Off to Tamarack!

tomorrow starts a new adventure. i'm going off to tamarack with my friends and am gonna have the best week of my life. i can't wait. i've been so busy lately and i haven't had time to process it, but its finally sinking in, and i'm excited. i get to see friends i haven't seen in forever, i get to just hang out for a week, and i get to learn more about God. sometimes i feel so distant from Him, and this is just the thing i need right now.
and i just need to get away. have one more week before reality sets in and school starts. i'm dreading next tuesday; with school comes stress, which comes with frustration, which comes with arguments and bad moods along with all those college application forms :( not looking forward to it. i'll actually have to think about life and who i wanna be.
it scares me.
but for now, i'm just going to enjoy this last week of summer, and have fun.

Saturday: Back in Canada

so, now i'm back.. sadly.. i tried convincing my parents to just "forget" me there, but it didn't really work :P and boy, is it hot here.. not used to it being so humid!! haha

one thing i'm liking though, is that everything on the computer screen is in english again.. before it was all in dutch and i had to guess at what i was pressing. i was actually thankful i spent so much time on the computer :)

the flight back was good.. maybe 5 minutes of turbulance all together. we watched date night, the backup plan and the diary of a wimpy kid.. all movies i haven't seen before, so that was good.. we arrived half an hour early, which i was kind of saddened by because i didn't want the trip to end, but i have to get over it :D

and now i have to unpack.. all of our suitcases were like 22.4-22.9 kilos.. and the max you can have is 23, so we were close..
i'll see you guys all later!!

Friday: Our Last Day :(

our vacation has finally come to an end.. sigh... i've enjoyed every minute of it.. well for the most part. not the getting lost in antwerpen, or the history lessons on the side of the highway, or in the middle of a roundabout... today, we're just taking it easy.. we went for a walk this morning, and went to my mom's cousins bookstore.. said goodbye.. they said they'd see me next year, when i came back(apparently their son Joost told them i was coming. :S) which is gonna happen, so i don't mind :P we'll probably go to the beach this afternoon, because it is gorgeous weather..i think its the best we've had yet.. and the thermometer has now hit 27 degrees.. i think its a first :)
i now know where i want to live.. in noordwijk.. it is a cute little town, with cobblestone roads, the beach, restaurants on the beach, and just enough stores to get what you need.. its everything i want.. before, i wanted to live way out in the country, in a farmhouse.. but i've changed my mind.. this place is perfect.. well except for the cost of houses; that is outrageous. a house, like mine, here, would probably be around 800 000 euro.. probably more.. an apartment here costs about 250 000.. i know.. its crazy, but i'll figure something out . i have to.. i feel like i belong here.

so tomorrow i'm so not ready to wake up at 4:00 am, to go to the airport, to get on a plane and leave.. i'm trying to convince my mom and dad to stay until sunday.. my mom's cousin is having a b-day party saturday, and i really wanna go... oh well..
when i get home, i'm gonna post my schedule for gr 12.. see if we have any classes together...
i'll see you all later!!! some of you sunday(yes my parents say we have to go to church) and some of you during the week, hopefully.. bye!

