Olympics here we come!!!

The last days in Belgium we had some more family and friends saying hallo and bye bye to us. Granny Mouse, Astrid and Giannini (Steven's friend) came over and while the ladies were chatting the boys played soccer in the garden and boring ipad games. We also had granma & granpa and, uncle Mart & aunt Wil come over the next day. They brought delicious salad and pasta and kiwi/lemon cake. mmmm!! Steven and I did not spend alot of time with them, because we had to pack our bags so we could go to Brussel on our last day in Belgium. We went to see the famous Manneken Pis, tjeeeeee what was the statue sssssmall. Only 61cm. We also went into the museum of Brussel and saw anexhibition Manneken Pis, the legend of him and all his costumes. Over the years he received a lot of traditional clothing (around 800) from countries and cultures which he from time to time does wear. I saw also traditional Xhosa costumes, gumboots and a Madiba-shirt from Nelson Mandela in the collection.  Also Elvis Presley and all kind of different colourful costumes were on display. Other than the Manneke Pis we also saw the many paintings and history about the how Brussel was ones a small little settlement on the Zelle and became a big city - the Capital of Belgium and the Capital of Europe with many important headquarters like the European Union (EU). We of course had a Belgium wafel with Belgium chocolate and my parents had a nice Belgium beer. Back home we were invited for a Braai, not just a braai,.....'' A BRAAI WITH A SWIMMING POOL!! ''
The last time we went swimming was in the indoor pool in Beijing so Steven en I were very happy. I also made friends, Maja (my age) & Monique and they were both born in Pretoria/ South Africa. We talked, swam, ate, played soccer, cycled and said goodbye. It was nice meeting you!!
The day we left for London we woke up very early, cleaned the house, washed the car, did the washing and mobbed the floors. We put our kreeft-on-the-move t-shirts on and took the bus - train and \euro rail to Great Britain.

Olympic Games....here we come!!!

Having a picnic@=

The crossing from the mainland to the UK was very interesting since we went by train under the sea. We went underground in France and came up on the surface in England. Within less than 3 hours we were in Londen. Uncle Lex picked us up and dropped us off at Rene and Kadri in Pimlico. There we had a delicious, healthy picnic in their communal garden. With strawberries, grapes, blueberries,chips, melon, crackers, nuts & rocky road/ chocolate. That was the best PICNIC!! We had to leave mama & papa behind, because it was time to go to Notting Hill to see aunt Mieke (joga teacher)!
The first morning we walked through the market to a cafe were we had french toast. Steven had berry pancake and Mieke had fruit salad. The first day in London was already very very busy:

problems with  the bicycles

1. We went to Mieke's joga class. It was so great. I felt very light and relaxed.
2. Hired bicycles so we could cycle the London streets
3. Went in a traditional Londen taxi 
4. Saw Buckingham Palace where the queen lives
5. Saw Prince William and Princess Kate in a car going into the Palace visiting their Grandmother
6. Got a ice-cream
7. and saw prime minister Cameron walking past
8. Cycled through parks and bridges,saw swanes,different kinds of people,the sun,   busy traffic & many squirrels
9. Said: Happy Birthdy to a cute 2 year old neighbour and played with him and his sister.



prime minister of England 

10. Had a nice get to gether in the Mews and watched the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games 2012 with all the friends and neighbours in the Mews in Notting Hill.

On Saturday we went to the Holland House in Alexandra Palace. A big Heineken House about 1 hour from our home. And yes, we were just 2 seconds to slow to get into the tube (underground), but in those 2 seconds Steven slipped in and the doors closed!!! We shouted and did all kinds of sign languages before he took off. We wanted to phone Steven, but there was no signal. Mieke and I took the next tube and Dad and mam and Lex stayed behind. Apearantly he took the first tube back because . . after waiting for 7 long minutes we saw him arriving safely with mama,papa & Lex.

People we met at Heineken House

papa en mama on TV  many times. They are in the left corner.

The Holland house was great. You could listen to music, play Olympic games, drink Heineken Beer of course and dance, go in a photo cabin and take Fun fotos and ate friet (frensh fries) and kroketten & meet other nice Dutchies. We saw on the big screen how The Netherlands earned their first medal in the relay swimming (silver). Later mam, dad & Mieke were in the audience of RTL4 Spelen, a Dutch talkshow about the Olympic Games- meanwhile we could see them on the big screen tv.
We went to bed very late!

