Burgers Zoo

The Netherlands has many zoo's scattered through out it's little country but one of the zoo's I really enjoy visiting (and I am not far from) is Burgers zoo in Arnhem.  This past weekend we packed up the kids and met a few other of my expat friends and we had a wonderful day at the zoo.
Here are a few (I use that word lightly) pictures I will share with you:

And really, you do not want to know what this chimp was eating.  My friend Tammy (who I know will blog about it) caught the whole action of him catching it before hand.  Yuck - I guess his diet is so yummy that he feels it's good enough to give it a go a second time! I wasn't able to get the before picture as my card was full and had to change cards, I took around 600 pictures at the zoo and have had much difficulty trying to dwindle it down to 126 pictures.  Choosing only 10 pictures for my blog was one of the most difficult things I have had to endure in a long time!

Red Bull Crashed Ice in Valkenburg

I just had one of the best weekends I have had in a long time.  There is no place I love more in the Netherlands than the province of Limburg with their rolling hills, open land, beautiful scenery and houses that seem to come out of a fairy tale book.

A month ago I saw a commercial on the television for some Red Bull crashed Ice event.  I have never heard of this before but it looked so extreme and so Canadian!  I told my husband right away to book a hotel because we are going to have a weekend away and see this event.

We arrived at our hotel in Schin op Geul and was greeted by the sweetest couple who own/run the hotel.  I fell in love with their darling Limburgs accent - how could you ever get mad at someone with such a sweet accent? We quickly found our room and I noticed right away a lady bug was on the window sill.  I joked with my husband that a lady bug inside is a sign of good luck, but then I noticed another, and another and another. I quickly realized we had an infestation of lady bugs.  I guess we were being blessed with a lot of luck! I mentioned it to the hotel keepers and they were very accommodating to change our room to an equally nice but bugless room.

After a bite to eat at a local pub we quickly made our way over to the train station for our 2 minute train ride into Valkenburg. The train was packed with other excited crashed ice supporters and while we tried to squeeze in I tried to control my claustrophobia.

The event took place on top of a big hill (or most Dutch would consider a mountain) in Valkenburg, and we had to climb that hill.  The climb was torturous! It was apparently only a 12% inclination but it felt much more and we were trying to go as fast as we could because they had already announced that once it was full they were not letting anyone else in. I think the walk up the hill was to ween out the weak!

Once the gate opened up we ran in for the best spot we could find... right after one of the big jumps!  A perfect photo opportunity spot.  These men were moving at access speeds of 70km/h so you can imagine how difficult it was to take pictures in the dark but I think we managed fine.

 Above: Scott Coxall (Canadian) lost his helmet in the beginning of this race but luckily was not disqualified.

Final standing was: 
                    1st Arttu Pihlainen (Finland)
                    2nd Scott Croxall (Canadian)
                    3rd Kyle Croxall (Canaidan)

This video was taken by someone just behind us.  I was the one with the Canadian flag (of course).  My friends and family who were watching it live at home were also able to spot me as the only one waving my Canadian flag in the mass of people.

Here are some highlights of the race

I hope this comes back again next year! I certainly recommend this for anybody!

The Butter ham (Boterham)

Boterham is Dutch for sandwhich and they love their boterhammen.  Variations of open and closed faced sandwhiches are often the Dutch's choices for breakfast and lunch. 

Favourites include:

Chocolate, fruit or licorice flavoured sprinkles on an open faced sandwich.

Beschuit - a very airy dry piece of toast good to put any topping on.  If a baby is born, traditionally beschuit with little coloured balls (muisjes) flavoured as licorice are served to the guests that come see the new baby.  Pink muisjes for a girl and blue for a boy of course.  

Tosti - is actually nothing more than a grilled cheese or panini.  Many variations of this can be found - cheese with any type of meat, spices, tomato, brie, nuts, pineapple.  If it can be thought up, it has been served here in the Netherlands.  These are a favourite in my household and regularly seen at lunch time. 

Most restaurants/cafe's serve messy looking, often open faced sandwiches that are almost always delicious!  These sandwiches are not made to be eaten between your fingers.  First off: you WILL make a mess Secondly: People seem to look at you oddly as you try to balance one between your thumbs and fingers and watch its contents fall down the front of your shirt (yes I speak from experience).  These sandwiches are served with a fork and sharp knife.  I believe it may be a code of conduct thing that you are supposed to eat a sandwich with a fork and knife. I still can't resist to pick them up between my fingers and thumb if they aren't too messy. 

