Week 8 Dry as a Drover's Dog

Week 8

Already!

Our trip to Amsterdam exceeded expectations, to say the least.

friday night...

There are three Drover's Dog Restaurants in Amsterdam, the closest to us was only 5 minutes walk away! Serving "authentic" Aussie food..... not sure about that. Ben and I shared a mixed grill, including kangaroo and Janny had fish and chips - and Pavlova! So it wasn't far off the mark. Our Dutch waiter had lived in Brisbane for 4 years and did a pretty good Aussie impersonation.

We finally got our bearings from Ben's hotel - Amsterdam central was in the totally opposite direction from where I thought it was - and it was relatively easy walking distance.

We had pre-dinner drinks in a German "living-room" bar - very cosy and I had a "grog" to stave off the beginnings of yet another sore throat - rum, lemon juice and honey. Did the job!

Cafe Brecht - a German Living-room Bar

 Later, at the Drover's Dog, the only Aussie beer was Cooper's from South Australia - I guess it doesn't matter much, but it wouldn't be my first choice to represent an Aussie beer.

I mentioned last week that Ben has booked a Journalism Course in Moscow. We were also pleased to hear that he is going to Copenhagen before then to see some friends and to Barcelona sometime in April. We have offered to look after his hotel room while he is away.....the least we can do, really.

Saturday....

Ben had stayed at a friends house so we arranged to meet him later in the afternoon. We managed the underground OK and headed for the Rondvaart boats as soon as we got out at Central Station. I had done it twice before - once in 1992 and again in 1994 when we were visited by Don and Nancy Brennan.

( Don had worked for me as a District Officer in the old days...).

Anyway, we thoroughly enjoyed it again - it's a great view of the city from another perspective and a bit of history. Totally relaxing having someone else as skipper. 

In summer, it is very busy with 100's (1000's?) of small boats out and about - simply enjoying being "on the water". So much so that there is talk of introducing a one-way system of getting around the canal network.

From Wikipedia

Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, has more than one hundred kilometres of canals, about 90 islands and 1,500 bridges. The three main canals, Herengracht, Prinsengracht, and Keizersgracht, dug in the 17th century during the Dutch Golden Age, form concentric belts around the city, known as the Grachtengordel.

We walked about 20 kms on Friday and Saturday, including the walk along the Amstel to get back to Ben's Hotel. So many people and bikes!..... very different to sleepy Wijnjewoude.

We enjoyed the van Gogh Museum and will visit the Rijksmuseum next time. It was good to feel comfortable with being in the Big City - the first time we had just followed Ben around rather blindly. We now have our own "Public Transport" Cards and can hop on a bus, tram, train or Metro (Underground) all within a few minutes of the Hotel. During the week, there was a news story about the OV Cards (OV = Openbaar Vervoer = Public Transport). They cost less than 10 cents to produce and yet cost €7,50 to buy and then load up with the money to be spent on travel. People were complaining about how much profit they are making, simply on the cards.

Sunday....

The drive to Scheveningen is about 45 minutes, but we decided to allow plenty of time.....just as well we did. Scheveningen was a mess with roadworks and closed parking garages. We had to wait in line at one garage - one car out, one car in - but then how to find THE spot that the car came out of??! Luckily I spotted a car leaving and so we ducked into the space without having to drive around looking for it!

Scheveningen is a beachside "suburb" of Den Hague. We'd been there before during the summer - and it was "almost" as busy now, during the winter (at least in the restaurants, if not on the beach itself).

And then The Lion King....

We thoroughly enjoyed it. I couldn't get over the way they did the characters and props. I didn't understand all the language but I knew the story well enough to be able to follow it. Even so, I think I concentrated more on the "how" than the "what".

We dropped Ben off and headed back to Wijnjewoude by about 2300hrs.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.....

Luckily nothing out of the ordinary. A few extra kids during the school holidays, picking up clients, keeping everybody happy - routine is a wonderful thing, sometimes.

We did have a storm during the week and there was a particularly bad fire in a village where we used to pick up a number of kids.  With the strong winds and a shortage of water for fire-fighting, a barn was lost, including 110 cows!

Our second Syrian family haven't left yet - they are still making their new house fit to live in - cleaning, painting, wallpaper, curtains, furniture and so on. No such thing as "fixtures and fittings" over here!

