Gramz Goes to Holland

Well we made it. Let's get off this airplane

and stretch our legs a bit.

Wow...it must be about 10:00 A.M.

"Goedemorgen"

After we arrived in Amsterdam and met our driver without any incidents he took us to our apartment. However, when we arrived there was no sign of the landlord. Allan found the phone # of Morningstar's office in an old email and the driver was able to call Jackie, the office manager. She said she'd sent an email that the landlord wanted us to pick up the keys from him at the airport. Allan explained his phone stopped receiving emails once we left the U.S. The driver and I went back to the airport to find the landlord while

Allan stayed with the luggage that we'd already unloaded from the car.

Me and the kids are on our way back to the airport. They were great sports when they heard that we

got to go back to the airport. They have been so

good and have not complained a bit.

Way to go

Spencer and Alie.

While we were gone, the owner of the building, who is temporarily living next door, showed up and opened the apartment and helped Allan haul our luggage up the stairs to our temporary home. Shortly after they had all the luggage in, I arrived with our key. All we brought with us is what we could fit in four large suitcases and four carry on bags.

"This is one steep set of stairs"

I wasn't to hip on going back to the airport to

retrieve the keys, but I sure was glad when

I saw that flight of stairs.

This set of steps was even steeper than the first.

Thanks Allan for hauling

my luggage up those stairs for me.

Morningstar put us up for 30 days in temporary housing in Westerpark, which is west of downtown Amsterdam. It took about 10 minutes on the bus or 25 minutes or so walking to get to Centraal Station. Allan took the bus to Centraal Station and then caught the metro (subway) to Bijlmer Arena, the biggest football (soccer) stadium in the Netherlands. It is then a 6-8 minute walk to his office.

Biljmer Arena

This is Allan's Office building. He works on the 11th floor.

This is the bike garage.

Allan's bike is in the center of the photo. It is the one with the black bags over the back tires.

This is Allan's Desk.

Ok let's go back and see what our

temporary housing looks like.

"Welkom". Come on in.

When you open the door you come right into the kitchen.

Wow, look at these dials on the oven.

Humm, I wonder how these work?

It was a bit tricky trying to figure it out.
It was trial and error.

Our Living Room

This was a side room/ guest room just
off from the side of the living room.

The next room is the cutest little bathroom.

They call it the "toilet".

This room is separate from the toilet

Hey Dad check out this tub...

A lot of places here don't have one
of these luxuries of life.

Great place don't

you think?

Ok so we needed some food, so we

went around the corner and down a bit to

the small but lovely Albert Heijn.

(Allan really likes these shopping carts.)

The carts are small for a good reason.

Why? because you carry home what you buy.

Remember you have a very small fridge

and a small amount of shelf space

to store things.

These next photos are of some very important

cooking essentials. It took several trips to

the market to actually find them. We were

both very excited when we found them. We eventually

found baking soda in a chinese market.

Forget about buying anything in bulk around here.

Oh except oil. They love to deep fry, so oil comes in bulk.

Yes, yogurt comes in a milk carton.

Vanilla. This bottle was good for just a
few batches of chocolate no bakes.

Spencer, you acrobat.

We all
had a great
time
making our
chocolate
no bakes.
Yum they were good.

This is the tiny
package of Baking Powder

I was very excited when I found
this yeast. It takes 3 of these little gems to
make a small batch of dough.

Check out the tape

that seals the peanut butter lid

closed for safety.

But hey, I can at least

read what it acually is.

Cooking here is tricky,

but I am getting used to it

On Wednesday, we went around to various municipal offices registering to live in Amsterdam. Allan went to work on Thursday and then had a four day weekend with work closed Friday for Good Friday and Monday for Easter. We spent the weekend walking around Amsterdam, seeing sights and becoming acquainted with which stores carry what and where various things are.

Enjoy some random shots

around Amsterdam.

This is at Dam square.
The "Palace" is behind the Ferris Wheel

I love her hat!

Life size chess game going on.

Yes, we spotted the Invisible Man

Our "tickets to ride" on
the Sprinter to get to Church.

You see that funny looking necklace that I am wearing?
It is a translation device that I wear at church
during our Sacrament meeting.

What a week it has been.
Thanks for tagging along with us.
Have a great time until
we see you again.

This is a true story about Allan & Paula and there
two little stowaways, ladybug and frogy, alias
Alie and Spencer.

And what do you
two think
you are doing?

