Austria, part 3

Sorry guys, i've got a severe case of the flue, so i am keeping this one short.
I'll live it up with some pictures though .

That evening i was sitting with M. in the bathroom and discussing the new events.
Merle had told her mother she was in love with M. and he was clearly pleased with that.
After some sighing and laughing he confessed to me, he was a bit in love with her too.

O.
If only the world could have stopped right there.
He was soooo cute.

He then told me he could have known she was in love, coz a couple of days ago whenever he said something to her, she became all shy and didn't dare look him in the eye.
That's what happens when you're in love i said.
In the beginning i didn't even dare speak to pappa.
Yeah he said.
I could still speak to her, but that was before i realized how much in love i am.

The lady in question.

At that moment T. wanted to know what we were doing and entered the bathroom. I was under strict orders not to tell anyone, but i guess he overheard something, so i asked him if he had fallen in love with anyone this week.
NEU. T. said in his own unique way.

But, she may not have to be your age, M. said.
See, here's a bit of a dilemma.
M. being 6,5 yrs old and Merle (although ahead of her age) being almost 4, caused a bit of a problem.

Anyway, he went to bed, saying he was going to dream of her and the next morning life went on as usual.
They were a bit shy towards each other but...
the race was on the program.

At the end of the week all kids do some sort of a race, mainly to show the parents what they have learned sofar, and everybody gets a medal afterwards (picking up the medal in a room full of excited children and grown-ups was even worse than the ski-depot!)

Here are some shots of our 2 champions:

M.(above)

and T.
That evening we also learned that R. could fly back next morning from Insbruck to Rotterdam Airport and would be brought back home by ambulance.
I decided to try to get home in one day and packed the van, drove it in front of the hotel (when it would start to snow that night, i'd have to put on the snowchains and i hate that) and next morning at 5.30 we went.
Luckily the kids were tired and even slept some on the way which meant we were back home, only an hr after R. came home

Austria part 2

yes, R. tore his knee ligaments.

Wednesday "the boys" would go make a long trip to Fiss and Ladis so, us girls would see to the kids at the slopes.
I was just at the counter ordering fries and Kaiserschmarren when R. showed up beside me.
Everything OK?
Well actually i just fell while doing a black piste and now i sort of can't walk anymore.
OoooKay.

He did walk back to the hotel later that day.
But when he had taken his trousers off and saw the seize of his knee went to see a doctor (walking ofcourse).
Only to return 2 hours later with a brace on, 2 clutches and a handfull of painkillers and anti-trombose shots.

But.
With a brace on you can only lay on your back.
And when R. sleeps on his back he snores.
And not just lightly.
No.
At 1.30 i decided to crawl into M.'s bed.
At 4 i thought i'd better drag the mattras into the children's room and at 6.45 C. said:
pssttt
Mamma?
Mamma !!!!!
I need to go pee.

So the next day the boys dragged me along to the slopes where the sun shone and i decided to sit this day out.
R. spend his day on the phone to various insurance persons, doctors and hospitals.
Always nice to use your cell phone for these calls to the Netherlands when a minute costs you about 1 euro, and the SOS service line keeps you on the line for an hour and 10 minutes.

Thursday evening it was clear that he was able to go home with a gipsvlucht but not sure when and from where.
There were other priorities though.

Merle, one of the girls had said to her mother she had fallen in love with M.

Rotterdam daily photo

I've spent the better part of today on my new blog so I hope you'll enjoy it!

Austria part 1

Ok,
friday afternoon, all set, kids picked up and there we went.
Alas, there were more ppl who'd thought the same as the next 500 kilometers in 7 hrs showed.
The kids had been terrorising the backseat for the last, well, 4,5 hrs and as it is always nice to start your vacation with a clear mind and in the right flow, we decided to call it a day and look for a hotel in Karlsruhe.

The first hotel we tried was full.
Did you make reservations?
ehh...no.
O i am sorry m'am we're totally booked.
As of December.