Thursday: Driving, Driving, and more Driving

not that i'm complaining or anything... we drove from belgium to what felt like all over southern holland.. which was cool.. we saw the delta works, eventually, which was neat, but not all that its hyped up to be.. at least the part we went to.. my mom's uncle made sure we were on our way, and we followed him all the way to zeeland, to make sure we didn't get lost. i don't think he understood the concept of a gps.. every 10 minutes or so, he would pull over(on a highway) and give us a history lesson; so a trip that would have taken 15 minutes, took 1 hour... and you'll never guess what happened.. we were driving, you know, going 80 km/h on a 120 km/ hour highway.. got off, got to a roundabout.. aannd he stops.. yep, right in the middle of a roundabout... if that's not dangerous, i don't know what is :P so after my mom convinced him that we could find our own way(hehe) we went to middleburg.. i don't know if you've heard of it, but its a little island, right before the deltaworks.. it was amazing.. beautiful scenery and old, old, old buildings... lots of shopping.. one of the things i love about the netherlands, is that all the towns have a centrum where all the stores are located.. not like in canada where you have to drive all over the place.. its peaceful here and you can find a bakery pretty much anywhere.. i love it. you can get a fresh crossant, or a fresh cookie, for cheap... so here's a story for ya... so i go into this bakery. and i see on the menu: boderkoek. you know what boderkoek is, right?? so i think "yumm.. i have to get some of that."and i ask for it, the lady smiles at me, and gives me a crossant.. yep.. i say "no i wanted boderkoek.." in the nicest possible way, and she's like, ÿes, yes, this is boderkoek.. that will be .84 cents.." i don't really know what she was thinking, but i just paid for it and was on my way... if boderkoek is a crossant, what is boderkoek???? haha.. and that's my interesting story...
so then we went and drove through all these little towns, that all looked the same, but different, you know?? and we ended up in brielle,again, where my opa langendoen grew up.. so we looked around.. and then we sat down for supper at this amazing restaurant.. no joke.. it was fabulous.. sitting outside, eating bitterballen(round croquettes) then gettting the best tomato soup i've ever had.. it was great...
so we were gonna stay in a hotel somewhere thursday night, but i convinced my mom to go straight to noordwijk.. so that's what we did. we got all our things inside, and it was about 8:00.. we sat outside; me and erika went to the beach(it took us a while.. who knew.. the beach is pretty much on half the country, and we couldn't find it.. :) then we got back around 10:00 and went to bed.. we weren't really tired so me and erika played i spy in the dark.. not very easy, i tell ya...
and that was our day thursday :P

Tuesday & Wednesday: Belgium

so we're in belgium... it was about a 2 hour drive to my moms aunt and uncles house.. and it is big... very very nice inside.. i'm afraid to touch anything because its all antiques. we went to antwerpen, lier and mechelen today. antwerpen was a dissappointment.. that and we got lost :P go figure :) there was sooo much construction, you couldnt get anywhere. mechelen and leir were really nice though. had lots of fun.. bought some real belgian chocolate :P and don't worry, you all get some :D tomorrow we leave here and head to umm.. not sure, but we have a hotel booked so we'll see... then we go to noordwjk again!! can't wait.. that was probably my favourite place so far.. but i have to go.. see you later!!

Monday: The Capital City

yep.. today, we finally went to Amsterdam.. wow. it was so incredibly busy, and tanja said that it was very umm... well.. not busy; can't remember how she said it.. we walked to the train station from their house, hopped on a train and landed in amsterdam.. we walked through many a souvenier shops and said we would buy everything on the way back.. and i made sure that they were all gonna still be open :P we went on a little tour boat through all the canals and saw the city from the boat view... we stopped for koffie and thee, lunch and then were on our way.. it was a lot of walking, but it was worth it. when we got back around 4, we went to the beach; it wasn't very warm and the water was freezing, but it was fun. we went to a restaurant on the beach, and the food was amazing. i think i've had more krokets in the last 2 weeks then i've had all my life.. no joke.. the only words we understand on the menu are kroket, patats(french fries) and cola.. yup. .but we're getting better :P then we went to get icecream at a really nice icecream shop.. i got ferrero rocher icecream.. it was fabulous... and now, here i am.. everyone telling me to get off the computer :)
tomorrow morning, we are heading to belguim for a couple days.. we aren't going back to ruinen anymore; it was a bit sad, but i got over it pretty quick.. so we are staying at my mom's oom and tante's house.. it supposedly pretty big, so we'll see.. i'm super excited.. chocolate shops, here i come :D then on thursday morning, we are heading back to noordwijk and staying there till we leave super early saturday morning.. we have to get up at 4:00?? yep... should be a blast.. :)

Sunday: Haarlem

so on sunday, we left around 12 for my moms cousin, tanja's house.. we got there around 2, and then went for a walk around Haarlem. it's a old, beautiful city.. i recommend it for anyone planning to go to Holland in the future :) then we just chilled at thier house.. and went to bed around 10:00.. so not a real exciting day at all...

