As of this Sunday I'll have officially lived in Europe's Nether Region for three whole months. I really couldn't be happier, 'cept for the fact that there really is a 'Spider Season' here...everytime I step outside on my balcony, there are about 4 big'ins just chillin'. I fucking hate it. eeeewwwww. The kids are cool, the parents are nice enough and I can't go 2 weeks without meeting new people and making friends. Seriously, being an au pair automatically gives you like, 300 friends in the greater area of Holland, thanks FaceBook!, not to mention, the friends they've made, or the locals, + people you meet from traveling. So where have I gone? I've been in most major cities in NL, Amsterdam is insane, full of tourists, mostly English on Holiday getting randy and puking in the streets. Den Haag, my hood, is my favorite, mostly Dutch, cheaper & totally awesome. Went camping last weekend off the coast of NL, an Island named Texel (tessel) the campsite=Cocksdorp! bwahaha, it was the silliest excuse for camping I've ever seen... not even close to real camping, I mean the place had their own "CampPub". Ahhh, I love the Dutch. This weekend I check out their version of DisneyLand, the Efteling, filled with Fairies and trolls and cool shit like that. Where else, you ask? my first trip out was Prague! Dang! what an amazing place! I took over 200 photos, check 'em! It was pretty touristy, but a breathtaking city, very old, lots of neat statues and Communism everywhere! sick! my first hostel experience was fantastic, it was clean and spacious and the Pub downstairs was not only cheap but served food until 4 am! niiiice. ( A+ Hostel in Prauge2) umm...let's see Belgium! BEER! I saw Antwerp and and Brussels, very nice, the heart of European Government and, yeah, BEER! I tried tons, de koninck, duvel, Chimay Triple (kinda like blood) cherry beer and pear beer, the last being my fav. NOTE: CouchSurfing.com is the most incredible way to travel and meet people! I used couch surfing to visit Belgium, stayed with this awesome girl, Sara, in Antwerp and a nice kid, Coretine, in Brussels. IT'S FREE! you message them on the site and talk about when you want to visit, then you just kick it with locals! it way better then showing up to your hostel or whatever and being, like, now what? these kids show you around, give you great tips, know where all the good deals are...you know, AWESOME. ok....so whats on the menu for summer? Duuuuude I found this wed site BugRide.europe basically when someone is driving a relatively long distance, they post up on this site, saying where they're leaving from, when and what the destination is. So for 30 euro towards gas you hitch a ride to wherever they are going. it's amazing, in late June it is likely I'll fake-hitchhike to Luxembourg!~whoa! thats not for sure yet, but this is....drum roll.....ITALY 2008! whoo hoo! the line up... Aug.3rd-17th=Milano, Verona, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Rome, Napoli, Amalfi, Capri, Sorrento! 2 full weeks of being a complete tourist on the surface of the sun IT! I'm also using CouchSurfing the whole way, camp a bit between Venice and Florence and if I absolutely have to maybe a hostel, but I'd much rather stay with locals, you know their food is gonna be off the hook! iin September I'll be road trippin' to Paris (hopefully) I dunno dates yet, but I still want to see London, Berlin, Budapest, Dubrovnik, Athens, Lucerne, Vienna, Madrid, St. Petersburg, Barcelona, Stockholm, Belgrade, Dublin and don't even get me started on places I want to see outside of mainland Europe...ok ok, so there is no way I have the money or time to see everything this year, thats why I'm getting the feeling that it's gonna be a long time till I come home to Seattle, I think about how much I miss my friends and fam, but I know as soon as I came back and got a job, I'd be B-O-R-E-D. now that I took the big plunge and left my life behind, why stop after 1 year? life is short so dance naked type of thing. Right then, I've sufficiently blogged it up. hope you enjoy. check out those websites. and remember, get the hell outta town!

I bought my plane ticket yesterday! I arrive on European soil 3/2 10:30 AM! can you believe it? Me neither. I've got so much shit bubbling through my brain I'm not even sure what to write.  If anyone has ever lived in europe for an extended period of time, gimme some tips! PS. Going away party 2/23 at King Cobra! Whoot!

I'm bummed out! This great family I had been talking to, passed on me?!?! They said they felt like I was interviewing them, more then they interviewed me.....wtf? I asked her three times if she had any questions for me....she said she didn't....I had plenty of questions....DAMN! I thought it went so well too! I think they thought I was too aggressive or something.... maybe they were looking for a meek, unprepared, wide eyed little girl.  Well, you're shit out of luck, lady. I'm bold, I know what I want and I'm not afraid to get it. So what now? I'm pissed and sad and mostly packed up and ready to move! I really hope the next offer that comes in will be 'the one'....ugh.