The (adult) kids of our first Syrian family came to visit on Friday - Achmed has a "girlfriend" from their village (Ureterp).

I have forgotten their names already but the girls are twins and the boy is Haroun. They all go to "learn to speak Dutch" school in Drachten. The new kids were also very friendly and bright and cheerful. This family also came from Aleppo - but a different "type" of people (I think Kurdish got a mention, but I wouldn't swear to it). In any case, the two girls didn't have to wear the head coverings - and I dared to ask why not? "Different part of Aleppo" was the best I could get. I just told them how beautiful their hair is - and it was! 

We're still trying to get the smell out of the Eritrean's apartment - I dare not think how they are coping in their new house.

Lucas' new fad is doing jigsaw puzzles - good for the winter months!

Week 7 Off to Amsterdam

Week 7

Not much this week.......(written Thursday evening).
(because we are going to Amsterdam for the weekend - including Scheveningen for a musical: The Lion King).

on Monday we had this...at 0815.

and this....

and then, on the 15th we had the warmest 15th of February on record - 18 degrees in Maastricht and 14 in the Deep North (Wijnjewoude).

Ben came home during the week. He is still unpacking and trying to settle into a new routine. Doesn't appear to be any new schoolwork, but he still has some things to finish off. He is doing a bit of modelling work to earn some money!

He has booked a two-week Journalism Course at a University in Moscow! Booked the flight for March already. He seems very adept at getting around on his own. I recently learned something about Gorbachev setting up a newspaper with his Nobel Prize winnings. A journalist in Moscow doesn't sound like the best of professions......

From Hong Kong.....

sate flavoured Kit Kats with 8% alcohol - not very good, according to Ben (which is why it made it's way home to our place).

....off to Amsterdam!

Only One Day to Go

Week 6

Only One Day to Go

Of our 9 day "Cleansing Diet". No coffee (WHAT??). only 800 kcals per day and a few pills. Oh, and as much broccoli and cauliflower as you can eat. (but, there is only so much that you can eat).

Still managing a few walks in the cold. Zoey even got stuck in the ice...

Days are getting longer, at least.

Around the farm

A bit of a throw back to 20 years ago. Then, I found myself doing a lot of things that I had never done before; pouring concrete, building things, painting, organising and so on. All to get the new business up and running. Cost-wise, it might have been better to demolish the whole place and start again - but that's another story.

This week, our Eritreans left and we found that we had far more work to do than we expected. We've had to throw away 3 couches, rip out and replace two carpets, sand all the furniture and touch up the painting here and there. Luckily, a couple of our clients are fairly handy and enthusiastic about helping. I also had to unblock a drain in the bathroom. The bottom drawer of the cabinet was full of water and the kitchen cupboard doors were water damaged. This led me to seriously consider if they even had tap water back in Eritrea?
It's possible, I suppose.
My "trades" this week: plumber, electrician, carpet layer, cleaner, furniture remover, painter. (It all helped to keep busy so as not to think of food and coffee!).

Footnote: The Local Council are going to pay for some of the repairs. It was also important to pass it on so that they can consider if the family needs even more help.

Our second Syrian family will probably soon be moving to Gorredijk. 

I spotted Dad this week on the bicycle at 0800hrs with the two smallest kids on board, taking them to school - one on a rack at the front and the other on the normal rack at the back. This is not unusual here, although it is mostly the Mums who do it - with the shopping on board as well!

Gemeente Opsterland (Our Local Govt.).

A number of villages in Opsterland were first noted in a list from 1315. (the list looks like it was the basis for deciding to build a church). Wijnjeterp (part of Wijnjewoude) was then known as Weningawalde.

Opsterland was first noted in 1395 - as Upsateraland - which derived from  "sitting upon" - as in living "high" on the sand, above the water! 

The area today is known for its woodlands and forests; apparently, this was not the case 200 - 250 years ago. There are works here and there that have taken the ground back to how it was - grasslands and heath.

Where "our" refugees have ended up.

March 15 Elections

I just did the "Vote Indicator" for our coming elections. What an interesting process! 30 questions which can be noted as Agree, Disagree or Not Either? (I guess that means undecided or no opinion).

Things such as (from memory).....

