hmmm...

I switched blogs. I think wordpress is better.
here is the link to the new one, however, it's not going to be au-pair only. Of course I'll still tell my amsterdam and work stories...and post pictures, but I'll also be writing about other things. Whatever tickles my fancy. Now I have to decide if I am going to keep updating this one as well? opinions?

i'll leave you with a vid. Kaitlyn learned how to walk!

NEW BLOG: http://devynn.wordpress.com/

e-high five

So my two week vacation is officially over. It went by waaaaaaaaaay too fast. Tomorrow is back to the daily grind. I'm sure Kaitlyn will have some major seperation anxiety issues tomorrow.

Anyway, the reason for this update: I GOT A JOB!! I got the job with Sophias familys neighbors. Their names are A.P. (pronounced 'ay pay'...that's the dad), Eegje (the mom, dont ask me how to pronounce it cuz i dont remember...), Hidde (5 year old boy) and Mare (18 month old girl). The kids are gorgeous, and the parents seem really sucsessful. They have a GREAT house in a GREAT location! There are so many kids and aupairs on their street, they all just play together all the time. I'll be living in an apartment, between our families houses with sophia. I am so excited! I really think i'll be a lot happier. The job seems really easy...Hidde goes to school 5 days a week so I will basically just have to bring him to school and pick him up and feed them dinner. And mare goes to the creche on thursdays and fridays. Eegje is going to be at home on tuesday and wednesdays so my only 'work' days will be M, TH, F. so TECHNICALLY i'll only have to work a full day on mondays... and that'll be with mare. They'll also need random babysitting and some cleaning and laundry and shopping for me to do too. (which i dont mind! i usually clean anyway...). They are going to give me a schedule though, which will be nice because i'll know exactly when I am 'working'. I'm so excited, the parents seem much more like my type of people. They are hip, outgoing, and like to have fun. (aparently they are partiers!). HOWEVER (and I haven't quite decided if this is a good thing or a bad thing yet...) they will only need me until January. They have already hired a girl from South Africa and she is coming in January. So, over the next few months I'll decide what I want to do from then. Who knows.

I wrote a letter of resignation for Jane and Lourens, and I am going to go downstairs in about an hour (after the kids go to bed) and give it to them. I am so nervous! I hate doing this stuff....I really hope they dont try to convince me to stay, because that will just make it awkward. I am giving them a months notice to find a new nanny and I'm going to tell them that i'll help them find somebody if they want me to. I hope my last month here isn't too uncomfortable...

I'm so excited about the apartment and living with sophia. It's gonna make my social life 2938432 times better then it is now. I'm pumped.

Ok. onto the next subject. I haven't really been doing anything all that exciting lately. I went on a canal boat tour the other day for the first time...twas kind of interesting, but mostly long and boring. I hung out with Emelie and Neri in this cool bar that doesn't have many tourists in it. I felt like a midget in there. F'real the dutch people are so tall! I dont know, I am drawing a blank.. I will write more later. I gotta start taking notes or something, because when I am out I always think of things I should write about...but when it comes time to do it, i can never remember.

job searches

I suppose it's time for an update? they have been dwindling. I know, i'm sorry!

I listen to so much music here. It's good, I feel like the old days again. Music makes me haaaaapppppyyyyy :)

I haven't really been doing anything up-date worthy lately. Basically just the same stuff....shopping, sleeping-in (yeah vacation!), and drankin.

somehow i always get suckered into paying 7 euros (that's like $12) just to get into a stupid club! I hate cover charges and i hate clubs!

The new job hunt is going ok. I have a couple eggs in my basket. I had a trial day yesterday with that family that I met. It went really good and I was really excited about it. But when the mom came home she informed me that when they move (in october) that they wont really have room for a live-in nanny. It was weird because it still sounds like they want me to come? Should I do it just to get out of this house and then just keep the job search going once I get with them? Or is moving TWICE too much of a hassle??

Another possibility: My friend Sophia lives in an apartment that her "family" and a couple other families rent out for the au-pair. Currently one of the families is looking for a new nanny. I guess there is a 1 year old and a 5 year old. But the kids dont speak ANY english (which is one of my big problems with marisa). But the perks are that they pay 500EUR per month (100 more then I am making now) and that I'd get my own place and I'd get to live with Sophia.

Also: I am tempted by a californian family. They live in Simi Valley (near malibu beach) in an AMAZING house. Pool and hot tub, i'd have my own room with bathroom and a seperate entrance. They'd give me a car. Salary is pretty decent for everything they'd provide for me as well. They have a 14 month old girl and another baby due in January. They want their nanny to start in november. Will that give me enough time to see and do what I want to do in europe? It'd be nice because winter would just be starting here (which I hear is INCREDIBLY depressing)...and I could just skip it and go to the sunshine.

I am also emailing with a few other families in amsterdam.

Any input??

Ok, i'll post some new-ish pics now.

the rijks museum. I still have to go there.

we randomly ran into kasper at the bar. amsterdam is so small.

mirror shotz

posing with the rembrant statues

i liked him

just some building.

canal tour boat, bikes, bridge, canal, houses...sooo amsterdamesque

me on a bench

coffee shop and peep shows.

the customer isn't always right.

ahhhhh yes. vacation! two weeks with this house to myself. I'm loving it, and i'm sure it will go by WAAAAYYYY to fast.

I saw a deer the other day, while I was riding the train. It made me miss home!