THE FIRST OLYMPIC MATCH- '' Let the rains BEGIN!! ''
Our first match to see and cheer for the team was women hockey China- vs- Korea.
I had my Chinese t-shirt and jacket on and was one of the few supporters for the CHinese team. Nevertheless the Chinese girls won.

Chinese hockey team

The 2nd match was women hockey South Africa-vs-Argentina-. I also had my South African Shirt with me and song the South African national Anthem very loud. Unfortunately the girls did not play so well and Argentina won with a 7-1 score. Strange to see the Argentinian hockey girls (I was playing in the same shirt in Buenos Aires only in March this year), but I cheered louder for my South African team. I had to think about my own ockeyteam at Kronendal School and missed playing with them.
The whole day was crazy weather and we sat in the pooring rain one moment and dried up from the warm sun the next moment.
It was great to be there although I found it very disappointing that the South African hockey team disappeared straight after the game. Normally the teams make a small round past the stands to thank the audience and their supporters. We came all the way from South Africa (?!) to see them and they just left without saying goodbye to the fans.

Loes

VISITORS

We did not have time to go to Brussel, but we did have many guests/visitors who came to see us from Holland.

 After leaving Granny & Grandpa we had our first visitors Juunie , Pieter & Jean Pierre; you may know the names already since we met them in Beijing. Mom’s friend –Marga- came with her daughter Lena and a friend of Marga, Fred and his son Dax. We had 6 kids so Steven and I decided to have a Sport’s Day. A boy’s team against the girl’s team.  It was much fun! We did hockey, football, running, ping pong, badminton, Rummikub & jumping rope. Dax taught me a few tricks on the jumping rope. The parents talked and we played different kinds of sport. After dinner Jean Pierre, Juunie & Pieter left. The rest slept over. We left the next morning for Antwerp where we went to the old city centre. Walking, listening to street musicians, people singing and dancing and acting. We visited the Peter Paul Rubens House. Rubens was born in 1577 and died at an age of 63 in 1640. In Rubens big house we saw his artwork, bedrooms and the lovely green garden.  Mom & I where talking about the Antoon Van Dyck painting when a museum guard who worked there was explaining  us about the Antoon Van Dyck painting and told us that 2 weeks ago it was discovered that the portrait of Van Dyck was not painted by Rubens but by Antoon Van Dyck himself. He painted his own portrait at the age of 16!!! It is still officially a secret until they have confirmed this in the art lab.

Afterwards we took a look at the cafe The Pilgrom, where my parents went in the 80-ties when they were studying in Breda. It was very dark with a few candles. Then we went to a cafe near the Cathedral where we had mussels for dinner. It was a very special restaurant because hundreds of eyes were watching (over) us........ it  where............ church statues!!! The name of the restaurant is “The 11 commandments” Het Elfde Gebod. There were 5 portions mussels left and that was just enough for us all. On the first day without rain they left and we had school, went to a WIFI area to send mails and do our homework and we watched a movie and ate my dessert which I named “Loes’ fruit forest”.

On Friday morning Dad left to go to Holland for meetings and he had to pick up some things. Mom, Steven and I had our whole day planned. We first had school, played Rummikub, had lunch, walked for an hour to a small village where we had apple pie with hot chocolate. We went shopping and all bought something!!!

We walked ... NO.....RAN back home. It was raining again (or still) very badly. We were just in time home to hear the Storm. Watched a movie. Slept.

Saturday no change in the weather and the whole day was darkish and cold until the evening when the Rosiers from Amsterdam surprised us. Just before they arrived we saw the sun and we could all sit and play in the garden and have a wonderful picnic. We played with Bas, Willem and Stijn soccer & hockey and had dinner across the street. After our delicious apple pie with mocca ice-cream we were tired and went to bed. The next morning they went back to Amsterdam and we left too to go to Holland to meet the Vonkjes -  Hans Vonk, Annelies Vonk, Tieme, Josephine & Susan. We went with them to Woudrichem, and old town on the Maas with old houses and a ferry across the river. We ate a ” Kroket” ( very traditional Dutch course) and walked around and saw Annelies’ and Hans’ first house that they lived in. The neighbours were still the same neighbours- who were fisherman (Paling – eel) and many many years ago had a friend who moved to Cape Town to fish and who stayed in South Africa.  We finished the sightseeing tour at the ICE-CREAM SHOP and they had... STROOPWAFEL ICE-CREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We all had much fun together.

So, with all the cold and rainy days this week, we did have a very very nice week full of surprises and fun.!!!!!!!

