Welcome to the Family

The sad truth is there are many things in our life that almost demand to be blogged about.  The even sadder truth is I have little time to capture many of them during some of the crazier times of life.  Within the last two weeks we visited Amsterdam, enjoyed a visit from some pilgrim friends, took yet another test in our Spanish class, and purchased a new car.  Today, I choose to blog about the car.  Stay tuned for details on the rest (or - if you can't wait, check out Faith's blog).  

I had hoped to get a goodbye picture and post a fitting obit for our first car here in Spain.  There was never a good time or place to get a picture of the poor old broken-down car.  It died for the last time almost a month ago on us.  In the end I think it's more fitting to post the picture above from happier times.  It was taken during our first week in Spain - we were learning how to drive stick, we had yet to put any of our numerous dings and scratches into it, its engine had not yet begun to decompose, and it was still under 300,000 kilometers.  I won't miss how it became unreliable, but I will miss how comfortable it had become to us.  It truly became 'ours' in the short time we had it, and I do miss it a little.  I will always have a soft spot in my memory for it.  

Having said that, we are definitely ready to move on to the next - and expectedly more reliable - chapter in our automobiling life.  We were excited to finally bring our new car home tonight, a mere two weeks after we signed the papers to buy it.  It is a 2008 Toyota Corolla Verso.  You can't tell by the picture below, but it actually has 7 seats inside.  It's not a sedan, but it's not quite a minivan.  Either way, we are glad to have a vehicle with the flexibility to add in a few extra passengers when needed. 

Faith and I are considering naming it Zwarte Piet - after the culturally awkward and uncomfortable Christmas helper of Sinterklaas in Holland.  Zwarte is the Dutch word for black, and you might guess how to translate Sinterklaas.  In Holland, Santa's helpers aren't little green elves, rather, he/they are black guys named Pete.  Only, in their holiday tradition, white folks put on black face paint and dress up in a manner that, at least where I come from, is so offensive that you might describe it as beyond offensive.  Yet somehow, being the Dutch, and being in Holland, it brings a smile to my face.  Does that make me a bad person?

Last week our family took a walk through central Amsterdam on the day that happened to be the day that Santa comes to Amsterdam.  There is a parade and everything.  I only saw one Sinterklaas, but downtown was swarming with Zwarte Petes.  Faith caught this Zwarte Pete on film as he was handing out candy and cookies to all the kids.