Florence Firenze

We're in Italy!!!!!!!!!!!!


And this is a much easier keyboard to use. And we're having the most beautiful weather too! We're joking that I'm going to go back to Amsterdam with more of a tan from London and Italy than we did from Jamaica. Does that name list sound like I'm bragging? I hope not... It's just been a busy busy year...

We found the church where Leanna's great grand dad's records should have been this afternoon. When we asked what to do, some very helpful ladies who work at the crypt museum there heloed us by getting all of the information, and translating it into Italian for the monsignior priori (head honcho priest) who's 94. He let us know that for the years we are looking into, we have to go to the Curio de San Giovanni which is in another area, and we didn't get to it early enough this evening, so we'll try again in the morning. They told us that all the birtha nd baptism records prior to the 1900's (roughly) would have been at this other chruch. We were just amazed that we found anything and it was pleastant to find such helpful people too.

I only have two minutes left...

And we found one of those places that makes paintings using thin sheets of colorful stones...I canàt remember the name, but we told them we'd send them the Awake! article about that type of art work. There are only 5 artists lefct she said...gotta post

Bye!!

I'm (we're) in Zurich!

and this keyboard is killing me!

Iäm used to the keyboards in Amsterdam, and even London. This is a whole new set of weird.

For instance the I'm I just typed. Or that everytime I want a y I tzpe a Z! They've swapped spaces on this board.

We have a gianormous 10 hours to kill here. And I have to pay 2 euros for 8 minutes to talk to zou...You people! heh...

I have no way to upload pics again...sorry. We should fly out of Switzerland and arrive in Floernce Italz morning aeround 8:30am.

Maybe we'll find 2 more euros and talk to you again later...10 hours. 10.

Londinium

Just a quick note that we're still alive and kicking here in London...

I forgot to bring anything that would allow me to upload photos away from home however, so you'll still have to be patient.

The sky was actually blue and bright when we landed. I'd already forgotten how nice seeing the sun in the sky can be. We had an amazing Indian dinner on Friday night when we got in, and enjoyed a long walk around the Kensington area on the way from our hotel there.

Saturday morning, sky still lovely and clear, we made our way to Russell Square and the British Museum for the first of two Bible tours for the day. We met a lot of nice brothers and sisters from all over...France, Australia, The UK, Missouri, Santa Rosa, California... Can't go far without coming back home. The tours were amazing. I'll never again forget the Lachishites. We had dinner at a place recommended to Matt by a co-worker in the London office called Porter's which specializes in traditional British foods. Again, stuffed, we all slept well, despite the rainstorm pitter pattering on the hotel windows.

Today, things started and ended damp and drizzling, but cleared up enough in the middle that we could enjoy playing tourist properly. We got ourselves on a double decker bus tour of the city, and ignoring damp seats, planted ourselves on the top deck for the best photo ops. We spent most of the time at the Tower of London, but also go to see Big Ben, the exterior of Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, and ended with a nice tour of the reproduction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

Tomorrow, while Matt has to go back to the daily grind (this time in the London office) Leanna and I are going to try and follow the directions our dear brothers and sisters provided for us over lunch at the British Museum, and make our way to the Bethel Branch here. Maybe we'll even squeeze in a few more London landmarks before our evening flight back to Amsterdam.

Look for photos on Tuesday ;)

Transit

Just a quick note to say that we had a few nice days in service this week, and instead of going out this morning, we packed our bags for London!

We spent the afternoon doing a little more touristing around Amsterdam. We ducked in out of the rain at the Waag castle cafe(and yes, Waage's, I think that's a variation of your family name) for a hot cappuccino, and some culture. Then we made our increasingly drenched way to the Bible Museum, managing to get in just before it closed. That was about as much time as we needed anyhow. Though they house some nice manuscripts, including the oldest printed bible in Holland (dating to 1477), and a few Egyptian artifacts including an ancient straw and mud brick from the banks of the Nile, the most memorable part for us seemed to be the original 16th century kitchen. The buildings the museum resides in are as much part of the tour as the artifacts. The founder spent a great deal of time working out tabernacle and temple models. But once you've seen the ones in New York Bethel, it's hard to be impressed by others. Ill probably still go back someday to take a less hurried tour and see what I may have overlooked.

