From the Netherlands

I just realized it's been a while since I've updated. Time has flown by me.

I'm writing you from the cozy lounge of the hostel in Utrecht, Holland where we'll be staying for the night. I'm sitting beside a series of paintings I don't really understand. The one just above me is of a man in a suit with large black circles for eyes, with his mouth open, holding this tongue that resembles a business tie with a field of grass between his body and his arms. well, alright.

In other news, the show tonight went really well! We headlined at a nice Rock venue with a stage that was finally large enough to fit us all comfortably. It was a packed house, and everything sounded awesome. Andrew's been a huge asset to this tour, professionally and socially. It's fun to have someone else in the mix! We were just thinking the other night of how many hours we must have spent all together in various vans. It's actually sort of depressing...at least 80 plus hours on this tour alone. I think I'll stop counting there.

Yesterday was the longest drive yet. I felt like I was quite literally about to loose my mind. I was already very tired, hungry and generally grumpy. Friday night we left right after our show in Pao, France and drove for 3 hours, arriving at our hotel at 2:30am. Then after what seemed like absolutely no sleep at all, we left at 9:30 and drove until 7:30pm. ...Yes. You counted that correctly. It was terrible. Poor Travis drove for about 7 of those hours, 7 hours of continuous gloomy skies and rain. ugh. BUT, thank goodness the staff at our venue in Asse, Belgium (yes, you read that right), were incredibly hospitable. We had awesome homecooked curry chicken + veggies and rice and, agh, there aren't words. I was the happiest I'd been in nearly two days, sitting at that table eating, and eating...and eating. I'm almost certain I out ate each of the boys. I went back for seconds and thirds, with absolutely no shame, I might add. A girl's gotta eat!

That show was great. The venue used to be an old Blacksmith shop, so there were awesome iron contraptions scattered about, and a huge fire place that crackled as we played. It felt like we were playing in someone's spatious living room. so cozy. We stayed with a couple whose parents ran the blacksmith shop. Such gracious hosts. This morning we slowly awoke to THE best breakfast: Three bags of pastries, two loafs of fresh bread, fresh squeezed orange juice, coffee, loose leaf tea, and an eggs and veggies dish. We all sat around a table and ate with sunlight shining through and the cutest baby crawling around smiling at us all. It was perfect.

Well, my laptop battery is going to die soon so I'm going to call it quits. Hopefully I'll get to post some pictures in the morn. Hope you all are doing well. Only one more show! We fly back on Wednesday. I'm ready for home!

See ya soon (most of you),
-aisha