I don't even know how to begin recounting my week in Holland. There is so much to tell, so many good times had, many pictures taken, many family members met, many wonderful hellos and too many goodbyes. I can't even express how wonderful of a time it was.
I think that there are a multitude of reasons for the trip being so fantastic. It was a good break from life in Paris. It was good to have space from my roommates, to be out of the big city, to be where there was snow, to be with people who were family, but strangers, and who are now friends. I didn't see quite so many "touristy" things as people tend to see when they go to a country for a week, but I got a better feel of "real life," I spent time in smaller cities and towns, I saw countrysides, houses, farms, and ate Dutch food.
Permit me to try to tell the story of my week, and I'll try to make it somewhat brief. Although, seeing as this is a blog and we're not sitting down for coffee together, you can choose to stop reading at any point in time without my knowledge, therefore without offending me. ;)
Dec. 24th: I made my way to Barneveld on the train and met Bart & Janneke and their family. We had dinner together, then went to a very large Christmas Eve service where we sang Ere Zij God. This was one of the things that I was sincerely hoping to be able to experience while being in Holland: Ere Zij God in a "real" Dutch church. So that was special. Then we headed to Bart's parent's house for a Christmas Eve dinner with his family. I had my first glass of warm wine ever, chatted with his family and experienced a very strong déjà vu, which is always weird. It was a lot of fun. This was also the night that I first rode a bike, in Holland, in the winter.
December 25th, Christmas Day: As the 24th was a late night, we slept in on Christmas Day. It was a snowy Christmas, unusual for Holland I was told, and so we went out to the hilly-area of the region for some sledding. Bart & the kids went sledding while Janneke and I took the dog for a walk. It was an absolutely beautiful day with the snow sitting on the trees, the sun shining, and the temperature not too cold. After sledding we went to pay a short visit to Janneke's dad, Oom Bertus, my Oma's brother. We speaks only Dutch and I speak only English, so we smiled, shook hands and greeted each other in our respective language. I went in, and we watched the others have a conversation. After this visit we went to Janneke's sister's place for Christmas dinner. I met two of the other sisters in the family there, meaning that I know have met the three oldest of the Bertus Hooijer family: Martina, Janneke and Joke. We ate gourmet-style for dinner. We took some "necessary" pictures of the families, and of the "Hooijer women."
Bart, the kids, and the dog.
Bart & Janneke & family, Oom Bertus and I.
The "Hooijer" women.
December 27th: I spent the day with Martina & her family. We went to the Burgers' Zoo in Arnhem and enjoyed seeing a number of different animals and spending time together, throwing a few snowballs when we wandered outside, and the like. We had a marvelous Dutch dinner, meat, potatoes and vegetables with stewed pears. Martina showed me a game of cards (Kwartet) that Joke had someone make from old pictures of the family. Along with the pictures came some stories of the family history and whatnot, which I really enjoyed. We went back to Janneke's and chatted a little while longer before they had to leave again. This meant saying my first goodbyes of the week, none of which were much fun. Janneke, Bart & I stayed up a bit longer talking about the Hooijer family history and so I learned more again.
Lunch together at the zoo.
This is the rainforest area, so the camera lens was a bit foggy. :)
One of the outside-areas.
This is sometime between throwing some snowballs.
Debbie got me good with one and I got some snow inside my coat. :)
In front of the tiled wall that existed when Oma lived there.
The house where Oma grew up.
Eleen and Simon made a snowman while I got a tour.
December 29th: I said goodbye to Bart, Janneke & the kids in the morning and took the train to den Haag where I met Dennis. Dennis, his girlfriend Judith and I drove to Delft. We saw an old town gate (very cool), took a very long climb up the tower of the "New Church" to be rewarded with a great view of the city, saw where many royals including William of Orange are buried (in both the Old & New churches) and I bought a delft blue cheese slicer (easier to transport than some things and useful!). We went to Utrecht in the evening for dinner with some of their friends and to go to a popquiz. Basically what happens is this: you're in teams (the people you come with generally, I guess) and you're given answer sheets with different categories to fill in. The first category was Song Intros, so they would play the intro to a song and the teams needed to fill in the song title and the artist. Once 10 songs were done, everyone handed in the sheet and went on to the next round and category. Then we headed back to den Haag for the night.
Old town gate. Someone lives in it now!
Old Church tower. We climbed to just above the clock.
The view of Delft from up top.
Tomb of the original William of Orange.
Canal in Utrecht in the evening.
