Sproutje LeAndrese

In case we haven't spoken recently, we wanted to let everyone know that we are expecting!

Sproutje ("Little Sprout") is due to join us in early July. Good thing we moved to a bigger apartment!

Carnaval!

The annual Carnaval celebrations began here this past Friday, and the town has been pretty crazy. It lasts for four days, although in some parts of Europe it lasts for at least six days! Our impression of Carnaval here in the southern Netherlands is that it's like Halloween, except: both young and old dress up (and I mean really young and really old); the party goes around the clock; and it lasts for four days. We went to the town Carnaval parade on Saturday afternoon, which involved floats and marching bands. The floats weren't as fancy as the Rose Parade's, but it was still fun to see the floats and all the people's costumes. At night, the central part of town was packed with mostly young people in all sorts of crazy costumes. One part of the town, known as the Stratumseind, was packed elbow-to-elbow with people in various (mostly advanced) stages of inebriation. I went with two other people from my lab, and none of use wore costumes. We stuck out like sore thumbs, weren't allowed into bars, and one guy even pointed at us and yelled "foreigners!" I guess I'll have to remember to dress up next year!

On Monday, Elliott and Megan went to a kids Carnaval party at a community center. Elliott dressed up in 'traditional' Chinese clothes that his Grandma Lee bought him in China. He looked very cool.

Tuesday is the last day of Carnaval, and I've heard that it may be even crazier downtown tomorrow night because there will be an important soccer match here. The local team, PSV, is playing an English team, Arsenal, in a Champions League 'fixture' (the Champions League determines the best professional soccer team in Europe). Arsenal was in the Champions League final last year, so they are usually pretty good. Unfortunately, they may bring along some of their rowdy fans to an already rowdy Carnaval party. We'll probably just stay home and watch the match on tv. Go PSV!!!

Superbowl Party

We try to keep up with American sports while here, and the Superbowl was no exception. We had a "Superbowl Food" party with some of our American friends in the evening, and Cameron watched the game (from 12:30am to 4:30am) with some labmates. As you can see from the picture, Elliott is already a big fan of Superbowl food (especially Buffalo wings).