Marvel Madness

This weekend was the weekend.... yes THE WEEKEND that all wives alike only pray never happens to them.  It was THE WEEKEND that the mother-in-law evicts the boxes of comic magazines and those boxes of comic magazines have no choice (according to husband) but to move in with  *gulp* us. WHY DEAR LORD WHY??  

 Those boxes quickly turned into big bags for transportation reasons (and easier access for husband I am sure).  They were put no other place but on MY bed and there he sat like a child going through his old comics only hoping his daughters would have the same enthusiasm as he shared.

 Some of the comics I only knew of because of living here so long.

 Some comics are internationally known

 Other comics I have never heard of in my life!

I have no idea if there are any of value in the collection.  Most of the comics were very well used so I doubt there will be.  Most of them were from the 1980's and early 1990's. 

The old music magazines were fun to look at until they made me realize how old I am.  I may not have been buying these same magazines but I would have been buying magazines in Canada in the year 1991 and a lot of the same artists would have been featured.  *sigh* How do I convince my 13 year old that our music was also once cool? 

It wasn't hard to amuse my 5 year old daughter when she found a toy catalogue from 1991.  Even I had to take a torturing peak at this.  Yes this made me feel even older than the 'top of the pop' books did.

  "Mommy Mommy LOOOOOK They had Etcha Sketch in your days too"!  In "My days" like it's a completely different era or something.  My gosh it's not that long ago - at least it doesn't feel THAT long ago... Oh who the hell am I kidding?? ummm quick save "It was from papa's days not mine darling".  That should do it!

Remember these jewels?   I barely do... you know... with my age comes memory loss ...

hmmm wonder if my mom still has my old Nintendo and games.

It's a bikers country

Netherlands is a 'fietsers' /bikers country.   The roads are often very small and often the city centres are closed off to motorized vehicles.   You will see mothers biking daily with a child on the back of their bike, a child on the front of the bike (more than one child if they have a bakfiets ) and a child biking beside them.  Even when it snows and the roads are slippery than an ice rink, it doesn't slow them down.  I am hoping it is something in just being Dutch that keeps them safely on the bike while going over these black iced ridden roads with out wiping out. Now that I have my Dutch citizenship I am looking forward to staying on my bike when hitting a patch of ice or being hit by a gust of wind, for some reason I am blaming my cursed clumsiness for a life of many more falls to come.  I am still having bad side effects from a bad fall in September from being knocked over by the wind... yes the wind. You would think I knew how to bike.  I had my youngest daughter on my bike and luckily she was unharmed, I unfortunately suffered a concussion.    Yesterday I hit a patch of ice that has luckily only left me with a black and blue knee.  I am seriously starting to consider trading my bike in for some snow shoes! How these Dutchies do it with out a helmet nor a care in the world is beyond me. 

There is said to be more bikes in the Netherlands then there are people and there are more than 750,000 bikes stolen a year.  The Dutch learn at a very young age the importance of keeping their bike safely locked up. 

I'm officially a CanDutch

About half a year ago it came to my attention that because I am married to my Dutch partner, I can become a Dutch citizen and keep my Canadian citizenship.  After ten years, the only reason I did not get my citizenship was because I was told this was not possible to have a dual citizenship. Every five years we would pay about 300 euros for our residence permit but every five years this price would drastically seem to increase. Unfortunately our residence permit had to be renewed a month ago and I had to have a valid residence permit in order to obtain my Dutch citizenship so with in the same month we had to pay for the residence permit and the 650 euro citizenship fee.  That was a hard blow but now we are finished with all expenses that will keep us in this country.
Other valid reasons for obtaining Dutch citizenship :

• I can vote
• I can live anywhere in Europe if I wish (Italy is looking good about now) just joking.... a little. 
• Easier to get a passport
• I'm not a "foreigner" and don't have to worry about the government putting me through more courses.
• My husband is not financially responsible for me.

 Today with great pleasure my daughter and I received our Dutch citizenship.  What also made this day special is that today is "Nationale Naturalisatiedag" National Citizenship Day.  The press was present at our ceremony and a picture will be printed in our local paper and the photographer from the press said he will send a picture to my home address. 

For any  foreigners considering this big move, some of the requirements to become a citizenship are:

• You must live in the Netherlands for 5 years or have been legally married to a Dutch partner for three years. 
• You can not have a criminal record. 

