OK, I have been really slow in posting this and began working on this a month ago. I was really sick for a week and Michael (my oldest son) came to visit me for a week and will have to get you caught up on that soon. So here we go……

I’m going to try and get caught up on what has been going on. I left off at my first week back at work.

After the holiday’s I became very lazy and unmotivated. I didn’t want to do much and took this opportunity to immerse myself into the HBO show, “The Wire”. Our office has a shared server full of movies, music and TV shows that are continually being up loaded for the purpose of “sharing” and keeping us all entertained. The Wire came highly recommended and I decided to spend my evenings with the local Baltimore police force and drug dealers. I have to say, the series is worth the time. Frank started watching it as well and quickly out paced me. Then he got Kristina hooked and watched them again with her. By the time I was at season four (last one out); both of them were ready to start it as well. The three of us ended up watching it together. Over a two week period we would get together a few nights a week. Cook dinner, then sit down and be drawn into a depressing crime drama for the next few hours. Now we have to wait for season five to start, which I hear won’t be for several months.

As you can see, life here is much the same as it is in the States. Rushing home to see the next few episodes of what ever it is we are currently addicted to. It is a good way to spend and evening I have to say. Now I will have to find something else to watch.

Now on to a new subject, Holland weather. This has been the mildest winter on record here; at least that is what I have been hearing. We have had few really cold days and very few that have been bellow freezing. Twice this past month we have had sever wind days and one day the Tribunal let everyone go home early. On one of these days I walked into work because the thought of being blown off of my bike did not sound appealing. As I left for work and reached the end of my street I saw a crowd up at the main road by the tram line that runs close to my place. A tree had blown over across the street and was now leaning on the houses opposite where the tree once called home. There were city workers and passer-bys standing around. A few local news photos’s showed up to get some video, but guess what, not live vans and no continues news coverage. Everyone knew it was windy out and all the pictures could wait for the regular news hour. The tree in my neighborhood was one of several that went down that day.

A few weeks ago we even had snow. One day we had a light dusting and the Canadians here were hesitant to call it “proper snow”. Though a few days later we did get some proper snow of a few inches, it was gone by the next day.

OK, that is enough about the weather. Now on to something more fun, like shopping! Kristina and I took the train down to Antwerp a few Saturday’s ago and did some shopping, clothes shopping that is. Of course there was a stop at the grocers for some of our favorite Belgium beer and French goodies. The one advantage (or disadvantage) of taking the train is you are limited to what you can carry, thus keeping the shopping to a minimum. Now this does not mean you will spend less money. Clothing bags from the Antwerp boutiques don’t take up much space and follow the philosophy that great things come in small packages. (*Disclaimer for the men, next we well talk shoes) The one great find was a shoe shop from Berlin called “Trippen” for those of you interested I encourage you to check out the web site, just Google Trippen.

Enough about shopping. I finally joined the English speaking photo club here in Den Haag. My co-worker Marta is also a member and we have been going together. The club has been around for several years and has about fifty members. It is open to all levels of ability. Each meeting is organised with different workshops, or members giving tips. I'm really looking forward to getting into everything the club has to offer and hope it will help expand my photo ability. One of the outings was taking night photos around Den Haag. It was a cold and wet February night and the photo opportunity was excellent. Marta, her friend Faye and I found some good spots. I have shared one of the photos.....

I’m going to end here and get this posted!

Cheers,

Kim