They are fixing the street outside of my Dutch family's home. The streets here are made out of bricks. So they took all of the bricks out… And made huge piles. And now they are expanding the parking area in front of the houses. They have been working for two days. And they did make good progress. The only thing is that they start working very early…

This morning I got up at 6h45… That's 00h45 Montreal time! I could have slept in longer but my alarm went on. I wanted to have breakfast with the family and then bring the kids to school. So I got up, got dressed and came downstairs. The father had started preparing the breakfast so I helped him best I could. Before when I lived here preparing breakfast was my task! I had delicious ontbijtkoek (mmmm), 2 slices of bread (1 with chocolade hagelslag and the other with jam) and an egg “à la coque”. Then at 8h I left with only the youngest kid. We both took our bikes and went to his school. The oldest kid went by car with his dad. I liked going to the school with the kid… The route is the same, his classroom and teacher are the same, things (building, streets, etc) haven't really changed.

I'm happy that now it seems the sun will stay out… It's shining. Clouds are almost gone and the sky is becoming blue! Last night there was a huge rain storm… And the two walls that give out on the outside are filled with windows. So I could really hear the rainfall hard!!! It woke me up. But now the rain seems to have gone. For now anyways…

This morning I left the house to go to the city centre at about 9h30. I took the tram to the Central Station. From there I walked over to the Scheepvaartmuseum… It was a long walk, about 20 minutes. When I got there I got a ticket (6.75€) and then proceeded to view the exhibition about the Dutch maritime history. There were a lot of small boat replicas, paintings and objects. Then the most interesting part was to go around the replica of a VOC ship from the 1750's. I knocked my head hard twice because there was not much ceiling room in some areas… In the ship's hold space I could hear the people on the floor as when they walked the ceiling cracked so hard! It took me a while to figure out where the noise was coming from! Also touring the ship were school classes… Grrr! They ran everywhere and were loud. But I still really enjoyed the visit!

After the museum I walked back towards the West. I saw a boat crossing the bridges… It was a too big boat so then they have to open the bridge for it… It stops all traffic from the bridge… It is neat to watch! I stopped at Waterlooplein's flea market (they sold everything from porn to antiques to clothing) and bought a Patat met Ketchup and a Fanta Orange (3.65€). Then I continued walking… I liked the Zuiderkerk's music that was playing from the church's bells. It gave a special atmosphere to the walk! I bought a postcard at a small tobacco shop. I then sat on a bench to write the postcard. Then a man in a tiny boat arrived. There was a music roll and he was also playing the trumpet. He played two-three songs and then passed around a long stick, tall enough to reach from the canal to the people around/on the bridge. From the stick was hanging a wooden shoe in which we could give him money. I gave him some (1€) as I had really enjoyed his original show!

Then I walked to the Kalverstraat where I went shopping! Oh yes! I went to the Hema to buy some house stuff, pillow cushions, apron, etc and some socks! I like Hema because they have good basic products at a nice price! Then I also went to We but didn't find any clothes worth the price. And finally at Bershka I bought two tops, 1 camisole with pokadots and another long sleeved blue shirt. I won't be buying anything else at stores here… Except for some food at the Albert Heijn! Then at about 14h20 I took the tram back home and I am really tired now!!!