Ellen In Amerika!"MY EMIGRATION TO AMERICA AND MY ADJUSTMENT TO LIFE IN CALIFORNIA SINCE SEPTEMBER 2008"

Not so much to tell, actually. Thursday I had the evening shift at the hospital. All went very well.

Yesterday morning, I got a call from the school district. They offered me a job at my favorite school. So, despite being scheduled for the evening shift again at the hospital, I decided to work for that school during the day (about 6  hours). An hour later my contact person called and she asked me for another school, with a severely handicapped person. I did not know the school and told her about the other school offering. She said this school has more priority. I could not refuse it so Dan dropped me off at that school. To be honest, it was almost as nice as my favorite school. The kids were about 6-7 years old.  Most of them were so funny and adorable. One boy could not speak very well, but when he spoke out loud, he said the most inappropriate language. It was really shocking! At first I thought I heard it wrong, so I said: Excuse me? He repeated it literary and watched me, to see how I would react. Luckily I was able to stay calm. I told him to watch his language,  and then I ignored him for some time. At the playground he could play very nicely, and then suddenly, he ran to another kid, with a big smile on his face. I first thought, oh, he knows that other kid. But then, he jumped up to that kid and hit him hard at his ear. It happened in a flash. He ran away but I grapped his arm, and dragged him back to that boy he just hit. The boy was really in pain. I asked “my” student, why he did that. It was amazing, but his eyes were getting darker and he refused to say anything. I asked him to appologized to the boy, but he kept his eyes half closed and did not say a thing. I put him down in the middle of the playground and told him he was not allowed to play. After 5 minutes I asked him if he could say sorry now, and he did. By that time, the recess was over, and we went back to the class. The teacher of “my” class had not seen it happen, so I told her. She said I handled it fine. Because it was the first time, I had no idea how much the “bad”  boy understands situations.

The rest of the day went really well with the kids, and around 2:30 PM I went home. The bike  ride was nice again. At home I did some little things, made my dinner, put the food for Dan on the stove and changed clothes. Then at 4:30 PM, I drove to the hospital. The evening shift was very busy. Very funny is that one of the IT guys, who has his office next to ours, is a big field hockey fan. The Dutch field hockey teams are doing a very good job. He knew so much about the Dutch teams. We talked about it, and it was fun to see how enthusiastic he was.

Today and tomorrow I have two split shifts again. I am absolutely not very happy with these shifts. Anyway, it is getting late here, I have to make dinner and then hurry back to the office. I hope you all have a nice weekend!

Oh … by the way … another earthquake! I did not feel it, but Dan did. I was at the hospital during my evening shift. It was pretty close. Here are the details:

Magnitude		3.9 – local magnitude (Ml)
Time		Friday, May 14, 2010 at 8:19:01 PM (PDT) Saturday, May 15, 2010 at 3:19:01 (UTC)
Distance from		Leo Carrillo State Beach, CA – 13 km (8 miles) WNW (294 degrees) Port Hueneme, CA – 14 km (9 miles) ESE (115 degrees) Camarillo, CA – 14 km (9 miles) S (190 degrees) Ventura, CA – 30 km (19 miles) SE (134 degrees)
Coordinates		34 deg. 5.5 min. N (34.091N), 119 deg. 3.9 min. W (119.066W)
Depth		17.9 km (11.1 miles)
Quality		Fair

The morning started very nice. Dan was having the day off, and we had a nice breakfast outside with warm muffins and cream cheese. These are addictive! The sun was nice and warm and for a change, the wind wasn’t blowing so hard.

After breakfast, Dan and I had to go to the notary for some official papers for the house and from there we went to the townhall and to the courthouse in Ventura. This all was done in less than 2 hours! A record for us. Because it was lunch time, we walked downtown Ventura and had a little lunch outside. It felt like vacation! It is nice to see that there are more and more bikers here. Not only the sportsmen but also women and men like us, doing their little groceries on their bikes, and bringing their kids to their clubs and schools.

Back at home, Dan worked for Ruysdael, and I added the Tilapia fish pie recipe in the section on fish recipes, in the recipes tab in the top menu bar. Then I did some things in the house and the backyard, and I sat down in the backyard and finished my book. That was really relaxing.

Around 5.00 PM the glow of the nice day vanished. I got a call from a Dutch friend here in California. She told me the horrible news about the plane crash in Tripoli where 102 people died, and among them 61 Dutch persons. As you all probably know, 1 little Dutch boy survived. I checked the internet and learned more about this disaster. I feel so sorry for the people who died in that crash and for their families. They have to go through a horrible time.

Rest in Peace To the Victims  and my Condolences to the Families.

Today my oldest brother Jos and his wife Truus, are having their 38th anniversary! Congrats to you two! I hope they have had a wonderful day. 38 years ago (I was 13 years old), their wedding was on Ascension Day (the Ascension of Christ into Heaven).  In the Netherlands, people get that day off. They often take the Friday off also. That is how they create a long weekend, like here with Memorial Day and Thanksgiving Day. Anyway, at the wedding of my brother and his wife, I was one of the acolytes during the service  in the church. I felt very proud but also very nervous. The whole day was nice but I do not remember that much about it anymore  I do remember there were so many friends of theirs! And, of course….I know I wore a beautiful dress And another fun thing to tell is that our wedding was at their house, 30 months ago!