"we should close the borders to Islamitic refugees"

"individual car ownership should not be taxed, just the kilometres driven"

"the retirement age should be returned to 65"

"small businesses (us) should be taxed less (yay) and rich people should be taxed more"

"kids of refugees (who have grown up here) should be allowed to stay"

"youth should have to do compulsory community service - army, police or "care""

"the tax deduction on housing loan interest should remain"

"people should be able to apply for jobs anonymously, to avoid discrimination based on the applicants' name"

Now, my very first election was in 1972 when I was caught up in the "It's Time" campaign. Interesting to see 45 years later that my "leanings" have not changed that much.

The Stemwijzer goes on to examine each of your questions/answers and details the views of the top 3 of the Parties who "agree" with you. On some questions one or more of the top 3 will hold different views. My top 3 were 75%, 64% and 64%.

To take my mind off the diet.....

I've also been scouring You Tube for boating stuff - surprising number of Aussie boaties over here.

I found a Blog from an American couple who have an old Dutch barge called Hoop Doet Leven or Hope Springs Eternal. They do most of their boating in France. The writing is very entertaining and informative - about French culture and other things.

I'll probably buy their book when my Boat Fund recovers.

If you're interested...

https://onabargeinfrance.com/

Alternative Routes to Limburg (from last week)

Another great find was a Documentary series about England's canal system. The 2nd in the series showed the Caen Hill Flight which we did in 2015 (horrors, wasn't it 2016?)

The Documentary...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhnTY-CYGhM

Our 2015 Trip (again) I had to include this because the documentary explained a lot more for me. Especially the small bit we did.....
http://narrowboatken.blogspot.nl/2015/09/narrow-boat-holiday-2015-once-again.html

Ahh, I finish this now with only half a day to go on the diet. (lost 4 kgs, by the way). Just have to try to live with not so much food for a while.....

Week 5 Close the Door

Week 5

Around the Farm

The Eritreans are moving this week - to Beetsterzwaag - the main town in our Local Council area. Parts of it are fairly "posh". There's a luxury hotel, a golf course (rare in these parts and very exclusive) and the home of Rutger Hauer. Even in new housing developments, they try to mix it up a bit so there are free-standing homes and housing commission homes all together, with the corresponding range in family incomes. So it is in Beetsterzwaag, with some older housing in between some fairly good looking (old) houses.

The Eritreans will be in a small 3 bedroom house which has a bicycle shed and a detached garage - a separate building at the rear of the houses, containing a garage for each address.

Bicycle shed

No sign or word of the father yet. Presumably still in Sweden?

"Close The Door" refers to me having to constantly tell the kids. Maybe they didn't have doors in Eritrea?

Some news snippets

One in three Netherlands' men have holes in their undies! We heard this on the radio; my first thought was "me too". 

This was also mentioned at Janny's Birthday gathering - everybody agreed that they too had holes. One can only wonder as to who did the research and why? (Perhaps the Underwear Manufacturer's Association).

In more important news....

from the BBC on 2 feb. re Dutch election

All votes in next month's Dutch election will be counted by hand to counter the threat of hacking, the government says.
It follows reports that software used to tally results at regional and national level may not be secure.
Intelligence agencies have warned the French, German and Dutch elections could be vulnerable to manipulation by outside actors, including Russia.
Russia has denied allegations it interfered in last year's US election.
The Netherlands will hold parliamentary elections on 15 March - the first in a crucial election year for countries at the heart of the EU.
Are Dutch voters really turning to populist Geert Wilders?
Will Trump-style revolt engulf Europe?
"No shadow of doubt can be permitted," said Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk.
"Now there are indications that Russians could be interested, for the following elections we must fall back on good old pen and paper," he added.
Broadcaster RTL had reported that electronic tallying software was distributed on CDs to regional counting centres where it was installed on old computers that were connected to the internet, which experts said was not secure.
Mr Plasterk said the new vote-counting procedure should not take longer than normal.
The anti-immigrant and anti-EU Freedom Party led by Geert Wilders is leading in the polls and is predicted to win more than 30 seats in the 150-seat parliament.
Last year, Mr Wilders was convicted of inciting discrimination after coercing supporters to chant positively in response to his anti-Moroccan statement.
Russia has been accused of providing backing to far-right movements in Europe.

Organised crime is on the increase in the "three northern provinces". (Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe). Of major concern is the practice of using illegal money to purchase real estate. Banks and real estate agents have been asked to be vigilant.

