i love my dad
i love my mum
i love my brother
i love my family
i love my friends

i miss you all so much... just know i think about you lot all the time.  

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.

I promise to post news about my exciting adventures asap.

love love

Hindeloopen christmas markets! WHAT a quaint night out. the christmas markets were held in quite a tiny little square in the middle of hindeloopen, they was a santa claus, singing, bands and lots of foods. i had the glue wine (i think its called) its basically hot wine. so much nicer than cold wine! but you still get the after winey taste that i hate so much haha.

it was quite nice to be in the xmas spirit with all the festive decorations and songs around. i cant believe its something like 12 days to xmas. i appologise in advance, because no one is getting xmas pressies haha.

Its quite pretty here with the snow and the ice freezing on the tree branches. right after this photo was taken i stopped to answer a text msg on my phone, and whilst standing completely still. i slipped on the ice and landed on my butt :) i couldnt stop laughing. i wish someone else had been there just to see how funny it was :)






The days are getting quite short. yesterday mike and I watched the sunset (over the water- amazing!). only sad thing was that the sun was setting at 4.30 and by 5 PM it was dark >:( no wonder i have no energy. I feel like i should be going to bed at 6.30pm.
ridiculous!

Johnny :) mikes little brother...
He reminds me of jeremy at that age. Being near this kid makes me feel like im 10 years old and playing with my little brother. I miss jeremy so much. And Johnny makes him seem not so far away. Im quite in love with the whole family actually. They make me feel at home :) I love watching them fight with one another. Somehow its relaxing to see siblings wrestling. again, reminds me of all the crazy stuff jeremy and i used to do. like chasing eachother around with the axe and locking eachother outside for hours until mum got home. 
i cant wait until jeremy and i grow up and can be like Mike and Joanna his older sister. Somehow having my brother round for coffee and a chat seems like the best thing in the world to look forward to :)

So much happens everyday that its so hard to keep up with it on this blog haha.
here is what has been special for me in the last few days...

Talking to my brother and my dad and my mum on skype. I miss them all so much that it honestly makes my week when i chat with them :)

I really miss my life back home. It was so much more... me. haha. The morning and evening walks, hanging with friends, Just Jeans, The Movies, beach, wauchope.... MY CAR.
man i miss not being able to drive myself wherever i please. biking in the snow is not practical haha.

Another special thing this week was Sinterklaas :)
On saturday we went to Barbers parents place for a big party. We had to do a kris kringle thing and write an anonomous poem about one member of the family.
Mine was so sweet it brang tears to my eyes... almost haha.
it talked about how much everyone has come to love me and that they hope i stick around. :) quite lovely i think.
And on sunday was our family Sinterklaas, that was really sweeet. Here sinterklaas doesnt come at night. instead we all got up late. had a long breakfast and when the kids where in the bath Barber and I hid all the presents and made a treasure hunt for them :)
My haul was fantastic! i got a blond tea pot and tea spoons. Blond is a special brand hand made by two sisters in amsterdam. I also got a tea mug in similar design and a new bag. all with little windmills and dutch couples kissing. everyone jokes that its me and mike haha.

After Sinterklaas i went to mikes house to hang with them. Hessel came over and we then took the dogs to the bos :) it was so much fun, it was good to be out in the fresh air since the snow has made it pretty impossible this last week. Johnny and I threw snowballs at the back of Mikes head and we laughed when we both fell over in the snow. It was such a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

And then the cat got on the Ipad. It almost one table hockey haha, amazing fat kitty! That was a truly special moment haha.

Homesickness:
Its giving me the most horrible dreams :(
just so you all know. i miss you. i love you. but im having so much fun here.
its funny how the two feelings of happiness and homesickness can co- exist side by side.

its snowing here and the renovations have moved into the loungeroom/ kitchen. so playing with rinse isnt so easy. i have to keep him in his baby play cot for most of the day.
im about to go and pick up wende and annemijn from school.
this is the only thing i hate about living here. is that we are so close to town yet so far that picking up the girls (whose classses finish 45 mins apart- stupid i know) becomes really hard on a bike with a baby. in the snow.
Today ive decided to walk, and Barber is going to be lovely and pick us all up together and bring us home for lunch. Then its just a few hours of playing with the kids and after that im hopefully going iceskating with mike.
Tommorrow is Sinterklaas yayyy :) i cant wait. it will be a nice day out with the big family and then sunday we will have a little gathering at home and then i plan to sleep for a long time.
being sick and homesick blows haha.