Speaking of marriage, yesterday, we worked on the papers for the renewal of my resident card. At one point I thought, where is our marriage certificate book…This morning, I got a bit concerned about it, and started to look for it. I searched the house for the little book at least 10 times. Every closet, every drawer, every bag, really everything has been examined, but it was not there. I thought, I must have thrown it away by accident. Then I even had the nerve to think they never gave it to us…nahhh, not really Ellen, because there is proof! A picture with us having it in our hands!  So, I looked again in the guest bedroom closet and finally, more by coincidence than anything else, I found it in a front pocket of a small suitcase. It must have been there since I arrived in the country! Shame on you, Ellen! During the time of all that stress, I had a nice talk with my friend Sonja. That was a very nice intermezzo. My sister Lotty came on line, and we also talked for a bit. The rest of the day was not very special rather than doing my normal things.

We watched the news. There was so much sad and weird news. In China and Canada there were strange stories about the sinkholes. I had never heard of them. It is kind of scary when you think of it. And then the horrible oil disaster in the Gulf.  It will take generations before this pollution is gone. I hope for the people and the natural habitat there, that the leak will be repaired really soon! The tornadoes in Oklahoma was another trauma this country has to deal with. Already 20 people died and so many houses are destroyed. And there are new tornadoes on the way already.

I do not know what to think about the news that conservative leader David Cameron has become UK’s new prime minister after the resignation of Gordon Brown. The whole election went really strange. Hopefully this man will help England to become a strong nation again. There is a lot that needs to be fixed in that country.

Next month the Netherlands have their elections for a new parliament (Kabinet). And also next month the FIFA World Championship Soccer will start. Now that is good news!!  I hope I can watch it here. I have not figure out yet what the time difference is with South Africa. I hope so much The Netherlands will win it this year. I even have no idea if they make any change. I should call one of my brothers, they will know! For the Netherlands, soccer is what American Football is for the US!

Saturday, the split shift at the hospital went very well. In the morning, I worked with my male colleague, and we had some good laughs. He is a great instructor also. After work, Dan picked me up, and we went to get the groceries. Because we were almost out of a lot of things, our shopping cart looked more like one for a big family! The receipt looked that way also!!!

At home, we put everything in the pantry and the fridge, and then we had a small bite. Then I already had to make dinner. I made a fishpie with layered teaspoons of margarine, tilapia fish, tomatoes, onions, sharp cheddar cheese, seasoning, and breadcrumbs. It was a big success! After dinner, Dan dropped me off at the hospital, and I was afraid it would be very quiet, but it was actually pretty busy! I worked with another colleague, and she is also good in training. She let me do a lot of the code procedures, and they all went well! She was having a hard time though. Her son had a basketball game and went out with his team for dinner. She had contact him through sms. He would walk from the restaurant to the hospital and from there he would be picked up by a family member. After 2 hours, her son (14 years old) was still not there. His cell phone was off and therefore she was very worried. We both tried to locate him. Finally after 2 and a half hours, her mom called and said that he was found. He was still at that restaurant with his team. We had called that restaurant earlier to ask if he was there, but the owner had said: No one was there! So silly! Anyway, she was very happy he was safe. I told her that I knew exactly how she felt. I have been through that too many times with my sons!!

Dan picked me up again, and at home we watched some Law and Order episodes. We had nice wine and tortilla chips with Queeso dip, mmmmmmmmm!! Of course, I fell asleep during the second episode. Ryan wanted to watch another episode, but Dan told him he had to go to bed too. He had attended a birthday party the night before, and he had not seen his bed before 3.00 AM!!

Sunday morning, we slept in. Dan gave me, when I woke up, a sweet Mother’s Day card, and he made a wonderful Mother’s Day breakfast, eggs Benedict with orange juice. They were so good! Thomas had sent a nice email for Mother’s Day, and Niels and I talked for a while on the phone. He also had sent an E-card for Mother’s Day. We were planning to go hiking, but because we were busy with working for Ruysdael Design and because Ryan was picked up late by his mother, we stayed home.  Late in the afternoon, I made some snacks, and we watched our wedding video again. I have to confess, it is still my favorite video. It is so very well captured by my brother with the most beautiful background music you can imagine. Another reason it is so wonderful to watch is because I see my sons, my family and friends again.  Again, I got emotional by watching it. After dinner, we went to visit our friends Annet and Steve. We had a wonderful evening, and I feel blessed we met them and that we became such good friends! When we came home, Dan still had to work for a new customer. I was pretty tired, so I went to bed to read my book. I might have read one page and then I was already asleep!

This morning, I expected a call from the school district, so I hurried to be ready to go….but they did not call! For a moment that was a big disappointment but then I thought, I have more than enough to do here. So my day started early with doing my chores in and outside the house.  I also had a nice phone call with my friend Coby. Shortly after I finshed our talk, my other friend Annick called and she came by for having lunch here. It was nice to see her again and to hear how she is doing.

Yes, it is wonderful to have such nice friends, here and in the Netherlands. I feel very lucky. And on top of that, I have a wonderful husband, great children and family, what else can a woman want?

For dinner I had made tortilla’s. I used now also cilantro in it, and to be honest, it made it more authentic. I sliced a jalapeño pepper in it, and that made it nice and spicy. The only bad thing about it was that it stayed on my fingers, even after washing my hands over and over again After dinner, Dan and I walked to the stores and bought some wine and orange juice. Now we are gonna work on the paperwork for renewing my resident card.  Maybe we will watch later 24!