Blogs from Gelderland, Netherlands, Europe - page 4

After 2 very busy months it is time for a new blog entry. But...... First of al I wish you all the best for 2012!!!!! The past 2 months I've been busy with the last preparations for my trip. Had to get a visa, some vaccines and finish up my regular schoolwork. But I can finally say that I'm ready to go. I somehow managed to get all my stuff in one suitcase. Besides all the necessary preparations I took the time to search the internet for some recreational time-passing. This resulted in me buying season tickets for the Hawks (Just to make the Dutch basketball fellows jealous, January 14th Minnesota is visiting Atlanta!!!!!). I also started planning a by then well-deserved holiday in May. But more information about that later. My new year’s resolution is ... read more

Convinced Michael Scotts new book would be released earlier and I somehow forget I had subscribed for a newsletter I opened the Atlantis e-mail. This mail exceeded my expectations and I after reading it through a number of times my American dream found renewed hope. The Han-university would sent 3 applicant to the US with the Atlantis program. Al you had to do was write an easy, fill in some vague forms, do an interview and get 2 recommendations. So I decided to try-out, wrote an essay, filled in the forms, bugged some people and asked for recommendations (for which I’m still grateful) and handed over a thick envelope with paperwork. After a week or so I got another e-mail asking me to come in for the scheduled interview. So nervous and excited I hopped on ... read more

We left Toronto late due to a thunder storm, had a bumpy flight to Montreal and then on to Brussels where we arrived in the rain. We attempted to hop on an open top bus to see the main sights of Brussels, but it poured with rain so we sought cover in the bus, which then leaked like a sieve affecting the electronics so all in all our time in Brussels was not great. The following morning, Tuesday, once again in pouring rain we collected our car, a peugot 5 door hatch, and with much stress & cursing and a defective GPS we managed to find our way to the Netherlands. Driving on the right side of the road is an experience, but it did not take Dave long to master the art. We drove to ... read more

Morning. Saturday, July 30. We went to Scherpenzeel to pick up our Oma at her sister's house. It was fantastic to see her again, and we had desserts and drinks in Tante Joke's (Yo-keh) beautiful garden. We headed to Sneek (Snake) in the afternoon and found a small, basic, internet-less campground. We brought Oma to Tante Harmke and Ome Wiebe's house, then returned to the campground. It was very cold so we went bowling. Mom won. Sunday, July 31. We listened to a sermon and headed into Sneek to Dad's cousin Dieuwke + Nico's. They are super nice people and have a lovely house. We eat and go for a ride through the canals and lakes around Sneek. We saw the house where my Pake was born and Dieuwke lived, and Dad did a bunch of ... read more

Yesterday I had a ''catching up day" with two lots of cousins from my Mum's side. The Schutten sisters, a few of them live in Zutphen and the Koers sisters, some of who live in Ruurlo. We talked of our lives, and as women do, talked of love and loss and we laughed and thank God i have family!!!! Thank you Bernadet, Else, Miriam, Marian, Adelheid and Irene. Today was another wonderful day with my cousin Gerry and his wife Gerry, at whose house i have been staying at in Vorden. We went to the Openlucht Museum which is a recreated village of times gone by. Each house and shop is original and restored and has been moved to the site from parts of Holland. A tram takes you around the site and between places if ... read more