Rain, rain go away!

Greetings all!  We are trying to make a better effort to more regularly update the blog for everyone, so hopefully this is good!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the weather climate of Amsterdam, here is a little tip for you: BRING AN UMBRELLA WITH YOU EVERYWHERE YOU GO!  The weather here on a typical day (at least for the past few weeks) is pretty overcast and there is usually, at the very least, a 50% chance of it raining each day.  We have learned to always pack our umbrellas because you  never know when it's going to start downpouring!

You may be asking yourselves, "Why are they telling us this?"  Well folks, it is more of a transition to the next story.  Last weekend, it actually wasn't raining and we were quite surprised.  We figured we had to capitalize on the beautiful day and do some tourist-y things since we hadn't really done any sightseeing since we've been here.  We decided that it was a perfect day for a canal cruise.  It was a very cool experience and we were able to see a lot of the city that we haven't really had the opportunity to see, as well as get a bit of a history lesson at the same time.  We put most of the photos up on facebook, but if any of you would like to see them, just comment and we can put them up here as well.

In the mean time, we have 2 very special pictures to share; one for Abby's brother Neil and one for Dan's dad.  We think you'll be able to discern which picture is meant for which person.  We see both of these on a daily basis at a tram stop near the apartment:

This is actually life-sized and is just standing there in someone's apartment!  (They also have a huge Lisa Simpson on their balcony.)

We aren't sure if this is typical attorney attire in the Netherlands, but thought it was pretty cool!

On a different note, we have booked our tickets for our weekend trip to Paris.  We are so excited to go and will have our own personal tour guides, our friends Brandon and Sarah McGillicuddy!  We will be leaving after work on the 2nd of May and will return to Amsterdam that Sunday.  Rest assured we will post photos of that trip!

Well folks, that's all for now.  We love the comments, so keep 'em coming!  Thanks for all your prayers and support - they have been so encouraging!  We love you all and for those back home, we will see you in June!

It's been a while!

Well folks, it certainly has been a while since our last blog post - sincere apologies for that!  We've been in a bit of a transitional stage as far as moving and our wireless went out.  Luckily today we were able to put our minds together to figure out how to re-set it...phew!!

Since it's been so long since our last post, this will be more of a list/synopsis of what has happened since then!

-We have moved!  We used to live quite a bit south from town.  It had a really nice view of the sunset every night, which was awesome.  However, it was a studio hotel apartment and not a place anyone would really want to live out of for 2 years.  We now have a nice place much closer to the city center and much more convenient over all.  The commute  to work is much shorter and one side of the apartment overlooks a canal.  Here are few pictures:

 

- Last week we had the "Freaky Friday," which was a lot of fun.  The last week of every month, the company rents out 2 bars right across the street from each other for 3 hours.  They are open only to Booking employees during that time and it's just a really great chance to socialize with everyone!  We've both started to make some really great friends.  We've discussed with each other numerous times that one of the things we like best about living here is the culture of the company.  So many of the employees are not native to Amsterdam and much like us, don't have a lot (or none) of their family members here, so the company has a very family-like atmosphere and energy.  It's been a great comfort talking with colleagues who have left their "homeland" as well and that has made the transition for us very smooth.  

- Many people from home have asked us how the weather is here.  Don't let the above picture fool you...it's not that sunny most of the time!  About 1 week ago the weather was quite nice and sunny.  Still a bit chilly, but at least there was sun!  The past week or so however, it's been a bit dreary and rainy, which is very typical Amsterdam weather from what we have heard.  We make sure to bring our umbrellas with us every time we leave the apartment!

-We haven't really gone sightseeing much, but hopefully we will get some of that done in the coming weeks, now that we are getting more settled.  In the meantime, here are some pictures of the city, as we have had many people ask for them:

Rembrandt Square:  This is a great area for people to get together.  Abby's work is right around the corner and the Freaky Friday is in this square as well.

Just down from Rembrandt Square is the clock tower:

Here is a collection of pictures that we took of the city, just walking around:

And of course, we must put up pictures of Centraal Station:

Even though some of you may not believe it, Abby is getting much better at navigating her way around the city.  (It is still a work in progress though!)

Well, that is all for now.  Since we have our wireless up and running, we promise that it will not be as long between updates any more!

We love you and thank you all for your prayers and encouragement!