We get to do participate in doing our ministry at the Harbor tomorrow morning (a first for me) along with one of our elders. Directly from there, he'll drop us at the Sloterdijk train station and send us on our way back to Schiphol to meet Matt and a hopper to London. I just ferreted out some old British pounds from our honeymoon, if you can believe that. I managed to keep them handy for the next time we'd need them.

When it's not past time for sleep, I'll add some pictures...promise.

First Day in the Ministry

Hey there...this is Leanna. So things have finally slowed down a bit, just enough for me to make a post of my very own. People keep telling me that i must have brought the warm weather from California with me to the Netherlands. Its been in the mid to low 40s...I think I expected it to be a whole lot colder, but it really hasn't been all that bad. It has not rained all that much or been incredibly windy while we've been out and about...and let me tell you, we have been out. I'm loving the freedom of not having a cell phone, although Sabrina has had one on hand for Matt and the congregation. All in all, I'm loving my European expedition.

Today was my very first day out in the ministry in Amsterdam. We missed our bus this morning by like 8 minutes; fortunately that particular one comes quite frequently. After making a transfer to the metro we realized we were not really going to be all that late. We paused momentarily on our brisk walk to the meeting for field service to notice a woman with the Watchtower of Mary on the cover. Finally we arrived only to find that we would have to interrupt the meeting by buzzing for the door to open...we made it to the 10th floor, opened the door...they were all just sitting around a big coffee table sippin' tea.I love the European routine of tea or coffee that just seems to surround you everywhere. Sabrina and I had plans, or "an appointment" as they refer to it here, with Monica. Another sister had made plans to join our group, but she called the night before to let us know she would not be able to make it because of the flu. No problem, instead a lovely sister Rita became my partner for the morning.

Rita had a call she has been trying to set up a time to schedule an appointment to study so we thought we would give him a try. Success…we had a pleasant conversation and she made an appointment for Saturday. Next stop, the previously mentioned study. Unfortunately, she was not home…but that’s okay, Rita still had the territory for that apartment building. We spent the remaining of our morning going up and down several flights of stairs, mixing in and elevator every now and then. Our last door ended up being a Ghanaian woman…the majority of that conversation was in Twi, but Rita so graciously allowed me to read a scripture every now and then. Just as we were getting ready to head out, Rita received a phone call from Monica and Sabrina letting us know where to meet them. So ends my first ministry day here in Holland with many more to come this week

I know this has absolutely nothing to do with the ministry, but I just had to include it. Yesterday Bri and I went downtown to tour the Rijks Museum.I’ve seen pictures of some of these paintings, but to actually visualize them in the scale that is meant to be is just breathtaking. I would get so caught up in the details mentioned in my interactive pod guide, I would have to be reminded to take a step back and enjoy the painting in its entirety. It never ceases to amaze me that someone can use paint to capture this single moment or people’s feelings…and to top it off, some look as if they're a mere photograph. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I felt mentally, emotionally, and possibly even spiritually (so much of the art depicted how religion truly has made a muck of things and peoples lives) drained that Bri and I both were in the mood for a cup of coffee.

Well...that's all for now. We have early morning plans with a sister...we're meeting her at a metro station @8.

Leana's First Week in Europe

Here we sit, Sunday evening, trying to go to sleep so that Matt can get up early for work.

Just had a late snack at a restaurant in Amstelveen called "Sticks" that does sate style finger foods mostly. Mooi Lekker. Beautiful tasty.

Since Leanna got in on Wednesday, we've been packing in almost everything we can each day. Wednesday afternoon, we walked a big portion of Amstelveen, mostly to show Leanna her first up close Dutch windmill, but also to walk off some of the 10 hour flight stiffness and fend off jet lag. I gave my first student talk on Wednesday with Claudine as my house holder, and at least managed not to trip or drop the microphone.

Thursday we had a wandered around Amsterdam and made our way to the Anne Frank House Museum. Quite interesting, and quite depressing. Talk about man's dominating man to his injury... We had toasties and coffees in a brown cafe while people watching out the small paned windows.

