Finally Settled

Lots of apologizes for completely failing to keep up with the updates. I promise I'll be better with this from now on...

Well, I've finally gotten totally settled in here. My co-worker, and now roommate (Chiara), and I were on a very tiresome house hunt for over two weeks and luckily wound up with a fantastic place to call home for the next several months.  It's a very large apartment for just the two of us! Everything is brand new and we've settled in nicely.  The location isn't ideal, per se, it's a bit far from most things, but it's very close to the giant park and some shops for food and such.  

I spent the morning running along some canals and popped into the park to say hello to the

 goats and pigs and sheep that live there. I'm thinking about asking if I can help out with the animals on the weekends because I'm starting to grow attached to the sheep. 

I've done a little Holland exploring which has been fun.  Chiara, our friend Agnes, and I went to Delft a few weekends ago and loved it.  It's what you would imagine an old Dutch town to be like.  It was raining (big surprise) so we camped out in a cafe we were told had excellent apple pie.  We weren't disappointed and I think I might go back with some friends later today.  Hopefully, this time I go the tower will be open and I can check out the famous view of Delft. 

Some other Dutch adventure highlights have been a trip to Gouda for a southern Holland homebrew beer tasting festival.  Sounds quite festive and Dutch, no?  Well, it was a bit strange, as the side of the Gouda tracks we were on gave a less than spectacular view of the city and the festival was actually just a bunch of weird old Dutch men in a high school cafeteria.  At least the beer was good...  Chiara and I also went to the beach at Schevening for some mini pancakes by the dunes and a walk along the old, grass covered ruins.  A typical Dutch day, it started out miserable and our hopes of a day at the beach were shattered at first, but the sun came out full force and we hopped on the first bus up to take a glimpse at the sea. Apparently, our new place is about 3 miles away from the famous Kijkduin beaches, so I think that's on the docket for next weekend's explorations.  

I'll take the time to sit down a jot a bit about work, but I'm actually taking a few hours today and tomorrow to do work so I can take Friday off to pick someone up a the airport and maybe putt about Amsterdam for a few hours.  I have a few interesting projects starting to come together in the next two weeks or so, so I'll have some updates on that, sure enough.  In the meantime, here are two articles I wrote for the website.

Till next time...