her for an incriminating photo op?)

We then hopped into a car and took a road trip!

First stop, Bastogne! You may remember this city from such world war 2 battles as "the battle of the buldge."

We then spent the night in Luxemburg.

And then headed off to The black forest

Where Mike, Michelle and I rode down a crazy "alpine slidesque" roller coaster.

And Basel, Switzerland.

Then we trekked up to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. A cool, walled, medivel city.

(Note, if you drink too much from the medieval keg on the left, you end up wearing the medieval drunk tank on the right...)

Over all, I'd say, a successfull week!

Bad posters :(

2008-05-06T12:14:00.000-07:00

Hello! If anyone actually still reads this, which we hope you do, you've probably noticed we've been lacking in the posting here lately. Well, that's mostly because of the influx of visitors we've been seeing! So we'll try to get you caught up in a series of posts.

First, at the beginning of the month, my dad and Betsey came and visited for 9 days. And we all had lots of fun. Here are some photos from around Maastricht and Amsterdam, where we spent most of the time.

We also took a train to Paris for a couple nights, but since I don't have any of those photo's (nudge nudge), I'll have to post them later :) It was really grand to have them here and I can't wait to share some more photos!

More to come...

Irish Easter

2008-03-24T10:01:00.000-07:00

Michelle had a 4 day weekend for Easter this week, so naturally we did what anyone would do, and went to Ireland. After a very long day of travel, Michelle and I finally arrived at our Hostel on the Dingle Peninsula, right on the edge of Ireland’s largest national park

The hostel was a really cool place, with very relaxing and beautiful views right outside of the window. While I think we were the only ones there who didn't have a car, the guy in charge was nice enough to drop us into town (about 2km away) and bring us back on almost any occasion.

Saturday, we got up early, and decided to test out our Dutch bike riding skills on some Irish landscape, and took the 20 km ride into Dingle town, the largest town on the peninsula at about 1500 people. It was a very cool place, both in temperature and in metaphorical sense.

A local shop keeper recommended a route for us to take, as we went on down the peninsula.
Here is a picture of him outside of his shop:

So Michelle and I continued on, stopping first at a beach for lunch

and then later for some photo ops, and to look at some sheep.

We eventually headed back to our small town of Annascaul, completely knackered from our 50km bike ride. So naturally, we decided to check out some of the town's 8 pubs (note, the town has a population of 350 people...I don't know the math on that, but I'm pretty sure that’s higher than almost any town's bar/person ratio...). The South Pole inn, with its pet dog was our starting point. It was the originally opened by 1900's South Pole explorer Tom Crean. We stopped next by the second pub pictured for a quick pint, and then on to Hanafin's to blend with the locals, listen to some live tunes, and drink a night cap.

The next morning, Easter, Michelle and I walked down to the small church for our first English service in since August.

We discovered in our time at Annascaul that Michelle is really becoming an "animal whisperer."

After we left, we spent some time in a proper Irish town...or at least a larger one; Traleé

And lastly, we took an interesting bus ride back to Shannon for an early morning flight on Monday. I have no idea how the bus made it on the road for over 30 minutes, but then again, I'm sure there are plenty of things out there I don't know...

Oh, and so much for the first day of spring... we were welcomed back with snow!

Gross Content Warning

2008-03-14T11:47:00.000-07:00

In an effort to combat the disaster that has become living in Europe and earning US dollars, Chris embarked on a project this week. I'll just start out with some pictures and explain it all later.

So yes, this is Chris. The tube you are looking at entered his nose and was fed into his small intestine. All 1.8 meters of tube, all the way to his intestines. To make it even more appealing, things such a riding his bike made the tube retract back up and later Chris would have to fed it back through his nose again.

Probably about now you are thinking Chris is crazy, but he was part of a very lucrative study at my university. The tube entered on Monday was removed on Friday, and 450 euros will be deposited into his account shortly; pretty good for a week of work, especially since the euro exchange rate has skyrocketed to $1.56. Actually the study itself was quite interesting, looking at the effects of meal replacement shakes on hunger. In some of the pictures you see Chris hooked up to some pumps. These pumps are pumping fat directly into his intestine to see how this affects his hunger. Today when the tube was removed I met Chris just in time to watch. It was a process like nothing I had seen before...much like the never-ending scarf trick performed by magicians. Chris commented about how the tube tasted just like the lunch he had eaten and I just about lost my own lunch. Luckily it was removed sucessfully and Chris feels fantastic to be free of it!

