Greetings from the Bad (Bath) Hotel in Scheveningen (near Den Haag - The Hague).  We are sharing a 3 bed room (with a travel cot for Maddi) for the 2 nights before we depart from Amsterdam.  Oom Henk and Oma brought us to the station in Vroomshoop with our luggage (we are fortunate though, we didn't have to take all of it - the family is going to come and wave us off at Schiphol, so they are taking the bulk of it with them).  I've been awake since 5am.  Maddi woke up too, but she is back asleep after I fed her a bottle (it's 7.30am now).  I've already had breakfast - scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and tomatoes from the buffet breakfast which is part of the deal.  We are sleeping on the 5th floor.  If you look carefully, you can see Dad waving from our window in the picture below :

We left Vroomshoop at 9.22am and arrived in Amsterdam at 12.45pm - a long journey!  It was very busy on the train - we had to stand nearly the whole way.  Fortunately we had the pram for Maddi, which was a LOT easier.  We also had to stand near the doors as the pram doesn't fit down the aisles in the train.

Maddi was her usual cheerful self - smiling at everyone, even a very dark skinned man (who kept her entertained for about 1/2 an hour!)  Our hotel is situated right near the North Sea, as you can see from the circled area on the photo below :

After we had settled in at the hotel, we decided to go into central Den Haag with the tram (which stops right outside the hotel door).

It didn't turn out to be a good trip, not a good trip at all...

Dad took a photo of a black man on the train (Dad explained to us later that he heard the man talking about us on his mobile - some "gangs" operate that way - picking out good targets for theft etc.  Dad wearing big yellow clogs probably didn't help!)  The man got very angry and was quite aggressive in the way he talked - he said that you're not allowed to take photos of people (it's actually illegal to do so).  Dad had given the mobile back to Wiwik at that stage and the man snatched it out of her hands.  Dad stood up and got it back off him, they were both exchanging heated words.  Meanwhile, I'm sitting opposite, trying to keep Maddi as far away as possible.  The man said he was going to phone the police and he did.

We got off at the next stop and the man and his partner followed us, still talking on his phone to the police.  I left Maddi in the pram with Wiwik and talked to the man and offered to delete the photo.  But then I didn't know how because it was Wiwik's phone!  So I asked the man if he could help me, which he did and the photo was deleted (with my hands shaking and heart beating).  Just as it was deleted, we were surrounded by 5 police cars and vans!  The man talked to some officers and dad talked to some others and finally it was sorted out.  Scary stuff - especially when you hear about what sorts of things can happen in bigger cities - people can get knifed for the smallest things...

We walked around a bit longer, but I decided to go back to the hotel with the tram as I didn't feel comfortable anymore, for all I knew, we were sitting targets for a man with many contacts (my imagination is probably very good, but better to be safe than sorry, especially with Maddi in tow).

We thank God for His protection and pray that everything will continue to go well on our way home.

Maddi with her new doll
from Tante Herma and Oom Eg

Friday : We had nothing planned except packing but it turned out to be a pretty busy day anyway.  In the morning I went and had a haircut and also decided to put a colour and highlights in.  I don't think the haircut is so much different to my normal one and the colour is nothing really way out, so don't get too excited!
I managed to finish off my packing and it juuuust fitted...phew!  In the afternoon, lots of people came to say goodbye, which was really nice.  A few more lovely presents, a bit more adjusting in the baggage to fit them in...
Johan de Lange, his wife Hennie (Uncle Arend's sister) and Luke Lucas were there too.  Johan de Lange managed to find us a hotel near Amsterdam.  Dad had tried, but a lot of hotels were booked out due to a conference.  He also specially went home and printed out our exact train route to get from Vroomshoop to Den Haag (The Hague - very close to Amsterdam).

Maddi chewing on a delicious piece of "droge worst"

 Roy (Oom Roel and Tante Geke's youngest son) had come to Oma's on his bike and he decided to stay until his parents came in the evening and then go home with them.  I offered to ride his bike home for him and come with his parents when they went to Oma's.  So I rode his bike from Vroomshoop to Marienberg.  It was a lovely fresh evening and it was really nice riding at night.  We got to Oma's a bit later and found Berdien and Alexander as well as John and Esther waiting there to "neem afscheet" which basically means to say goodbye.  More lovely presents, I'm seriously going to be just like Sinter Klaas when I get home!!!  ...and they juuuust managed to fit in my baggage too!


