The Tulips

Well, a big group of us went to the Keukenhoff to see the tulips! I was REALLY excited. Greg had to stay home and write papers. And by the way, the Keukenhoff is in Holland. Prepare yourself. You're going to see a lot of flowers.

Ta Da!!!

This is Erica and Ana Paula. They are both from Brazil. I rode up with them and Ana Paula's husband, Danilo.

Tulips were everywhere.

By the time we sat down for lunch my head was aching SO badly. It stayed the rest of the day, it was awful. However, I had the most amazing fresh strawberry orange drink. It was a zoo out there. Tons of people. We grabbed a bunch of tables and put them together and kept stealing chairs when we could. Next to me is Ana Paula, Danilo, Erica, Irina, (Karros is supposed to be there), Natasha, (Natasha's son is missing too), Vanessa, Adriano, John, Nelito, Bernadin and Sinuoi.

Isn't this neat? It's like a carpet!

This is Danilo and Ana Paula. They got married about a month ago. Aren't they sweet?

I was the most excited and then disappointed when I got to the fields. There is more than could fit in the picture and it was all supposed to be in bloom! We were just a week or two too late! Can you imagine if this was all in bloom?

I love how this part was such an explosion!

I was so surprised how the pollen wasn't effecting me. Then towards the end I sneezed here and there. Then on the drive home- OH MAN!!! It was constant sneezing. It was awful. However,
on our way home we drove by this GORGEOUS field of pink tulips! It was amazing! All the girls were excited.

Mind you, there was every color/kind of tulip you could imagine. I just loved the pink ones the best so that's what most of the pictures have. We stopped at the beach on the way home to get something to eat. We stopped by this stand right on the street but this is what they sold . . . skin and everything. Nobody was interested so we ate somewhere else.
Somebody had walkie-talkies so each group and car had one. We got stuck in MAJOR traffic on the way home so everyone was being silly and telling jokes the whole way home. Of course, it was all in Portuguese.

Last Tuesday we had Adriano and his wife Vannessa over for SUSHI!!!! Adriano knew how to make it with raw fish so we were really excited! We've always used cooked fish in the past. I was really surprised, I've had raw fish before, but seeing it there on our table made me feel nervous.

Look how beautiful!

They also showed us a couple new ways to roll it/eat it other than the standard sushi roll.

It was a lot of fun getting to know them better.


Everything else has been pretty good! I just spent more money than I'd ever imagine on a swimsuit. But hey, it looks great on me and it's actually 100% modest. Now when do BOTH those factors come into play? NEVER! Atleast not in my life. So I decided I don't care. I've had well over a 100 euros just sitting around (from doing hair) and I was begining to wonder if I'd EVER spend it- and now I have. I want to take a picture, because I haven't been so happy with a swimsuit in years, but I'd feel a little funny posting a pic of me in my swimsuit. I'm sure it will pop up sometime in the soon to be summer pics.

Greg's been a non stop writing machine. Poor guy, he's going on 11 hours now (just today) and he'll be writing the rest of the night. It's so hard. I want to help him so badly, but what am I supposed to do? It's frustrating. I seem to be getting better about sushing up around him. It used to be SO HARD not to talk to him. It's easier these days.

I'm excited to come home now! I'm actually really looking forward to it. At first, I was SO disappointed, and felt so cheated and sad. I realize now it was just the initial shock of coming 2 months earlier than planned, and now I'm over it. In fact this morning I had a little melt down . . ."I'm SICK of this place! I'm SICK of not having a dishwasher! I'm SICK of blah blah blah . . ." This always seems to happen when I'm hungry and hot and doing the dishes. Because I can't eat until I've made food. I can't make food until I've washed the dishes. I get REALLY HOT from doing the dishes and that's when the melt down happens. Then Greg sweeps in and makes me food while I sit and watch tv online. Then after I eat, the kitchen once again is a mess, and the whole process starts again. I am SO HAPPY to say goodbye to this frequent occurance.

OH YES!!! I almost forgot!!! Greg and I went SALSA DANCING!!!! This great woman from church, Sister Berz, came with her dancing partner to teach a class at church last night! And it's going to be EVERY FRIDAY!!!! Oh, if ONLY it started months ago! Oh well. We actually already learned two SWEET moves! I'm REALLY excited about it! Since everyone was beginners I didn't think I'd learn a thing, but almost everything they taught was new! I couldn't believe it! So even though we only have 8 more weeks left, I think we're going to be awesome when we come home! I forgot how much a work out dancing is. My head was spinning and we were all sweating so much. I LOVE to dance. Oh, I just love it. I'm so glad Greg came.