Beautiful horses and beautiful babies!

---

Yesterday, the 3rd, Ferhat took me to a very big horse competition in Warendorf. Apparently the town is known for horses because the population of people is about 40,000 while the population of horses is about 240,000. We met Ferhat's cousin who invited us to this show, and he told us that the total price of all of the horses combined is about 7.5 billion dollars. I almost had a heart attack when I heard this, but when I saw the horses, it all made sense. They were beautiful! I saw amazing dressage (not that I know any difference) and jumping that sure blew what I've seen at home out of the water. EVERYONE was jumping at least 5 feet, and these horses were breathtaking. I was able to pet one and Ferhat's cousin told me the price of the horse ranged between 40,000 and 100,000 euro. Buy a couple cars? No, buy one horse. Buy a house? No, just one horse will do, thanks.

On the way home, Ferhat and I stopped by a German pub that his cousin owns. The room was very cute, but smoking is still legal in certain buildings, so that was hard to get used to. If I am having a difficult time with something, it is getting used to the fact that I have allergies to cigarette smoke in a place where most people smoke. Other than that important detail, here's another one: Ferhat's family is everywhere! Seriously, I don't think I have been to a town yet that does not have a member in it. We will pass by a house or a street and I hear, "My cousin lives there" mostly or, "On the right, my uncle lives there." This is quite new for me because first of all, his family is huge. Secondly, they all live near each other and remain in regular contact-- regular meaning talking daily or weekly.

Which explains why today I met another group from his family-- his aunt Gulcan (there are two dots above the u but I don't know how to insert that in this blog) and her 3 children. They all told me their names but because I had such a hard time saying them, I had an even harder time remembering them, and therefore cannot spell them for you. She had one girl (the oldest and 14) and two younger sons. Ferhat's family, including his cousin Ahmet, and I met up with the other cousins to do some shopping in the Netherlands. Ferhat's home is about 2 hours from the border. I was all worried about needing a passport, but there was not even a border patrol or area to have such a thing checked. It was literally like driving into another state in the US. We had a welcome sign and an exiting sign.

The Netherlands is known for its fish, which you can tell as soon as you step out of your car. The parking garage smelled like fish, the town that we were in smelled like it, too. Everything was fried like it was Fish Fry Friday. I had fried calamari, which was very soft. Not in a bad way-- in a way that it was fresh and not overcooked. Then Ferhat's mother bought me fried salmon, which was really good but I was so full. I was only able to eat half. After lunch, Ferhat, Ahmet, and I split from the rest of the group and walked around. It was a typical, big, outdoor market that had clothes and food. Surrounding the market were shops like an outdoor mall. Basically, if you could not find what you needed here, I would be very surprised. There was even a clothing store named America Today that was supposed to represent NYC clothing.

The most interesting moments, though, were when I saw all of the bikes Europeans use, and when Ferhat and Ahmet got made fun of at a coffee shop. Yep, I am pretty sure the Dutch waitress made fun of them. We were sitting outside, ordering drinks. I wanted a soda, but the cooler was inside, so I went in to look while the guys ordered. Sure enough, as I was still looking, the waitress came in and said to her co-worker, "Hehehehe, (blah blah blah in Dutch words) Deutsch, hehehehehe (blah blah blah in Dutch words) hot chocolate." The person who ordered a hot chocolate was Ferhat's cousin, Ahmet. Now I don't know Dutch. Heck, I don't even know Deutsch, but that sure seemed like they were making fun of him. It was like the universal body language and hehehehehehe.

Another fun moment happened right before we left the market. We had met up with the rest of Ferhat's family, and Ferhat's youngest cousin had taken a liking to me. I want to guess that he was 7 years old. He did not know any English, and I did not know any German, so we were communicating with the thumbs-up or thumbs-down gestures, as he led me all over a store and made me try on sunglasses. Even when we left the store, he was holding my hand, trying to drag me all over the place. I thought it was quite funny. His entire family was teasing him that he had a new girlfriend. It was cute.

The night ended where we once again saw baby Timur. He is one of the most entertaining babies I have ever seen. He can run, he can dance, he loves to laugh. I had a field day taking pictures of him, especially when he would pull his mother's shoes out of closet and attempt running around in them. It makes complete sense that everyone loves to watch him.

So, I believe I have caught up mostly. Up next is Cologne on Wednesday, a wedding on the 11th, and Berlin on the 12th. As for the days in between, I surely do not know what the plans are.

---