Í've been awake again since 4am......:) Yesterday I moved house (I nearly needed a removalist truck!) for a few days to a week to my Tante Bertha (Mum's sister) and Oom Ben's house. Oom Wim (from Tante Gea my Mum's sister) kindly picked me up from Oma Botter's in his car and brought me there (he lives just around the corner from Tante Bertha's house).
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| Tante Bertha |
On Saturday we went to Deutschland (Germany) which is about 1/2 an hour drive from Vroomshoop where Oma lives.
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Oom Eg and teddies (sorry I forgot to turn
it before I put it on!) |
Oom Eg and Tante Herma took us there. It was interesting that they commented that German houses were quite different to Dutch ones, while I found they looked quite the same and still a LOT different to the type of houses we have in Australia (a little bit like how as a Caucasian if you don't look properly, all Chinese or Japanese people look a bit the same - no offense!). We went and had a look around the shops etc. Very interesting!
One thing I've realised is that we pay a lot of tax on alcohol and cigarettes in Australia!! Germany is still cheaper again - you can buy 1L of Jonge Jenever (?) for 5 euro (about $7), in Holland it's about 10 euro (about $13.50) and in Australia I think it would easily hit the $40 mark! Cigarettes too seem to be half the price (not that I smoke!) about $10 compared to nearly $20 in Australia.
Anyway it was a very nice morning. On the way home, Tante Herma stopped and showed me the house where I was born in and lived for my first 4 1/2 years. It was surpising - I always imagined it to be much bigger - but of course everything looks big to a 4 year old!
The house has actually been added on to since we had it. My dad did a lot of work to it (I think it was pretty old and in bad repair when they bought it). Tante Herma might still take me to see the inside (apparently the owners are pretty friendly).
After that, they dropped me off at John (Oom Roel and Tante Geke's son) and Esther's (his wife) house for the afternoon (there is a photo in the last blog of them). It was nice to see their house, their cute dog (Maddi loved it) and their wedding photos. They are coming to Australia in early January for 31/2 weeks so it'll be nice to see them again. While we were there, Esther took me over to see an old school friend, Erna Ramaker from when I used to go to Kleuterschool in Holland (4 years old). It was very nice to see her and her husband and children too in real life, after we've been writing for so many years!
John and Esther dropped me off at Oma's in the late afternoon where Maddi had a well-needed rest! (She'd only slept half an hour here and there all day and had been carted all over the country side - well, 2 country sides actually!)
That evening we were invited to Arjan (Oom Eg's son) and Helma's house for dinner. Really yummy! Carbonadde (well fried thinner pork chops), chips (with a variety of sauces and mayo's), spring rolls ("loempias") and frikanels (sort of like crumbed sausages but not the same taste. I have heard they are made from cow's udders and other bits and pieces but I choose to ignore that!). Often in Holland they also seem to have a small bowl of chopped raw onion which you can mix with the mayo/sauce on your plate and eat with the chips or frikandels.
We did have a really nice evening, although Maddi was getting a bit grumpy by the end, which was fair enough considering she had a really big day (and has had a really big week!!!) I think it was the first time Oma heard her whingeing! Sanne and Ramon really loved playing with her.
I forgot to share something with you the other day which I thought was maybe interesting, especially for any blokes out there. Oom Eg (Arjan's dad) received one of these awards from CAT. Two men came especially from America to present it to him (he said maybe 5 people in Holland had this).
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| Oom Eg at work |
So, back to the present. It is 5.44am in the morning, I've already given Maddi a bottle and I think she's going back to sleep. She has done so well with sleeping in different beds all over the place, it doesn't matter as long as she's got her dummy and dookie (and apparently they don't normally say dookie in Holland, the have a "knuffle"and it's normally a soft bear). We had a pretty quiet day at Tante Bertha's yesterday which was nice just to settle in and not be too busy. Tante Bertha and I went into the shopping area of Hardenberg on bikes (a bit scary, when mine goes slow the front wheel starts wobbling:)), had a quick look at the markets and bought some groceries. Enny (Tante Bertha's daughter), Hans and their kids came over in the late afternoon to say hello which was very nice. Unfortunately for some silly reason I forgot to take my camera out and take a photo of them:(
Tante Bertha wanted to know what I would like for dinner, so I said maybe something really Dutch like stampot. So we had stampot with carrots, onions and yummy crunchy little spekkies (sort of like pork crackle) and speklappen (pork meat with small lines of fat through it, fried). Very tasty!
During the evening I found out that Tante Bertha (and maybe more Dutch people) has never tried pumpkin and she doesn't seem so keen to try it either. Pumpkins are more for halloween or "zier" in Holland - the people make nice dispays in their windows, on their mantels or outside their front doors from all different sorts and sizes of pumpkins.
Hmmmm....what might I cook them for dinner one night....maybe a nice roast with......?
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