Living for 2 years in the USA now!! 31 August 2010

Date: 2010.08.31 | Category: My life in the USA | Response: 6

Two years…I hardly can believe it. Is it that short? Is it that long? Two years ago, I quit from my wonderful job at the ABN AMRO bank in Amsterdam, and then Dan and I had our goodbye party with the Dutch Family and friends.

Two years ago, we said goodbye to my sons and their girlfriends, to my brothers, sisters and their spouses, to my wonderful friends, and we flew away…to that big country, far, far away. My goodness, what a huge step it was. It still is to me a huge step I’ve made 2 years ago. The different life I live now.. Living in a beautiful house with the best man ever. Who would have thought I would make so many wonderful friends, find work and feel so adjusted to this land, to its people. But, it has been 2 wonderful, happy years with the best husband in the world. Who would have thought, my sisters and their spouses visited us. My oldest son and nephew and ex-colleagues of the Bank, visited us. My in laws flew in to visit us. So much warmth and love we received.

Most of the time, I do not feel I am an immigrant. Even when they ask me if I come from England, because of my accent, I still feel I am an inhabitant of this country. Don’t get me wrong; I am a Dutchie. Feeling very much attach to the Netherlands and my so-called roots there. Not only because all of my family lives there, but also because The Netherlands is in my blood. Tonight, we will go out for dinner. We still have to go out for dinner for Dan’s birthday, but now we combine that with Ryan’s last day of vacation and my 2 year anniversary here in America. Two years, I am blogging now. It started as a promise to my brothers and sisters, to keep them updated about my life here. Now, it is more a general blog about my life here and also about other issues that I think are fun to write about.  It has been a pleasure to express myself this way. It helps me to see my life here written down, and realizing I am very, very blessed.

Weekend, 28-29 August 2010

Date: 2010.08.29 | Category: My life in the USA | Response: 6

What a busy week, but most of it was so much fun. As I mentioned in my post last Tuesday, I had that interview, and I secretly thought it would be strange if I would not have the job. I mean, the interview went well, and I was first in rank………Oh well,  things not always goes the way you secretly expect…. They did not choose me….snik…:-( I found out that there are several reasons. First of all, the other candidate has more seniority (works longer for the school district), and second, she is bilingual. And here it is a big advantage to speak and write Spanish.  Oh well, up to the next one. In the meantime, I will keep working for the school that I have been working during the past 1 1/2 weeks as a substitute, and that is wonderful to do.

There is a little downside with working with children. All those “educational” songs, like “Do you know the ABC?” keeps bugging me when I am trying to sleep I have to do to “opening of the day” now, and it starts to become more natural as I do it more. At first it was pretty hard to keep the children’s attention, but it goes better and better now.

I think it is a good thing that after work, I can bike home. It is actually pretty relaxing to drive and re-think the day. Last Thursday, after work, I visited my friend Annet. She is back from her vacation in the Netherlands, and she had made a lot of nice pictures. She also brought Dutch coffee for me. It is fun to realize that, after living here for almost 2 years now, I can find my way with biking around in this large city. At first when I arrived in this town, I thought I could only be moving around from home to the nearby groceries store, and that’s it. Bit by bit, I expanded my comfort zone and now I feel relaxed and bike all over the place. It makes me feel here pretty much at home.

Today, I have the day off. Dan and I did some shopping and in the afternoon, I cleaned the downstairs area and relaxed in the backyard with my book. After dinner, Dan and I went to the gym and we later tonight we will watch a movie. Tomorrow I have to work the day shift at the hospital. Not sure I am happy with that, but for now I will not end that job.

From us to you: Have a wonderful week and I hope for my Dutch family and friends that the weather will get better over there!

Interview Tuesday 24 August 2010

Date: 2010.08.25 | Category: My life in the USA | Response: 4

One more week, and August is already gone. It is really amazing how times flies when you get older. I remember when I was a kid, a day could take forever! (Especially Sundays.) And now, before you know, a month has gone by, and you barely can remember what you’ve done all those days and weeks. Anyway, luckily I still remember we had a nice quiet, lazy weekend. Saturday was a kind of shopping day. Groceries and a visit at Barnes and Noble. Dan needed a cover for his Nook. He really is totally head over heels in love with this new gadget. I am so happy for him. After an early dinner, Dan brought me to the hospital for the evening shift. It was busy enough to make the time pass by quickly, so before I knew, Dan was there to pick me up again. Sunday we stayed home. In the morning, we had a Skype phone call with Marja and John, which was as always a treat for me! Dan also had a long talk with his dad and later that day with his mom. We had planned some activities we wanted to do, like bike riding, but we were just plain lazy. The weather is so beautiful lately, so we relaxed in the backyard and read our books under the umbrella. After a while we both fell asleep In the evening I started to prepare myself a bit for the interview I had today.

