Good Times in O-H-I-O!

What a great trip!! I arrived in Ohio on Friday, April 18th, to begin the festivities for my sister's wedding. This flight was uneventful, thankfully, after the whole emergency landing ordeal at Christmas. :) What better way to adjust to a 6 hour time difference than to stay up all night? We did just that by celebrating Em's Bachelorette Party on Saturday evening. We were up until about 3:30am with an old school slumber party... activities, while slumber party-inspired, took on a bit of an adult theme: Pin the Tail on the Donkey became "Pin the Macho on the Man", opening gifts became opening lingerie, and the typical pinata became a penis-ata! I think that a good time was had by all! :)


Let them eat cake!


Em opening all of her fun gifts!


KP takes a swing at the pinata... note the flying candy!


Nikki and Courtney singing it up on the PS2 Kareoke game

I try to see as many people as I can while I'm in Ohio, and on Sunday, after the craziness of the bachelorette party, I drove to Wapakoneta (I really just wanted to say I had been there) to meet my two good friends from college, Ellen and Mandy. It was a great time catching up, and I was happy to get to eat at an old favorite - Bob Evans - Down on the Farm! :)


The Three Musketeers - all grown up!

That evening, I got to see a lot of people that I haven't seen in over 10 years - my old high school friends. I was kind of nervous about how it would go, but we picked right up where we left off. It was really great to see everyone!

Penny, KP, and Amanda

Verity and KP - congrats to Verity with #2 on the way! :)

After a few days home with Mom and Dad, it was back to C-bus I went... Em, Matt and I had a nice couple of days. One evening, we all enjoyed the Belgian beer that Bjorn had sent over with me...

Sisters looking "een beetje dronken..."

The Friday before the wedding, we decided to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather. Em and Matt love to kayak, and his brother, Chris, had brought an extra one. We spent about 3 hours out on the lake, and it was so relaxing!

Getting ready!

Pit-Wolf's on the loose! :)

It was such a great week, and so nice to see the way my sister and her husband-to-be treated each other. I really couldn't have asked for a better match for her. They are amazing together. :)

Nice was nice...

Okay, okay, I'm a little behind! I've been travelling to places near and far for the past 2 weeks, so I'm finally getting a chance to update my blog. Over Easter weekend, my faithful travel buddy Kristin Jones (KJ) joined me for a weekend of food, friends, and fun in Nice (pronounced like niece), which is on the French Riviera. I had been wanting to go there to take a cooking class, and was so happy that she wanted to come with me. The only problem was that I had had a killer cold the entire week before, so having no sense of taste was a bit of an issue... but that didn't stop me! :) So, this is what I arrived to:

Beautiful beaches (okay, they were rocky instead of sandy, but I'll take what I can get!)

Palm trees & blue sky

I arrived in Nice around 6:30pm, and managed to figure out the public transportation to get to our hotel. This was the lovely "full bathroom":

Gotta love the bathroom configurations in Europe - KJ and I were terrified of sitting on this toilet, because it didn't exactly feel bolted to the floor! Puts a new meaning to the word "PortaPotty"!


KJ came in on a later flight, so I took some time to explore the city on my own. I enjoyed a lovely beach-front dinner that night, and then made my way back to the hotel just in time to help KJ find it. :) We went to bed pretty early that night, as we were both exhausted (KJ from the late flight and me from the cold I was fighting.)


Saturday, we got up early and met Rosa Jackson, the woman who would be teaching us our cooking class. Shopping at fresh markets is a big part of the culture in Nice, so we started out with an overview of the market, where we learned how to pick out things like vegetables, oils, spices, and chickens (they actually leave the claws on in Nice to prove that a chicken was free-range or not! Yikes!). We then went back to Rosa's home to prepare an appetizer (onion tart), side dish (wine-marinated artichokes), main course, (salt-encrusted lamb shank) and dessert (lemon souflee), along with sampling wine and cheese along the way. It was truly a lovely day, and, despite not being able to taste anything that I prepared, I really enjoyed it. :)



Different types of olives - samples were free!



Our lovely instructor, Rosa, wrapping the lamb in a salt bread crust - sounds yummy, but with a proportion of salt:flour as 1:1, you don't want to eat this!



KP making the onion tart


The finished product - yum city!!!

