When the cat is away...

Chris and Hannah are away at camp this week hopefully having a lot of fun and I am tired of looking at our last post, so I decided to add my own two cents even though there hasn't actually been anything going on here. When Chris is out of town I usually do some heavy duty cleaning so I sent the kids upstairs to start on their room. I can hear some nasty arguing upstairs and it sure makes motherhood worth it doesn't it? Am I the only one who has to deal with this???

As some of you know I have started an official Dutch class and am really enjoying it. Finally, starting to feel like I am learning something new. The class is interesting because there are several languages that are spoken and there are only about 4 or 5 of us that speak English. There are also Arabic, Indonessian, Chinese, Polish, Romanian, French and Serbian (I am sure that I am not saying or spelling these right) natives and a few of them only speak their native language and what little Dutch they know. It makes things very difficult because things have to be explained in several languages and it takes a lot of time, but I am not complaining though since this is the first class I could find in 7 months that wasn't super expensive.

As I was getting ready to leave for class this morning, it started to get really overcast. By the time I walked out the door to catch the metro, it was really pouring. Now, I am not talking a rainy day in UT pouring, I am talking the rain is coming down so hard that it doesn't help to blink your eyes or squint for that matter because you have a river of water running through them (if you have never experienced this kind of rain before try holding your head under a kitchen sink faucet with it on all the way). By the time I got to the metro, which is really just a block away, I was soaked and just getting wetter, if that is possible. I had decided earlier that I was just going to wear flip-flops and capris with a sweatshirt and take an umbrella along too because even though it is really wet here is is still really warm and humid and I didn't want to be sitting in a steamy classroom overdressed. I tend to do that a lot and it is really miserable. I still have not figured out how to dress here. Anyway, as I am getting on the metro in my sponge like shoes (or thongs as us older folk know them by) I make this really big step off the platform and do a not so graceful almost split. Luckily, not full splits because that would have been somewhat uncomfortable, but maybe more graceful looking I am thinking. It was very embarrassing and I am sure really funny looking. I really was glad that I was wearing thongs :) after wading through puddles up to almost mid-clalf but I still ended up at class soaked to mid thigh (even with a very large umbrella) and a scuffed up knee. I was almost dry by the time I left for home 3 hours later.

Can I just say that I miss dill pickles. I can only find sweet-sour (that is the direct translation and it makes no sense) pickles. It is really sad. Picture me standing in a puddle up to my knees, soaking wet eating a disgusting semi-sweet pickle. It is a sad picture indeed.