It’s that time once again! I have been receiving some emails from a few friends of mine asking where the hell I am and what the hell I have been doing. So I have decided to once again write a long story about my adventures in Holland.

Integration!

Integration has become a large part of my daily routeing. I have devoted my self to becoming an American chameleon in hopes that one day I will understand what it is to be Dutch.

My latest integration course was the Sauna. Now I have talked about this Sauna before! It is a place of relaxation where individuals go to get naked and enjoy there day. While paying a flat fee you have the entire day to relax. I like to start my day off with a Turkish bath then I am off to the sauna which is around 80 degrees C. Then I run under the cold shower (hate this part) then it is off to the hot tube and from there I might dip my feet into the foot pool or cruse on back to the sauna. This is a great thing to do with people you don’t mind being naked in front of for example your partner or a good friend but what about the parents of your boyfriend. That’s right…I went to the sauna with Marks parents. I have been avoiding this situation for about a year now. But when they asked a few weekends ago I just couldn’t refuse. Mark and I had talk it over for about an hour before I finally said, “Fuck it, I going to have to do it sooner or later so I might as well get it over with, but I am not going to hang out with them the whole time we are there!” and so the guide lines where set and we where off to the sauna. At first it was a little weird. The rules are that you must shower before entering into the sauna. Of course this is a large communal shower. So…we showered together and while I was try to keep my eye contact and look cool, inside I was laughing my ass off. I couldn’t help it, the situation was too funny. There I was naked, standing in front of my boyfriend and his parents talking about when we are going to have dinner. Once the dinner time was decide I dashed off to start the race at the Turkish bath. Time went by and Mark and I enjoyed each other company. We laid in the sun, went swimming and had some soup. Then it was dinner time. Now when sitting down for a meal you must wear your robe. This makes no sense to me! While you are sitting at the dinner table you can see nakedness everywhere! So why not eat naked to! Perhaps they are afraid of pubic hair. Dinner was great. Then they asked us to join them in the sauna and once again I thought, “Fuck it! I am here…why not!” everyone was very excited for the next sauna because they where doing something extra that night. They where going to throw water with essential oils over the scorching coals then take a towel and fan everyone down so that you sweat every last bit of water out of you. This is very heavenly but not when you are cramped into a tine room with about 30 other sweating bodies waiting to get fanned down but the man with a beer belly. Once the painfully long 15mins of fanning is over it’s outside for a popsicle and some cold air! At this point I was thinking wow that wasn’t bad. In fact I really liked it but I am happy it is over. I was sitting away from the 30 naked people who where all chatting about how nice the smell was of the essential oil. Then suddenly Mark is telling me to, “hurry up….it’s time to go back in for round 2” my reply, “I not done with my popsicle! Go ahead with out me!” in the end the Bouman family convinced me to head back into the blistering flames of sauna-vill. Once the 2^nd and final round was done I felt great! I decide I would cool down by sitting on a bench outside. It was at this point when Mark informed me that I had to go to the cold bath. If you know me well I hate cold water. Mark went on to tell me that I had to do it because it is very bad for your head if you don’t cool it down quickly. So I went with the entire family watching me as my face went from relaxation to I will kill you for making me do this.

Queens’s day!

Every year the Dutch celebrate the birthday of there Queen. This year was no different! They dress up in orange and parade around the city with beer, pot, mushrooms, and any other drug they can find to celebrate there very own Queen. I had the chance to work this lovely holiday (O yeah, I got a job as a bartender at a club in Amsterdam). In the time period of 3 hrs. I filled some billion cups of beer and saw so many great outfits! Then Mark and the gang picked me up to head off into the overly crowed city. We hitchhiked our way on to a boat to cruse the canals and then it was off to some party and by the time 9pm came around it was bed time! Queens’s day is a great time but next year I am not going to walk the entire city but just simply stay in one spot and watch all the craziness pass me by!

May 5^th

Is a day of celebration! It was on this day about 60 years ago that the Netherlands was freed of the Nazi grip! On the 4^th of May at 8pm there are two minuets of silents. The Queen lays flowers at a memorial and then the entire country goes back to the way it was. I watch in amazement. No one seems to care. I live and sleep in a house that was built before the wars. Think of the stories it could tell me. I can see the bridge that so many fought for and died for. I live next to a veteran’s memorial and I have no clue what it says. Are we so self absorbed with video games, computers, music, fashion, money that we don’t notice how important it is that the Nazi’s didn’t win. If they had won Holland would not exist. German would be spoken through out Europe and maybe even in the States. I live on an old battle field and I don’t even notice just like the rest of Holland. How modern of me!

