Blogs from South Holland, Netherlands, Europe - page 20

Off to Rome------Hmmm maybe not!! Before we start this adventure I must make sure I correct some facts that I included in the last blog about Holland. I stated it had 11 provinces and thanks to one of the blog readers I now know it actually has 12 provinces. The other correction I need to make is that Frisian is not a dialect of Dutch, rather it is Holland's only other official language. Thanks Dad for that correction. So hopefully now I have the facts straight for all of us. Let's continue the adventure. Wed, Thurs and Friday - March 16-18, 2011 We left Amsterdam train station, running for the Euro bus lines. We got to the bus station with just minutes to spare and while standing in line waiting to purchase our bus tickets, it ... read more

So many wonderful people have birthdays in March! Let's see cousin Cesar is 21, Grandpa Thomas is 65 and Happy birthday to Aunty Angela today! Yesterday was Rhys' FIRST birthday! He has a touch of the cold but otherwise is doing brilliantly. He has seven front teeth, is walking proudly in his first pair of shoes and getting ready to run. It's been a very busy year since Rhys has arrived. We had a very relaxing holiday in Finland last summer and recently made a brief visit over the Christmas holidays to England to visit family and catch up with a few friends in Portsmouth. Avalon is doing dance and loving it. While she dances Rhys is busy making friends with the slightly older dancers (5yrs). It's good fun for all even if I'm exhausted afterwards! ... read more

At uni I was beginning to dread my maquette presentation as many students had put a lot of effort in their models or had clear, printed out presentations. But I finally got some great compliments from my tutor who said I paid particular attention to creating an attraction that required the audience to create the atmosphere and work as a team! My tutor asked how I felt I was doing so I said honestly that I'd been finding it challenging to work without much communication from neither tutors nor peers as tutors were all week unavailable and not many students were turning up to work in the studios. So she made a point to everyone that we have to really start working together! Monday evening we had a class trip to Rotterdam. Couldn't see my class ... read more

Beste allemaal, Dit zal een wat ander blog zijn dan dat jullie van ons gewend zijn, namelijk met weinig foto's. En het is helaas ook het laatste blog van deze reis. We zijn namelijk weer in Nederland. We zijn eerder als de vooraf geplande 25 februari teruggekomen. Hieronder zullen we vertellen hoe het zover gekomen is. Onze laatste verblijfplaats in Zuid-Amerika was in Montanita, gelegen in Ecuador. Op 26 december liep een leuk snorkeluitje daar heel wat minder leuk af. Door een sterke stroming in het water werd Sas tegen een rots aan gesmakt, waarbij ze haar knie beschadigd had. In eerste instantie leek het allemaal wel mee te vallen. We hadden haar knie zelf verbonden en we hielden de wond goed schoon. De flinke zwelling wilde echter niet minder worden en na anderhalve week zijn ... read more

Via this blog I will keep you updated on my big trip to New Zealand and Australia. I will write both in English and in Dutch to make sure that everyone is able to read it. I spent today packing and the next two days I will spend mainly in airports or on planes. Short outline of the trip: - departure: January 5th from Amsterdam - stopover: Hong Kong - arrival: January 7th in Auckland Then, Anouschka and I will use a campervan and take the ferry to travel from Auckland to Christchurch. In Christchurch, my family will take us to the southern part of the South Island for a 3-day hiking trip (the routeburn track). On the 9th of February we'll take a plane from Christchurch to Melbourne. Here, we each go our separate ways: ... read more