If there are any questions contact me: loesjelindiwe@gmail.com
Monday, January 7, 2013
Monday, December 31, 2012
" Jingle bell, Jingle bell, Jingle all the way......home
I am here in Europe, south of Spain, Andalucia, Malaga...
Antequera, zooming in on our street, our apartment, our bedroom. Listening
to music! Typing on a ‘my’ wooden desk, typing .........my..................
last blog for this year about our Christmas in Antequera. |
| Christmas tree |
Jingle
bell, Jingle bell
Jingle
all the way....home
Oh
what fun it is to fly
To
my own bed all the way, Yaay !!!
The
last week and days we wanted to make sure we enjoyed every minute of it so it
was packed with fun things and saying goodbye to everyone and everything.
We
saw the huge chocolate ‘Belen’ (Christmas scene with manger) in Rute with Jesus,
the cow, donkeys and the whole village made of chocolate.  |
| yummy !! all made of chocolate |
The
Belen was displayed in a chocolate factory which also had a store full of
chocolate and sweets. We bought some nice chocolate for our Christmas dinner on
Noche Buena (Christmas Eve).
Here
in Spain the evening before Christmas is the most important and all the family
will join to have a special dinner.
We
were invited to go for dinner with our neighbours from upstairs Pepe, Marie
Paz, Pachi and Javier.
Mary Paz prepared a very nice dinner with special starters from Antequera and Andalucia and we made the dessert...well the desserts. Mom and I made 5 different dishes. We made Meringues with fruits and icecream from South Africa, apple pie and boterkoek (butter cake) from Holland and from Spain we bought special almond cake made by the nuns of the convent of Antequera and of course the chocolates which we bought the other day in Rute. I made small flags of the different countries and stuck them on the different desserts. It was a Fiesta!!!!
 |
| PRESENTS |
 |
| Christmas eve dinner while watching president of Spain talk about crisis |
The
evening went past very fast and at 24.00 hours we had to run to be in time for
the church which had a special Christmas service with a choir and music.
 |
| dad's present from me |
After
a few hours of sleep it was time for breakfast and ...PRESENTS!!!!!! This year
we only made creative presents and recycled materials, like we did with our
Christmas tree. I made special earrings from recycled t-bags for dad (not
because he has to wear them, but he
always wants to give them away as souvenir). This whole year I had made a
travel diary in which I collected small tokens of every country we went to. I
made it secretly so mum would not see. The travel diary I gave as a present to
mum who was very emotional when she saw it. I gave to Steven a cleaning kit for
his dirty electronics. I got a super cool, colourful head phone and Christmas
stockings and from Steven a blue diary for 2013!!!!!!!!!
In
the afternoon we were invited to join a traditional Spanish lunch with the
family of Rocio and Miguel in the campo/country side. After the Paella we
danced the flamenco and listened to her dad playing the Spanish guitar. 
The next day I did not feel so well since I had a stomach
ache because of all the good food and most of all the delicious Lindt chocolate
which I eat out of the Christmas tree. I had not been ill the whole trip and I
felt much better when mom put me on the couch and made me tea with honey and an
apple.  |
| Watching the olives filtered |
The last last last visit we did was the Hojiblanca
olive-oil factory just outside Antequera. This time of the year
(November-december-january) the many olives in Andalucia need to be plucked and
either put into tins to eat for tapas or squeezed so the olive oil comes out
and is put into bottles. Pepe and Mary Paz have their own olive (aceitunas)
plantation and they bring their olives to the cooperation which takes care of
the olive oil production. It was very interesting to see how the many trucks
came in full of olives. It went into a large sift and from there the leaves
where separated from the olives and then the olives where mauled till the oil
came out. It went from tank to tank to make sure the water was taken out and
finally the oil was ready to go into bottles. The best olive oil is called
Extra Virgin. I always thought there were green olives and black olives, but
actually there are only green olives and when you leave these too long on the
tree they turn black.
 |
| Gourmet ting |
3 days to go and starting to clean the apartment, packing, but most of all throwing a lot away(Christmas
tree, dad’s yoghurt collection, my temporarily art displays. In the evening we
had a bye bye gourmet with our Dutch friends Esther, Mireille and David. 
On Saturday it was the last time to see Rocio, Miguel,
Marga, Candela, Jose, Marga, Thamy and Edna. On our way home we past a bar and
started chatting to a friendly customer who all of a sudden started singing to
us the flamenco.
After finishing packing on Sunday we visited one of the
33 churches in Antequera for a beautiful concert with a very large choir and
very professional musicians. It was a
perfect last day in Antequera.
