Life in Dordrecht

This is the living room of our apartment.  There is a large screen TV in the upper right hand corner - not standard issue for missionaries, but allowed for Senior Couples because they encourage us to stay abreast of the happenings in the city and country where we reside.  We find it helpful to listen to the Dutch language as often as we can - I'm still not understanding much.  It isn't easy for this old brain to ingest so much new data.

There is an old organ that actually works but is not a  valuable asset to our home.  I've played it a few times, but it isn't pulling me to it on a regular basis.  If President de Jonge follows through on his intention to hold "Musical Events" in Rotterdam on a quarterly basis, I will need to start bringing some of my piano solo repertoire up to performance standard.  Somehow the word has spread that I am a concert pianist!  I have no idea how that rumor got started, but President de Jonge wants to pair me with the Grudmunds, who are concert violinists living in Rotterdam (Brother Grudmund directs the Orchestra at Temple Square).  I think I'm out of my league....

This is the kitchen - it is roomy and contains a double door pantry for storage along the left hand wall.  This is the first time I have lived in a place that has a pantry.  (Melanie insists it is a necessity.)   I'm beginning to understand why.

Our bedroom has a king-sized bed.  We're feeling very spoiled.  We've never had anything larger than a queen before.

This is our office room with 2 large desks and lots of storage.  This apartment contains the furniture that was in the former mission office, so there are multiple desks and cabinets.  We have plenty of room to spread out.  Too bad we're so technology illiterate!  The Andersons say anyone over 30 is a technology 'immigrant'.  That certainly describes us.

This is our dining area.  When we have company there is room for six chairs around the table.

We haven't invited guests yet, but we're working up to it.

This is the spare bedroom.  There is another one next to it.  The hint here is that we have plenty of room for visitors.  The down-side is that we'll only be here until the end of April, so the opportunity to experience these accomodations will be short-lived.  I hope the apartment up in Amsterdam is equally roomy.

The bathroom set-up in this country is interesting.  The toilet is never in the same room as the shower/tub facilities.  In our apartment there is no bathtub (much to Elder Beckstrand's disappointment) so we shower instead.  In the right hand corner, out of view of the camera, is our washing machine.  The dryer is in the other spare bedroom.  The toilet, or WC  (Water Closet, pronounced Vay Say in Dutch) is in a separate room.  That makes it nice when one person wants to shower and the other needs the WC for an extended period of time.......which is often the case in our experience.

We're very comfortable here, and were feeling quite content until we went up to Rotterdam to visit the Andersons and Elder Beckstrand saw their spacious bathtub.  Oh, that evil demon ENVY!  Thou Shalt Not Covet, Elder Beckstrand.