I feel like I have been running around nonstop since about the beginning of December, so I apologize for the massive lapse in blogs. In the beginning of December there was snow and finals. I am satisfied with the way my classes went this semester. It was hard to study some days on a snow covered campus, it was absolutely beautiful. Now that it is back to rain all the time I really miss the snow. During the snowy time I checked some new Dutch talents off my list. I can now bike in the snow and ice, very slowly of course, and I went ice skating!
After finals were over and I had caught up on some sleep I went with my friend Laura to her town of Raalte. It is a town much like Hollister, so I felt right at home. One of the nights I was there we went to ice skate on a rink that they made on a field. I borrowed her mom's skates and we skated in very slow circles for about two hours. We also took a hot chocolate break! It was really fun, but it was also interesting to see that everyone there owned their own skates and have clearly been skating since about the time they learned to bike. I am not sure I will ever be able to truly fit in with the Dutch because of their aptitude for activities that require excellent balance.
After my stay with Laura I went to my friend Shira's house in Amsterdam to spend Christmas there. Shira is my introweek sister (from the family's they put us in during orientation) and her family has adopted me. When I arrived in Amsterdam Shira met at the station and we took a ferry across to Amsterdam Noord where she lives. She drew me a bath and then left to go Christmas shopping. After a wonderful bath I got to sit around and read and drink tea for a few hours until everyone got home. The next day was Christmas Eve and Shira's dad got Shira her sister and I tickets to the ballet because he plays in the Orchestra at the opera. We saw a matinee of Sleeping Beauty. The costumes and music were beautiful and it made me really miss the days when we would go to San Francisco to see the Nutcracker ballet. That night we went to Zaandam to stay at Shira's mom Julie's house. We had a quiet dinner and made cookies and watched movies.
When we got up on Christmas morning there we fresh coffee and a stocking with my name on it! After exchanging gifts we put on Christmas Carols and spent the rest of the day cooking a delicious Christmas feast. We made turkey, two kinds of stuffing, gravy, stuffed vegetables, cranberry sauce and salad. A few friends of Shira's family came over and there was a nice group of people in the end. Frequently throughout the evening people would sit down at the piano and start playing Christmas Carols and people would start to sing. It was so nice being in such a musical happy place. And guess what?? It even snowed a little Christmas Day!!
The next day we went back to Amsteram Noord and made another Christmas feast, this one centered around a Lamb roast. Our friend from school Julia who also could not go home for Christmas joined us as well. All in all it was a beautiful Christmas and even though I was not home with my family, I did not get lonely because I was taken in by such a wonderful family!
After Christmas I went off to meet Erin and Shane in Edinburgh which I will write about in another blog.
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