Oh yes, the city is really gearing up for the Easter holiday here. Even the cheese is ready to celebrate!! Hope you all are well!

Panic!

2008-03-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

Michelle and I took a trip last night to Tilburg, a fairly big town just a ways north from us. However, we didn't go to sight see, or take care of any official business or even to visit anyone. We went to go see Panic at the Disco! (a band from the US for those that don't know.)

On our way up, we had a classy dinner of a loaf of French bread, salami, cheese, crackers, nuts, chocolates, and some fine AH Italian wine. Quite yummy.

We found the venue just around the corner from a pretty cool old church. I'm sure it looked very nice during the day, but after the concert, it actually looked very similar to the photo below to Michelle and I. (In other words, it was a very late night)

However we did have a grand time! Michelle and I were getting warmed up as some of the early bands played.

Then finally Panic! came on around 9:30 and played for about an hour and a half. They did play quite a sweet show.

Sadly though, we still had to ride the train home afterwards, and then the bikes home from the station... we finally got to sleep around 2:00. I guess we feel older when that sounds like a late night for us...

Londen (ie, Dutch for London)

2008-02-27T02:46:00.000-08:00

It had been so long since Michelle and I had heard a train announcement in English that I think we both forgot how nice it is to actually understand what's going on. We took our trip to England last weekend, a trip that was actually Michelle birthday present from me last year. It just took us this long to get around to actually doing it.

We stayed with Michelle's family friend Pam in her flat just south of the main city (about a 30min train ride), though we spent most of our time touring the city. It's quite a large place, that London is. We saw most of the sites from the outside: the shopping district, Buckingham Palace, The houses of parliment/bigben, the Westminster Abby, the many different markets, Hyde park/marble arch, etc. There are more, but I think the list is long enough.

Pam also showed us England on a more personal level, taking us out for some delicious fish and chips, and making multiple, mean cups of tea. We even had a cup at one of her friend’s houses, who is currently acting in a London stage show. She also took us to her posh gym, where I got to swim laps in the brilliant pool :)

Lastly, and I think most important in terms of this trip, is we all went to see Phantom of the Opera! Great show... I highly recommend it if you are ever in town :)

Oh, and Marcus stopped by too! (College exchange student/friend :) And we enjoyed both tea, and some English brews together.

Flu and Valentine's!

2008-02-15T10:20:00.000-08:00

Due to an overwhelming flurry of requests, this is finally a post by me, Michelle. Ok, so perhaps there hasn't really been a request, but I like to think that you all would like to hear from me too! Unfortunately Chris writes most of the blog posts while I am at work so I haven't been as involved as I would like. So here it goes...

Poor Chris was struck by a nasty flu bug this weekend, leaving him pretty miserable. Luckily he had Monday off, as his tutoring students were still celebrating the Chinese New Year, and was able to recover most of the way. He seems right back to normal now! As for me, I spent the week trying to fend off the bug. Come Tuesday though I noticed my bike ride home was a bit harder than normal and figured I was weaken by the start of the flu. Wednesday came and the ride was ever more difficult and I was convinced the flu had really set in. Then Thursday the ride was unbearably tough. My usually nice ride home left me exhausted and my legs aching. Much to the entertainment of Chris, I brought my bike upstairs for Chris to discover I had been riding with a front flat tire and wasn't sick at all! Nice work Michelle, ha! Tonight I put some air in it and had a fantastic ride home.

Also this week was Valentine's Day and we were curious to see if/how it would be celebrated here. Contrary to the explosion of pink and red hearts seen in the US, things were a bit calmer. A few people mentioned the day, restaurants posted specials, but it wasn't much different than a normal day. As for us, we had a typical day too, doing our traditional Thursday night shopping (as the shops are open late that day). I was surprised by a beautiful bunch of tulips when I got home though (see above)! That Chris! Speaking of Chris, here are photos of his new favorite hobby. I'm starting to become convinced that he isn't actually teaching lessons when I go to work, but is learning new guitar tabs, as he always has a new song to play when I come home, haha!

Well I hope you have enjoyed my first blog post! I'll be sure to write more in the future. Hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day and enjoys President's Weekend (especially if you have Monday off!)