We are now “ready” to leave our home in Antequera and
go back to our real home in South Africa. At 13:00 in the air with Swiss Airlines
to Switzerland and then transit for 6 hours and then at 22:00 in the air to
South Africa.
The last Spanish tradition we will do is to eat 12
grapes at midnight the 1st of January 2013. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!
1 YEAR, 366 DAYS (2012 was a leap year) 52 WEEKS, 24 HOURS where
has the time been?????????? It is hard to imagine that we have been away for so
long.
 |
| Buying hot chest nuts |
It is really difficult to stop writing and not letting you know
our experiences in Cape Town so I will try to keep on writing every month , but this is not a promise. Please do keep on checking and if I
am too busy with school to write I will of course let you all know on my blog!
Please email me if you still want me to keep on writing next year:
loesjelindiwe@gmail.com
South African Afrikaans: Dankie
Argentina: gracias
Singapore: Thank You
Australia: Thank You
Russian: спасибо
Ukraine: Спасибі
Poland: dziękuję
Germany: Danke
France: merci
Belgium: Dankje Wel or Merci
London: Thank You
Greece: σας ευχαριστώ
Italy: grazie
Monaco: Merci
Spain: Gracias
Anyway, thank you so,so,so,so,so,so,so,so,so MUCH for following my blog and reading,
commenting and being part of our travels! Some of my followers said that I
should print my blog out and make it into a book! Ill think about it!!!!
Loes Lindiwe Kreeftenberg and the rest of the Kreefts
Monday, December 24, 2012
La ultima ciudad a visitar en Espana
 |
| Kreefts with Patchi and Javier |
This week was the last school week before Christmas/winter break here in our little town of Antequera and every day the streets became more crowded with people. From 17.00 o’clock (after their siesta) they walk the streets to meet friends, take a drink in a bar, have a tapa, buy some gifts in the shops or just look at the many Nativity scenes (Belen in Spain). When walking on the streets there are chestnuts which they heat up and you can buy a packet for 1 euro! It is very delicious when it is cold outside! Christmas is a big family tradition in Antequera, everyone who live and work somewhere else return to their hometown and meet each other and celebrate together. There was a big party going on in the “Casino” which is papas “working cafe” and where we celebrated mum’s 50th. We popped in and met many people who we knew and danced!! We also met Javier- a friend of a family who we met here in our apartment building. Javier also came home for Christmas, but normally he works in .... SOUTH AFRICA!! He is working in Cape Town for some years making the Ave train! (the very very modern and fast train here in Spain). We also saw Patchi again, his sister, who works in Malaga and also speaks English very well. It was great to speak English and not only Spanish especially when the music is very loud and you can’t think so well!
 |
| Steven with his coach |
 |
| party in Casino |
This
week also Steven’s soccer training ended and his team organised a goodbye party
for him. SOOOOOOOooooooo nice of them. He got a photograph of his team with all
their signatures and Facebook names on the back and he also got a shirt of his Antequera
football club as a souvenir. What a nice farewell for him!!
La ultima ciudad a visitar en Espana
What does this heading mean??????? " La ultima ciudad a visitar en Espana" well if you want me to translate it, it means " the last city to visit in Spain". It was Sevilla that we still wanted to see, since all our friends told us that Sevilla was a “must - to- see”. It is in the south of Spain, 2 hours with the bus from Antequera. Sevilla is a big city, but has a very nice old center. It has a population of 700.000 people and like a lot of cities in Spain it was built by the Romans, ruled by the Muslim and taken over by the Catholic Kings.We visited Sevilla for 2 days, because the city is very cozy with lots to see and to do and is very romantic as well. We thought it was a good idea to go just before Christmas with all the lights in the streets and in all the squares. We also had a perfect weekend because of the good weather with 21 C it was sunny and warm. When we arrived in Sevilla the first person we saw was a “feliz” Santa Claus. . |
| Santa Claus |
We visited Sevilla for 2 days, because the city is very cozy with lots to see and to do and is very romantic as well. We thought it was a good idea to go just before Christmas with all the lights in the streets and in all the squares. We also had a perfect weekend because of the good weather with 21 C it was sunny and warm. When we arrived in Sevilla the first person we saw was a “feliz” Santa Claus. se the city is very cozy with lots to see and to do and is very romantic as well. We thought it was a good idea to go just before Christmas with all the lights in the streets and in all the squares. We also had a perfect weekend because of the good weather with 21 C it was sunny and warm. When we arrived in Sevilla the first person we saw was a “feliz” Santa Claus. We checked into the 2 star hotel that looked and felt like a 4 star hotel, because of the comfortable beds, the shower was great, room was big enough and breakfast was so delicious. You could also take bikes for free which we did and cycled through the old town, in and out the small streets, under the Triana Bridge and cycled along the Guadalquivir River (I cannot remember how to pronounce the name, but I like the sound of it). We past the Gold Tower, The strange Mushroom (modern building in the center), the huge Cathedral of Seville (which was a mosque before). My most favourite, fascinating place in Sevilla was “Plaza de Espana”. When walking through a beautiful, romantic, green, clean park you walk straight into a giant sort of palace. It is only built in 1929 for a sort of exposition, but what makes it attractive are the shiny tiles in yellow, light blue, white, green on colourful benches, lamp poles, bridges along a small long canal. It was magnificent sitting on one of the benches and seeing the different colours everywhere with the reflection of the sun