More information can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_nationality_law

Sinterklaas Surprise

I loved this time of year when I was younger.  I was always right into the Christmas mood - yes I was the kid wearing the lighted up Santa hat to school with matching mitts, earrings and socks! I may have toned it down over the years (I know my husband is grateful for that) but that doesn't mean I love Christmas any less. One thing I always looked forward to was secret Santa at school (or any other after school organization I was in).  For anybody who has never heard of a "secret Santa": everybody draws a name and doesn't tell anybody who that name is.  You discretely try to find out what your victim  chosen secret Santa's interests are and you buy a little gift for them and wrap it nicely and give it to them on the arranged day. 
For the Dutch children that are a little old to believe in Sinterklaas (about age 10 plus), they also have a "secret Santa" but they call it "Sinterklaas surprise" (surprise is pronounced sup-reese). Children write their name on a piece of paper and make the quest a little easier by adding what their interests and hobbies are ex. soccer, spider-man, and swimming. Just like a secret Santa, the idea is that the name you have chosen is kept top secret.  The children then buy a small gift (usually no more than a few euros) and then they decorate the gift to one of the chosen childs interests. 
Last night I found my self once again making Breanna's Sinterklaas surprise at the last minute!  I love this child dearly but she did not inherit my creativity (and she knows it - or she is just smart enough to act like she doesn't have any creativity so mom will do it all for her). Her friends are all on msn together and they all figured out who chose who, so there really is no more surprise.  The girl Breanna chose is into field hockey - we couldn't make a stick thick enough to fit the gifts and Breanna didn't want to make the field (thats boring mom). So I made her look on her Facebook to find out more about her - found out she likes to ski too.  So here was her  my late night last minute creation.

Here are a few from previous years:

Getting into the Christmas spirit

I always find it difficult to get into the Christmas spirit early in the Netherlands.  The majority of people will not decorate until Sinterklaas leaves for Spain on the 5th of December.  Even my husband has set the rule (maybe the ONLY rule he has been successful in enforcing in our house) that no Christmas decorations go up until Sinterklaas goes out. But let me tell you as soon as that Dutch Christmas party pooper is out... I am decking the halls with boughs of holly!
One way I can always count on to get into the Christmas mood is by going to Intratuin (our largest garden centre chains).  They always have this garden centre so beautifully decorated that scrooge would even be inspired to decorate. This one is in Duiven, when it opened up it was the largest indoor garden centre in Europe.

Notice how big this display is!  This is just one of many.

With beautiful Dickensville displays like this it makes me almost want to start another space consuming pricey collection...... Almost.

I really got some superb idea's and some great inspiration.  I can't wait to decorate.  I even hope it snows (really snows not just sprinkles) to add to the Christmas feeling (the snow can leave in January).

And, la piece de la resistance, radioactive animals!

Another great way to get into the Christmas feeling around here is by going to the markets, particularly the German ones. My good friend Sonya went to one in Osnabruck, Germany this weekend (I´m so jealous), she has some beautiful pictures you can see her blog at Home Cooking with Sonya

Report card time

My oldest daughter Breanna came home from high school (middelbare school in Dutch) with her report card and a big smile on her face.  I knew it had to be good, she was just so excited to show us.  I remember report card time as a time of grief, guilt and wondering how I can hide it from my parents.  We will expect to see about three or four report cards from Breanna each year.  This one wasn't perfect but it was one to be very proud of.  Marks here are graded out of 10 and not A,B,C... The value is pretty much the same though.
After looking at her marks and telling her how proud we were of her she was very quick to ask, "well, what do I get?" hmmm don't get me wrong I am extremely proud of her but maybe it's just me but I never got anything for report cards except my end report card.  Apparently offering a hug and a pat on her back wasn't what she was looking for.  That offer sent me on the "worst mommy of the year list".  To put myself back on the best mommy of the year list, my husband and I offered to bring her to the Harry Potter movie this weekend.  BINGO that worked. 
Supper time was at Oma and Opa's today and Breanna as proud as she had every right to be brought her report card with her.  Oma and Opa were also very proud of their granddaughters grades and like second nature had their wallets out and they were emptying it out into Breanna's hand.  Ok I barely bat a lash, I'm used to this by now - Oma and Opa spoil their grandgirls. Then uncle came and right away Breanna had her report card out again and she was hinting telling him how much she just got from Oma and Opa.  I gasped and turned to my husband and asked him under my breath if she is asking for money.  "No this is normal" he reassured me.  Normal?  are you kidding me?  My husband continued to tell me how he would make his rounds with each and every report card robbing his poor aunts of their hard earned money (and anybody else he could sucker out of their money).  I think something happens to these Dutch people when they see a teenager with puppy dog eyes holding onto a fresh report card, it just makes them want to pop their wallets out.  I swear I grew up in the wrong country cause I know for sure I could have made a killing with my large family!

