poncho

I woke up this morning to clouds and rain. Lovely. I was a baby and just couldn't do the biking in the rain thing so I took the tram. Me and half the city. No one wanted to cycling today I think. Hmm... I definitely had a few bouts of claustrophobia on tram #5 today. I made it just in time for class though. We had an exam today (listening and reading).  I met up with the Nashes at the Bijlmer Arena stop on the metro, just outside the main part of the city. The got a stroller and rain gear. I also bit the bullet and bought a poncho to add to ever expanding rain gear collection. Yea, it's as amazing as it sounds! (I really can't believe I'm 27 years old and wearing a poncho to school while riding a bike with saddlebags :) Yea, that's me!

Tonight Allie and I explored our neighborhood a bit more. Love walking at night.. you get to see in everyones homes. Very fun! We even went in to the neighborhood community center. Fyi, you can take belly dancing, country line dancing, digital photography, and a power point class all from the little community center on our street! We finished up with a drink at one of the little cafes. It was a nice night.

Friday was amazing... Allie and I hosted Julia's birthday party/reason to invite everyone we've met in all our classes so far, over. I made appel taart.. which my new friend Paula taught me how to make.. it's very dutch.  And everyone came. Probably about 50 people showed up. Crazy. It's only been 3 months! Lots of people were crammed in to our apartment. Great conversations, laughing, speaking different languages (Greek, Arabic, German, Italian, and of course dutch and English). I was in my element! Especially when I would head out of the house at random times to retrieve friends who'd gotten lost on their way. Quite exhilarating for some reason. I even cycled all the way to the Rijks Museum to lead a friend back in her car! I was cracking up the whole way back. We flopped in bed around 2 am, very happy. 

My bike is also officially back in commission.  70 euro later.. ugh. A couple of the spokes had broken which had bent the wheel and was the cause of the wobbling. I feel nice and secure again. No need to worry about me anymore!  And since this post has somehow started and ended with bikes, I'll give you another glimpse of what's to come... oh man:

la la

Hello friends... just wanted you to know I'm still breathing. I'm in la la dutch land today and this week studying for an exam on Tuesday and Thursday so that I'll be able to take the next level. I have lots of interesting stories to tell about our sweet party on friday and other things but you'll just have to wait in eager anticipation! Tomorrow I have class, then I'll hang with Grayson for a bit so the Nashes can go retrieve their bikes from the bike snatchers.. dang them. Tuesday Allie and I are going to an interesting Bible reading thing in the Jordaan.. I have no idea what to expect.. should be fun to meet some more people who live around us. Wednesday we have another hang out at the Pickerills with the small group... I'm loving that what it means to church plant these days is having lots and lots of parties! This is the best thing ever, parties, making new friends, and great conversations. Friday is the last day of dutch class. We'll have a two week break to gather our brains back together and then plunge back in. This has been a supper sweet class of people that I really like spending time with. Many of them came to the party and we're having a class lunch after the exam on Thursday. So, all in all it looks like a full, good week ahead of me. 

I wish I were a bike repair man

On the way back from class, I stopped at the Nashes house to hang, have a snack, kiss little Gray and check in. The temp has dropped by 10 degrees I think.. I'm bad at guessing temps. .. but I am definitely wearing my winter'ish coat now. My bike wheel has also started to wobble. Great timing. I've made it a couple week by just kicking the wheel back in place (I'm becoming so dutch, aren't you proud!) but I think I'll need to take it in tomorrow. I'm becoming good friends with the bike shop owner across the street. Thank God it's close! 

Today in class, I was so proud of us! The teacher gave us #s and randomly Eric, M, and I were in a group together. I'm sure the teacher sighed, thinking.. how did that happen? We tend to talk a little too much English :) Anyway we're doing way better... and spoke only in dutch for the next 45 minutes or so. We had to practice interviewing each other. And wow.. I'm so proud! Eric is doing great. His vocab is way better than mine.. I'm still throwing in french words when I get stuck. I gotta stop that.. and M did great too! She has a good accent knowing hebrew.. lots of ggrrhhhh sounds.. It was a good day! I can't believe our first quarter of dutch is almost over. Wow, that went supper fast.

This weekend was fun. Saturday night we played a rousing game of Settlers of Catan.. Lots of fun! I even tried a gluten-free-strawberry-shortcake-made-up-in my-head-recipe on them. I always try GF recipes out on not GF eaters to know if it's good or not. And it passed the test! Sunday we visited a church here in town and it was really great. It's so refreshing to just worship God with others. After church Allie and I went to a little town outside A'dam a bit with our new friend T and has a blast! She took us to this great little very touristy area where you can experience old dutch things (clogs, cheese, windmills, candy)! I've posted some pictures! Then she taught us how to make this amazing Indonesian egg dish. Yum. It was a really sweet time to be in a home and enjoy her family and her. We're hanging out tomorrow too. I love new friends that you can't stop seeing because you enjoy them so much! Tomorrow we also have small group. I'm looking forward to it... always a fun, interesting, cross cultural, worshipful time!

