Wednesday 3rd August - Friesland

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Stinking hot night! We were awake at 3.30am for a long time because it never cooled down over night. We were seriously contemplating throwing our matress down the stairs and sleeping outside Aunty Margareth and Uncle Albert's room... but on deeper thought we decided against it after the thought of seeing Aunty Margareth when she gets up in the morning (Hehe love you Aunty Margareth)! We were up at 7.30 and ate breakfast then upstairs to pack. I am only 2 weeks into our 12 week OE and I am already struggling to pack my stuff into my pack... I haven't even bought that much!!!!!
We were aiming to be on the road by 9.00am and we were so good this morning we were gone by 9.05am!!!! Tomtom took us to Friesland and we stopped on the way to have a 'coffee picnic'.
It was an emotional hello for Beppe as she hasn't seen us for many many months! We sat down for another coffee (Steve thought Dutch coffee cups were really little but he now understands...Dutch people drink a LOT of coffee!)
We then piled up into the car (Steve and I had to sit in the front next to Tante Anna (Aunty)... She is a crack-up driving... and parking! Tante Anna had arranged for us to go on a boat ride to watch a sailing race (kind of like the America Cup racing but not world wide). The weather was very muggy so I have been bitten many times by pesky little bugs!
We got home at about 6.30 then Beppe and Tante Anna organised dinner. We were going to wait for Rebecca and Brett to arrive before eating dinner but we were hungry so we ate without them. After tea Rebecca and Brett arrived with Oom Arjen so I said hello and ducked into the shower (I was quite nervous).
When I was about 8 years old Pake and Beppe (My grandparents) told me about a girl who used to visit them when they were in Holland so somewhere along the line we became penpals... Hilde used to write to me in Dutch and mum would translate then I would write back leaving lines and mum would write the translation again (Thanks mum!) but we have never met face-to-face. After 15 or so years we final met tonight! It was really great to finally meet Hilde and we talked for a long time (in fact we were so busy talking that I completely forgot to get a photo of the two of us... never mind we can just wait until she comes to New Zealand in a few months!). It was a nice night meeting Hilde, and spending time catching up with Beppe, my sister and borther-in-law and great aunty and uncle.

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Photos

Photo 2
For Aunty Margareth - I didn't forget you!

Photo 4
Just a me shot (with my new sunnies)

Photo 5
A dedication to my favourite aunty! LOL

Photo 3
The sail boats that were racing