The next day was Easter, so KJ and I wanted to go to church. There is a pretty famous Russian Orthodox church in Nice, so we decided to go there. Now, half the service was in Russian and half was in French, so, all in all, I understood about 0%. We weren't even sure if it was the Easter service, because we think that the Russian Orthodox church is on a slightly different calendar. Oh well, it was a beautiful service and we enjoyed getting to experience something different. :)

The Russian Orthodox Church

Our Easter lunch was topped off with some gelato (which is kind of an Italian thing, but Nice actually used to be an Italian provence, so often times I felt like I was surrounded by French people but visiting Italy - mind trip!).

KJ with her gelato

After lunch, we took a 45 minute bus ride to get to Monte Carlo, or Monaco, as the Frenchies call it. :) It was beautiful that day - no need for winter coats. The big features of Monaco (which is in fact it's own country) are the yachts and the casino... we visited both. I think there is some special kind of tax shelter for living there, so there are all kinds of ridiculously weathy folks. I managed to win a net profit of 2 euros and 30 cents at the casino, and decided to quit while I was ahead. KJ didn't fare as well (but don't worry folks, we only started with 5 euros each!).

Monaco Casino

Yes, this yacht is equipped with a helicopter pad. Rough life!

Monday, KJ had an early flight, while mine wasn't until 6:00pm, so I was on my own for the last day. It was the best day weather-wise by far, so I spent a good portion of it enjoying the outdoors. I ran for the first time in a week (darn cold!), and then walked all the way to the Chagall Museum, which houses a lot of his famous works. It was breath-taking to see the stain-glass windows that he had designed and some of this other works. I've really learned to enjoy this kind of thing... After the museum, well... all of the shops have their spring lines in now, and I couldn't resist. I bought a bunch of new "euro" clothes, so I could try to fit in here, and then spent the rest of the afternoon walking along the beach. A terrific end to a terrific trip! :)

Chagall Museum

Stainglass windows showing Chagall's interpretation of "creation"

Oh boy...

Apologies to my male readers... if you are faint of heart, this next story may not be for you. For my female readers in the US... this one is for you!

Today was the day that every woman in the US dreads each year... the "annual exam". (which, by the way, they usually only do once every 5 years here - WTF??) Anyways, I thought that since I'm here, and I don't really want to spend any of my precious time back in the states at the gynocologist's office, I'd just take care of this in Amsterdam. Wow... hindsight is always 20-20, isn't it?

So, I call this morning, and, miracle of miracles, they can get me in TODAY! Yippy! My doctor is literally across the street from me (love city living!), so I walked on over there and checked in. Turns out I wasn't really meeting with my doctor, but with the intern. I'm thinking, "Hey, no big deal, she's been trained, and she's just one step away from becoming a doctor". Um, hmm... maybe the intern program is different here, but this chick has a LONG way to go... here is how it went:

1. You know how the doctor always leaves the room while you change into your gown in the US? Well, for one, the doctor does not leave, and, for two, there IS no gown. Yippy for laying naked on the table.
2. Intern maybe missed anatomy class. For all that she poked and prodded me, she could not find my cervix (again, sorry gents). EVEN after putting a large spot light over "the area". HA! She informed me that she needed to go and get her supervisor.
3. Supervisor (my real doctor) comes in. Mind you, I'm still lying NAKED on the table. Nothing like a first impression. At this point, I'm starting to giggle to myself about how absurd this whole thing is. I shake the man's hand, but feel that this is a bit unnecessary, considering the current naked situation.
4. The doctor immediately finds my cervix, announcing, "I FOUND IT!". Well, congratulations! I believe that is your JOB... but okay.
5. Not sure what the hell he did to me, but it's now been about 6 hours, and I am still bleeding. Lovely, just lovely.

So, the next time you are thinking with dread of your next annual exam, just know it could be worse - you could be having it in the Netherlands.

Hope you ladies got a chuckle out of this!!

A Weekend in Belgium...

