Look at this tiny, little monkey… doesn’t he look familiar from a children’s book we all know? I can’t believe I got so close to him… with no fences or bars between us.
On Friday, Ira and I went to “Apenheul“, a monkey park in the Netherlands. Ira had told me so much about it, but we hadn’t manage to go there before. It’s a place like a zoo, only that all they have is monkeys and many of them live in the trees without fences around them. If you want to walk through the park, you get a “monkey-proof” bag at the entrance, because monkeys are intelligent creatures and know how to open zippers and buttons and they aren’t too shy to check out your bags and pockets.
I was already really amazed to see the monkeys so close-up and we also went to see the gorilla-feeding [which – of course- took place in a fenced area], but the highlight of the day was that some of these squirrel monkeys got really trusting and climbed up on my arm and on my head [photos to come], even tried to look into the pockets of my jeans. Awwww! They were so adorable with their tiny little leathery hands and feet. I would have liked to take one home right then :)
I also have to mention this little fellow here, who had no fear whatsoever to walk around between our feet trying to find some crumbs that we dropped from our ice-cream cones :)
Saturday morning, I took my sister and Dirk to the train station. They left to Mexico for their honeymoon :) I am so happy for them! They took a flight from Frankfurt and went there by train.
In the afternoon, I went to the church wedding of a “friend” [in lack of a better word] from school. I wasn’t really invited to the wedding, but we emailed a few months ago and told each other that we were both getting married this summer and I thought it would be nice to show up and congratulate her and her husband. I think she was surprised, but happy to see me. It was a nice ceremony and she looked beautiful in her dress. I also met her cousin who used to play tennis with and who I hadn’t seen in years (!) and it was really great talking to her :) It’s funny sometimes how you can re-connect with people you haven’t seen for a long time.
Besides all that, I was wondering the whole time how the hell my “friend” could get married that day when Germany made it to the second round of the World Cup [haha…just kidding 
].
I made it home just in time to throw myself on the couch and watch the soccer game with my parents :)
OMG, what a game. I couldn’t believe they guys scored two goals in the first 12 minutes… amazing! I am positively surprised how this team came around… who would have thought that they’d make it that far?
Like I said, I am really getting into soccer [for the time being] and I am so nervous during the games that I can hardly sit still.
After the game we had friends of my parents over for dinner and my Dad served us a delicious 3-course meal. My Dad doesn’t cook very often, but if he does, it’s always exquisite :) We stayed up till 3 a.m.
Today I was tired, lazy and confused by the weird weather which culminated in a huge thunderstorm in the early evening. It was really coming down hard. Jon would have loved it. [He loves thunderstorms!]
I read a lot today [a book by a German author which is called “Der Schwarm“], took a nap and also watched some soccer. Sundays just go by like that… way too fast.