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June 2004, End of School Year |
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It is amazing how quickly the year has gone by. I realize how short our time is that we have left in Holland. Already I have been trying to plan out last trips, worrying about the work in the year to come (moving and house sales, etc), and looking forward to a summer break back in America.
The girls were involved in the end of the year play called "Shake, Ripple, and Roll" - a musical mystery story of sorts taking place in a 50's ice cream shop. It was a great production, less complicated than the winter one. Anna was one of waitresses ("Honey") and Kate was part of the ice cream parlor crowd ("Virginia State"). Here are a few photos of the play: |
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Anna and the other waitresses swooning over the cute customer "Chuck") |
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Anna with some friends before the second show |
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Rachel, Yin Jie, and Kate singing at the ice cream parlor. |
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This school year end comes with mixed feelings. We all have good friends moving away this year. One of the hard parts about being an expat is making quick close friends, and then watching them leave after a few years. Kate's good friend Rachel (pictured in the purple skirt with the coke bottle above) and her family are leaving for China. Her parents have been Kate and Anna's great English teachers, so not only are we loosing friends, we are loosing two very good teachers. Anna's good friend Donna is leaving with her family for Belgium. Not quite so far that we can't visit, but still too far. My good friends Steph, Mark and Felicity are heading back to England this year as Mark has a new job there. I will really miss Steph as she has kept me sane more than once. Also, our good friends Brit and Leif are moving back to Sweden after living in the Netherlands for over 8 years. Toby will miss their dog Misty too! It is very hard to see everyone go, but I know new people will (hopefully) be arriving as well and new friends are waiting to be met.
Below are a few photos of the International Women's Club end-of-year luncheon. We were all suppose to dress in our countries costumes or colors. |
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Brit and Kiki -- Sweden's colors |
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| Linda and Steph -- Englands' colors |
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Anne draped in the Welsh flag |
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| Peter and I celebrated our 15th anniversary this June by spending a night alone in Brugge, Belgium. Brugge is a beautiful old village about 2 hours drive from where we live. It has to be one of the prettiest places we have been. We spent a great Saturday and Sunday taking a guided walking tour of the village, a canal ride, a horse carriage ride, and renting bikes to cycle around the outskirts. It was great fun to be on our own, exploring, and having a few nice meals. Below are a few photos from Brugge: |
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Brugge city center and some of the many canals around Brugge. |
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Renting bikes, a view from the tower in Brugger, the cute couple. |
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Beautiful buildings along the canal and horse carriage rides. |
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