Last week, I drove 1000 kilometers for work. When you consider how relatively small the Netherlands is, that’s a lot of time on the road. This week’s schedule for driving is much lighter so far. I am sitting in my office, waiting for a conference call with the US to start and George is snoring deeply.

Since it is the first day of fall, the weather has changed right on cue. Today it has been very windy. I don’t mind that at all, I like the wind. I am not yet putting on a jacket because I feel like I once I do, I will really be giving in to the idea that summer is behind us and we are headed for the rainy, dark winter. Now if that’s not uplifting…

Yesterday the boys and I drove north to Robert and Pauline’s. Robert is Astrid’s doctor. We went walking along the dunes with their dogs and kids. In the middle of the walk, it started raining. Which is pretty much normal for here. We marched through the touring German couples that were trying to take shelter under various small trees. I would think that the climate in Germany isn’t much different than the Netherlands and a little rain wouldn’t be unexpected. But they looked stumped by the rain and very uncomfortable. We had a great late lunch – which lead us to a spirited debate over what to call it? Linner? Dunch? On the way home, I filled Astrid up again and we went through the carwash. I was almost tempted to stop at the McDonald’s and get the boys a double cheese. But Henry’s birthday is tomorrow and they will have one then. Can’t have them spending their whole allowance on junk food! After all, I am trying to teach them the importance of saving their allowance.

On Saturday, I met Marianne for our junket around the Noordermarkt combined with a big slab of appeltaart from Winkel. So yummy! Saturday night we tried out the newest movie theater in Amsterdam and saw “A Most Wanted Man”. It was the second time for me and I still watched it hoping it would have a different ending. That’s the mark of a good movie, I think. After the movies, we sat on a terrace and proceeded to solve a few of the world’s business problems!

Friday night, craving the spicy flavors of Ethiopia, I met Sjoerd and Marieke for an Ethiopian dinner to celebrate his birthday and her nursing graduation. I did enjoy introducing them to the concept of eating with their hands (right one only!) and sharing a communal plate made of injera. They served St George’s beer. I know exactly where it was brewed because the brewery was right next to the building I was teaching in.

Last night I went to bed at 9pm, I was so tired. You know it’s bad when your manager looks at you and tells you to go take an afternoon off – soon! 😉

From my continent crossing jaunt last week to crossing the Netherlands this week, I am certainly putting my time in travel. Yesterday I drove all the way north to Groningen and today I had to drive all the way south to Tilburg. In two days, Astrid and I have logged about 500 miles which is pretty significant for a country as small as the Netherlands.

Coming back down from Groningen yesterday, I stopped by Marum to talk to Mom. Yesterday was really difficult for while I wanted to (and did) tell her all about Africa, I realized how much I wanted to be telling her these things in person like I always used to do after coming home from work travel. And still whenever the plane lands, my first inclination is to send her a text telling her I have landed. The weather was beautiful and the stone was warm which was a nice change because usually my forehead gets cold while I lean against it.

I thought a lot about my mom last week too. Like what she would have done in Ethiopia during the day while I was giving training. And what she would have made of the fabrics – or shall we say started making and then jumped off to another project! And how many pictures she would have been taking and then the technical support demands that would have come when she wanted to view the pictures on something other than the camera. Mom had no patience with technical matters, her expectation was that personal electronics from e-readers to phones should just work all of the time. She’s not the only person in my life that has that expectation. Which makes it a good thing that I troubleshoot for free and until the problem is solved…

I noticed that on my journey to Addis Abebe, everyone seems to use the stairs. Especially in airports. Even coming in on the big 747, we disembarked via stairs instead of using a jet bridge. The airports have them, they just seem reluctant to use them. And then you get directed to shuttle buses which take you to a staircase and you climb stairs and then descend again as many times as needed. Pity my Fitbit had a dead battery! But that’s not my point really. In airports, with people and baggage, stairs are a hazard. When I was leaving for Nairobi, I had been watching a mother with a young son (under 2) and a daughter of about 8 in the boarding area. I was watching them because mother and daughter were both wearing a large hijabs and full length dresses. I was wondering where they were going and the daughter was so animated, playing with her brother. And also, I was thinking that I would not be able to get used to that kind of clothing and what ideas it represents. And how grateful I was that I had another choice.

As we were being assembled to go down a flight of stairs to the airplane somewhere out on the dark tarmac at 3AM, I ended up behind the family and their suitcase. I knew it was never going to work with the little girl carrying the suitcase down the stairs with her mother carrying her brother and all that fabric just waiting to be tripped over. So, I switched my carryon and said to the Mother “Let me help you” while reaching for her suitcase so I could carry it. It didn’t occur to me that she might not speak English – I just did it and grabbed for the suitcase. She turned to me, very surprised and said “thank you”. I would repeat this several times over the next couple of hours with all the stairs between Addis and Nairobi. Each time on the ground, I would give the suitcase to her daughter. All of a sudden the little girl looks right up at me and says “you are American, aren’t you?” I was so surprised that I blurted out “yes. She then proceeds to tells me that they live in Minneapolis and wants to know if I know where that is. She merrily begins chatting away about how they are coming to Kenya for a visit. She was adorable. The last words I said to her when I put them on the bus at the gate in Nairobi was that being a big sister was a very responsible job and I could see that she was doing a great job helping her mom. She positively glowed.

I remember thinking at the time when I left them to go to my connecting flight, how glad I was that she would be growing up with chances that would be different than those she would have had if her family didn’t live in the US. I have been thinking about her for the past couple of days. I realize what really drew me to them was the memories I had of travelling by air with my mom when my brothers were small and needed to be rodeoed. I remember taking flights with my mom as the family was moving again. My dad would already be on his new ship and we’d be coming along after the fact. Mom would be carrying Rupert and I was in charge of the twins. Which is probably the root cause of all their problems now 😉 Sometimes I would get to trail behind the flight attendants, passing out water, blankets, etc. But only after the boys were all asleep because they would have been jealous!

I got home yesterday afternoon. Lientje was missing and in the middle of the night last I saw her on the roof of the shed. She finally came around this morning and she has a wound on her cheek under her eye. She seems rather rattled so I think something must have taken her by surprise while I was gone. She looked like she had been doing some rough living. Moortje has obviously been busy because the tablecloth on the dining room table is looking rather the worse for wear. That gives me an excuse to get a new one, I just have to take the right measurements because you can buy them from a cutting off a roll at the Albert Cuyp market. Right now, the dogs are securely next to me. Henry under his fleece blanket and George pinning him down from outside the blanket. They had a bath this afternoon after our walk through the park. They don’t seem to make the connection yet between roll in something questionable and you get a bath when you get home!

Where to begin? My trip was just amazing. I am so glad that I went, that I didn’t get lost in the idea of how scary it might be. Addis Ababa is a city of contrasts. On one hand, you see eight story buildings going up and the scaffolding is not metal but rather made from tree trunks. It looks like it couldn’t possibly be substantial enough to hold people and equipment and it goes all the way up the buildings. On the same block are buildings that have been imploded or torn down and people have built tiny shelters in the rubble. And they live there. If you want to buy clothing or other goods, you walk down the streets and some of the more established storekeepers have a small lean-to set up like a store, with mannequins etc. But no doors and only three walls. Or you walk further and more junior storekeepers have a tarp or cloth laid out with their goods for sale. If you want shoes, you go to the ones who are selling shoes. Each one seems to specialize. And in between are countless shoeshine stands and women roasting ears of corn over a brazier or selling lemons or other single items.

In Ethiopia, coffee is served with popcorn. This is a surprisingly good combination. On the ground floor of the building I was working at, a lady had set up a small coffee salon in the entryway. She had a charcoal brazier and she would spend the day making coffee and popcorn. You tell her how many coffees you would like and then you take a seat on the very low plastic chairs (which I was worried I would break but they are surprisingly sturdy). She then begins the preparation work. Coffee beans are hand roasted over the charcoal, then ground in what looks like a very deep mortar and pestle. Then the ground coffee is put into a big pitcher style pot and the water is slowly added. They heat it over the charcoal and then turn it various ways. The pot is designed to be balanced even at an angle. And when it is perfect, they pour it into tiny cups and offer it to you with sugar. People are accustomed to this way rather than ordering at drive through. You can also get tea or a combination of coffee and tea called sprice. I had the sprice more than once, it is delicious.

I was invited to Eleni’s house for the coffee ceremony on New Year’s. There we had the full ritual, three pourings. I though I was just going for coffee but she cooked lunch for us and her sister. She made a vegetarian meal for me. I was so honoured. There so much work and effort that goes into the daily tasks of living in Ethiopia. Her house does not have running water so for everything that requires water, they get it from the well. And they use a lot of water.  You wash your hands in a ritual. The coffee cups and spoons must be washed between each serving of the ceremony. While at her house, we talked a lot about travel and family, loving your country, birth order (she is also the oldest) and how the education system works.  She has two university degrees.  When you are in high school , you are given a series of tests. From the results, a board decides what university program you will go into. There is no choice. Her first one was agriculture. So she has a major in that and worked in that field for a number of years. But her real passion was computer programming and software engineering. So her father found a way for her to go to the university a second time. And she majored in what she wanted. She is working on getting her driver’s license so she can go to visit her family more often since they live 275 kilometers away. I so enjoyed talking with her.

Friday night I was taken out to dinner to a restaurant that also serves as a cultural center. In other words, they have live music from many of the different Ethiopian tribes and dancers. It was so colorful and enjoyable! And since many people fast in Ethiopia on Wednesdays and Fridays, I only had to ask for the fasting menu, which is completely vegan! I couldn’t choose which was my favorite.

My flight back left at 425AM so that meant heading to the airport at 2AM. Transiting back through Nairobi, we had to go through an Ebola check at the terminal. I passed.

I will write more tomorrow. Right now I have to go and catch up on work from last week. Working on a Sunday evening, American style!

As much as I am writing in my journal, I have to say I miss adding a few posts. So, this will be a quick one because as I have learned over this past week, electricity and network connections are not to be taken for granted.

Tomorrow is the Ethiopian New Year. They have a thirteen month calendar. 12 months of 30 days and then a 13th month of 5 days. They also have a self imposed time system of plus six hours. This took me a couple of minutes to get used to. For example, instead of saying we will start at 9am, it is we will start at 3. This isn’t a time zone change but rather the way they choose to tell time.

I have been learning a few words. For example, coffee is binna. And I learned the word for “thank you” – ah me sa gen la ho . If I think about the syllable order, I get tripped up so my method is to spit it out as fast as possible.

Tomorrow I have been invited to a traditional coffee ceremony at someone’s house so I am looking forward to it. It is a very big honor.

I am having a little difficulty seeing people walk around with the live animals that are shortly on their way to becoming dinner. You buy your protein live and take it home. And here, the green peppers are the deadly hot ones not the red ones.

This is has been an amazing experience so far. That seems like such an inadequate adjective. I’ll write more when I get home. I miss the pets and could not imagine them living here.

I kind of chuckled when the doctor gave me my vaccinations on Sunday and then told me what I would experience. I would get a mini case of yellow fever, etc. Not me, I thought, side effects are for the 1 in every 50 that they are always talking about at the end of drug commercial. But that’s not actually what he said. He said everyone experiences these symptoms. I have been walking around with a set of non contagious illnesses this week. It has made paying attention to people and meetings very difficult.

And tomorrow I start the malaria tablets. Much better safe than sorry and the instructions say to take them daily, at the same time with a fatty food. Actually the literal translation is a fat rich food. Nice. Perhaps ice cream? Or French fries or pizza? My options are endless as long as I remember to take them at the same time every day!

Doing laundry right now and downloading all kinds of things to my computer so I can be fully prepared to teach next week even without internet or other infrastructure. Tomorrow I will drop off Astrid – she’s going to get a new radiator while I am gone.

I will pack tomorrow while the boys are out with their dog group. All the pets get weird when they see the suitcases come out. Moortje has picked up a new habit of sleeping on the dining room table. Don’t worry, it is covered with a table cloth and I swap it out when guests come 😉 He is curled up here right now, snoring. You would think I didn’t have various pet beds all scattered around the house with comfortable cushions! Apparently he doesn’t like comfort while he sleeps either!

I have to say, the idea that a doctor comes to your house and gives you vaccinations on a Sunday afternoon without a surcharge strikes me a big mark for civilization. I had a quite a cocktail today of immunizations. Yellow Fever, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, hepatitis A and to be followed with anti-marial tablets starting the day before I go and DEET spray against the bugs that carry Dengue. I feel more adventurous already just with the vaccinations!

After cocktail hour, we went for a long walk because it was momentarily dry and the boys had been waiting patiently all day. Today we had two young businessmen come to the door. Well, to the stoop in front of the door because Henry scared them with his barking. They were about 8 and they were interested in doing chores for ice cream money. I was very impressed and gave them the recycling to take out and bring back my carrier. Which they did. They were thrilled with the 2 euro coin I gave them. They couldn’t believe their good luck. I hope that whenever they get their ice cream, it is good. Of course, one scoop is about 1.50 euros so they still had to earn some more from my neighbors.

I have been practicing the banjo more regularly since I have some free time. It is coming along. I think by Wednesday’s lesson, my teacher will be able to tell that I have practiced.

I have been doing some research today on Ethiopia so I can have somewhat of an idea of what to expect. Tomorrow it is off to get the visa. And once that’s done, then travel can be booked. Oh, and during this week I have to pull together everything that I am going to be teaching for a week. It is a good thing I can improvise when necessary.

I am trying to strike the balance between my mom’s method of travel and mine. To prepare just enough without building up too many preconceived notions or anxieties. Mom always had me to be her logistics coordinator so she could just have big dreams about going and what she might see. I have to figure out how to fill both roles – dreamer and logistics. I will let you know how that goes!

Eliza is back in Amsterdam tomorrow night for one last work thing so we have plans to meet up. I am looking forward to it. It seems like everyone else I know right now is either just leaving for vacation or going within the week so it will be quiet around here for a few weeks. Hah, that sounds like I am Super Socialite. Definitely not!

This morning, I dropped Rupert and Meredith off at Schiphol for their flight back to Chicago. It seems so strange to be sitting here on the big orange couch with just the dogs. The boys are in their post dinner coma so if it wasn’t for the sounds of the neighbors next door, it would be completely quiet. After the past couple of weeks of having the house filled with laughter, voices, burps and other noises, it seems really different.

They should be landing soon in Chicago, in about an hour. Never let it be said that I stop being the big sister that needs to know exactly when people have made it home safely. I did manage not to cry this morning when I dropped them off. Partially because I basically kicked them out at the curb and squeezed them both twice really hard and told them something along the lines of “get lost”.

We have had so many great adventures over the past few weeks. We saw the Netherlands in miniature at Madurodam. When we were kids, my Opa would take us there and walk with us patiently among all the buildings. We were four adults this time (even Joanne) and we all loved it. For sure it gave us lots of inspiration to see other things in the Netherlands like the castle Muiderslot. We visited castle Muiderslot yesterday morning, a mere 15 minutes from my house and had enough time to explore before I had to be back for my banjo lesson. It is a castle that originally dates from the 12th century but was rebuilt in 1370 – so modern you know! My favorite fun fact was that Dutch people used to sleep sitting up because the belief in the 16 and 1700s was that if you slept lying down, you could lose all your brains. Children were allowed to sleep lying down because they hadn’t yet developed the ability to reason. Followed closely by the fact that the beds had a cord you could pull and it would open a ventilation panel in the roof of the bed to let all the collected gases and aromas out that people generated during the night.

We also explored Haarlem while they were here with the dogs in tow. Haarlem was so cute that I needed a dose of speed metal or other antidote to the cuteness of it. If I decide to leave Amsterdam, Haarlem would be high up on the list of places to go. Tiny little car free streets with houses that are so old. The New Church dates to 1646. Then around corners are these little cafes and restaurants just tucked in somewhere under the wisteria and the planter boxes. Seriously, it was so cute it was killing me.

We also went to Alkmaar that same day. High up on the cuteness factor as well. We had dinner with our Dutch family at a little Italian restaurant called Mamma Peppino’s. The food was so good we stopped after the pasta course and went to the dessert course. We never even made it to the meat/fish. I was the designated driver so I only got to sample sips of the wine. Don’t feel sorry for me though, I made sure I enjoyed my dessert and my personal pot of espresso.

And on other days, we stayed in Amsterdam and we had leisurely evenings eating Indonesian. We also tried out bowling which was HILARIOUS. We also went to De Parade. When I was there with Marianne, we kept talking about the coupe de compress – the cotton candy hair. I completely misunderstood Marianne and thought we would have to go to a hair salon to have it done. No, they were doing it right there on the grounds under the tree with a couple of air compressors. Meredith and I had to do it! It was so awesome. We wanted to go back the next day and have it redone again for our family dinner party but they weren’t open yet, which was a big disappointment. We both had towers of hair standing up. Of course, Meredith has much longer hair than I have so her cotton candy hair was amazing. They don’t use any gel or spray or anything, strictly an air compressor. Can you guess what I might be buying myself for Christmas?

I picked up my new passport this morning. Sunday the doctor will come to the house and give me my vaccinations for traveling to Ethiopia. Monday I will pop down to Brussels on the high speed train to get my visa in person. That is the closest Ethiopian consulate. And it is first come first served so I intend to be standing on their front door before they open. I have been doing some reading on Ethiopia and it sounds like I am definitely going to be in for an adventure!

I returned the loaner bikes today that my corner bike shop had fixed me up with. If I was really Dutch, I would have found a way to ride my bike while towing the two loaner bikes. Instead I walked in between the two bikes and got there more slowly but with less damage to anyone passing by.

Going into the office tomorrow and as long as the weather holds, it will be a bike morning. It will be good to see my coworkers again too. It is almost too quiet right now!

Or at least the houseguests. After train rides to Paris and Brugge and a trip on a tour bus to see the wind mills, the Move Goddess and Rose Princess returned to Seattle. Currently, the guest suite at Hotel Small Dog is occupied by Rupert and Meredith. Or perhaps I should refer to them as Lead Instructors from the School of Chillaxing. In other words, they specialize in the cross disciplinary study of chilling out and relaxing. They are a good influence.

This time last year, my last little bunny passed away. She was well over 12 and the last of the 5 Mom and I had rescued. She went in her sleep overnight and is buried in Lawyerella’s backyard along with her sister, underneath a fig tree. Today is also the 12th anniversary of Ninja’s passing. He’s the Akita we grew up with. As my mother was fond of saying if she had to do it all over again, she would have had four Akitas instead of four kids!

Today Eliza left Amsterdam, going back to the proper city of London. We had a last dinner on Wednesday at Café Goos a few blocks away with her friend, James and Rupert and Meredith. I know our table was laughing for hours. I am not sure if all the other tables understood all the crazy stories from the overgrown kid in big boy pants (Rupert). And this morning James came to drop off Eliza’s bike, two boxes of tea, a bottle of vodka and a bottle of red wine. I didn’t really think today would actually come but it did.

In a couple of weeks, it looks like I will be going to Africa for work for a week. I think it was sort of a case where I definitely leapt without looking. However, I think it will come out okay. At any rate I will end up with more story material! I will know more next week. This is not something I had anticipated but hey, with some serious vaccinations and a visa (which I will have to go down to Brussels to get) I will be ready to go. After all, it has rained here all day and it will be nice to get somewhere warm.

Paris today with the Move Goddess. We took the high speed train from Amsterdam Centraal. Those great deal emails from the Dutch Railway always reel me in and indeed, that’s how I had found tickets to Paris. Paris is so much larger than Amsterdam. It is beautiful in a very neo-classical way but so enormous compared to Amsterdam. And I will admit to missing the Dutch sense of orderliness and organization. I did get a chance to try out my high school French, which was fun.

My mom moved to Paris when she was 18. Being there today, I gained a new appreciation for her frequent references to having to learned to drive in Paris and so she was therefore unafraid of anything on the road. Looking up at all the old buildings with their garret windows reminded me of her stories of the families she was an au pair for. Having to go all the way down to the ground floor to use the bathroom and the overly friendly mannerisms of the men in Paris. I could imagine her there as an 18 year old, rebelling against the structure of the Netherlands and living in her little apartment. Of course, she didn’t stay an au pair for long, she went from there to working at the Dutch embassy. Definitely a wise career move.

After walking from Gare du Nord to Montmarte and wading through the tourists lined up for Sacre-Coeur, we had a lovely lunch of crepes in a tiny creperie up high above the city. And although the throngs of people were less than a block away, you couldn’t hear them at all. It was delicious!

Earlier this week, we had a little urban adventure. Rather than throwing my guests into the madness that is biking to the Centrum, we have been taking journeys with increasing amounts of traffic and stuff going on. On Wednesday, we rode to the Centrum and met up with Joanne and Eliza at a very special brewery, De Prael. From there, we took a walk through the famous red light district, while savoring bonbons from Puccini. And after souvenir shopping, we went to dinner which was really great. It was an evening full of laughter and good conversation. And I enjoyed seeing so many people from different parts of my life interact.

Rupert and Meredith arrived this evening after stopping over in Dublin for the day. We will pick them up tomorrow and then get on a big tour bus going for 6.5 hours into the country side, stopping at wind mills, a cheese market and a historic fishing village. You could say I am really getting my inner tourist out. I am looking forward to it, strangely enough. It will be really good to squeeze my little brother. And to seeing Meredith be the voice of reason for all of us.

Saturday evening I went to de Parade with Marianne and Joris. They graciously let me crash their date. It is in a park and it consists of various tents that offer all different kinds of performances. You can listen to the introduction or preview outside of each tent and then decide if you want to buy a ticket and see the whole thing. And in between are all kinds of food places and wine stalls. You can eat and drink really well. My favorite was the Silent Disco. At first I thought this was a really weird concept and there was no way I was going to do that. Then I realized that I should just try it, no one knew me so what the hell? Silent Disco is that everyone wears headphones through which music is played by a DJ just like a disco and you all dance in silence in a big cage. Here’s what it looked like…

The Move Goddess and her BFF, Rose Princess, arrived Sunday morning. Right now, the two of them are organizing my terrace, pruning back the hydrangeas and generally turning it into something from “House Hunters International”. I tried to half heartedly redirect them but they were on a mission. So, I am sneaking in a quick blog post!

We picked up their bikes today and took a familiarization ride through the park. I am not ready, as responsible tour guide, to throw them into the mess that is biking in the Centrum. We will need a bit more practice tomorrow first and perhaps they will need a couple of beers and then we’ll try the chaos.

Today was a trip to the Rijksmuseum where I left them so as to go on to my banjo lesson. It was a great lesson today. My teacher remarked that it went really well and what had changed about me? Heh. I guess the secret was that I didn’t get mad at myself every time I made mistake today, I just kept going. Oh, and at one point, I asked him to stop playing along on the guitar so I could concentrate. He took that pretty well.