The Second Week :)

*Read the post below first!!!*

Let's see... Oh! On Monday (28th), we all went to go see Avatar in the Cinemec theater in Ede. The Cinemec theater is one of the biggest theaters in the whole country, complete with a whole bar and eating area on the first floor. The big screen where Avatar was showing (in 3D) was just completed in October too (it has 1000 chairs, if that makes you realize how big it is haha). When you buy your ticket in a Dutch movie theater, you're assigned a specific seat that you're required to sit in. There's also an intermission half way through the movie where you can leave the theater and get snacks- weird, right? (Nienke's reaction when I told her that there was never an intermission in American movie theaters- even for four hour movies- was hilarious). I love cultural differences like that because that's something you wouldn't experience/learn about if you just took a vacation to the Netherlands. Anyway, we all loved the movie and Nienke and I had a great time with the over-sized glasses that made us look crazy.

The next day we had another "Christmas" dinner with Hans' family and another family who they're good friends with. I really like Hans' family- it might be just because the 4 of them are a lot less overwhelming than the 17 people in Janny's family haha. Thijs and Willemijn, my host cousins, are really fun and nice (they're both in college) and Thijs and I chatted about America and cultural things for the whole dinner. The other family was really nice too- they had two younger kids who were kind of crazy, but sweet.

On Thursday- New Year's Eve day- I went over to my friend Anoek's house with Renate and Tessel and we spent many hours making oliebollen and appelbeignets. Oliebollen are basically balls of dough with raisins that are cooked in oil- they're a Dutch New Year's Eve treat. To make appelbeignets, you cut an apple into circles, cover the slices in cinnamon and sugar, and then dip them in the boiling oil like with the oliebollen. So delicious! We made a mess of the kitchen, sang with the Top 2000 (every year, between Christmas and the last day of the year, one radio station counts down the top 2000 songs ever), and discussed how none of us had done any homework yet :)

When I got home that night, another family was over- the same family that celebrates with the Wouters every New Year's Eve. It was a little weird not watching the New Year's Show and the ball drop on TV but the Dutch go crazy with fireworks on New Year's Eve and that definitely made up for it :) We were surrounded on three sides by the fireworks and it seriously sounded like a war zone for a good 30 minutes. Unlike in Oregon, all fireworks are legal so everyone had giant fireworks, including my host dad. For you West Linn-ers reading this, picture the big fireworks that the city sets off on the Fourth of July and then multiply it by giving those fireworks to every person in the city.... so insane. We drank champagne, skyped with Anna (my host sister who is living in America for a year), and wished everyone a 'Gelukkig Nieuw Jaar'.

I have no idea what I did during the weekend but I think it involved a lot of sleeping in and dreading school on Monday... Though school on Monday did start at 9:55, not at the usual 8:30 so that was nice. Oh! On Friday, Hans and I went to Utrecht (big city) and I finally got to pick up my residence permit! So I'm no longer illegal :)

Oh, I forgot to mention this but I discovered something great during the Christmas days: KERSTBROOD :D It's bread with nuts and raisins and this spice spread and it is SO GOOD. I swear I probably ate the equivalent of a whole loaf of it during winter break. Yum.

Okay, enough writing for one day, I caught you up on the important things at least :) I have to do my photo project for CKV class now anyway (that's not a very hard assignment for me though haha).

xx Marleigh