Holy cow.

He did help us find something else a bit further in the village and around 8 the next morning we left for the last half. Which indeed costed us the same time coz we arrived in Serfaus around 3.
Now you may think that a vacation is relaxing, but i can assure you ski-ing is hard work.
You need to get ski passes for the elevators and decide for which height and how many days you're going to need them.

You need to get all the gear (shoes, ski's, helmets, sticks) for FIVE different seized persons.
And it's not as if that stuff is weighless.
After about 2 hrs, you're sweating like a pig, carrying ski's over your shoulder and accidentilly disheading the ppl behind you, skishoes (which weigh about 2 kilo's each!) slip out of your hand and fall- he, where else- on your at that moment shoeless toes.
So,
after we had stored the stuff at the ski-depot we could use a Weissbier and headed home.

This is a normal sized beer in Austria. So after 2 days of driving and a couple of beers this is what you're bound to get.

In total we were with 14 grown-ups, 2 toddlers and 9 kids who had the time of their life. Differing in age from 1,5 yrs till 45, everyone found someone to relate too.

Next day was spend at registering for ski-schools, trying out the slopes and ofcourse the rooftop pool.

Yes, there was a LOT of snow.

Monday morning, breakfast at 8 and then quickly on our way to the skilessons where we needed to be present at 9.30.
Now i've been in some pretty disturbing and stressful situations in my life but nothing prepared me for the ski-depot hell.
Imagine over 6000 ppl (NO kidding) all putting on their skishoes, picking up their ski's and throwing those over their shoulders, kids crying that they were too warm (everyone was dressed in at least 3 layers coz we were told it would snow up at the slopes) ppl looking for the appropriate depot numbers and loosing them.
Oh i could go on.
It was the worst.
Then everyone needed to go into the same elevators.
AAAARRGGGGHHHHHH
Let's say it this way.
I seriously considered cancelling the whole vacation and would gladly be in the car for another 2 days to go home right there and then.
And the fat lady hadnot sung yet.

Up at the slopes we had to find the right teacher for the kids.
Their were about 50 teachers.
And the classes had about 12-15 children.
Do your maths.
Sheer horror.
Now this is what C. looked like in the morning.
And as some of you may know she's got somewhat of a ...well, rather big belly.
And these ski trousers were rather tight in that particular area.
And the ski shoes were rather heavy to walk around with. Let alone you had to put on the ski's.
And that ski glasses kept gliding down.
She wanted to go home.

Luckily i bought a one-day pass for her, coz this was a bit what i had been fearing and after we upgraded M. the next day to another class our days were spend in perfect rhythm.
After breakfast R. and i dressed the boys for ski-ing, C. stayed in the village with Jamie and they came up to join us for lunch (Kaiserschmarren, some sort of dough with applesauce, or fries with a Frankfurter Wurst).


That is untill R. tore his knee ligaments.

Ballet

Yesterday evening Jamie and I attented the premiere of Waterproof, the latest Scapino ballet.
There were 4 plays of which the first one blew everything away.
2 dancers on a conveyor belt, in between screens on which video pictures/movements were shown. I know.
Sounds confusing, but really very cool!
The last one was pretty funny.
7 male dancers, having seizures on fake football grass on a musical piece from Bach.
Ahh..
Art.

As it was the premiere, there were lots of relatives and fans and we being in the 3rd row (good seats!) were sort of in the danger zone.
See,
they tried to throw bouquets on the stage but never succeeded and someone in our neighborhood got smacked twice with a rather heavy bouquet in the back of his neck.

Not as bad as getting shot by Cheney, but at least as unexpected.