Carneval (5 of 5)

2008-02-11T06:53:00.000-08:00

I guess I did promise five carneval posts, didn't I? So I'll tell you a little bit about the last day. The weather had already turned a bit the night before, and as we went out, while not raining, it was still a little icky. You could begin to see the wear of partying for three days straight in the faces of the people still out, beer in hand, and bobbing methodically to the music. Things were a little calmer, as the floats began to file out from their spots in the town center.

But there was still a lot of excitement in the air; it just took some searching to come across it. I guess the real hard core carneval folks hang out in the back streets, because after we left the main squares, the streets were filled with costumed people banging on drums, and playing brass instruments. Where they found the energy for this, I have no idea, but it was still very entertaining to watch.

While I think carneval sort of wore Michelle and I out a little bit, it was sad to see it go. I think the streets seem so much quieter now, which is sad, but at least it was fun while it lasted. Oh, and Michelle found the group where she belonged...

Carneval (Part 4 of 5)

2008-02-07T00:37:00.000-08:00

My Birthday! Yes, so we celebrated it along with the rest of Europe. Though, I think our version was a little more subdued. This won't be the longest post, but here are some photos of Michelle spoiling me horribly. Thank you all for your birthday wishes! It was a great day :)

(my cake!)

(The only open restaurant during carneval...)

Carneval (part 3 of 5)

2008-02-04T13:08:00.000-08:00

Ok, so now I can say that these carneval posts should go to about 5, since there are 2 days left. Michelle and I went out last night, and we were far more ready this time.

The streets where awash with some sort of crazy parade weaving through the narrow streets of the city. Michelle and I accidentally ended up walking against the parade, right in front of the carneval prince. However, I think everyone was enjoying themselves too much to notice.

We were out all night, and danced in the streets in our awesome costumes, and had plenty of pilses (generic Dutch beer). There were some many people, and so many different costumes. Michelle managed a photo of a family dressed as giraffes. Quite cute.

(one group also dressed as bowling pins)

Today is my birthday, so we might have a little less carneval action, but that's ok, because we still have Tuesday too. We'll keep you informed!

Chris and Michelle.

(on a side note, the government of Maastricht was kind enough to put up toilets to offer relief to those who had had a lot to drink...sadly, they don't offer much in terms of privacy...or provide a solution for the women in the crowds.)

(PS, don't ask how I got this photo :)

Carneval (part 2of ???)

2008-02-03T03:00:00.001-08:00

One Night down, and a few more to go. Last night Michelle and I were just hanging out, enjoying a nice braadworst & Zuurkol dinner, and playing some on-line scrabble, when we decided we sould go down to the city center and grab a quick drink.

We rode our bikes for about 5 minutes when we realized we were going to be horribly underdressed. We passed by crowds of people all done up in crazy costumes, as if it were Halloween or something. (Michelle made the accurate observation that it looked like halloween on crack). And then, when we arrived at the bar, we realized that not only were we underdressed, but we were also too late...the bar was so crowded that the patrons had spilled out onto the street. In fact pretty much every bar in town had a similar situation.

So we just observed for the night, and saw the craziness that is carneval... mind you it hasn't even officially started yet...

Thus tonight we'll be a little more ready, a little more dressed up, and possibly a little more wild :)

Carneval (Part 1 of ??)

2008-02-02T02:45:00.000-08:00

Carneval starts this weekend, and while it isn't official until Sunday, the truth is that everyone started Friday night. We are a little behind the loop, but we did spend the day buying some accessories for our "costumes" and Michelle gave me an early birthday present, pictured on the right :)

So we'll be putting up quite a few new posts, as we feel our way through this celebration which we know very little about. In other words, be sure to stay tuned :)

First post of the year

2008-01-22T11:24:00.000-08:00

Hello! So I know it's been awhile since we've posted anything, but it is honestly because we've been busy doing stuff that isn't exactly the most exciting for everyone to read about (going to the gym, working, eating, sleeping). But since is has been awhile, I suppose I can talk a little bit about Carnival which is coming up in a couple of weeks!

So Carnival takes place the three days before lent (ie fat tuesday -2) and is a huge deal here. Everyone gets dressed up, and there is lots of parades, and drinking, and singing, and all that jive.

So it still hasn't officially started, but the mood is in the air, both around town, and in the minds of people.

Just the other day I was changing in the locker room down at the pool, and someone started playing the carnival theme song on a tuba in the changing area. So I have a feeling that those days are going to be a blast, and we'll be sure to keep you all posted! Take care!

Chris and Michelle.

Year in review

2007-12-31T13:36:00.001-08:00

Or rather, the last few months. I figured, since we didn't start this blog until November, It would be a good idea to put up some photo highlights from the couple monthes before we were up and running with the blog, so in chronological order, here are some moments from this year up until november (Thanksgiving) and on to tonight.

Michelle and I biking when the weather was still nice (My bike broke... but it's good now!)

My mom visited and we went to Brussels!

And Bruges (Also in Belgium)

And Auswitch concentration camp in Poland

And Krakow, Poland....

Michelle and I celebrated Halloween with, of course, another bike ride :)

Michelle and I at the Carnival kick off on 11-11

Beer Sampling at Take One (note we've jumped to a week ago now)

Last night, riding the ferris wheel in the Vrijtof square

And of course, tonight, celebrating new years... with a giant slide, and lots of fireworks.

Actually the town now sounds like a war zone... with bigger fireworks going off all over than I've probably ever heard. It's pretty cool. Happy New Years all! and Have a excellent 2008!!!

Chris & Michelle

Kerstdaag

2007-12-26T03:31:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! Here in Maastricht, there was definitely a festive spirit in the air. We spent Sunday night at the Kerstmarkt in Aachen, Germany, buying those last minute gifts, and of course, some 1/2 meter brotwursts and mushroom stuffed potatoes. Dana also tryed

deperately to buy some nice table linens, but we would not allow it. We kept stalling for time so she couldn't go back to the booth to make her purchase and she couldn't understand why we were so mean. As it turns out, Michelle had already bought her the exact same linens, and they were waiting for her under the Christmas tree!

On Christmas eve night, we went to midnight mass at the St. Servaas Basilica. They had a full choir and orchestra to sing all the hymns for us that night. Apparently the choir has been doing this for 300 years, as of 2008.

Christmas morning was, as per usual, a whirlwind of unwrapping, coffee drinking, and clothing modeling. We then spent the rest of our time watching movies, and preparing dinner. Mike and I fixed up Michelle's bike, and then he and Dana took a quick ride around town.

That night we had what was probably the most expensive ham we'll ever eat. We also took advantage of an important polish custom, and passed around the Christmas wafer (Thanks mom!) (see photos).

Yes, so Merry Christmas! I wish you all could be here with us!

Hoe is het weer?

2007-12-22T12:45:00.000-08:00

Another day, another exciting experience in the Netherlands. The last few days the Berny's and I ventured up to Amsterdam via train to meet with Michelle, and then got to play tourist in Holland's biggest and most well know city.

We saw some important sites, mainly the Anne Frank Huis, and took a pretty sweet canal tour on a boat.

We also enjoyed the decadent parts of Amsterdam that everyone talks about. This included tasting and drinking lots of liquors at a place called Wynand Focking, with flavors like Aardbei (strawberry) Sinaasappel, (orange) and Appeltaart (apple pie). They were wonderful.

We also took a trip through the red light district, which, while very seedy, was not nearly as unsafe and dirty as one might imagine. We weren't able to take too many photos there, because in many parts they aren't allowed.
<-(this one isn't the red light districht, but the Rijksmuseum) The next morning we woke up to a wintry surprise. Well, maybe not so much a surprise, as we were freezing our back sides off the night before, but things sure looked a lot prettier the next morning.

We then took a train to Delft and stayed in a wonderful bed and breakfast about a 20 min walk out side of town. The landscape was the most amazingly winter-like that I have been in for years.

We walked around town, and found a closed Delft pottery factory so we decided to return to a different one the next day. On our way we played on a frozen lake, but only momentarily. The ice began to crack loudly. It sounded like an explosion under the ice. We vacated immediately.

From there we took a train back through Eindhoven and to Maastricht. On our way home there was a stunning sunset over a cool windmill. But that's more of a Holland thing, not a Limburg thing :)

Home alone

2007-12-17T10:38:00.000-08:00

Michelle is spending the next few days off the mainland in Birmingham, England to run some experiments with her supervisor from the states who is out visiting, so I have the house all to myself. I've been spending most of my time getting things ready for our guests who will be arriving tomorrow. In case you haven't heard, Michelle parents, Mike and Dana, are coming for Christmas! And just in time for them to see, our tree is all decorated!