(next week London)

Loes

The Video on the right is the Vonkjes and the Kreefts eating an ice-cream in a very cute village. 














The video on the left is in Antwerp where we saw a very old wagon

Discovery- I feel more South African than Dutch

Since Moscow I looked forward to get closer to Belgium and Holland so I can eat the things I know again, speak the language I know, but most of all to shop in the shops I know. I could not wait to eat ‘drop’ and ‘stroopwafels’ (typical Dutch sweets and cookies) and last Monday I was very excited that we were off to Antwerp in Belgium. We went with a very very fast train – The Talys from Paris to Brussel and got off in Antwerp.

But, now that we are in Belgium and close to Holland again I realize that South Africa is my country, my home. “I am proud to be a South African.”  There are some people who 

asked me which country I liked to live, where I feel more at home. At first I did not know which country was my home country. I was born and raised in South Africa, but in Holland I have family, my mom & dad are from Holland. I have a South African and a Dutch passport & I like to go to Holland and see my grannies and grandpa and have delicious products like kroket, drop, stroopwafels, cycling in the rain (ha-ha). But in South Africa I feel more at home, because of my friends and school. I also like the country with the weather, the different people and exciting environment. To go to the beach or have a picnic in Kirstenbosch, hike or cycle or do nothing and relax in the sun. I miss it and I am so glad that I have my phone and skype to stay in contact with my friends. This week was also great since most of my friends had winter holiday and had plenty of time to skype and Whats App!

Yum, Dutch chocolate milk, with biscuit
on a rainy day

While we are travelling and seeing all the different countries I also realise how special South Africa really is. In a lot of countries there is something I do not like. Cape Town becomes a paradise where you can drink the water from the tap, have sunny and most of the time blue sky, can talk English and can speak with people, have all kinds of food, have nature and birds. I always thought these things are everywhere, but now I see that often there is something missing.

RAINING!!!!!!!!!!!!

My shopping !!!!

Ellen (the birthday girl) + MOM

After a few days in Belgium where we slept in a beautiful house with a garden we were looking forward to cycle in the forest and do shopping on our own. Sadly we had rain rain rain rain and more rain and did not go anywhere. Luckily we got picked up by Granny & Granpa who came from Holland to try their new car. We stayed with them for 4 nights. The first night I ate a kroket ( traditional Yummy Dutch...) The second day we went very early to surprise my mom’s friend Ellen Voets who was turning 50. It was a big surprise since she did not know of our visit. Ellen’s mom and dad brought us to her house. We first waited in the car, but we were quickly called that Ellen was getting cake so we went in the house. We heard her coming through the backdoor so we silently tip-toed to the nearest room, which was Ellen’s bedroom.  She was very shocked to find us there!! Happy Birthday!!!

While Shopping went into a shop full
of buttons

The other days we stayed at my grandparents house because it kept raining. They spoiled us of course and finally Granny took me Shopping YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY.

Unfortunately the city of Eindhoven was very wet, but I did get my Orange dress which I had seen some months earlier in Berlin. I had been saving for it and hoped it was on sale due to the bad weather, but it was still 15 Euro. Surprise!@@ When I got to the counter to pay for it my granny & grandpa had already bought it for me!!!!!THANKYOU GRANNY & GRANDPA!!!

Another typical Dutch thing is the Fair. I do not know the word for it, but it is an amusement park on wheels. It stays only a week in a city and then it moves to somewhere else. You can take crazy rides and scare yourself with weird attractions. It is very expensive in Euros and the rides take only a few minutes. So more fun to look at than to do!

Today dad and Steven will fetch us and bring us back to Antwerp. I seriously have to stop eating the delicious, yummy, Dutch sweets, cookies & cakes because I feel small pimples coming up. Is this part of my growing up or is it because I love SWEETS.

Attraction park

 Hopefully the rain will stop and we will have some nice days to go and see Brussel or Antwerp.

Granny & grandpa

Is Steven going to throw up?

DANKJE JE WEL

LOESJE 

Bonjour PARIS!!!!

After coming from a short train ride from Berlin and loosing STEVEN’s bag. We arrived in Paris. We stayed at family friends; Chantal (the mother), Gerard (the father, but he was ill so he left to go to hospital) and the 3 sons (Antoin, Xavier and Nicolas). They were very hospitable to offer us a place in their family. The first night we heard a church bell. It continued the whole night long (Lionel Richie). The next morning we went outside, but we didn’t hear the clock anymore....yaay...but when we went inside again it was there again. Eventually we found the clock.... it was not the clock from the church but mom's alarm. She had forgotten to turn it off.

