My Dutch course is finally finished and tomorrow I’m going home! Technically my last class would be tomorrow, but having been given the choice to go home or stay for my last class, I choose home. I’m sure you aren’t surprised.

The last class was a bit anticlimactic because it ended for everyone else as if we were all coming back again on Friday. I said goodbye to my teacher and my new friend Jelena but that was it. All I could think about was the crazy amount of laundry, house cleaning, and packing I have to do in the next 24 hours.

My teacher gave me a list of things I should know before starting level 2. Note that the list was in Dutch. I panicked a bit when I read the list because I couldn’t even understand some of the sentences. I’m thinking “I’m supposed to understand this after completing level 1?” So I’m planning to take my Dutch course book home to practice.

I have this feeling that I won’t get much done at my parent’s house because I will want to spend all of my time playing with Olivia. However, I know my mom is dying for me to get together with her Dutch friends and impress them with my language skills (I hope I don’t disappoint her). So I will be bringing my books home just in case.

It will be interesting to see how much I’ve retained when we return in January. This is the first time I’ve learned a language and been able to use it on a day to day basis. That Spanish I learned in high school wasn’t ever much use to me. Thankfully I have a whole month to get back into it before level 2 starts in February.

Needless to say, I’m grateful for a break in the intensity and will probably enjoy getting back into it after I’ve had some time off. By the way, I did pass the class with a grade of 93%.

Now off to packing!

Here is a list of things I miss from home:

• Starbucks
• An oven
• Rice Krispies
• Rice-a-Roni
• Kraft macaroni & cheese
• The rest of my clothing from the storage at Mom and Dad's
• Cheddar cheese
• Yankee candles
• Chocolate chips
• No-bake Jello cheese cake
• Bounce dryer sheets
• A digital camera that works!
• Ritz crackers
• Gum
• Costco
• My car
• Bacchus from Domaine de Chaberton

North America, here I come!

Brad and I are heading back to N. America for the Christmas holidays. You must be wondering why we are going back so soon after settling in here? Well, lucky for us Brad is attending a conference in Florida for a few days and defending his thesis (finally) in Vancouver. Technically, much of his time will be spent working, so it doesn’t count as a holiday. However, I will be able to spend most of my visit hanging out with my family. And as you can imagine, I’m quite excited.

Now I have the task of deciding what to pack. I don’t really want to repeat the experience we had traveling out here. I mean, we packed our suitcases to exact upper weight limit that we were allowed – 70 pounds each. Not only did we have to roll them around the airport, but we also had to lug them onto the train. I can’t imagine what it would have been like if Brad wasn’t so strong.

We almost found this out the hard way. In LA, after disembarking the cruise boat, we had to take a taxi van to the airport for our journey to Holland. Our cab driver was a big guy, but not very strong. Being that it was part of his job to handle our baggage, he insisted that he personally hoist each suitcase into his van. He struggled to lift each one. On the third one, he cracked his head on the doorway of his van – it sounded like it really hurt. By the time he loaded the fourth suitcase, he was pretty frustrated with us.

On our drive to the airport, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was going to suddenly make a wrong turn and drop us off in a shady part of town. I think he was glad to get rid of us at the airport and was certainly willing to have Brad help him unload the suitcases.

We came here with four suitcases in total not knowing what we would really need or want to have here. In general, we choose our clothing well. However, I did bring a few pairs of shoes that I will never wear - mostly because they are impractical for biking.

Since we were restricted as to how much we could bring, we left some clothing and shoes behind at my parent’s house. We assumed that we’d purchase anything else we needed here. However, clothes and shoes are very expensive here, so we’ll be bringing a lot of what we need back with us after this trip.

So I will probably not be packing too much to take home, but bringing a lot back with me. Any suggestions on how to keep extra space in your suitcase?