Saturday: Bad Benthiem

so friday, we went to germany for the day.. we went to a town called bad benthiem... it has a really old castle that was built around the year 1100.. yeah, its old.. it was really cool to see. had our little book that was written in english, cause we couldn't read the signs on the walls :P then we went shopping in the little town.. we walked by a store and saw something we liked, but said we would pick it up on the way back to the bus.. little did we know, ALL.. and i mean all the stores closed at like 1:00... so our shopping was cut a little short.. then we stopped at a restaurant for dinner.. couldn't read the menus because they were in german, and the waiter couldn't speak english or dutch, so we had to get another customer to come over and translate the menu for us.. just a little embarrassing :) then we headed back around 3:00 because my dad and brother were going to a soccer game... we went back and played shoelebuk. and i have the new high score :D 147.. i was super happy.. cause my next best score was 107.. and that was our day.. my dad and brother stayed over night at my moms aunt and uncles house and came back the next morning around 9:30 am.

Friday: Carnival/Party

so on friday, we went to Hellendoorn to visit my moms uncle and aunt.. there was a carnival going on in town, so we went there for a while.. there was a motor cross going on and that was neat to see... so exciting :P then we went back to the house and we had a special meal of boerekol :) it was great because they only serve it in the winter here, so it was a real treat... then later after dinner, we went to a big party at the carnival grounds.. there was loud music, tons of people and beer.. yup. we only stayed for 20 minutes or so because it was too loud... then we made our way, once again, to ruinen...

Thursday: Barneveld

on thursday, we started on our way back from noordwijk; we stopped in a little town called gouda(yes, like the cheese :) there was a big market there, and they were sellling, you guessed it... gouda cheese. then we went to barneveld to see my oma langendoens old house and one of her friends.. we were there for a while cause her children heard we were coming and had to "come see the people from canada" :p then we drove back to ruinen.. not too much of excitement.

Day 9: Wednesday: Boating

wednesday we just chilled around Noordwijk. we didn't really wanna do anything. my mom's cousin martha's husband peter, and their son Joost(?? pronounce Yost) took us on their boat through all the canals to a town called Lieden, which was beautiful. you would never see anything like it in canada... we spend the day on the boat, and stopped once in town for some koffie, cola and round crokets, called bitter something.. i don't remember; but they were good :) came back, had dinner with them, and then walked to my mom's cousins house at 10:00 at night.. and managed to find our way back in the dark :P then i went straight to bed..
today, we are making our way back to the boederij, and i'm not really sure what else we are doing.. i'm gonna miss it in Noordwijk.. i LOVE it here... but maybe i'll come back :)
bye!!

Day 8: Tuesday: Hotel New York

so we had to get up early on tuesday, to go to rotterdam for the day.. we went with my moms cousin Martha and her husband Peter, who showed us around.. we saw a bit of the city, then took a water taxi to the other side, and got on a tour boat to show us the rest.. rotterdam is the second largest harbour(i think) in the world, next to hong kong... crazy cargo.. there was sooo much of it.. after that, went shopping :) which was fun until it started to pour, then we had to wait in the rain for the water taxi to come back.. we had dinner at hotel new york, which was where my grandparents stayed before going off to canada. it was neat.. and really good. i tried some shrimp, big and small....but i couldn't try the snail; i'm not that brave :P, then we drove back to my mom's aunt and uncles house around 10:00 and went straight to bed :P

