We have a place of our own!!

Hello dear friends,
I just wanted to write to let people know that we now have a flat- a place of our own! We have started renting this flat a week and half ago and at the moment we are decorating it- putting in a new floor and painting it so we have not moved in yet but will be when it is done. However right now I am in England for a bit of a rest- I have not been well, the stress of all the things to do for the flat and in addition to the stresses of still living with my brother-in-law's family was all too much for me and I was not coping so had to come and stay with my parents for a rest and to get some strength back.
When we have sorted the flat out and it looks livable I will post some photos.
Lots of love,
Ruth

Skating- "Schaatsen''!

Here are some photos of our skating excursion on Sunday! I'm proud to say that I didn't fall over and it was a really great experience to skate on the river with all those people- it was a wonderful atmosphere and so invigorating!

Christmas 2008

Well, we had a lovely very relaxing break in England and it was especially nice to spend Christmas this year with my parents and Grandparents. Here is a few photos from Christmas day. But also we saw John and Theresa, my brother and sister-law and their lovely girls Zoe and Eve - that was a few days after Christmas. It was great to see them and especially to spend time with my nieces. So here are few photos of them too.

And now we are back in Holland a few days now and I am back with my course in dutch and Rik just started a new job. Wessel and Lyne returned today from Canada where they were visiting Lyne's family for Christmas so we are back to a full house. We came back on Wednesday here last week and it was bliss to have some time on our own for a bit. Anyway it will hopefully not be too long before we move to a place of our own - hooray!! We found a flat we wanted before we Christmas and applied for it and got it. The only thing we needed was a residence permit for the area the flat is in- in some areas of Rotterdam you need one to prove that you have an income but also not too high an income- this is to try to increase the mixture of people in the area as it is considered a kind of 'deprived' area but not according to English standards - it is quite a lot better compared to where we living before in inner city Nottingham. So we are waiting for that permit from the council which can take about three weeks. We applied for it before Christmas so hopefully we should get it in a couple of weeks! Then we can start doing some decorating of the flat and move in!! So that is really big news as this means we can really start to settle a bit in Holland.

Before Christmas it was really getting very hard for me living here, my mental health was not good and what with the uncertainty of Rik's job we were actually contemplating moving back to England where I had more support around me. However we decided just before Christmas that we well I would give it a try living here for about a year and then we would reassess the situation. Also just before Christmas Rik was also offered another temp job but until the summer this time and alot nearer to where we are going to live so he has taken the job and so we feel things are bit coming together and that moving out of this house is very probable now.

Also just before Christmas I started my dutch course. It is called a civic integration course so it is not just about learning the language but about how to do everyday things such as going to open a bank account, going to register or change things with the council, how to get health insurance. Some things I already know how to do but many things I don't so it is quite useful. In my class there is 3 Indonesian ladies, 2 Turkish and 1 from Aruba - so it is an interesting mix- I have a coffee in the break with one of the Indonesian ladies and the Turkish lady and we have a nice chat- in dutch!

Some other interesting things that people won't be so familiar with in the UK us that in Holland when it is so cold like now the rivers and lakes ice up quite considerably and then people go skating- it is quite a site- on one lake last week we saw so many people of all ages having fun skating and with a stall at the side serving drinks and food- it was quite a party! I then realised how much fun people have in Holland with their leisure activities - being outdoors alot it seems a very healthy and happy lifestyle! Tomorrow Rik and I are going to give the skating a try - quite exciting! Rik can skate well so it is me who will be doing the trying- I hope I don't fall over, but think it will be fun! I have to go and buy some skates though first. I will take some pictures and post them not of me fallen over though!

Anyway this is all for now.

Sinterklaas Day

At the week-end we had the sinterklaas celebration - 'Sinterklaas Feest' with Rik's family. Actually it was rather like our Christmas with opening presents however each family does it a bit differently. What happens usually is that the names of all family members are put in a hat and then a name is picked by each person and then you buy a present for that person but also you must write a poem as well for that person and the poem is written as if from Sinterklaas. We did it a bit differently for our family as it was my first time and we just bought presents for everyone and did a poem if we wanted to however Rik wrote a poem for me which was great and I will wrote it here so you can see the kind of thing people write- you will see from the poem that Rik doesn't like Santa at all!

" Sinterklaas that's me,

heard you have been talking about me!

You find my birthday quite confusing,

and also a little amusing,

all these things people do in honour of me...

Yes, I'm quite popular around her you see!