That is it for integration. I will now leave you with a photo to show how I have been integrating into the Dutch culture. And a link if you would like to see more!

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bellaveraksc/album?.dir=a3bfre2&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bellaveraksc/my_photos

Miss you all!

Hello all!

I know I haven’t been keeping up on my emails/blog and I am really sorry about that. I have just been busy with life.

Since Mark and I have been back from Florida (which was awesome in so many ways) I have been busy as a bee. Mostly I have been working on trying to find a job, which is a job in it’s self only you don’t get paid for it and it is a little boring. But I am still praying every night that some wonderful company will come along and sweep me off my feet. If this doesn’t happen I have decided that I might start my own business. I will be come a freelancer! This is scary in so many ways. I have too much to figure out before I start down this unfamiliar path.

Other then working to find work I have also been taking salsa lessons which is sooo much fun. Every Tuesday night I join a group of about 15 people who are mostly Dutch but there are two Chinese girls that I seem to becoming quick friends with. So from 7-11 we dance the night away. Unfortunately Mark is unable to dance with me, he has practice for soccer on Tuesday evenings, but I think it is better!

Recently the weather has been wonderful. The temp is around 55-60 and sunny! In fact I think it might be a record for the sunniest days in a row since September. A total of 3!!!! But don’t worry the Dutch just go crazy when that sun come’s out. They flock to every outside café and drink and smoke and laugh in the sun. You can’t find a place to sit anywhere. It’s as if the population had doubled over night and now everyone is forced to live in the park while baking in the sun. However, all things must come to an end and to day is back to the dreary old weather Holland loves to produce. So the other have of the population has retreated to the trees in hopes of more sunny days to come. And I am sitting writing you this lovely letter in my well heated room.

The other day I was in The Hauge (den Haag) and ran across an American book store. I quickly jumped on the chance to see what exactly I could find in this so called “American” store. While my eyes were filled with wonderful books and magazines I ran across a David Sedaris book, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. I know that one of my favourite short storys by Sedaris was located in this book and I also know that I promised Dhoya that I would buy for him. So I quickly snatched up the book and ran out into the street to join Mark. It was here that I wanted to quickly read him the story that I find absolutely hilarious. His response, “I’ll read it later…” I replied, “Fine…but you are missing out on how David would redecorate Anne Franks house to become his own!” so as we spent the rest of the day running around town with Marks friends I could seem to keep my mind off this story that was just sitting inside my bag. I thought to my self what is so important about this story and why does it have such a grab on me. Then it came to me…it wasn’t the story that I was dreaming about it was the first time I heard the story which made me love it so. I remember Danny-boy read it to me on a beautiful spring day in his house. The living room looked just like a typical college house. With posters on the wall’s and tables full of beer cans I listen to Danny recite the greatest short story I had ever heard, Possession. I giggled and dreamed of what it would be like to search for my own apartment some where in Paris or Amsterdam. I look at my self now and think how happy and innocent I was at that time. I was just a girl living life to the fullest with friend and family so near by. I was invincible. And just like Dan I miss home the most during the spring time. I dream about lying in the sun and talking with Jillian, Mag’s, and Amanda. I dream about taking long drives into the country with the sun roof open. I miss the sparkle in everyone’s eyes when it starts to get nice out. I miss the rolling hills out side of Dubuque. I just miss home in the spring time. So I mostly wanted to write this and let everyone know that I wish them the best this spring. I hope that we all reach our goals set forth for this year. I love you all! I cant wait to come home and see you!

Danny has been creating these great renditions of whatever is on his mind. He recently sent me what he thinks of the Netherlands…


So my response was in memory of Jan Van Meer and Hans Van whoknows…
If you want to see more of Dannys creations please go to his website at
http://www.xanga.com/dannyben
good bye!

I thought that this would be the first year I would go without seeing snow but the Netherlands pulled throw yesterday and gave me about 3 inches of snow. So I decided to celebrate by making two little snowmen and I went sledding down the only hill in Holland (only a 5 min walk from my house…not much of a hill). Sledding sucked because the snow was soooo sticky that I couldn’t go anywhere. Everyone was looking at me funny as I tried to boom down the non existent hill in my makeshift sled (cardboard). When I finally gave up my dream of sledding in Holland it started to rain…and once again Holland put a tear in my eye as I walked home in the melting snow.

