Abuelo and Abuela

As you know, Abuelo and Abuela ( Opa & Oma Muts) visited us in Antequera being there for  mum's birthday and staying with us for a week. The first few days the weather was good, could have been better, but we could walked outside without feeling any raindrops or feeling very cold! Let's just say that the weather was good enough to eat ice-cream, but too cold to wear your shorts!

Oma and mama eating Churrios

far away you can see the flamingos

We went with Oma and Opa Muts to............. wait .... let me first translate Opa & Oma Muts for you. Opa & Oma Muts means " Grandpa & Grandma Hat " We named them like that because Oma Hat always wears a hat when she comes to South Africa! Steven and I decided to call her/them just like that Hat a long time ago. Just like our other granny who we name: Oma Muis. Granny Mouse because she used to catch mice on our attic!.. (ok! now let's go on).......

Oma and I with our cup cakes

Oma and Opa Muts posing 

During the week after the birthday we did many things with Oma and Opa Muts; we went to a fruit-vegetable and clothes market. I thought it was a great market with lots to taste like delicious oranges etc!! The only thing they could have changed was the order of the stalls. If we wanted to go to another row of stalls we had to go back around and go through the other stalls which we already saw. After walking through the busy market buying the fresh good looking fruit, we headed off going to have a cappuccino which ended up with having... yummy, traditional oily, circled CHURRIOS (do you still remember what they are, we have had it a few weeks ago. Anyway it was delicious again!)

Alhambra wall carvings and tiles

On Wednesday we were supposed to go to Granada (a city in Andalusia  and go to the Alhambra. This is an Arabic castle which is very well know and many tourist visit this when they are in Andalusia  Everyone was looking forward to go at 10:00 and at 9:45 dad said he had a little problem, he did not have the tickets for the Alhambra. That was not a little problem, more a BIG problem, because the Alhambra is always very busy and you have to buy the tickets in advance. The tour was cancelled, but instead Granny and I did a lot. We baked cup cakes, made Christmas cards and went shopping in the little Local boutiques and Chinese shops! At the end of the day we also had time to go to Fuente de Piedra, a place not far from Antequera where you can see the flamingo's in a beautiful nature reserve. We were just in time to see the last group of flamingo's leave for Africa! We could see a pink/orange group of flamingo's very blurry, because it was so far away!
The next day we had reserved the tickets and went in our hired car to Granada. 1,5 hour in the car, but worth it! The Alhambra was fantastic, wonderful, because of its beautiful rooms with hand made wall and ceilings which the Arab kings had made for them! I also loved the clean green gardens in between the palace rooms with different color flowers and plants all cut in shapes or animals! The fort (Alcazaba) in front of the castles was also magnificent. A huge castle with many corridors and rooms all empty and my favorite part was the "mirador" = " the viewpoint". We saw the view of the whole city of Granada with all the white houses and red/brown roofs. If you look much further you could see the snow on the mountains (Sierra Nevada)!! We didn't see the high gardens of Alhambra, because it was too much for grandpa to walk.

Thanks to the lovely sun, it was a great, moving, smiling, magnificent day!!



The last afternoon for oma and opa Muts to be in Antequera I had booked a nice tapas restaurant for 6 people. When it was time to go to this restaurant,...I did not know the way back to the restaurant, because I went with a friend and I was chatting with her and did not pay attention. I lost the way! stupid of me!! ( as dad always says: " you learn everyday"). Anyway we had found another nice tapas restaurant where we could have lunch! We had to rush a little, because we lost some time looking for my original restaurant, but we were in time at Malaga airport and had to say good-bye to them.! Thanks Opa and Oma for staying with us.

(next week = missing my friends!)

Loes - Louisa Lindiwe Kreeftenberg

!!!!!!! " LA SOPRESA / SUPRISE" !!!!!!

Breakfast in bed

mum's BFF  - Best Friends Forever

On the 15th of November it was mum's 50th birthday. During the week Steven, Jaap and I were preparing Mum 50 party.  We were waiting for the last weather forecast, because this week was not to be expected to be the sunniest week. At the end it was not too bad. On Tuesday Steven went alone by bus and train to pick up Opa & Oma Muts (grand ma & pa) from the airport of Malaga. They arrived with airbeds and many presents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We checked the hotel and restaurant and the bar for the evening with drinks and tapas. On Thursday Ellen & Marga

(mum's BFF = Best Friends Forever), Ernie, Oma Muis en Lex arrived in the morning in Antequera and settled in their hotel.

guided tour around Antequera

We gave Mum breakfast in bed and she could watch for 30 minutes her favorite Dutch program (DWDD). At  11:00 we had presents for her (even though she said that she really did not want presents and only wanted us to be good and not misbehave) and coffee.

We were all sooooooo excited to know if our big birthday surprise that we had organized worked or if mum found out something was going to happen!!!! 

mum holding a speech

Hanging out with friends of Antequera

with local friends!!!

