Three days into our Great American Adventure, we're all hanging in there: still jet-lagging a bit (parents worse than kids, fortunately) and fighting off a communal chest cold (which preceded our travel to America but which has, unfortunately, gained the upper hand over our jet-lagged bodies)... but otherwise having a pretty good time. Our first visit to the Eastern Shore of Virginia has been very enjoyable -- and to make it even more memorable, I've finally been able to get my camera (the Canon 350D) back into action with a fully functioning lens! So I figured I'd try to post random images from our travels to each different location that we get to visit this summer. The pictures in this post are my "top six" from Virginia.

More than anything else, the greatest joy of our time in this part of the country has been the opportunity for Elliot and Olivia to play with their cousins (Marci's brother and his wife have an eight-year-old girl, a five-year-old boy, and a three-year-old boy -- so you can imagine the fun). I've probably got about 60 to 80 different shots of "cousins playing together" alone! But the top picture is one of my personal favorites.

We've also gotten to take in some of the local scenery -- with one of the highlights being our trip to Jaxon's: a general store in a nearby town with the motto, "If we don't have it, then you don't need it" (apparently, we didn't actually need post cards from the Eastern Shore!). Without a doubt, though, there was an interesting collection of items in the store which really lent itself to feeling like being back in time, in the era of the good ol' American general store). While we were there, I couldn't resist the opportunity to take a snapshot of Elliot wearing an official uniform of the Boy Scouts of America. I also especially enjoyed the visit to the local drug store, where a wisened older gentleman advised me of the best way to beat my chest cold: a shot-glass full of cough expectorant with two glasses of water and a cup of black coffee (turns out his drug-store directives weren't so helpful for the chest cold but were highly effective in snapping me out of my jet-lagged stupor for my second day in America).

We also got to celebrate a six-way "cousins' birthday party" -- since we don't typically get to celebrate birthdays together. Good times... Good times...

Cor has also recently figured out how to wave! It's super-cute because he's especially proud of himself when he successfully executes a waving maneuver.

Roaming around outside in the gorgeous May weather has also been great fun. Marci's brother's family own a lovely home in the rural Eastern Shore landscape. Wheat fields come right up to the edge of the backyard -- quite a radical departure from the Amsterdam streetscape that we're used to.

We also got some lovely portraits along the Chesapeake Bay coast around sunset on Tuesday evening. The portraits turned out great, but my favorite was actually a candid shot of Marci laughing with Olivia and Cor on the beach.

So those are my top six. If you'd like you can see more images on the Family Pictures section of the website...

Next stop: Orlando, Florida.

We made it.

There is, of course, still some adjusting to do (which may be self-evident, given the fact that I'm writing this post at 5:00 in the morning, local time -- and even that's about two hours after I initially woke up!)... But all in all, things have gone about as well as can be expected.  Transportation logistics have gone very well.  The kids have been pretty manageable.  And fortunately, even though I am not sleeping so well on my first night here, Marci and the kids are (aside from a few minor moments of half-wakeful disorientation, which are always to be expected).

Within the first hour of Cor's first day on American soil, he had the privilege of driving within 150 meters of the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Smithsonian Museum, the National Archives, and the Capitol Building -- which, I would have to say, was quite an auspicious introduction to his "native" land... Oddly enough, he didn't seem too impressed.  Ah, the fickle fancies of an 8-month-old...

By sunset, we had made it to our destination on the Eastern Shore of Virginia -- a little strip of land between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.  We got to enjoy a lovely lasagna dinner with our hosts (Marci's brother and his family).  Even more meaningful than the lasagna, though, was the tall glass of A&W Root Beer, chilled with about 12 cubes of ice which signalled my true homecoming.  And as if that wasn't enough, Jacqueline had made a root beer cake (which I enjoyed very much, though I'd never had it before) and made mention of root beer floats somewhere on the menu within the next couple of days... Ah, yes.  That is indeed when I knew:

We made it. 

Well, we've had our share of pre-travel stress over the past several days (and weeks)... But it seems that we're finally near the end.  Or is it just the beginning?  In any event -- our three-month odyssey to the United States of America begins in about 14 hours.

We're all very much looking forward to the time in our homeland (though some parts more than others).  Marci and I celebrating our 10-year wedding anniversary -- with a cruise to the Bahamas -- should be especially fun.  And we're really looking forward to connecting with so many various friends and family scattered throughout the North American continent.  We're especially eager to introduce Cor (now 8 months old) to everyone!  Believe it or not, I'm actually really looking forward to the prospect of fund-raising this summer, too.  To be sure, it can be intimidating to realize the huge amount of financial support that needs to be raised in just a few short months -- but we have an equally big story to tell of everything that God has been doing and is doing in Amsterdam... And I'm excited to finally move beyond the stage of thinking about it and talking about it and preparing for it -- and just start doing it.  When all of this is coupled with the opportunity to eat at so many of our favorite restaurants again and enjoy so many of our favorite summer activities again, it adds up to a much-anticipated summer that should fuel memories, images, and stories for many years to come...

