I was up early on Wednesday to pack and make sure I was ready to leave. Dad and Wanda dropped me off at the Dordrecht train station. After spending every day for two weeks with them I felt very sad to say goodbye. (The next day they were flying to Poland to spend 5 weeks there, visiting Luiza and Bartek and doing some travelling around the country.) I am very thankful to my Dad for taking me around Holland and being able to learn more about my heritage through and with him. And to Wanda for being a lot of fun [View Full Entry]

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The title quote is from "The Dutch, I Presume?" a great book about Holland and the quirky things Dutch people do. A gift from Judith - thanks so much!! Well, I’m down to my last week here in Holland. The trip went by so quickly! On Thursday we took the day off from shopping and exploration to relax and play some cards. It rained most of the day so good timing. In the afternoon we went to Tante Aartje’s for a bakkee. Friday was another shopping day with Judith and Wanda. We have so much fun together! This time we took [View Full Entry]

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Phew! Wow, there’s so much to catch up on. Let’s see if I can remember everything that’s happened in the past 2 weeks. On Monday, Dad, Wanda and I took the train to Leeuwarden, a city in the northern part of The Netherlands. Dad had gotten us cheap all-day tickets from Tante Rite and this was a great way to see more of the country. I’d never been up north before. It was a great idea since we could see a lot from the train on the way but it happened to be pouring rain just about the whole way. Well, [View Full Entry]

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I've been in the Netherlands since last Wednesday. It's now Sunday afternoon and I'm at my Tante Rite's house taking advantage of her internet since we don't have internet at my Oma's house. So much has happened this week already! It's great to be here again. 7 years is way too long to go without seeing my Dutch family but it honestly doesn't feel like 7 years in many ways since it's just like being at a second home. All of my family on my dad's side lives here. I flew to Amsterdam with a short stop in London. My fiirst [View Full Entry]

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So, apparently, I believe it is a European thing, people put butter on sandwiches-regardless of what is on it. Sure, I've heard of a grilled cheese/not even grilled or toasted but just cheese and butter that makes sense. NO, not here no matter what is on the sandwich there is always a base layer of butter. Not that any of you are interested, but today I had a sandwich with, you guessed it, butter, cheese, salami, spinach leaves, and pesto-surprising good! But entirely random. So, while I am on my rant I also wanted to point out that awkwardness is an [View Full Entry]

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Is alweer tijdje geleden ondertussen, maar dan ook veel te drukke periode achter de rug... zou niet eens meer weten wat we psies gedaan hebben voordat we naar NL vertrokken... dus laat maar gewoon beginnen bij de reis!! Die begon al niet al te goed. Na instappen op Melbourne begon de ellende al... bijna anderhalf uur vertraging omdat er bepaalde passagiers door de douane waren aangehouden en niet mochten vertrekken... nou goed, was niet zo erg dachten we want hadden toch paar uur tussenstop op KL dus beter nu ff wachten als je nog neit zo moe bent dan wanneer je [View Full Entry]

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Beck in Holland Oh, and England, Germany and Belgium too Because there’s more to life than just travelling the world and marvelling at its varied peoples and cultures. In the end, I could no longer ignore the desperate cry of Europe’s 500 million people frenziedly clamouring for my return. So here I am, back in the Old World. And hey, it’s nice to be back after all that time, meeting up with friends, revisiting old memories and battling my mum’s cat for possession of my suitcase. After getting pampered at my mum's for a bit I moved [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday we went to Leiden. We rode our bikes to central station and caught a double decker train. It was a fair way to Leiden, but as it was an express it only took half an hour. When we got to Leiden we went straight to the tourist info where we got a map and decided to go on the Leiden Loop. The Leiden Loop is a two hour walk which takes you past the best spots in Leiden. There were a lot of cobbled streets, grachts* and brugs*. Along the way we stoped off at a museum of antiquities. There [View Full Entry]

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I finally took the plunge. Three years in the making, and nine years of anticipation finally lead me to complete my open water diver license, on Sunday 24 of July. Oostvoorne was the destination about 40 km west of Rotterdam. It’s a nice lake not only for scuba diving, but also for kite surfing and wind surfing. On Sunday, as the weather improved and the sunshine danced playfully on the water, there were even bathers that came to brave the crisp 14C water. Myself and Ardy were completing the course, and Sander (remember the guy I met from China) was going [View Full Entry]

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The next day, its Sunday the 19 of April and me and dad and Liz get us some bikes. We go riding in around the tulip fields of the Keukenhof! For those that don’t know the Keukenhof is the largest tulip sculpture garden in the Netherlands. We did not go into the gardens. Instead we cycled around the area of the Keukenhof. We cycled about 10km the whole day. I was so proud of dad. He went strong! We cycled to the surrounding town of Lisse. On the way we of course made numerous stops to smell and admire the beautiful [View Full Entry]

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