It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Now that we are well into December, it does feel like Christmas, but just a little different. This will be the first year I don't spend Christmas at home, which makes me sad, but it also means I'm doing a lot of traveling in the next few weeks. Anyways, here are some photos of my Christmas season. The first 4 pictures are from a day trip I went on to Zurich last Saturday with my friends Sarah and Anna. Every town/city has a Christmas market this time of year. Basel has one too and they are really fun to just stroll through. Anyways, the first picture reminded me a little of being back home. Old ladies in colorful vests playing Christmas carols on the steel drums. The second one is of some of the lights around the city. Everything is lite up and Christmassy. The next one is a picture of my Christmas tree here at the house. But really, it as in the middle of the Christmas market in the Zurich train station and it is covered in crystals. We do have a Christmas tree at the house, but it is fake and therefor not photo worthy. This last one is the "singing Christmas tree". It was these little Swiss kids singing big gospel music and a few carols as well. The next

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This last photo needs a bit of explaing. It is of me wearing the present I got from Sinterklaas. In addition to Christmas, the Dutch have Sinterklaas on December 5th. What happens is after weeks of leaving out your shoe with a carrot in it, Sinterklaas along with his Zwarte Piets (black Peters) sail from Spain to give presents to good kids. So, around 7pm on the 5th, we were all sitting in the living room drinking wine, listening to Dutch Sinterklaas music and eating chocolate when there was a load bang on the window. The front door swung open and in flew cookies that landed on the other side of the room. There was a sack of presents left for the kids, and well, I guess Sinterklaas still thinks I'm a kid because I got presents too. In addition to the lovely apron seen below, I also got some bath gel, black licorice (yuck), and travel book about Switzerland. It was really fun to see the holidays from a different perspective and culture.

Morocco!!!

Photos: The first is Djemaa el Fna square. Then a man in a scarf store wrapped my head in the traditioanl way. The third is the inside of the hostel we stayed in. The next two are things we say while driving. Then a couple of camel pictures. The man getting the kiss was our driver. Then a picture at the Ouzuod Falls and also in front of the river, followed by the women washing their clothes. The next is one of the great meals we had with vegetables and couscous. Then we did our own version of wrapping our heads in our room. The next is from the camel ride and the last is a picture from the plane of the African coast line.

So, last weekend I went to Africa... he he he. I went to Marrakech, Morocco from Saturday to Tuesday with my au pair friends Katie and Kellie. We walked around the main square or hours, Djemaa el Fna, which, if you'd like to know is the largest square on the African continent!! You could never get bored there. Anyways, I did LOTS of shopping. Haggling is standard and it was of course strange sometimes, but I got the hang of it after a while. I bought, Moroccan slippers, scarves, jewelry and a few other souvenirs for family Christmas presents. Then on Monday we did a private tour. It wasn't intended to be private, but we had a driver and tour guide take us to a typical Moroccan house for breakfast. There was homemade butter, bread, honey, and olive oil. Then we rode camels!!! Even though it was a super touristy thing to do, it was real fun and I kind of bonded with my camel. Then we went on a short hike to the Ouzuod Falls. It was strange because when we were driving the landscape was very arid and flat, then at the water falls it was green with mountains around us. After that we ate a huge Moroccan tajine dish with couscous that was delicious! The place we stayed was beautiful with Moroccan decor and everything worked out well with flights and such. In all, it was an awesome trip. Also, I've posted a lot of pictures from my camera, but I will also post some more from Katie and Kellie's cameras when I get them.

The wonderful Wizard of Oz

Last Thursday night there was a viewing of The Wizard of Oz at the kids school. You could get dressed up and come and sing along with the movie. Because I was the only one in the family that had ever seen the movie and knew the songs, Constantijn and Sterre really wanted me to come. Sterre went as Glenda the Good Witch and Constantijn went as the Lion. I kind of went as the tin man, wearing grey clothes and a hat made out of tin foil. Luckily I didn't go all out because none of the adults dressed up. I hadn't seen that movie in a long time and I forgot how old it was. It was really fun though .

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Last week I also went on a little outing with Romee and we went to go see this "castle" on the other side of Basel. When we got there it was closed and it looked more like a cottage to me, but at least it was a nice drive.

Also, because you are so diligent about reading my blog and I know you'll see this, HAPPY BIRTHDAY WHITNEY!!