Home School and Odds & Ends

Well, we tried to upload the latest on this blog yesterday, but no such luck. There was a lovely internet place in Edam with the sweetest host with a cute daughter. Instead of a smoky bar like the last one at
the campsite,this one was a shop that did copying and design work and they had a few macs available to use...very nice. Plus if one was in the middle of an email, the system didn’t just shut down on you when
the time was up like the last place. One just paid her when you were done and she was very generous and helpful (where as the last place we were on our own to figure things out which is a bit tricky when everything is in Dutch including google).

We need to get the camper back to Amsterdam early this morning, so will be able to upload at our favorite bench on the canal wifi spot. Rene wanted us to get some experience camping and to then decide if anything else needed to be fixed or changed before we took off. So we will have them make minor fixes, get the SOG installed, get final inspections passed, pick up two more boxes that have arrived and ask any final questions. We will tour more of Amsterdam while we wait for things to be done.

We will probably also check in on our camera which was sent out to Canon thru the shop we mentioned earlier on Tuesday and is suppose to be done in about 10 days. We are still deciding how to handle that,
but will probably have it sent to us somewhere or to a friend where we will pick it up.

I wanted to mention a little about homeschool and how well that is working so far and include a few pictures. The greatest homeschool of course is life as a field trip, but some basics definitely need to be handled. Already we are doing mostly facilitating than teaching really since she is a good reader. We are a little challenged by our lack of wifi internet connection for music and other things, but we can still practice and that will easily be solved come November 1st  when we get our satellite. We still have to pick up her digital piano, but she has a magnetic board for practicing note reading, composition and such. Sometimes we do things together and sometimes she sits up front in my seat while we do other things while she does a bit of reading or homeschooling work. Sometimes she does it outside.

I also wanted to add some pictures of everyday things. There is never enough room for all the pictures of the beautiful area that I want to show, so in time we will make up a photo album for each country that will include all our favorite shots. In the meantime, I thought I would post a few of things like Mozart getting her hair cut,or her favorite shop, the Chocolatier, getting bikes across a lock, her playing in a deli we stopped at lunch (and that is NOT me at the counter, but a Dutch woman and yes I am glad that I am not the only overweight woman in Europe as it was reassuring to run into many) etc.

I am thinking the beautiful view pictures are more interesting,but it seems like some odds and ends of
daily life are important to document as well. In many ways it is not so different than home,now it is just a movable home. The space is small,but one adapts and the whole outside becomes part of ones home. Our mornings are not much different than at home and start with homeschool after breakfast. Our evenings are similar to home as well....we have quickly adapted to cooking and grocery shopping here. We brush and floss here just like at home, read our books at night and are enjoying our dvd’s when we want more nightly entertainment. I bought a great collection just for this trip with mostly educational, classic, based on great books or other high quality films that we can all enjoy together. That is working very well.

Sometimes it’s a little more fun than home. When we wake, we usually go in our PJ’s to the bathroom facilities which are usually empty. But on the way we see the ocean as we open the door and the sun and sometimes ducks greet us, the fresh air invigorates and its an inspiring way to greet the day. Sometimes there are treats at night as well. Last night on our last run to the john, Mozart ran into her Dutch friend who was in her jammies too doing the same thing and they laughed and played a bit. We can of course use our own bathroom and shower that is part of the camper,but it is usually easiest to use the facilities when they are available, so we do.

We play together in our bed and call it Babolando when the curtains are closed and we are the King,
Queen and Princess of that mysterious land. Mozart is enjoying the nicknames (gets excited when she
sees something about Mozart printed as has happened a few times) and she even gave us a cheer for Soultravelers3 that we like to do together as our secret code cheer.

Feel free to let us know what you like or do not like or what you would like to see more of. We are still figuring out how to add the feedback portion that should be part of every blog and like the RSS feed this one has it, we are just not sure how to activate such and not having much wifi access has prevented us on solving these things. BUT you can always write to us at soultravelers3[at]hotmail[dot]com and we will get it and eventually get back to you. I am not sure if anyone is reading, but that might be just as well if most are missing this as we are just winging it and learning as we go. It may never look professional as I just seem to have to write quickly when I can. I really miss my online dictionary and thesaurus and reference guide! Perhaps I will get a chance to edit it if we ever get to a place that has wifi or maybe when we are in our rental home in Spain.