what's gotten india?: April 2010

It has been a couple of wonderful months with visits from both sets of grandparents. It worked out that Tom and Mitch were on the same flight as Dechen and I to Amsterdam and they were able to hand me off to my parents. It was full of mixed emotions with teary farewells and hellos from both sets of grandparents. Here's a picture of my parents meeting Dechen for the first time at the airport.

The 2 weeks in the Netherlands was filled with family, meeting Dutch aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents and great-grandparents, and of course my sister and her boy, Spencer. For the most part Spencer and Dechen got along well, they both enjoy being outside, but Dechen needs a couple more months and then she can keep up with Spencer.

Here's a picture of Dechen with her grandpa on his birthday. I think that she was the best present that I could have brought him.

It was great having so many people around that wanted to hold Dechen. Here are some pictures of Dechen with some of her favourite people.

Grandma

Great Grandpa and Grandma van den Ham

Aunty Kim

One of the highlights of the trip was spending a sister day in Amsterdam. It was a cold day but we managed to eat enough fries with mayo to keep us warm and hung out in the Van Gogh muesum until the rain passed. As the directionly challenged sisters, we did get lost once, but managed to enjoy a cup of coffee on an outdoor terrace until we found out where we were on the map.

Some of the other adventures that we encountered were visiting Amsterdam with Tante Petra, Danny, Els and my parents and going on a canal tour and eating excellent food a pub. Going for long walks in Koog an de Zaan and seeing working windmills and sampling wonderful Gouda cheeses. Visiting Den Haag to apply for a visa for Dechen (which we got successfully) and having the time to walk the beaches of the North Sea. Travelling to Zwolle to meet up with Famile Baan, my host family in 2001 when I did a study abroad program and feeling like I never left. Walking around the old fishing port of Volendam and watching my dad feed Dechen ice-cream for the first time, much to my disapproval. Visiting a sheep farm on Easter with Om Henk and Tante Joke as well as Spencer, Kim and my parents. And having countless cups of strong coffee with family and just sitting around visiting and feeling at home.

It was good to be away, but always good to be back at home in India. We are waiting eagerly for our next visitors to arrive.

christina and dechen took off for the netherlands for two weeks of stroop-waffles, family and heineken... that left me to an empty-lonely house, so the only way to cope was getting into the hills for some hiking. myself and two woodstock colleagues headed up to harkidun, around a 7 hour drive north of here and spent a few days wandering. it was great to get away, to see the amazing villages and we even got hit with a snow storm!