fter
sunset when the Christmas lights were glowing the centre of Sevilla is also became
very, very busy too. Everyone was in the shops buying Christmas presents and on
the streets in every corner there was something to see ;singing, hip hop, a big
Christmas tree, market, the government house that was lighted up and had
pictures projected on its building with beautiful loud music. The most busy
where the many tapas bars of course and I also know now where the word Tapas
comes from.....it means ‘covers’ in Spanish, because in the past people covered
their drinks with their little snack plates. Anyway it was so cosy and
fantastic to see Sevilla. I am so glad we have been there!
( Next week : blog that leads us to the end)
Louisa
Merry
Christmas from the Kreefts !!
Monday, December 17, 2012
Thinking about how lucky I actually am!!!
Since it is almost time to go home I thought a lot about our past 12
months of travels, about Argentina, Singapore, Australia, China, Russia, Ukraine,
Poland, Germany, France, Belgium, England, Greece, Italy, Monaco, Spain and
home... South Africa
We all agreed it was a sensational journey!
Papa, Mama and Steven each wrote a few sentences how they thought
the 365 days have been!
Loes : 365 days gone away from home, leaving my best friends, home,
school and instead travelling to 15
countries with my brother, mum, dad with different types of transport, train,
airplane, car, boat, bus, underground, by foot, bicycle, rickshaw, cable car, has left many many impressions.
Last year when we planned to go I was not so excited to leave and actually I was confused. I was scared to leave my environment. Perhaps it would
not be the same when I come back. What about my friends and I was so curious to start my highschool. I really, really can’t describe how excited
and happy I am now that we have done this trip and have seen, learned new
things. The home schooling was a lot of fun with mum teaching me the school’s
curriculum and seeing everything 3D afterwards. In Greece seeing the Acropolis, the 3
different types of columns I will never forget. (Ionic, Doric, Corinthic) . I
saw the place where Democracy was invented. In Italy I could imagine how
important the Roman Empire had been, in Russia I understood what the Cold War was
all about and in Poland I could imagine how terrible the 2nd WWII had
been after visiting Auschwitz. Seeing so many places and museums I would not
have been able to learn all that out of a book.
The most difficult thing this year
was sticking together with the four of us for 24 hours. Sharing a bedroom with
Steven seeing each other every minute of the day and not having my own private time
and space. At home it is so much different having our own plans only seeing each other for meals
and on Sundays when we relax! Not every second of the day!!!!!!!!
My favorite countries out of all
the countries we have visited this year was certainly China. When I talk about China I mean Beijing and Shanghai. It does have bad, disgusting things like the smog, people spitting everywhere, people eating fury, slimy cooked scorpions, worms and spiders, but my favorite experience was the language “nihou”, xie xie”, “ nihou ma” etc. ( when I am older I want/will learn Chinese and I know it is very difficult, but I at least would like to be able to make a conversation in Chinese). I also “love” the food-culture in China, the different kinds of noodles and different kinds of food. No Mac Donalds food or KFC but “hot pot” and sitting in the food-court with different kinds of people trying to make a conversation. I also love China, because I feel free there to do whatever I want. If I feel like singing or randomly dance they will like it and will not say “what the hell is she doing”. Everybody in China is in fashion – at least in Beijing. So I went along and followed everyone wearing high skirts and pony tails that also looked nice as a bracelet, spectacles without glasses in them etc. The people are also very, very friendly and they will help you in any way. Most of the Chinese like to communicate with you even to try their new English words they learned randomly saying “good morning” and then running away laughing. Ooh and the first week when we were in Beijng, there were 3 students who tapped our shoulder and quickly said “ hello” and ran away quickly!! There is a lot of history in Beijing too, with the temple of Heaven, Great Wall of China, Summer Palace, Llama temple etc. China was also cheap, but not cheap enough. I thought it would have been cheaper with more little shops everywhere as you sometimes see in a China Town, but it wasn't like that at all. Most of the people in Beijing want to shop for ‘European Style’ goods. There is lots more to say about China; weather, city, traffic etc. but I have to stop now otherwise mom, Steven and dad won’t have a turn............. Any way I love China, because it is so different than anywhere else !
