Blogs from Arnhem, Gelderland, Netherlands, Europe - page 2

Convinced Michael Scotts new book would be released earlier and I somehow forget I had subscribed for a newsletter I opened the Atlantis e-mail. This mail exceeded my expectations and I after reading it through a number of times my American dream found renewed hope. The Han-university would sent 3 applicant to the US with the Atlantis program. Al you had to do was write an easy, fill in some vague forms, do an interview and get 2 recommendations. So I decided to try-out, wrote an essay, filled in the forms, bugged some people and asked for recommendations (for which I’m still grateful) and handed over a thick envelope with paperwork. After a week or so I got another e-mail asking me to come in for the scheduled interview. So nervous and excited I hopped on ... read more

Today we drove to Arnhem, Netherlands to have a short visit with my cousin Fred Royers, his Mom, wife Krista, and sister Mona. We had never met except on Skype and it was a pleasure to meet him in person. With a population of only 150,000, Arnhem looks a lot bigger. But my Dad's Brother Jon decided to settle there after meeting "Mousie" and having three chidren Fred, Mona, and Simon. Fred now teaches kick boxing at his own studio-gym but had a career as a middleweight kick boxer. Seems like the Royers have some of that boxing talent running through the family since my Father was also a boxer, but not at the pro level. Driving in Europe (my sister Margie drove her Skoda this time) is a bit more "exciting" than in the states ... read more

Just wanted to start off by saying Thanks! to all of you who have sent comments and messages along to us! It is always nice to hear from our friends and family and we are glad you are enjoying the blog! Today we went to the Open Air Museum which was close by in Arnhem. This was a little like the Dutch version of Pioneer village but way cooler. There were homes and farms and mills and churches and a working cheese factory all around the huge property. You could walk and/or get around on these street trams, some of which dated back to early 1900s and still work. You could hop on the tram at any of the 6 stations and hop off where you wanted. We also stopped at the Airborne Museum in Oosterbeek ... read more

Dear faithful followers, Today we visited more of mums friends, and thier entire family, 15 people jabbering away in a language i can't understand! these friends lived in elden but there was an annual bike race on through the streets which some of the familiy members where competing in so the streets were blocked off and we had to take a different approach to the house. We had to walk through a wet and muddy field, climb over an electric fence and through another hole in a fence to get to this house and mum was wearing my brand new boots! had a 'salad' for luch, i use the term loosly as their idea of a salad is somewhat differnet from ours, it was finely shredded meat (couldn't tell what) with bits of potato and gerkin ... read more

Dear peeps, Day four was a big one, mum and i caught the bus into Arnhem to the massive markets, they had heaps of flowers, which are really cheap here, and vegetables, all these different ones and lengths of cloth and some clothes. Mum and I have't bougt many clothes yet cos the fashion here atm is really cheap, tacky and trashy looking but well expensive! I'm hoping paris is better, otherwise i'll be coming back with a bit of money, which would be terrible... Then we cuaght another bus to Oosterbek to see an old friend of mums...for the next six hours! they were speaking dutch and talking bout people i didn't know so i went outside and took photos of flowers, played around with settings on my camera ect... For lunch we had fresh ... read more