Friday, we spent a good deal of the morning tracking down airfare and hotel prices for a jaunt to Italy, from whence Leanna's family hails. Then we hit the local Amstelveen market, and got fixings for Chinese Chicken Salad to be served Saturday evening. That, and the preparation took most of the afternoon up. Matt took us out to dinner at a really nice place called "the Castle" in Amsterdam, where we had to wait about 45 minutes for a table. We used the time to wander Leidseplein a little and get a pint at the Waterhole, and introduce Leanna to "bitterballen" at our favorite Irish pub a few doors down. Dinner was a very intimate and relaxed setting where we sat in clusters around a rather 70's looking fireplace, and ate dinner off of our wicker platers on our laps. We had a little trouble getting home because for the first time in our stay here, we missed the last tram back to Amstelveen. Fortunately we figured out where to catch the last bus to the same station, and managed to get avoid a hefty taxi fee.

Saturday, we slept in late because we got in so late, made scrambled eggs, and waited for a couple from our hall to pick us up. We tried to invite them to dinner here on Sunday, and they told us that they were already going to ask us to go out on Saturday, so we upped it a day and went with them into the country a little to a town in Zaandam where they've preserved a handful of windmills and traditional houses in their traditional style. The brother (Robert) grew up there, and his wife, Naomi-Ruth says they enjoy playing tour guides :) It started out raining, and cleared up just in time for us to walk the park. One of the windmills was open for us to tour, and we got to see the insides of a working color mill, where they grind limestone to add pigments to for paints. Then we all got inside of a giant yellow wooden show, and took a tour of a clog museum. Best part of that was a demonstration of how clogs are made traditionally and using machinery. I bought the shoe they made for a euro and asked the man who did the demo to re-enact a part. They use the very green wood, and he demonstrated that fact by blowing very very hard into the toe of the clog. It made it rain. So I took a video...

When Naomi and Robert dropped us back home, Robert and Matt tromped down to the storage unit to investigate the bicycle. Robert managed to fix it in a matter of 15 minutes or so. But the light still needs fixing, and I still need a few good locks so as to ward off becoming victim to one of the 10,000 or so bicycle thefts a year here.

Sunday, after the meeting, the same couple, Naomi-Ruth, and Robert (who are actually a Dutch couple but part of the Twi group, not the English, but we meet together on Wednesdays) took us to the...dun dun dunnnn....Black Market.

Which is basically a bazaar in the style of Istanbul, Morocco, China town, etc. I'm still not sure why it's called the black market, but it was fun to say it that way. It happens close to the couples home in Uitgeest (out-haste), so we had a lovely sandwich spread for lunch, including Hagel Slag, then went to shop for everything imaginable. I finally found a bigger service bag that can hold my sammie and my books, umbrella, and spare bits, and some safety lights for my newly repaired bicycle. Leanna walked away with lots and lots of candy.

They took us back to their house for some Chinese take away, and a photo viewing which was a lot of fun. Robert kindly made me some mix CD's of Dutch music which I can't wait to spend some time with..We tried out various Dutch phrases, and enjoyed playing with Gyata, the cat. A huge fur ball full of attitude named Lion in Ghanaian. Then, when Robert had a football game to get to, Naomi was kind enough to drop us back home in Amstelveen.

I'm sure that there's much much more to say, but not much much more of my brain left awake to say it. Perhaps Leanna will grace ya'll with a post of her own in the morning.

We're watching Black Adder. It's past time to sleep.

Familiar

I'm getting ready to go pick up Leanna at the airport, and by pick up I mean show up on the bus so I can show her which bus to take back to Amstelveen, and bring her a "strippen card" so it's cheaper to ride the bus.

Yesterday, at the bio market, I asked the man tallying my purchases if the tea I picked out has caffeine or not. I wanted it to, and thought that it was a black tea variety, but couldn't really tell. It was too much English for him, so he gestured for me to ask another guy there who was busy packing up for the day.