ANIMALS SEEN THUS FAR:
cows - 923,823
sheep - 872,346
horses -726,347
mice - 2
deer - 1
squirrels - 0

We went to an island in the north of holland this weekend. It's called Terschelling. It was nice, it reminded me of the U.P. sorta. (why does everything remind me of michigan?? so different, yet so alike i guess) The beach was soooooo nice. SOOOO big! The weather was a little shitty though. Not so warm and VERY WINDY! I think i am still shaking sand from my ears ;) I was still a little under the weather (I had a 102.7 degree fever on thursday night...that's the first fever i've had in like 15 years!!) so I didn't really explore too much besides the beach.

Funny story though, we ate lunch at this little resteraunt on the beach. Lourens ordered something, and then when it came it didn't look very appetizing so he sent it back and ordered something else. Well, when the time came to pay the bill they didn't take it off. So he asked them why they didn't and their response was "you ordered it and there was nothing wrong with it so we're not going to take it off". So he went and talked to the manager and the manager was all in his face and said "i asked my cook and he said it was good so I believe him!" and then a customer near where they were was like "my food was great!! :) " and then the manager was saying to lourens that dont need his service and it's time for him to leave now. So he had to pay for the sandwich that he DIDN'T even want! Aparently the customer ISN'T always right in The Netherlands.

So I thought I'd let everybody know that I am currently looking for a new job. Without going into too much detail I am just not very happy with this family. They are very nice and mean well, there are just too many things that are making it too hard for me to get 100% comfortable with them. I had an interview yesterday that I thought went well. We will see!

Ok, now the pics I took at Terschelling.

baaaa

some dunes

blue sky!!!

more dunes. with flowers

horsies

beach, and beach restaraunt

it's not a desert, i swear.

the clouds were rolling in

sunbathing (lolol)

p.s. happy 3rd birthday (yesterday) to mr. parker riley!

he's growing up soooo fast.

everybodys favorite --pictures!!

canal houses...and a tram going over the bridge. (i'm in a boat!)

my birthday drink. it had a fancy straw and a pineapple garnish. I look gross, but that is John...one of jane and lourens's friends, he is american.

it's meeee waiting for a tram, per usual.

mmmmm such good spaghetti. lekker! :)

me and emelieeee out for my birthdeeee

the kids. it was a sweaty day out.

oh you know, the park..again

emelie @ the park

me, at...the park

going under a bridge in the boat. there were actually 7 bridges in a row but you can't really tell in the pics.

this is our 'garden' aka yard.

another view, it's pretty cute.

the living room.

dining area (thats marisa, in the corner, throwing a fit..hahah)

tiny little kitchen!

writing about the things i always forget to write about

...unless i forget something.

SQUIRRELS: there are no squirrels here. I noticed it yesterday while laying in the park, under a tree. I said to my friend emelie, "do they have squirrels here...?" and she said "squirrels? what are those?" and I said, "you know, bushy tails...eats nuts." She replied with 'yeah, no i dont think they are here'. WEIRD, eh? They are taking over michigan, i should transport some over here ;)

DOGS: the dogs are so well trained here! Honestly, yesterday when I was laying under my tree there was a PLAYDATE of some kind for about 10 dogs and their senior citizen owners. Some of the dogs were just laying, watchig. Some were playing with eachother...but none of them were on leashes, none of them tried to steal frisbees from the people playing frisbee. None of them got into fights and none of them even BARKED! that's how they all are here! it's crazy.

BIRD INCIDENT: Me and emelie were shopping last week, and the pigeons (who are FEARLESS!) were flying above us. One GRAZED the top of my head. SO GROSS, i probably have bird flu now ;)

ugh that's all I remember now, I'll post a picture update tonight.

birthday celebrations

LOL

seriously....a good birthday with an awkward ending.

Me, Lourens, Jane and the girls went to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. (mmmmm american food). I got a burger and fries and it was SO delish! It hit the spot. It's totally what I have been craving. Dinner went good.

Then, Jane and the girls went home and I went out for a boat ride with Lourens and some of their friends. Their friends were really cool...there was a couple americans, a norweigen girl, an irish guy and a british guy. They have all been living here for a long time though. We rode on the boat for 45ish minutes, had some drinks and then after that went to a bar at a hotel. (this was at 9:45ish). We stayed there and drank until TWO! I paced myself because I wanted to go out tonight...and I didn't want to feel crappy today. But LOURENS was a freakin fish! He was drinking this drink with vodka, lime juice and sugar and i swear he had like 6 of those, plus a couple beers plus the wine on the boat. Homeboy got WASTED! We got a taxi home, and while we were waiting for it he could barely stand up...he was swaying all over the place. The taxi ride home he was passed the f out. When we got to our house I started unlocking our door and as i was walking through the door he started PUKING!!!! RIGHT OUTSIDE OF OUR HOUSE!! "omg omg omg omg", that's all i could say to myself over and over again. I walked in, while he was puking because I didn't know what else to do and drank some water. Lol, when I came back from the kitchen he was in the bathroom and was like "I think I am ok now...." (in his dutch accent) and I was like "awe, I hope so!" lol and then just went up to my room. I am SO embarassed for him!! I haven't seen him yet today (thank god)...But I am sure he's not feeling so good! Gosh, it was a whole new side of Lourens. Picture this nerdy, proper, polite, IT guy...wasted. It was just weird.

hahahaha gosh I just laugh about it everytime I think of it....


anyway, I am going out with emelie now, my two other friends backed out (sigh). Lame! Miss you all!