That time again... Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piete

I know I have been M.I.A. lately.  There has been a lot of personal stuff with my parents visiting and my first niece/ God daughter being born.  My mind has just been else where lately.
I know in the past I have made this blog more about what you will expect to see in the Netherlands but now I am running our of idea's here.  I have decided to turn this into just plane and simple my life and what we as a family experience in the Netherlands.  Some of it may or may not be Dutch living related.  If I do come across a "must see" tourist spot or something you "must try before you die" - I'll be the first to tell you.

---

Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet has once again invaded the Netherlands with whipping pepernoten at children, leaving goodies in their shoes and making parent's wallets a little lighter.
Last week Kiana (my youngest daughter) starts off her school morning as normal as can be, being greeted by her Siamese twin  best friend.  This time her best friend had a pretty little gold box in hand with a glass angel in it, "See what Sinterklaas brought me?".  Kiana's jaw dropped.  Ever since she saw this glass angel in the pretty gold box she could not stop talking about it.  Every night she would put her shoe out and beg pray ask Sinterklaas for a gold box with a glass angel in it just like he gave to her best friend.  She even wrote a letter in the best writing a 5 year old can. What was I to do???  As a good mommy Sinterklaas, I went to every single store in town in search for this golden box with the glass angel in it.  Four hours later I was tired, still empty handed and about to give up.  I started to head back to my bike and noticed one last gift store, "Pour Toi". Deep breath, fingers crossed... oh who am I kidding?  I went in, started to look around and finally in a ray of golden heavenly light... there she was ... HALLELUJAH!! Ok she wasn't in a gold box but at this point I did not care! Pink is pretty, my daughter is a girly girl so ya pink is good!  I had her wrapped up [yes this is one luxury of the Netherlands - almost every store will ask if your purchase is a gift and they will wrap it for you] and I biked home as fast as my tired legs could.  While waiting to pick Kiana up from school I decided to share my scavenger hunt story with Kiana's friends father.  Before I could finish the story he stopped me to inform me that they bought that gold box and angel in.... BELGIUM! If I would have known that in the first place, I would have saved my self a whole morning in the cold searching for my child's happiness! Since when do children want golden boxes with glass angels anyways?  At that age I was more than happy with toys... real toys! Anyways, I almost couldn't wait to give it to her, just to see her happy little face but I did at least wait to put it in her shoe that night.
The next morning I really did want to sleep in but around Sinterklaas time.... that is just not going to happen.  Kiana came running into my room "mommy mommy mommy!  Sinterklaas brought me the glass angel!!" All of a sudden the excitement left her face so I asked her what was wrong "it's not a gold box".
ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!

Medical emergency?

My youngest daughter woke up this morning with a bad tummy ache.  She didn't want to do anything just laid on the couch clenching her tummy the whole morning. Now this really gave me a flash back, if I still lived in Canada,   I would have bundled her up thrown her in the car and taken her to the emergency and put up with the ten hours of waiting in the waiting room, like the over-protective mother I am.  This is just how it is in North America.  Only if we have a small complaint that (we feel) can wait will we call our general practitioner and make an appointment. 

In the Netherlands it is much different and probably much more efficient.  You are only granted entry into the emergency with permission from your general practitioner or if you have been brought in by an ambulance.  Otherwise you must call your doctor and he will decide if he needs to see you right away. There is an after hours clinic that also requires you to call them first.  The secretary or doctors assistant will decide if your medical emergency needs immediate attention or can wait until your own general practitioner sees you in the morning. Personally I do like this method, this frees up the emergency room for REAL emergencies. 

So anyways, I called my own family doctor this morning and he was on vacation.  I swear this man goes on vacation at least 3 times a year (or only when ever I need to make an appointment).  I don't think my Canadian family doctor ever went on vacation or even had a sick day for that matter.  So I get the doctor answering machine telling me to call the "doktersdienst" Doctors service who will then direct me to the doctor who is taking my doctors patients.  I called the suggested doctor and they requested we wait to see if the pain gets worse.  I can imagine they are getting double the amount of patients today.  After a visit to the bathroom, my daughter is already feeling much better, is now dancing and singing to the Backyardigans and will probably go back to school before the day is out.. 

This is the new hospital about to be opened in my city.  It's been really neat watching it being built over the last year or so and in a few weeks it will be in full working order.