When I got his attention to ask, he says "wassup?" I thought to myself, that sounds familiar... Asked him my question, got my answer, and then he jokes that the guy who was helping me knows all the answers until he (wassup guy) walks away. I asked him where he was from, wanting to confirm my guess. He answers "the States". I must have had a "duh" look on my face, because he said "Sacramento" as I was saying "I'm from California". I said "I thought you sounded familiar." Then I told him I grew up in Placerville, and after talking about high schools, and favorite ski resorts, said "see you next week", since the market's every Tuesday.

Small world indeed. A familiar accent yesterday, and today a familiar friendly face :)

Ice Lake

I forgot to mention some of the strange things I saw on the ice lake.

• Man riding bicycle across the lake
• Mom on skates pushing baby in stroller across the lake
• Kid pushing chair across the lake while on skates
• Ice hockey games (3)
• Dogs, not on skates, but it was hard to tell

Also, I have finally put up my traditional wall of family and friends photos. With the help of Ikea stick on photo frames so that I don't have to punch any holes in the walls here. See if you can find yourself :) Don't worry if you can't, I have more pics up and around, not all of them made it into the faux frames. If you can't see yourself, and would like to, please send a picture to us. Or just tell me and I'll let you know if you're in one of the other less framed picture areas in the house , so that we can both feel better.

Even Spider Web's Are Pretty When Iced

It is truly cold here.

Thursday morning, I finally had an appointment to get the radiator panels fixed. This time someone from the building was supposed to come, since it’s a building wide system. He was scheduled for 9:30, so I had a lazy morning. In fact, I was still in the bed (reading...) when the guy rang the phone buzzer at about 8:30. I answered, but I couldn't understand anything the man said. So, I said come on up, even though I didn't expect you until 9:30.

I then hear a clear "goodbye" and nothing else.

I thought maybe that meant he was on his way up, so I got dressed, vacuumed, made breakfast. About 30 minutes pass, and I’m thinking he’s not waiting at the elevator. So I call Ekta (landlady) to see if she knew what happened...no answer.

At 9:30 the guy does indeed show up, says stuff in Dutch, and I say stuff in English. I ask if he speaks any English, he says no, I say I speak no Dutch, and he makes like he's gonna leave because we can't get anywhere...so I hurry and gesture for him to come with me to the guest room, point at the radiator and say "no work". He opens his bag and starts in, and before he gets too far, I show him that the kitchen and the bathroom also "no work". He shakes his head in understanding, and gets to it.

10 minutes later, he asks (gestures) for me to sign a paper, which I do, he says more stuff in Dutch, I look dumbly back at him, and we say “dank u vel” (thank you) and “dag” (day). Still not knowing what happened, I put my hand to the 3 broken radiator panels...heat! Thus, in 10 minutes, two months of waiting and wondering is put to rest.

Rock on international language of head shaking, frowns, and smiles.

In the afternoon, I had to go to the Gemeente Amstelveen (Amstelveen Town Hall) to file one last piece of paper regarding our residency permits. It took me all of 4 minutes to get in and get out, however. My bus home failed to appear. I could have walked a few minutes around the corner and caught another bus, but I only noticed that after I saw that bus come and go too far away to catch up to. So, I waited an hour plus, pacing back and forth on frozen toes, every second hoping to see the 166 turn the bend in my direction. The KLM building on the corner has a huge clock and temperature gadge. It read -3 celcius. That's about 29 Fahrenheit. That my friends, is cold.

Just before I headed back to the bus stop from the city hall, I caught sight of the frozen over lake behind the building. So, I passed a little time staring in wonder at what seemed to be hundreds of ice skaters speckled out across the whole width of the lake. The sky blended into the tree line, which blended into the ice line, so everything had a glaze of white to it. Even the misty sunlight.

The trail took me near a small stream feeding into the lake, also iced over. But the ice here buckled and shifted before my eyes, creaking with movement. I don't know how people can tell when it's safe to skate...

Matt's boss was here this week, so they finally got to meet face to face. Things are getting interesting. More on that later...