This is mike... now you can all stop asking for photos. mum, dad, lindy, anna, mel etc etc.
love you all :)

sinterklaas again!

sinterklaas came to stavoren :) what fun it was! the kids had such a great time watching sinterklaas arrive on his steam boat and the zwarte pieten on their motorised bikes! what fun haha

Rotterdam with mike :)

I would just like to draw attention to the view from our hotel room.
hells yeah. beat 80 euros i ever spent!
the holiday itself was really relaxing, ive been a little bit all over the place of late. working hard, partying hard and not really taking care of myself. so it felt pretty good to fall asleep at 8.30 in one of those ridiculously comfortable hotel beds with two of the softest pillows in the world.
what wasnt so good was that we were supposed to go out for mexican and mike had to watch movies alone all night....
haha.
best girlfriend award does not go to me this year. thats for sure :)
but the days were nice. we walked all over rotterdam, just taking in the sights and checking out a few shops. we went to the national photography museum. that was really cool. never have been a fan of NAN GOLDING, the photographer with the main exhibit. but since viewing her exhibit on dirty men with hairy bodies being pleasure by equally dirty and hairy women- i can now safely say im not a fan. actually i freaking detest her.
the other exhibits were really cool but. a political figure from uganda had saved most of the paperwork from his campaigning and it was turned into photojournalism by his granddaughter. that was really cool and very inspiring.
It was also pretty cool to see the sculptural art within the city. like this dude...

 i know what your thinking, and yes. my first thoughts were of that too haha. gotta love post modern art!

What really topped this all off was being able to watch the sun rise from bedfollowed by a complimentary all you can eat breakfaast.... yep.
i cant wait to go back and stay there again!

Le caravan. is broken :(

Largely thanks to the frozen gas line my caravan slowly filled with gas the other night as i was going to bed. luckily i was more than awake and decided to go into the house and sleep in the office. which i have now made my own until the new bedroom is ready.
im nery grateful that barber and sander put the living room renovations on hold so that the shilders (painters) could make the new bedroom ready for me. it sucks living in a fold out bed with frozen clothes from my frozen caravan haha.

SNOW!!!!

its amazing :)

There isnt to much of it yet, but yesterday mike took me to the 'beach' in Hindeloopen and we played on the frozen ice. Its crazy cold here at the moment and its only going to get colder. some parts of the netherlands are reporting -14 degrees already! thankgoodness i have moved into the house. i think i would be frozen in my caravan by now.

 haaha

i like living here. it has a certain charm about it :)

 Its quite nice having a marina for a backyard :)
I took this while going on a walk with Rinse and Annemijn, we walked into Stavoren and ate hot chips and drank chocolate milk. Annemijn and I counted all the cars and tried to find the Kabowters (dwarves) in the town houses. It suprising how many people have them haha.  Both the kids loved going for a walk that they were very cranky when i turned round and heading for home. Albeit 5 meters from the door i remembered i had to pick Wende up from gymnastics- back in Stavoren. So we had to run back through town. They thought it was fantastic. Me not so much haha

Sinterklaas.
not to be confused with santa claus. the dutch also have the kerrsman which is the americanised santa.
Sinterklaas is a man who comes from spain with his african helpers- the zwarte pieten. Sinterklaas rides his white horse- a symbol of importance in the dutch culture (the king also has one). He wears an outfit similar to that of the pope. but red, and without the conspirital/boy loving stigma attatched to it. Like the American Santa he has a book full of the names of children, and wether they have been goed or stout; Good or Naughty. The Zwarte pieten carry the sacks full of presents and they also have a cat of ninetails that they whip the naughty children with. sick haha.
Traditionally the children sing songs before bed everynight and they place their shoes next to the fireplace with carrots inside for Sinterklaas' horse. in the morning the carrot is gone, replaced by a small present. This continues for the three weeks between Sinterklass' arrival in Holland on his steamboat and the actual evening( December 5th).
This saturday was Sinterklaas' arrival in the Netherlands. We watched the sinterklaas journaal ( a fake news program for kids that charts sinterklaas' doings, has interesting facts and a forecast of the rooftop conditions for when sinterklaas drops the presents down the chimney.
We also sang the sinterklaas songs and played dressups with costumes and puppets while waiting for his arrival on Tv.

