Guus Bosman

software engineering director

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dailylife

Jaap and Mieke left

Sat, 08/29/2015 - 3:54pm

We said goodbye this morning to my parents, after five wonderful weeks together. They looked after Leo and Adrian for the first three weeks and then Nora joined their gang. Her Dutch was a little shaky the first few days but she quickly found her mo-yo back. Every morning there would be two new books from Oma on the living room table.

Yesterday my father baked another apple pie -- the fourth one in a month -- and we had sushi for dinner.

I always have a lump in my throat when saying goodbye but this time it was quite literal. My parents like to try various fruits and this morning we cut a "jack fruit". I tried a small piece and it tasted good; a little like melon. It tickled a bit in my throat, just like pineapple sometimes does... and then my throat started swelling up. A weird feeling, but nothing too serious, thankfully.

Around noon I drove my parents to the airport and at Dulles we said goodbye. Nora came with me which was nice.

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dailylife

Reading books with Opa & Oma

Thu, 08/27/2015 - 7:10am

"Opa, wil je alsjeblieft met mij een boek lezen?" Nora becomes super polite when she wants to be read a book.

Oma brought a huge stack of books, and every day there are two new books for Nora to be read.

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dailylife

So much love

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 7:12am

The children are getting so much love from Opa & Oma.

Here is Oma reading to them, while in the mean time maneuvering the book away from Leo's legs.

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dailylife

To the Zoo with Opa & Oma

Sun, 08/23/2015 - 11:27am

I drove Opa, Oma and Nora to the Zoo and a few minutes before 10 we were at the southern gate. Nora wanted to see a pig so they started at the petting zoo.

They fed fishes and saw several animals, including the wolf. "Wat vond je het leukste, Nora?" "Het draaien!" Nora went into a merry-go-round and loved it. "Waar zat je op?" "Eh... een dier". She sat on an antelope with Oma next to her.

This morning we had waffles and Jaap and Mieke left to see the Eastern Market.

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dailylife

"Wil je mee naar de dierentuin?"

Sat, 08/22/2015 - 7:53am

"Wil je mee naar de dierentuin?", Mieke asked Nora. Nora shook her head, no, she didn't want to go to the Zoo. I asked her if it is because I told her there are crocodiles. "Ja...".

But then Mieke asked about which animal she wanted to see: "varken" and Nora got excited. So this morning my parents and Nora are going to the Zoo. First breakfast; I made bosbessenbroodjes.

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dailylife

A Friday with Opa and Oma

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 9:38pm

We told Nora about Uncle Gerben's advice but tonight she still didn't want to give Opa a kiss (or nose kiss), haha. She had a great day with them and her Dutch is definitely coming back. She is still tired. Before she left to Bulgaria she often didn't want to nap but this week she hasn't protested at all and slept every day at least an hour.

We're all pretty tired so going to bed early tonight.

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dailylife

With Opa & Oma

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 7:43am

My parents are taking care of the kids during the day while we are at work. Nora is much more fluent with her Dutch know and she enjoys hanging out with Opa & Oma. Last night when we went to bed, she ran to Oma to give her a kiss. Then we we asked: "how about Opa" she run to me instead -- Opa has a prickly beard!

My parents are very calm and patient with the kids.

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dailylife

Language development after 8 weeks in Bulgaria

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 7:40am

Nora's Bulgarian has improved greatly. She is a lot more fluent and melodic when she talks and according to Sasha her sentences resemble those of Dyado and Baba. This is a wonderful benefit from her vacation abroad. I haven't heard her say them yet but I know she learned various Bulgarian poems and rhymes also.

Her Dutch had a temporary setback. Especially the first two days she had a hard time making herself understood to me and she would often just be quiet. It was interesting to see how much 8 weeks of virtual no Dutch matter, and it's a good reminder how important constant reinforcement is.

In the car from the airport I asked her, as a joke: "wil je een boterham met boerenkool?" -- she loves "boterham" but obviously not with "boerenkool" so she replied with two words, after searching: "eh... alleen!"

The same day at home she made several grammatical mistakes: "papa, wil je mij in doen?" (instead of "papa, wil je mij er in doen?" -- she wanted to jump in her bed). In bath she talked about: "de wit eendje" and "in de water".

Slowly but surely her fluency is coming back. Yesterday were about to go down the stairs and she said "knuf!" so she hasn't forgotten that. And this morning she woke up yelling "papa ben je wakker?!".

Like Jaap said this morning, traveling internationally and the corresponding jetlag and tiredness surely were a big factor and I'm glad she's becoming more vocal again. We haven't tried her English yet -- but that will happen in full in two weeks when she'll start her school.

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dailylife

Nora is back!

Sun, 08/16/2015 - 9:08pm

Nora is back home!

She left Bulgaria very early on Sunday morning. She stayed with Dyado and Baba in a hotel in Sofia, in order to make the 6.00 am flight from there. She had an amazing summer with them. She told them not to be sad: "не плачете баби. Ще ме видите на Skype. Но в самолета няма Skype!". Nora was traveling back from Bulgaria with Lelya Snezha, Lelya Lilyana and their grandkids and they flew through Heathrow.

At 2.00 pm our time we left for the airport to pick her up and at Dulles we met Silko and Mariela. When they came through the doors we didn't see Nora at first -- she was hidden by the cart with the luggage. She is so little! A tiny human being who is ours. She was very happy to see us.

Lily gave her some balloons and with those we went to the car. Her Bulgarian was very good but her Dutch has faded to the background, especially since she was very tired.

Once at home she immediately grabbed her bicycle, later her stroller and then sat down with her blocks. It took her a while to get acclimatized but after a while she had smiles for Opa and Oma also. She had an early dinner and then went to bed. While we were drying her hair she fell asleep in my arms. In the evening Sasha and I looked at the pictures and some videos from her camera, it was really great to get an impression of her wonderful summer.

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bicycling

Bicycling in DC

Fri, 08/14/2015 - 8:00pm

I've been bicycling to work every day after I came back from paternity leave and it feels great. My regular commute is short enough so I don't get too warm and it uses safe and easy roads. It's about 1.1 miles.

The conference this week was in a hotel near the Capitol, which is 6.5 miles from our house. I loved bicycling! And I felt great. On Tuesday my knee felt a little weird so I took the Metro instead but that was probably just from the wrong position on the bike and the rest of the week I didn't notice anything. I did feel a little guilty about my running -- I haven't ran at all last week -- but then again 13 miles a day is good exercise also.

The infrastructure in D.C. is getting nicer every year. I positively loved the bicycle lanes on Pennsylvania Avenue. They are protected from traffic and provide a great connection from the Capitol to the White House. It's also very symbolic that one of the best known streets in the United States now has bike lanes. Near Union Station they built a wonderful bicycle track on a street that I rode in 2006 when I said: "On my way back it was really cool to approach Union Station from the north, although traffic was pretty crazy there". Clearly, that has now dramatically improved.

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