I know it has been ages…. And I’m sorry.
Life just passes by without too much to write about.
Christmas and New Year passed by in the company of lovely family and friends.
It was the first time we stayed in France.
It was our first art- exhibition ever but we enjoyed it both very much. And then….
There’s not much left to say for today.
But: Did you know the Dutch are very complicated?
We live not in Dutchland (like somebody said to me once) but the Netherlands. Although most foreigners call our country Holland. But then we speak Dutch and we our nationality is Dutch. It makes it hard to explain, cause we don’t even understand why.
And then:
Did you know there is a American expression that says: “Let’s go Dutch”
It means you both pay for your own meal…
Quite funny!
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I haven't written this post but saw it on the internet. And as we are driven off to the Netherlands too tomorrow to celebrate Sinterklaas I thougt you might like to know what we are doing :) Well kind of... because of course only the Dutch will really understand....
No. 36: Sinterklaas You’ve seen the imagery all over town: that old dude with white hair and the big pointed red hat. You know those pesky black-faced fellas he hangs out with. The ones who’ve whipped pepernoten at your head. You’ve joined in the heated Zwarte Piet debate. And you’ve eaten your chocolate initial at work. BUT what really is the deal with this whole Sinterklaas thing? Basically, all you need to know is that Sinterklaas is the most beloved of all Dutch holidays and traditions. And one, Dutch people are fiercely proud of. Don’t you dare go messing about with this very gezellig affair! Check out our handy guide below to help you survive the madness.
Everything you need to know about Sinterklaas: Q: Where does this old dude and his black-faced friends come from?
A: Sinterklaas is said to have originated from St. Nicolaus, the Bishop of Mira, who lived in Turkey in the 3rd century. According to the legend, he saved the town from starvation, revived a couple of dead children, and offered gifts of dowries to poor girls so they didn’t have to become prostitues. Hence, a pretty saintly dude. Q: How does he get to the lowlands?
A: Nowadays, he sails in from Spain on a boat in late November and rides about the town on a white horse named Amerigo (don’t ask) with a handful of black-faced friends who throw things at people. Q: Huh? Who are these black guys? Bodyguards? Elves?
A: These friends, Zwarte Piets, are Sint‘s mischievous helpers and they can be seen through town violently whipping hard-stone like cookies (aka: pepernoten) at children and passerby’s. Duck! Q: I don’t get it. Why are their faces painted black?
A: Please. Save yourself the trouble and don’t go asking this question in your Dutch workplace. You won’t make any friends. You can speak your mind here. Q: Wait. Am I allowed to say anything critical about the Sinterklaas tradition?
A: No. Q: Ok…back to the basics then. When is it officially celebrated?
A: Get out your Dutch-people agendas! Although he makes his first appearance mid- November,Sinterklaas doesn’t get into the full swing of things until December 5th. Q: This is the poem and presents stuff right?
A: Yeppers. On the eve of the 5th (pakjesavond) children place their shoes by the fireplace (although hardly any Dutch homes have them), by the radiator (how the heck do the presents get through that?) or by the door (for the brighter Dutch children) and eagerly await their presents.
Q: What do they get?
A: Back in more modest times, presents consisted of mandarin oranges, chocolate letters (the initial of your first name), chocolate coins or marzipan figures. Surprisingly, no Dutch licorice or dairy!Nowadays, full fledged gift giving is in effect with the average Dutch home spending upwards of 130 EUR on presents. Q: Why did my boss write me a sarcastic poem?
A: Adults get into full swing by writing witty poems to poke fun (or publicly chastise) their family or friends and often accompanied by a gift exchange (similar to a “Secret Santa“). The poems are often funny and of course, involve Dutch directness! Q: This whole Sinterklaas dude seems pretty familiar. Are you saying the Dutch invented the North American Santa Claus?
A: Closely related Sinterklaas figures are celebrated in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium as well as French Flanders. Scandinavian folklore has a “nisse” character who is pretty similar. Santa Claus is thought to be a combination of Sinterklaas and the British Father Christmas. Phew! That should cover the basics! Now go out, eat some pepernoten, speculaas, andkruidnoten, write some poems, buy some presents, paint your face black and join in the fun! Easy enough, eh? 
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Tonight we are experiencing another ‘first’ in our abroad-career.
We’re trying to sell a car.
I think this has been the first car we ever sold.
O, no… how can I forget my lovely rusty English white Volkswagen Golf. The car that gave me freedom!
All the other ones though, were driven until they couldn’t go any further.
Our Peugot 309 broke down during our honeymoon.
Our Fiat Panda on one of the motorways in Holland. (driven by me)
Our Swift on one another motorway, also driven by me.
Coincidently, obviously….
I can’t remember what happened to our English Vauxhall Vectra. Although I do remember I had nothing to do with it…
And then our Vauxhall Astra arrived. Just before Tim was born.
The joys of a station-wagon are immense. Especially if you live abroad.
Hurray for shopping in Holland! The car was always packed full driving back home.
But the teller had miles and miles on it. I think around 190 000 miles. (Does that seem right?)
And so we thought, in the beginning of the year, that it was a good idea to orientate on another car.
The Vectra might break down at a motorway (NOT driven by me…) and we didn’t really wanted to buy another car in just 2 days.
So Mark had a look, compared, had another look, I made a comment that one of the cars looked like a biscuit-tin, Mark had another look. Compared some more. I mentioned again that a red car would be nice. (It’s an inside joke. I would like to be the owner of a red car since we’re married. But Mark always replies very kindly to me that he’s not going to buy a car on the colour. So we never had one yet… Still worth to be mentioned once in a while, at least I think)
Anyway, we’re months down the road when Mark is still comparing. By this time I don’t care if we buy a yellow car with purple spots. So when the right car happens to be at the dealer in Chantilly I want to buy it immediately. It takes 3 more days but after that we are the proud owners of a black Mazda 5. That happened in June. We’re still the proud owners of a Mazda 5 with a bit more scratches than in June. Thoroughly enjoying the car though!
Anyway, the right-hand drive Vauxhall Astra didn’t sell. Much to Mark’s surprise.
And for the MOT (APK in Dutch) there were to many things to be done.
So we wanted to get rid of the car.
I don’t know a lot about cars. If they don’t drive they’re kind of useless in my opinion. But Mark thinks we can sell it for parts.
At the moment we have 4 cars in our drive (it’s a whole other story and one of them is not ours) so after the Vauxhall stood there for about 2 weeks we decided this afternoon that we would put it on the French kind of ebay site.
2 hours later we got a phonecall. The man wants to pick it up at 7.30 pm. We are surprised. But the rest of the evening the phone keeps ringing. Every time we think: “ We should have asked for more”…
Anyway.
7.30 pm is delayed until 8.30 pm.
The man wants to buy a new battery for the car.
By 9.00 we text-message the man that we’re waiting.
It’s pitch dark by this time and Mark has to work at 5 in the morning.
He will be there in a sec.
We know you can always count on the French time wise but at 9.30 we feel it’s getting a bit ridiculous.
Of course our house is hard to find and so on, and so forth, but still…
Mark’s cell-phone keeps ringing with people who are interested.
Finally, at 9.43 the people arrive.
Right now it’s 10.10pm.
I can hear the car doors slam. The deal is made. The car is sold!
We still should have asked for more… and maybe made the appointment later.
Only 6 more hours of sleep left. |
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