Mum:
O dear...we had so many extra ordinary experiences....what was
the best one ???? Difficult to
choose!!!!!
I enjoyed being teacher, I learned so many
things myself again
I
loved telling people how special South Africa isI
cherish the many personal chats and adventures we had with the four of us
But when I think back of the past 12 months I mainly remember the
many people we met.
Most of them showed surprise and admiration towards our adventure
followed by the remark that unfortunately they themselves would never be able to do something similar.
So Loes, what I above all like to share with your many blog readers
is our experience of how relatively easy it was to turn our dream into
reality!
1st and without doubt, the most challenging part is The Decision itself.
Automatically we are all looking for security and comfort zones, so
the step to leave your work, school, house and friends behind to spend a whole
year into the unknown is quite big?
However, after we had discussed the pros and cons the ‘idea’ became
‘manageable’ and we agreed with the family that we would Go Ahead.
After that the easy part starts....................... realizing the
dream.
2nd in importance is the Preparation time.
We took a whole year to make sure that we became replaceable at
work, to work out schooling for the kids and organize house and budget.
Challenges are always hard to deal with and become even more
difficult to solve when you are away, so preparing to leave needs time.
3rd advice is do NOT prepare your trip in detail.
We read this tip ourselves in an article of another family who traveled with their kids and their tip turned out to be a golden one.
We knew the destinations – Loes, Steven, Jaap and I all had 1
theme/country – but other than the flight to our first destination we did not
arrange anything in advance. We organised the arrangements for the next
destination only a few weeks before.
This way you remain flexible and do not get stressed (not this year
at least).
So, ones you are ‘on-the-move’ the 4th tip is to structure
your daily activities.
Definitely important with children is to organize the day with
regular timetables for homeschooling, going out to see and or do things and to
include private time. It gives them something to look forward to and enlarges
the enjoyment.
So Yes, many more do-s and don’t-s can be shared, but the ones
above are the most valuable. Overall it is not a matter of work, schooling or
budget. Everyone can do it as long as you really want it.
Wishing that many more families will be encouraged to add such a
wonderful experience to their lives and that of their children (already we
heard of 1 family who will DO IT in 2014), I will mention just a few
‘souvenirs’ of what you will bring home after your trip;
Strong family bonding, unlimited memories, lots of new energy, new
‘tools’, different ideas, more understanding, appreciation, respect and many
more values in live that one tends to take for granted.
...and personally for us....we realize ones again that we come back
to the best place on earth!
Steven: Playing soccer
in different countries.
Argentina
When I was looking for a soccer club
in San Telmo we found one under a high way.
How they played!!
We learned that as soon as you get the ball you just had to
control it and then pass. Sometimes you can keep the ball maybe a few seconds longer, but then pass.
I did have lots of fun there. Met lots of friends. I also met a boy the same
age as me and he spoke English. We still have lots of communication through Facebook.
China
When we came in China I could not
find any soccer club, because they are all out of the city and we did not have a
car. So I practiced in the compound where we lived. There I met a friend to play with and his father spoke
excellent English and the boy spoke a few words. So we became very good friends
and played together at the same club.
How they played!!
They played very selfish and kept
the ball to themselves. I think they are not used to share and play together, because
in China the rule is to have one child per family only. So no one has brothers or sisters. They grow up being the only child with their mothers and fathers.
Spain.
In Barcelona I went with my Dad to a
FC Barcelona match were I saw Messi 10 meters away from me taking a corner.
Their way of soccer is very typical Argentinean and half Spanish.
We found my soccer club on the
first day we arrived in Antequera. When I asked if it was possible to join the soccerclub, he said you may begin now if you want!!
How they play!!
They have lots of skills and the practice is very technical and professional. It is hard to play here because nobody speaks
English (only a few swear words from television). But this feeling of playing soccer I will never get in South
Africa, because here in Antequera I go alone to soccer training by foot. Nobody is in the
street, because I start during Siesta-time and when I come back from soccer I see those
Christmas lights everywhere and the whole street is full of life. Everyone is happy and when I
pass the old age home all the grandmas sitting around and are telling stories together.