Grey Nomad vs Grey Plague?

I get a weekly Watersport Newsletter.

The latest included reference to the first of the years' Boat Shows (Dusseldorf). The author of the article said that he had spoken with "watersporters" from at least 10 countries.

Of particular interest to him was that many sailors are switching to motorboats - possibly because it suits their (advancing) age.

In speaking with dealers, he says that there are fewer sailboats being sold in the Netherlands - there is mainly only interest in boats longer than 40ft.

The author poses the question - "are the young leaving the sailing world and are we going to have a Grijze Plaag (grey plague) of motorboaters"? I guess that's our version of the Grey Nomads....

De afgelopen week mocht ik op de beurs in Düsseldorf doorbrengen, 9 dagen lang heb ik gesproken met veel watersporters uit minstens 10 verschillende landen.

Opvallend was het aantal zeilers wat wilde overstappen naar een motorboot. Soms vertelde men enigszins beschaamd dat men het zeilen wilde laten voor wat het is en dat een motorboot beter bij hun leeftijd paste.

Maar in gesprek met diverse dealers van zeilboten kwam steeds hetzelfde weer ter sprake: er worden vrijwel geen zeilboten meer verkocht in Nederland. Als er nog belangstelling is voor zeilboten dat is dan voor de grote boten vanaf 40 voet.

Uit onderzoek blijkt dat vorig jaar in Nederland slechts 60 nieuwe zeilboten verkocht zijn. Enkele jaren eerder was dat aantal nog 1200. Ook de gebruikte zeilboten vliegen niet als broodjes over de toonbank. Dat geeft te denken. Gaan onze jongeren de zeilwereld verlaten en worden we een grijze plaag van motorbootvaarders?

Friesland Tourism 2016

The total number for the first 3 Quarters of 2016 was 272,000

97% from within the EU
190,000 from Germany and 33,000 from Belgium
1% from America and 0.4% from Asia

Janny's Birthday

I made two cheesecakes to have with the clients....

lemon

cranberry

Our work experience lad liked it that much that I gave him a lesson - we needed another one for Friday evening.

Private Schools

So proud to see grandson Callum start at new school - all decked out in the school uniform! Another grandson, Alexander has been going to another Private school for a couple of years. Janny "gets it" that it is a big deal in Australia, but is always bemused by the very notion of "Private" Schools and uniforms..... that such a thing exists!? It made me think, not for the first time, about the education system here. Not that I know too much about it; nothing at all, in fact. Our own village, for example, has a "church" primary school and a "state" school, standing metres apart on the same block of land. They were once more "divided" than they are now. When I first came here, our village even had two "Village Fairs"; one for "them" and one for "the others". ie non-religious and religious, I guess. The Minister who performed our wedding ceremony told me that he imagined Australia had more "fence-sitters" who would show up at Baptisms, weddings and funerals, for example. In the Netherlands, he explained, people were either "for" or "against" (religion). He had spent time studying in South Africa and therefore had external influences. Now that I recall, I think there was some sort of "judgement" going on as to whether or not he would perform the ceremony!
There are international schools, of course. Ben's University is on the "religious" side of things - I don't have a clue how the funding is organised - just pleased that Ben gets Study Finance which doesn't have to be paid back - if he graduates.
There is also a "school" for boatmen's families - a sort of Boarding School. I really must find the documentaries again - somewhere on YouTube, no doubt.

I found a good explanation of the Netherlands Education System, here... (in English).

http://www.expatica.com/nl/education/Education-in-the-Netherlands_100816.html

It almost makes sense to me. Note the increasing emphasis on learning English from an early age (Ben was in a program that is "going to be evaluated" in 2019, to see if it should be expanded). I'm still not sure about "Private Schools" - there are many, but not with the characteristics that we normally associate with them. 

I found a Schippers School in Lemmer, Friesland - for kids from commercial boating families - and for circus kids.

http://www.schippersinternaathetkompas.nl/

More next week......

I found some good information on travelling (by boat) from Friesland to Limburg (Maastricht). To enjoy it fully, it might be best to restrict the days' travel to 4 hours, so it would be the best part of 2 weeks - and longer on the way back. Next week, I'll include the 4 alternative routes. Son Paul has always thought that a round trip would be best - maybe one of the alternatives provides that?