Alexander and Berdien

Roy

I just had someone else tell me yesterday that I only had one photo of them.  I would like anyone with the same feelings to look at my post on Monday 24th October beginning with the words "yesterday was a busy but fun day..."  you will find it in point form somewhere under me eating (another) salted herring.

Thursday was another busy day.  First trying to pack everything!!!  I have found lots of nice things and have been given lots of nice things, so I think I'll be just like Sinter Klaas when I get back!  Wiwik and I both had too much stuff to fit into the suitcases so I researched the best options.  Sea post isn't available any more (that used to be the cheapest option).  To mail a box of 20kg by air is about 106 euro while to take an extra piece of baggage of up to 23kg with us on the plane was 100 euro if we did it at the airport when we checked in and 80 euro if we booked the extra baggage on line.  So that is what we did!  Two extra pieces of baggage under 2 different tickets (for some reason, if the same person wants two extra pieces of baggage the price escalates to 240 euros!  I still had too much, so I phoned John (Oom Roel's son) and Esther (who are coming in January) and asked to use half a suitcase (I left nearly all my winter clothes as it will be summer in Australia... in the end, I had to leave my green and blue bodywarmer, which was a bit difficult as it is the favourite part of my wardrobe for the last few months...)  Don't worry Steve, I haven't been shoppin thaaaaat much, there are also lots of gifts from other relatives!

During the morning, my cousin Frea came with a gift from her and her sister, Irma - a whole set of Dutch cooking books!  I'm telling you Steve and kids, there is a lot of stampot and other dutch recipes (usually involving meat, potatoes and vegies) coming up!!  Lydia also came with her children to say goodbye and they also gave some very nice things for the kids (I'm not saying what they are as the kids might be reading this!)

At 11am Tante Herma came to pick me up to go Almelo.  We had a "gezellig" time walking around the markt, sat down to some delicious patat special and frikanel special..., went and had a look at some of the shops...

One thing I mentioned to Tante Herma was that I noticed lots of grandmothers with children.  Apparently there are more grandmothers than mothers walking around the shops with children because a lot of mothers work.

We went to Oom Henk's house after that to see where he lived.  He has a nice house in Almelo where he lives with his youngest son Gerben (he has six kids with his wife Tante Tiny who passed away a few years ago from cancer).  One of the really nice things to see was an album Oom Henk's kids made for him when their mother and his wife passed away.  Also there were some really nice family pictures on the wall that they had made before their mother passed away.

When we got back, Helma, I and Ramon went shopping for a bit which was really good because I like Helma's taste in clothes and she knows the best shops to go!

We got back to Oma's and then about 2 hours later we went out for dinner with the Botter family (as in Oma, dad and Wiwik, his brothers and their wives and me.  Helma, Arjan and the kids looked after Maddi at Oma's house which was really nice.  Maddi actually played up a little bit that night (she did for Oom Ben too the night we went to Peter's wedding - she must just know something is different, yet she is normally soooo good with new people).  Anyway, we had a delicious dinner at a chinese restaurant in Hardenberg and it was really...."gezellïg!"(as usual).



Tante Herma and I

Tante Geke and I

Afterwards we went back to Oma's place for a bit and had a bit more "gezelligheid"and then it was another late night again:)


Oom Roel and I



Wednesday :  We got up on time and we were at the train station in Marienberg before 9am (I drove - I'm getting pretty good at it now.  Oma's car is an automatic, so it makes a lot of difference - I tried driving Arjan's manual car and kept trying to change gears on the door!).  It took nearly 2 hours and one changeover before we got to Leeuwarden, where Oma's sister Tante Gre lives (she came to Australia with Oma Botter about 4 years ago).  As usual, Maddi was very good and content.

It was really nice to see Tante Gre again and she was looking very well, especially considering that she had heart surgery in the last week or two.  After we'd had a cup of coffee, Dad, Wiwik and I went for a bit of a walk around Leeuwarden while Oma and Tante Gre had a rest.  The main thing I would like to tell you is that I saw a man weeing on what I thought must have been a sculpture.  It actually turned out to be a special place where men can wee in public!  It was round with 4 "nooks" in it, but it didn't hide much!



