I have really been struggling with sleep since coming back from Seattle. It seems like I am averaging between 2-3 hours at a stretch and then wide awake for another 3 hours and then crashing for 2. As you can imagine, this makes me Captain Grumpy Pants and is wreaking total havoc with my attempt to not drink more than two tiny cups of coffee per day. This morning I woke up at 351am. I tried diligently to fall back asleep and at 5AM gave up and started working.

It is still dark outside so I think it is now somewhere between 7-8AM. The dogs are passed out next to me and the cats are roaming around, giving me the “what the hell is wrong with you?” look. I think life must be relatively blissful as a cat. And mine seem to have no difficulty sleeping for ridiculous amounts of time.

Picking up Astrid today!!! She has official NL license plates and is ready to go. Yesterday, I went in and exchanged my US driver’s license for a Dutch one. As with all things in the Netherlands, there is a process. And in theory, I should have my new license in about 3 weeks. I had to take one of their very specific photos for the license and I was so busy on concentrating on the requirements that the photo ended up with me looking like an escapee from a B-movie lunatic asylum. Seriously. I commend the civil servant behind the counter for not cracking up when he was cutting out the picture to fit the form. There was a line at the photo machine so I couldn’t start over and at 5 euros a pop, I was definitely not going to do that. Besides, the only people looking at my license should be cops. And since I don’t plan on getting any speeding tickets, I can live with the Freakarella photo!

It will seem strange to have a car again. I found a place in a local parking garage to rent since there is a 16 month waiting list for a parking permit for my neighborhood. It could be worse, in some of the neighborhoods in the very center of Amsterdam, it is a six year waiting list. But when street parking is 3 euros per hour without a permit, you can imagine why people hold on to their permits very tightly.

Going to Dublin next week for a work meeting. I am excited about that since I haven’t been there. I plan to allow a little extra wandering time in my itinerary so I can roam around. And then after that, I am going to the “nuns” for a week of intensive Dutch language instruction. Sadly, the nuns no longer teach at their language school/convent but people still call it going to the nuns since it is their methods and the name of the institute is related to their order. It was interesting to hear from the evaluator that I can make myself understood in Dutch but I don’t use a Dutch word order, which makes sense since I learned the language through hearing it spoken not through the classroom. It is 8 hours a day of one on one personalized instruction. Apparently, I am going to get a lot of grammar instruction.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, now I am tired. I hope get this silly schedule corrected soon! Have a good day!