I will give you the rundown of what has been going on in my life since 2007 started!
New Years Eve was amazing. The Dutch light fireworks off at the stroke of 12 and the entire sky lights up as if the gods where having a laser light show. But they also have these noise makers that children love to set off during the day…so it makes you feel like you are in a WW11 movie! After your nerves settle from the long celebration the streets are covering in remains from the night’s battle, which I don’t get because the Dutch are very environmentally friendly people.
I have been filling my days with job hunting and arguing my way through the Dutch system. Mark and I have now discovered how frustrating it can be to be a foreigner. Everyone seems to have some excuse to keep you out of there bank or not be able to help you find a job because they don’t do English speaking jobs. My favourite is the fact that I now have to take the Inbugeren course. Which is a course that teaches you the Dutch culture and language for a mere 5,000 Euro and you have 5 yrs. to complete it. They also give you the option of lending the money right from the government. Now I think this is a great opportunity for me to really get into the Dutch culture and really improve my language skills but for 5,000 Euro is a bit much. The kicker is that I know I am not going to stay here for 5 years so I don’t really need to take the course…but if I don’t participate in the course the government will charge me 500 Euro every six months until I start participating in there integration course. So at this moment Mark and I are trying to figure out how the hell we got our selves in this situation because on the internet it says that I am not required to take this course and perhaps it is my fault because I went asking about the course and if I could take it. Anyway, enough about that!
I am going to Florida in a week!!!! I am sooo excited to see the sun and the rents! Can’t wait! I can’t wait to make chocolate chip cookie, go to Target (don’t know if they have them there), go to VS for a bra, sit on the beach and be an AMERICAN! This will be my first interaction with American’s since I have left the homeland. I have talked to one other American for about 5 mins at an arts festival about 3 months ago but that doesn’t count! And of course I have talked to people at home but you don’t get to see there facial expirations so that doesn’t count. I have also been chill with a Canadian girl but that doesn’t count as well!
Okay so that is about it for now! I hope all is well and I will be posting sometime in the near future! Kisses