The next day we bought a transport (bus, metro & train) pass so we could go everywhere in and around Paris. Of course we went straight to the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel tower is 320 m high and was named after an engineer named Gustave Eiffel. It was built in 1889. It is made from metal. We did not go up, because there was a line of 5 hours and that was only for getting the tickets. We went to see my mother's old company on Boulevard Malesherbes and saw the Arc de Triomph, the Champs Elysee and lots of other old and very big buildings. Of course we had school in the next morning and Xavier told us about the French Revolution. Afterwards we went to see the Palace of Versailles where Louis XIV-XV and XVI with Marie Antoinette lived and the Bastille where they celebrate Independance Day every year on the 14th July. We visited the rich, amazing, huge mansion/castle/Palace. It was in the morning very busy. Mom went to get the tickets (she waited in line for an hour) Steven went in the 320 meters line to go through to the entrance which went very slow and I was the messenger in between &  Dad..... was sitting at a cafe drinking a cup of coffee at a WIFI area overlooking us working so hard as a team. We saved 2 hrs working  together. After seeing the beautiful paintings and gold, reading & hearing about the construction of the castle & who lived in it etc. We went in the gardens and had a picnic with a Baguette. 

We also saw oma muis (grandma mouse) who came to Paris for a wedding! We call her oma muis because when she comes to visit us every year she catches the mice who live in our atic. When we hear the mice in October we know that Oma comes soon. 

Oma muis was staying at Uncle Jozef ( a friend of my granpa). He told me many stories about my granpa Flip. We also met Aunt Trees & Toos. We had lunch altogether, a nice salad and at the end we had mini magnum ice-creams. After chatting and eating we walked to the park where Steven and I met some friends and we played soccer together. Afterwards we left to ELizabeth & Hubert (family friends). We had a delicious supper...................... for dessert homemade kiwi ice-cream.

After waking up very late we went to the Notre Dame and the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa, Venus of Milo and Rembrandt paintings. Afterwards we picked up Lex from London from the train station. We were waiting for my uncle for an hour. We arrived home with a buffet ready. It was raining outside. So it was extra cosy. There were all kinds of toasts and vegetables which you dipped in sauces. Also we tried foie gras (goose liver - sorry Meggy - the vegetarian) which we all ate first and afterwards they only told us what it was.

On Saturday we went to a french wedding of the family friends. We were a few minutes late, because we lost the way. When we arrived at the church it was raining cats and dogs, but the bride looked bright and beautiful. 

In the Versailles palace theyre were a pair of heels
made out of cooking pans.

Next Week Belgium ( We are leaving Paris  on Monday )

Merci et au revoir

Loes

A WEEK WITH MANY DIFFERENT EMOTIONS

This past week we :

 -saw our 'neighbours', the English team loose and leave
 -went to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the well known concentration camp from World War II
 -went to Schindler’s Factory Museum & saw the movie they made about him.
 -went to Wieliczka Salt Mines and got a little scared going down under ground 135 meters          
 -went to Berlin - Germany and saw how east and west used to be divided by a long Wall. 
  -went to a cafe and saw how the German team lost from Italy in the Euro 2012.  

Coach  of English soccer team
living next door to us!

Krakow old city center

We left Kiev (Ukraine) and went to Krakow (Poland) by train. Poland is also hosting the Euro 2012 Soccer games, but we did not go to see more soccer. We wanted to visit Auschwitz, a very well known concentration camp from the WWII. On arrival in Krakow we had 2 big surprises. First we found out that we booked an apartment on the 3rd floor without elevator (for our 4 big, heavy suitcases and 4 hand bags).!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After breaking our backs and moaning we saw we had a great apartment overlooking the market square. Then we had a 2nd surprise; we found out that we were sleeping next to the hotel where the English soccer team was sleeping. Soon after we arrived Steven already saw the coach and Ashley Cole and had them sign their signature on his shirt. Unfortunately they left after 2 days because they lost and had to go home. Our apartment was very central in the old center of Krakow. We were 5 meters away from the main square with all the shops and restaurants and lots of terraces around it.

Baracks with 'beds' in Auschwitz II Birkenau 

We were very busy in Poland, because there were many things to see and do, but the main reason we were here was to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau. 

