If all were to go swimmingly…

That’s Heineken.

That’s my Heineken.

That’s Meineken.

… Just in case you were wondering where that train of thought came from.  (And just in case you don’t know any German or Dutch, the word for ‘my’ in German is ‘mein’ and in Dutch, it’s ‘mijn’ -pronounced the same way… so that’s why it’s at least a little funny.) (At least funny to Matt and me.) (And now I’ve explained, in detail, my joke) (I”m really cool.) (Go Chandler).

So, it has been a warm week in the Netherlands.  Today – over 30!  (This is actually pretty warm for Nederland).  For all you Usa’s, that is about 86 degrees F.  (But don’t feel bad, I can never remember exactly either) (Did you know that you can type it into google to find out instantly?  Just type “30 c to f” and it will give you the conversion.  Wow.  Fabulous discovery.  The same works for most other conversions as well.)  So it has been a hot week here in Leiden.  The beaches are full, the city is empty, even the market was fairly bare this past Wednesday… I am very happy for the cross-breeze that passes through our apartment, and even happier because now it is 11:30 at night and the temp has dropped down to the normal, beautiful sleeping weather… right around 65.  ahhh.. Who doesn’t love 65 for sleeping?

Even though it can be a bit warm during the day, I am thankful for the warm weather as a preparatory run towards the Indonesian weather that I am about to enter.  I have decided that although it is basically an equatorial climate, the Minnesota humidity and evil August heat has at least somewhat prepared me, so I will now stop imagining the horrible heat that may be, and bask in the fact that for at least the first week, I am staying at a hotel with both air conditioning, my own bathroom, AND a pool.  Hurrrrraaaay!

AND! for only 11 euros a night.  Nice.  I can’t wait!

Komodo dragons, here I come!

*on a side note, Komodo dragons actually only live on the islands of Komodo, and on the west side of the other island next to it (I think it’s Flores), so I will mostly likely not see komodo dragons.  Sad, but true.