Tonight it's packing time.
My mind is in somesort of a blur, coz things i MUST not forgot keep coming and going thru my mind.
Tomorrow morning i have an interview with a candidate somewhere in Leiden and right after we're done, i am heading for the office, go thru my mail for the last time and then off to Austria!
For those of you who can't do without me for a week; Shit happens.
But.
I promise i'll have something new once i am back.
I am starting an extra blog.
A real cool one (hé cors it is), but that's all i am going to say 'bout it.

Servus und bis bald!

Check

Done sofar;

1. Brought and picked up C. to school.
2. checked with the mother of Emma (1 of her new buddies) if she's ok with those 2 playing at our place after the holiday
3. Brought the boys to school
4. Burst into tears (embarrased M.) when i heard the mother of one of the boys in his class died last Sunday and today they were going to held some sort of memorial in class.
5. Been to the postoffice to
   pick up mail for the office
   get money for Jamie and Christel for this and next week.
6. been to the office to pay taxes, send an email to our accountant and receive a letter of one of the sons of a poodle coz he is threatening to sue us now (we broke the contract)
7. bought pyama's (instead of thermo underwear) for the kids
8. bought some new gym shoes for the boys now that i saw them
9. been to the hairdressers with the lot to have T. and M. 's hair cut
10. been to the doctor's to have T. ears checked. His pronounciation is getting worse and before i send him off to some speach physcho, i'd thought i'd better check if he's hearing me right. Turns out he is.
11. been to the bakery to make sure we have some bread in the freezer once we're home again.
12. talked to my everlasting friend G. coz she organised this vacation and i wanted to make sure we had everything with us.
13. talked to the headmaster of the school to say; i know it's not allowed but we're picking the boys up at lunchbreak from school, coz we want to leave early coming Friday.
14. Laundry

what's open:

• library
• deciding which company we have to take for our health insurance
• preparing tax payment for LFF
• checking the net for a hotel somewhere on the way to Austria
• cleaning the car
• thinking of dinner
• ironing

Olympic tanning

The last couple of days i have been to the tanning studio to get some colour on this skin.
We're going ski-ing in a week and i don't want to burn then (on the other hand, who am i kidding; it's snowing so hard these last few days/weeks, we will be extremely lucky to have 1 sunny day) but also coz i look at my palest.
Actually, if it wasn't for the fact i have clothes on, you'd see right thru me.

And o how it is great to feel some warmth.

Normally there is always something thats cold on me.
My feet,
my nose,
my hands.

And o, in the evening, once i have watched the telly from my bed and i need to pee.
Man.
i am doing an olympic record in peeing and hopping back to bed.

Speaking of the olympics, i tried to explain to M. the difference between the summer and winter games and could only come up with ski-ing and skating and "things that you do in the winter".
O said M.
and throwing snow balls.
Well there you have next winter's new game!

ps; yesterday he was watching Snowboarding/Half Pipe.
I am afraid there is no escaping it.
We've got a future boarder in the house.

Sou Fadista

Yesterday, Jamie and i went to see Ana Moura, a Portugese Fado singer.

It was beautiful. She was accompanied by 3 guitar players and has a truely magnificent voice. She did one song without a microphone and her voice filled the whole room.
I would die to have a voice like that.
And did you see that hair.
Man.

But.
2 rows in front of us there was this older man reading a book.
I swear !!
Reading a book.
Like Jamie said; Sure wasn't his idea to come here.

Repeat after me

"I feel good"

and now do the slide.

What slide?

What do you mean What Slide.
THE slide.
The James Brown slide.

pff..

• Only 1 week to go till we go on vacation. I can't wait to see the kids in the snow having fun, skiing AND i just learned today, our hotel has got a swimmingpool from indoor to outdoor AND a sauna. I could stop here. But there's more.
• The boys are being picked up by Toos this afternoon and will spend their weekend in Sassenheim. That means the only kid around is my litte girl. Not that she is such an easy one. But come on. One kid. One kid is nothing once you've had 3. So it's almost like we'll have a kid-free weekend. Yippie-ah-ayee. Course i love them. 'sGot nothing to do with it.
• The sun is shining. Okay behind a silver cloud but still..