You tell her Spencer!

"Dad Spencer and Alie want to come with us to
Amsterdam."

"Ok... you can come. But no eating each other."

This story began more than one year ago, when

Morningstar announced they were going to open an office

in Europe and transfer some analysts there. Allan expressed interest, but with the caveat that Granny was living with us and he couldn't go as long as she was alive.

Granny 1926-2013

Initially, discussions were more of an office being located
in London or Paris. I told Allan, "I'd love to go to Amsterdam." In the end, Morningstar chose Amsterdam.

Allan emailed his old missionary companion, Sam Ray, about connecting with his daughter Millie, who lived in the Netherlands just in case it happened. After Granny passed, Allan reiterated his interest and discussions became more serious. Finally, a formal offer was made in February.

Who knew we would actually live here!

Things then just began to fall in place. I had worried about what to do with our house, but the spirit said, "relax, it will be ok." Then Sam Ray, emailed that his son Luke had accepted a job offer in Chicago and could we talk to him about places he might live. Who knew, he would end up renting our house. Not only that, but we found out that the Bishop in Amsterdam was Millie's husband's uncle.

On March 24th Allan was notified his paperwork was

close to being approved and we needed to contact the

Dutch consulate in Chicago.

Allan went to their website and it said the first available appointment was April 24.

We had already bought tickets to fly out on April 14.
Allan called a number and was told he could send an email to an address they gave him that would go directly to the Chicago consulate and try and get some help.

They responded that they had just had one cancellation on Saturday March 29 when Allan was supposed to have joined me in Virginia to bless Amy. He looked at the possibility of our flying early Saturday morning to Chicago, going to the appointment, and flying back that night.

It would have been a couple of thousand dollars. He asked what other choices he had and they said try another consulate. He checked Washington DC and they had one on Friday April 4, 2 days after we were supposed to leave.

He also asked if DC had any openings that weren't on the schedule. The man said he'd check and that we should continue checking the schedule for a cancellation. On Monday, Allan received an email from DC that they could meet us on Monday April 1 at 9:30. We cancelled the appointment on Friday and showed up on Monday.

The Dutch Consulate in Washington D. C.

We arrived early, a little after 9. We went in and talked to the security guard and told him we had an appointment at 9:30. He informed us that they don't open until 10.

We showed him the email and he told us to take a seat. At 9:30 he said, you're right, they're here and ready for you.

They had come in early just for us. This was so amazing.
They never do any thing like that.

They asked for our papers and as we went through them, they said you're missing your approval paper.

She said, this paper says it's been sent for review,
but needs to be approved.

Allan said he was told the prior week that it should be approved that week. She said she'd check with Amsterdam.

She came back awhile later and said they had been unable to reach Amsterdam and to continue waiting.

A bit later she came back and said, we've contacted Amsterdam, you've been approved and they've sent the paperwork. Relief....

They asked if we'd like it mailed and we said, we live in Chicago and we're leaving in 2 weeks.

She said, oh,..... can you come back in a couple of hours.

We said yes, we had planned to go to the zoo,
and could come back later.
Huge relief once again.

So off we went to the Zoo with Alie and the family

Big fun at the Zoo. John, Amy under the pink blanket and David. Hi kids

Little Amy

Originally, we were to move to Amsterdam on April 1,

which would be after Alie had her baby.

However, Sharma then got engaged and we were
able to postpone it until April 15 after her wedding
on April 12.

On April 6,

the ward had a farewell party for us hosted by the

Palmers, Hackings and Thomas'. I didn't think

many people would come, but was surprised

and delighted by a great turnout. Thanks everybody.

We then drove to Boise for Sharma's wedding

and had a wonderful time.

You got to love the shoe shot!

We then drove to Salt Lake where we were able to meet my brothers at Elysian Gardens and view our mother's tombstone and then go to Mark's and spend some time together. We then met with Allan's siblings for ice cream at his brother Lynn's house.

We then flew from Salt Lake on April 14 and

arrived in Amsterdam on April 15.

We went on the scenic tour:

Salt Lake to Seattle to Reykjavík,

Iceland to Amsterdam.

Let's watch Dad use those incredible packing skills of his.

We had
to
readjust
the
weight of
our luggage.

I had a slight accident with a grater at security.
But then we were off.

Luckily Allan remembered that he left his coat
on the plane. He was able to go back and
retrieve it. Unfortunately you can't see the
sigh of relief on his face.