Learning new things:

1. When I get tired/sick and I am trying to speak dutch, only french comes out... and then I react by laughing hysterically and then bursting in to tears. Yea, that happened twice today. Oh well.. such is my life lately, emotional roller coaster!

2. Its very rude to be late to class. Even a minute. Teachers here mean business.

3. People enjoy knowing what your hobbies are. Even dutch politicians have their hobbies listed on their websites.

4. Children's books are so good here! Amazing illustrations. I have a stack sitting on my coffee table right now, they sure help with the language!

5. When you enter a home, you walk around the room and greet each person before settling down into one conversation.

6. Folks seem to eat very little but when they do, lots of brootjes and koekjes (bread and cookies).

7. You do not bike, you cycle.

8. I really enjoy the people I spend 16 hours/week with. Today we talked about work and I learned that there is a  doctor, lawyer, 3 teachers, a mechanic, psychologist, and translator to name just a few, all in my class. They're delightful. Especially when it's Friday and we've all had a long week... everything is really funny, we laugh a lot, and can't seem to pronounce words very well.

9. The sunsets and sunrises after a stormy few days are fabulous.

10. The Vondelpark bike path is very empty on rainy days, maybe I should get a clue and take the tram/bus/metro as well. I'll try to wait till the really gross cold winter weather starts

11. It hailed yesterday. I escaped the onslaught by hiding under a highway overpass on my way home from class with a friend.

12. Gloria reads so well to Grayson as Lucas looks on.

the early days

Saturday we met up with our small group (about 20 of us) at the main train station and headed to the North Sea. On Wednesday night, at group I'd heard that this was a very dutch thing to do.. on a sunny autumn day! We had a nice train ride... lots of fun with the kids! It was a kick to watch Lucas P. and B & K's son play despite the language barrier! They just rattled away in their native tongue and got along just fine! The beach was full of people, all bundled in coats and scarves. We had a little picnic lunch and then walked along the shore and drank in the sun. I walked with D for a while and we spoke in dutch, with an english word thrown in here or there. I need to practice what I've been learning in class out in the real world.. and it's much easier to do it with people I love and enjoy!

I also finally had some time to made some art.. so here's a glimpse! I adore old polaroids.. which by the way, the company is no longer making film so it's hard to come by... if any one knows of a random website/flee market/ black market (!!) location with polaroid film let me know, I'm stocking up! I had a really nice day. It's so sweet to do life, and enjoy time with people I've only known/ lived in the same city with for 2 months but who have a common bond and connection despite all our differences. Doing things like this are really important to us these days.. as we start to move toward becoming a new church! 

Also, notice I've added some new prayer needs... especially the last two are on my mind a lot these days. Thank you for praying for me!

title: the early days of vineyard amsterdam (1973)

new art work/life

house guests, love em!

The past few days I've started to feel a bit homesick. Homesick for family, the known, for history with people. Bam, God is so kind with his timing! Thursday I met up with Julia, Gigi, Bram, and Deborah at the airport and we welcomed the Nashes to Holland! I can't describe how happy I was/am!!.. (and there was the added bonus of Starbucks in the airport, yippeee!) They didn't look at all like they'd been up all night. What studs.

We got them home in two cars, had some breakfast and coffee with everyone. At that point John and Amanda started to droop so the party left and they slept (Allie and I played with Gray until he finally crashed out on my bed nestled between pillows). Later that night everyone came back for dinner! Rachel B. (who'd arrived the same day) and the Pickerill gang made it through the driving rain. Our dryer was working overtime! We ate yummy food, toasted, and laughed and talked... and missed the Larsens (can't wait for you to be here!) At one point I was laughing so hard I started to choke and it felt so good! (the laughing part!) It's been a while since I've laughed like that... it was so good being with "old" friends that have known me for longer than 2 months! 

Friday was also a treat! We attended our first ever Vineyard Beleux conference (the region we're a part of). And guess who was there? Don Williams! It was so good to worship, really worship and then hear from Don. The theme was Kingdom Journey... all about who we are as the Vineyard. What distinguishes the Vineyard? The emphasis on the Kingdom of God. He started with the large scope... in the Old Testament and then slowly moved to the NT. For maybe the first time I really got it in a whole new way! I felt like he was speaking straight to me! There were only 50 of us there (leaders from the near by Vineyards in Lithuania, Belgium, Estonia, Luxembourg, Sweden, etc..) so it was very free and Don really preached it!... and told lots of wonderful stories (my favorite part!) And in lovely Dutch fashion every hour we had a break for coffee and cookies/ lunch or dinner... so we had lots of time to meet people from all over Europe and share stories! I even got to practice some of my Dutch with some from Utrecht. 

So, things are going well! It's wonderful having the Nashes staying here... seeing Gray's toys everywhere and doing life! It's one of my favorite things! It's now Saturday and we're going to maybe take Amanda and Gray exploring after his nap.  

little Grayson playing in the kitchen