Shake that thing miss Annabella

After realising that 2010 has come and gone, and I have not updated our blog, I thought it was time to publish the highlights (and lowlights) - if not for anyone else, for us for future reference...

The first of our wine trips with the gays - We went to the Aars region in Germany (great Riesling and white wine) at the end of winter and did quite a bit of hiking through sludgy snow. Regrettably the cafe at the top of the mountains was coincidentally closed on the day we were trekking which didn't keep us in good spirits, but we stocked up on the wine while we were there...



May 2010 - with Tom's father quite sick, and Bie working quite a lot with little time off, I decided to go with Maarten to Croatia (Dubrovnik - staying in Cavtat). One of the most beautiful countries - dirt cheap, not yet in the EU, and slightly ruined. Am not entirely sure why, but I have the feeling that the war may have something to do with it. Maarten and I rented scooters for a day and just went where the wind blew us. We ended up crossing the border into Montenegro (back into the Eurozone), but were more impressed with the landscape Croatia had to offer.

Suzi and Glenn visited us in April 2010, so we took them on a bike ride through Antwerp, then a boat trip through Brugge as newly engaged sweethearts. Am bummed to have missed the wedding last weekend, but was quite happy to get to spend time with them while they were here...
Once again, in April 2010, I ran 5km, this time recruiting a couple of colleagues and a dear friend, Sabien. This time breaking the half hour barrier (well, 29:29 is only just, but good enough!!)

I gave up a free ticket to Rock Werchter to see the flash of lightning known as the Tour De France fly through Kontich. The ambiance was fantastic despite only seeing the cyclists for a second...

My parents came over again for a visit (seeing more of Europe than I ever will) but between all of their travelling, they decided to visit us. Mum went home early, and dad stayed on, so we decided to do a road trip through Germany and up to Denmark. This first picture was on the afsluitsdijk in northern Holland - the largest Dyke in the world (and the bloody windiest!). Which one is dad??


Once we arrived in Rige (on Jutland/Jylland - the mainland part of Denmark) and marvelled at its beauty (the oldest city in Denmark), we considered legoland until discovering it wasn't opening until the following weekend (I should have researched this a little better...). Then Dad decided to call the family farm he and mum worked on in 1971, and to his amazement, they remembered him and invited us up! We had a fantastic time there, and they even found this old photo of him with a few of the kids of the other workers!

After leaving Farso in north Jutland, we drove south, and briefly saw the Island of Funen (Fyn) before crossing the most enormous (not to mention expensive!) bridge across to Zealand (Sjaelland). We met up with Dad's cousin Bente at her beach house in Kalundborg (being november in Scandinavia, I wasn't really up for a dip), and met her new boyfriend. I have never seen such an in-love 70 year old!


We then drove on to Copenhagen and it reminded me quite a lot of most European cities, but the Danes were fantastic and friendly people! Funnily enough, we went on a bus tour, and the most famous icon of Denmark (the little mermaid) was on holiday in china. So, after missing Lego land, this was a bit of a bum! I did learn a little about the hippy part of Copenhagen (Kristiana) which was eye-opening...


The inevitable trip to tram-3 (as they put it in Flemish) was planned for 5 dec 2010, but I decided to have a combined party with Philippe to celebrate in november. Kym and Benj even decided to haul their 30-31 year old bodies over the channel to see us once again!

More highlights to come...!

No no, no no no no, no no no no, no no there's no limit

The weekend is not quite over, but here are some shots of our long awaited trip up to visit the Vellinga-Chan mixed-race household in Oegstgeest (Leiden), Holland. We had recently discovered that their eldest son (Kaemon) had a fascination with the word tractor, so didn't have to think too hard for a gift he would like. However, considering that everything is tractor (including his baby brother, Nelson), I am not sure if it was the tractor or the gift which made him happy...!
We were treated to some delicious indian (made by the hostess) and then took a drive to Noordwijk (the beach - much nicer than the belgian variety!). Since Nelson is only a month old, he had the special treatment of coming with us (while Kaemon was safely tucked in bed). Here is a nice shot of Kelly and Nelson while waiting to meet up with Douwe.

