Gelukkig Nieuw Jaar!

That’s “Happy New Year!” in Dutch, and thanks to the people sitting in front of us in church yesterday, we now know how to properly pronounce it.

As a follow-up to the previous blog, we need to say that the door-buzzer issue was quickly solved the Friday before Christmas with a 30-minute visit from the door system people. The guy didn’t even charge us for his time (Merry Christmas!), but he did leave us with the bad news that the system is really old, the wires are not good anymore, and the entire door system will go “any day now.” So far it’s been two weeks and everything is still working!

Also, a new shower curtain of the right size was obtained before the parents got here. Well, it was almost the right size. This time it was wide enough for the shower stall but much too long. That problem was easily solved with some scissors.

Erin’s computer at work is now back in order, although the “computer guy” is beginning to think Erin is bad luck for the computers there since she has already completely fried one CPU, jammed the printer, and keeps getting her internet locked up. Apparently no one else on the staff has these numerous problems with their computers!

The TV is a sad story that we would prefer to not talk about, but we must keep our waiting audience updated! After messing around with the remote control menu buttons and punching random options (all in Dutch), Erin got the digital box to reprogram itself. Now we get almost as many channels as we originally received, most of which are now completely in Dutch. CNN still has no sound and one of our favorite channels that airs tons of U.S. sitcoms and good movies is mysteriously missing in the channel lineup. Actually several channels have no sound, but on those channels it’s just as well since we can’t understand a word they’re saying in Dutch anyway. We still have not received a new box in the mail, as promised. Also, we think we’re going to be charged for this “new” television service on a monthly basis despite the lack of “service” that we’re receiving.

Erin’s parents just left Saturday to go back to the U.S. after a two-week visit. Our adventures during their visit will be in another blog. Stay tuned!