jowh,

how are you guys doing?

I'm still doing great, enjoying my time here. Ehm..let's start with where I left off..so we ended thursday sleeping...than friday came. We woke up early, had breakfast at tante Anie's, packed our stuff (haha, mine bag had exploded all over the room. . ) Friday, after I ate a little bit, all of a sudden I felt completely sick and had to go lay down on the bed before Tante Nettie and Albert came to pick Harmen and me up. Thank God Tante Annie had Renne's (a dutch medicine). . . Later that morning, Tante Annie and Albert came and took Harmen and me to the train station. So much train riding, he! Well, so now in Beugen I met maaaany people! First we had tea and coffee at my grandpa's sister's house. . .Harry and Marie Ploegmaker. . .and I met the husband of Marie's daughter Sjannie. . .(Naturally, I fell asleep on the couch threeeee times! hahahah oops!). . .then we went to Jan's (the brother from my father). He is very nice! The same age as my grandma - 81!! Then his daughter Marita came over with her husband and Eric and his family also came. Then Harmen and I went to bed. The next morning, we woke up and had a lovely breakfast - hehe. . .Dutch people are soo good at cooking, it is amazing! It seems that one minute there is no food, and the other minute it just magically appears! Marita came over again, and then her brother Pieter also came with his wife, his twins and his other son, :) Very cute! After visiting for a while, Harmen and I hopped on the train and made our way back to Elburg (where he lives). Later that evening we went to Chris's house in Hardewijk and visited. . .and I tried some Bacardi, haha, it was alright. . .


Sunday: I woke up at 8:30 and thought oh, I'll go back to sleep until someone wakes me up for church. . haha. . then it was 10:30 and Harmen came to wake me up. ..Since Marloes and I were up till midnight Saturday night, they decided we shouldn't go. ..hahahahaha. ...ooops. . .Then we went to Ruben's birthday (the son from Martin) He is now three years old!!! :D:D: sooooooooo cute! He showed me his room - and spoke in dutch to me and he kept stealing my buik! (stomach) so then, naturally I would steal it back and steal his! Then we biked to Harmen's Tante Sjoukjes and sat in the sun and drank juice and such. . .later that night, I was compleeeetely tired, so i called my parents and then I went to bed :) hahah. . .


Monday: That is today, hey! I slept for like 11.5 hours! Wooooo!!! Then I woke up and had breakfast. Then Harmen and I biked for 20 minutes to get to the church. We were attending a wedding from one of Harmen's friend's sister's :) Lisette and Jonathan. . .An italian man with a dutch woman. It was a beautiful wedding. . .We sang in dutch, english and italian. . .I have never attended a wedding in anything other than English. . .that was really nice! :D:D:D After the wedding, Marloes (harmen's sister) and I went shopping for a gift for Harmen! (Tomorrow we are celebrating the birthday from Bea -his mom- and Harmen) :D:D:D Yaaay! Woohooo. . .so then, that is today. . . I eat three times a day and have some little snacks in between. The country is beautiful and the weather unpredictable. . .I LOVE IT! :D:D:D:D hehe, I definitely want to come back! Well, I hope all is good with everyone! If anything exciting has happened feel free to email me, I would love to hear from you! (meggie00012@hotmail.com) See you!!! Greetings from Holland!

Hello again!

Hallo again! Sorry for taking so long to update, but I was staying with relatives that had noooo internet! :) Hehe,:D But I'll start from where I left off!

Tuesday: That night there were maaaany people at Harmen's house! So many names and faces, and all speaking dutch naturally. It was a totally different world! Amazingly though, I think I can remember most of their names!

Wednesday: After a woooonderful night's sleep - no problem with jet lag because I had only slept for an hour on Sunday night and 3 hours on the plane - I woke up to beautiful, sunny weather! :) I had a totally dutch breakfast of bread with chocolate spread and "pindakaas"(peanut butter), cheese!! Oh, the cheese here is amazing! :D:D Gouda enzo, is wonderful! :D Wednesday we left for Boxtel (where my grandma's side of the family lives). . .Harmen's parents took us by car! On the way we stopped by a restaurant and I had my first experience with the dutch restaurants! (Mind you, no refills :) ) I tried "Broodjes Gezond" - it was very nice! :D It was like a large roll with cucumbers, sliced eggs, tomato, ham, and cheese! Delicious! Then I also got to try a "kroket" - some sort of meat thing fried. . .um, it looks like a sausage, but with a breakable outer shell of fried bread crumbs. . .it was kind of like a meat paste that you spread on your bread. It was interesting looking, but very good! Then we arrived at Tante Annie's house and Harmen, his parents, Annie and I sat and drank coffie. It is tooootally dutch, whenever I go into someone's house, they automatically ask if I want something to drink! It is amazing, ja! Later that night Tante Nettie and her husband Albert came for dinner as well as Hettie. Dinner was delcious, but so much food! Soup, main course, and then dessert! Amazing! :) After dinner, Hettie, Harmen and I went to Staplen. Staplen was the castle/church that my Uncle Wim was a priest at and where he lived. (He is now passed away - recently). . .then after seeing the beautiful sites, we went back to Tante Annie's and went to bed.