So how have I been spending all this time without Michelle? Well, nothing too exciting. I'm currently trying to co-ordinate a multinational operation to get some papers I need to solidify my residency here in the Netherlands. It involves me arranging the paperwork by phone here from Maastricht, so my mom can pick them up in Portland, after calling Michelle in England to get permission to have access to one of her forms, and then bringing them to Salem for an official stamp, after which they will find their way here to Eindhoven, and the IND or Dutch immigration office. If you think you're confused, let me tell you this is just the most recent hoop for me to jump through to stay here for a year! And of course this is after teaching 3 English lessons to some business people in Taiwan... The world is indeed shrinking...

So I celebrated with what the Dutch consider a "Big American" Pizza, and some nice Dutch beer. Maybe a movie will be in the cards too...

Here's to hoping the Berny's listened to my pleas, and brought our little angel with. Goedennacht.

----------------------------------------------------------------->>>>

Fietsen

2007-12-12T04:12:00.000-08:00

One of the biggest activities here in Maastricht, and in all of the Netherlands is biking. So I thought I'd share a little about the places Michelle and I go on our "Fietsen."

There are countless bike paths all over the region, and it is possible to travel from Maastricht, to Belgium, to Germany and to pretty much any city in the Netherlands by bike. The picture to the right is a photo of one of the many map points that show you what trails you can take where. This one happens to be in Belgium.

The other weekend we took a route south that brought us up a very rare big hill. (Rare in the fact that most of the country is completely flat). We were able to check out some old forts overlooking the city, and some beautifully eerie, fall like landscape.

(we called this one the civil war field...)

We also found an entrance to the famed Maastricht underground,

But as you can see, it was locked, so we didn't go in :(

So bike riding is definitely the way to go here. If you do come visit (did I mention you should?) then I recommend getting in bike riding shape before hand :)

It's beginning to look alot like...

2007-12-06T07:46:00.000-08:00

It's Sinterklaas's birthday today, and I guess even the fact that Michelle and I aren't Dutch doesn't keep his magic away. First of all, we finally heard from Michelle's parent's this morning after what I hear was quite a nasty storm. Hopefully soon my family will get phone/power back too!

Then, I was hired by an online English teaching firm! So I'll be giving instruction via web cam to people in Asia hoping to learn English. And just after learning about that, company in Aachen Germany said they were interested in seeing my resumé, because they too have need for English teachers. So I suppose I'll be adding teacher to the list of job's I've held now. Who would have thunk?

So in order to celebrate, I decided it was time to make things around here look more like Christmas, so I bought a tree! But here they don't cut them down... they leave them in the container, roots and all, so they don't have to go away each year. Of course, Lord knows what Michelle and I are going to do with a tree for the rest of the year, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

So happy holidays to all! It looks like Christmas might come twice this year :)

Oh, and I almost forgot, Michelle actually got a literal Sinterklaas present in the form of a chocolate message. Apparently he must visit the hospital each year :)

Sinterklaas

2007-12-05T03:11:00.000-08:00

Every year there is the same debate; how can Santa possibly deliver all those toys to all those houses in one night? Most people say "that's impossible! Blah blah laws of physics this, and science that." Well, the answer is quite simple: He doesn't deliver them to every country on the same night.

Here in the Netherlands, Santa (or Sinterklaas as he is called) arrived two weeks ago, via steamboat in northern Holland, and has worked his way around the country since. Tonight, on the eve of his birthday (Dec. 6th) he will visit all the boys and girls of the Netherlands, and fill their shoes with Candies or perhaps leave a cadeautje (small present).

There is a bit of controversy about his helpers that he brings when he comes to the Netherlands. I imagine that since his elves are busy preparing for Christmas in few weeks, (when he'll visit the US, UK, Germany, Russia and Scandinavian countries); he instead brings "Zwarte Piet."

Now Zwarte Piet used to be an Ethiopian slave, until Sinterklaas bought him his freedom, so now Piet is pumped, and has agreed to help Sinterklaas every year here in The Netherlands (and neighboring countries, Belgium and Luxemburg). If a child is bad, rather than coal, piet puts the kid in a burlap sack and brings them to Spain (and you think you had it rough with coal...). The controversy is that according to Dutch tradition, Zwart piet is black skinned, "as a symbol of the demon that has to perform good deeds." So those here who dress up in tribute to zwarte piet...well, the photos speak for themselves.

But I'm assured by many that there is nothing racist about it........

