Dutch Visitors

Drew's good friend John and his wife Natalie, who currently live in Amsterdam, came to visit us this weekend!  I was of course nervous about them staying in our tiny apartment but it worked out well and we had a great time!  John has kinda become the older, wiser, European brother that Drew never knew he needed.  Over the past several months we've looked to them for advice and help and as an ear to listen when things over here have gone bonkers.  They're great.  Our weekend was low key and we mostly just talked about living in Europe and the quintessential Irish/Dutch things that make us laugh, the highs, the lows, the banks ("Tell us your bank story!  EVERYONE over here has a horrific bank story!" Natalie said), the travels, flights, credit card reward points, babies, parents, families, and anything and everything else.  It feels nice having someone echo our thoughts and feelings about the variety of topics and emotions and situations one experiences while living abroad.  

They got in late evening on Friday, and we headed over to Bear for an amazing steak dinner.  We stopped by The Stag's Head for some Guinness afterwards, where John was able to confiscate a souvenir Guinness glass for "free", and then we headed home cause we're getting old and get tired easily.  Dangit.

On Saturday, we headed over to Queen of Tarts (anyone noticing a trend here?) for some scones and tea, walked around Trinity College a bit, and then took the train to Howth for the afternoon.  We had every intention of hiking a bit and seeing the sights, but we got stuck watching seals play in the water and then stuck in a pub near the water enjoying seafood and scoops (beers).  Whooops.  

We had an afternoon nap (and a tutorial session from John about reward points and miles and maximizing our travels here) and went to get some more beers before our late pizza date at Paulie's.  Lady Gaga was in concert VERY close to the restaurant AND our apartment, so we got to walk home with all of her weirdly dressed little demons or monsters or whatever they call themselves.  It was...interesting.

They left around 9:30 on Sunday morning, and it was cloudy and we were sad to see them go so we crawled back in bed and watched the UT game from the night before and dozed.  It was lovely.  We went and got some sandwiches for lunch and headed to St. Stephen's Green for a little picnic and some good quality love time.  

And then we stopped by a pub near our house and somehow managed to get them to put on American football for us!  I don't think Drew even cared who was playing.  We heard some grumbling from the old guys at the bar about how American football was "crap" and they couldn't believe the bartender would put this on TV, but then the crotchety drunk guy talking fell out of his wheelchair and Drew and I rushed to help him get back in his chair...which was an ordeal in and of itself.  That shut him up good.  And then he came over and talked to us all about sports and Ireland so I think we're all friends now.  What a relief.

Now it's Monday, and I gotta go to the store for dinner tonight and do some laundry and all kinds of other fun housewifery.  I'm planning on enrolling in my Spanish class this week, researching our upcoming trip to Paris, applying for more jobs, seeing some friends, having some pints, and all kinds of other things to keep myself entertained!  AND I think we're booking our tickets home for Christmas this week, so that's fun.  Woohoo!  Ok, see yall later.  Happy Monday!