There is thick snow here!! By the end of the day the snow should be about 10cm thick on the ground.. i think that is right anyway, I possibly misheard Ineke..
Anyway, so to celebrate i am taking the children to the Stadhuis ice rink!! They have never been Skating before so should be an experience!!
I'll let you know how it goes tonight.
You really have no idea how cool this is.
For no apparent reason I have felt like I could burst into tears at any moment!!
I'm sure Ineke and Robbert must think i am a right wierdo!! After we had finished dinner i just didn't feel i could hold my tears anymore and literally grabbed my coat and ran into town!! To be honest it was incredibly rude of me i just felt far to embarrased to sit there and cry!! (especially as the whole family were over!) Anyway my theory was that if i went to visit Jack then i would feel a little better.. well this didn't work! just cried the whole time!! Jack was sure that there must be something wrong that i just wasn't telling him but seriously there really wasn't!! I just can't put my finger on what triggered it, i love my job, i don't feel home sick (i mean i do miss my friends and family but it wasn't particulaly bothering me today) and i just saw Jack this morning so i really have no clue!!
Anyway am feeling much better now and i am sure i will have made a full recovery by morning!!
P.s. this is a little like the other night, Jack called whilst i was sleeping, i missed his call and sat there and full-on balled my eyes out for about half an hour!! I am sure it must all be down to tiredness..
P.p.s..
My food diary..
Didn't take breakfast - was in too much of a hurry.
Lunch - Cheese, ham and pinapple tosti from Coconuts.
Dinner - A bean curry with meat and rice (lekker hoor!!)
NO SNACKS!! Very proud of that one..
Drinks - Chocomel with Lunch, Squash with dinner, a glass of water and half a (small) glass of Coke.
To be fair i think i did quite well today.
Tot Ziens!!
Well, I have come to the conclusion that a food diary is the way forward.
You see, I don't want to loose wait for anybody other than myself, I am just fed up with the 'I look like crap' days. Therefore I thought if I know that at the end of each day I have to share with the world via my blog what I have consumed then I would try my best to eat a little better.. That's the theory anyway!!
So this evening I shall log back on and inform you of the munchies I have had today! I know this isn't highly exciting for you lot reading but I'm doing it for my benefit. Not yours. Mwhahaha.
Basically, I looked out the window yesterday morning to see a woman laying on the ground outside next doors house. One would naturally presume she had either fallen, tripped or fainted. Until two police vans, an ambulance and a couple of fire engines turn up that is.
So I then come to the conclusion that maybe there was a fire in the house next door, therefor the woman having to jump out of her window. But I was also wrong on this.
Well, word of mouth tells me this is what happened..
This unfortunate woman jumped out of a top floor window along with four others after hearing a knock at the door and seeing two police vans outside. So this brings me to believe that infact they were all illegal immigants trying to escape the police force, this particular woman being a little unsuccessful and breaking her leg.
Never a dull moment.
I had a really lovely day today, (forgetting about my walk to Judo that is.. but thats another story.) Once the kids went off to school Íi got a bunch of Robberts shirts ironed and did a load of washing, thought I would get that out of the way. I then called Jack, insisting that the only way i would let him skip college would be to come meet me for lunch. So thats what he did. I got the bus into town (was feeling a little lazy today) and met Jack, went to the post office, ate a loempia and got the bus home. Now we had a very scrumptious lunch, in my roll i had cheese, salami and roast chicken crisps!! was sooo good!! We then played connect four (may i just add, i thrashed him in every round) followed by a few rounds of Ludo!! We then peeled some potato's, Jack left and i went to get the kids from school.
Now, this brings us to Judo. If you remember I broke the back wheel of my bike, meaning we had to walk to Judo instead of cycle. Now this didn't go down to well with the children. Caroline literally screamed the whole way (and yes we did have to walk through three large groups of Dutch teenagers, most of them finding it rather amusing) anyway it actually took us 40 minutes in total to get there, once we were there Caroline was too tired to Judo so just sat with me whilst Timo had his class and then we went out to play whilst Morten took his.
Needless to say the walk home took half the time.
I then went over to Inekes office to dust, hoover and mop, got back to the house about 9ish and slept. Like a baby.
OK, so my day started with a very unwelcomed alarm at 7.30. Bus. Metro. Bus. Picked up the kids and off to Blijdorp!! Now, i thought a trip to the Zoo would be an easy(ish) day. How wrong was I!! i think it was definatly 'lets see how far we can push our luck with Rachel' day.
Anyway so that was basically the day time, not really much to say about that!! To be honest it did turn out to be a pretty good afternoon, definatly got better as the day went on!!
Then at about 4pm we hurried home for my quick switch with Robbert to replace him at the Rotterdam Film Festival. Once I had met Ineke outside amongst the crowds of people we worked our way in to see my first film of the evening (Inekes 4th!!). Perculiar. The only word for it. Anyway, we then waited some rediculous amount of time to be seated in Pizza Hut, literally shovelled down a pizza and went to the next film! now this one was good, it was a documentary about an 80 year old gentleman who lived on the streets of New York, using his days to produce art and his nights to find shelter. The film showed the journey he made to find warmth and accomidation, ending with a reunion between him and his family. All in all i had a very lovely eveing.
Tot Morgen!
