My Autobiography: Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

I’d like to say that when I got used to the Netherlands, I was charmed, but no. I thought that it was a gloomy, rainy country. I slept until three in the afternoon the next, and I woke up by myself. And I then asked my mom what time was it was, (I thought it was lunch time,) and she said that it was three o’clock!

I played for the rest of the day with my Legos, superheroes, and other toys that brought on the plane. For the first since I heard the news, I felt excited!

I was tired when I got into bed that night, despite sleeping in for so late, and I looked forward to some interesting few weeks of unpacking and exploring.

If the day after we came to the Netherlands was a day of rest, the next day was a day of work. The air shipment had come along with lots of things like clothes, a little food, and other things. Looking back on it, we could have found everything we needed in the local stores, but we weren’t settled in enough yet.

We spent the few weeks exploring and unpacking. We would stay home for hours, sorting our things and trying keep order and then we go outdoors into the rain, wearing matching brightly colored raincoats, which we quickly figured out that the Dutch did not have.

One of my favorite places that we went to was Naarden. It was raining, of course, but I loved the fact that is a fortress town, with a huge canal serving as a moat and the hot chocolate! In a café there the best hot chocolate ever which you made by dipping a chunk of chocolate into hot milk. It was sweetened by amazing whipped cream that others drank in their hot chocolate, but I just ate plain!

It was a little scary when I first came, I got used to the rainy country. I started to like out neighbor, I liked the caramel waffles, I loved the crepe-like pancakes with the thick syrup and powdered, and I liked all the fresh air that came with biking.

After two weeks, my Auntie Em came with our beloved dog, Barnabas!!!!! It was great to somebody from home, and it was great to see Barnabas too. The sea shipment also came and we spent several days devoted to unpacking. However, we still didn’t have our beds, and most of our furniture assembled so, even when Auntie Em left, we still had to work on making the Melkpad home.

A few weeks after Naarden, it was my birthday. We went to a castle called Muiderslot. I loved it when I went to it, but at first I didn’t want to go. We had had brunch at Bagels and Beans, one of our favorite breakfast restaurants that served fresh bagels, homemade cream cheese, and freshly squeezed orange juice. I put up quite against going, but Mom and Dad insisted I go. To this, day, it is one of my most favorite places to visit.

Life was still crazy, the Netherlands was still rainy, and I missed my friends. But I had gotten out of the sinking sand and had found some firm ground to stand on.