3 Months: Update

Three months in, and a lot of things have changed. The novelty of going to the grocery store has worn off. Entirely. We have our BELONGINGS (yessss) and some new furniture. We bought a used car. Russ got a haircut. I started a garden up on one of the terraces. The trees in the woods above the house all have leaves. Morgan has killed a lot of mice and then left them on the front porch... Except for that one time when she brought a live one into the house, and then let it go... Sigh.

We're getting better at understanding some of Luxembourg's nuances. And when we do screw up, which we do (a lot), we're slightly more inclined to shrug it off.

Slightly more inclined. Just yesterday, I found myself thinking, "One of these days, I'm NOT going to look like an idiot. Today is apparently NOT that day, but one of these days, it's going to happen."

However, there are other moments...

Like the incident last weekend, when I had a full-blown tantrum over Luxembourg's lack of tomato cages. There was wrath, my friends. Fire and brimstone and gnashing of teeth.

My friend Tasha describes the phenomenon as "dying by a thousand cuts." It's not that everything is TOO hard, it's just that almost EVERYTHING is a little bit harder than it was/should be. So little by little, your patience and self-confidence wear thin, until suddenly you're channeling the Incredible Hulk in the Garden Center's parking lot, while your concerned spouse tries to load you into the car without making any sudden movements. Poor Russ had to ply me with a bagel AND an ice cream cone before I calmed down enough to admit that Luxembourg is probably not the 7th circle of h-e-double hockey sticks.

So, yeah. I guess it's safe to assume that I still haven't reached Enlightenment.

Here's a summation of some of last month's shenanigans:

GERMANY (BONN AREA):

This trip happened forever ago now since I'm late with this post, but it DID happen during the third month... We snooped around castle/mansion Schloss Drachenburg, which sits high on a hillside above the Reine. Super impressive.

NETHERLANDS 2.0

We spent the weekend "glamping" with our friends, the Packers and the Oates. We stayed at an amusement park/campground called Camping Duinrell near the Hague. We arrived late (which included literally running through the dark campground, trying to find the correct check-in office so we wouldn't be locked out), and there was some sort of trouble with our reservation. Luckily, Camping Duinrell just upgraded us... which means we were "camping" in a trailer that had more bedrooms and bathrooms than our house in Luxembourg.

We spent Saturday morning at the Hague temple with the Oates and then switched places and looked after the kids while the Packers attended a later session.

The little amusement park at the campground was fun, but I think the little kids liked going down the slides at the playground as much as anything else!

We ate pizza and ice cream for dinner, played games, and stayed up late. I even got to sleep in my sleeping bag and devoured half a bag of marshmallows! So, perhaps it wasn't EXACTLY camping, but we had a great time.

We went to church Sunday morning in an ENGLISH speaking ward, and it was a bit surreal. My favorite part was sitting next to the Oates' three-year-old and listening to him belt out ALL the words to "The Spirit of God" in his squeaky-squawky toddler voice. So, so awesome.

The families with kids hit the road for home after that, but Russ and I were still up for some Netherlands fun. So we set out to investigate Delft, the town most famous for creating Holland's iconic blue and white ceramics. It turned out to be a lovely place with beautiful architecture, canals, bikes (yes, bikes), and food.

This is how you make hot chocolate in the Netherlands. I'm not arguing.

Cheese, cheese, cheese: spicy, asparagus, pesto, black pepper, cumin, garlic & herb, truffle....

Swinging on the rope swing just outside one of the old city gates.

The activity that I was most looking forward to on our trip was a BIKE RIDE. The weather was cooperating, the landscape was green, the flowers were blooming, there were even BABY SHEEP. These were prime "leisurely bike ride" circumstances.

We'd manged to wedge both of our bikes into the back of the car, so we drove out to a likely-looking bike path, pulled the bikes out, and proceeded to pump up the tires... only to find that the bike pump was broken. Boo. Russ's tires weren't entirely flat, so we each took a quick turn zooming up and down the BEAUTIFUL bike path that ran along the canal. We tried stopping at a few local gas stations to fill the tires, but the air pumps there wouldn't work and specifically stated they were not for bike use. Sigh.

We'll get 'em next time.

Things I miss about the USA: my job, tomato cages, Fresh Step Crystals Cat Litter, measurements printed on the side of butter cubes, microwave popcorn.

#star #update #timesifreakedout #travel