Arctic Blast 2008

After two weeks of trying to get around in the worst snowstorm Portland has had in 30 years, Brian and I are finally back in Amsterdam. We had a great time, but our trip was full of unexpected events. Let's just say the weather made things interesting...

We were lucky that my parents have a 4-wheel drive Volvo geared up with snow tires, so we didn't have to cancel all of our plans. We made it down to Eugene to see Molly and Mike, but had to leave early because of fears of freezing rain and snowy roads. We spent a lot of time with my family (which I loved), but sadly never got to see Brian's dad or many of our friends due to the crazy weather and terrible driving conditions.

Christmas itself was a blast - we were able to get all of my family up to my parents' treacherous driveway around midday, and had fun playing games, eating good food and playing in the snow. We even got to go sledding with the kids and build a gigantic snowman (it was around 8-10 feet tall I think, Todd had to get a ladder to get the head and shoulders on it), which was really fun. It was my first white Christmas!

Since I didn't want to bog down our blog with photos, I decided it would be better to put most of the pictures on our Picassa web album, so check that out if you're interested. Here are a few of the highlights below:

Our first night in Portland at Matt & Julia's Christmas party - were exhausted!

Early on in the trip - these were the days when we could still get the car up the hill

Brian and Wyatt having a snowball fight

The 8-foot tall snowman we built on Christmas Day - the picture doesn't do it justice, it was huge!

- Krista

Christmas in Amsterdam

In case you haven't noticed... it's officially the holidays. Yes, it's that time of year - the time of weird looking Santa Clauses everywhere, manic-crazed crowds in department stores, and terrible Portland traffic... oh and of course there's all the good stuff too, like family, the look on little kids' faces when they open their presents, and lots and lots of good food...

Well here in Holland, we seem to be missing out on all that good traditional Christmas stuff. In fact, if I didn't know what time of year it was, I would have no idea that Christmas is just less than two weeks away. Sure, there are some nice wintry scenes like this one around town:


How can you go wrong with a fake outdoor ice skating rink?

But the Dutch just don't seem to care much about Christmas. Maybe it's the whole Sinterklaas thing, but they put up a pretty sad looking Christmas tree:

Where's the decorations? The lights? And yes, that is Darth Vader standing by the tree. He could have at least put on a Santa hat!

And take a look at these trees that just appeared near our house:


Yes, that first tree is decorated with... clothes. Where are the Rudolfs and angels and Christmas ornaments decorated by first graders? Is this some sort of joke?

Fortunately, we did find a few "normal" looking decorations at our favorite library. Here's me getting giddy about Christmas below:


Basically... we are really excited to be coming home for the holidays, because as much as we like it here, it just doesn't feel like Christmas without friends and family (and sugar cookies, and Christmas lights, and stockings, and the Macy's Day parade downtown Portland, and apple cider, and...)

We can't wait to see (some of) you in the next few weeks!

Happy Holidays!

- Krista

We sold our car!!!

We sold our car!

Thanks to Brian's dad, who put in tons of time and effort to sell Brian's 2004 Acura after the wedding in this absolutely terrible economy, we are now officially a car-less family. Hurray!

Thanks Rick/Dad, for all your help. We appreciate it so much and we're so glad it all worked out!


- Krista & Brian

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope you all had an enjoyable, relaxing time filled with good food and friends and family.

Although Amsterdam does not actually have a Thanksgiving holiday, there are enough ex-pats here that we were able to have our own little celebration.

We went over to our friends Andy and Elyse's apartment, where they had a gathering of around 15 people. We brought over homemade pumpkin pie, garlic mashed potatoes and our own little veggie-meat concoction - yes, that's right, I made a pie! For all of you out there who have ever doubted my cooking abilities, the pie and the mashed potatoes turned out great (my Mom tells me that at one point I told my brother I didn't know how to make a peanut butter sandwich... oops)!

Anyways, we ate a lot of really good food, played a few games and stayed till around midnight even though Brian had to work the next day. We had a great time, even though we really missed being with our families. It helps to think we'll be back in the States soon.

Here are a few photos from the night:

Food! And lots of it

Brian and Colin

Me eating... like I did all night

Brian and I being goofballs

Love you all!

- Krista

Snow!

It snowed here this weekend, much to our surprise. It was very picturesque to see snowflakes falling on all the old buildings and canals, although once it hit the ground it instantly became mush - the only things it actually stuck to were cars and rooftops (and our hats and jackets...).

Even though we were both really excited at the idea of snow (I still get like a little kid hoping for a snow day whenever I see a single flake), we froze while walking around in it! Apparently we need to get some warmer clothes for the winter here... puffy coats anyone?

Me braving the wind/cold

Brian and I covered in snowflakes

- Krista

Sinterklaas!

Sinterklaas has arrived!

For those of you who don't know who Sinterklaas is (most likely anyone without a Dutch or Belgian background...), here's a little history lesson for you.

Sinterklaas is the Dutch version of Santa Claus, although he delivers presents on St. Nicholas Day, December 6th, instead of December 25th. He looks like a cross between the pope and the American Santa Claus:


He brings presents and leaves them in wooden shoes that children leave out for him, which is why Holland is so famous for wooden shoes (I've never actually seen people wear these...).

Sinterklaas also has a helper, called Zwarte Piet (translation: Black Pete), and yes, if you're wondering, it's a very politically incorrect figure. The historic explanation is that he is an imported African servant - today's reasoning is that his face is black because "it's black from soot" from climbing up and down chimneys while delivering gifts. Apparently the Dutch government has been trying to change the image of Zwarte Piet for a while now - but you still see kids on the streets dressed up in Spanish colonial outfits (the traditional Zwarte Piet clothing) with their faces painted black. Brian thinks it's atrocious, and I'm not too fond of it either...

Anyway, the Dutch Sinterklaas is really the basis for the American Santa Claus (we had to Americanize the name like we always do). Apparently during the American War of Independence, New Yorkers living in the former Dutch colonial town of New Amsterdam took the old Dutch tradition and made it their own. So there you have it - that's where Santa Claus comes from!

Check out this Wikipedia article if you're interested in more of the story.

Here are a few pictures from this weekend (Sinterklaas comes a few weeks before St. Nicholas Day so he can see whether the kids have been good or bad, and everyone dresses up and runs out to see him):

This is a terrible picture, but Sinterklaas is at the very front of the boat

Everyone in their boats chasing Sinterklaas and people lined up along the canals to see him

- Krista

De Bazaar in Beverwijk

On Sunday we joined some friends from Brian's work and took a 40-minute train ride out to a town called Beverwijk to visit what is supposedly the largest market in Europe. It was huge - more like a village than a market - I guess there are somewhere around 2500 stalls, and at least 10 gigantic tents.

And you can buy anything you ever dreamed of; we saw everything from computers, to power tools, to old cameras and clothing items... the list goes on. In fact, a lot of the stalls in the tents we went in (3 out of 5 of us were tuckered out after the very first tent, so we only went in around 3 total I think) were filled with absolute junk. It literally looked like some of the people went in their attic and took out everything they didn't want and tried to sell it. And people were actually buying it!

There was also a stand where there were pre-wrapped presents, and for 10 Euros you could buy one and get a "surprise" gift out of it. €10 for something you have no idea what it could be? I have better things to spend my money on, thank you.

Anyway, here are a couple of photos from the day:

In order: Colin, Andy (hiding in the back with the hat on) Elyse, and Brian

Elyse, Andy and I in one of the massive tents

- Krista