One of Tante Gre's sons Gerko came over with his girlfriend Jettie and we all had a nice lunch together of tasty soup and corn buns with ham on them.  Steve, I have a special message on video for you from Tante Gre when we get home!

 Maddi had a really good sleep in the train on the way back...

We finally got back to Oma's at about 7pm where we had chicken kebabs with satay sauce from the chinese, rice and leftover macaroni.  Arjan and Helma came over for a bit and Oom Eg came over too.  A great end to a good day!

The last few days have been very busy!  I'll begin at the beginning...

Tuesday : On Tuesday morning Tante Aly (mum's youngest sister) and Oom Bertus came to pick me up from Tante Bertha's house.  It was funny, because Maddi was laying on the floor and they asked where Maddi was - they hadn't looked properly and thought she was a doll!  We went to their house first, as Maddi needed a sleep.  They have a nice big house.  I always find it interesting to see people's houses and how they live.  Nice when I think of them later, I can imagine where they might be sitting or what they might be doing.  We looked at some old photos and Tante Aly told me that when I was a baby, that I was her oog apple - the apple of her eye - that was nice to hear!  She used to come over a lot and play with me and visit her sister.

Tante Aly (sorry, I forgot to take a photo of
Oom Bertus)

We had a nice time, sitting around their kitchen table with a cup of coffee, catching up, looking at old photos.  That's another thing I want to say about Holland - nearly everyone has a coffee machine and not many people seem to have instant coffee.  They also often put sugar "klontjes" (sugar cubes) into their coffee instead of "loose" sugar.

Oom Bertus went and got some kibbeling (deep fried small pieces of fish) for our lunch, which was delicious.  After lunch we went and had a look at their clothes shop in Hardenberg (sorry, I also forgot to take a photo of that!)  It's a really nice shop, with an area that has tables where people can sit and have a free cup of coffee and children can play.  It also looked like they had really good customer service (eg. don't start serving someone else until the previous person has left the register).  This particular shop (they have 3 altogether) has more mens clothes (including really big sizes like7X) and also a big selection of jeans for everyone - they have gone for that "niche"of the clothing market in Hardenberg.  Another of their shops has a big variety of clothing for bigger ladies.  I've been looking around for a denim skirt and I found a really nice one which I was going to buy, but they gave it to me as a gift! And yes, Tante Aly, I will try to wear it higher on my waist!

I got back to Tante Bertha and Oom Ben's in the late afternoon.  I got to have a go in Tante Bertha's little car (I'm pretty sure I mentioned it in a previous blog).  We drove to Oldemeyer which is a picturesque swimming lake (this area isn't close to the ocean).  There are also walking paths around it.  I had my foot flat on the floor and managed to get to 60km/hour!

Oom Wim came over to say goodbye.  He had some clogs for the kids and also a really nice natural photo of our family around Opa and Oma Kuipers' table.

It was then time to say goodbye to Tante Bertha and Oom Ben as Pieter Templeman had come to pick me up...



Wow!  I probably shouldn't comment on this as maybe
you haven't noticed...... but I think

that I look like I have eaten way too many frikandels!



I had a really nice evening with the Templeman's who all looked very well and like they have settled in to life in Holland.  Henny cooked us a very yummy dinner - delicious tasty soup, runderslavink (which I think is beef mince wrapped in very thin beef meat which you fry/bake), fried potatoes, beans and applemoes with cinnamon in it (which I've never had before but was actually very nice with the other food).  Oh, and of course I forgot to mention mayo!  I think I must've eaten about a large jar of mayo the last few weeks! 

So, after a nice evening together, Henny dropped me off at Oma Botter's as we had to be on time the next morning to catch the train to Leeuwarden.  Oom Roel and Tante Geke were there, so it was once again a "gezellig" and (very) late night!  One last thing I want to say about Holland in this post is that most of the people seem to stay up way later than most people I know in Australia...



Here is a photo of me with Oom Bertus
from Tante Aly, which I got from her
a bit later.



