Our Adventures while living abroad in The Netherlands
In and around World
This is one of the few buildings that survived the bombings. It is referred to as the white house.
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We hope those who wish to view this can. We hope that it provides you with some insight on the life and times of Chad-n-Jen in The Netherlands. In time we hope to add information about other places we end up (or get lost in.) We've just completed our first week of work at AISR. The staff and students are very friendly and have been helpful in answering the questions that we have had about our new home. The school is small compared to what we were used to. Jen has 14 students and Chad has two classes with eight students, one with 14 students and one with 6 students. Grading papers will definitly not be as time consuming. Chad and Jen
Route taken and entries by Real Traveler Chad Van Cleve
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Biking
Biking is a main stay for the Dutch. There are bike paths to get you anywhere you want to go in the country. It is not uncommon to see people bike t... Continue reading » -
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First Impressions
Rotterdam is not at all what we expected. It has lots of green space and there is a huge park with a beach minutes from our home. There are classic... Continue reading » -
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Dutch Food
Food, we all need it and the Dutch like to fry it. French fries are a staple. You can buy fries at stands all over and they put them in a nice trave... Continue reading » -
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First Excursion
Our first weekend away was a visit to Nick and Kara Klenske’s in Brussels. On Friday, Sept 14th we hopped on a train and arrived 2 hours later to be... Continue reading » -
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Chad's Fieldtrip
Field Trip as defined by the dictionary: a trip by students to gain firsthand knowledge away from the classroom, as to a museum, factory, geological a... Continue reading » -
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Daytrip to Amsterdam
After Chad’s week in Poland, we went took off for a day trip to Amsterdam on Saturday, September 22nd. It took us about one hour by train to get ther... Continue reading » -
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A breathtaking country with friends-Luxembourg
Luxembourg City, Luxembourg Jen’s 4th grade class has been paired up with students in the Pre-K classes as buddies who help the younger students out... Continue reading » -
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Paris with Ve and Sinead
Paris, France It was great to hook up with Ve and Sinead in Paris. Ve used his points and got us a room at the Marriot with Elite Lounge access. W... Continue reading » -
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Slovakia
Bratislava is the newest capital in Europe as it was named the capital of Slovakia after the split of Czechoslovakia in the 1990s. It is a small city... Continue reading » -
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Buda and Pest
Budapest We were traveling on a train to Budapest. Not a big deal really and it was a quick trip. The passport control people came around to check... Continue reading » -
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Thanksgiving in The Hague and Delft
Well it was Thanksgiving. Having visited the dock where the Pilgrims left Rotterdam before they stopped in England to trade in the leaky Speedwell fo... Continue reading » -
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Christmas markets
Prior to the days of Christmas in many places in Germany and the surrounding areas, towns will hold Christmas Markets. We were encouraged to attend o... Continue reading » -
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London Fog
Well it was the 22 of December and we were on a plane from Rotterdam to London to start the first phase of our Christmas and New Years holiday away fr... Continue reading » -
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Christmas in Africa
36 million people live in Kenya. It has one of the lowest AIDS/HIV prevalence rates in sub-Sahara at 6.7 % or roughly 2 million people according to t... Continue reading » -
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African Safari
Safari (Jen’s writing) We began our Safari by getting up at 3:30 in the morning. The hotel arranged continental breakfast for us, and we were on the... Continue reading » -
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African Dhou excursion
Dhou excursion This excursion was a day of surprise for us. This was the excursion the hotel provided for us as compensation for moving to a diffe... Continue reading » -
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Kenyan Elections
Kenyan elections: Where to start. We were told by a resort guide not to go out on Election Day because it could get a little intense. We choose t... Continue reading » -
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Dublin, Ireland & little bit of England
Allen’s Visit When Allen arrived we stayed in The Netherlands for a few days. We showed him the local sights, ate the local foods, and just hung... Continue reading » -
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Istanbul sight-seeing
This past March I was able to attend the CEESA conference in Istanbul through work. This is a popular conference for educators and it takes place eac... Continue reading » -
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Spring Break with Trent, Emily & Finan
When Trent and Emily decided to come for a visit in March, they thought any weather would be better than Minnesota’s. Too bad for them, the weather f... Continue reading » -
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Kuekenhof Gardens & Holland w/Trent, Em, & Finn
While we were here, we just got to hang out and relax and spend time together. Trent and Emil took a few day trips on their own to Delft and Amsterda... Continue reading » -
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Brugge
We had heard many great things about the quaint town of Brugge and so we headed there for a weekend in April. We left on Saturday morning and spent t... Continue reading » -