It was nice to feel some kiddie christmas cheer :) especially when its completely different to what im used to back home.

I cant wait till they start putting their shoes out and writing wish lists. what fun!

Sint Maarten

sint maarten falls on the 11/11 and is supposedly a commemoration of saint Maarten who gave his best jacket to a poor man and went without during winter. They honour the day by creating paper/ cardboard lampions and going door to door singing a song. they then recieve candy or more tradiotionally mandarines and little koekjes. Its very cute. although for some strange reason people were also carving pumpkins... a little bit of the american influence no doubt.
This year the school children had the opportunity to go to De Kaap (the town hall) and participate in some artsy activities before going carolling.

The kiddies were supplied with carboard bags and lots of artsy stuff and they got to make their own carry bags for collecting their candies with. Everyone had a lot of fun and there was laughter all around. it was a shame that the weather was so horrible (although im told every year is the same) it was stormy and rainy and the wind was howling so first the organisers had the idea of holding a quick shindig in the gym. each one took a bowl of candy to a different corner and they turned the lights off and let the kids walk from person to person, carolling with their lampions.
it was so cute to hear the little ones sing haha.

 

After this the older kids ventured out into the streets to try out their charm on the locals. Sander insisted we go first to Jelmers house. haha. Poor guy was made to come to the door and listen to a bunch of little kids sing songs for candy

 

The first part of the trek was nice. and then it started raining haha. the poor little kids bags were ruined so i was stuffing candy for every tom, dianna and chuck in every pocket i had available. i had candy in my scarf, my hat, my shirt, my pockets and at one stage my mouth... that was purely for selfish reasons though haha.

We arrived home wet, cold and excited for some candy. Instead we ate pasta and went to bed with a few sneaky snacks in between haha. A great night out :)

Those who know me in and out will know just how excited i was when i was given this basil plant :) Kudos to the supermarkt for being out of packaged Basil! My caravan now smells eadible haha.

Mike: My little brother isnt as sweet as you think
Emily: oh ja?! so he turns into a gremlin and goes feral if you throw water on him at night
Mike: i think everyone goes feral if you throw water on them at night....

LOL

After a particularly sucessful night out in cafe max and a very humourous DUI bike ride home i went over to mikes house for breakfast.

My gosh, Ham met Kaas Omelete

with the greatest invention  in the world....

Maggi Sauce

 

I put it on everything! EVERYTHING. it amazes me just how good it tastes.

Im just so stoked that i have a boyfriend who can cook. and windsurf. and beat me a pool. and thai box. and smoke up the billards tabel
(okay so now im showing him off )
It was a nice day watching Tv with the gremlin and looking through embarrassing family photos.

Nederlands Les=
Anyone else wanna ask me an irrelevant subjective questions about objective information?

come on.

i dare you...

why does everyone laugh when i try to explain the australian santa claus?

whats not to love about a dude who drives a rusty ute and carries his presents in a kangaroos pouch.

Sleighs and reindeer are for poesjes.

This guys the real deal.

as of saturday night. you may now all refer to me as the queeeen of pool.

The count now stands.

Emily: 7                     Jelmer:0

thats not embarrasing at all. especially when you consider the fact that 3 games were won in a row and that im absoloutely trashed when i play.

My God the grote Amstel was good.

Bedankt Jonge

Almere- New Amsterdam

An impromptu trip to Almere for Sander's kleding business. Despite what everyone says about how 'ugly' the city centrum is, i loved it here :)

there wasnt much culturally, but the amazing architecture, the busy streets, people rushing to and from, huge chain stores and multi million dollar advertisments.

Christmas decorations and modern Architecture.

The drive down with bakito taaaaaaaans was quite enjoyable haha. we laughed about Rinder, Jelmer and Gerrit (yeah i know you are reading this) and once again Sander and I had a mis communication with Dutch- English. Please note that the name of the 'world famous' dutch song is not 'Radar Laugh'- rather its 'Radar Love'.... gotta love phonetic alphabet- V is prounouced 'fhh'. similar to an F. And mind you its an easy mistake for anyone to make haha.

oh yeah. and the boys here just ooze sex appeal with these babies on their feet haha

Nienke's Birthday.