Yesterday was a busy but fun day.  Oom Wim came to pick me up and take me to Hardenberg (thanks Oom Wim!)  On the way we stopped at the house where I was born in and lived for the first 4 years of my life and asked if we could look inside.  The owner was still the same person who bought it off Dad and Mum about 30 years ago!  Here are a couple of pictures  (the house has changed a lot - walls are painted white, many walls have been changed, some bits added on, sunken floors are gone).)



This is still the original fireplace.  Also the wooden mantel and door frame.
The tiles are still the same and Dad actually made them heated underneath
which was apparently quite innovative, the way he did it.



This well is still from when we owned the house.  It used
to have a cute roof but it was wrecked in a storm.



The stone table was also from when we lived there.
Obviously too heavy to take to Australia :)



When we got to Tante Bertha's, Maddi, Tante Bertha and I went to the markt (market)...

It was nice looking around and we also saw Oma Botter and Wiwik (they were in Hardenberg shopping for the day) and Tante Gerry. 

Tante Bertha and I had some Vietnamese Loempia's (spring rolls) which were really yummy.  We decided to take some gebakken vis (deep fried fish) home for our lunch and I just couldn't resist having another salted herring :

We had lunch with Oom Ben when we got back.  The gebakken vis was really yummy.  I also tried some bakleverworst (liverwurst that you have to fry first) on bread.  It was quite yummy, though a bit strong tasting (maybe because the slice was about 3cm thick!)

I put Maddi to bed (Oom Ben and Tante Bertha babysat) and rode my bike into the centre of Hardenberg to see my cousin Berdien Botter (from Oom Roel and Tante Geke) and where she lives.  She has a really nice flat really close to all the shops in Hardenberg.  It was nice seeing her again and her mum (Geke), Oma and Wiwik were also there for a bit.

When I got back I went to Oom Wim's house to choose some clogs which I'm allowed to take back to Australia.  His oldest son Freddy was just riding there, so I got to meet him too which was really nice.  That's one thing I'm finding difficult - I've got only 4 weeks to visit 2 sides of my family and see Holland.  As a result, I had to prioritise - who I have to (and want to and need to) see to who I would love to see but there simply isn't enough time.

Also (inevitably, with that many people) someone is bound to get forgotten or not seen "as much as the others".  With me, this is definantly not the intention, but I am human and make mistakes and forget things!!!  I was also worried a bit about my blog in that regards - that certain people would look at it and say "There's way more photos of so-and-so and hardly any of me", "She spent way more time with that side of the family than with this side", "She hardly wrote anything about my house and lots about someone else's".  I thought carefully about it and decided that : 

• I am a human being and I am allowed to make (accidental) mistakes,
• that the main intention of my blog is for Steve and the kids to know what I am doing and if other people enjoy reading it, that's a bonus,
• some days I have more time to make the blog than others
• In 4 weeks it is basically not humanely possible to see such a big extended family, especially if I have to see them all separately.

Anyway, back to yesterday.  Tante Bertha and I went for a (very) refreshing bikeride near her house (it was quite windy but also sunny).  She cooked stampot zuurkool (saurkraut) with pineapple and speckies (fried pork rind) in it and also a delicious rookworst (smoked sausage).  Very tasty.

That evening we looked through a fair bit of stuff.  Tante Bertha showed me a box where Oma Kuipers had kept all of our letters from Australia over the years.  There were heaps of my old ones in there too and it was interesting to read some and also see my handwriting change over the years.

There are 2 more things I want to tell you :

• A lot of people ask me if I'm homesick and miss Steve and the kids.  I've realised that a lot of people couldn't just leave their family for 4 weeks like I'm doing.  Of course I miss them but not to the point that I'm sad about it.  The main reasons for this are : first of all, I believe everything and everyone is in God's hands, secondly, the kids are with such great people (sisters and best friends of mine) and I know for certain they are well looked after, thirdly, I know that Steve is very capable of looking after himself and fourthly, I don't have time to get homesick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• I went to visit Opa and Oma Botter's old house on Polderweg, but it's nothing like what I remembered.  It used to be painted white, now the bricks are a brown colour, the roof used to have red tiles, now it has a ritten dak (straw roof?).  Arjan (my cousin) took me for a drive past it and he said that basically only the windows are the same.

