Yes, I am still alive

In fact, I'm doing very well :) This week has been really great, partly due to the fact that everyone is so eager for two weeks of vacation and we haven't done anything in school this whole week. I'll catch you up on the (entire) month of November soon and I mean it this time because I have one day left of school and then two weeks of...well, nothing. No school at least- we're going to the German island, Juist, for 5 days next week then we'll be home for Christmas. Hopefully I'll do something fun in the following days and then it'll be New's Year Eve and 2010! And then back to school...

Monday: Finished Christmas shopping for America- finally!!! A really good Dutch day for me- just one of those days :)

Tuesday: My class got together and did a Christmas dinner/party thing together. Most classes went out to eat but our class decided to cook and eat at school (I don't know why we didn't want to go out but it was fun and less expensive- always a plus!). We made mini pizzas on gourmetten (these great Dutch inventions that are like mini double level stoves) and then for dessert we had cream puffs (ijs soesjes) and the candy canes that I'd brought (thanks Mom for sending them!). Everyone ate too much and we all got a little silly and I had a really stupid moment that my classmates will probably tease me about for the rest of my life (not going into details on the world wide web) but it was a really fun night and I love feeling like part of my class :)

(This is a what we cooked our food one, the top layer is where we put our pizza dough and then on the bottom where the little trays are, is where we put the toppings for our pizza and such.)


My class :)

The temperature also drastically dropped on Tuesday and everything froze over (frost not ice) and it was quite gorgeous.

Wednesday: Very very cold again (-2 degrees celsius or colder) and we even got a few snowflakes in the afternoon. After school I went with two girls to the Albert Heijn so they could get doughnuts and it was quite a adventure (including many scary bike problems as usual) and I also mailed my package to America (FINALLY!!). I'm currently finishing my Christmas cards (because printed materials mailed together send faster) and crossing my fingers that everything gets there on time.

Thursday (today): SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW !!!!!!!!

If you haven't already guessed, it snowed today. 3-4 inches. An absolutely beautiful bike ride (and it wasn't even that scary riding in the snow!). Some people at school thought that I had never seen snow before because I was so happy about the snow. What can I say- the first snow of the season is always the best. Not to mention that it makes me feel a lot happier because now it feels like Christmas can actually happen (even though it'll still be weird). It continued to snow the entire day and hopefully it'll snow tonight/tomorrow. I took many pictures of course. I only had two lessons today and didn't feel like going home right after school so I took this different road and passed many snow-covered fields and cold ponies and eventually ended up at this old-ish cemetery, where I explored and took more pictures. Pretty neat, I've always been a fan of cemeteries (I blame you, Mom). I was still on a "snow high" after dinner so I walked with the dog through the forest and said hi to all the horses in the adjacent fields. And didn't get lost :)

Friday (hasn't happened yet...): I only have two lessons tomorrow and then all of 4 VWO is gathering for a party thing hosted by our teachers. And then... WE'RE FREE!!!!

Snow pictures in the next one!!

Liefjes