Monday  was again a great day with the kids, and most of them behaved pretty well (no spitting this time). In the evening I dug into my upcoming interview again, and Dan helped me tremendously. Today, around noon I drove from my school to the office of the schooldistrict. The interview went pretty well. I have a good feeling about it, but I am not certain of the job. There were other candidates. Because I am no. 1 in rank, I was first in line, but that does not mean I will be the one who gets the job. (Wishful thinking of me). The school representative and the schoolboard have to agree that I would be the perfect fit for the open position as a para educator III. If they don’t agree, no. 2 or 3 can get this job. I already heard that this happens to more candidates. We’ll see what happens. Anyway, the work at the school I work now, will continue so far. If I had a choice, I would love to have a permanent job there.

After the interview, I biked home and relaxed for a bit. Then I mowed the grass and pulled all the weeds out of the garden section. The orange tree has lots of fruits this year. It is so much fun to see how this section of the back yard is developing.

Tonight America’s Got Talent is on TV again. It is the semi finals. I believe there will be 3 semifinals. I am not sure I will watch it tonight.

Friday…weekend! 20 August 2010

Date: 2010.08.21 | Category: My life in the USA | Response: 5

Dan’s birthday was nice! After work, Dan and Ryan picked me up and we went home. Ryan had his big present with him. I decorated the chocolate cake with candles and whipped cream and Dan blew out the candles. From Ryan he received a futuristic, ergonomic keyboard and a funny birthday card. Dan was very pleased with this big gift from his son. He was also happy with my gifts, phew! He wanted for a long time a Kindle or the Nook from Barnes & Noble. I had bought the  Nook for him as well as a nice aftershave; Chrome from Azzaro. (Ladies, I highly recommend that you give it to your man. hmmmmmmm) Also, I gave him a pair of 501 Levis, which fitted him very well. After eating the cake, Dan went to his office, installed the keyboard and downloaded the first E-book for his Nook We were planning to go out for dinner but because of all the time consumed with the new toys Dan was playing with, I decided to make an Alfredo pasta with shrimp. To be honest, I think Olive Garden wants that recipe, it was delicious! As a side dish we had French bread with home made garlic butter. We all were stuffed. In the evening, we watched a bit of TV and went to bed not too late. It was a calm but wonderful birthday!

Last night, one of the many dogs here in the neighborhood started to bark at 4.30 AM for an hour! I could not sleep anymore, and I  felt a headache coming on. With the lack of sleep and the headache, it was not very pleasant how I felt when I got up this morning. The painkillers helped a bit, but after school, the headache came back with double force. I took a stronger painkiller and took a nap, which helped perfectly.

Today at school, the children did well. They were in general pretty calm and the new ones seem to adjust bit by bit to their new school. This weekend I only have to work the Saturday evening at the hospital. That leaves us enough time for having a nice weekend together.

We hope you all will have a wonderful weekend!

School started, great news, Birthday! 19 August 2010

Date: 2010.08.19 | Category: My life in the USA | Response: 4

It is warm here. Monday and Tuesday were my last free days. I worked around the house, did a lot of biking and took advantage of the nice weather by finishing my book in the back yard. I have found a new good author,  Jennifer Weiner.
Tuesday morning I had an appointment with my dermatologist for removing 4 “warts” on my arms. Two times of nitro oxygen treatment had not helped, so now he wanted to scrape them under local anastasia. The injections hurt a bit but I did not feel anything of the scraping. It was done quickly. I hope it will heal nicely.  Tuesday afternoon I checked the mail and finally a letter from the school district, regarding my interview. I did not have too much expectations of it, because I was not content with the last interview in front of the board. But…….out of 200 new and internal candidates, I had the highest score for everything (tests and interview performance), and I am 1st in rank for the first upcoming position as a para-educator III. I screamed like a high school girl! I was so surprised.  I called Dan and we cheered the good news.

Wednesday, my first day at school with the special need children started. It was so much fun again. There were a few new kids, and they were so upset their mommies and daddies left them behind with us. One little boy cried for 2 hours. We tried to comfort him and made him part of the activities, but he kept crying.  Suddenly he stopped and all looked okay.  One other boy, I knew from last year, started to spit at other children during recess time. When I walked toward him, he spit at me. Okay, I thought just leave him alone, asked the other kids to go somewhere else to play and ignore the boy. Later in class, he was not permitted to join us in the group session. We explicitly explained to him why he was not allowed to sit with us. He was not amused, I can tell you that. After school I saw I had a missed call. The school district called and they already want me to go for an interview next week to a school near by our house. Because I am on the first rank for the PE III position, I am the first to be invited. That feels pretty neat I’ll keep you updated!

And today, it’s Dan’s birthday!! Happy, happy birthday, my wonderful husband!I  made a chocolate cake with chocolate fudge topping. I will decorate it with whipped cream and writing when we are going to eat it. I hope he will like his presents we will give later today! Now I have to run, another school day for me!

