I've really been enjoying how much sleep I've been getting here in Amsterdam. Since we haven't had a mile long list of things to do, we don't feel rushed every morning to get up and go go go.

Thursday I woke up before everyone else and sat outside in our "courtyard" drinking tea, eating breakfast and writing. I actually don't remember much of what else we did that day. I think we tried going to the "cat boat" only to find out it had closed just when we arrived. :(

My plan for that evening was to go to the gym. I've really been missing working out. I guess I'd taken for granted the natural high I get from zumba and sweating really hard so not having it for nearly 2 weeks was starting to take its toll. I found a local gym a few minutes from here, and let the others go do their thing while I went to get my sweat on.

I paid the ridiculous price for a day pass and took a bodypump class (all in Dutch! haha I quickly learned to recognize the different instructions like quick-slow, 2-2, one more time, etc.). They don't have fans in their group class room, so by the end of the hour I was dripping wet in sweat. It felt great. I spent the next hour, stretching, listening to my book on tape, walking slowly on the treadmill and just chilling in the locker room.

Then at 7;30 I finally got my zumba fix! So weird to hear it all taught in Dutch. I recognized a few of the words - kumbya, mambo, cha-cha, salsa - but for the most part I had no idea any of what she was saying. I had only heard 2 of the songs before so the whole class was fresh and new for me. It was so much fun :) But man, after another hour of sweating my booty off, I was wiped.

That night we hung out at the apartment - they watched a soccer match, I made myself some pasta, and we drank some wine. Good, quiet evening. :)

Friday!

We had two goals on Friday - go to Sloterparc to play discgolf (while Winn went back to den Haag for a business meeting), and have dinner with Howie (a friend of my dad's from high school) and his wife Elise.

Winn left around 9:30 and we took our sweet time getting ready. I wrote a little in the morning, finished all my postcards and around 12 the three of us headed to Westmarkt to catch the tram. Luckily we just had to take one tram and the 30 minute ride was really pleasant. Saw another side of Amsterdam - a more residential area, lots of Muslim women in colorful scarves and dresses, more families, open air shopping areas, most of the buildings were apartments with balconies covered in drying clothes or rugs airing out. The weather was sunny, breezy, clear. A perfect day to head to a park.

Of course when we got there, we had no idea where to go or how to get to the entrance of the park since the tram stop is a few blocks away. We went into the Sloterparcbad - kind of like a YMCA with a pool, and a playground, and exercise classes - to use their bathrooms (Dutch people are more accommodating than French in that regard) and find out how to get to the beginning of the disc golf course. Yay for nice Dutch people. :)

I've never played disc golf before, but Adam has really gotten into it in the last year so he was pretty excited to try out this new course. We had a lot of fun! I played the first 9 holes and did terribly but it was fun. They did much better than me since they play a lot. It was nice just being outside and not being hot. The park wasn't super busy since it was a Friday but there were enough people getting in the way that we'd have to stop and wait for them to move.

After the 18 holes, we caught the tram back and then had a couple hours to relax, shower, and get ready for dinner. Howie and his wife came by the house just before 7 and then we went to dinner at a nearby restaurant called Lieven that was delicious! They offer a wine pairing with each of your courses, so my dad and I did that and it was really fun to try different wines specifically paired with what we ordered.

Conversation flowed easily and around 11 we realized how late it was! Howie and his wife still had to drive nearly 2 hours back to their home town. We really appreciated them making the trek into town to see us. It was definitely an awesome dinner.

Natasha and Adam went back to the apartment while my dad and I stopped at a bar a couple doors down from our place and enjoyed a drink out on their "patio", which is really a barge in the canal. :) The evening was just so clear and pleasant in the 60s, it was hard not to want to stay outside.

We've really lucked out with the weather here. Every day we check weather.com and it's always saying rainy, 40 - 70% of showers, and every day (knock on wood) it's been clear and sunny!

One day left!