Arrival!

We made it! The trip to the Netherlands was a long ordeal in the airports and airplanes. My flight from Anchorage to Minneapolis was delay a whole 6 hours. Needless to say, my connection to Grand Rapids was therefore missed, and I spent 7 hours in the Minneapolis airport. That flight did arrive on time in Grand Rapids, a whole 5 hours before I needed to be ready to get on the flight to Detroit. During this time I was able to get a meal with my Grandpa and also get a shower. The rest of the flights went smoothly, and I sort of enjoyed the KLM flight on a Boeing 777 to Amsterdam as it had free movies and television shows.

Arriving in Amsterdam we boarded our two rented vans and drove to our 'house'. This place is sweet. Originally constructed and used for teaching youth how to sail, it can house 32 people. Surrounded by canal wreathed fields and neighboring a really cool little town, it easily allowed us to relax after a long day (or two) of travel.

Eager to move our legs, me and a friend (Nick Hoeksema) went outside and threw a frisbee around for a while. Unfortunately we aren't allowed to play on the fields surrounding our house. However, we were able to play on the frozen canals and lake. Apparently since it doesn't stay cold enough too often here in the Netherlands the ice is a rare occasion. I say occasion because a lot of people were taking advantage of it by skating. There were probably about 40 to 50 people both young and old skating around, along with about 100 ducks swimming in a hole.

We also went to the grocery store. This store had a wide assortment of food and other items. Everything from the typical bananas to sushi to at least 5 kinds of humus. I stocked up on some prepared dishes hoping to make my transition from home cooked food to Alex-cooked food as smooth as possible. Don't worry, I probably won't starve. To sum it up, I am tired from the plane ride, amazed by the country, and excited to explore some more. The Netherlands is cool place filled with things probably never to be found in America and definately a culture of its own as well.