Thursday: Yet another beautiful day, also with rain :) Again, I had bread with many different things on it. Cheese, meats, little sprinkles. . .oh, it was lekker! :D After breafast, Tante Annie, Harmen and I cycled to St. Petrus's Kerk (a large church) (Annie is in her 70's and still riding her bike) While we were looking around, it began to rain again! haha After lunch, Harmen and I belled Tante Nettie and Albert,and they took us to s'Hertogenbosch. . .a city not far from Boxtel. There, Harmen and I walked and I shopped! We also stopped by a snack bar and tried fries - with mayonnaise and drank strawberry milkshakes! hahaha, it was actually really good! While I was shopping, I totally came by a McDonald's. . how crazy is that?? :D hahaha. . . After shopping, we took the train back to Boxtel and made it safely to Tante Nettie's for dinner :) Also soup first, a main course, and then a delicious dessert! After dinner, we decided to go out for a drink and while we were at the cafe - sitting outside - it began to rain, and all of sudden it began pouring, like I hadn't seen it before! :D Totally made everything wet even the floor beneath our feet (with umbrellas over all the tables and everything -more like tents than umbrellas. . .hhe. . .but, then we went back to tante Annie's and, haha. . .I tried a glass of white wine! Haha, it was okay. . .I'm not much for alchohol, I think, haha. . I tried a Heineken by Tante Annie's as well, but, man-oh-man, I totally had to share it with Harmen. . .beer is not so good, haha!. . .But, I think I will update more later, because it is now 11:17 and I have to get up and go to church tomorrow! So, Tot Later! and Have fun!!

Holland!

Yooooooooooooooooooooo!! I am in Holland! :) I had a five hour layover in Seattle! And you'll never believe it! haha. . .So, they told me the wrong gate, but there were others that were supposed to be there as well. An airport worker made me in charge of a man from Iran or India, I couldn't understand which, but, the man didn't speak any English. . .se we just communicated by nods/smiles. But, the only way I found out the gate had been changed was by overhearing some of the other people waiting for the Amsterdam flight! :D And one was a german lady! Naturally, I started talking with her, and we started speaking german together! :D (Well, she spoke - I understood - and attempted to speak back) But it was fun!! :D:D She was on her way to Luxembourg! But, anyway. ..we all made it on the right flight!!! And now. . I am here! :D

Harmen's family toooootally surprised me at the airport! I knew they were going to be there, but it happening in reality was just amazing! :D haha, I was in shock - it felt so unreal!
Then we drove from Amsterdam to Elburg - where they live!
Outside the house was a banner!!! "Oh dear! Look who's here! Megan P. from overseas! Welcome!" It was sooooo cool! I came inside and all of a sudden there was a cake there, with my picture on it welcoming me to holland! :D :D:D It was sooo different from any cake I've had in America (besides the one harmen made me) :) and it was delicious!!!! :D:D Then some people came over to visit and I was introduced to various relatives and friends! Oooh! It rained! I haven't seen rain in months! It was amazing - Marloes, Anouk and I ran around the block looking for puddles to jump into! :D Well, I just got done eating a deeeeelicious dinner and tonight there will be more relatives and people to meet! (Thank God I took a 1.5 hour nap):D::D Well, I wish you all the best! Veel plezier, he!

Ik ben onderweg!

Well, I'm sitting in front of my computer for the last time until 3 weeks! I'm just getting ready to go! Well, Here I go! :D

AAAaaah! It's 2:18a.m. haha, and I cannot sleep! I'm too excited! :D Plus, I worked until 11 at night, :) Well, all's well that ends well, I suppose! So I'll get ready in an hour and off I go!!!! :D:D Wish me luck!!

Airports

Alright, well, it's about two days before I leave! I'm excited and nervous all at the same time! I haven't flown in at least 5 years! I can't remember a thing about security or anything. . . haha, wish me luck! :D Oh, and about the pics, they are from my 18th birthday lunch! haha, I'm just trying to figure out how to upload pics on this. . .But I don't have any clue how to do it! haha. . .Hopefully it works! Oh, and Harmen made me the cake! It was really sweet! It fell apart a little, but it still tasted delicious!!!