It may just turn out to be my month though... I've had two offers from families! Maybe soon the right one will come along...I'm crossing my fingers. The agency did say it may take longer then usual because of it being 'off season', not around the school year...but I'm staying positive! I just know the right family for me is out there, and I'd rather wait longer then go for some family that will make me miserable. The First family has four kids, seem like food freaks, only raw and organic foods allowed (lame) and they wanted to give me a curfew! No Way! the second family seemed better but still had four kids! including twin 2 year olds! yikes! no thank you! But I'm packing up my stuff anyways and getting ready for the big move, because when that perfect family does come along, I wanna be ready! It's hard though, considering I came down with pneumonia last week! and that was after I recovered from salmonella poisoning! Sheesh! I'm trying to make money not miss weeks of work! but oh well, I'm starting to feel better and at least I'm back at work...ugh.
 

Here they are, in no particular order...

Some pictures of the lovely beach










We did this neat hike out to a waterfall named Maunawili, means 'Twisted Mountain', and it was gorgeous!


except for the thousands of mosquitoes, see me itchin'?


we went bowling when it was stormy and not beach weather


found this neat cemetery with a temple, it was beautiful!


we found this woman at the bar and fell in love instantly!








my boyfriend, being pissy


my good friend Adam or as I affectionately call him, aDUM! heh


Me and my friend Noora at a crazy karaoke bar


Our Christmas Tree!





I just don't even know what this is about


or this (it says CRACK SEED, if you can't read it)


Arian and I went out to a fancy dinner and drank too much wine...





We also had fruity drinks! Mmmmm


We went to some rinky dinky Sea Life Park thingy, but hey! I love turtles!


Dancing at sunset....sigh


...I don't remember, but it's kinda nice...
 

Sigh. Hawaii was gorgeous as always. It rained alot, but hell, it's hawaii, even when it rains, it's warm and lovely. We did alot of nothing and a whole lot of eating. The local fish and fruit are to die for. Speaking of which, I ate something on christmas eve that made me feel like dying, both me and my boyfriend were puking and pooping our heads off christmas morning, it was great.... now I'm on my third day of feeling like this and I have to leave work and go see a doctor. ugh. I probably have some huge worm in my intestines laughing all the way, yuck yuck yuck. 
But other then the sicky nasty part, I had such an awesome time! We did this neat hike out to a waterfall called Maunawili and you get an epic view of the Ko'olaus Mountains! We also got a hotel room in down town Waikiki, we usually ended up on the beach at 2am when no one else was around and we could be drunk fools all to our self's. I also lost a flip flop there. I got really neat gifts this year! An i-pod nano! WOW! now I'm a cool kid with a very current piece of electronics! YAY! can't wait to start playing with it! Also while I was in Hawaii, in my relaxed state of mind, I get a call from my agency saying they can't get ahold of Tiffany, my childcare ref., and that they can not send my application out until they do speak to her. GREAT! I start freaking out, I already thought my application was in Holland, nope, not even. I call her repeatedly for THREE DAYS! three whole days and she is not calling me back, now I understand that it is the holiday season, but c'mon! this thing could crumble just because this woman is flaking on me!! holy crap what am I going to do!! So she finally calls back, says she's been having "cell phone problems"... then it takes her another two days to call the agency, I'd nearly broken out in hives at this point, but all is well and good now that she has spoken to them! I'll be calling the agency today to make sure everything is flowing smoothly again and hopefully the job offers will start rushing in! You know I'll be keeping you updated.

Aaaauuuuugggggh! I feel heavy. Heavy with worry and doubt. I had a phone interview with my agency today. It went well.  It sounds like the partner agency in Holland really screens the heck out of the families, even going into their homes to check that they have proper accommodations for an au pair. It also sounds like they have to pay even more money then I did to use the services and I asked if that ment that the families that would be contacting me would be wealthy. Yes, they're gonna be rich. Ack! I'm poor. What if they hate my clothes or my hole-y sneakers or my lack of money in general. I know that once I get to Amsterdam, I'm gonna have a blast and it will be amazing, but until then... I'm freaking out! I'm broke and scared. I'm leaving my boyfriend of two years. I'm leaving my friends and family.  But I'm still doing this for all the same reasons. I need this adventure. I need this change. I'll hate myself for not doing this. Plus I've been talkin' it up all over the interweb, so I can't back out now... hah. Whew... what I need is a vacation.... good thing I'm going to Hawaii! YESSSSSSSSSSS

Well I've finally turned it in!  Whew! Now all I can do it wait.... I'm really no good at waiting....ugh.

Well almost, meaning I'm turing in my full (huge!) application in on Monday! I'm stressed out but I know it's a really nice application and now I can just sit back and wait for the agency to send me families that are interested. Sigh*  I feel like it's going to take forever and, yet, at the same time, I know the next 3 or 4 months are gonna fly by... I'm really going to miss my boyfriend...