I spent this past weekend in Belgium visiting Bjorn and his family. He lives in a town (okay, village) called Dilsen that is about 30 minutes away from Maastricht (where I went for Carnaval and where we met), and 2 hours away from me. It was kind of funny... as I got closer and closer, I saw less and less people and more and more animals. :) It's kind of in the country. ;) I have to say... it made me quite homesick for Ohio being in place that felt so similar. Everyone knows each other, family is closeby, and everyone seems to know everyone else's business. Sounds like a town I know very well. ;) So, I arrived around 2:00pm after my weekly long run. I'm up to about 15 miles in preparation for this crazy RoPa run. I did my run all by myself this week, which kinda sucked, but gave me a lot of time to think. It's nice to have that time sometimes. I got to Bjorn's place (which is a REAL house... I'm so used to the dinky apartments in Amsterdam!), and he was already making a really nice lunch for me. He tried to tell me last weekend that he doesn't cook, but I don't think I believe him - it was delicious. :) We went for a bike ride through the countryside and along the Maas river (which divides Holland and Belgium), and then Bjorn had to go to his volleyball game. I haven't exactly figured out how all of this works, but there are different levels of teams in Belgium, and he's on the 2nd highest level. They don't play between countries, but are on the level beneath that. Anyways, they are really good. :) I got to spend some time with Bjorn's sister Ellen while he was away. It was fun to have some girl time. After polishing off the majority of a family size pizza and a 1/2 liter of wine, we made our way to the game, where I met Bjorn's parents. Okay... for the folks back home. Let me paint a little picture for you... you remember how scary it was to "meet the parents"? Now imagine meeting the parents when they speak a different language than you! ;) It makes it exponentially MORE scary. :) Anyways, we made it work between my limited Dutch, their limited English, and lots of hand motions. :) They seemed very sweet, and I'm looking forward to learning more Dutch so I can become an intelligent human being rather than just a girl that smiles a lot. ;)

Bjorn's the team captain, so he got interviewed after the game by the news! :)

After the game, it was so sweet... everyone from the crowd (probably about 100 people) all went to the local pub to share beers and conversation. Most of the time, I didn't know what was going on, because most of it was in Dutch, but it felt really cozy and warm, and I enjoyed myself. :)

The next morning, Bjorn once again wowed me with his cooking skills (see what I mean, can't believe this guy! hehe)... he made his famous "omelette royale" which was an eggy, bacony, tomatoey concoction of goodness. We also had champagne (why not!) and fresh-squeezed orange juice made by yours truly. ;) And then... for something completely different, we went to feed his friend's chickens, who Bjorn is "chicken-sitting" while his friend is on holiday. So funny!

Breakfast made for a queen!

KP looking a little uncertain at the chickens...

Bjorn collecting his payment... 3 eggs! :)

After this adventure, we drove to the Arden mountain/hills, and took a tour of some underground caves there. It was amazing to see the beautiful creation that Mother Nature put there for us. Some of the structures were many thousands of years old. I sampled a few kinds of Belgian beer (MUCH better than Dutch beer), and then I eventually had to make my way back to the Dam. It was a nice weekend that went by way too fast.

One funny little side story... so Bjorn was asking me what kind of chocolate I like, because Belgium is famous for their chocolate. I told him dark chocolate, and so look what he surprised me with: a one kilo (about 2.2 pounds) "Pashaas" (hehe - that's what the Easter Bunny is called in Dutch). I must admit, he's now missing his ears... couldn't resist.


De Pashaas

Scottish Invasion!!

Okay, so I'm a little behind on blogging... it's been a crazy few weeks. Anyways, back-tracking to last weekend... I *think* that the qualifications for the World Cup Football (in American English: soccer) Tournament are going on right now (I am the first to admit that I am no expert on this crazy sport), and so all the countries are playing each other to see who qualifies. Last weekend, Scotland came to Amsterdam to play the Dutch team. My friend Bjorn and I were walking around in downtown Amsterdam, and we were shocked to see all of these men in kilts - seriously! :) They were in town for the whole weekend, wearing their kilts with pride. And - guess what? They don't wear anything underneath... or at least that's what I heard. ;)


These guys had on the full outfit - complete with a fancy little jacket


They were everywhere! :)

It had been Bjorn's birthday the weekend before, and so I wanted to celebrate with him. I decided to make my first Tiramisu... which turned out to be a disaster! All of the lady fingers somehow floated to the top. It looked terrible. And so, my first Tiramisu quickly turned into my second Tiramisu, which turned out just right. :) Bjorn thought so too. ;)

Yummy in our tummies! :) Attempt #2