This week is all about more and less sports and finding the right balance. Especially with Marinthe it's looking for a good balance now that she has trouble with her knee. On the advice of the physio we bring the training intensity back to 1 hour of tennis and half an hour of fitness a day. With Eline it just goes the other way. Every day for the first time she is doing sports of which three times an hour of pretty spicy swimming with the swimming team of Deerfield Beach and twice a quiet condition training with the lacross team at school. Mira goes to the 'lunch crunch' of her new fitness club three times and I feel muscles I've never felt before. But that feels good! 😂

With Marinthe we go to Dr. Gelb on Monday morning if she still feels her knee after a weekend of rest. We would like to know from a specialist what she has and how to proceed with training. Here in America you will see a doctor before you can go to a physio. That's actually very efficient and professional. At least if you first fill in four papers with information and many signatures that also show how you pay. It's our turn soon and then they take 4 X-ray photos first. This is followed by a diagnosis by an assistant doctor and then the final diagnosis by the specialist himself, with plenty of time for explanations. And all that in half an hour with two appointments at the physio connected to the specialist; it would take days or maybe even weeks in the Netherlands. And not even expensive. What is going on? Her right knee tendon is too heavy because her right thigh muscles are not strong enough compared to her left thigh muscles. Some kind of imbalance in the body caused by a lot of tennis. The solution is to strengthen her right thigh muscles and ice them three times a day for 15 minutes. The appointment with the physio is the next morning and then she learns which exercises she can do. Things are going a bit better, but we are definitely not there yet. Tomorrow we have the second appointment with the physio. She also starts with the Physics and Chemistry classes of the World School, every school day according to a schedule. That goes fine, especially with the structured approach they offer from the Wereldschool.

Eline has a busy week at school with homework and some tests. She tackles it well and thoroughly in her own way with the aim of succeeding. I'm sure she will, because the first test results are fine. In addition, the subjects mathematics and chemistry are nice repetitions of 5 VWO and teach them new things in the other courses. She still makes new contacts every day and gets a lot of attention from both boys and girls. At first we thought it might be more difficult to move in during the year, but that doesn't seem to be the case. She likes the nice sport and both swimming and swimming are very popular. lacross are nice girls her age. Next week she will have a week's holiday (Thanksgiving).

Toine goes to the customs in Fort Lauderdale on Monday with the original boat papers and after two hours of waiting and consulting she gets a cruising permit for a year! Super, so also by boat we can now go beyond our own county (Broward County). On the way back he picks up the real license plate for the car. Until now there was a temporary paper version on it. And he experiences how the car washing goes here ... in 10 min time there are 8 different people working on the car (pre-washing, washing, drying and vacuuming) for 10 euros. Apparently there is more cheap labour here. You can also see that in the supermarkets, there is someone at every checkout to pack your groceries. You just have to do your best to use your own shopping bags instead of getting small plastic bags. The customer friendliness is great here. In the Netherlands we can learn something from that 👌. But the abolition of plastic bags in shops is still a long way off. Furthermore, Toine is working a lot during the day in our own office at home. And, as always, there are a lot of jobs on the boat. Somehow that list is never empty 😉.

Mira goes along with Marinthe a lot and works out every day (three times fitness and one time running). Afterwards usually a delicious moment of the day ... lunch outside on the terrace. Then some computer work, now mainly for the new website of the Hallberg-Rassy Connection in formation. The english class starts on November 27th.

Friday morning Jack and Jackie arrive early from cold Canada for a week in Florida. Nice and cozy to see each other again. And that goes very easy and by itself. They sleep and stay on their boat and we just stay in the house. And we use the terrace and pool together. On Friday evening we go with them to happy hour of the local pub on the water (George Cove) and then eat there too. We all crawl into bed on time when Eline and a group of girls from school do something. She is picked up and can stay with Martha. Eventually they hang out with 5 girls on a bench in the neighborhood where Martha lives and have a nice chat. The only downside for Eline is that they all smoke. But she still has a nice evening.

In the weekend the weather is lovely and we are outside a lot. Last week it was a bit colder with more wind and occasional rain, not really nice to sit outside for a long time, but now it is. Jack is always busy on and around his boat ... we already call it 'boatyard Jack & Toine' and so they help each other regularly. Jackie, the girls and I hang out in and around the pool and have a nice chat. In the evening we have drinks and dinner together. J&J take care of the food on Saturday (turkey, mashed potatoes and salad) and we on Sunday (BBQ beef, homemade fries and Brussels sprouts). Sunday morning Jackie and I go for a one hour walk to the beach. After that J&J and Toine are going to watch a motorboat. Jack wants to sell his sailboat and exchange it for a motorboat. The girls go all afternoon with the neighbours on their motorboat with water scooter to Lake Boca Raton. They are anchored there with many other boats, swim and sit on the water scooter with music. Lots of fun.

Between all the companies, the girls also go through two tests to get their 'learners permit' for driving. With such a permit you are allowed to drive from the age of 15 with someone next to you aged 21 or older and only during the day, without having to take lessons first. As a first step to finally get your driver's license. The first test is a 4 hour test about the consequences of drugs and alcohol in traffic. You are required to watch movies about a fatal accident. The second test is a reasonably easy test about the traffic rules and signs. They both passed both tests and if all goes well we can pick up the 'learners permit' tomorrow afternoon.

For Eline this is a great opportunity to ride again until she can ride herself next January 11th without us when she's 18 years old. Then her Dutch driver's license is valid here. For Marinthe a nice chance to learn it with us next door so she might get it easier in the Netherlands. It is not possible to get the license here, because you have to drive at least one year with such a permit.
It's unbelievable that you can drive right away without having to take lessons. Not comparable with the Netherlands. That's why they drive so badly here 😉. Direction indicators for example, they hardly use them. And those who do use them don't notice the lights because they have the same color as the other lights themselves. Because of all the stop signs, the traffic rules are a bit easier here. First we have to wait and see if we can do that tomorrow. We are a separate case with a visitors visa and no social security number. But it should go well. To be continued!