Day 7: Monday: Mini Holland

hey
So monday, by far, was the earliest morning since we came... we had to get up at 6;00.... in the morning!!! yep.. tis true, we had to leave by 7:00 for the long 2 1/2 hour trek to Noordwijk(pronounced Nord-wike), with a couple stops on the way.. so on the 120 km per hour highways, you expect to get to places fast, right?? but we hit traffic and it lengthened our trip to about 3 hours.... but we eventually got there.. our first stop was Mauderodaum(don't know if thats how you spell it). It was really cool. It was like all of Holland.. in mini..so we pretty much saw all we needed to see right there :P we spent around 3 hours there, had some koffie and thee and then headed to the vehicle, our big, ugly van :) not too hard to find. then we left and stopped for some patat(french fries) with mayo(what a dutch thing to do :) and then went to my moms Oom Wim and Tante Gere's house, where we are still staying.. we went to check out the town, went to the beach, which was fantastic, except for the salt water. that was a little gross.. then we came back and were having dinner with somemore relatives... you'd think after seeing so many of them you'd get sick of them, but i like my oma's side of the family... umm... it was my moms cousin and his wife, can't remember their names, and their 3 kids, Tom(18), Ron(i'm guessing 14?), and Siem(or Simon in English,maybe 7) it was fun.. then we played some shuffle board, and after they left, went to bed at around 10:30

Day 6: Sunday: Meeting the other Side of the Family

yep, more family.. this time it was the kassies side.. we're at my mom's uncle alberts house right now... it's not as big, but still a lot of dutch names to remember... they don't speak english as well as the other side, so its hard to understand them so my mom doesn't really care how much time i spend on the computer here... :P later we're gonna go see the boederij that my opa lived in for a while.. it has 'Kassies' painted on it.. so we're gonna go there now..
talk to you all later!!

Day 5: Saturday: Meeting The Family

haha.. so saturday was a day when all the vanderlinde family got together at our place.. that is my oma's whole family.. there were about 50 of them; all her brothers and sisters and maybe half of their kids(so my mom's cousins) had to memorize a lot of names :) but it was fun... you wouldn't think so, but they are so friendly and welcoming.. the aunts kicked us out of the kitchen to to the dishes, and they all greet you like they've known you forever; it was great... played the biggest game of shuffle board ever.. there were like 25 people playing and they just kept getting added to the scoreboard.. so many stories and things we have to do.. everyone says we have to visit them, or go here and there, but we definitely don't have enough time to do it all..
so overall it was a great day and we all had lots of fun:)

oh.. on friday, me and erika decided to walk to the nearest town.. we were gonna have supper there with my moms aunt and uncle.. they gave us directions and we started on our way.. an hour later, we finally reach the town.. they were all like "where were you?!?!?" haha apparently it was only supposed to be a 10-15 minute walk.. we walked all the way out of town, through the next town and then back into the town.. huh... looong walk... they were all sitting down ready for supper but couldn't start without us :P it was an adventure for sure...

Day 4: Friday: The Star City

hey guys :)
so on friday, we went to Bourtange, also called the Star City. It was really neat. Its a big city in the shape of a star and in war, it was never ever defeated. There aren't any vehicles in there and you have to go through a drawbridge to get it. We stayed there for about 3 hours and then left. Then we stopped at a campground to visit my moms aunt and uncle there... after that, we took a detour and went to Germany on the way home. It was kinda weird cause all you see is this little sign saying welcome to Germany, and then you were there.. no showing passports or anything.. and as soon as we entered it looked different :p the houses were smaller and had a different look to them, there was more.. umm.. space i guess.. it was not so crowded... and that was friday... not too exciting.. we all slept in till around 10:00 so we had a late start..

Day 3: Exploring

So I got 11 hours of sleep last night.. impressive; i guess i was more tired than i thought :P today we went to Meppel again, because there was a market going on.. the whole town had things in the streets, selling.. it was pretty cool. Then we went to Sneek(pronounced Snake) and looked around.. we'll go there again sometime. Then we went to my mom's cousins cheese factory in Workum and got a tour. it was also neat... but i don't think i'll be eating cheese for a while :P then we started back. and now we are at my parents friends house near Ruinen for a while... they have a computer and i've been on it for over 1/2 an hour.. so i should get off soon :) but that was pretty much all we did today... tomorrow i'm not sure what we're doing, but on saturday, all my mom's aunts and uncles are coming over, so we won't be doing much.. maybe explore Ruinen some more... but we are planning on going to Germany for a couple days, and then go to Belgium for a couple days too..
so my family is yelling at me to get off, so i'll write more as soon as i have a computer again. The boederij doesn't have one.. or a phone.. we're lucky too have electricity its so old.. :P
so i'll be back soon, hopefully.. with some pictures maybe :D

