Karin and Maddi's Adventures in Holland!: A SUNDAY WITH THE BOTTER FAMILY

I still have lots to tell, but I have only just found a computer so I'll tell you about Sunday today and hopefully I'll catch up with the rest another day! Every Sunday the Botter family usually gets together after the morning church service and has coffee and cake, then some "haapjes" (dand a cool drink/wine/beer/"borreltje". Normally it's at Oma Botter's house, but this time we were invited to Oom Eg (Dad's brother) and Tante Herma's :

It was really "gezellig".

Church was much the same as ours and I could even pretty much understand the sermon in the morning because the minister didn't talk too fast. Lydia (my cousin) babysat Maddi at Oma's house (she was staying home with her daughter Lynn anyway). That was very good because Maddi could have a nice long sleep (she's had a few BIG days:)). Dad, Wiwik, Oma and I (and Maddi) were also invited for lunch afterwards. Very delicious...first goulash soup (they pronounce it "coolah" which made me a bit worried that it had cola in it!!), then cogel biefstuck (quickly fried steak, tender, a bit pink in the middle), varkenslappjes (fried thin pork chops), oma's fritten (thick chips), fried champignons (mushrooms) and onions and a few varieties of sauces and mayo's (creamy...the stuff that's probably really bad for you...).

Maddi had another really good sleep while we went to church again in the afternoon. Church was finished a lot earlier than ours normally is, so we had a coffee etc and then Tante Herma made a chinese omelette (on buns) for dinner. By the time I had all that as well as "haapjes"all over the place, I nearly needed a wheelchair to get out of the door! I've already warned Steve that I may have a bit of extra padding when I come back!!!

After dinner a friend of theirs phoned up called Ria and she happens to be the sister of my Oom Wim (my mum's sister Gee's husband). Oom Wim was coming to their place anyway, so they decided to come over for a coffee. That was nice and we found out that Mr Diek in our church (West Albany) is actually a cousin of Ria and Oom Wim - it's a small world! Oom Wim also offered to take me to Hardenberg to visit my mum's side of the family there. I'm staying at Tante Bertha (mum's sister) and Oom Ben's place at the moment. They're very friendly and welcoming.

At Oom Eg and Tante Herma's I also looked at a map of Holland and realised what a big place it was. It may be 220 times smaller than Australia (I've been told) but it has a bit bigger population than Australia! There are cities and "dorpen" (villages?) everywhere! So I don't think I'll be seeing ALL of Holland while I'm here, actually, only a tiny bit!