Is it bad when it's March and you're still blogging about February?

Working on finishing off February and it's already March 1st, my god... I have been fortunate to make many dutch friends, as well as from other countries, and one of the people I have enjoyed spending time with is my friend Klaas.. another Dutchie from CouchSurfing, he is an amazing guy, very goal oriented, well traveled, and quite the dancer! The first time we hung out, I met him in Amsterdam, had dinner together and then went to a way fun club named Milkweg (http://www.melkweg.nl). We had a great time shaking our booties on the floor, dancing around like maniacs- fist pumping and taking bets on where other people in the club were from, and if they were gay or straight (I still swear the one guy with ALL the girls was gay, and just didn't want to fess up, he was better dressed than I was.) Klaas has a great job and does a lot of traveling, for instance, as we speak he is in Saudi Arabia, so we spend a lot of time on different schedules and we plan "dates" multiple weeks in advance. The middle of February, I went to his flat and he cooked an amazing dinner (he's an accomplished chef as well) and we had a long debate about places to travel to, his family, my family.. watched a T.V program in dutch which is always beneficial when people give you the opportunity to TRY to understand the language by forcing you into watching and listening. He was nice enough to give me commentary in English if it appeared I looked puzzled. Although we don't get the opportunity to spend a lot of time together, I always enjoy our time when we meet in Amsterdam. He has even taken on an ambitious bet, which I am now making public, that he will learn 48 out of 50 States (excluding Hawaii and Alaska, too easy) and be able to place them on a blank map. If he loses, he will be forced to be ridiculed in public by having to don an appalling outfit for the evening. Pictures to follow :)


Come Friday (Feb 20th), I was counting down the hours. See, I love the family I work for, the children are amazing.. but after a couple of months, you need a break. Therefore, that Friday at exactly 9:00pm I was beginning my 10 day vacation, that included a dinner date with Kristian, my other half as the boys from Tapuit refer to him, a trip to Den Haag to spend the day with the children's Oma and Opa and to attend a classical music concert. Not to mention the long awaited trip to London.. Friday came and went, YAY(!) my host family left for Switzerland for skiing, and I was home alone- Kristian and I went to the markets to pick up dinner for that night.. a wonderful cut of beef, asparagus, mushrooms, and herb potatoes. For lunch we enjoyed a baguette and the most amazing herb brie with a few glasses of wine ( I won't even go into detail about the questionable Albert Heijn sushi).. dinner conversation as usual was entertaining. I had been introduced to a new "boy" a few weeks prior to my trip to London. He is British, extremely funny, talented, and his voice is similar to a blend of Jude Law and Hugh Grant (although he thinks it resembles Mr. Bean and Madonna's horrible version, which I assure him it is not.) So, Kristian and I did what any duo of "girls" would do- we listened to all of my voicemails from him, giggling and blushing, read multiple text messages, and emails and discussed how excited (and nervous, and excited, and nervous) I was about my "date" with him the following week. A sleepover and multiple bottles of wine finished off our Saturday night date. Sunday morning I awake with a slight hangover none the less- and drove to Den Haag to meet with Vera who is Eva's mother and the children's grandmother. She is an absolutely precious Czech retired doctor who loves many of the same things as I do- classical music, an avid reader, good food, and languages. We went into the city center after a cup of coffee, walking around showing me the sights of the city. We went to a beautiful catholic church, and walked in during service- the view was astounding and I was quite happy to be there during what I assumed was dutch catholic service. However, thinking that I would be able to follow along during the sermon seemed impossible considering it was spoken in Flemish (the language of Belgium).. After lighting a candle and saying a prayer, we were off to see more of the city- the Queen's office, Parliament, and the amazing designer shopping street. A quick lunch and then to the concert.. I haven't always appreciated music as much as I do now, I played the violin briefly, and then the flute during middle school (The big middle finger to Northwest Middle School's music teacher Mr. Amos and the damn stuffed duck he would throw at you, screaming "duck" when you would make a mistake or talk during class.. perhaps thats why my music career wasn't a lasting one.) Ticket's in Holland always consist of multiple free beverages- an espresso or coffee, followed by an alcoholic cocktail or juice at intermission- our seats were second row, left side so that we had perfect view of the master pianist once he came on stage. Pieces by two of my favorite composers, Beethoven and Brahms, I was so excited. The concert was absolutely breathtaking, all the pieces more moving than imaginatble. I was brought to tears by the passion of the conductor, the beauty and eagerness of the pianist Francois-Frederic Guy http://www.ffguy.net/ ... During intermission, Vera bought me a souvenir, the three disc set of FFG's Beethoven pieces and I was able to meet him and receive his autograph. A very eccentric French man, I spoke the little French I knew, and shook his hand multiple times :) Following the concert which we both couldn't stop gushing about, we went to meet Opa and head down to Scheveningen, which is a coastal town near Den Haag for dinner. An amazing seafood restaurant on the marina-a carpaccio, a delicious piece of fresh fish, and a few bottles of wine. I was invited to stay the night, so we went back for tea and biscuits. Afterwards, I walked through Oma's library picking books I'd like to read and borrow followed by a  good nights sleep. It was so wonderful to be in the home of grandparents, cozy, and warm with the walls lined with pictures of grandchildren and keepsakes. The weekend was an amazing beginning to what I hoped to be an unforgettable holiday.