December 30th: I took the train to Assen where I met Rita. We went shopping in the afternoon, at the grocery store. I told my roommates before they left that I was going to be at a loss when I went to Holland. At home when I want something Dutch I head to a Dutch store. I figured that since I was going to Holland, there wouldn't be a Dutch store because they're already Dutch. Good news! As it's all from Holland itself and does not need to be imported, all the things that are treats at home are normal food there! I bought many of the treats that we sometimes get at home and spent less than 20 euros on it all combined. Each time I bought candy or something I got excited about how little it cost which ended in the family laughing at me each time. It's okay, it was worth it. I met Niels and Stefan each while they were working and later on when they both got home, we all watched a bit of tv together.
December 31st, "Old Year's Day": I got to sleep in because most of the family was working during the day. So I slept, got up and showered, ate a bit of food and then headed out to wander around the city a little. I didn't really know where I was going, but I found my way back to the shopping centre, said a quick hi to Stefan, wandered around looking at the stores and then walked back to their place. Chris had made oliebollen (YUM) and so I had a few of those in the afternoon. In the evening we headed to a cousin of Rita's on the other side of her family. We ate good food and played games. I learned how to play Risk which was an interesting experience. Translating the rules of a game and the names of pieces, etc. is not always easy, but we did fairly well. I began to get the idea of the game, though I think it'll take a few more times playing it to get a better handle on it. We counted down the last 1/2 minute or so of 2010 and wished each other a happy new year. After having a quick drink of our celebratory bubbly, we went outside and watched the fireworks. Apparently it's a tradition in Holland to buy fireworks (individuals/families) and light them when the new year arrives, something that doesn't really happen in Canada much. It was fun to watch it all.
Yeah, you're reading it right.
It's like the chip places back home, but with oliebollen!
January 1st, New Year's Day: We slept in. Big surprise, eh? ;) Niels, Stefan and I watched Finding Nemo together which is still a fantastic movie. In the afternoon we headed out to do a bit of sight-seeing. I requested to see some windmills, which we did, and then we went to Bourtange, an old fortified city. We drove right beside Germany, not that you'd easily know it seeing as the signs indicating the change are small and few. Since it was New Year's Day and wintertime, there weren't too many buildings open. Instead we took a walk along the wall, enjoyed the scenery, and took some fun pictures together. I called Oma on skype and we said hi to her and then we ate some pizza for supper.
Second windmill that we saw. Photo credit to Stefan.
The cannon-seat. Photo credit: Stefan.
"Family picture." Chris, Rita, me, Niels, Stefan.
And once again, photo credit to Stefan via the timer. :)
January 2nd: I went to church with Rita in the morning, wished many, many older Dutch people a Happy New Year and sat through a service where I understood very little. It was interesting to be a part of it, though. After church I said goodbye to my "European brothers" and then Rita, Chris and I went to Assen to have lunch with her sister, Gera, before I needed to get on a train back to Paris. I got on the train in the afternoon, said my last goodbyes to Rita and Chris and began the journey home. I missed my connection in den Haag which meant that I missed my actual train from Rotterdam to Paris. I took the next available train to Rotterdam and was able to get on the next train to Paris. I didn't have an actual seat though, so I stood for a bit in the luggage area and when it emptied a bit, I sat on one of the folding seats that are available there. I don't think you would ever see such a thing on a VIA train, but those also have less room in the luggage area. I pulled out my homework and the man sitting across from me happened to be French and helped me out with it. I arrived back in Paris, made it back to the residence, received three pieces of mail (thank you Liza, Jenny and Stephanie!) and chatted with Rachel a bit before we had to go to bed.
Last Hooijer-women picture. Last picture in Holland.
In short, it was an incredibly fantastic trip to take. It was great to be able to meet family that I didn't know and to get to know them all a little bit. It was more than I could have asked for and I'm so thankful that we all got along so well! I'm so thankful to each family member for helping make the time so great, for being so welcoming and for sharing a bit of their Christmas time with me.
Something that I didn't expect, and found interesting, was that it felt a bit like going home. Everything and everyone seemed so normal. I spent time in smaller towns, people dressed more normally (it seemed), and everyone looked "normal." That is to say that at home I'm used to seeing mostly Dutch people or people with Dutch backgrounds (such as myself) around and I had no idea that there was an actual difference between them and the French. It's not so striking as some differences could be, but there is a difference and that is interesting to me.
And now it's back to reality. I don't really want to be and it doesn't seem quite real yet, but it needs to be. I have exams starting next week and so it's quickly back to work here. And soon enough those will be over and I can look forward to my parents coming. As of today, it is 21 days until they come which makes it 23 days until my birthday. These are good things. :)
Best wishes and God's blessings for 2011,
~Lynette
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