Keeping Busy

Goedemiddag or Good afternoon (for us anyways)!

Sadness filled the air this morning as we made our way to church. As of late last night, the Netherlands is officially out of the Euro 2008 voetbal (soccer) tournament. :( The team had swept their group leading to the quarterfinals, so there was extreme football fever here. Alas, the good luck orange boa is back hanging on the curtain rod, and the orange shirts will have a few weeks off before it is "safe" to remind our Dutch friends of what could have been.

The Zabikows are on the move! Ben and I are staying quite busy during the week these days with petting zoos, gelato play dates, and gymnastics class. He really loved the sheep at the petting zoo, he'd stand right in their faces and say "baaa" very loudly. The sheep even knocked him down a few times (gently, but see action shot below), but Ben would pop right back up to "talk" to him. We had our first trial gymnastics class last Thursday morning. Ben LOVED it! He did somersaults, spun around on the bar, and just loved exploring all the soft cushy mats. Before we left, I signed him up for the class starting in August. I will be glad for another reason to get out of the house when the weather turns damp and chilly this fall.

We have a busy week ahead of us as well. Tomorrow is our last official Mom & Tots group until late August as pretty much all things shut down here for the summer, including American Women's Club events. But, we are so grateful for the friends that we have made so we will be able to get together "unofficially" all summer long. (Thankfully, I see lots more zoo trips and gelato in our future, yeah!!) Greg leaves Tuesday morning for a few working days in Paris. Ben and I decided not to join him as we will be packing for our long weekend in Brussels and Bruges. We leave early Friday morning and return Monday afternoon. Brussels is less than a 3 hour train ride! We still have to finalize our "things we want to do" list, but we think visiting a chocolate factory, buying chocolates, eating chocolates will all make it onto the list. I realize this blog doesn't have too many photos - have no fear, I assure you there will be plenty from our trip next weekend to make up for it.

For Father's Day last weekend, we visited our first Amsterdam museum - the Van Gogh museum. A great little museum with a chronological showing of how his artistry progressed over time and obviously showing many of his famous paintings. He is my favorite artist, and I have a new favorite painting...Almond Blossom. (see below) I love the bright blue background, and I love that it was a gift to his younger brother for the birth of his nephew. Greg's favorite is Irises, also below. He finds the colors very striking, and we were reading that Van Gogh used so much paint that it took his canvases about a month to dry!

I will wrap it up with my Getting to Know Amsterdam segment on language/grammar. I have found that my best Dutch teacher has been public transportation! A recording (PA type system) announces the next stop, and there is also a computer or electronic sign that posts the stop. So, by seeing the word and then hearing the pronunciation, I think I have been able to figure out a few things. Betsy & Marc (or any others who speak Dutch), please correct my errors...

-Dutch "ui" sounds like English "ou" as in the word out

-Dutch "ij" sounds like long i, except if it is at the end of a word, then it is y?

-Dutch "ei" sounds like long i

-Two vowels together in Dutch produce a short vowel sound

-There is no long A sound in Dutch

-Dutch "v" sounds like English "f'"

-Dutch "w" sounds like English "v"

So, there you have it. That is your Dutch lesson for the day, as best as I can do with less than 3 months under my belt.

I know what you're all thinking...it's just not a Stephanie blog entry without a few more photos of Ben, huh? OK, OK, I'll give the people what they want! Here is my little Van Gogh hard at work. Also, I got my "I will only eat bananas and applesauce for fruits" son to eat a cherry the other day!! This is big improvement folks!! Be sure to note the progression as he goes from "what is this?" to "whoa, this is tart" to "I like it"!!


Doei! (Bye!)