Coming home from vacation means work, especially laundry. I know its a good problem to have. The machine has been going all day as each load is half the size of a US machine and takes double the time to complete a cycle. You can do the math, but I just know I’m still not done!

Speaking of math, the boys also desperately needed haircuts and if you convert Euros to Dollars, it cost $75 for 2 boys haircuts!! WTH!!? But they sure look handsome!

We found a place to take our clothes in for dry cleaning today too, while at the mall. To launder a shirt in the States costs around $1.50. Here each shirt is 3.40€ which is about $4.50 each. And in the States, your cleaning is ready the next day. Jian told me it might be possible by Saturday, but most likely not until Monday. Hmm…

We sorted through our mail and discovered our road tax bill which is 300 euros for 3 months, which is equivalent to $395.55, which is double what we pay for the entire year for our old minivan in the States. I guess our taxes aren’t so bad after all.

We also got a note in the mail saying we had to go the post.nl office located in a store in our local mall to pick up a package that was attempted to be delivered while we were away. There aren’t typical post offices in the Netherlands like we have in the States, and the mail is delivered by people on bicycles. I guess they didn’t want to try and redeliver it again. The package was exciting to receive, and we disnt owe any money which made me happy!! It was a gift from Pat and Chuck, filled with homemade cookies, and our favorite snacks and treats. We were all excited to see American candy and chips! Thank you Pat and chuck for our gift from home.

Speaking of receiving packages, be sure to remove your name and address from any boxes you receive in case someone reuses your box and leaves it out as garbage near a garbage can when it’s not their trash day. We received a fine for 89 euros or $117 for littering when we didn’t litter!! WTH?!? We need to go in front of a (Dutch speaking) judge to fight it. How lucky are we?!?

One good thing in the mall is a convenient grocery store. We were able to restock and head home for dinner. The parking fee for parking in the garage was 6.50 euros for a couple hours, which is $8.50, which is quite pricey for a small town don’t you think? It’s not like Amsterdam, or San Francisco!! It’s like Sunnyvale or Thousand Oaks!!

Luckily I made a pot of turkey soup this morning from the turkey that we had in the freezer. I love soup – it’s such comfort food and made for an easy and healthy dinner when we came home. I needed some comforting after today!!

To relax tonight, Jeff and I rented and watched a movie on Apple TV, called Pitch Perfect, which was really well done and entertaining! It was sort of Glee like, which I enjoyed, just in case you’re looking for some entertainment too.

Goodnight!
– Adriana