The unthinkable happened

Well just to drop the news directly, I will tell you what the unthinkable is. Jan Cees and I decided that it would be a good idea to get married. Why? Now let me explain. After all those years of not wanting to be married, just because we didn’t see the extra value of getting married. But after having three loved ones die in the past year, we were confronted time after time with notarial documents in which we seemed not to be connected to each other. After the third time, we were so done with it, and so it came that we decided to get married. With that decision the first hurdle was taken. We first decided to marry abroad during a holiday on Curacao and then afterwards we would tell the family the news. First of all, holidays to Curacao are still quite expensive, and as soon as you mention the word marry, all prices will be doubled. So that plan went into the trash bin. Well, what to do? I will leave out all the in between steps and just end with the final plan. Because I thought it would also be nice to have a happy family gathering after all the sad ones we had this year, I came up with the last day of the year, December 31. After discussing the pros and cons of this date, we decided to go for it. How difficult this date was we found out when we went to the city hall to set the date. In Capelle aan den IJssel, the city hall is closed from December 23, 2016,  to January 2, 2017, so hurdle number 2 had to be taken; looking for another location to marry in Capelle aan den IJssel. After calling almost all available wedding locations who all told us that they were closed on that date we found one that was willing to go open for us. So lucky us. We could move further to hurdle three: finding ourselves an registar who was willing to work that day. Not easy but we found one, so no choice, but who cares. At least we found the two most important parts of a wedding ceremony. What’s left then to organise? Food and drinks, the easy part. Who do we want to invite, remember we came from doing it without any audience, so this part was not that easy. In the end, we decided to invite the small group of the family we have left and a few friends. So there will be 32 people, starting with lunch followed by the ceremony and drinks afterward. The whole happening will end at 17.00 hours so everybody can be on time for their New Year's eve celebration at home if they want. Only our family will stay for New Year's eve at our home. For the rest we can talk about it this coming Thursday if you still have questions leftJ

Writing task

As promised in my last session with Val I have to write more to get used to checking before sending my email. This proofreading has to help me to improve my written English and avoid to sending emails with stupid typo mistakes. Why is this important in a world in which we more or less accept that because of the rush we have we make mistakes in typing? Is it due to the smartphone communication where we have all the abbreviations such as LOL. This, by the way, took me more than a few days before I figured out that this meant someone had a lot of fun. In a strange way, it’s a bit weird that I’m less bothered with the speed typo mistakes I make in my Dutch emails. I’m afraid I  start to have the same who cares mentality as all others around me. So as from now I will try to improve my life and write more carefully thanI have ever been before. 

New hobby

I’ve found myself a new hobby. I recently found out that painting with calc pant is a very easy and quick way to paint anything in your home. I did the tv cupboard, and from there I tried it on the stairs. Just two steps to see how it holds. And the last challenge are the tiles of the bathroom floor.
This last one is a bit difficult because to get the best result I have to keep it dry for a few days. Of course, I had to shower in the morning, so there are a few spots without paint nowJ So I have to figure out a better way to do this. I know there are a lot of people who are already  using this paint for ages. I don’t understand why I had never heard of it sooner. Knowing this earlier could have helped me to do more painting in less time.My next step will be the dining table, and after that the trash bin:-)

Grammar

What if I will never learn the difference between if and when, what and that, bring and take and all other for us Dutch people difficult to learn words? If; if things are not sure, and when for things that will happen is what I need to remember.

The same with bring and take: I’ll take my books with me to class, and I will bring him to school if it rains tomorrow--> Right?

What and that, also such a terrible thing. Although, it seems to give me less trouble than before. Maybe there is still some hope for meJ

Always what to do

After almost a year of doing nothing at all on our painting and renovation work at home, we decided last week it’s time to have some action again. I think it’s already more than four months ago that we removed the attic windows to let them dry inside before we paint them again. You can say that they're really dry now, and we need to order the scaffolding to place them back. If we wait a bit longer it’s winter and then it will be too late. We’ve put a thin cover with plastic to avoid the wind and rain coming inside the house. As long as the weather is like we’ve had these last months that’s fine. However, with the pouring rain and heavy wind a few weeks ago it was all leaking, and we had to replace it. So you see, we have to take some action. We decided this morning that the coming weekend is the best choice because it seems the weather will stay dry. So that will be the coming weekend. Last weekend I painted the television cupboard. That was already more than two years on the to-do list, and it’s now finally done. Okay, not complete because Jan Cees still need to change a few things, but that’s easy. As soon as he’s ready I can paint it. I’ve used special calc paint, and that’s very easy to process.
After the cupboard, I need to do the stairs and the hallway, and I want to finish it before ChristmasJ

Maybe a bit ambitious but let’s see where we end up.

