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.