So, everywhere there is something special and every country has its specific ways of doing things..... that’s what I think about when I think back of this past year.
Home schooling.
Actually I expected to be on holiday the whole year, but now I look back it was quite busy every day. No time to sit on the couch and do nothing. In every place we lived we had to first unpack and organize my room with my sister. Then we needed to explore the city, find supermarkets and banks and look for transport and sim cards. Then we would start school in the mornings and in the afternoons we would see the things we learned in 3D going to Museums, attractions and other things.
Our normal schedule for
a day is planned like this: Breakfast together then we have school from 09.00 to 13.30 and then my dad
comes back from a local internet-café. Then we have lunch and after that we all go together to see a
museum/market or so.
 |
| Our world map |
Jaap: Here are some of my experiences of the trip. So
there I am as a young father thinking what to write.....
Coming from the Sexy Sixties - after the hippie
period- we had the Music Top 40.
I just
discovered the Top 40 December 2012 on the internet and, so I will come with my
Kreeft- on- the-move Family Top 40 (as
far I am allowed to go by the publisher)
Let’s start with the
first 10 of the TOP 40 from 1972 (40
years ago when I was same age as the kids)
1. The Rolling Stones
– Angie 6. John Lennon , Yoko Ono & Harlem
Community Choir (Happy Xmas (Was is over)
2.Gibert O’Sillivan –
Alone Again 7. Golden Earing – Radar Love
3 David Cassidy –Rock Me baby 8. Sammy Davis Jr – The Cany Man can
4. Mouth &
Macneal - How Do you Do 9.
The Moody Blues – Nights in
White Satin
5. Vickey Leandros –
Apres Toi 10. Johhny Nash – I can see clearly Now
MY OWN THE KREEFT OF THE MOVE TOP 40 (upto 15 due to space on blog) :
What
were the un expected high lights :
1)
With 4 of us 6 - 10hours
together
2)
With kids walking / by bus in
the different cities to their sports and the morning Run with Loes
3)
Unexpected friends from
Deventer (Oost NL), Tourism Study NWIT, and SA in Tinogasta, Melbourne, Singapore,
Beijing
4)
For us unknown cities : Chile
Cito, Tinogasta, Kharkiv, Osea Island Patras, Chiavari & Antequera
5)
China & Ukraine
What
was different than expected (disappointed)
6) Buenos Aires , golden Memories changed in City without hope run by many Grasping government officials
(Bit similar in Athens)
7) FEDEX & RipCurl (bunch of losers after a lot of pressure did
their job)
8) Customs in Australia (worse of all)
9)
We saw 500.000 chopped
trees per day moving from Siberia towards China
10)
Empathic behaviour in South
of Spain, complaining while so many possibilities around
What did I learn (or have been
reminded of again):
11)
Kids are flexible and
overall they were great together
12)
Germaine is a Super Woman
13)
No office desk needed, can
work on nice terraces and cafe’s
14)
World changes much faster
than I thought (despite travelling and reading a lot , big surprise)
15)
That I like my job
This is a summary of the countries
we have been to and what we thought was nice for each:
| Type | country of mom | country of Loes | country of Steven | country of Jaap |
| best ice- cream | Italy/Rome | Argentina/ Buenos Aires | Argentina/Buenos Aires | Argentina/Buenos Aires |
| cleanest place | Anteqeura | Singapore | Singapore | Monaco |
| dirtiest place | China/ Beijing | China/Beijing | China/Beijing | Argentina/Buenos Aires |
| favorite country | Spain | South Africa | England/London | China |
| favorite apartment | China / Beijing | Argentina (Recolleta) | Argentina (Recolleta) | China/ Beijing |
| favorite food | Pasta/Italy | pizza/ Italy | Pollo Snitzel/Argentina | Noodles/China |
| the most friendly country | Spain | China | China | China |
| the most unfriendly country | Russia | Russia | Russia | Russia |
| where we wanted to go back | Ukraine | China | England/London | China |
| where we don't want to go back | Russia | Russia | Russia | Argentina/Buenos Aires |
| value for money | Spain | South Africa | China | China |
| cheapest country | Spain | Spain | Ukraine | Ukraine |
| country of history | Italy | Poland | Greece | China |
Next week : Sevilla
Mucho Gracias
Louisa, Esteban, Gaap, Carmen
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