What were you grateful for this week?My amazing cousin! And a week-long holiday! And everything working out well with travelling and transportation, for once it all went smoothly, I was so grateful for that.

What was the most challenging part of this week?Getting really sick. ‘Tis the season.

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week. I assembled a cradle that my host child got for her birthday for her baby doll while her parents were working. She was my helper, it was actually super fun to do with her. 

Tell us about your week! So….this week I was still sick. And I got worse before I got better, so I had a few days I just had to stay in. But luckily the weather in Rome has been getting really, really nice, and it was warm enough I could go on a few walks when I started recovering and get some fresh air, which was really needed. And I’m so lucky with the timing, because I got better in time to travel this weekend to the Hague in the Netherlands! My cousin lives here with her husband and they are super nice and let me come to hang out with them for the week while my host family goes on their ski trip.The Netherlands is absolutely beautiful. It’s never been super high on my list of “places I must see,” but it should have been. My timing is serendipidously good because the weather here is way warmer than is normal for this time of year (yay, climate change…), and this year is the 350th anniversary of Rembrandt’s death, so all the museums are displaying paintings by him and his students that wouldn’t normally be in the exhibits. I’ve already seen some at the Mauritshuis here in the Hague, and I’m way excited to see more museums in Amsterdam when we take a trip there this week!