Hello, Hello! I know I haven’t written in a while and I am sorry about that! Nevertheless, here is my next entry on my life’s journey in the Netherlands. I have yet to receive my visa, which makes me jobless but not fun-less. Since my last entry I have experienced Brussels, Sinterklass, and a Dutch course.
We will start with Brussels. As many of you know my old roomy from South Africa lives there! The great and wonderful Nele. She welcomed me with open arms a good beer and some chocolate. What better way to start off a girls weekend! My first night there I got to experience something only certain students can experience at Neles school. A baptism is what it’s called. The event is simply goes like this. You enter into a large party tent. Inside this party tent you will find the walls and ceiling is covered in large garbage bags. As you look around there are students dressed in surgical robes and funny hats. Each hat represents what department you belong. On the hat has stars that represents how many years you have been studying. Then there is a pin you receive once you have graduated that is put at the front right. Now that I have explained the outfit I will get to the party. The beer is free…they hand you two cups at a time. Everyone is standing around waiting for the baptism to begin. Then the curtains open to show a stage with naked people on it. This is the introduction to the baptism. It is older individuals how have already been baptised and are probable seniors. They give a little show and then all hell brakes loss. The freshmen start there play (naked). And everyone in the crow is going crazing. They are throwing this weird blue stuff at the people on stage and the crowed is getting covered in a green-slimy-gak-like-substance. Then there is a break. And during the brake they open up the purple tub of goooo. This is where I get totally covered in purple goo because Nele thought it would be funny to through me in! But I got her back! By the time I was done with her she was a purple monster! Okay! So the next day I spent in the art museum while Nele was busy with a job interview (which she got! Congrats!) They have a great art museum and in 2007 they are opening a Magritte wing!!!
Then it was off to the huge balls in the sky! This was quite interesting! Here is a picture! I forgot the name of it…sorry! I just know that it was made for the Exbo in the 50’s.
Then on the next day we went to her parents! Who are so cute! There we decide to go to the spa for the day! It was heaven (now this might sound like I am getting the rule treatment over here but going to the spa is a regular thing for these people. They go at least once a month. And it only cost like $20 for the whole day of relaxation. This is something I love about Europe)! Okay and finally it was the big day! The parade that celebrates all the students who where baptised the weeks before! It was placed on the coldest and wettest day, which didn’t put us in the mood (we are old farts now! Both done with school so when returning to the event it is hard for us to put our party shoes on when they are sopping wet!). Well this parade goes through the city centre of Brussels. There are large trucks that drive the bar for each division through the city and it is amazing to see! Mom if you think Loras homecoming is bad wait until you see this. There are students peeing on shop windows, they are puking on doorsteps, shops are closed for the day and have hired security guards to stand inside the shop so nothing is harmed. I saw two ambulances cruse through the crowed of at least two thousand students and I only stayed for a block of the parade! Now that is heavy drinking at noon.
So that was Brussels in a nutshell of course we did more then that but I thought these high lights where important to share with you!
Now on to Sinterklass! This is a tradition much like our Santa Clause. It is celebrated on the 6th of December. Sinterklass comes on a boat for Spain bring gifts for the good children and if you are a bad child he will take you back to Spain and turn you in to a Piet! A Piet is a helper to Sinterklass but the funny thing about these Piets is they are black! To become a Piet you must paint yourself black and wear a goofy outfit! Here you can see Mark getting ready for his black Piet outfit! I had the opportunity to witness what Sinterklass because Marks dad does it for his company every year! Mark and his sister Natalie where his Piet’s this year! When Sinterklaas entered into the room the children where sitting in there sets patiently, running for either the door or hiding behind there parents while others screamed at the site of Sinterklaas and his black Piet’s. It was hilarious. Once in the room Sinterklaas greets everyone then they sing a song and receive paperknocjies (don’t know how to spell that word! They are tiny ginger snaps). Once the song and dance was done each child is called up to talk to Sinterklaas. This is when they give him something like a drawing they did and then talk about why they made such a drawing so they can receive there present (from my point of view this is a typical Dutch thing! Negotiate your way through life and all of its challenges if there is no negotiation then there are no presents). Once the conversation is over they receive a present which they take back to there spot and wait until everyone has a present to open. While the present are being handed out the Piet’s are helping Sinterklass. They help by throwing more of the paperknocjies on the floor for the children to pick up and eat or for everyone to step on and smooch into the carpet! These little cookies look like dog food! So I had a hard time eating them and watching the children eat them off the floor. After we left I asked Mark about children eating off the floor it and his answerer was “that is the best part!” Maybe it is a Dutch childhood thing I don’t know but I thought it was a little gross. After all the entertainment from the little children it was back home for a typical Dutch dish! Pee soup….ummmmmm! That is good stuff! With fresh bread…o it is yummy! THEN we have the exchange of Sinterklaas gifts between the families (Marks mom’s brothers family joined us). This is also very entreating because the point of the gift exchange is to not knowing who has you and to making something out of your gift. You also make a poem that is making fun of the individual or explaining something about the gift or there life. I had Nathalie and she is always competing in hoarse riding so I made her a trophy! (Stupid I know but I don’t want to offend the family…I am just a girlfriend after all). Marks bro had me! He made me a PowerPoint presentation for the Dutch language! It was horrible I had to stand up in front of the family and read all the slides before getting my present! If you want to see it I can send it to you just let me know! I also had to help Robbie get his present by singing Paradise by the Dashboard Light….which as also horrible! If you want to see pic’s go here…o yeah I cut my hair! Took about 4 in. off!
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bellaveraksc/album?.dir=1c0ere2&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bellaveraksc/my_photos
Here is the poem Robbie wrote me…

Dear Kelly

Sinterklaas had a little talk with black Pete,
And I don’t mean markey’s thing that spits seed.
Black Pete told Sinterklaas that there was a new girl in the picture
And that the Bouman family would get an international mixture.

A girl named Kelly had found markeys heart,
And she wasn’t going to leave him apart.
She will follow Markey in every heartbeat
And go to Holland, the country of hookers and weed.

Sinterklaas wasn’t exactly over the moon,
As he had to learn English and rather soon.
What was Kelly like and what did she do?
Does she even deserve a present in her Shoe?

Sinterklaas couldn’t go to America on a horse,
That would kill the horse and Sinterklaas of course.
But Sinterklaas on a plane was what everybody had feared,
To fly to America after 9/11, wearing a dress and a beard.

Finally Sinterklaas arrived in the States
And learned that Kelly likes the ice and to go figure skate.
She is artistic and likes to paint,
Only good news, Sinterklaas thought, she must be a saint.

Kelly has a loving family and a funny granny,
Still she said that she was going to live with Danny. (Mark didn’t rime)
Kelly left the country of Starsky and Hutch
To go and live with the incredible Dutch.

In Holland everything changed in her live,
Kelly turned out to be the perfect housewife.
Making diner for 5 days in a row.
‘That was nice’, Mark said; ‘You can do the dishes tomorrow’.

Sad as it is, Kelly is not allowed to get a job.
And so she was thrilled when there was an injury in the knee of Rob.
She would go to Rob and watch a movie together,
That was so much fun, she hoped Rob would never get better.

