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?