August 31st 2012

Well this day was a very special one in the Tensmeyer household! It was Dave's birthday and his graduation from the University of Amsterdam. It was the last day of my orientation so we had to squeeze a few things into Saturday too. So last Saturday (a week 1/2 ago) I made the decision that I wanted to rent us a motorcycle. I went to call and reserve it from the deck so that Dave couldn't hear the conversation. He was in the kitchen and this little window above the door was open so gosh dang it, Dave heard!! I was so mad. Then Dave brought up a point that 'Wouldn't we need a motorcycle license to rent it?' and I was like huh good point. So I emailed the company and they said nope! So we could still do it buttttttttt I told Dave that they said we did need a motorcycle license- Booyah I was still in business for a good surprise! So Friday rolled around and I got up early and made Dave some breakfast in bed. I didn't think he would actually want to eat it in bed (Dave just doesn't especially like staying in bed longer than necessary) but he did, so that was awesome. Also this morning it was raining pretty hard so again I wasn't so sure that the whole motorcycle thing would work out. I left for orientation for a few hours. When I came out of orientation the sky had cleared up so hopefully the motorcycling could happen!

I got back and Dave opened his presents (just a couple of shirts). Then we ate a small lunch. Then I said we needed to go somewhere before his graduation....so we took the metro and walked for a while. We got to the place and Dave could kinda tell what was up. We got in and I told them 'we're the one's to rent  a motorcycle'. Dave was like..."really??" He started freaking out because it has been a long time since he'd ridden one. He had a motorcycle four years ago, but since then he hasn't really been on one. He was super nervous and we almost didn't get it. Fortunately I convinced him :)

I told him to just take it slow and ride around by himself for a while before I got on.

 So we rode the motorcycle to the graduation! The graduation was a lot different than graduations in the States. There was basically no pomp or circumstance. There were a few advisers up front and 10 students.

 Each adviser took a few minutes speaking about the student and their thesis. They gave everyone some beautiful flowers and then had some refreshments after. Motorcycle time again! Oh just a reminder, we are in Amsterdam. So driving is a lot more stressful here. There aren't really back streets and there are lots of stop lights. But ya we rode the motorcycle and got some Indian food (Dave's favorite). Then we rode the motorcycle home and had some cake.

 
By this time Dave got really comfortable on the motorcycle and was really looking forward to Saturday! (We rented the motorcycle for 24 hours) Saturday we took a little trip out to a small town called Marken.

 It is super picturesque and we had so much fun. It was awesome just seeing the sea, countryside, and all sorts of beauty. In summary, we were nervous at first, survived, loved it at the end,  and now Dave wants to own a motorcycle again! Good thing we're still too poor to afford it so he can't :) Love you all!!