At 13.30 we walked with 4 of  us and  Opa & Oma to the restaurant to have lunch and our friends were already installed and had the wine ready!!! When we arrived the friends were sitting there and mum was completely surprised. Mum held a speech made for the 6 of us not knowing we were with more, but it was beautiful and very well prepared. Thank you mom! After lunch we had a guided tour through ancient Antequera with Mireille, who is living in Antequera for more than 6 years and works for the tourism board. We visited the castle and after that we went to the soccer field to see Steven playing soccer and me playing tennis. Germaine skipped her Pilates of course to be with her BFFs. 

The day went fast and at 20:30 we had our party at the Casino, the bar next door to our apartment where we are regulars. We had our European friends and our Antequera friends all together and with around 30 people Germaine said she had a dream Birthday party with a lot of drinks and tapas of course. 

Friday everybody had to recover, certainly the birthday girl! :). The (hard core/doorzetters) Ernie, Lex, Opa Piet, Oma Mieke and Jaap continued in the evening with drinking and partying. Because of his nominations Opa Piet was chosen as " Sir Pierre " that evening. 

Oma muis upside down in a tree

Next day we had another surprise. We went to the beautiful city, Ronda. We were guided by Jose, a colleague and friend of uncle Lex who works with him in the plant and flower business in London (see sponsor-  "plants for London"). Jose was on a week holiday back in his home town. He just arrived and he was guiding us and every 2 minutes he had to stop and greet his friends! He showed us every plant of Ronda and the beautiful landscapes and history. He also showed us the 98 meter waterfall, which was absolutely scary!!! He dropped us of at a tapas bar. It was very warm and cosy inside with many people. He had ordered a few tapas for us and after 4 rounds of delicious plates of tapas we were full, but there still was a lot more!!! " We loved it". 

We were back in time from Ronda to go to a beautiful classic concert of Jose Luis Nieto a young Spanish pianist who played music from Sergei Rachmaninov. Here is a short piece of his music to enjoy!

It has been a wonderful week with all these big surprises. Thank you everyone for coming to Spain!

!!!!! Thank you for the surprise, hope you had a safe and relaxing flight, after 
doing all the activities!!!-

Monday, last week Steven and I waved Sinterklaas good bye when he left Spain to go to Holland. because of security reasons we are not allowed to tell you the exact place of his departure. He left with many Piets and we sang together "dag St Klaasje".  
Hope they arrived safe in Holland and that nobody or no-one's presents fell over board.

(definition of Sinterklaas, http://dutchfood.about.com/od/s/g/Sinterklaas.htm)

Loes Lindiwe Kreeftenberg

"rain, rain.. go away, come back another day"

Past week was a rainy, wet, miserable, hard working week!!! Normally I always love the rain, because than you can sit inside with the family, a fire or heater and drink hot chocolate. This week however was terrible. We did not have a heater yet, the whole family was not complete and there was not really a break so we always rained wet going to the library in the mornings or going for grocery shopping. Another umbrella broke in the wind and the sport was cancelled. So we did a lot of school and watched Obama's Victory Speech on You Tube. Even the internet did not work well due to the bad weather, so I really hope next week will be a sunny, happy week!!!

- Babysitting -
When mom went out with Rocio and Miguel (friends we met here in Antequera) Steven and I babysat from 20:30 till  2:30 O'clock the next day!!! The children who we babysat were 1 year and 5 years old. They were not used to be without their parents and so when they left the oldest child started to cry. When the oldest child was crying the youngest child also started to cry. I first laughed, because it was very funny how they went on together. Steven and I had held them and sang "twinkle twinkle little star" about thousand times till they slept. That part was the most difficult 20 minutes we had of the 8 hours we were there. Those 8 hours we were so quiet we had to mime to each other, so that we didn't make noise. I phoned the parents of the children and the mom picked up and was scared that something was wrong (that would every mother do). Anyway I had just told her that everything was under control and that she didn't have to worry. It was the first time she had a babysitter and that she went out with her husband without children. At 2:30 the next morning they had come home and Steven and I thanked them and ran to our bed, 2 streets away and had the best nap ever!!!

- Museum -
In Greece and Italy we went to many museums and learned a lot about the history of the Roman empire and of the Greek history. We asked mom to have a break the past month, but now we were ready again to read stories and see things. So last week we went to the Antequera museum. It was a beautiful Spanish building with a patio in the centre and 4 levels about the history of this town. Although it was an educational  museum, we were the only visitors. Maybe because of the weather.

- A day in Malaga -
We looked at the internet weather forecast and saw that Saterday would be a little sunny in Malaga, so we woke up early and took the bus to the coast. It was actually quite close, one hour driving from Antequera and then 10 minutes walk into the old city center. We visited the Picasso museum. Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga in 1881, but later lived in France. He visited Malaga when he was 19 years old and never came back. Family donated paintings and artwork that he made for his personal collection. All the popular art and painting are in a museum in Madrid, the capital of Spain.  I thought Picasso's work was interesting.... or more...different..... or I think it was also very creative... and... I think his work is also a bit..... WEIRD. How he paints a body so fast and up side down; with the head bigger than the body and with different kinds of colours.  I was very excited to see his work in real. I think it's beautiful to see different artists that paint with different styles. After going to Picasso museum we walked around in the center. I felt that it was the same as Brussel's center where Manneken Pis stands, with the old buildings and going though different little streets. They even sold the same hot waffles with chocolate just like we had in Brussel. In the center of Malaga there was a pedestrial street where every 5 metres there was a different performer singing, acting, person in silver not moving and when you toss a coin in he will suddenly move like a robot etc. It was a intimate place to visit. I would not mind going back again for a visit, because there are still many more little streets to see.