I have to be honest, though, that there are a few things which will probably be more difficult for me.  I'm not looking forward to having to regularly (and frequently) spend lots of money on gasoline again (being so accustomed to pedal power in Amsterdam these days).  I'm not looking forward to "reverse culture shock" -- feeling out of touch with my own native culture (I already realized this the other day when I asked a good friend in Ohio if people in America typically send a "text message" or an "SMS" via mobile telephone -- seeing how the technology was almost unheard of five years ago when I moved to Europe, but is now quite widespread -- and hearing my friend basically reply by asking "an SM-What?").  But more than anything, I think it's going to be hard to be "living out of a suitcase" for three whole months -- especially with a family of five -- sleeping on dozens of different beds, trying to maintain order and routine when order and routine will be practically impossible.  This is probably difficult for anyone -- but I am particularly a person of routine.  I tend to feel most rested and most productive when I am operating according to some self-imposed schedule for life... And yet, I realize that the coming few months -- though rest and productivity are the two stated goals -- will provide scant opportunity for regular routine.  I'm trusting God to help me read and adjust, as I go.   But it can still be a little bit scary to think about all of this.

Suffice to say, we have a long and winding road ahead of us.  It's going to be quite an adventure! 

Have you ever heard that bit of trivia (or perhaps it's an urban legend) that the Eskimo language includes seven words for the one English word: "snow?"  The idea is that certain peoples and certain cultures contain a high degree of subtlety and nuance for items which are common in their particular setting -- though they may be more foreign to a different group of people and summarily categorized and titled with a single word (if indeed any word) in another cultural context.  Well, I wonder if I've discovered such a concept for people from northern Europe (and other people from  around the world who may also be of northern European descent).

Well, let me start by asking you this question:  What color hair would you say that I have?

You can scroll through some of the pictures in the (recently updated) Family Pictures section of the website, if you'd like a visual refresher... But I'll go ahead and tip my hand on this one.  You see, I always thought that I had "brown" hair.  At least that's what it says on my driver's license.  But recently, I've been given pause.  The other day, I was watching Elliot and Olivia as they busied themselves on the play-ground closest to our house when I overheard a conversation between Elliot and another girl on the playground.  I don't remember exactly what all they were talking about, but at one point the girl gestured toward me and asked Elliot (in Dutch):  "Is that your Dad over there?  The blond one?"

I thought it was a funny incident that was perhaps indicative of living in a neighborhood with a lot of people who are originally from the Middle East.  But I didn't think much of it until I was talking with some of the people from my writers' group the other night and sharing the playground anecdote with them.  I got to the end of the story, with the quote about my hair being blond -- delivering it with the intonation of a punch-line, expecting amused responses from the others.  But instead of amusement, one of the others said, matter-of-fact: "Well, Eric, your hair is blond.  Maybe kind of a dark-blond, but clearly blond."  I looked around at the others in the group, but they all nodded.  "Yup.  Yes.  Uh-huh.  Definitely blond.  No question about it."

As we got to talking about it, I learned that people from northern Europe (or northern European descent) are basically all "blond" in the eyes of the rest of the world.  We northern-Europeans make distinctions between platinum-blond, dirty-blond, dark-blond, strawberry-blond, red, reddish-brown, brown, brunette... But from what I gather, it seems like most of the world looks at us and says: "blond."  I don't know why this comes as such a surprise to me, but it does.

I guess I must be one of those northern Europeans.

Did you know that today is Ascension Day -- the recognition of the day that Jesus rose to heaven in view of his disciples?

I realize that readership of my blog is pretty evenly split between Europeans and North-Americans (with a few other international readers on the side) -- thus often one person's "Oh really?!?" is another person's "No duh!!" -- but I think it's ironic and interesting to notice which group is likely to know the religious significance of this particular date on the calendar.

By and large, I would absolutely say that North America (and especially the United States of America) is considerably more "religious" and more "Christian" than Europe (well, at least the Netherlands).  Considering everything from church attendance figures to popular music to political debate to bumper stickers and T-shirts seen on the street -- I think it's pretty clear to see God, Jesus, the Church, and Faith in general are much more public and prevalent on the west side of the Atlantic.

And yet, when it comes to celebrating holidays, Europeans are much more "Christian" than Americans.  Eight out of ten national holidays in the Netherlands are Christian holidays:  Good Friday, First and Second Easter, Ascension Day, First and Second Pentecost, and First and Second Christmas.  The only "secular" holidays are New Year's Day and Queen's Day (with an official recognition of Memorial Day thrown in every fifth year)... Oddly enough, when looking at the list of American holidays, the percentage of religious observances is almost exactly the opposite (depending on how you count, i.e. depending upon whose list of holidays you might be looking at).  Employees of the U.S. Federal government get eight secular holidays (New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Junior Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, and Veterans Day) and only two religious holdays (Christmas Day and Thanksgiving -- the second of which is only implicitly/historically religious).  Some employers in the United States give extra time off for Good Friday or Christmas Eve or the day after Thanksgiving -- but even so, the point remains that the observance of holidays represents an unusual flip-flop of cultural priorities, when it comes to the subject of religion and Christianity.

I'm sure there are rational explanations for why the holidays have developed as such in Europe and North America... But I don't understand it.  And in any event, I find it ironic.  I'm not saying that one culture's take on things is more or less correct than another's -- but it's definitely interesting to notice.