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June 30, 2004
kerplunk!
Well the world is full of surprises! For the first time in my life I've been sacked!! For economic reasons a couple of us found ourselves suddenly jobless, with salary and compensation, at the beginning of summer! Its devastating news!
I'm trying hard to find the bad side of this but apart from missing some of my colleagues and missing out on some nice work, (but who knows how long that will last?) I'm struggling. Just have to order another rose, (how Dutch am I?) and apply my mind to it I suppose!
Posted by Faith at 01:58 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 23, 2004
more babble
I speak Dutch at work, at the creche, at the doctors, in the shops, with friends, with strangers and at home. I know I have a terrible accent, I can tell by the pained look of concentration on people's faces as they strain to follow what I'm saying. My Dutch sentences are conctructed in a strange mix of English and Dutch grammer, which only adds to the pain on everyone's faces.
I've been aware for a while that I have trouble stringing together a sentence in English these days. I tend to construct sentences using Dutch grammer and can't for the life of me remember simple words. Ron even says I have a Dutch accent when I speak English. I thought he must be deranged and put it down to the exigencies of fatherhood but have just had the same comment from two Australian friends on whose phones I left messages!
Dus, now, I'm incomprehensible in two languages!
Posted by Faith at 11:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 22, 2004
Hup Hup ....
Life in Amsterdam is dominated at the moment by the EK and the Netherlands' so-far-rather-disastrous campaign. The evenings when Holland is playing every cafe in our area is full and every house has at least one tennant hosting a party. The streets are awash with orange with all the flags and buntings and of course everyone is dressed in orange. Its like having a combination of the Grand Final and the Melbourne Cup at the same time, only it happens once or twice every week for several weeks in a row.
Goals are met with the sort of noise that would wake the living-dead and the walls literally shake from the collective agitation. Luckily, this hasn't happenned too often! But near misses create almost as much 'herrie' as you can literally hear the entire nation rise to their feet with a yell and then fall back on the couch clapping their free hand to their forehead. I don't know how Jacob sleeps through it!
Things in our street were even more exciting this week as there is a Portuguese Club down the road who were celebrating wildly after Portugal's win against Spain. Mind you, 50 odd Portuguese can't make nearly as much noise as half a dozen Dutchmen! You have to barrack for Portugal in this context really, they are almost one of the underdogs.
Some of my colleagues have taken Holland's fortunes to heart and have been busy creating this.
Posted by Faith at 10:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 21, 2004
Sarina
And this is unforgivably late but while we were so busy Craig-in-Tokyo and his wife had a beautiful baby girl, Sarina way way back on the 18th May! Sarina has the most beautiful eyes, and also lots of hair. Jacob is looking balder and balder every minute!
Posted by Faith at 05:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Little Hasitha
While we've been lolling around everyone else we know seems to have been pretty busy. Hasitha's son, Kieran, has been growing and Hasitha sent these photos recently. What a head of hair for a baby!!
Posted by Faith at 03:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Yoghurt
Jacob had developed quite a neat eating style but then decided he would like to start trying to feed himself. So we let him.
Posted by Faith at 01:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 20, 2004
very long catching up
Finally we have the internet at home again. Not that there seems to be much time to use it but its nice to know its there! Here's a brief catch up:
(Its all about Jacob,we don't 'do' anything else anymore!)
-Jacob now has 4 teeth, 2 above and 2 below
-he eats like a horse,well OK, he always did but the horse is getting bigger and hungrier
-my weekends seem to be spent trying to keep the deep freeze stocked with delicacies for Jacob, this weekend I made, Spaghetti Bolognese, Mushroom Pasta Sauce and Cod and Sweet Potato, all from Annabel Karmel's "Baby and Toddler Meal Planner", as well as Vegemite Rusks, inspired by her Marmite Rusks.
-Jacob's world has changed in a couple of weeks fromt he mainly horizontal to the mainly vertical.
-so we've had to go shopping,........a new carseat, a Tripp Trapp chair, a gate for the bathroom doorway, a new bike and baby seat for me, not to mention countless childproof catches for doors and drawers
-Jacob has joined the hordes of babies who hurtle around Amsterdam perched behind their mother's handlebars, he loves it!
-Jacob is sporting several blue bruises at any one time on his head and face. He is busy cruising and while he has gotten over the initial 'falling' period he is now busy trying to climb over things, so inevitably he is tumbling off them as well.
-he also has some alarming redspots which at first sight look like chicken pox,but aren't.The doctor went through quite a long list of things but wasn't able to work out what they are and since Jacob doesn't appear ill in any way at all, we just have to live with them for the moment.
-we've finished unpacking and squeezing in and are finally settled in the new flat.
-there is as yet no sign of summer
I think thats it for the moment, maybe some photos soon.
Posted by Faith at 09:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 08, 2004
Splish splash
Yesterday at Jacob's kinderdagverblijf they took advantage of the glorious summer weather (23 degrees) and put all the babies in an inflatable swimming pool in the backyard. Baby Soup! And very brave I think, six naked babies in a tepid swimming pool!
Jacob loves water and today is going to be even warmer so I suspect the same thing will be happenning down in Ijsselstein today where the neighbours have a nice water playground for their little boys.
We still have no internet at home, and the new proxy server at work won't let me access my provider so there are lots of photos waiting to be uploaded from Sicily and Grandma's visit.
Posted by Faith at 09:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 07, 2004
Start ém young!
Jacob is now a happy little vegemite and the proud owner of a HUGE jar of the stuff thanks to Australian Grandma. And much to the disgust of his Dad, who like most non-Australians, can't understand why you would inflict this horrible black stuff on a harmless child!
Posted by Faith at 01:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Mud in your eye
At work we came up with the Ultra Legendary Mud Battles for one of our clients. Based on Battleships, but with great animations by Hoving and using mud rather than bombs, Mud is a dirty dirty game played by dirty little animals.
Wish all of our work was this much fun!
Posted by Faith at 12:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 01, 2004
Analuisa
My colleague, Peter, had a baby girl yesterday, Analuisa.
Both the baby and Vanusa are well after a very long labour and Peter of course is delirious! Peter still has to come to work for at least a week before he can take his holidays but I don't think somehow he's going to be all that focused!
Posted by Faith at 05:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
excuses
...and if I'm not posting its something to do with being amazingly busy at work, having no internet at home (thanks KPN), and there are also the small details, still unpacking from the move, visiting Grandmothers, Jacob's very efficient germ-couriering etc etc.
Posted by Faith at 04:02 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
A nice drop
I tried this wine years ago and was relieved to find that not only did it have my name on it but that it was also a very decent drop! Dus, I was pleasantly surprised when my brother sent a bottle via Mum which we managed to put to the test. And again, its passed!
Posted by Faith at 03:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack