hold high the roofbeams!

i watched yesterday's game like i watch a horror movie, hiding behind my knees, fists clenched, shrieking at every almost-shot (to the total confusion of our cat), commenting on every move made (to the utter annoyance Luuk), and hoping desperately that the right guys would win.

oh the relief when they did!

down the to last second i watched in this manner, convinced that somehow the other team would manage to make two goals in the last few minutes, seconds of the game. but Mexico held on and played beautifully.

i've never been so proud.

now let's see if they can keep it up!

fever.

i fell asleep on the balcony while trying to do my home-study Dutch course laying on a towel and a pillow in the sun. yes, i am so motivated.

another barbeque tonight, this time at someone elses house. i feel south african. we should call it a braai.

yesterday, the first game played by the Dutch team, saw 40% of employees calling in sick or taking the day off. that's several million people. and they all dressed in orange. and ran around their cities singing songs and waving hats and drinking beer at 1:30 in the afternoon. i didn't see that first goal in the first minutes of the second half cause i was still on the balcony watering flowers, but i didn't miss it - i knew immediately when the entire town of Gouda burst into the loud yelp of surprise followed by "gooooooal!!!!".

next NL game, this Saturday, with the Zoetermeer boys and their girlfriends and wives, plus barbeque. it's gonna be super mooi!

but first Mexico vs France. i'm already getting nervous....

for those keeping track.

hmm, it's been a while. let's see... what's happened in the last...however many months it's been.

- there was madrid for four, no, five days. great city. lovely old buildings and romantic alleys. 8eur 3-course day menus at every restaurant in town. cheap but good wine, mmmm. rows and rows of tastey olive oil at every supermarket for under 10eur a bottle! meat. and more meat. and chorizo. and sausage. bacon. grilled steak. ham. over-cooked-veggies-soaked-in-bacon-fat. didn't have real vegetables the whole weekend. fantastic museums. trees. shopping paradise for those with money...not so much us then... oh, an accidental discovery of the traveling midieval themed market with costumes, music, herb stands, and meat. finally, the return home with bags stuffed full of meat, cheese, wine, and olive oil. oh, and a whole dried pork leg (mmmmm, homer-simpson-gurgle). then, postponed return home due to volcanic ash, followed by lines, many many hours standing in lines...and 250eur pp later, another attempt at returning home a day later. all in all: a good little trip.

- weekend away with bible-study group. good times. involved lots of "settlers" and this new game "agricola". piling on the addictions here...

- several barbeque parties at our place.

- flowers and herbs growing like crazy. i'm especially proud of my cilantro plant. he's huge. i should name him...

- hung out with morgan for a brief 5 hrs during stop in Amsterdam on her way home from the other side of the world. that was good. real good.

- several weddings, Liesbeth's included.

hmm, other than that, not a whole lot going on. we help out with the youth group (turns out Luuk is fantastic with unruly way-too-energetic preteen boys who think girls aren't cool enough to listen to). i still hang out with my old ladies. still looking for a job. still have a bit too much free time on my hands, though i'm filling it with two dutch courses (one for myself and one for the dutch government, immigration rules) and in september i'm gonna do a coaching course. and today i spent several hours comparing yoga and pilate courses and stumbled across some photography, painting, and massage courses that look interesting.

oh, right, and on june 30, i get my masters diploma. finally.

life goes on. :)