Sale, Great beach/hiking weekend, 15 August 2010

Date: 2010.08.16 | Category: My life in the USA | Response: 6

Friday I had to do the weekly groceries, and because I entered the shopping mall from a different side, I passed Ross department store. This store, for those who don’t know, sells “designer clothes for very afortable prices,” and when they have sale, you might catch up with really good bargains. But sometimes the clothes they have aren’t my “style” or not my size. This time, however, I found very nice tops for an incredible price. I was totally happy!! After doing the groceries at the same mall, I biked home in a nice, sunny afternoon.

At home, I started to make dinner, and soon Dan arrived with Ryan. Because we were planning to watch a movie, I made some snacks ahead of time. This time, I made saltines topped with horseradish/cream cheese/square slices of ham. It tasted great! We decided to watch Date Night with Tina Fey and Steve Carell.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6SQqazrNY4 It was hilarious. We laughed the whole movie.

Saturday morning, while Ryan was still sleeping, Dan and I went to the gym and again, I believe, we lost “some”  calories After lunch, Dan took me to work for my evening shift at the local hospital. It went fine, I only had a bad stomachache. Luckily I did most of my shift with a colleague, so I could “escape” when it was necessary. Around 11.30 PM, Dan picked me up again, and we went home.

This morning, Dan made breakfast; pancakes! For me regular ones, for him and Ryan, blueberry ones.  Around 11.30 PM Niels, Melanie, Dan and I spoke on Skype. It was heartwarming to see and hear my son and his girlfriend again. After this talk, which I think was as important as vitamins, Dan, Ryan and I went to the Leo Carrillo Beach state park in Malibu. The weather was great, and the beaches were pretty packed. These Beaches are full of caves and rocks you can climb on. The tide was high, but I did not expected it was dangerous. Already within minutes my sandals and pants were wet. So I thought it would not hurt to go into the caves, the water would not come higher than my knees. I only did not expect, the waves would smash against the wall and then smash on me! I just had taken a picture, and in an instant, the water surprised me big time! I was soaking wet! brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…I stumbled out of the the cave to go into the sun. Dan and Ryan laughed and they had the “decency” to ask if I was all right! Yeah right!! After sitting for about 2o minutes in the sand and enjoying the beautiful beach, we walked under the freeway toward the mountains and started hiking/geocashing. We had to cross a campground. If we want to camp out in a tent or RV, we definitely will camp out there. You have everything there: a great campground with lots of big spaces under trees at the foothill of beautiful mountains to hike in and 2 minutes walking distance from the beach. If you are planning to spend your vacation in Southern California, you cannot ignore this beautiful part of the state. And on top of that, you are in between Santa Monica/LA and Santa Barbara. Enough to do, I think. And…… 30 minutes from our house

We’d only found 1 geocash. Around 5.00 PM we were home again. I have to say again, it is  a pleasure to live in this part of the world!

Here’s a gallery of our day.

Have a wonderful week!

Painting, America Got Talent, books, school assignment, 11 August 2010

Date: 2010.08.12 | Category: My life in the USA | Response: 3

Already it is Wednesday evening. Time flies!  So far a pretty easy week. Not much work other than in the house. Monday morning I received a phone call from the school district. They have a long term assignment for me with the school I like so much! I’ll start next Wednesday. I can’t wait, to be honest.

The backyard gate that I’d painted last week looks so nice, so I decided Monday to paint the back door of the garage in the same color, and it looks much better now. It was fun to do, mainly because it went very quick

Ryan had stayed over Sunday night. He and I had a nice brunch Monday morning, and he played his games. Around dinner time, his mother picked him up. My father in law called after dinner. He and Ann fled Missouri because of the extreme heat there and went for a 2 week vacation to Michigan, Buffalo NY and to Canada. I heard it is beautiful out there.

Tuesday, Was a very random day. I had a nice talk with my sister Marja. We talked a lot about our upcoming visit to the Netherlands, and she told us that they (my brothers and sisters and in laws), have postponed the family day from August toward November! Dan and I can be there now also! We both are very, very pleased with that!

In the afternoon, I biked to the postal office, and because it was such wonderful weather I took a side tour through  town to the stores, and then I went back home. In the evening, we went to the gym and I worked off a lot of “need to loose calories” After coming home, and taking a shower, I watched the recorded American Got Talent show. I fast forwarded it till I saw this:

Is’t it amazing? I believe everyone here in the States has seen this talented girl in several news shows on national TV!

Today, I went to the library and got myself some nice books. Last week, I finished a book of Sophie Kinsella. She is the author of the  Shopaholic series. This book of her, “Can you keep a secret?”  is even more hilarious. It made me burst into laughs several times. I can truly recommend this book to all of you who like humorous, chick flick books.  Also today, I ordered Dan’s birthday present on line for next week. I cannot tell what it is, because he probably will read this post as well Yeah, as if…….. I was always against shopping on line for birthday presents, but now, come to think of it, I start seeing it has some advantage over shopping in stores