Home for the Holidays

I know it has been quite some time since I've posted, but in all truthfulness, nothing too noteworthy happened throughout the month of December, and we've been quite busy since we've returned from Canada.  Before Christmas, I was insanely busy with the course I was doing at the time, which was called Innovative Tumor Therapies and was probably my favorite class I've done so far.  Lucky for me, I landed an internship with the professor of the course and, in February, I'll be starting a project about lung cancer and combination therapy.  I'm really looking forward to getting out of the classroom and into the lab!

Anyway, between Bruges and Christmas, that was the only share-worthy point.

My Christmas break started on December 18.  I had a final exam that afternoon and after, I headed out with some classmates for dinner and drinks (sadly, I bailed on the karaoke part of the evening). I don't know why we don't do that more often because it was such a great time!

The next day, I took full advantage of the lounge time and watched TV in my PJ's all morning.....and part of the afternoon.  After a really intense 4 months of school (and no long weekends), I was basking in the glory of having nothing to do.  Eventually, I realized that wasn't entirely true, and I started packing for our trip home.

We played suitcase Tetris all morning Saturday, and after shuffling stroopwafels from one bag to another, we were finally packed and ready to fly our 50lbs of Dutch food to Canada.  Just kidding.  It wasn't all food....just mostly food.

We arrived in YEG at 5:00pm on Sunday to HUGE hugs and happy tears.  There's nothing like a good hug from your parents after not seeing the for 7 months (we were all too busy hugging to bother taking a picture).

The two weeks we spent in Canada were a whirlwind, but a wonderful one. We started off our holiday by spending a few days with Carter and Cash.  I was absolutely convinced they wouldn't know who I was.  I figured they would play shy and be reluctant to give me hugs.  I couldn't have been more wrong! The second they saw me, both yelled Auntie and came barreling towards me for hugs.  It was the most heartwarming thing and a memory I'll cherish forever.  I couldn't get over how much they've grown.  They're no longer little babies, but running and talking little people!

We spent Christmas Eve at Baba's like we do every year, and it was wonderful.  Christmas Eve at Baba's is the reason I love Christmas.  In Dutch there's the the word "gezellig" and there's no literal English translation, but it exactly sums up why I love Christmas Eve at Baba's so much.  Wikipedia describes it as "belonging, time spent with loved ones or togetherness that gives a warm feeling",  It's the perfect word for the occasion! I've spent every Christmas Eve of my life at Baba's stuffing myself full of amazing Ukrainian foods, laughing with my cousins, playing cards and enjoying family, and like I said, it remains my favorite holiday.

After Christmas, Sander and I decided to take a mini vacation within our vacation and head to the mountains.  We did a day of super easy hiking and a day of snowboarding.  I forgot how much I love the Rockies.  I cannot even count how many times I've been to the mountains, and they still take my breath away.

We rang in the new year watching the Northern Lights, drinking eggnog, playing cards and visiting.  It was a great start to 2016, and I'm happy to report I started the year without a hangover for once! ;)  The last few days of our holiday were spent hanging out at the lake.  I tinkered on the piano for a bit, we had a campfire, we played suitcase Tetris again and before we knew it, it was time to fly back to Holland and return to the daily grind. 

Being back to the daily grind is kind of nice.  As amazing as holidays are, it's always nice to return to a routine.  I've started a new course for the month of January (Biostatistics) which is keeping my plenty busy.  We're also back to our gym routine, working off those extra pounds from Christmas, and we've started packing for our move at the end of the month.  Yes, we're moving again, but it's something that deserves it's own post! So for now, here's a sweet pic I snapped near Sander's parents' house.  

A weekend in Bruges

Sander and I took a mini holiday to Belgium this weekend.  I wrote a final on Friday, so this was one of my free weekends to enjoy and we decided to escape early on Friday and head to Bruges.

If I was forced to describe the city of Bruges in one word, it would be adorable.

The city is so quaint and it literally charmed the pants off of me.

See:

My catch phrase of the day was "it's so cute I'm going to die".  Honestly, every nook and cranny in that city just made me smile.  We had a wonderful day exploring and of course having Belgian beer and waffles!! 

We also watched a candy demonstration which blew both of our minds.  We initially started watching because the guy was stretching out the candy on this hook and it looked really neat.  They then started using different colors and assembling them into what we thought was the most pathetic stack of gooey messy candy.  It wasn't until I saw the little candies on the ledge that I realized what he was making! The end product was a delicious hard candy which we got to taste as he cut the strings into tiny pieces.

These are all handmade!! I had no idea the process was so intricate! 

It was a wonderful little trip and I cannot wait to return sometime.  One day in that gorgeous city just was not enough! 

Totally nuts!

Yesterday, Nienke and I cracked a kilo of these lovely nuts (that were collected throughout Utrecht) and made the most amazing hazelnut pie. Such a fun baking adventure!! Nut hunting is definitely on my agenda for next fall!