Sinterklaas understood more and more about the American vision,
As Kelly introduced Halloween and the Thanksgiving tradition.
With Kelly these party’s are as good as it gets,
With Halloween she bought pumpkins and on the wall she made bats.

Then there was a great thanksgiving meal,
Sinterklaas heard it was delicious, for real.
Sinterklaas was just about to make a wish to find a woman and never be alone,
When Rob was cutting the turkey and destroyed the wishbone.

Although a few lessons in dutch,
Kelly is not able to speak much.
It has nothing to do with Kelly’s persistence,
It was just time for Sinterklaas to through in some assistance.

To help Kelly switch to the Dutch mode,
Sinterklaas developed an English to Dutch translation code.
Read the instructions on the second letter,
This will hopefully make your Dutch a lot better.

If you use the code well and rather swift,
Then you can open your gift.
Because learning Dutch will take some time.
Reading English won’t be a crime.

Kind Regards

Sinterklaas and Black Pete.

Hello….I know I haven’t written in a while so here is what I have been doing. I finally started my Dutch course which consisted of the class going to a pub for drinks because we where locked out of the building. The individuals that are in my class seem to be quite interesting. There are two who have been here for a year. One of them is from the Philippines and the other from Sweden. The other two have been living in Holland for two years. Luck for them they know each other prior to this course. One is from Canada and the other Germany. I was astonished by the amount of time they had been in the Netherlands and still had no interest in learning Dutch. This just shows how easy it is to get around this country when you are able to speak English…because everyone is able to.
I got my figure skates!!!! Thanks to my parents and a friend of theirs coming to Holland for a little vacation. So I will be skating my way through the Netherlands very soon! The one problem is that the arena that is near my house had a fire and is just now opening to the public. So I hope that maybe tomorrow I can finally get on the ice.
I got to meet Shayna ( Colin’s fiancé)! She had a layover in Amsterdam so I had the opportunity to meet her! The night before I stayed with my friend Dhoya and we played “Guess Who” till like 2 am and then I had to be up by 5 am to make it in time! It was great. I was so excited that I could hardly sleep. And she is sooo cute! I am soo happy for Colin to have found such a cool girl. She seems to be everything that I could wish for. And I got to see her wedding dress! It is soo cool and now I cant wait for the wedding!
And now the Hallo-Birthday party! I know you are all very excited to hear about this little extravaganza…but first my real birthday. Well it was a typical day. A few happy birthday phone calls and a happy birthday cup cake for breakfast. But is was the surprise of two of Marks friend that made the day. They came with a very nice present (tall vase) and a very scary movie!!! We watched The Grudge (scary) and then a part of Cabin Fever (funny) and then a part of The Shinning (classic)! It was a very good bday. And now for the party! I spent most of this past week preparing for it. I think I cut out about 100 bats for a little decoration. I carved 4 pumpkins and had Nele and Mark do two more. Then I got some food together (special thanks to Tom and Team Togo and Jillian for sending candy). We had only candles for lighting to make it extra creepy. Mark and I dressed as Super-pumpkins! We where there to fight crimes against Halloween and pumpkins. It was a funny custom. There where mostly scary costumes but some funny ones as well. You can check out photos of the event at
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bellaveraksc/album?.dir=c12ere2&.src=ph
I will leave you to the photo’s! Enjoy and thanks for all the bday emails, cards, packages, and calls! I love you all!

Here is what we have done so far. We are still working in all the rooms. Trying to figure out where everything should go and rearranging furniture. I will send more photos when everything is complete!

The bedroom. It is still a mess. Mark is having some troubles with putting his stuff away...so. But we painted it a very light blue. It is our bedroom/office. I quite like it...it is much bigger then our last bedroom with was the bedroom/office/living room/dinning room.


The Living room. Some things where glued to the wall making it hard for us to keep the same texture all around. Once we ripped half the wall off we decided to paint it a apple/yellow green. it looks lovely.

The kitchen...well it needs alot of work. The paint job was horrible with bloches all over the place. When we painted it...it was hell. There was red where no one could posible reach...but we managed to cover most of it and it looks much better now...you will have to wait till the after photos to see!!!

The garden needs alot of work....and we have been to busy to spend any time in it. Hopfuly this weekend we will have time to pull some weeds!

Marky and his new found chair.

Dublins one and only bird man.... i guess Dubuque and Dublin have something in common.

I didnt take many photos in Dublin because last time i was there i came home with a wealth of wonderful photos. This time i just wasnt in the mode to shot. i will write more about our stay in Irland but for now i am going to enjoy a night with Mark. It was his Bday yesterday and we didnt do much so we are going to do something fun tonight. till next time...