Well, as you may know Kim is my best Dutch friend.. here's the catch. I'd never met her until Saturday. We met on the Internet (yes, think what you like..) She lives near Eindhoven and traveled the one hour and fifty minutes to Rotterdam to see me. So we started off the day travelling from Centraal Station to Stadhuis by Metro (yes this is very significant as she has never been on one before (25 years she has been Dutch!!)) Well we went to Dudok for lunch (and yes I did have the overly-lushus Brie, Apple and Honey Ciabbata), had great fun analysing peoples' outrages dress sense, i know it is good to be unique but some people are just ridiculous and I struggle to understand how they can look in the mirror and think 'Wow! I look fantastic in this overly-hideous skirt, bright pink tights, green strippy top, elbow gloves and trainers!! Not to mention this fantastic belt i have on with spikes all around it!!'
We then went for a mooch around the shops, Kim continually amazed that they have Bodyguards, and that actually, Rotterdam is not as bad as it is said to be. We both did considerably well to control our spendings (to be fair, this wasn't so hard for me as i had a serious lack of money to start with and do not own a credit card.)
Once the shops began to close we made our way to Coconuts for a few drinks, subjecting Kim to Marcel the womanizer (there are better words i could use for him but my Mother may be reading) lets just say he has had more than his fair share.. anyway he took quite a liking to Kim, rather her than me!!
Anyway this bought an end to our day, so we walked to back to Centraal Station, coming across a large number of incredibly perculiar people along the way, and waved goodbye to Kim.
All in all i had a really lovely day and i think she did too?! However i think the best part of this was talking to Kim this morning and finding out that when she returned to Eindhoven the window had fallen out of her car so she had to drive the 40 minutes home with no window!! Amused me greatly.
Well, you see, i've been trying to cut out on snacking and drinking as much water as possible. For example, my last alcoholic beverage was at least three weeks ago, and even then it was just one and a complete one off. Also i was drinking copious amounts of milk, possible 5ish glasses a day.. until i found out milk has roughly 500 calories per pint!! Shocking, i know.
Anyway, i had been doing so well, practically all ive been drinking is water (and the odd hot chocomel - how could i resist?!) So basically i got into the habit of eating breakfast with Ineke and the children (accompanied by a glass of water may i just add.) Having something small for lunch and then eating dinner in the evening (ok, so i have been eating a dessert if there is one, but surely that is just included in dinner!!)
Right, so even if i do say so myself i have been doing pretty well (considering i havent been smoking during the week at all and most people replace cigerettes with food). So was doing good until yesterday, when i arrived at coconuts and gobbled a whole plate of Poffertjes (my reasoning for this was that i walked all the way there and all the way back, so of course this was allowed.) and then today i have just had the biggest craving for chocolate ever!! so i walked over the road to the shop. Bought a big bar of Dairy Milk. And sat and ate the lot. Tasted blimin good though!!! (not to mention the 2 glasses of milk..)
Doei!
OK, so i had the kids alone for the first time.
I got up this morning (was a horrendous struggle but i got there) with a banging headache, set the table for breakfast, made the kids lunches and off they went to school.
The plan originally was to go straight back upstairs, cower into my PJ's and fall right back to sleep. Didn't quite work this way. I was far to awake by the time the kids where at school, so i went back upstairs, put on my face and freshened up a bit.
I then checked my emails, called Jack, debated the walk into town to meet him, gave in and off i went. Well, i think i surprised myself!! i actually really enjoyed the walk!! felt rather healthy afterwards (until i arrived at Coconuts and devoured a rather large portion of poffertjes) bought some shampoo and walked back.
Now, i seemed to have a distinct lack of socks this morning, therefore having to go bare-footed in my trainers. Now, anyone who can honestly say that there feet don't absolutely honk after taking off trainers from bare feet are telling porkies. So i jumped in the shower, shaved my legs (believe me - i was starting to look a little ape like) and re-dressed.
When i picked the kids up from school today i met Austin, Ineke and Robberts previous aupair who introduced me to a few others at the school. I then had a bit of an issue with Morten and Timo both wanting to visit friends, trying to find the parents of the friends and sending them off (well Morten anyway. Timo was less successful in finding his companion.) After getting back to the house we watched a little Tele, did a little drawing a played a few games. And that was the end of that.
Tot Morgen!
OK, I have felt the incredible need to write this post as over the last 2 days, yes just 2, I have come across a couple of people who are pretty obviously neither man nor woman.
First off..
I mentioned in my previous post the kids swimming teacher. OK so some of you may see this as a pretty harsh post to write, but frankly I don't care. I just don't understand why anyone would want to be one of those people that are looked at alongside the question "What exactly is it?" I mean come on, if your a swimming teacher, do you really have to be cruel enough to put the children through the embarrassment of saying Sir instead of Miss?? Ineke and I spent much time at the swimming pool deliberating over the person in question, no boobs.. no bum.. no erm.. bulge. So how exactly are we suppose to know? Well it looks like a man, it sounds like a man.. but oh no.. its a woman!! Whats that all about?!
OK, Secondly..
Tracy Chapman. Now you may think the name is a bit of a give away but I beg to differ. Now, have you ever listened to the song 'Fast Cars' if you have, then listen to it again, picturing a man singing it. Now listen to it a second time, picturing a woman. Come on, which is more believable?! Surely you can see how easy it is to mistake her for a man?? She doesn't even look like a woman!! (well to be fair I have only seen one picture of her, maybe it was taken in the wrong light or something).
Well basically my point is.. you don't have to have big boob, or a nice butt to look like a woman!! But please, please make yourself at least distinguishable to save Ineke and I the hassle of trying to work you out!!