- The fashion show - 
OMG = Ooh My Goodness.

delayed confetti!

OMG there was a fashion show in Antequera. That is so amazing to have a fashion show in our little village! The designed was originally from Antequera but is not working near Cordoba. First the models were not PROFESSIOANL and seemed to all come from the town here since everyone shouted "guapa-guapa" (beautiful). ....... Their faces looked strange and weird. They did not smile or look sad, but had no expression. Also they were no in a very good shape. The second group were real models from Andalusia that were professionals. They were all wearing black dresses. I thought it was already for Christmas, but at the end of the show we met with Marga (another friend we met here in Antequera) and she explained that the designed was inspired by Insects. That was also why the models had no expression on their faces and had all kind of shapes. At the end of the fashion show when the last models came up there was supposed to be a confetti explosion. All of a sudden the camera-light man stood at the confetti canon, but was too late. He then asked to do it again and then the confetti gun went off. My favorite part was at the end when there was a lottery with your entrance ticket. (by the way the fashion show was organised to raise funds for illnesses). When they called out the winning numbers, the crowd was all sighed out loud that they 'just' missed the winning number. Mom and I felt that the people only came for the lottery!!

Dolmenes de Antequera.
Via Thamy, a friend who we met in the library, we met her mother Etna. They are from Brasil and living here near Antequera a few years now. Etna took us out to see the famous Dolmenes just outside of the town. In between the rain showers we had a look how the first people used to build their graves with huge boulders. In many places in Andalucia (southern province of Spain) they have discovered these Dolmen and there are also 2 in Antequera.
Interesting to see how they moved these heavy blocks into place around 6000 years ago.


Gracias amigos/ amigas , hasta proxima (who's birthday......?)
Louisa

Scared????? Who?????....... me....................??

This week was a "scary & weird" week and this was not just because of Halloween.

Being almost a whole year together for 24 hours, 7 days a week it was weird to have to say Bye Bye to dad who had to go for a business trip to Germany, UK and Holland for 10 days. We of course made sure that he was showered-shaved and had a nice hair cut. Since he did not bring a suit in his suitcase he had to hunt Antequera for a tux.

Also the weather was weird!! Steven and I did not do Tennis for a whole week because of the bad weather with around 18 degrees and rain!!! We made it very cozy in the house with hot chocolate and Steven, mom and I read on the couch, snuggled up. Later in the week it cleared up and we had 2 1/2 hours lesson in one morning to catch up.

31 October = Halloween

1 November = All Saints' Day

Naturally Wednesday was the most scary day of the week. It was Halloween. For Halloween we had planned games in each room and we ended up feeling frightened and sick from all the scary games and different sweets. I always thought that Halloween comes from  America, but it actually comes from Ireland, 5th century. Halloween means : "when the dead came back to earth". The next day on the 1st of November it was a public holiday in Spain "All Saint's day" which is in the honour of the Saints. I realized that there must be a connection here with all those days since on the 2nd of November all the people here went to the grave yards to pray and visit the graves of their family and friends and souls that have been lost. So it is all linked and Halloween is not only a kids dress up party!

2 November = All Souls' Day

I was invited by my friend to see a theater play in English. Steven and I thought the play would be for scholars, but it was very different. This play was for little children under 10. There were childish monsters which were supposed to scare you and they only said 3 sentences in English which they repeated every time so that the children would remember it. It was very boring till the "monsters" wanted 2 people from the audience. Steven joked putting up his hand and out of all the children Steven was picked out and went on stage. It was so funny. The monsters asked him questions and Steven sang " Twinkle Twinkle little star" and "happy and you know it clap your hands" haha. I'm still laughing! Out of the whole 2 hours those 10 minutes were the most entertaining part! 

Steven on Stage 

The last 'scary" thing was that we were guests at an English language school. After school in the afternoon an evening old and young learners here in Antequera have extra English lessons. Steven and I talked about our journey and where we live. We had to speak very slowly and clear so they could understand. The first class we attended to was Steven's age. The only thing they did the whole hour was making silly jokes and laugh. They did not listen to the teacher. The second class we attended to was from 17 years to 48 years. We could just talk normal tempo and ask questions! First we were very scared to talk to the 2 classes, but afterwards we thought about it and it was actually a lot of fun!

So with all these scary and weird moments the week went by very fast. Thanks to all the nice events and meeting many people I have made many friends who call to meet, chat and go places. I feel very at home.!! 

LOUISA