Douwe with Kaemon (and tractors)

Saturday lunch brought us to Den Haag to enjoy some very authentic Dim Sum (equipped with very kitch interior and tacky karaoke - the only way to eat your Dim Sum). VERY tasty!

The Efteling

Today was our outing to De Efteling (I imagine Holland's equivalent of Disneyland) and I have to say that it was quite lovely.


For once, I wasnt overly pissed at the amount of people pushing prams (considering it is a park more for kids than adults this certainally would have been a bit trollish on my behalf). We started the day getting lost in Holland (missing the exit and doing a 60km detour... grrrr) but once we arrived it was as though we were in some sort of surreal wonderland. Instead of disney characters polluting the scenery, it had more a gnome/mushroom sort of vibe (suiting the forrest setting). De efteling is actually a sprookjes park (based on fairy-tale characters) so there was a lot of imagination involved with all of the attractions - we were there with Tom, Nita and Natalie and even though Natalie is only 17 months, she too could get involved with some of the activities. Of course we left her with her daddy when we wanted to ride the roller coasters... Note to self - waiting for one hour for a 1 minute ride is not as appealing as it was in highschool...






Have incuded a few happy snaps from the internet (we stupidly forgot our camera) - one I found particularly cute was the picture of the fat man - or if you look closer - a glorified rubbish bin. He periodically says 'papier hier' (I dont think a translation is necessary) and when you feed him, he munches it up then farts. All sorts of these were placed thoughout the park and kids were actually looking for garbage just to hear the strange noises they made!

Better sign off - Liverpool and Chelsea are playing and although I really dont have that much interest, I fear that the rest of my evening depends on the outcome of this game! (In case you're not sure - if chelsea wins, I certainally won't)

The Birthday Girls

Since I haven't updated the blog for a while, thought I should mention how life has been since the 26th milestone was reached... Firstly, I had a wonderful reception at work! Everyone gave me kisses (yes, we are a touchy bunch here....) and I received many lovely gifts - quite a meevaller (in dutch - cant quite translate it) and lots of emails too. I went into the day with a feeling of melancholy, but was so nicely surprised - and the day finished with a lovely meal at a biological produce restaurant that I lurve in Antwerp. Since then however... it hasnt stopped raining, and the weather has FINALLY reached minus temperatures (I know that must sound crazy to be actually requesting sub zero temps, but I really want snow!).



But, the highlight of my week would have be have been this weekend. After sooooo many years, I finally caught up with Kelly Chan again. For those of you who dont know, we grew up, playing the violin together in Yeppoon (our teacher was a lovely nun), and then she moved to brisbane, and not long after I moved to Brisbane, we teamed up again with 2 other girls and played in a string quartet (she actually lived 3 houses away from where I lived...) Now, she lives in Nijmegen (border of Holland and Germany - 1,5 - 2 hours away from Antwerp) and we have re-found eachother again! Such a refreshing surprise! So, she had a girly night (with 8 girls) for her birthday, and we ate some delicious Thai food, watched a really cheesy girly movie, gave ourselves face masks, cleared our pores with those sticky things that look like we had nose jobs and did our nails in french manicures while stuffing ourselves stupid on cake. mmmmm. And then when we went to bed, Kelly and I chatted from 1am until 4am! I truly felt like I was in highschool again! I can't remember the last time I lay in bed chatting (to a girl) for 3hours! So, I am now on a bit of a high, because we could compare our notes on living in the 'benelux' for the past few years, and also compare our dutch accents!

