halloween

It was a bit weird this year...all the kids dressed pretty evil for the most part over here in the Netherlands. Mostly it was what they were selling in the one shop. I took the opportunity to buy some costumes while we were in America from walmart...I know - I'm a complete slacker! I don't care! I say it with pride!!! I remember when the girls were snow white and cinderella. I bought the cheap costumes and then spent HOURS rhinestoning them to dress them up and make them stand out some - they didn't care. It didn't matter to them that I glued in a painstakingly intricate pattern...so this year we went the no hassle route!

The school...I kid you not had 3 seperate parties. Classroom parties, After school party and an in-school all school party. So at least the kids got to wear their costumes a lot! It was a bit exhausting for me though running between 3 classrooms....back and forth and back and forth trying to make things even...

Since we moved here in August we have:

Started school

found a house

worked on procuring said house

lived in a hotel

continuous efforts to become residents of this stinkin' country

not had any boxes

gotten our boxes

gone back to the states for David's mom's funeral

had Angelina's Birthday

had Madelyn's Birthday

had Thanksgiving

had our first snow

gone to belgium

gone to germany

I've auditioned

been in the musical production of Shoah in Amsterdam

auditioned in Paris

Girlcationed in Kathmandu

Visited friends in France and vacationed there

auditioned

got cast in a dutch movie

worried about friends who are not near me

tried new restaurants

toured parts of holland

gone to a greek school play

gone to a thanksgiving program at school

attended numerous school parties

had halloween

halloween parties

halloween party at school x 2

ballet classes

unpacked a few boxes

gone to the temple

gone to church...tried to make friends...sigh

taken some headshots of a friend, makeup application included

researched the biz here...plotted and planned

started trying to get a webpage

sigh....after all of this list I completely understand why I haven't been able to keep up on my blog!!!!!!!!!!!

It is coming though...oh about all of the listed items....promise, cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye....well, you can skip the needle part! It doesn't sound too pleasant.

A reminder

There are good people in the world.

Sometimes you forget that living in the Netherlands - land of standoffishness. But this weekend in Paris I was reminded. People said hello, they smiled, they offered to help carry luggage, they served with a positive and prompt manner...it was like I was in the twilight zone. Still in Europe - just a different part. I found that, I too, had become less warm and inviting in comparison. I REFUSE TO ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN AGAIN! I am making that commitment.

One of the bigger, more time consuming bits of news is that I auditioned for a movie in Paris. I didn't really have time to sightsee...much. I enjoyed watching the people, racing through the streets to get to a location I thought was closer than it actually was. My feet were tired and my french was rusty, but somehow I still made it through. How? Because people were nice! At the end of my audition, one of the other girls took me to a computer, helped me book my train ticket and went with me on the metro and helped me get my tickets squared away. All I could do in recompense was purchase her pineapple juice. It felt odd - because I wanted to thank her in a much better way! She was soooo nice - and she did it for no reason at all. But mostly, she reminded me the extent we should go to for others, even those we don't know. I owe her big time for that reminder...because in Holland it is far and few between at times.

I should say that my theatre friends (LOVE YOU!) are the exception to this rule - they were warm and inviting as well. But for the most part - I simply don't feel the love here yet.

sidebar

It is always risky writing a blog on a hispeed train, but I figured I would give this a go. It has been two weeks since my return from my Nepal Girlcation and those two weeks have been some of the most intense two weeks of my life. You know those two weeks right after we had Angelina move in and then Parker was born and we literally went from 1 to 3 kids in less than 24 hours...and the chaos that ensued? These two weeks have been much like that. Crazy. First, we must consider the rigging up of the home while I was away so that it would be operational...and it must have worked because everyone is still alive. Then the decompression chamber after Nepal...normally, that would be my comfy bed held in my husbands arms, but I literally got off the plane in Amsterdam and went straight into dress rehearsals and performances for Shoah, the Musical. Oh, I haven't talked about that yet? I will. It was quite the experience and I learned a lot - including that I need to revamp my career. But not now. Then we had Angelina's 9th birthday and Madelyn's 8th birthday. There was also a lot of phone calling to London and France, finally resulting in scathing e-mails from my fingertips to important people - ultimately getting me an audition with a producer - which is how I find myself on a train getting sick at the moment from typing and reading....so I must bid you adieu already...can't show up to the audition green.

Amber