Mar 2006

Yesterday I was awake very early and enjoyed sleeping in and being lazy. Ema was really funny because I once I ha taken my shower she was already telling me that my breakfast was waiting for me O I had hardly time to get dressed. I just can´t believe how much food they feed you here. I am not eating so much since I don´t sport here and all we do is walk a lot. I am for standards here very tall but nobody believes me when I say that my age is 29 they all put me at age 20-23 maximum. In the morning her daughter with 4 kids showed up and we all chatted for a while. I was reading a book for a while but than couldn't´t be asked anymore and waited for Chelsea to come back from her project for lunch, It was our first talk and it was a relief to chat in English for a change. At 2pm we went to school and we have total 4 hours with 30 minutes break. The organization went a bit wrong so my teacher showed up out of breath and had to improvise my lesson but it was fun and my head was swimming with all the effort. Right now the first language that comes to my mind is always Dutch - such a pain - than English and than Spanish. After school we went for a quick drink and than everyone went home. Chelsea was waiting for a phone call from her boy-friend and was hopping around like a little nutcase! After dinner wen went out and collected everyone for going into Antigua. It was a chance to see the accommodations from other students and we have middle range compared to others and we have got our own room - no sharing! Yesterday it was ladies night if you had an invite and wore a orange T-Shirt. We were meeting with other students there and by the end everyone was pretty drunk. We had real good fun. From the Europeans there are lots of Scandinavian people around, heard some Belgian ... Got home by 1.10am and woke up around 6am again. Chelsea is sick so I had breakfast on my own. I am now in Antigua with Bianca and Camilla and we are about to die of thirst so ti8me to do something about that!

Have some catching up to do.
Wednesday mornign at 2.30am NYC time the alarm went off and Robil got up with me (guess you´ll be getting to used to that soon o,). Thank you so much for letting me stay with and for the short but fun time with you and for getting to know you both a bit better. The shuttle was on time and all except for one person was ready to go so in the end I arrived at JFK 4.15am. The check-in desks were closed but also the electronic one´s ... opening around 4.45am I was one of the first one´s to check in and than I was walking through a really empty airport - strange feeling! Other than that had a seat wrote a bit, read a bit and no still didn´t have the nerve to figure out how the ipod works. Had a very annoying guy sittign next to me who was constantly moving around and no chance to catch up on some sleep. In Atlanta I went hunting for an adapter with USB cabel otherwise the whole ipod issue is a joke but no luck, Also no Dunkin´ Donuts to be had so settled for a huge smoothie. Walked over to he gate since I had arrived with 45 minutes delay due to fog in Atlanta. You electronically ¨check-out¨ by left/right index finger scan and picture, get a receipt and than give your partly green card to teh airline agent. That was new to me! The plane to Guatemala city was pretty full. BUiness class in that plane was a bit of a joke since people have to be rather small to appreciate the space ... o OH well, the food was okay but the movie and headset a joke. I was hoping that ¨Harry Potter and the goblets of fire¨ woudl put me to sleep but no chance. OH well, so here I am tired but sleep not forthcoming. Flying in to Guatemala City the pilot did a nice turn and we saw everything from the city center to the poor parts. The customs was great fun. I should have expected that one look in the passport would trigger an avalanche of sPanish. THe baggage claim was the strangest I have seen so far. Three planes had arrived and all teh luggage was being dumped on the same conveyer belt. The good thing was though that I had a priority sticker on mine and it was there and in one piece (I got told later that it was a miracle since normally bags disappear and reappear 2-7 days later). Getting out of teh airport was a marathon because you are being justled from all sides. I was tryign tow read all those signs but not the one that I was looking for about 45 minutes later I had Lionel standing behind me. He already had to Norwegian girls in the car. I got to sit in front and had an excellent view on the sceneray. The first thing that I noticed was that people drive like mad here and that some of teh buses would be banned in Europe with that pollution they cause. People are very friendly here. Lionel let us make phone call home to say that we are okay. Mami, das war echt uebel DEine Stimme zu hoeren, denn dann bricht das Heimeh aus und davor hatte ich es unter Kontrolle! IN Antigua after about 45 minutes we got dropped of at our host families. I got to meet Ema and her son MIlton (who speaks a few words of English). I got a glass of water, dumped my bag in my room and Ema took me to teh school. I got introduced to Vilma. We had a chat and she told me that she had expected me the day before - guess communication broke down somewhere! So anyay Vilma walked me back to my house and I could finally change clothes. During the day right now it gets as hot as 30 degrees but at night it cools down to 15 degrees. She showed me where the bus station is, where to walk at certain times and what to avoid. We went into Antigua and I exchnaged money for teh local currency. Lots of new impressions and my mind was in a whirl. I tried to get my bearings but it was all one mix. We sat in a restaurnat for a drink and nachos with real guacemole - yummy!!! By the time we got back to my family it was around 9pm here (they are 1 hour behind NYC time). Ema warmed up the soup for me and I had a little sandwich. The other thing is here they are worried of not feeding you enough so the portions are huge for me. I got to meet Mario. By the tme my head hit the pillow it was after 10pm and I was dead beat.