All I need is a peace of this mind, then I can celebrate

So this weekend we went to Maastricht, which is in Holland. Maastricht is actually attached to Germany and Belgium so they have got kind of a weird dialect. What we did there? Nothing. We arrived on Saturday, had a really good hotel. Kind of classy if not that there was a easter international youth football tournament. So our hotel was invaded by Brits. I said to Ingrid it serves them well. It used to be the Dutch who used to invade every holiday spot in Europe, it nice to see them getting it back.

Anyway the rest of the day we shopped till we dropped. Bought tons of new stuff: which we actually needed after 2 years of no-shopping. Yes people, I have found the perfect non-shopping girlfriend. But we enjoyed ourselves. On Sunday we did...nothing. We spent all day judst walking around in Maastricht and lazing in the hotel bed. After a season filled with soccer it nice NOT to do anything on Sundays.

So now we're back to work and as you can telll, not really working. I promise to tell you something work-wise some other time which is great, you will not believe it but have to be carefull for now. I am again waiting for Barcelona to play. Tonight is semi-final against AC Milan. Am a bit scared though. AC Milan I rate higher than any other team till now. But I am hoping for a Spanish final, we'll see hey. And off course on Sunday my first test: the 10 miles of antwerp. I am hoping for a time of 1 hour 40 min. That's what I am aiming at but didn't have the perfect preparation. I consider this race as a practice for the 20km of Brussels, so I do not need to do that good. I am just telling this myself because I didn't train enough. Did another 10km on Monday and didn't feel bad but I am nervous hwo I am going to do on Sunday. Anyway, will let you know what happened.

Happy Good Friday

Well, all of you lucky buggers in Aus land didnt need to work today, but here in Belgium (a very Catholic country mind you), Good Friday doesnt mean anything. Doesnt matter that Jesus was pinned to the cross on this day - the most important day here is Monday which makes a little bit of sense I s'pose - sort of a celebration that Jesus rose again. (Forgive me if my Sunday-school tuition is not paying off right now!). Nevertheless, we still only have Monday off, so this weekend, we are hopping on a train (not for the whole journey - I hope to sit for most of it! - Bad joke, I know) to Maastricht (in Holland). We are just veging in a 4 star hotel on the river and shopping. Hoping to spend a minimum for €500 (perhaps each...) on as many clothes as possible! Yippee!!

Have attached a typical photo of Tash and myself... just to show that nothing has changed. While we were trying to pose for a photo, we somehow tripped over ourselves and ended up branding our bums! Klutzes 'til the end!

Rebecca Loos...

Well, by my title, you either know who I am writing about, or you don't...With Australia being a country which totally thrives on tabloid journalism, you will have had to have lived under a rock for the past few years if you hadn't heard this name. The reason I felt compelled to write something about her, is that she has recently popped up again here in Belgium.

Not being so worldly, I didn't actually realise that she was from Holland (I had just assumed she was English, and didn't click that her surname was pronounced the way Dutch people pronounce 'oo'). The reason she has just popped up again, is that she is one of the temptresses on the newest season of Holland/Belgium Temptation Island. Newly double D cupped, and upset that nobody takes her seriously anymore (??!!)she is proving quite the kitten on the island. But, this isn't what I found amusing.

I have also recently discovered (actually, today), that loos translates to 'something not quite right'. For example - a 'loos alarm' is an alarm which is caused when something is not quite right. So the fact that her name is Rebecca 'something not quite right' amuses me just a little! Yes, I am probably 3 years behind everyone who actually speaks Dutch, but I thought I would mention it that I actually understood my first little pun at Dutch humour!

Everybody's gotto learn sometime

Well, today is our last day at work before we go on our ski vacation, so I thought I would post an old one of snowboarding last year. We have learnt to snowboard in Holland in a giant indoor slope thingy! As you can see, I probably have spent more time on my bum than on the board, but it is a lot of fun. We took Emme as well when she came to visit, and the little bugger was a pro within 4 hours!

Have heard some of the temperatures for next week in Switzerland... - somewhere around -30°C. So if you dont hear from me for a while, I am probably frozen somewhere and waiting for defrost...