A couple of weeks in the Netherlands

Great to be back in the Netherlands for a while! One of the good things of living abroad for a while is that you grow to appreciate your home country more. What a delight to walk around Delft with the gorgeous historical architecture, narrow canals, little alleyways and cosy cafes, or see the very very green, vast Friesian country side with flocks of sheep, swans, wind mills and lots of water in between. The first few days back we spend in Spannum with Tjes, Hans’ mum. After a big reception on the airport Schiphol on Sunday with all family and friends and a lovely afternoon in Amsterdam, we enjoy the rest and peace of the Friesian countryside, as well as being spoilt to death by Tjes. At night we can choose what we want to eat for dinner and of course select some typical Dutch dishes we couldn’t prepare in Australia. After a couple of days the three of us head for Delft, where we meet my parents, just flown back in from Malta. Together with them we go ice skating in the Uithof, an ice skating rink in Den Haag. Back on skates after many years, we struggle a little bit, but get back in the swing of it quite quickly. I’ve never been a very good skater but I enjoy it lots! Reminded me of when we went ice skating in Perth with Mary and Vinc and Mark and Marc and Sarah and Britta and more…. Also Tjes and Karel show of their ice skating skills. Luckily the skating rink closes after 45 minutes, which is quite enough ice skating for us for a first time back on skates. Pffft! Meanwhile Marjan, Bas and Isa have arrived and after a cup of hot chocolate the whole Hanse and Wösten family drive back to Delft for dinner in gezellig eetcafé De Ruif in Delft. Also our Delft hostess and good friend Joly joins us as part of our extended family.

The next day we go visit the Dijkstra family in Haarlem. When we left for Australia 5 years ago Jasper still was single, now 5 years later Jasper is the ultimate family man, married with fabulous Marlies and with 3 cute little ‘ondeugende’ kids. Over coffee we catch up on what’s happening in the fab Dijkstra house, and with Dynamic Holland, Edelweiss and Batzinger. In the evening we meet my parents Karel and Truus and go for Chinese food. Hans had really been looking forward for the ‘Dutch’ chinese restaurant for a large portion of bami.

When we go to a shop in the centre of Delft on Friday morning we run into a lot of people unexpectedly. That’s how much of a ‘dorp’ [village] Delft is. First we see Ilona, she’s followed by Suus, then Sas and later Koet. After more than an hour of chatting on the street we are frozen to our feet, and we finally head for Anniek and Hendriks place where Anniek is waiting with hot coffee. Their house, an old canal house has been converted to a very hip and comfortable home! Great! Duurt even, maar dan heb je ook wat! We zijn erg onder de indruk/we’re very impressed!

In the evening we go see Jan (old study mate and Fugro colleague of Hans) and Monique & kids in Scheveningen, who’ve also invited Martijn and Mischa. Jan’s mum has prepared a fabulous goulash, professionally heated up and complimented with salad by Monique. Heerlijk. (Bedankt mama De Jong!)The guys later head for the pub to catch up with some more study mates and colleagues.

Saturday we drop by Tjola’s place and admire their new home, also fabulous. Coffee turns into dinner while Mats entertains us with his knight costumes and helmets. Later Jolanda and Tjaard lend us their bicycles to ride to Spoor and Suus place for more coffee and catching up. And again a new house, big and magnificent, with a cosy and warm fire place! Excellent in this cold winter climate. It is hard to imagine that it is probably 35+ degrees in Perth at the moment…

On Sunday we’ve organised drinks in the Bebop. Just like old times, even the bartender Peet still recognises us and the whole old Delft crew shows up, as well as some other old friends from outside Delft!!! Some things never change!

Another few days in the little ‘resort of peace and quiet’ in Spannum with Tjes, with a visit to Harlingen to see Abe en Henrieke. With Abe we catch up on old times, his trip to Perth 3 years ago and our round trip together in the South Wets with broken cars and broken backs… Later Henrieke joins us, not top fit these couple of months, but actually radiating…Gefeliciteerd hoor!!! And again we admire a new home, this one with the best view ever, the beautiful old tallships in Harlingen harbour right in front of the house. Wow!

On Wednesday oom [uncle] Hans Hanse had organised a little family do on the farm for his nephew Hans Hanse and me. Oma Hanse and most aunts and uncles dropped by. First a lovely meal and then lots of laughter, beer and wine and a visit to the calves and cows in the barn later before we had to say good bye to the Hanse family. Thanks Hans & Annemarie for organising this!

The next afternoon Hans spend in the Leidschendam office to catch up with the Fugro crowd. My Delft girlfriends had organised a girls night out, with a brilliant dinner first and our favourite band Doggy Bag performing in one of the Delft pubs later.

The second Friday back in Holland we finally get a change to sleep in a bit, jetlag finally beaten? For lunch we meet Ellen, my girlfriend and former neighbour from way way way back. When I was baby she was leaning over the edge of the crib to greet me. The winter after we left for Perth she spend a winter in Edelweiss house and ran into our friend Menno. Now they live together in Baarn and expect a little ‘Noah’ [or Noahess] in June! In the café we meet with Menno and Ellen we order some coffee and except for a brief uninterested ’thank you’ completely ignore the waitress. The waitress however is pretty persistent in trying to catch our attention… She isn’t the actual waitress but my longtime high school girlfriend I haven’t seen or spoken in many many years. When I finally look up and recognise her my jaw drops and it takes me three fits of laughter before I could finally give her a hug! What a great surprise, except for the fact that stoute Menno had managed to catch this surprise, including the jawdropping, on film. We had a great afternoon with of course not enough time to catch up on everything, but luckily we would meet all three of them again a couple of weeks later in Baarn.

On Friday evening we left Delft with Joly, my brother Lars and a car overflowing with luggage to start our 2 week ski trip to Austria and Switzerland.