July 29
we left amsterdam today after seeing my second cousin fabian and his new baby and wife Ana. everyones english is impecable as is most peoples in amsterdam. all in all the netherlands are pretty fabulous. the countryside is very green and flat and picturesque with the old housesand windmills and cows you see in postcards. amsterdam is veryhappening and just a beautiful city overall. there isnt an ugly cornerin the whole city; everything is built around the canals with oldbrick homes and rooftop gardens and just a very clean city.
being in brussels in a good comparison because brussels is less nice but there are more sights to see- museums and monuments and big,elaborate architecture. amsterdam has less big attractions but a more livable vibrant city.
i am now in the house of my mothers second cousin, Sophie, and her daughter,Celine, which i guess is my third cousin. we are here meeting Boubi's cousin with whom she was in hiding during the holocaust. She gave us instructions to go to leuze; a town in the belgiancountryside where my grandmother; her mother and some cousins were inhiding. my grandmothers cousin said there is nothing to see becausethe house they were staying in is gone, so just Abba, Ima, and Aidan went.
Back to my second/ third cousins. they invited us over to their house to stay for the night and Ariela and i went. now they speak no english and i do not speak any french besides "bonjour" and "merci". Ariela speaks french and we made an agreement that she would translate in france and i wouldtranslate when we get to spain. unfortunately this meant that theywould say something in french and she would translate to me in englishand back and forth- it was exhausting. next time i will try to learn some french.
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