Turning Japanese

We had a wonderful dinner of sushi rolls and Japanese curry at the Ploeger's home on Sunday evening. Along with their other guests, Yukiko dressed us up like dolls and let us play in her beautiful and delicate collection of kimonos and fans. Rene (Yukiko's Dutch hubby) and Matt stayed off to there own until Yuikiko dug up a manly man's kimono for Matt to put on... He graciously played along so that I could take pictures. Last time he did that we were in Egypt and that guy didn't get his permission before gowning him like a sheik. This was much more enjoyable.

Today, I got to go in service with one of the sisters who dressed up with us, Karen. She's been away in Finland, but has returned. She had made a lovely cake for our desert last night, but it failed to make the journey, so we got to have a sliver of apple strawberry deliciousness on our lunch break at her apartment. Desserts always seem better the next day anyhow :)

We had a startling beginning to our service day though. After walking for a while towards a call, and having chatted with a few people along the path, we spoke to a friendly man from Nigeria. As we moved on, we heard a loud bone rattling crash behind us, and when we turned we found him crashed out on the icy pavement we narrowly missed falling on ourselves. It took a handful of people and a good deal of worry to get him back in a condition that we felt ok leaving him. About five minutes went by before he stirred at all, another 10 to get him to sit up, and another few before we could get him to speak his name. With a bloody lip and huge bump on his head, a few good Samaritans helped get him to a doctors office around the corner to be sure he had no concussion. The weather here is no joke!

Matt has a bundle of big wigs in the office for the week, so he's going to have an exciting week ahead. We're looking forward more and more to having State-side company here to visit in a few short days (Leanna). Hopefully she'll bring a little California sun with her!

Amsterdam Weekend

So we played tourist this weekend.

After service in Heemskerk with Charlotte on Friday, I met up with Matt in the city for a little good ol' fashioned tourism. I've been looking for a nice piece of art work to take back to Cali, so we went to a few artsy shops and browsed. I didn't find what I really liked until after closing hours, so I'll just have to do it again :)

We went to an early dinner at a Surinamese restaurant recommended by one of Matt's co-workers, called Spang Manakdra. It's one of the best meals we've had since we got here. And not crazy over priced like most places are. Good thing we got in early (around 5pm) because shortly after we ordered then place went mad with people crammed into it's tiny space. Our server barely had room to get from the kitchen back to the tables to deliver food. And to add to the hullabaloo, it seems they do a brisk take out business.

The restaurant was in a neighborhood we haven't been to before, so we wandered the little streets of the Pijp District, and marveled at the kitschy little shops and bicycle rentals (like this one with the horse shaped bike) and decided we'd need to come back during opening hours.

Then we caught the tram back towards Amsterdam City Center, to catch our "lover's wine & cheese canal tour". very cheesy, but a nice time regardless. I'd like to do a canal tour during day light hours, because there was no way I could take a decent picture of the pretty things we passed in the dark. Like one section of canal bridges called "the Seven Bridges" where you have a perfect echo of 7 canal crossings one right behind the next all nicely lit up. We motored through a section with big fancy house boats and marveled at how much people can fit into a boat to make it a home. Most everyone had their window coverings thrown wide open and we looked on as people ate dinners, read books, danced, and drank as though for our entertainment. The tour guide mentioned that it is a Dutch tradition to live "in the open" like that because the church long taught that if your windows were closed to passersby, it was because you had something to hide. So to show that you are an upstanding and good Dutchman, you never close the blinds. I would not do well with that...nobody needs to see this hair first thing in the morning.

We shared a table with a very nice couple from Portsmouth, England, who were just visiting for New Years. We had unlimited wine, cheese, and nuts, accompanied by lovely conversation where we got tips on where to visit, and where to stay when we try to get to London. When we came full circle, and disembarked, I discovered my hat was missing. We retraced our steps to "the oldest pub in Amsterdam", Café Karpershoek. Apparently in operation since 1606. We'd stopped in there to kill time until our cruise left. My hat waited for me under a chair next to a wall of ancient blue Delft tiles. The weather hasn't been quite so cold, but I was still very glad to find it.