I have to warn you, one guy imitates me,

he really thinks he is the bees knees!

I tell you now, he's all fake,

as bad and sickly as St Stephen's church cake.

You know I'm talking about Santa Claus.

beware of him, don't let him get close!

You've been looking for a house,

yourself and your lovely spouse.

Iheard you were really shocked,

when the door of one flat was unlocked,

to see a bathroom so small,

that the shower on the wall,

was right above the toilet seat,
my goodness, that isn't very neat!

I hope you find a nice place soon,

I know you will be over the moon!

To give the place a nice atmosphere,

I got you a little present here.

To remember you are a bright light

as this gift, to light at night!"

Yes we really did see a bathroom that small in one of the flats we were viewing!

Here are some pictures above from the day we had together and some other random ones about the place. Then after this post I will shut up about sinterklaas as I'm sure you've had enough of me rambling on about it!

Here is a random selection of photos I also took at the week-end. This first one is a view of the skyline of Rottterdam - it is taken overlooking the lake in the big park near to us, the second one is near to our house- along all of the streets round us are little canals and bridges- the third picture is the canal just at the back of our garden. The other pictures are of streets near here, as you can see some of the cycle lanes are as big as the road! The area we live in now has got some of the oldest buildings in Rotterdam- most of the buildings in Rotterdam were bombed in the war so alot of them are modern but the area we live in was saved from the bombing. Some of the modern buildings as you can see in the picture at the top are very high and some of them are flats- I can't imagine living in one of those very tall buildings but I suppose you must have a good view! The dutch are said to be very good at architecture so there are some very original modern buildings.

Well it has been very cold here in Holland - I think it gets a bit colder here in Holland with more ice and snow. But it is fine because the house we are staying in is so warm, but you have to wrap up really warm when you are out on your bike - your hands especially get very cold!

I took a few photos of things at the week-end. Here is us with our bikes and me in action on the bike!

Thank-you Theresa, John, Mum and Sophie for those replies! It is so nice to be in touch like this and know that people are thinking of us at this time!
I'm sorry the post was so down, as I reread it afterwards I thought I didn't have many good things to say!
However in reply to your questions Theresa I will say a bit how things are in Holland. As I said I love to cycle everywhere that is probably the thing I like most as it is so relaxing and easy and gives me lots of freedom to get around. There are quite a few parks to walk in, where we live at the moment there is a huge one with a big lake and woods just five minutes walk away so that is really nice. People don't really walk if they want to get somewhere though- they tend to cycle as it is quicker so in some places the pavements is really narrow and the bike path is very wide!
The shops are similar to here however some things are different such as in the department stores they always have a bakery where you can buy lovely bread and a chocolaterie. There two very good shops that I shop in a lot since I have been here and that is the V&D which is a department store where you can buy absolutely anything and then the Hema which is a cheaper shop selling nearly everything at a really good price. The clothes are really nice here- lots of style but with comfort and practicality too. I have just bought a lovely warm coat for the winter and I need it now too as it snowed all of yesterday- has it snowed in England? I think it gets colder here in winter so I am glad to have a warm coat especially on the bike!
At the moment in Holland there is build up to Sinterklaas day which is on the 5th of Dec. Scintillas comes from St Nicholas who was a bishop from Turkey who helped poor children. That is as much as I know about the history. He arrives every year at this time (end Nov) on a boat and travels round the country delivering presents with his helper called black Pete who is a funny character, a bit mischievous. Before Sinterklaas day which is when Sinterklaas brings presents for the children there is a build up to him coming like the children make special little cookies made with spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and these on Sinterklaas day are thrown into the room by black Pete where the family are sitting. At the week-end when we were cycling through town we could smell the spices from the cooking of the cookies.
Up until Sinterklaas comes on some days the children can put their shoes out by the front door with a carrot in for the horse and in the night sinterklaas will come and put a little present in. They seem to do this on some days before the actual sinterklaas day which I suppose is because he has actually arrived in the town already. The other things that go on is that you can see lots of black Pete's about the place singing and playing instruments and dancing like in town on Saturday i saw a group of them. You also see children dressed up as sinterklaas and black Pete like my nephews dress up a lot as them and it provides a lot of entertainment for both adults and children!
I don't know yet exactly what happens on the day so I will write again when i know. I find it all very new and strange but nice too! It seems too early to be doing all of it but then Sinterklaas has nothing to do with Christmas here- that is really a separate celebration.

Anyway I will stop here as have a few jobs to do,
lots of love,
Ruth