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!