Today, Saturday, after a nice "lay in", we made our way to one of the most visited spots in all of Holland. The Rijks Museum. When we got there, the line was out the door, around the corner, and around the next corner. But, we got to sneak to the front of the que because we bought an "I amsterdam" pass, and one of the perks besides getting a discount at tons of places, is skipping the line at a lot of popular places. You get to feel special. The museum has been in operation since 1798, but in this location since 1885. The tram stop, Museumplein (Museum Square) is a wonderland of art and beauty. The Van Gogh (which is NOT pronounced Van Go, but something more like Van Gawk, or Van Gahch) sits right next door, the Diamond museum, across the street. It's focus is on the Netherlands "Golden Age" which dominated in the 17th century. Housed here are such masterpieces as Rembrandt's "The Night Watch", and his 22 year old, and 55 year old self portraits. Also Vermeer's "The Kitchen Maid", and my new favorite, Hendrick Avercamp's "Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters" which is a snippet of 1609 Dutch winter activities, complete with a man relieving himself on a tree... There is also a stunning collection of silver work, and Delft pieces, and also two amazingly detailed doll's houses from the late 1600's.

When we were tired out and full to bursting with new knowledge form our recorded tour guide whispering into our ears for a few hours, we found our way back to the Pijp district, and had some Irish stew and bangers for dinner. We almost got caught up in an anti-Isreal demonstration with about 1500 demonstrators, 2 of whom got arrested (we heard on the news later). People had been gathering as we entered the museum, but it was at fever pitch by the time we came back out. It was a loud and jittery crossing from the museumplein where they centered, to our dinner. For a few minutes we thought we might have to run to get away from the marching course, because cars were being turned around on the road, and the police seemed to be ushering people exactly down the streets we chose to take. At the last minute, they turned back towards the square out front of the Rijk's, and we were in the clear. That'll get your adrenaline up though. Last time that happened it was in Ireland, and we happened to be in the North during the Drumcree March. Shiver...

Tomorrow, we have meeting in the morning, and dinner with the Ploeger's in the evening. Oh! and we got announced on Sunday as being officially part of the Amsterdam Engles Zuidoost Congregation, and I am officially serving as a pioneer here. W00t!

Symphonic Cacophony

Looking out my window this morning, I find myself still searching the skyline for the occasional burst of color and light that made yesterday so distracting. I just couldn't stay awake long enough to post last night, but the Dutch version of New Years' celebration was utter chaos compared with what I would guess ya'll just experienced back home. In the states, whenever I've seen fireworks displays, it's always been an organized event. You go to the fairgrounds, the city center, somewhere that could handle a lot of people, safely and with supervision. Not so here.

Can anyone remember a movie with a bad guy in a high rise building looking out over a huge city and playing conductor to Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture while blowing up buildings in time with the music? I want to say it was Jack Nicholson's version of the Joker, but I can't reacall. Anyways, it was kind of like that.

Up in our glass tower, it felt like all of Holland was trying to put on a show just for us, competing for our attention on all sides. People have been shooting off fireworks sporadically for a week now, but it still didn't prepare me for the hour long symphonic cacophony that surrounded our living room, touching off at midnight. The sky became a solid block of noise and lights to vie with Las Vegas hottest strip. From around 7pm on until about 2:30 in the morning it just didn't stop, but the crescendo, from midnight until 1am, absotively posolutely dwarfed any ostentation I've ever witnessed. We saw huge blasts going up from the bus station, our own parking lot, directly over the freeway (and it's moving vehicles), with little or no concern for who might be walking by, or where the sparks may fly through the dry trees. Perhaps because everything is frozen solid, no one frets. There were slow floating red paper hearts gliding up and over our apartment in a gentle trail reminiscent of faeries en route to Neverland, somehow calming as they interlaced the glitz encircling them. One started its descent close enough to our open window to momentarily pull me out of the reverie. But a chance flicker of a nearby flash hefted it all the way across the freeway where we watched until it's fire guttered out on the frozen grass.

We opted to stay in, safe from the uncontrolled bedlam of the city center, and I'm glad that we did. Not that anything bad happened in Amsterdam (that we've heard of) but we had a splendid time running from end to end of our high perch oohing and ahhing over our personal stage. Pandemonium enough for one night :)