More to tell?

Not really, but I will try to write about my opinion about the refugees who are flooding the European countries in large numbers this last month. I was never really fond of all those refugees who came to the Netherlands before. However, I have to admit there is a slightly different reason these people are leaving their countries. They’re in war, and that’s a really good reason to leave I think. Parents are looking for a safe place for their children or the young guys are trying to avoid having to be in military service and getting killed in the war they didn’t want. One way or the other, staying is no longer an option. Although I’m convinced of the necessity of their leaving I’m not sure if letting them live in the European countries is the best way to help them. We are so different from the way they have lived their lives over there. It would be much better to help these people in their own environment. We need to create safety zones so that they don’t have to make the dangerous travel with their little children. That way it’s also much easier for families to stay together. Now you see that fathers or older brothers first try to cross the sea and then make the difficult and dangerous train journey or bus ride. And if that’s not possible they even walk the whole distance. This all in the hope they are allowed to let their wife and children follow them in a safer way. But still they have to leave family behind, grandparents and people who don’t want to leave their country for an uncertain future in a country in which they cannot even speak the language. I’m convinced people will consider leaving their home to stay in a safety zone nearby their country. Then there will be no language and culture problems like we have to face in the European countries. I know, this is easier said than done, and I'm glad I only have to comment on what politics decides and not have to make policy for this. " Bachelors' wives and maidens' children know better."

Homework and English,

After a few weeks holiday, my first meeting with Valerie was one in which I made quite a few mistakes, the so-called usual suspects. These together with still too many grammar and Dutch word order mistakes means that I have to do a lot more homework if I ever want to finish the last exam with more than a borderline grade. For this week, I have almost done all my homework. But, there are still two days left, so I think I will make it this time. Unfortunately, a day has only 24 hours from which I need to work eight and I need at least another seven to sleep. If you count it like this, it means I have nine hours left to do all the other things. Nine hours sounds a lot, and it would be if I could use them all in one go, instead of splitting them up during the day. I have two hours in the morning before work, one during the day for lunch or for walking Basil. The six hours I have left after work, I need to prepare dinner and do the laundry, clean the house or go to the gym. Then, I have to take Basil for a walk and, of course, we need some time to relax and do nothing at all. (

Enough about that. Last week I went with my mother’s dog Drummer to the veterinarian. She called me to say that her vet, who examined Drummer's eye on an infection had told her that he also needed a dental cleaning, and he had an ear infection too. My mother is so pliable, she immediately made an appointment for a dental cleaning under sedation for a few days later. When she arrived at the vet, she told her that she had the impression he was drinking more than usual. That alarmed the vet, so she did a few tests and didn’t want to put him under sedation because she was not sure what was wrong with him. Four days later when the results came back and my mother called me in sort of panic because the results showed that there was a possibility he had a tumor. And, for further investigation he had to go to a specialist in Ommen. I was flabbergasted. The only complaint she had, was that Drummer had a red eye, and now he was almost dying. So I asked her if it was fine with her that I called my vet to make an appointment for a second opinion. Of course, she was, and so we went a week ago on Monday to the vet to found out what was wrong with Drummer. After two urine test, an ultrasound and an x-ray he couldn't find anything suspicious.  Furthermore, there was nothing wrong with his teeth, so no need for a dental cleaning, and also his eye and ear were fine. Unfortunately, the vet found something else. His lymph gland was too big for a dog of his size. Therefore, we decided to do a biopsy for further research. Luckily, the result was negative. However, Drummer was a bit too thin ( my mother just had him on a diet because he was getting too heavy)so  he advised her to feed him a bit more. If he gains weight in four weeks, there’s nothing wrong with him, we thinkJ