Not Dutch yet...

So much to catch up on, I don't even know where to begin.

Well, let's start with the title of this post... I'm definitely not Dutch yet, because I can't bike properly still. In particular, I fail at:

• biking fast enough (I pretty much get passed by everyone, young and old and in between)
• signalling properly 
• maneuvering skillfully (today I gently biked... into a bush... while coming out of the bike shed at work... I looked around and it seemed like no one was looking, but somebody always sees. You know what I mean -- we've all witnessed that person who looks around and then picks their nose or tries to get rid of a wedgie...)
• being aware of what's going on (had a few close calls)

As I was writing this list, I realized that some of my audience might become a little worried, given what happened last time I posted about my insect bite woes... so rest assured, things are okay, the Lord is taking care of me for sure =) I can tell cause I'm still alive. Haha. And I'm slowly getting better at the whole biking thing.

My parents are here!

Random highlights include...

• Getting a taste of being a foreigner on European roads. We are seriously spoiled in North America (particularly in Calgary, where our one-way roads are pretty much as wide as two-way roads here) and when you get lost... you get lost. It doesn't help that I couldn't remember what the different signs meant, and there was construction almost everywhere...
• Seeing the saints in Delft
• Getting to learn a bit about how the Delft porcelain (it's the white and blue stuff that looks like Chinese porcelain...) is made. It's actually pretty neat, and this morning I read about how ministry can be illustrated with porcelain... you need revelation (that's the paint) but you also need sufferings (into the oven!) in order for ministry to be produced (image is now not-removable from the vase/plate/etc..). Pretty cool, there is spiritual significance everywhere...
• Staying at a HI Express which has only been open for a week and a half or something like that
• Going to Kasteel de Haar (it's a castle, in case you couldn't figure that one out), which the original dude's descendants still come for their vacation. I thought it was pretty cool because most castles haven't been used in hundreds of years...
• Barely making it to see a Museum Speelklok, which is a museum of instruments that play by themselves (think music box)
• Finally getting to go to an island in the North of the Netherlands, this one is called Schiermonikoog. Too bad it rained :(
• Making my parents rent bikes!
• Ending up on the autobahn without realizing it (our GPS tells us what the speed limit is, and then... there was no speed limit!) and getting passed while going at 150. 

So far it's been good! I came back to work for a few days but my parents are off adventuring a little bit, and then next weekend will be another adventure. 

And... to make up for the lack of pictures...