I love it when all the family come together. And squeezing us all into a small house feels just like my family gatherings at home.

Theres something odly comforting about people laughing and chatting over the top of one another. Spilling coffee and eating to much cake.

Somehow the chaos makes the company enjoyable.

Groningen. 

Mooi!

This place was buzzing! despite the rain there were markets, die hard shoppers and crazy people in La Place.

I made the mistake of not looking when i crossed the lane and almost collected a thousand people on their fiets. stupid bike riders. luckily mairead pulled me back in time and all i got was a very snobby 'ting ting' on the bike bells. GAH, its so weird having to look right then left AND that bike riders have right of way haha. im so used to get cranky at them on the roads that its sometimes quite a challenge remembering its the norm here.

It was so nice to just walk and talk with Virpi and Mairead. Mostly we just gossiped about the people we knew, discussed sights to see and laughed about the differences in out cultures :)

Coming from life in Stavoren everything felt so crazy i was a little relieved when Mairead suggested we head into the church and have a look.

Id forgotten how peaceful churches are. Im not to sure about the exact history of this place, but the intricate stained glass windows and murals on the wall show it to be quite old. Its quite macarbe to wonder at all the things people have come to confess or seek answers about within the walls of that very church.

Oh to be a fly on the wall of a church, aye.

Groningen is also quintisential Dutch/ Europe.

A healthy blend of 

• scenery and history- the picturesque streets and autumn weather meets the centuries old church.
• Shopping- Markets meets fashion, Boutiques meet basic kleding.
• Art and architecture- An albert hein supermarkt in one of the oldest buildings of Groningen and this guy (see below)- drawn by a stranger, for strangers- sticky taped on a random electric box.

 Yes. Life here is just bursting from everyone of the citie's orifices :)

Leeuwarden:

Mike took me here to convince me to buy an Ipad. I distracted him with some art supply shopping instead :)

there is this awesome place to eat. Its called La Place and its set out like a huge buffet with heaps of fresh fruit smoothies and baked bread. you can even choose the toppings for a pizza and watch them cook it before you. We drank coffee and talked deep and meaningful bullshit. 

 the view from the terrace is exceptional. you can people watch for hours. which is quite entertaining because no trip to Leeuwarden is complete without seeing a few crazies. i have it on good authority that there is an african american ganstar that cuts about with his white rabbit on a dog leash... :) only in europe haha.

to be continued :) tijd voor lekker slaapppppppp

Pool at cafe max with virpi and mike :)
we hung out in Sneek, had icecream at the local icecreamery and then came to the local pub for a beer and a game of pool. Mike taught vipri how to play and she then went on to kick both our butts twice. she is my secret weapon haha. seeing as im always hungry here mike was kind enough to secretly presuade the bar staff to make me dinner. even though it was past mindight.
deep fried cheese balls have never tasted so good. this boy is defintely in my good books :)

the sneek cine; much better than majestic haha. the seats are intact, its only smells slightly funky and there are no annoying kids. sadly it doesnt quite compare to the majestic experience :) I ate sweet popcorn and have come to the conclusion that its not as good as salt and i freaked out when the movie stopped halfway through a crucial moment. turns out it was just the intermission so i spend 15minutes twiddling my thumbs haha.
we watch despicable me. twas absoloutely hilarious! a night well spent :)

Sneek; I go to language class here. It cost me 6 euros to catch a train full of school kids who love to ask me all about the crocodiles in australia. I love the Sting. its a clothing store. so far most of my hard earned money has been spent on winter clothes from here :) Virpi and i often catch up for coffee here and talk about the boys of stavoren. There is a whole street filled with art stores... needless to say i spend a lot of time there aswell haha.

i forgot how much it hurts when you trip and fall, i cut my hands open and bruised my knee. the swelling and such went down yesterday and the bruise has faded but man i hit that damned ground hard. I managed to laugh, even though i was having an extremely bad day in an extremely stressfull week and that was the icing on the cake :) Sadly i was not drunk and was not on my bike when i fell. i was just walking to my caravan and happened to fall infront of 10 or so builders working on the house. so there goes my crazy story to tell my grandkids. but im pretty darn impressed with myself. i didnt even cry or get angry about having a bad day guess im getting stronger or something haha