Oom Eg playing the organ

Botter family BBQ

Oma with many of her great grandchildren...

Friday was a bit more of a relaxing day.  First I did a bit of shopping and looking around Vroomshoop with Maddi when she had woken from her first sleep. 

A cheese van

When we got back, Oma, Maddi and I visited Tante Geke.  Oom Roel and Tante Geke have quite a big house right next to the canal.  They have a good view of the canal from their bedroom balcony.  She said it's really nice to sit our there in summer and watch all the boats coming past (a favourite pastime of many dutch is to go "varing" on the canals/other waterbodies with their boats).  Their house also has a big open area (suitable for a shop) attached.  Oom Roel said he specially bought this house so there was room for the following night's Botter family BBQ (hahaha).  Tante Geke had some yummy meatballs that we ate with...mayo of course!  This time the flavour was American and it tasted just like a Mac Donald's burger.
After Tante Geke's, Oma looked after Maddi while she slept at her house and I went to the library where I did some more work on my blog.
When I came back, Maddi was just awake so we went to the Bezeraar (where heaps of the Bolks side of the family still live).  We visited Tante Alie (she was married to Oom Jaap, Oma's brother, now passed away)

and Oom Jan (Oma's brother who was married to Tante Geertje, now passed away).

Maddi playing with Tante Alie's shawl

I got to drive Oma's car 3 times on Friday, which was fun, although I kept reaching for the gearstick and the indicators on the wrong side!
Oma and I had a quiet dinner together of patat (chips) and frikandels with lots of mayo!!!!

On Saturday I had a really nice day all by myself!  Oom Roel and Tante Geke came and picked Maddi up for the day and I walked to the train station and caught a train to Almelo.  I had a good look around the markt (market), though I did ask someone if I had missed something, or where was the big markt because I couldn't believe it was so "small".  Of course I probably only went once or twice when I was 8 years old and it looked big to me then!  It was nice walking aroung all by myself for a change - I have been around lots of people the last few weeks!  Of course I had to try some more food at the markt : I had a bami schijf (a deep fried noodle ball) with peanut sauce, patat oorlog (chips with mayo, raw onion and peanut sauce) and a boerenbrok (a flat rectangular spiced pork meatball).  Yes, I didn't have to eat for quite a few hours after that!  I'm telling you, Steve and kids, you need to look out for someone really fat if you meet me at the airport!!
One observation I've made about Holland is that a lot more people seem to smoke here, even in public.  In Australia, I think most people are nearly ashamed to smoke in public, whereas here they smoke right until they get to the shop or church doors.  I think I mentioned before that they had an ashtray right near the church doors at most churches I went to.  The packets don't seem to have warnings on them and they are available at nearly all checkouts.  You can also buy fake smokes made of chocolate for kids (I'm pretty sure that was outlawed in Australia ages ago).
On Saturday night it was the Botter family BBQ.  It was at Oom Roel and Tante Geke's in the old shop, which had plenty of room for a large family gathering.  It was really "gezellig"and nice to see nearly the whole Botter family. 

Oma with many of her great grand children

Danielle with her family

Tante Geke, Oom Henk and Oma

Heidi (Oom Henk's daughter) and her family

John (Oom Roel) and Esther (coming
to Australia in January)

Gerjan (Oom Henk) and his family

Gea (Oom Henk) and her family

Trijnie (Oom Henk) and Lars

Today (Sunday) everyone came to Oma's after church in the morning.  They do this basically every Sunday and I think it's a really nice way to keep the family close together.



Oom Eg playing the organ in church.  I'm
pretty sure that he's been playing for 40 years
already.



Sanne and Ramon

Oom Roel, me, Oom Eg and Arjan

In the afternoon Sanne and Ramon "helped" me babysit Maddi at Arjan and Helma's.

  When Maddi was in bed I let them use my camera to take some photos of the teddies and other things...



After church we stayed at Arjan and Helma's for dinner to celebrate their 12 1/2 year wedding anniversary.  It was "gezellig" and also too tasty!

Finally, I'd like to share with you a sign that I haven't seen in Australia...in Holland they have special places you can walk your dog and they are allowed to do their business, probably because most of the people in the "dorp" have pretty small backyards.