Saturday, March 31, 2007
11:20PM

Today was a much needed day of rest; too much so I think in retrospect. I didn’t wake up until nearly 4pm today. I took a shower, then had supper with the family. Today was their daughters birthday so her, her boyfriend, my host mom and dad, their son and his 92 year old grandmother were all there. One of her presents was a brand new Macbook. We sat outside for a time and had some snacks including a variety of nuts, some small eggs with salmon caviar, and some of the best breadsticks I’ve ever eaten; I was told that they were made at a local bakery. This was served with some fine Italian “rosé” wine. Following this we went inside for the main course that was a real literal smorgasbord. There was sushi, smoked eel, garlic shrimp, squid salad, green salad, cherry tomatoes, and lots of fresh baked bread. There was also raw herring, especially for me. This was a test to see if I was “Dutch Enough”, I picked it up by the tail and took a big bite. It was all Good. This was followed by lots of cheese and even more wine. Some of the Cheese was very very strong, some had some Truffle mushrooms in it. The meal was finally concluded with 3 kinds of chocolates, dark, milk, and white chocolates. The rest of the evening was spent going over some of the material for the next week and talking via skype to Miranda back in Newfoundland. I’m still not sure what is on for tomorrow, but I’m sure something is in the works. I also today installed google adsense on my blog page. If anyone clicks on the add on the sidebar to the right I make money from it. The same goes for the google pack link. I know its great and very essential software for those windows users out there. Its all Good™ Let the Money Roll In!


Garden Party!
Eggs & Caviar

Mmm, Tasty raw Herring!
Fresh Baked Bread
Cheese!
The Family

Friday, March 30, 2007
11:46PM

Getting up earlier this morning, I had my shower (which is awesome here because I don’t need to bend down because the shower head is too low like in most other places I’ve been), and headed out to the station. I met up with my contacts there just before 9am. We headed to a place called Zeist, outside Utrecht where we had an interview with a local newspaper. I never thought I’d see myself in a newspaper from the Netherlands, but there you have it next Wednesday. Following that we toured our performance venue at the Figi theater located in the Figi hotel. It is a very nice facility. We also stopped by one of our CI sites, a home for elderly people where some of our students will be spending 2 days. For lunch I had pizza, not a slice, a whole pizza. That will teach me for ordering the large. Still it was only 5⁄€ for a 13 inch pizza. The rest of the afternoon was spent in our office getting to work on the paperwork and logistics ends of things. Tomorrow I don’t know what is going on but we’ll see when tomorrow comes, Its all Good™.

Who Visits my site?
Waiting for the Bus...
Flowers Everywhere!
Zeist
The Figi
The Paper we were at


The infamous straw waffle, caramel goodness
The Elderly Home CI


Lunch, fresh baked Italian Pizza!

Thursday, March 29, 2007
March 30, 2007 2:13 AM

Today was not too bad. I woke up late this morning, jumped into the shower, had some coffee and cream cheese sandwich and then headed off for the day. My host mom was going to visit her elderly mother in law and so she dropped me off at a near by tram station where I went to Utrecht central to meet up and head to Amsterdam. The weather was cold and raining a little. Amsterdam was as bustling as ever though. There were more people in the cafeteria of the university so we handed out far more brochures, however when 2 roled around and it was time for our presentation, no one showed up. Ah well. We left campus for lunch and stopped at a small side café. I had a 3 layer BLT sandwich it was quite good. Arriving back in Utrecht, we headed to the university where our office is to be for the next few weeks. It was sufficient. We outlined what was still to be done just in time for us to leave. Back with my host mom, I had home made pizza and leftover beet salad and chicken for supper with cheese and cappuccino. After supper researched some places that would serve as suitable staff hotels. We also (no joke) looked through 20 photo albums of pictures of all of the trips the family has taken over the years. (Check out her website at http://www.maatje44.nl/)Tomorrow I’ve got to be at the station shortly before 9am as we have a busy day with a newspaper interview and visiting a few other sites the cast will visit and use. Its all Good™ (except I really miss Miranda back in Newfoundland)
Driving in the morning
Back in Amsterdam, Bicycle Taxis
and more Canals
Set up for the Presentation, too bad no one came.
One Tasty BLT
The Sandwich joint
Dom Square, Amsterdam

The Fries Joint


Our Office

My Host Family's House
Utrecht @ Night

Wednesday, March 28, 2007
11:04:26 PM

Today was an awesome day. Europe is even better than I remembered. This morning I woke up (despite having slept through my alarm clock), took my shower, got dressed all European snappy like, made a peanut butter, Nutella, and jam sandwich then headed out the door. My host mom dropped me off at Utrecht central station where I met Kaylee. Karin soon joined us and we had our morning briefing. Today we set up a booth at the Amsterdam University in the cafeteria. The weather was awesome and Amsterdam was bustling. We set up our both shortly after 12pm. Business was slow to say the least but we had a few people who were really interested; even someone who had hosted before back in the 90’s. Its exam time now so that probably explains the slow day. We’ll continue our work tomorrow and have our presentation tomorrow afternoon at 2pm. It should be about an hour or so. Following that, Karin, Kaylee, and myself will be getting into the dirty work of finishing setting up the city. As it stands now, we still need to arrange a meal or two, find a staff hotel, and find places for 10-14 students to stay. There is much much more after that but we are taking it day by day. I’ve got a great group to work with. Anyhows, Kaylee and I took the train back from Amsterdam to Utrecht where we met up with Karin to discuss our presentation tomorrow. We stopped at a café outside of the Dom Cathedral (http://utrechtchurches.tripod.com/utrechtdom.html)for coffee and tea before heading back to the station and heading our separate ways. I took a “stoptrain” to Houten station and from there a tram to Houten Castellum station where I had a 20 minute walk to my host family’s house. They had already had supper but had saved me some. It was some kind of fish served with a delicious red beet salad that was sort of like potato salad but better. Kaylee and I are set to meet at Utrecht central station tomorrow again at 10AM and take the train to Amsterdam to continue our admissions work. Its all Good™


Quoting Kaylee DeGraff March 28, 2007

dear lovely cast a,
brennan and i have arrived safely in utretcht, the netherlands and have
started our adventure that is known as advanced work. i think i can
speak for him and say that we are very much enjoying the netherlands
and the dutch people. it is a very nice city and we are having fun
getting to know it. our travel day here was a bit of a 30-hour
adventure that included an eight-hour plane ride, plus five trains, one
taxi and lots of dragging our lugguge around. it was fun and exciting
and very long, but we do have stories to tell! i hope all is well in
venice, fl and that you are all enjoying yourselves! we miss you and
look forward to seeing you in a few weeks!

kaylee

ps. gabe and maria--we passed through antwerp on the train while on
our journey to the netherlands. and we thought of you. hope your
week is going wonderful and that everything is getting ready for next
week. how funny to be so close! maybe we shall see each other one
day! good luck!



Morning View


Train to Amsterdam

Downtown Amsterdam
Mmm, Fries and Mayonnaise
The Booth






Train back to Utrecht
Hard at Work
No Land? No Problem, Just fill some in.
Windmill!
UWP!
De Dom, Utrecht


Evening Meeting

Apple is Everywhere!
Train to Houton