it seems like forever

First things first, here's thanx to Geron for fixing my blog...somehow, I had forgotten my username and couldn't access the blog a few weeks ago, but she's amazing and fixed it. And I miss my neighbors...a lot ;) Anyhow, so now it's been one week exactly. I'm so exhausted, I have been getting tired so much easier & earlier. The family is great, though. Albert den Ouden has a great sense of humor and likes to joke with his family, as well as us. Marja is very helpful and is just a great host mum. Ciska also is quite fun to be around, as well as Jaco, who is a great tease. Sometimes they remind me of myself and Nick a couple years ago :) rather rambunctious, perhaps. I just talked to Oma yesterday, though we had some trouble--first the phone I was talking on died, and then she called back and I accidentally pushed the off button...anyhow, so our conversation was cut off. Though hopefully I will be able to see her next weekend. So, as for this past week--Monday was basically introduction day--we toured the GH school building, and then had a very long session of "learning and working in teams." Every other morning this week we've had Dutch class from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm! It is so SO much Dutch. Although it has definitely helped, it is not always a joyful morning. I have to get up at 7 am (yes, I know that's not so bad), and we leave around 8 am, so that we can get to the school met de fiets (by bicycle) by 8:30 for class. It's about a 25 minute bike ride to the school. Tuesday evening, almost our entire NSPICE group, including our coordinator, went to de Joffer, a popular bar for students on Tuesday nights :) Anyhow, it was a good time, though I had to febreze the heck out of my jeans the next day...Wednesday evening we had the Stamppotbuffet with all the host families, NSPICE students, professors, and our "buddies" from the GH school. Thursday evening we started our group Bible study. Today, Friday, after school, Maggie and I made a detour through the city centrum down the shopping street :) And later we accompanied the den Ouden family to a play that Ciska acted in, which, naturally, was all in Dutch but we enjoyed it anyways. We are looking forward to our first group field trip to Amsterdam next week Wednesday. As for food, we've had everything from frikkadel to pannekoeken (my personal favorite). Though yesterday I was craving grilled cheese sandwiches and raw chocolate milk like none other. Oh, and Mom you'd be proud, I've squished 2 spiders in my room, granted they were only daddy-long-legs and I used my shoe, but still...so, any questions? Oh, and if you join Skype, on the internet, and you have a headset/microphone, we can talk (like on the phone) for FREE! It works really well!