The Dutch Way

I met Mo last September in Ghana, and we spent four months basically doing everything together--we lived together, ate together, worked together, traveled together and laughed together! We also talked about home, about people who are important to us, places, and much loved pets. Last week I got the chance to see all those things we talked about so much!

And in the meantime, we did many very Dutch-like things. We went to a cheese market (I was in heaven!), and then to a factory where they make cheese,
(yes, that's all cheese)
and then a factory where they make wooden shoes! Mo lives in northern Holland, in Friesland, in a beautiful house next to a canal with a windmill in the backyard. That's right--she has a windmill in her yard. We got to sleep in it one night, which was incredibly cold and incredibly fun. We basically took out every sleeping bag we could find and all the blankets we could carry, and slept on the 3rd floor of the mill. Here is a picture of the mill, and then where we slept!




Holland is very beautiful- it's flat (and actually a few meters below sea level, which is held off with a very big dyke) and colorful with beautiful old buildings lining the many canals. It's also very cold. It was snowing, quite hard, when I landed, and I didn't really ever warm up.

It was a great trip, and then I had a nice relaxing weekend back in London- with lunch in Wimbledon with some family friends, and more exploring London with Robin. On Tuesday, I packed up my things and headed for the airport. Everything ran smoothly, and I arrived in DC (with all of my luggage!) to a very welcoming crowd with balloons and signs and flowers, big smiles and even bigger hugs. Now I am home, and slowly recovering and rediscovering life in Richmond.

Thank you all for reading my blog over the last 7 months, your thoughts and comments were very important to me; I will certainly never forget the support I received. This will probably be the last post (at least for now...who knows what the future holds!), so if want more information, you're just going to have to talk to me in person! :-)

Becca