Day 2: Shopping.. mostly :)

I'm gonna try to to everything we do each day in different posts.. so different day, different post :P First we went to Kampen, which was a beautiful city.. we went to the old part, rather than the new. There were so many outlet shops and everything was all 50-80% on sale.. it was great! I bought 2 new skirts, a coat, a sweater thing, and a sweater vest(??) its really nice.. and it was all under 50 euros.. amazing, i know.. it was great :P then we went to Lilystad, which was also really really nice.. then we went to Urk, which was a little island, until all the polders were built after the war. Polders are like man-made land, with dykes to keep the water out. so all the land is below sea level. it is really old.. I'm gonna post some pictures when i have the chance. don't really have time right now.. then we went across a big dyke to Enkhuizen. there was nothing there, so we just drove around and then went back..then we went to Meppel, and attempted to find a place to eat. Everything closes around 6:00 so it was a little difficult because it was 8:00... we finally found this restaurant, and it looked really fancy and expensive, but it was the only thing open. so fancy and expensive, you expect nice, right?? well it was... but me and erika and esther ordered from the kids menu because that was what had hamburgers, french fries, and the works. when they brought it too us, just the kids meals, they were served on pink plastic plates, with a princess on it :D i know. wasnt expecting that at all :) then we went back and went to bed around 9:30... one of the things i find fascinating is that here, on the highways, the speed limit is 120 km/h.. not 100km... but holland is so beautiful. lots of cows and sheep. I kinda wish that canada was like holland.. bikes always have right of way so we have to let bikes go first.. and everyone is on bikes, its crazy.

Day One: Arriving

So I'm back.... I have more time now... so the flight was rough. we got on the plane at 5:30, and had supper at 10:30.. i know.. then the lights turned down for an hour or so, then they turned back on at 11:30 for breakfast, and then we landed as soon as they took the plates away :P we landed at 7:45 am. we stayed at the airport for a while and got some thee and koffie at starbucks there.. i had to go searching for a tea bag, because they just gave me hot water :) then we went on the 2 hour trek to our boederij(bood-er-ae), which is really old and smells like it too :P but its nice.. after we got settled in, we went to Ruinen, which is about 2 km from where we are staying. we got some groceries and scouted out the area. we went to bed around 8:30 and all slept until around 9:00 the next morning.. i think that is about it for day one...

Hello from Holland!

hey guys... so the plane ride was a little rough.. out of the 6 hours, there were about 2 hours all together of peace and quiet.. way to much turbulance :) so i got about 45 minutes of sleep.. when we got there, we stayed at the airport for about an hour or so... we shopped. We drove to our house which took about 2 hours.. slept maybe 5 minutes.. bought some clothes.. now i fit in :)
well i have to go now... i'll probably be back in a couple days.. with more :)
see you later!

And We're Off!!

Well, almost. My countdown clock failed miserably and said we left sometime last night. We are all pretty much packed right now, so we're ahead of schedule. My suitcase weighs a grand total of 25 pounds; impressive, I know :) and, get this, my suitcase is only half full!! so there's plenty of room for souveniers :P Last night, I was on our office computer, and there was a tab up for something in Germany. So, of course, I opened it and there were pictures of a castle and a little history. It is a really, really, really, really old castle that my mom says we can go see when we're in Germany. Pretty sweet. And its supposedly haunted.. oohhh... haha.
So yep, pretty excited. These next 5 hours are gonna drag by... We leave at 2:00 for the airport.. I'll try my best to put up some pictures everyday, but no promises.
See you all in 3 weeks!!!