Yes, it really is a post.

Now that I have probably thoroughly trained anyone who did look at this blog not to look at it because of my very infrequent posts, I write again. Liesbeth and I are still (very much) alive, which should discount one possible explanation for the cessation of posts. Four weeks ago, I enrolled in a three-week intensive course in Rotterdam. We had classes four days *** oh my, I just had a kiss from my wife! *** from 9 to noon. Then, we had 2-3 hours of homework to do in the evening. I was quite fortunate, as there were only four students in our class: one Austrian, a Greek, and two Americans (my compatriot was a fifty-two year old woman from Connecticut whose husband had been transferred to Rotterdam). On the last day of the class, we had to give a short presentation in Dutch. I spoke for 5-10 minutes on the history of Lima. Perhaps that seems a rather mundane topic, but there are some interesting links to be made. For instance, in the year of Lima's founding, Darwin began his voyage and the Belgian Revolution ended with Belgium winning independence from the Netherlands. Lima's railroads, oil, and tank plant all make for an interesting story that can be linked to both hot and cold wars. Lost in Middle America provided a nice conclusion.
Today, I began the intermediate Dutch course, which will continue for 5 weeks (I think). Liesbeth has also been doing some studying, taking a diabetes course one evening per week. She had a busy day today at the office because hundreds of people came for the H1N1 vaccination. Not a fun day at the office. But now we are home, and all is well. The tea has steeped, and I shall now depart. But hopefully, I shall return before several weeks have again lapsed.