Guus Bosman

We visited Oma Bosman today in Velsen-Noord. It was great to see her again.

We went to the market together. Saw drop, Sinterklaas chocolate, Dutch bread... delicious.

At home in Middenmeer we did shopping for the party this Friday, and we had coffee with a moorkop. We went for a walk through Middenmeer.

This morning Jaap and I visited my mom's school.

It's nice to visit the kids. Some of them remembered me from last year.

My father encouraged me: "say something unforgettable!". I told the kids to study well, especially English. Felt like a president.

Yesterday I visited friends in Alkmaar, Leiden and Amsterdam.

In the morning Jaap and I drove to Steven's house, and we had coffee with apple pie. Steven started his own photography business last year and showed us amazing images.

Steven brought me to the train station and I took a beautiful high-speed train to Leiden. Anouk and Rob where at the station -- she grew so much! What had not changed was her million dollar smile. Kirsten had just come home when we arrived in their apartment on the 5th floor with great views of Leiden and The Hague. We went for a walk with Pip, the dog, and had lunch together.

We drove to Amsterdam, and visited Jerry & Marjolein's new house. Beautiful! It's in the same complex where they lived before, but the new home is twice as big and with lots of natural light. Marjolein is pregnant, and the baby room was ready. After dinner we played Koehandel, which was great fun and very exciting. I hadn't played that game since we went to Centerparcs in 2004. Third place!

The second night after traveling eastwards is always the hardest, but I got a decent 6 hours of sleep.

Sunlight is a good way of dealing with a jet-lag, which is why traveling to Holland is so difficult, haha.

I'm looking forward to today; I'm meeting several good friends.

Today was a family day, and I saw my sweet nephew Jasper for the first time. He stole my heart!

We all met at my grandmother Groen's house, in Heerenveen, where we spent the day. It was great to see everybody again. Ettie and I went for a nice walk together. In the evening we had a wonderful rijsttafel dinner at Klein Java, an Indonesian restaurant in Sneek.

I arrived at Schiphol airport around 8.30 am this morning, and after a little wait for the luggage I met with my parents and several friends. It's great to be here.

The weather is terribly depressing, as it often is here, but it was very warm welcome. We had coffee and breakfast.

During the day we did a little bit of shopping, and I went through our belongings in storage in the attic. I found several books that I want to bring home, and threw away a lot of old things.

First the first time, I will have my own phone during a stay here, and it even has internet. I bought a prepaid Vodaphone card for my phone, and Vodaphone's BlackBerry service is free until December (a promotion), so this $10 prepaid card gives me voice and data access. Pretty cool.

My phone number this week is 06 - 50 41 74 23.

Last night I went out with my coworkers from Germany and Raleigh in a new bar on Pierce Street. There's no fridge in the hotel room but it's cold enough here to leave the milk on the balcony overnight.

I'm in meetings until 2.00 pm. and then it's off to the airport! My flight departs at 6.55 pm, and Saturday morning at 8.20 am I'll be on Schiphol, Amsterdam.

Today I traveled to New Jersey. Not a direct flight this time; I flew over Atlanta, Georgia. It wasn't too bad but it took me all day.

It's odd to be in Somerset again -- we lived here for 7 months. I bought my milk and cereal at the Shoprite were used to do our groceries.

My hotel is near a major highway, so I really feel I'm back in the busy world. I had a phone call from 8.00 pm until now, tomorrow my meetings start at 8.00 am (a breakfast meeting at 7.00 am was canceled).

Thank you for all the comments, phone calls, cards, e-mails and gifts!

We had apple pie with whipped cream at work, and I went out with my coworkers to Amedeo's. Tonight Sasha and I are going out for dinner, and then a nice visit to the bookstore.

The weather is wonderful this weekend; it's sunny and 82 degrees today.

After I went for a haircut I read my French book in the Eno River Park. My hair is short again, I enjoyed having it longer for about a year but it's been enough.

The book that I'm reading is L'Étranger by Albert Camus. It's the right level of difficulty but I can only read a few pages at the time because it's still tiring to read in French.

We're going for a walk soon.