I feeeeeel good.

He's got a new job

R.'s gonna start at Randstad in the beginning of March.

He had to give another presentation (no kidding, about the 5th one) and they finally believed him :)

We're going out tonight to celebrate!

Make love not war

R. has a collegue with whom he (and the rest of the team) celebrated the life going of one of the sites, 2 weeks ago. That friday she didn't feel too great and during the weekend even went to visit a doctor. He send her to the hospital right away, they did a scan and next Monday, when everyone was happily back at work, she learned she had a mortal tumor and about 3 months to live.
The whole department is devastated.

This weekend R. got several phone calls coz 2 of the sites were down.
Not much he could do about it, but still he called the projectmanager of the club where they host the site and told him, we would keep our fingers crossed there would be no major world news that had to go life Sunday :), but by Monday he sure would have to have his act back together again.
While telling him this, he heard a small child at the other side of the phone. Now R. was bringing C. to bed as well and when he asked the other guy how old his daughter was, he learned that she was 2.
Wasn't his daughter though, but his youngest daugthers daughter.
This guy was about 50.
Had always thought that when the kids were sort of grown up, he and his wife would go travelling.
2 yrs ago his -then 16 yr old- daughter gets pregnant.
Father is nowhere to be seen, girl wants to go to college, so the grandparents are raising her like their own.

Ofcourse.
Totally different examples.

Life is what happens while you're making plans.

Way too many animals for my weekend

Lying in bed I heard birds sing for the first time this year.

Pity though that I was sick as a dog.

Plans for this weekend were great.
Saturday we would go to Snowworld to freshen up our ski ing skills and meet all the others who are coming on this wintervacation and Sunday I had tickets for the international filmfestival.

Friday night a stone was placed in my head.
rather a large stone.
and somehow it melted somewhere in my brain and came out through my nose what made me carry toiletpaper with me for the rest of the night.

Next morning R. had a motorlesson and I showered and dressed. I did feel lousy but what else is new.
At the bakery's though I became unwell and walking (slowly) home I had to sit on the pavement.

Those are not good signs if you're expected to be on skies 1 hr later.

At home I told the kids that I was sick (sweat was pouring out of me by then) and after I lay half naked on the couch, T. informed who exactly was in charge now.
I gave my powers to M. who for the time being was to hold the fort.

After about 20 minutes in which C. covered me with all the towels she could find, I'd visited the bathroom 3 times and was not going anywhere without a dishthing to spit in, I gave in and called the Motorlesson school and had M. Call my friends at Snowworld to explain i was in no state to drive, let alone ski.
R. came home 30 minutes later and by then I didn't feel as nauseous anymore, only extremely tired.
I slept till about 4 that afternoon and went back to bed at 9.
So much for a fun Saturday.

This morning I couldn't find the filmfestival tickets.

I thought I went mad.

My whole weekend ruined.

And to top it off, it's raining.
Cats & dogs.
Right.

They're going to pay

1. our customer faced with a deurwaarder, choose to pay his bill

2. our insurance company, faced with court, choose to pay.
Just the original bill though, where our lawyers costs were not included yet, so R. and I are thinking of suing the bastards anyway.

To be continued.

Son of a poodle

We have 2 non paying customers at the moment and 1 contractor that has simply taken on another assignment and is giving us the finger.

For the last couple of nights i've slept very badly over it.
I am still figuring out ways to execute them, but....
That's why it's very nice to have a coworker who sometimes is easier when money matters are concerned. Not that she doesn't want to sue them till the last drop, she stays more relaxed than i.

I thought that after the insurance issue (still working on that one ofcourse) i had had it with disappointments. But be business or private-wise, i really really hate people that lie to me. And then try to twist it.
Or come to me with non-arguments.
Grow up people.
Take responsibility for your action and deal with it.

As Joel says;
always learning.