Friends from Home

Very exciting for us in February was that we had friends from home come to visit. Our friends had a wedding in Paris and decided to extend their trip and spend a few days in Amsterdam and in The Hague. They came with their 6 month old daughter, who is absolutely adorable. It was interesting to have to track down a car seat and pack and play, but we found the essentials so were all set for them. We met them one night in Amsterdam and took them to one of our favorite kosher restaurants in the city, Hacarmel. They said they also quite enjoyed it. Then on Thursday night we picked them up in Amsterdam. That was the first time we ever drove through the side streets in the Amsterdam city center. It was actually quite scary because the roads are so narrow and often on your left and right are canals. We were able to navigate our way thru and then took them to the kosher pizza place. Then Friday we explored The Hague. Scott would have taken off, but he was taking a 3 day First Aid course which he couldn’t miss. He volunteered to be a first aid responder at work and despite his extensive EMT training in the USA, he was required to take the course. We went to the Escher Museum and Mauritius museum, which houses the famous, painting Girl with the Pearl Earring. Then walked around the City Center and afterwards went over to the Peace Palace, which house the International Court of Justice. It is under construction, but you can still see the magnificent exterior which was financed by American Andrew Carnegie. Shabbos was so nice with them here. We had over about 9 people for lunch including us and our friends. They were able to meet some of our friends here and learn about life in The Hague. I know our friends were really impressed by the shul and Jewish community. Sunday we took them to Madurodam, which a replication of Holland in miniature. It is a site to see when you come to Holland. It was such a nice weekend for us to again show friends from home our life here. Before they came they asked us if they could bring anything from home. I said just them coming is a gift onto itself. It warms our hearts to every so often get to spend time with friends from home. It keeps us connected. Thanks Rivka, Marc and Neta!!!

Also in the past few weeks, we experienced dentistry in Holland. We had our checkups and I had a cavity filled. It was a bit of an overwhelming feeling as during the procedure they were speaking in Dutch and hard not to understand a word they were saying. But filling looks good and I survived, so can’t complain.

Last weekend we finally spent Sunday exploring in Amsterdam. We went to the Rijksmuseum to see the Rembrandt paintings and the famous Night Watch and then headed off to The Van Gogh Museum. At night we had the opportunity to go hear a speaker at the Amsterdam Jewish Community Center. It was a great opportunity to meet some new people and we had our first taste of kosher sushi in Holland. We were so excited and asked the rebbetzin where it came from and she said they hired someone to make it. Oh well. I guess another thing we can learn to make.