Pie Night and Fall Colours

Pumpkin Pie Night

Thanksgiving wasn't quite complete without a pumpkin pie.  I had full intentions of making a pie for our lovely dinner, however, I ran into the slight problem of not being able to find a pumpkin! Pro-tip: pumpkins over here look different! I believe I did see a few pumpkins here and there, but they weren't the type of pumpkin I was used to, so I walked right past them.  Linda was kind enough to bring one the day of our dinner, so we whipped up a quick no-bake pumpkin cheesecake dessert (which was delicious), but I still had the craving for a real pumpkin pie.

Then the following week, I found a real pumpkin (or rather, the type of pumpkin I'm used to seeing) and I was inspired to give this whole pie thing a go.  It was so good! There was some improvising (*ahem, using a spring form pan cause we had no pie plate), but in the end, it was pretty darn close to the real thing.  Of course, being that it was my first ever pie crust, there were some improvements to be made, however, I have to say, for my first go at pumpkin pie, I was pretty proud of us!

A Beautiful Fall Day

The trees around here have been absolutely amazing the last couple of weeks.  I've been dying to get out there and enjoy the colours  (including a beautiful blue sky), but I've been so incredibly busy with school (which is going well, by the way.  I officially passed my first course!).  Yesterday, I finally made it out to the forest area for an afternoon walk.  I really thought I had missed most of the leaves (all the trees by our place are bare by now), but I was pleasantly surprised to see some trees still full!

Dutch Thanksgiving

Well, another Turkey Day has come and gone and, though there was no turkey consumed this year, it was a solid Thanksgiving celebration!

Living abroad is really fun.  You're constantly encountering new things whether that is a new food, a new word in a new language or a new friend.  It's easy to find the excitement in all this newness.  However, it's also very easy to miss what you're used to.

There is nothing in this world that can replace the comfort of being surrounded by all the people you care about most, and there is nothing that can make me miss home more than family and friends getting together and not being able to join in.  I know every time a birthday, a holiday, or even a simple dinner party with friends rolls around I will be disappointed that I cannot join, and I know it's something that will take time to get used to.  However, with all the newness around here, comes along the opportunity to share tradition and create new ones too! That's why as Thanksgiving approached, I felt the need to plan a dinner.  I knew it wouldn't be the same as it was at home, but it was the perfect opportunity to ward away a heavy heart and share a Canadian tradition with some Dutchies.

All in all, our first Dutch Thanksgiving was a huge success.  We shared an amazing meal cooked by all of us (thank you everyone for contributing!!) and it was the best start to a tradition here.  The evening was perfect and I couldn't have imagined anything more.  I also want to send out a huge THANK YOU to Sander for putting up with the crazy Canadian in me, to Linda for coming early to help prep (and play Agricola....which might be something we have to do again next year), and to Ted and Jan for helping with the never ending pile of dishes!

September Summary

Wow, can't believe it has been a month since I've last written! I wish I had some wild and crazy stories to share, but unfortunately, I'm living a fairly normal life over here.

School is going great so far.  I am absolutely loving learning more about cancer and being challenged intellectually.  The program set up is really working well for me too.  We do one class at a time and it runs for only one month.  It can be stressful since you have a lot of material to cover in such a short time, but it's nice only having one class to focus on.  Also, my favorite part is that every 4 weeks, you're guaranteed a free weekend with no studying!

That free weekend happens to be this weekend, and I'll admit, I'm taking the relaxing to a whole new level! It has been a perfect mix of hanging out at home and visiting with friends! Last night we celebrated Jorine's birthday with some pretty fancy cocktails, and today I'm hanging out at home and toying around with the idea of making a Thanksgiving dinner here.  If anyone has some recipe ideas to wow these Dutchies, please share!

That's all I have to update on for now.  Hopefully in the next month I'll be more diligent with keeping everyone in the boring loop that makes up my life. ;)

For now, I'll leave you with a lovely pic I snapped last weekend while out for my Sunday morning run with the running group.  The sun was shining and there wasn't a breeze.  The canals were so insanely calm and their glass-like water was absolutely gorgeous!

Never Ever

If you had told me 5 years ago that I'd be doing a master's in oncology in Amsterdam, I'd probably have laughed in your face and gone on my way. Looking at my life with an objective eye today and clearly seeing (and appreciating) how lucky I am!!

As you may or may not know, I started school again on Monday.  This is wonderful as it is super nice to be back in a routine, however, I can already tell that it's going to be claiming most of my free time. For those of you who aren't sucked into the deep black hole of Facebook, I cannot promise to write proper updates often enough. As a compensation, I'll be sharing snip-its via photos and quick messages.  I know it doesn't quite suffice, but I'll try my best to fill in the details as I go along.