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Frankfurt
Chad and I attended a conference on how the brain learns in Frankfurt, Germany this past April. Not only was the conference great, but the city was r... Continue reading » -
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Champagne area of France
This area in northern France is known as the Champagne region. We had a nice 4-day weekend in May available and decided to check out a smaller and qu... Continue reading » -
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Sweden Track Conference
Chad accompanied the AISR track team to Stockholm for the NESIS track meet in May. He saw a Viking ship and said he saw some blonde hair and blue-eye... Continue reading » -
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Aachen with Elizabeth & the dog
Over the Queen’s birthday in May, we went to Den Haag for the Queen’s night celebration and skipped out on the Amsterdam festivities on Queen’s day.... Continue reading » -
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Maastricht, The Netherlands
We arrived in this southern Dutch city in the middle afternoon on a beautiful day. Everyone was out enjoying the day, so we walked through the city c... Continue reading » -
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Zurich, Bern, & Interlakken
First Summer Trip-Euro Cup 2008 with Frank and Alan Frank and Alan arrived on June 6th, the last day of our first year at AISR. They came right to... Continue reading » -
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Lake Como and Milan, Italy
The next day we began the drive to Lake Como, Italy. We left our Swiss lake with hesitation-beauty such as what we had in front of us is hard to find... Continue reading » -
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Windmills with Lucy & Nick
When Lucy & Nick were here we decided to go to an area in Holland that is quite famous, and that Chad & I had never been to-Kinderdijk. This is a sma... Continue reading » -
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Paris with Lucy, Nick, Candy, Dan & Devin
When Chad’s sister and family booked their visit to Europe, they told us right away that they wanted to head to Paris. We felt that we could easily t... Continue reading » -
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Stuttgart, Germany
Although Devin wanted to see the Catacombs of Paris, she was more excited about heading to Stuggart to find her friend that she wanted to meet. Again... Continue reading » -
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Munich, Dachau, & Frankfurt with Candy, Dan & Devin
We took off the next morning for our favorite place-Munich. After arriving, we set off on foot to show them the sights. We first went to the Marienp... Continue reading » -
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Ireland with Shelly and Mark
When Shelly began looking for flights to come visit-Ireland happened to have the cheapest rates. It seemed fitting that the least expensive flights w... Continue reading » -
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Paris with Cyndie & Sue
A special trip was made to Paris this summer for 2 days and 1 night. Why would we do something like that when we were going back a few days later and... Continue reading » -
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Normandy with Mom and Dad
Two locals from Hampton, Iowa made their way across the pond to visit their daughter and son-n-law. The names of these Iowa natives are Ed and Laura... Continue reading » -
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Mont St. Michel with Mom & Dad
Onward we drove to a small town called Ducey. This was like ending up in a small town in Iowa-only we were in France instead. It was small, not visi... Continue reading » -
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Cologne, Germany & Luxembourg with Mom & Dad
Being that both of my parents’ ancestors are from Germany, we decided to rent a car and drive to Cologne, Germany because it is only a couple of hours... Continue reading » -
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Flower Auction, Kinderdijk, and Amsterdam with Mom & Dad
One of the things Chad and I have heard a lot about was the World’s Largest Flower Auction, which happens to take place in Aalsmeer, a town south of A... Continue reading » -
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Stonehenge
Rick made the comment one day that he wanted to see Stonehenge. Elizabeth, Jen and I all agreed that visiting Stonehenge would be a fun trip. So, ab... Continue reading » -
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Morocco, Northern Africa
When Jen and I went on our honeymoon to Costa Rica we thought later that we should have made a calendar called “Street Dogs of Costa Rica” because the... Continue reading » -
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Barcelona, Spain-Thanksgiving
Barcelona, what is there to say? We have a few days off and the weather was supposed to be a bit better down south. Six of us decided that we could... Continue reading » -
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The Amazing Pyramids
A must see for many tourists in the world, Chad and I made this dream come true during our February brea... Continue reading »
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Skiing in the Swiss Alps
I am not trying to rub it in, but this work trip was a bit more than I was used to.Continue reading »
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April adventures with Mollie and Alan
Alan made another jump across the pond and at the same ti... Continue reading »
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A taste of Africa
We decided to take the ferry from Tarifa, Spain to Morocco. 35 minutes later, we landed in Tangier. Once we got there we were getting harassed ab... Continue reading »
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Queen's Day-a sea of orange
Queen’s Day was on a Thursday this year. That means... Continue reading »
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October break 2009
Istanbul not Constantinople. Why did the name change you may ask? Well,... Continue reading »
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