Anyhow, as far and Michelle and I are concerned, we'll probably save our presents for Christmas as usual (Santa has a knack for finding us Americans on Christmas day, even if we live abroad). But we'll still celebrate tomorrow night with a sinterklaas party down by the train station.

And for those of you Santa doubters out there, remember two things; first, he doesn't do all his work around the world on Christmas Eve... he breaks it up so it's more manageable. And second, he doesn't have to visit everyone's house in the world... just those who still believe in him ;)

Prettige verjaardag van Sinterklaas!

Winterland!

2007-12-03T03:00:00.000-08:00

Apparently Maastricht is a very rich city, because it seems every week there is something new in the vrijtof square. One week there was a carnival, another week a huge stage with music, and beer tents. Well, for the past couple weeks, they've been constructing an entire village in the square, and it finally opened Saturday. Naturally we had to check it out.

So in this relatively tight space, they managed to put up 3 different cafes with lots of seating, dozens of snack and beer booths, a super fun slide, a ferris wheel, a carousel, shopping, and a big ol' ice skating rink!

So we enjoyed what I consider the first night of winter (1st of December) in the square. We didn't quite get to do everything, but no matter, it'll be around till the 3rd day of next year :)

Apparently I skate so fast, the camera can't keep track...Michelle did a lot better than these photo's indicate :)

Welkom in Maastricht

2007-11-29T08:42:00.000-08:00

So I realize that there's no sense starting a blog if I don't tell you a thing or two about the town we are in! So yeah, Michelle and I are living in Maastricht, as you should know. It's located in the south of the Netherlands, smooshed between Belgium and Germany.

Dit is het Sint Servaas Basilica ------------>

The city is split in two by the Maas river, which flows way up north, and down south into Belgium. It's a pretty old city (vying for the oldest in the Netherlands), and it's got its own saint buried in it (Saint Servatius).

<-------Church that tells us we're almost home!

If you really want to know all the history and lay out, I recommend visiting. Right now round trip from the west coast to the closest airport is under $500!!!

Anyhow, Michelle is studying here for a year at the AZM for Maastricht University. I am just taking the year easy, writing, and looking for some sort of part time job. So far the job hunt has been unsuccessfull, but I haven't quit yet :)

So we spend our days, just living a normal life here. Usually if the weather is nice, we take a bike ride, since that's what pretty much everyone does here. Plus there are bike trails everywere. In fact, there is an average of one bike per person here in the Netherlands....So biking is a must!

Well, winterland starts this weekend, so perhaps I'll have some interesting photos to put up from that! Take care and what not :)

Chris

Post Thanksgiving

2007-11-24T02:26:00.000-08:00

So most people spend Thanksgiving day laying around after eating tons and tons of food...Ok, well, that's pretty much what we did, but the day after thanksgiving was a little bit different than usual.

Photos of our Thanksgiving :)

So on Friday we took a trip up north to Eindhoven for two reasons; First Michelle picked up her residency permit, and second, I applied for mine. It was all fine and good, except that I had to say goodbye to 830 Euros... :(

So in a way, I suppose it was like a usual day after thanksgiving... we went and spent a whole bunch of money. But in this case, it was on a gift that will keep giving all the way to september.

Photos from Eindhoven

So in the end we decided to make a day of it, and enjoy Eindhoven by spending some time window shopping, and in the Holland casino. (I lost 6 Euros, but michelle made it back, so she took me out to lunch :) We caught the late night train home just in time to watch the season 3 finale of lost...again...

Hi....

2007-11-22T06:22:00.000-08:00

So Michelle and I have been living here in the Netherlands since September, and finally this Saturday we are getting our very own internet connection! So to celebrate that, and as a happy Thanksgiving treat, I decided that we should finally start our yearlong blog about living here in Maastricht!

Michelle is at work, and I'm at home cooking the big dinner. I hope she brings her appetite... Our menu starts with some cranberry marinated chicken (couldn't find turkey) with stuffing, as well as Mashed garlic potatoes and gravy, Peas and Carrots, Candied Yams, Sautéed brussle sprouts, Seeded bread rolls, spring salad, and some custard Vlaai for dessert.

I know, I know, you're probably wondering what Vlaai is... well, it's a lot like a pie, but with more bread. I'll include a photo of a vlaai I got when my mom visited.

Well, I hope all is well! Do check in from time to time and we'll try to keep this thing updated!

And Happy Thanksgiving!

Chris & Michelle