Vilma had told me that I was allowed to sleep in today. So I did just that and forced myself to sleep longer. I woke up around 7am because of teh noise outside sounded like a car had misfired but later I was told had to do with birthdays and something being fired. Took a shower in the smallest bathroom I have ever seen in my life. The water was kind of cold but once you get used to it it is okay. My room is facing the street but is the coolest in the whole house which is great. Chelsea is stayign there as well. The car is parked out front my door. REally funny!

I´ll continue later now have to run since it is dinner time here. The writing is full with spellign erros but this is teh stickiest keyboard that I have ever come across ... but at least the internet is kind of quick!

Kiddos had no afternoon nap at their normal time since Mandy's family came by and in the end they started getting cranky o In the end it was me who tucked Maille in for the last time o;( Bag was quickly packed but this time weight wasn't distributed as good, have to figure out a better way. Time was suddenly flying by quickly ... Mandy made me some chocolate cookies to take along for the train ride. Somehow they seemed to be eaten quicker though than made ... and only once almost everyone had departed the stack of cookies grew o) Mandy brought me to Beacon Falls very own train station; consisting of a tiny platform and a shelter that was it. The conductor saw me and commented on the big bag. He went round to check tickets I had just settled in and was about to read a book and eat a cookie. He saw me, grinned and said "I'll let you finish your cookie and than stop by". I had to change trains in Bridgeport and than on to Grand Central Station.

Mandy, Mike, Aden and Maille: it was such good fun to be with you guys and play with them! Thank you for everything and maybe I'll just have to send Mum over for a visit; I'll come by again in maybe 2 years or before o) By than they will be all grown up and I wonder if they remember me at all o)
I had the time of my life and it made me realize that one day I want to have a family of my own.

At Grand Central Station I went to the meeting point but thought better quick stop for the bathroom. After having a look around decided no way that I'll put my backpack on THAT floor so using the bathroom turned into a new experience!!! Upstairs Robil was already looking for me and we went for a drink and waited for Astrid and her friends who were going to meet us. They were over for the first time in NY and it was their last night out. We went to Queens for proper Indonesian food and it was very tasty and good. The New York Times had written an article about it recently and it is well-known now therefore. The conversation was quite different than what I was used to lately but very interesting. The funny thing was that suddenly I understood bits and pieces of conversation in Indonesian. Seni, keine Ahnung wie ich das auf einmal hinbekommen habe, aber hin und wieder habe ich so flashes und dann versteh ich Sprachen, die ich nie gelernt habe! By the time we left it was very late and I was pretty beat by the time we arrived back at the apartment. Carrying the backpack around though wasn't bad at all once you get used to the weight and learn how to stand best to distribute it.

Today I said to myself you can sleep longer and turned around than to do just that. Shortly before 9am I just couldn't sleep anymore and decided to read my book instead. Astrid and me had a quick chat and than she was off for her Yoga while I was happily checking my email and having a cup of tea. Sweety, feeling good all around right now! Some of you are probably thinking why is she taking it easy and not having a run around NY today. The weather is good so that is not the problem but today I just want to take it easy: sleep, eat, read, watch TV ... be lazy; I can't remember the last CAO day that I had and was able to do that. If I had taken them than it was because I had to go somewhere, arrange something ... this right now is bliss and the fact that for a few hours there is nobody who wants something from me is great! In all the hectic of the last few weeks even still at home in Vleuten there was never proper just-me-time!
I finished my book, took a shower, had a nap ... Robil & Astrid came home and we went out here in the neighbourhood to an Italian place with really good food. Now we are back at their place and I have just managed to upload some pictures, finish a letter (will be on its way shortly, sweety), chat a bit, pack my bag ... and won't be long until I am off to bed!

Once they were given dinner which was really early since they weren't into long naps yesterday we had "free" time already as of 5pm. Mike was back in time to tuck them in so we decided what DVD to watch and what to have for dinner. In the end we watched "Wedding crashers" which was a good laugh. Afterwards we were just sitting around chatting and waiting for the wash to be done. Fresh clothes for me to start the next chapter of traveling o The first day that I had no nap and was ready to go to bed around 11.30pm and could have stayed up longer but though tit would be sensible to close my eyes since the next nights might be a bit short.

Woke up this morning and after having a shower when I came down I had missed Mike by 10 minutes - BUMMER! Kiddos were in the playroom and about ready to have breakfast. Since visitors are coming by later they got a bath and are now off for their nap. Giving me time to write again O) I'll do the last things and than I'll pack my stuff together later...

I'll be leaving here around 3pm and taking the train to NYC. Thank you Robil for already arranging the airport transfer on Wednesday morning; pick-up around 3-3.15am so that will be a short night o Maybe I can at least stay in the lounge at the airport since my ticket has to be good for something, right?

Last night turned out slightly different than expected when we made our dinner around 7pm it felt like 11pm. We watched a DVD and had dinner with it since we both figured that we wouldn't last long. Yeap, got that right when Mike returned from the party the movie was almost over and I went straight off to bed around 10pm.

This morning I allowed myself to stay in bed a bit longer than usual and be lazy. Sweety so good to hear your voice however briefly! Once I went downstairs the kiddos already had their breakfast and where ready to go off for a nap. I found myself on my own and decided to have breakfast and watch a bit of "Sahara" (for those of you who are Clive Cussler fans; not bad but my idea of Dirk & Al were a bit different). In the middle of it they woke up and it was a bit time to play and than to have lunch. Today both napped longer. Now it is play time with them and I'll go join Mandy in the other room o)