MUST. FIND. HOUSE.

We need a place to live! Our stuff is coming on the boat very soon!

Only one place has been seen this week. Argh. I’m feeling Meredith and Mike’s stress about finding a house so I bit my kong in half. Bet you thought that wasn’t possible, huh.

With a doodle-dog, anything is possible.

Let's stay in tonight!

Mike and Meredith have been staying in for dinner almost every night since we arrived at this temporary apartment. Therefore, I’d like to take this opportunity to personally thank Albert Heijn, the grocery store guy, for his efforts to make this happen.

Purchased ingredients:
(Kip is Chicken)

End result:

It is so simple to stay in for dinner with your doodle dog!

"Mode" - Dutch Fashion

I’m not really that excited about fashion. Most of the time I don’t even wear clothing, so why should I care? Clothing is for all of the people because they don’t have fabulous fur like me. Even so, I have to admit I’m amazed at the number of boots that exist here. All the women wear boots. Well, at least 75% of them. An example of said boots:

Meredith is so bummed she put all her boots on the boat shipment. She will have to be bootless for another few weeks, I guess. Unless she buys new ones!

Even though Meredith is not all that fashionable either, she has been impressed with the fashion available here:

Did you see those prices? Too bad she can’t grow fur!

Other Dogs Can Do It, Why Can’t I?

I promised a video of another dog bike riding. Here you go:

The bike rider was a little creeped out by my video-making, I think.
Here I am, trying again:


I think our two different styles are pretty clear.

Success!

Again on Thursday Meredith was gone for the entire afternoon, trying to sort out the internet problems. Things were so pathetic that at one point in the day she was explaining to the guy at the mac store in the mall how to use her macbook air. When we were out walking last night I noticed a store with “UPC” on the front of it- the internet service company! I pulled on her pant leg and made her stop in and asked if they could help. They suggested we come back with the modem the next day.

Today, after the dishwasher repair guy left (he said he’d be here between 8am and 12pm and showed up at 11:55am- of course!) we headed over to UPC. She insisted that she bring me with her because, well, I have an excellent cute factor and might be of service.

My cuteness worked. After a couple hours of waiting and a nice cup of tea for her and lots of petting for me we got a new modem and an official internet blessing.

Here I am with my internet hero, Erik:


The internet now works! And it only took one week to get it to work! This is fast by Dutch standards so we are trying to appear pleased. (Don't I look pleased?)

Now we can finally look for a place to live. This apartment, while better than a hotel (even a fabulous hotel), is on the 7th floor and surrounded by brick… not so easy for me to go outside and find a suitable place to do my business. Here you can see Meredith and I walking in from our front door. Not that exciting, but clearly too many doors to go through.

Best Hotel Ever

The last few days Meredith has been trying desperately to get internet in our apartment. This has involved her leaving for hours at a time, and I have to stay in my crate. If I may say so: This Sucks. We went over to our old hotel and used the internet there today around 4pm. The receptionist on duty was our favorite one who lives in Valkensvaard and who tried to convince us to come live in the same apartment building as she does. She is adorable! However, the waiter was not so nice. He kept winking at us while we sat there alone and then when Mike showed up he became rude and gave us dirty looks. I was indignant about it because gosh- what kind of a doodle does he think I am! So Meredith mentioned his bizarre behavior to the sweet receptionist and she said (right in front of him!), “Oh do not pay any attention to him! Only listen to me, we like having you here.”

That’s what I’m talking about. Best Hotel Ever!

A little bit of a move

An apartment was found! And it is not too far from the hotel (and my favorite park!). From what I understand we are only going to be here for a few weeks while we continue to try to find something more permanent. Meredith and Mike have been packing all evening and used some kind of hotel cart to transport most of the luggage the few blocks over to the new place tonight. Tomorrow morning we have to be out of the hotel by noon, so we’ll finish up before Mike goes to work. Fortunately, the bus stop is next to the apartment, so it will be very close for him to ride to work. Too bad he can’t borrow hotel bikes anymore to take to work or to teach me to run next to!
The view south from our new place: (the bus stop is not visible because of the large tree)


This new place is all black and white. Literally. A huge canvas photo of some American city in the 1900’s adorns the living room wall.


Let’s list the myriad of good things about the apartment:
• It isn’t a hotel
• Cheese is available in the fridge
• My rug came with us and I get to play with my toys in a bigger space
• Meredith and Mike are with me for dinner instead of gone every evening to a restaurant
• We have a balcony!

And the not so good things:
• In order to get to our 7th floor apartment we have to use an elevator (scary!!)
• The balcony makes it tough to look out the window from the living room at the people below
• The internet isn’t working (how the heck do I blog?)
• I’m still not allowed to bark at will