Auschwitz I - the prisoners blocks

Since Russia we were/ are learning about WWI, WWII & the Cold War and have seen War museums in Russia and Ukraine and read many stories about the wars, but I found it difficult to imagine exactly how it was to live in a country in which there is a war. We went first to Auschwitz-Birkenau where Polish people, Gypsies and 1.300.000 Jewish people were killed by the Nazis. We went with a small tour bus and there was one lady in the bus who wanted to go out. We all thought the lady left because it was too much for her, she looked very worried and restless and was afraid of all the bad impressions she was going to see. The guide in Auschwitz was very good and explained very well what happened in the Concentration Camp during 1940 -1945. There were 2 parts of Auschwitz. The first part we saw all the houses were people lived while they had to work for the Nazis. You could see what was in the houses, how they slept very close to each other, how they went to the toilet with many people sharing just a few toilets and that the Jews who had to clean the toilets with a bucket was actually the luckiest, because they could always go to the toilet. We saw  the 'beds' in 3 layers. The tour guide asked what level would you like to sleep? All the Jews wanted to sleep on the top because if you sleep on the bottom or middle you will catch whatever the person on the top will drop!!!!. They where only allowed to go to the toilet 2 times a day for 2 minutes with so many at same time. If you did not listen you were punished and had to stand in a small cell for the whole night without bread or water. Or there was the 'suffocation cell' where 40 people had to breath from one small hole in the wall. No oxygen enough for everyone and often they would not be alive the next morning. 
Then we visited the 2 part of Auschwitz, a huge camp where all the prisoners were brought in with a cattle train and where they were selected (work or die) and most of the time were murdered in the gas-chambers and afterwards burned in the crematorium.

the only small breathing hole for
a room with 40 people 

Left over ruins of one of the
 gas chambers/crematorium

thousands of shoes of people who died in the camp

a family who may have stayed or died in Auschwitz.
I found the picture at the end of the train track!

the train track in which many Jews came to
the concentration camp to be murdered

I still cannot believe what happened. So many people where killed and in such a terrible way. The next day we went to Schindler’s factory which was in Krakow and there we could see more pictures which told us how the Jewish people where first put into a special area - Ghetto. Later, when Hitler said all Jews had to be killed in his Third Reich, they were sent to the concentration camps. It was a very creative museum which made it easier for Steven en me to understand what had happened. From our whole journey so far that was the best museum. For every room there were different floor tiles from the WW2. ...... Afterwards we also saw the movie ; Schindler’s List about a group of Jewish workers who were saved by Oskar Schindler who said to the Nazis that the people needed to work in his factory. It was a very sad movie.

The last day in Krakow we went to the Salt mine 135 metres underground. We went down many many many many many many..............STAIRS!!!!!!!!!!! were we saw salt statues. We learnt all about how people found the salt and how they dug the salt ...etc. There was also a church built underground with all the statues made by salt. We 'tasted' the walls and it was very salty. We luckily did not go up with the stairs but with a lift for 7 people that went very fast.

We went to Germany by train, learning German words. Mom & Dad can speak German, so it will be good to be able again to read and talk to everyone. We were sleeping in Hotel Bogota on the Kurfurstendam. It was not just a hotel noooo!!!. It was the hotel where my dad always sleeps when he was in Germany at the tourism fair. He goes already to the same hotel for 20 years and  there are still the same people working there. We got a great apartment in the hotel with old furniture and an old radio which still worked. We had German rolls and nice cheese and ham for breakfast. The waitress also spoke Spanish & German. Mom & Dad spoke German to her and Steven & I spoke Spanish. We went to a museum The Story of Berlin about the history of Berlin. First we visited the Nuclear bunkers where they slept if there was a Nuclear bomb attack during the Cold War.

On Thursday we saw the soccer game Italy against Germany. 1:2 for Italy. Germany is out. Everyone in Berlin was sad, but the Italians were celebrating with lots of noise in the streets.

Germany and Berlin is very well known for their big pies and cakes, but my mother could not find the old cafes any more with the terraces and the nice cakes. Now there are Star bucks and Mc Donalds and not many old cafes.

left over of the Berlin wall 

In the weekend our cousins came from Holland to Germany to see us. We went with them to the old crossing Checkpoint Charlie and the famous museum where you can see how people tried to escape and cross from East to West Berlin.  We think it was the worst museum we ever saw this year. You could not breath, it was too hot and to much to read. We left the museum and went to see the memorial at the old Berlin Wall and then we went with our cousins in the sightseeing bus to see the rest of Berlin.

(Next week Paris)       

                                                                                    

Danke schon und aufwiedersehen,

Loes