As I descend the ferry, they kept me at customs for 10 or 15 minutes, because I do not have a return ticket. The reason I did not buy a round trip ticket, it is because I am not going back to England.

            When you house sit as I do, most of the time you do not know in advance where you are going to be, so, as I go from place to place I keep buying the tickets as I need them., after all I never know where I will be.

Besides, sometimes you can share a ride, or find a different way to go to wherever it is that you are going. If I had a ticket, I would not have been able to enjoy such a nice trip on the ferry. Either way, it is more fun this way.

Once they saw that I am not staying in the Netherlands, really, winter is coming, why would I want to stay there? So they let me go.

I had to take three trains, one to Rotterdam, then to Amersfoort, and then one to Apeldoorn.

Anyway, I made it to Apeldoorn, and the lady I am house-sitting for was waiting for me at the station. I will be here for three weeks and then to Uruguay, where it will be summer.

I am house-sitting for two tabby cats and a dog, they are beautiful, so cuddlely. However, I did not think of this before, and until it happened, it did not cross my mind: the pets do not understand English, they only understand Dutch.

I am learning some commands, and some words are coming back into my memory from when I was here as an exchange student. However, when I was here in University, the classes where in English, I never really learned Dutch, besides, in Leeuwarden, they speak Frisian, and if you think that Dutch is hard, you don’t know Frisian.

We are managing just fine, between my little Dutch and some sign language, we are doing fine. Anyway, when they want to go out, they stand by the door; when they want to eat, they stand by the bowls. They are so smart; they are even starting to understand my English.